Charles Gaines, the author of the book Pumping Iron and Stay Hungry, is the guest on this episode of the Bodybuilding Legends Podcast to talk about his friend and partner George Butler, who passed away last October 21st, 2021. George directed the movie "Pumping Iron" and also was the photographer of the book Pumping Iron. Charles talks about how he and George first met in 1972 on an assignment for an article about bodybuilding for Sports Illustrated magazine, the idea for the book Pumping Iron, meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger and the challenges in publishing the book and getting the movie made.

At the end of the podcast, host John Hansen reads an article about Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Joseph Baena from the March, 2022 issue of Men's Health magazine written by Andrew Heffenan. John also reads the article "Cutting Some Fancy Figures" written by Charles Gaines for the July 10, 1972 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.

Time Stamps:

2:10 - Information about John's Seminar in Massachusetts.

3:06 - The 2022 Arnold Classic

4:21 - The Most Muscular Podcast on YouTube

6:42 - Start of the interview with Charles Gaines

7:36 - The passing of George Butler

9:08 - How George and Charles met

11:53 - The story behind the book Stay Hungry

16:26 - The first article written about bodybuilding for Sports Illustrated magazine

26:00 - Charle's second article on bodybuilding for Oui Magazine

27:50 - The struggle to find a publisher for the book Pumping Iron

29:45 - Covering the 1972 Mr. Universe contest in Baghdad, Iraq

33:54 - Hanging out with Arnold in Venice, California in the summer of 1973

35:12 - Meeting Arnold for the first time

39:10 - The strategy that made the book Pumping Iron such a big success

43:23 - Making the movie "Pumping Iron"

47:55 - The key to writing fiction

49:42 - What Charles thought about the movie "Stay Hungry"

54:00 - The problems involved in getting the book and movie "Pumping Iron" released

59:36 - Charles remembers George Butler

1:03:00 - Host John Hansen reads an article about Joseph Baena written by Andrew Heffernan from the March, 2022 issue of Men's Health

1:20:00 - John reads the article "Cutting Some Fancy Figures" written by Charles Gaines for the July 10, 1972 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.