 The Legend of
Wellness – Frank Zane
By: Philippe Matthews
When you mention the
name Frank Zane to a fitness or bodybuilding athlete, chances are their eyes
will widen in worship over the man who made bodybuilding symmetry the
standard of a quality physique. Frank Zane is a native to Pennsylvania and
a three-time Mr. Olympia winner from 1977-1979. He is truly one the most
notable bodybuilders in the history of the sport, defeating Arnold
Schwarzenneger in the 1968 Mr. Universe Competition in Miami, Florida, and
won Mr. Universe two more times in London, England in 1970 and 1972. In
1968, Frank also won the Mr. America in New York City, and Mr. World 1969 in
Brugge, Belgium. In his 22-year competitive career, Frank won over 150
awards and was inducted into the Joe Weider Bodybuilding Hall of Fame in
1994.
Frank Zane began
bodybuilding at age 14, out of a need to improve his physical well-being and
protect himself and his younger brother, Adam. As a straight ‘A’ student,
Frank recalls, “My Brother and I were the only Protestant kids in a
totally Catholic town. We were persecuted! My brother was a precocious
kid, a very good athlete and he would get into a lot of fights; so, I’d have
to break them up. I wanted to feel more secure so, I tried different things
like boxing, wrestling and all of that stuff. Then I discovered
bodybuilding.” Frank trained briefly at a local YMCA. then bought a
weight lifting set for home and he says, “In two weeks, muscles were
coming out all over! That really encouraged me, so I was very hungry for
it. I pursued it until I was about 18, then I went into my first
competition.”
Frank graduated first in his high school
class of 1960 in Edwardsville, Pennsylvania, winning a college scholarship.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from California State
University-Los Angeles in 1977. Frank also received a Bachelor of Science
Degree in Education from Wilkes University, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in
1964, and was awarded a Master of Arts Degree in Experimental Psychology
from California State University - San Bernardino, California in 1990.
Frank taught
Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Natural Sciences, Physical Education, and
Psychology in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, and Los Angeles,
California. from 1964 through 1977. Frank loved teaching because he wanted
a job that would allow him to train and work at the same time. “Teaching
seemed to fit the bill,” says Frank. “It wasn’t a lot of money, but
I had he summers off.” In 1969, Frank moved to California and earned a
degree in psychology, while landing another teaching job while training.
Shortly thereafter, Frank moved and taught in Florida where he met his wife,
Christine, and soon won the Mr. Universe and Mr. America.
Zane’s Determination = Zane’s Success
Frank’s father, Adam
Zane was an Electrician in the coalmines of Philadelphia, and also had a
radio and television repair business. Frank’s mother, a housewife and
seamstress, died recently at age 81, while Frank’s father died when he was
only 57. “He was quite unhealthy because he smoked and drank,” Frank
lamented. Frank says his father’s health became a reverse motivation for
him – causing him to make health and being in shape a number one priority in
his life. But, Frank never got support from his family, friends, or peers
as a youngster. He recalls, “When I was growing up, nobody encouraged me
to do this. Everybody criticized me. There are only a handful of people
who didn’t. This was the fifties and my coaches in school use to say,
‘You’re going to get muscle bound and slow. But, I just got bigger and
stronger. I was taking typing in my senior year and this skinny guy, who
was my Typing Teacher, said to me, ‘Zane, you’re never going to learn how to
type, forget it. Your fingers are muscle bound.’ It was like that with
everything. Everybody telling me you can’t do it and I was like, ‘Well, I’m
going to show you and I did. At the end of the year, I was the best typist
in the class. I was a little slow getting started, but after a while I was
far better than anybody in the class. It's always been like that. It would
take me a while, and then I would surpass everybody.”
There is an old saying
that says, ‘It’s not the plan that failed, it’s failure to plan’, and
Frank became a master at preparation and planning in all aspects of his
life, especially bodybuilding. He explains why he was so successful in
bodybuilding. “Because it took me a long time. I took my time, built my
body and I realized I have a good structure for bodybuilding; I’m just not
big. I have a small bone structure, but I have wide shoulders and narrow
hips. I realized I’m not going to be the biggest guy ever so, why focus on
that? I’m going to beat these people on shape and proportion. So, I
prepared. I worked on my posing and I practiced standing on stage. I would
go out, get a tan and stand in the sun, while visualizing as if I was
onstage. So, by the time the contest came around, I was well-seasoned.”
Being one of the most
famous physiques in fitness has allowed Frank to appear on ESPN, ABC, CBS,
and NBC television as Expert Commentator for bodybuilding competitions since
1978. Frank has also appeared on TV commercials and infomercials for
Soloflex and Suzanne Sommers’ Torso Track. He has guest starred in the TV
Series, “Hart to Hart”; and hosted “Infinite Power Workout",
for a total of 95 episodes, that aired in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New
York. At age 58, Frank is still in the best shape of his life because of
his discipline and commitment toward excellence. “I still have physical
goals but, I got the competition thing out of my system.” Frank says.
Zane’s Reframe
Although Frank had a
successful bodybuilding career, life gave Frank some crucial messages before
he realized it was time to retire from bodybuilding. Close to the end of
his career Frank says, “There seemed like there was something in me where
I would always screw up in little ways. For example, in 1980, I had a bad
accident right before the Olympia Contest. It was a near death experience,
I almost bled to death, but I came back eight weeks before the Mr. Olympia,
and I was in phenomenal shape, ready and poised to be in the best shape of
my life, but after almost bleeding to death and being in the hospital for a
week and a half, I lost almost fifteen pounds! So, I went into the contest
anyway and I was really muscular, but I wasn’t near my best.” In his
last contest before retiring, Frank had yet another accident. He recalls,
“It was as if I was self-destructing. I had a bicycle accident and tore
my rotator cuff. I couldn’t lift my arm for a month! So, I got all of
these messages, and it was like the warrior going to battle, can’t rest
after the victory, and must keep going back until he gets knocked of the
horse. That’s the way I went out.”
After his retirement,
Frank began sharing his years of experience through his bodybuilding,
fitness, nutrition, and motivation seminars around the world. He’s
instructed weight training to over 3000 clients at the Zane Haven
Bodybuilding Learning Center, in Palm Springs, California, and
currently teaches the Zane Experience from his private gym and operates a
fitness mail order business in La Mesa, California. But, Frank feels his
current success is measured by the belief system that he developed when
nobody believed in him – including his father. Frank says, “Nobody every
believed in me and that was my motivation. My father was totally against it
[bodybuilding]. But, once I started getting into the newspapers and TV, he
became proud of me and bragged about me. But, he never really complimented
me, never said anything good to me – never talked to me at all. He was
missing -- he wasn’t there. I think I was trying to win his approval, but
in the end, I think he was proud of me for what I accomplished. That’s been
the story of my life. People saying I can’t do it, and I do it!”
Having a degree in
psychology truly helped Frank to respond to negative dialogue differently.
“You basically have two choices; when you are put down or invalidated – you
can identify with the aggressor and go along with it. Saying, ‘Yeah, you’re
right, I’m a loser.’ Or, you can do something called reaction
formation--which is what I always did. I would say, ‘You’re wrong! You may
not know it; but you’re going to find out that you’re wrong because I’m
going to prove you’re wrong. Sure, I was discouraged at first, but I was
always able to turn it around. What I learned is there is motivation in
everything. There’s always energy tied up in everything that happens
whether it seems aversive or positive. You have to use that energy in a
positive way to help you grow. It’s as simple as that – you have to find
motivation in everything.”
Frank advice to people
wanting to overcome negative thoughts, words and actions, is to reframe your
outlook. “You take the incident and you put in a positive perspective.
For instance, take bodybuilding; you lose a contest and one guy wins and
everybody else loses. Most of them think they should have won. So, what do
they do? They complain and say it was fixed; it was political, and so on.
They don’t take responsibility for it. They’re truly losers, and if they
keep that attitude, they’ll always be losers. You can say, ‘I didn’t win,
why?’ which is what I did. I’d ask the judges and get their opinion.”
Zane Fitness & Philosophy
 Frank,
along with his wife Christine, currently do private training for clients
wanting to improve their physique and increase their potential. Frank says,
“People come to town, they stay at a nearby hotel and they come over for
3, three-hour sessions. It’s just them and me. I workout with them and we
go over everything and I coach them one-on-one. When they leave, they know
exactly what to do. They can come back at anytime for follow-ups and
telephone consultation or, email me and send me photos.” Frank enjoys
his work. “It’s good for me, because I’m doing something I like and I’m
good at. I have a great gym.”
Frank trains his
clients in what he calls a Three-Way Split. “The first day is a
three-hour session. Half of which is an orientation to the program-- how to
use the workouts and how to make progressions with it. Then, train biceps,
back, forearms and abs – the pulling muscles. The next day, we go over the
nutrition program, revamp their eating and then train legs – thighs, calves
and abs again. On the third day, we’ll go over stress management, energy
conservation, developing a positive attitude and train chest, shoulders and
triceps.”
The mind, body
connection is extremely important to overall health and wellness and Frank
is a proponent of meditation and using mental power. He’s developed a
series of audiotapes for energy and relaxation along with the Frank Zane
Mind Body Machine, the Frank Zane Leg Blaster and many other
peak-performance equipment for men and women wanting, to improve their body
image inside and out. For more information on Frank Zane and the Zane
Experience, log onto:
www.frankzane.com.
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