DR : What information do you hope to cover that hasn't already been covered in other seminars? Anything cutting edge?

BG : Over the years there has been a lot of hype about a lot of different programs, and training techniques. In my opinion, and I have been training for 44-years, there is only one way to train. You have got to do the basic movements. This is exactly what we will be teaching them. You have to build the right foundation. I think that is the real secret that a lot of people don't understand. When people look in the magazines, they see the workouts that are done and the way the athletes look. A lot of these workouts are actually done prior to competition. This is not what they do all year round. Come to a seminar such as this and you learn how to plan your program over the year. If you want to compete, you need to know how to map out your program. You need to know how to train heavy, how to train for mass, how to train for cuts. You need all these things in combination, to get a great physique. There is nothing really new out there. Think of heavy duty style training. Now that's a great program, but that's been around a long time too. Try training with maximum amount of weight and maximum amount of intensity. People, just put a new spin on it. All these programs put together are great but, the most important thing is to learn all the information there is to know, so you can put together a program that works for you. What I do won't exactly work for others. People need to learn all the other things. This is why the basics are really important, because that's where your physique is really going to come from. Every bodybuilder in the world does the same basic program, which is squats, dips, chin-ups, and bench-press, and so on. These are all basic movements. All the other training is based around those basic movements. It's like building a building, Dave. You can't build a tall, strong, building unless you have a strong foundation. That's always been my belief. We will be showing people how to do the foundation exercises they need to get started on their way to creating a great physique.

DR : So, considering all this, do you have a unique training philosophy that you hope to pass on those in attendance?

BG : Dave, that's nothing unique. I've got a program called modulation, meaning taking your program and refining it, going in different cycles - heavy, light, switching it up. That's just a name I put to it, but it's still based around the same things that I was doing anyway. It's nothing new. It's based on all the exercises I have been doing over the years, and how I put training programs together. It's nice to experiment. There are a lot of programs, and it's nice to try them. I actually did that Arthur Jones training program. I didn't think it was bad, but we weren't told it wasn't a program you could do every day of the year. Its is actually a program you probably should do for maybe four-weeks, before backing off and doing another program. The program was draining - it took every ounce of energy from me. It tapped into my reserve energy, and I was running on nervous energy. In about six-months, I was totally burned out. I became over-trained. We want to teach people, at the seminar, how to avoid overtraining. How much training is enough? How much training is too much? These are some of things we want to teach people.

DR : What else, specifically, will people learn about training programs?

BG : People need to learn about the different stages in their program. If you are ever going to be a champion, you can't train the same way all the time. Although I believe in high-volume training, there are times when you need to back off that, and do heavier type training. I'll start power-training with a lot of heavy deadlifts and bench presses. I did that when I lived in Sweden, and it worked very well for me as well.

DR : So, the seminar will provide an overview of all the different types of training?

BG : Basically, it will be an overview of all types of training, but putting it all together so you can have a training program that is going to work for your - that's the key. Here's a great example: back in the 70s when we all trained - Arnold, Franco, and Frank Zane. We all had a different style of training, but it worked. For instance, Arnold trained six-days-a-week, twice-a-day, on three occurrences. I could not train that way. I tried that for a week and, Dave, I lost five-pounds the first week. Every program isn't fit for everybody. You see, I had to go to four-days-per-week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I would say mine was unique to most guys. Most guys trained five to six days-per-week. My body wouldn't allow me to do that. I could not recover, I couldn't gain any mass. So, I do know all about the other programs, but the fact of the matter is we all need to find what is going to work best for us. You need to learn to get in tune with your body, need to learn how the body operates. You need to know about the metabolic rate, how fast you burn calories, how fast muscle is burned. Am I an easy gainer or a slow gainer? What is my body-type, am I heavy or thin? These are things people need to learn about before they even start finding a program that works for them.

DR : What else will be expanded upon in this seminar?

BG : We will be expanding upon everything that is out there, and then hone in on what is going to work best. You have beginner, intermediate and advanced programs. Power-training programs. All these different things you can incorporate into your training program to get a better physique. You have to also know what your goals are. Once you have these, it is a case of, "how am I going to achieve them". Dietary supplements, eating habits, proper training and rest, proper technique; we are going to teach all these things David. I would even say that six-hours is not enough. Six is a lot though. I haven't seen six-hour seminars in years. I don't think you can teach what people need to know in one or two hours. It's an all-day-affair. In our seminar, people will learn as much as they can learn. There will be a question and answer session so people can really get to understand what's going on. We will also be having hand-outs, notebooks, with all the information that we will be talking about. People will know exactly what we will be talking about, before we even talk about it. We will have more pages where people can write about the topics that will be covered. They will have a notebook full of all the seminar information, so they don't forget when they go home.

DR : Is six-hours really going to be long enough?

BG : It will take six-hours to provide all the information, but even with six David, it is really hard to provide every bit of information possible. We do feel that six-hours is ample enough time to really get you to learn the information you need to get started on building your physique, losing weight, reaching goals in fitness, whether it be bodybuilding or any other sport.

DR : How would you compare your seminar to a training camp? Do training camps not cover a sufficient range of topics over an extended time period?

BG : Yes, the training camps do cover a lot because they go on for five-days, and bring in a lot of different guest speakers so you always get an opportunity to get a better overview. We don't do this. It's just Dan Gastelu and myself, but you can learn a lot from me because I did one of the very first training camps, which was held here in New Jersey back in 1987. Tom Platz, Carla Dunlap, Mike Christian, Rachel McLish hosted the event at Ryder College. It was an interesting experience. We had opportunities for people to meet the champs, and we had individual seminars. That is something we would like to get into as well, but right now we would like to start with this. Like I said, I just haven't seen a seminar six-hours-long, with the amount of information we will be giving out.

DR : What sort of information do you wish you had at your disposal, when you were starting out? Will this seminar provide the information, you would have liked to have had when beginning?

BG : I'm glad you asked that question David. I started back in the late 50s, when I was nine-years-old. Of course I was too young, but that's where my interest came from. At 14, I started again more seriously. We had a few magazines - Strength and Health, Muscle-builder, and Ironman. But there was no real science, no research about supplementation or even about training techniques. Now there is a lot more research, a lot more science around these things. We will talk about how the body is affected by diet, training and everything else to do with bodybuilding. How sleep effects the body. How carbohydrates, fats, and protein affects the body. These were all things we didn't know when we were coming up. They touched on it, but there was no real science. Today, we know much more. For example, I sell a creatine product, but it's more than just creatine. There are a lot of different ingredients in it as well. 20-years-ago, if you said you took creatine, people would say you were crazy. They would say, "What is that drug you are on?" But today we have all the research on glutamine and how it works. We have the research on protein and fat burners, and they work. We have that information. We can tell you how great these things are, what they really do. And then you can figure out what brands are best. I just wrote something on Iron Age about this: my message for people is you can't sit around and wait for that information to come to you. You have one of the premier bodybuilding shows in the world (The Mr.Olympia). It makes sense to come to a six-hour seminar, at this time, which will have all the information you need. Back in my day; if I had a choice of going to see a show at the Flamingo, or a bodybuilding seminar. Hey, I'm a bodybuilder and I know where my $100 is going. That's my sport, and I need to know how to get better. Not everybody's going to be going to the pre-judging, so there will be thousands of bodybuilders there. Save that $100. You would spend that in supplements anyway. Use that $100 to educate yourself. This is why we go to school. Bodybuilding is like a career for the pros. So, if you want to get educated, we are going to give that to you. That's what it's all about.

DR : What does Dan Gastelu, your co-presenter, bring that will help people to achieve their goals?

BG : Dan brings his years and years of knowledge on nutrition to the table, which is very important. My expertise comes from the training part. I did learn about nutrition, but I had a lot of other people help me with that. I taught myself about the bodybuilding aspect of training. Dan has a special part. It is like a team, you have the straight guy and the funny guy. I'm delivering the other part: the facts about training and how you put everything together. As we all know Dave, 60-70-percent of everything you get from the gym derives from nutrition. Nutrition and training go hand in hand. So, it's obvious to have a guy who is an expert in training and one who is an expert in nutrition, so you can put it all together to get to where you want to be - a bodybuilding champion, or a football player, or a great basketball player, or a champion in any sport.

DR : What are the biggest reasons someone should come to your super seminar on October 15?

BG : .Dave, from the words of "Pumping Iron",

This relates to the seminar. While you are trying to gain an edge, and you are going to a show, perhaps the Mr. Olympia show. You are doing something else while the competition is going to the seminar, they will get there faster than you. When you come to Vegas those who have an extra $100 in their pocket, instead of gambling this money away on the craps table, gamble it on yourself. Invest it into your body. Get yourself the knowledge you need to become a champion. If you gamble, you might lose the $100. With the seminar, you won't lose anything, you will only gain. You are going to come out of this seminar learning something new about what you need to do to get to your goal.

DR : Are there any more of these seminars planned?

BG : Yes, there is. I lived in Europe for three years, and I made some contacts. Right now I'm contacting magazine owners, gym owners all over Europe, and we are trying to set up a tour. We are currently in the planning stage. I like to make money just like anybody else, but to me it's not just all about the money. I have been a bodybuilder for 44-years, and often there wasn't a dime to be made. I did it because I loved it. Now there is an opportunity to make money, so I am giving back to these young guys who are out there now looking to become champions. But, I don't want them going overboard. I want them to get there the safest way possible. Longevity, to me, is the key in sport, especially in bodybuilding. It's not just about hit and miss. My intention when I first started competing wasn't just to be a winner in bodybuilding. I just wanted to look good all the time. I'll will be 59 this week coming up, and I feel great. This is an opportunity to show all the kids, and those in between, and even the baby boomers out there, this is the way it is. We can still look good; we can still make progress up until our later years. That's my answer to all these guys who would like to know what they are going to get out of the seminar, what its going to do for them. If they show up, they will find that its $100 dollars very well spent.

DR : Other than nutrition, supplementation and training, what other information will be given. Anything on drugs in sport?

BG : .On drugs we will try to stay away from the issue, but if people ask during the question and answer session, we will discuss them. During my day, and I won't tell these kids any lies, yes we took them (steroids), because they would think we were idiots if we sat there and said we didn't. They wouldn't believe anything else we had to say. We would like to try to educate people on that if they have any questions - the safety of it, how are you going to do it. It was legal back then as well. Today it's illegal. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble. There's one thing they always say in America,

We can guide these guys, and tell them about what goes on with steroids, but in the end, you have to make the decision about what you want to do with it. I would never tell someone not to do it. What I can do is just tell you about the problems you could get from them, what they can do for you, and what you could expect from them. But, if steroids made champions, if they were the total reason why guys were winners, guys would be winning all the time. With all the guys who take steroids, look at how many don't become champions. Steroids may be a push, but put it this way: genetics do play a big part in it. How willing you are to work. How smart you are. People often think if they take what the champions are taking, they to will become champions. That's not necessarily so. You may get big, but you may also get sick and die. I'm not bad-mouthing anybody in the business, we did it ourselves after all, but we need to ask ourselves a few questions. What is the real way to do it? You saw guys like Arnold, Larry Scott, and Steve Reeves. They didn't take a ton of steroids. They didn't look like the guys of today, but they still became champions in that era. Winning the Mr. World gave me an opportunity to be on the cover of Muscle Builder , and I was also able to sell my own bodybuilding courses, T-shirts and photos. On top of that, I began receiving fan mail and being recognized on the street. It's a crazy feeling, having a stranger come up to you and say how much he or she appreciates what you've accomplished. At first, I was flabbergasted by the attention. Like when you asked me to do this interview. I could only mumble thanks. I learned long ago not to take anything for granted. It could be taken away at any moment.

DR : Any final words Bill.

BG : I will just say that when people read this article, I hope they think about what I said about that $100 being money very well spent. You could go to the casino. You might triple your money. You might double it. You might not win anything. You may lose even more, because you are becoming gung-ho. But, you're already there at an event you might want to participate in one day. Why not come in and get the knowledge of how to get there, what to do, and how long it's going to take. All the things you need to know on how to get there will be in this one seminar for $100.

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