Dr. Juan Carlos Cassano is a fitness historian and clinical scientist who runs the YouTube channel Golden Era Bookworm. He was a key researcher for the Netflix documentary Arnold and is a renowned expert on all Golden Era bodybuilders, including Schwarzenegger, Tom Platz, and Mike Mentzer.

Expect to learn:

• What Golden Era bodybuilders did differently to look so good
• The daily routine of Arnold Schwarzenegger at Gold's Gym
• The surprising link between bodybuilding and being a gentleman

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Why men are still fascinated by the Golden Era physique
• 01:10 – The art and aesthetics of bodybuilding as human sculpture
• 02:20 – Joe Weider: the salesman who turned bodybuilding into a dream
• 04:20 – From outcasts to icons: how Weider built a new empire
• 06:00 – Selling the California fantasy — muscles, girls, and freedom
• 07:40 – Arnold’s arrival and how Weider spotted his star potential
• 10:00 – The reality behind the dream: life at Gold’s Gym in the ’60s
• 12:00 – What set Arnold apart from other lifters of his time
• 15:40 – Inside Arnold’s daily routine and training cycles
• 20:30 – Diet in the Golden Era: real food, few supplements
• 24:20 – Early steroid use and how it evolved across decades
• 33:00 – Why physiques looked better then: training, food, and mindset
• 40:00 – The lost camaraderie of old gyms vs. isolation today
• 42:20 – How the image of bodybuilding has changed since the ’80s
• 47:00 – Hyper-masculinity, Hollywood physiques, and lost gentlemanly values
• 56:00 – Unreal expectations in the age of social media
• 58:00 – The birth of Golden Era Bookworm: from childhood fascination to YouTube historian
• 1:06:00 – Hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from Arnold’s apartment

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