Fabulous Al Beckles, Iron Man magazine, by Wayne Gallasch, September 1974

To most people, the name Al Beckles suggests incredible arms and muscularity. “All he has to do is flex those arms and all else sinks into oblivion.” So wrote famous ‘Iron Man’ author Franklin Page after he first saw Al Beckles pose.

However, there is .a lot more to Beckles than just the best arms in the world today, as he has won just about every physique title available – Mr. Britain twice, Mr. United Kingdom, Mr. Europe twice (including 1973), Mr. World, Mr. Universe (IFBB) 1971 and a runner up IFBB Mr. Universe 1973 to Lou Ferrigno in Geneva.

Al was never better and could easily have beaten Lou with his greater maturity and muscularity, and had a very clear victory in the Mr. Europe. Although possessing a house full of trophies, Al has no intention of retiring and hopes to win the Mr. U also for a second time.

From Barbados, in the West Indies, Al started Olympic weight lifting as a teenager there. He had considerable success before badly injuring his back. At the age of 21 Beckles then moved to England to live, and recommenced weight training with the emphasis on bodybuilding to ease his back. For some years Al continued his physique training without any significant improvement in his back condition, and when aged 26, was encouraged to enter bis first physique contest, which he won!

Al was then hooked and continued to get bigger and better each year as the many titles testify. At 33, Al feels he has not yet reached his peak, which could be around 220 lbs. bodyweight in razor sharp condition. He currently weighs 210 lbs. at 5’8½”, with 19½” arms (my estimate) as Al never takes measurements.

The amazing thing about Beckles is that he loves training, and trains hard year in and year out and is always in top shape, Consequently, he is frequently called on to give exhibitions throughout Europe and can cut up for a show in 2 weeks.

After the Geneva Mr. Universe, Lou Ferrigno came up to Al to ask him what he did to develop such a fantastic, cut up back. Al’s modest reply was “power cleans with a medium to light weight, plus the usual back exercises.” I think you will agree from the photograph that no physique has a greater back development. It is also possibly a result of Al’s persistent efforts to overcome his back condition, turning a weakness into a real strong point.

Beckles trains 5 days a week at the Ministry of Defense where he is employed as a civil servant by the British Government. In their small gym, he is the only body builder, and maybe his awesome development has discouraged the others from becoming competitive!

Married, with two sons, Al is a quiet person who prefers to discuss the problems of bodybuilding as a sport, rather than talk about himself. However, he did disclose that he is a big eater of good, ordinary foods, Breakfast consists of porridge, eggs and bacon. Lunch at 11 a.m. includes eggs, meat and fruit and then a very big evening dinner mostly consisting of meat, to leave the body charged with protein while he is asleep.

Al uses all the regular exercises with heavy weight and says he has no secret or special exercises. He has fine, thin skin which helps emphasize the double split peak in the bicep. The other important thing with arm development is to have equal balance between bicep and triceps, and to train both muscles equally for this symmetry. Al has this rare balance which gives him such a superb arm development. Surprisingly Beckles has not had the publicity over the last few years that has been due to him, so we salute this physique champion and wish him further titles in the future.