Joe Weider: Bodybuilder, Trainer, and Fitness Icon

Joe Weider is unarguably the Father of Bodybuilding. He was also known by many as “The Master Blaster.” He started in the fitness and nutrition business while in his teens, and worked within the industry until his death.

He was just 5’10”, not very tall by bodybuilding standards. But what Joe Weider lacked in height, he made up for in determination and perseverance.

Without Weider, the Golden Era of bodybuilding would surely not have been as great as it was. He co-founded the International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) in 1946 with his brother, Ben Weider.

The Federation was the catalyst for Mr. Olympia, Ms. Olympia, and the Masters Olympia. Today, we’ll discuss the life of Joe Weider:

• How he got started in fitness and nutrition
• His success and difficulties as an entrepreneur in the industries
• The impact he’s had in fitness and nutrition
• How the legacy of the Weider family lives on today, even after his death

Joe Weider: The Early Years

Joe was born in Quebec, Montreal, Canada on November 29, 1919. He grew up during the Great Depression and left school at the age of 12 to deliver fruits and vegetables.

A small, skinny boy, he was picked on by older teens, which is what started his quest for bodybuilding.

After being denied a tryout request by the local wrestling coach at the Montreal YMHA, he was undeterred and on a mission. He went and purchased a 1930’s Milo Barbell Co.’s Strength magazine for inspiration.

The rest, as they say, is history. Joe didn’t have enough money to purchase weights so he put together a makeshift barbell out of an axle and two flywheels that he found in the junkyard, and got to work building his physique. 

His work paid off as he tirelessly pumped iron to build his muscles. A few years later, he accepted an offer to join the Verdun Barbell Club as a weight lifter.

At the age of 17, Joe participated and won a national ranking for his lifting at the Montreal District Senior Meet. He was officially hooked, and it didn’t take long for his determination and competitive nature to inspire others.

A Publisher is Born

Gyms and bodybuilding, in general, were looked down upon in the 1930s. Frustrated by the lack of information and the proliferation of inaccurate knowledge being spread, Joe decided to take action.

He had been working various roles in a local restaurant but was more determined than ever to educate the masses.

He began work on what would become the first issue of Your Physique, which was published in August 1940. By the following year, he had profited over $10,000.

Knowing that readers needed more, he created a mail order service, Weider Barbell Co., in 1942. Through this company, he was able to offer:

• Weight sets
• Fitness equipment
• The first iteration of supplements

At this point, he was just getting started. Over the next several decades, he went on to create and publish the following magazines, among others:

• Muscle Power
• American Beauty
• American Manhood
• All American Athlete
• Mr. America
• Muscle & Fitness
• Cooks
• Flex
• Fit Pregnancy
• Men’s Fitness
• Living Fit
• Prime Health and Fitness
• Muscle Builder/Power
• Senior Golfer
• Shape
• Muscle Power

All of his magazines were focused on physique and beauty and the positivity surrounding them. With colorful and striking photography, the magazines were attractive and full of accurate information.

Something that had been sorely missing from the world of bodybuilding and fitness, until Joe came along.

Joe surely made a name for himself as a publisher, but that wasn’t the only entrepreneurial endeavor he would achieve.

The Creation of IFBB and Bodybuilding Contests

In the year 1946, Joe and his brother Ben Weider would band together to host the first Mr. Canada contest. On the same night as the contest, the International Federation of Bodybuilders was born. 

Even though Joe himself hadn’t spent many years as a contestant, he knew bodybuilding and what would sell. He spent a large chunk of his time in the gym, working out, training, and mentoring up and coming lifters.

Joe Weider invented himself through determination and dedication and wanted to create a foundation with the same principles.

Joe and Ben started the IFBB in Canada and the United States and promoted it heavily in other countries. By 1970, the Federation was in 50 different countries and was well on its way to the most recognized bodybuilding organization.

Currently, IFBB is in over 170 countries and recognized by over 90 National Olympic Committees. They hold over 2,500 competitions from the local to World Championship levels.

As it gained traction around the world, Joe started to create contests within the IFBB:

• 1965 – Mr. Olympia (the most recognized and renowned contest in all of bodybuilding)
• 1980 – Ms. Olympia
• 1995 – Fitness Olympia
• 2003 – Figure Olympia

<<insert image of one of the contests listed below, preferably older pics>>

In order for the IFBB to continue to succeed, Joe knew he had to have qualified contestants. While promoting the federation, he was also scouting for talent.

Mentoring the Golden Era’s Greatest Bodybuilders

One of the greatest mentorships of the Golden Era was easily Joe Weider to Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a young boy, Arnold would pour over Weider’s magazines, using them as motivation to create a bodybuilding career.

Eventually, when he was only 21 years old, Joe made Arnold’s dreams come true. Joe invited him to come to America from Austria to pursue a career in bodybuilding. 

Joe was always there for Arnold, providing expertise and dedicating time to grow his physique. It’s no surprise that Arnold went on to become one of the best bodybuilders of the Golden Era. 

He won seven Mr. Olympia titles over the course of his bodybuilding career, eventually being beaten out by Lee Haney.

Throughout his career, Joe also worked with some other Golden Era greats, including:

• Lou Ferrigno
• Robby Robinson
• Franco Columbu

He also provided mentorship, guidance, nutrition advice, and positive morale to countless other IFBB competitors:

• Tom Terwilliger
• Dennis Wolf
• Dorian Yates
• Ronnie Coleman
• Boyer Coe
• Lionel Beyeke
• Francis Benfatto
• Rich Gaspari

He worked with the young bodybuilders, creating guidelines and principles still used today for success. Dubbed the Weider Principles, they are a list of philosophies and methods he’d gathered during his time in bodybuilding.

Let’s take a look at a list of the principles that Joe used throughout his career and while training some of the best.

The Weider Principles

These principles were not meant to all be used together at the same time but rather used when needed.

For example, Lou Ferrigno used the principle of iso-tension to create more hardness in the muscles during his sets. He would hold muscle contractions for six seconds before continuing his reps. 

Arnold would work for a muscle group and then do calf raises in between sets in order to build up his calf muscles, which were a weak point.

He was able to do a lot of work for his calves by doing a set of standing calf raises in between his sets during his regular workout. This principle was called the staggered sets principle.

While Joe can’t be credited with creating each principle, he did advocate them as a group to bodybuilders. He worked with many over the years, helping them strategize their personal growth to be competitive. 

The message was always the same: Take what you need, ignore what you don’t, and be the best you can be.

A Fitness and Nutrition Entrepreneur

Joe Weider was not only a mentor and co-founder of IFBB, but he also created fitness equipment. He started out not long after getting into magazine publication.

His mail order service, Weider Barbell Co., took orders from interested clients for various types of equipment:

• Dumbbells in various weights and sizes
• Dumbbell racks
• Weight sets
• Weight machines
• Bodywork system
• Fitness towers
• Benches
• Workout DVDs with equipment

His goal was to make fitness and bodybuilding accessible to everyone. Customers could order the equipment they needed and have it shipped to create their own home gyms. 

This was especially useful in the 30s and 40s when bodybuilding and gyms were not well-liked by the masses. Today, the cult following of fitness and bodybuilding is well worth the stigma that early lifters had to deal with.

Not only did Weider create and sell fitness equipment, but he also created and sold supplements.

Ever the entrepreneur, Joe Weider also authored a number of books throughout his career.

Joe Weider: The Author

Joe started out creating and publishing training courses in the 1950s. By that time, he had spent years helping and studying bodybuilders in the gym to find out the best techniques.

He used that knowledge in many ways, and one of them was his training courses.

Weider published his first book in 1981, titled The Weider System of Bodybuilding. He continued to write books up until the year before his death under his company Weider Publications.

Here is just a sample of some of the books authored by Joe Weider:

• The Best of Joe Weider’s Muscle & Fitness
• Bodybuilding & Conditioning for Women
• More Bodybuilding Nutrition & Training Programs
• Brothers of Iron: How the Weider Brothers Created the Fitness Movement and Built a Business Empire (co-authored with Ben Weider)
• Arnold Schwarzenegger Training Guide: Olympia Secrets of The Austrian Oak – Rep by Rep Training Guide (co-authored with Arnold Schwarzenegger)
• Mr. Olympia: The History of Bodybuilding’s Greatest Contest
• Ask Joe Weider
• Bodybuilding for Women (co-authored with his wife, Betty Weider)
• The Weider Body Book (co-authored with his wife, Betty Weider)

He also did a book series as “Trainer of the Stars” teaching men how to build confidence, get women to like you, and become a leader.

Many of the books were created using the knowledge he gained in the fitness and bodybuilding world.

While many of his books were focused on bodybuilding and nutrition, he did also offer personal advice to men. He also co-authored several books with his wife Betty geared towards women’s fitness and health.

Joe Weider wasn’t just an entrepreneur, author, publisher, and mentor. He also acted in various roles on TV and in film.

Joe Weider: The Actor

Joe Weider also starred as an actor, appearing in a few movies and documentaries throughout his career. He starred in several documentaries alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, including Holiday Hero, I’ll Be Back, and Total Rebuild.

There were several documentaries made about him and his life. He was also featured in various TV biography documentaries, including Biography, Life and Times, Bodybuilders, and Muscle Beach: Then and Now.

Throughout his acting career, Joe Weider always appeared as himself. 

Joe Weider’s Personal Life

Joe’s first wife was Hedwiges “Vicky” Uzar, with whom he had a daughter, Lydia Ross. He and Vicky divorced in 1960. Lydia was his only child, and she had three children.

Joe married his second wife, Betty Brosmer, in 1961. At the time, Betty was one of the highest-paid pin-up girls in the United States. She went on to author several books with Joe on bodybuilding, fitness, and health.

Betty co-founded SHAPE magazine with Joe and still writes fitness columns for various magazines to this day. The magazines “Body by Betty” and “Health by Betty” are still read by many women who read health and fitness magazines.

Betty started out in beauty contests in the 1950s and won many times over the years. Not many people are aware, but she grew up reading medical journals and scientific studies. 

Betty was one of the few women of her time who used weights and promoted healthy nutrition. On top of that, she was able to use what she learned to create her amazing figure and skyrocket her career as a result.

Throughout her career, she won 50 beauty crowns and was featured in over 200 magazines. Given how dedicated she was to health and fitness, it was only natural that she and Joe’s paths were to cross. 

Betty and Joe were married until his passing in 2013. Joe Weider died at the age of 93 of heart failure on March 23, 2013. Ben Weider had passed away a couple of years prior on October 17, 2008.

Recognition and Awards

Over the decades, Joe, Ben, and Betty have been awarded various awards and recognition. Ultimately, they have been iconic and revolutionary in the fitness and nutrition world, so it’s only fitting they be recognized for it.

Here are just some of the awards and recognition received by the Weider family:

• 1993 – Special recommendation from The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (Joe)
• 1999 – Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award (Joe)
• 2001 – U.S. Air Force Certificate of Appreciation (Joe)
• 2003 – First Time Lifetime Achievement Award presented by The Business Magazine For Health & Fitness (Joe)
• 2005 – LAPD Certificate of Appreciation (Betty and Joe)
• 2006 – YMHA Award in Montreal (Ben and Joe)
• 2006 – Muscle Beach Championship Lifetime Achievement Award Certificate of Recognition (presented by Arnold to Joe)
• 2010 – Inducted into the California Museum Hall of Fame (Joe)
• 2014 – Inducted to International Sports Hall of Fame (Ben, Betty and Joe)

In 2011, the Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture was opened at the University of Texas, Austin. Furthermore, from 2004, Betty and Joe had made several monetary donations as well as memorabilia from their personal collection.

To commemorate the opening of the museum, Eric Weider, son of Ben Weider, donated memorabilia of his father’s. Eric is the current CEO of Weider Enterprises, carrying on the legacy of his father, aunt, and uncle.

Final Thoughts on the Life of Joe Weider

For certain, Joe Weider had a monumental impact on the world of fitness, nutrition, and bodybuilding. The outpouring of love and stories of his impact on the industries upon his death is just a small testament.

Along with Ben and Betty, Joe was able to create a legacy that will live on throughout the test of time. Without them, the IFBB may never have been created and bodybuilding as we know it may never have existed.

The world of bodybuilding and competitive fitness owes a huge debt to Joe, Ben, and Betty Weider. Without them, we don’t know where we’d be.

Joe was many things: author, actor, publisher, writer, bodybuilder, nutritionist, mentor. He took his knowledge and used it to create exceptional bodybuilders, contests, nutrition and fitness products over the decades.

Did Joe Weider impact your life in some way? What is your favorite memory of Joe? Is there something we left out you want to share with us? Let us know in the comments below!