Customer Reviews

Gorilla Suit: My Adventures in Bodybuilding

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have never really folllowed compeitive bodybuilding, but recently decided it was time to get in shape. In my quest to transform myself I founf this book written by Bob Paris, about his journey through competitive bodybuilding, and his eventual withdrawal from it. Reading his story I have to new found respect for the sport, and most of all for him, as he turned way from the body building establishment because of value conflicts. After reading this book, I'll never be able to look at a Weider product the same way.

"Gorilla Suit" is the name Bob Paris gives his set of fabulous muscles.

I really, REALLY enjoyed this book! We get the run down from Bob starting off as an awkward teenager finding the weights room in his high school gym, unused and dusty when he goes looking for a fan for a teacher. He lifts a few weights, likes the way he feels then starts training. From there we read about his trip to LA, to the 'big gyms' like World Gym and Gold's, where Arnie et al are working out. It is really is a rags to riches story, as when he first goes to LA he is sleeping in the back of his car.

Bob Paris takes on the titles of Mr LA, Mr California right up to his dream title, Mr Universe, the same spot Arnold Schwartzenegger occupied.

Most interesting in this book is Bob's struggle with Joe Weider -apparently the man, his companies and IFBB (international Federation of Body Building) were all inter-related and competitions quite political. Bodybuilders survived on endorsement contracts from supplement companies, and at the time Weider's companies had a monopoly on the industry and bodybuilders. Amazingly too, most bodybuilders took copious amounts of drugs and steroids, until I read this book I naively had no idea.

And Bob's story is personal too, his struggle with the discipline of maintaining his 'gorilla suit', relationships and being true to himself in an industry that isn't -is fascinating.

Definitely a keeper.

We've all had lives that sometimes are a bit different. Bob Paris has written about his, and how he was able to accomplish his achievements in his personal life as well as in the bodybuilding world. When it became clear that because of Bob's sexual preferance he would never be allowed to reign in the bodybuilding world, the man still had enough awareness of himself to not hide his beliefs. Yes, it cost him in the competitive world of sports but, as this book proves, it made him a better person for acknowledging his beliefs and not trying to hide them and become what everyone in the sport wanted him to be. So many have hidden what they believe. Paris had the guts (and he paid the cost) of not jumping on the bandwagon, but, instead, sticking with his beliefs for himself.

I enjoyed learning more about Bob Paris' early experiences in Indiana. However, the book is quite short on details of his most (in)famous relationship with Rod Jackson. I know that the breakup of any relationship has a profound effect on the people involved, and it would have been nice to hear his reactions to it.

As for the bodybuilding aspect, the book was quite enjoyable, not shying away from the more controversial aspects of the sport (steroid abuse, the Weiders, etc.).

It's nice to see the brains behind the muscle, and I look forward to more from this author.

Bob Paris takes the chance to tell us his personal story as well as the evolution of the bodybuilding world in the last twenty years. "Gorilla suit" is a very well written autobiography, with an unusual sensitivity. Paris takes a boldly stance against some of the worst sides of bodybuilding, and he doesn't mince words against some of the people involved as well. The author tells us his life very candidly: his struggle against the odds to win his way in the competitions, the use of steroids, the people who tried to cheat him and the ones that helped him. I found in this book many thought-provoking passages, but in the same time the style is clean and easy to read. Bob Paris has been successful in life AND in bodybuilding with his own personal style.

Back in the late 80's I was seriously into weight training/bodybuilding on the average of 5 or more days per week. I did it for the sheer love of doing it, not as someone with competitive aspirations (or the right genetics for bodybuilding even if I had aspirations:))

I bought many books on bodybuilding, starting w/ Arnold's (no last name necessary) encyclopedia. I also spent a small fortune buying up muscle mags each month like crazy. While certainly Arnold was one of my favorites of all time (I still think no one can touch him regarding the combination of size and symmetry he had), the guys I could relate to the most back then were primarily the symmetry guys like Zane, Nubret, LaBrada, Benfatto and Bob Paris. If I could have picked a body to have for myself, those would have been the types of models I'd have chosen rather than the Lee Haney's or Dorian Yates type of physique.

I remember all those years ago, reading Bob's "coming out of the closet" story in Ironman. I was probably as surprised as everyone else was. It didn't change my positive opinion of him as a bodybuilder or person (from what I had read about him) in any way. In fact after the surprise wore off I had to commend him for having the sheer guts to do what he did (for the record I am a heterosexual male but not a homophobic one). He had to know it was going to upset the powers that be (ie. the Weider empire).

I recently took Bob's book, "Gorilla Suit", out from my library and I was really impressed, once more, with his candor. I also found his life story to be very interesting. The story of a lost soul searching to find his path in the world. His innocence regarding the nature of the field of bodybuilding and his desire to achieve his dreams was compelling to me.

I didn't find this book to be a sour grapes thing at all. In fact in the end of the book he says that the best feeling he ever had in his life was when he was announced the winner of his major titles. Still, the fact is that he revealed a lot of what IS wrong w/ bodybuilding. All one has to do is look at the physiques in the current magazines to see how obviously "juiced up" these guys are.

They've taken a sport that could be so inspirational and motivational to so many people and have turned it into a freak show of sorts, taking it into very unhealthy realm. The extreme use of drugs in most professional bodybuilding shows (w/rare natural shows being a tiny minority) has given these athletes physiques that are not human looking. I commend Bob for always remaining true to his vision of what a body could look like. Even when he used drugs to stay competitive he looked more like a statue of a Greek God rather than a cartoon super hero.

One point I'd like to end with. I read the book "muscle" many years ago by that fellow Fussel. While that was certainly an interesting take on the bodybuilding scene, there is one factor that I can't ignore when looking at that compared w/ the Paris book. Bob Paris was a world class bodybuilder, he had been pretty high up on the mountain and speaks from inside the bodybuilding world from that perspective whereas Fussel was a non-entity in the bodybuilding world.

While that doesn't invalidate Fussel's book, I just find that Paris' book just has that extra credibility factor by being written by a guy who was a major player in the field regardless of whether he won the Olympia or not. Let's face it, in a field as subjective as bodybuilding it's hard to say that someone is the best because best isn't etched in stone. Franco Columbu certainly could have possibly beaten Arnold at least one time if they were both the same height, and Lee Labrada (in my opinion) could have done the same to Lee Haney at least a couple of time if he were Lee's height.

Anyway, I think that Bob Paris tells a riveting story of his life in the world of bodybuilding. It's only his personal perspective, but I came away from it feeling that he was completely honest in how things unfolded for him.

Also, while he criticizes Joe Weider (he's not the only one, even Arnold in "Education Of A Bodybuilder" speaks of the fact that Joe Weider had no problem buying a steak dinner for a competitor one day and then screwing him in a business deal the next), he also credits Joe as well with the success he had as a bodybuilder. Some reviews tried to make it as if Bob does nothing but rag on Weider and that's not the case at all. From all accounts, Weider and his brother Ben have a monopoly in the bodybuilding world and that is not healthy for ANY profession.

Highly recommended!

I remember seeing Bob Paris when he was in Singapore, and I was in my early-teens. I was with my parents at the Lobby of the Hotel. Wow, feels like a life-time ago... and maybe it has been.

I guess because of this, my affinity with the narrative of the book is alittle more special than any other reader.

This is NOT about Reps, Sets, Posing or Fitness Strategies. This is an auto-biography about Bob Paris... or actually just the segment on his growing up years and some scalding issues with the "Sport" of Bodybuilding. I use the term "Sport" loosely due to the nature of Politicking and the eventual dissolution of the IFBB's probationary status by the Olympic committee, even as a Demonstration Sport.

IF YOU ARE A WANNABE (or, want-to-be-a) PROFESSIONAL BODYBUILDER, READ THIS BOOK!!

Honestly written about the darker aspect of the sport: the steroids, the illusion and the facade of this glamourous hyper-masculine display of the male physique, I guess Paris wishes to find an aspect that will tie-in to the spiritual if not intellectual aspect from the purely Physical that the sports provide, and had kept him 'alive' during his more trying times.

It's not a Bad read, in fact, I never expected the level of language or some of the images that leaves a memorable mark in the reader's imagination. The "lock of hair" like a "comma" on his mother's face is hauntingly real to me, or Joe Weider's notorious accent translated and described as an- off key wood-wind instrument quashed under a heavy truck" (well-done Bob). The language is simple but succinct, and despite the conversational grammar and vocabulary that Paris displays in his conversations through out the book, "tongue-in-cheek"wise, I cannot but suspect he had the secret aid of a very good editor or a ghost-writer:P!! (kiddin' Big Guy).

The format of the book is in a modern Narrative where it is decidedly Post-Modern which reflects on the fragmentation that Paris feels at the moment of the Book's writing. The book reveals the oft-repeated cycles that Paris lived throughout his life so far... and by the end of the book, the discerning reader could not but feel a slight prophetic sense as to where he might be heading next.

I don't know about the level of Honesty or the verificacy of the subjects dealt within, it might be a 'clean-up'ed or 'dramatized' version of his life, but that would be going into the realm of Academic dispute on the issue of "Authorship" and "Literary Genres". It reads simple enough and honest enough to feel real. So, to all you skeptics out there, I think it is as candid as it'll be if Paris were to be narrating to us over a repast. I find his faith in 'divine' intercessions to be extremely heart-warming, and it did put a smile on my face.

It's a pretty good read, it offers a short but definitive insight into the politics... I would also recommend Samuel W. Fussell's "MUSCLE : Confession of an unlikely bodybuilder", who handles the topic much more satirically and with an erudite flair. (see my review on that book).

I finished Paris' gorilla suit in one sitting, sans the Zinfadel (heh-heh), in a nutshell, it is honest, engaging, and a real waker-upper, for those who are still trap in the glamourous glossies of various muscle mags on the shelves today! it's a good read! Bob, if you are perchance reading this: "Thanks".

This book is great for those people trying to make a comeback in the world of weightlifting. Bob Paris describes his moods and feelings. I like the part when Bob as a teenager really want to work out to the point of making sacrifices. From sleeping in his car behind the gym because he had no money for rent to years later working out in his own personal gym with a grandeur view of the Pacific ocean. Bob is gay yet is a great book to read even though one may not approve of homosexuality. Bob is very descriptive of his early years as a teenager into weightlifting. His own story of finding an abondoned universal weightlifting apparatus in the gym storage room and his first attempts of lifting. Then years later when he was on the pro circuit the problems he encountered not only with drugs but the whole organization. I highly recommend this book for an inside view of bodybuilding and the tremendous discpline it takes to overcome all of the obstacles.

Being a gay bodybuilder and into a sport where there is a lot of explotation and all around craziness,I was epecting this book to be a real page turner.A great deal of the book tells of Bob's childhood and troubled adolescence.I wanted to skim ahead to the "juicy stuff".I decided to be patient.The juicy sruff never arrived.I've read other accounts of the bodybuilding lifestlye and this was the dullest.I'm sure Bob left some stories out to protect the innocent.Even the gay issue wasn't really explored.While I admit Bob had me turning the pages with anticipation,I kept wishing he'd get ot the point.I found his growing up years touching and disturbing,and when the book was over,it was indeed as if Bob Paris had told me his story personally,but it wasn't the story I was expecting to hear.

This is the story of Bob Paris and his rise in the bodybuilding world. The book starts from his earliest days as a child in Indiana coming across muscle magazines and tinkering with weights. The book then takes us later to California where Bob struggles and hits upon some VERY difficult times. Right when you think he can't go anymore he manages to start winning some bodybuilding shows and enjoying a certain level of success. Unfortunately, things are never as pretty as they seem. The Weiders (Joe and Ben) have controlled bodybuilding for years and did so at the writing of this book. Since they owned most of the major magazines in the sport that offered any kind of publicity and also ran the IFBB federation it was best to stay on their good side. There are many stories of them keeping an athlete's money, taking back certain promises, and basically running a monopoly of the sport. Bob had difficulties with Joe Weider from the start, which probably were only worsened by the fact that Bob was gay. At the time most publications (whether they admitted it or not) did not want an openly gay man in their magazines. Nevertheless Bob grew disillusioned with the sport partly because of the Weider's and also partly because of ethical issues such as drug use within the sport. It's a shame because even though he did manage to win some big amateur contests he never really fully achieved his potential as a pro.
Therefore, he eventually decided to walk away but did leave us with details of his career in the form of this book.
The one problem I had with the book is that I would have liked for it to be a little more developed. I also didn't really care for the style that bounces back and forth from the present to the past but I still thought it was a good read.
It's a very eye-opening book about the bodybuilding world that is sure to touch your emotions in one way or another.