Tom Platz in Seminar Plus Posing - DVD Review
GMV-29/30DVD

Shot in New Zealand in 1984, the DVD started with Tom Platz guest posing to the song "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones. The interview commenced next and Tom sat down next to the interviewer. Tom spoke about New Zealand and what he thinks of the country and the people. He said there is less pollution there, and that on the beach in California sometimes his eyes water.

The interviewer asked Tom if he always had legs like he did and Tom said that he had those legs when he came out of the womb (jokingly). As it turned out, Tom started off with weak legs and turned them into a strong point later on after he learned from weightlifters who had the right mental attitude towards training. Tom said he gained quickly from hard training. He said that he liked to see the bar bend from the weight and the weights jingle.

Tom's professionalism and motivation in this presentation were clear, much as they were in the Tom Platz UK Seminar produced by GMV.

Tom gave his praise to Rich Gaspari and Albert Beckles, going on to show his respect for Albert's competitive career at the age of 50 and beyond. The popularity of bodybuilding was discussed and Tom said that bodybuilding was not popular enough. Tom had a great suggestion when he said that it would take someone with a lot of influence (in the movie world or elsewhere) to popularize bodybuilding. When that day comes, we might see the loser getting $100,000 or more in prize money, rather than the winner. To this day, bodybuilding is still a niche activity and will probably stay that way.

With bodybuilding so niche, we should all be thankful for production companies like GMV and Repetrope who will take on the time and expense related to producing first rate bodybuilding material which always continues to entertain.

Supplements were the topic of discussion next and Tom said he uses nothing but "NutraLife" jokingly. (Wayne Gallasch of GMV founded NutraLife supplements in 1966.) Tom said that there are a lot of good supplements on the market today but also a lot of junk. Tom further said you have to eat well first and supplement your deficiencies.
The point Tom was trying to make was that supplements are just that: supplements to a good clean healthy diet which is the primary source of your gains in bodybuilding. This is the same thing Tom said at the UK seminar some years later, that supplements should not be your diet.

The next bit of info provided by Tom was pretty interesting: he said that his back is the last part of him to get in shape and that he won't always get the details there that he wants. Tom was obviously a realist to admit his flaws like this. Just like the UK seminar, Tom made this the seminar of the audience, and not his own personal all about me seminar. He talked about things that the audience wanted to talk about and not what he wanted to talk about - which came across as incredibly professional.

Tom was asked "When are you gonna kick Lee Haney's ass." Tom responded "Probably next year for sure." and got a few laughs from the audience LOL. Tom said that while he was a training freak, Haney was a nutrition freak. Lee Haney would eat every two hours by the clock, but Tom sort of suggested that he could miss a day eating and it would be no big deal.
This was interesting to me since food is one of the most important aspects of bodybuilding, along with supplements / steroids and genetics. Training is probably the least significant factor of all, which is why it seems strange that Tom would have developed as he did, putting more focus on training than nutrition. In any case, whatever he did worked for him just as Lee did the same but his way.

Tom spoke about the instinctive training principle next:

Tom trained with the same principle and would sometimes go 10 days without training legs because he was following instincts. Lee Haney was a genetic freak who had never done a chin in his life and had one of the best backs in the history of bodybuilding.

As the seminar went on, there were other similarities between this one and the 1993 UK seminar. It was proof to me that Tom's methods and philosophy remained largely the same over the years. Obviously if something isn't broken, don't fix it. He even mentioned the picture of Dave Draper with a crusher on the beach with women crawling all over him and that is why he wanted to go into bodybuilding - at the age of 10. Tom was also raised with Arnold as his mentor.

Tom said that his idea of a bodybuilder is one who is so freaky - that when he steps on stage the judges drop their pencils and say "What the hell is that?!" Obviously based on this one would assume that Tom is a fan of Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman. In the UK Seminar DVD Tom did show his respect for Dorian as being a mound of sheer shredded muscle.

Bodybuilding is apples and oranges and Tom is no doubt a fan of the freaks. He probably really started to enjoy bodybuilding once the freak factor blew up in the 1990s (obviously as drug use in bodybuilding went up like mad too).

The next topic of discussion was supplements and Tom said some bunk supplements were making their way into the market. Tom said he was an amino acid freak.

Tom said that being honest, he has still found nothing that has duplicated the effect of steroids. Tom was being totally upfront and this was commendable. He did admit what I and many others already know: that steroids are the most effective "supplement" in bodybuilding.

He said that Rachel McLish was his favourite female bodybuilder. Tom also said she was like the female Arnold. Bertil Fox had similar praise for Rachel at his seminar, another excellent GMV production:

Next we see scenes of Tom Platz at FIBO in Germany.
...Part Two of the Seminar Follows...

An interview with Tom was done at the FIBO expo in Germany. Next up Tom posed to the song "Don't stop 'till you get it on". He was looking in great shape for what was likely off-season and his legs were looking huge as always. Ralf Moller was in the background looking pretty wide in street clothes.

Tom spoke about mental attitude again and motivation. Tom was definitely an optimist and had the results you would expect from someone as strong minded as him.

Some nutrition facts were then covered by another gentleman from NutraLife in the DVD at the end, after Tom's presentation was complete. One thing that I found interesting was that during this seminar Tom was "bulked up" and during the 1993 UK seminar, Tom was off steroids for some time and retired from competition. Tom's face looked very different - he held a lot of water in his face and specifically his cheeks as many have noted.

Steroids are not the death drugs the media says they are and from what I can tell, the only side effect Tom suffered was some slight bloating in his face. He's still alive and healthy today at age 50 plus.

Steroids:

Steroids were the next topic of discussion. Tom wasn't trying to recommend steroids, but encourage safe use and no abuse of the drugs. Abuse of ANYTHING can be hazardous. Tom said that he didn't feel that steroids created top athletes. He said that steroids do work and that it is a personal choice to use them or not. He said blood essays should be done periodically if they are used. He said that if your eyes turn yellow or your face turns weird you may be overusing.

Tom said the most he has ever used and the most he would recommend for his body weight is 100 mg a day - this is BARELY over what would be recommended as a rookie cycle on message boards today! Amazing...and I do believe him, because Tom was open enough to discuss steroids as it was, so why would he feel the need to lie? I doubt that he would. Plus, abuse was less rampant back in the day.

Steroids only became so dominant in bodybuilding in the 1990s. Not to say Dorian did more drugs than anyone else, but his physique was definitely one that needed to be caught up with by his fellow competitors and which would require more roids to do so. Tom seemed to be an advocate of anabolic steroids.

Tom said Arnold liked Dianabol. Dianabol is anabolic as well as androgenic. He said that androgenic drugs cause more sarcoplasm enhancement and anabolic ones cause more muscle gains. He was getting fairly scientific in his seminar. His honesty with steroids made this DVD worth buying alone!

Tom said that sometimes he uses HCG offcycle. Tom said that he was avoiding a lot of the risk involved by avoiding abuse of steroids, but that there are still risks involved and he wasn't trying to rationalize steroid use - very intelligent statement I might add. Tom said that sometimes having drug tests for contests will just encourage athletes to do other things to get around the test, which have the potential for danger. Another excellent point.

Tom spoke about the importance of mental attitude again. I found this section to be very motivating. You need the right mindset AND the right training and nutrition program to succeed as best as you can. One without the other and your gains will not be as good as they otherwise could be.

Tom was explaining that he will eat between 2,000 to 3,500 calories per day depending on whether he was cutting for a contest or off-season. This was a surprise to me since I would have expected that Tom ate more but I had previously heard that Tom did not eat a lot. He went on to speak about his love for squatting and it was amazing how much he was into it. I wonder how far other bodybuilders would develop their legs if they had the same intensity and mindset as time towards leg training.

Tom finished the presentation with some great posing. He posed to the song "Start me up" and looked fantastic.

Overall Review:

This was another excellent GMV DVD!! I continually say that I have no idea where bodybuilding would be without Wayne and GMV going out and filming these seminars that NOBODY else would have filmed. To produce such DVDs for such a niche audience is very high risk and comes with great opportunity cost. Don't look at bodybuilding movies in the same manner as Hollywood movies because they are not the same. One thing to note is that this seminar was from 1984 and the video and sound quality was consistent with that era.

That being said, it was good quality, just exactly what I would expect for an older production. The sound quality was great and everything was very clear. This is an excellent addition to any bodybuilding collection, especially those who are fans of Tom Platz and also those who like to see professionalism in bodybuilding Q&A sessions. The seminar was also long, being a two hours DVD, so you get a lot of bang for your buck. You do not get seminars like this these days!

DVD REVIEW by Matt Canning of bodybuildingpro.com

 Back to GMV-29/30DVD.