Frank Zane and his secret to achieving an aesthetic physique

Frank Zane, often called the king of aesthetics, is one of the most popular bodybuilders of the golden era, even though this bodybuilder didn't have a lot of muscle, he is one of the best bodybuilders in history and is even inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame! Zane has won the Mr. Olympia title 3 times (1977 to 1979). Back then his physique was one of the most aesthetic. Frank was born in Pennsylvania on June 28, 1942 and was introduced to exercise as a teenager after reading a weight training magazine. From that moment on, exercise became his love for life. Zane had a physique that IFBB judges loved, women admired and men longed to emulate.

As important as Frank Zane's three Mr. Olympia victories (1977-79) are in terms of bodybuilding history, they probably don't mean as much to most people as his unofficial title: the bodybuilder we all want to look like.

The fact is that Zane, at his peak, had arguably the most aesthetic and muscular physique of all time. If Dave Draper embodied the Venice Beach bodybuilding lifestyle of the 60's and 70's with his big muscles and blond hair, Arnold embodied the American Dream with his overwhelming success, Frank Zane, with his perfect symmetry, was the pinnacle of physical male beauty during this era. Let's take a look at how Zane trained at the peak of his career - until 1977 at Mr. Olympia to translate his amazing aesthetic into bodybuilding perfection.

Heavyweights!

Frank Zane's physique was the result of both light and heavy training. Early in his career, when leanness was his main calling card, his training consisted of light weights and high reps. This approach was effective and he looked phenomenal, but the Mr. Olympia crown still eluded him. Joe Weider constantly reminded him of what he lacked and that was muscle size, which could only be achieved by training with heavy weights. Zane was afraid of injury and so he was reluctant to lift heavy weights for a long time.

Weider finally convinced him in 1977 when Frank began to put on more weight in preparation for the Olympics. It worked! His lifting during that time consisted of three to four exercises and three sets for most body parts - lower volume than he was used to. Most of the sets were in the 8 to 12 rep range, the most notable exceptions being the calves and abdominals, which he still trained in the high rep range.

As a result, he added considerable size to his aesthetic physique and won his first of three consecutive Olympia titles!

"The only way to gain muscle mass is to train hard" he said after his 1977 victory. "I've found that if you train hard and then take a break for a while, you maintain your bulk longer. Years ago, my training consisted of a lot of light pumping movements, but my pump went away quickly after I stopped training for a while."

Unfortunately, Zane's vigilance before the hard training was justified as his shoulders, knees and lower back suffered.

"You use poor technique when exercising with heavy weight and your chances of injury multiply," he said.

Later in his competition days, he was forced to return to light training.

"Now I carefully avoid heavy weights for exercises where my back and knees suffer," he said in a 1988 article.

But injury wasn't the only reason Zane avoided extreme weights. As his much-publicized Zen approach to training would suggest, he believed that heavy weight wasn't necessary if you could direct your concentration directly to the muscles you were training.

"During training, I close my mind to everything else except the muscles being trained. Larry Scott (the first Mr. Olympia) once told me that feeling the movement while exercising is the most important thing. I can't isolate a given muscle using heavy weights like I can when I use light weights...all it takes is a sustained conscious effort"

Train like Zane!

Here are two workouts that Zane practiced as he prepared for the 1977 Mr. Olympia, from his book, Frank Zane: Body, Mind, Spirit.

August 16, 1977 | Thighs/Calves/Belly/Lower Back

July 15, 1982 | Breast/Triceps/Ramena/Belly/Lower Back