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About Joe Weider
Born in 1920, Joseph Weider grew up in a tough neighborhood in Montreal during the Great Depression. An undersized child, Joe became easy prey for teenagers looking to score some quick change, which prompted him to head off to a Montreal gym to request a tryout with their wrestling team. The coach turned him down for fear he’d be hurt.Undaunted, Joe made his way to a local newsstand in search of inspiration. “I went to the local five-and-dime store, and I bought two magazines for a few pennies,” he recalls. “One was the 1930 edition of the Milo Barbell Co.’s magazine, Strength, and it really opened my eyes.”
Inspired by the message and images within their pages, Joe scavenged a local train yard for an old axle and two flywheels, which he cobbled into a makeshift barbell. He lifted, pumped and pressed the scrap metal endlessly, transforming his physique from scrawny to brawny. His reputation as a powerhouse quickly began to precede him throughout Montreal.
“Then somebody knocked at my parents’ door and asked for me,” he continues. “He said: ‘I represent the Verdun weightlifting club. Would you like to come try out for our team?’ So I said, ‘yes’ and walked down there. When I opened the gym door, I saw guys working out, supporting one another. I was mesmerized. That experience changed my life.”
At 17, Joe entered his first weightlifting contest, the Montreal District Senior Meet, where he competed as a middleweight. His total surpassed those of everyone in the light-heavyweight and heavyweight classes and earned him a national ranking.
“Because I started out in weightlifting, I still have a preference for these types of movements,” he admits. “Back in the day, I could continental clean and jerk well over 300 pounds and found that these movements gave me not only strength and muscularity, but speed and agility, as well.”
Letters and calls began inundating the Weider household with requests for Joe’s advice. Soon, he realized that he hadn’t the time to attend to each query. The solution? Create his own magazine.
With $7 in his pocket, he began to work on what would become the first issue of Your Physique, which he would publish in August 1940. Orders poured in immediately, and within only 18 months Joe had made himself a $10,000 profit. Two years later, Joe started the Weider Barbell Co., a mail order business, using his magazine to advertise its wares.
In 1946, Joe and his younger brother Ben rented Montreal’s Monument National Theater to host the first Mr. Canada contest, and they would form the International Federation of Bodybuilders on that night.
In 1965, Joe created the Mr. Olympia contest, which to this day is the premier event in bodybuilding. Among the most famous Mr. Olympia winners is Arnold Schwarzenegger, a seven-time titleholder. Joe went on to create the Ms. Olympia contest in 1980, and added the Fitness Olympia contest in 1995 and the Figure Olympia in 2003.
Joe revolutionized the fitness publishing industry by expanding Your Physique into a group of the world’s most successful fitness and bodybuilding titles, including Muscle & Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Flex, Men’s Fitness, Shape, Fit Pregnancy and Natural Health.
Today, Joe Weider maintains an active life, making public appearances and consulting for the magazines he founded. Nearing 90, he still trains with weights every morning.
