Huh. I did not know that.

Ben Weider passed away last year on my mom's birthday. He was the co-founder of the Internation Federation of Body Builders with his little brother Joe. I figure most folks have never heard of the guy, but I used to read about the dude constantly.

Before I hit pooberty, I looked like the cherubic little cutie on the right. When I had the old growth spurt between 8th and 9th grade (and after a gym class on weightlifting) I was hooked on working out. I familiarized myself with all the free weights, Nautilus, machines, and even brushed off the old K-Bel dumbells in the garage. (Remember those? Poured concrete covered in plastic? Granted I did like, two exercises with'em.)

Mom was most supportive, and many a trip was made to the local GNC where I could experiment with various supplements, oils, pills, drinks, bars, etc. And while I was at the ol' Brookdale GNC, I picked up my first issue of Muscle and Fitness. And I collected them religiously over the next few years. (Along with MuscleMag, Flex, Men's Fitness, etc.) Well in those fitness rags-which invariably were 80% advertising and 100% recycled recipes/routines- the name Weider came up all the time.

The guys who revolutionized modern fitness as we know it, brought it to the spot light, gave us new exercises and took the narcissistic stigma away from bodybuilding in general. Heck, the guy was nominated for a Nobel award AND was a Bonaparte scholar. Crazy.

Anyway, he's gone now. And an article I read at the gym (IRONY) said it best when it said "I guess I never thought he'd be gone. He's always just been this prescence that you knew was there. "

That'll learn my ego-centric self.