INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH
JERRY SCALESSE

Rx: What is your full name? Jerry Scalesse

Rx: Where were you born? Brooklyn, NY

Rx: How did you get started in bodybuilding? Who was the biggest influence on you in the gym?
I played baseball in high school and started lifting to get a little stronger and I kinda liked the look so I went out and bought Muscle Builder Magazine (Arnold was on the cover hitting a side chest pose). From that point on, I gave up baseball and just started training. One of the biggest influences on me, at the gym, was Steve Michalik. He was one of the first Pro Bodybuilders I met. He taught me how to train every angle of the body and also the showed me the intensity needed to get big.

Rx: Who is Bob Gruskin and how did he affect your life as a bodybuilder?
Bob Gruskin was like my second dad. I met Bob in 1978 at the Colonial America in Orange, New Jersey, YMCA. He came up to me and said that a friend of his told him to watch out for me on stage. That friend happened to be John Defendis. Bob was the reason for all the success I had in bodybuilding. The turning point in my career was when he came up to me in a show I was guest posing at. I was fat and out of shape. He said to me “Look, your wasting my time and yours. We’ll always be friends, but you decide what you want to do.” I sat in my car devastated for about an hour. That moment turned my career around. Bob was always straightforward and I respected that. He was loyal to people unlike some of the guys he helped out.

Rx: Who were some of your training partners over the years?
Some of the well known guys I trained with were: Steve Michalik (Mr. America), John Defendis (IFBB Pro), Joe Fulco (Teen USA), Mike Quinn (IFBB Pro), Johnny Moya (IFBB Pro), Victor Terra ( Mr. Universe), Jimmy Quinn (IFBB Pro), Rob Russo (Jr. National Champion), Jose Figuroa (Runner Up, Nationals Middleweight). One of my best friends, Sal Princiotta won the Muscle Mania back in the 1990’s. Some Athletes I trained with: Lyle Alzado, Al Oerto (4 time gold medallist in discus),and Jimmy Pellecia (Strong Man).

Rx: What gyms did you train at back in the 1980’s?
I trained at Olympic Health Club, East Coast Gym, Bev Francis’ Gym, Ultimate Gym, Gold’s California, Physique 2000 in England, and Walter O’Malley’s Gym in England.

Rx: What bodybuilders did you admire as you were coming up in the ranks?
Rich Gaspari for his perseverance and drive to get to the top. John Defendis for bringing awesome intensity into the gym.

Rx: What were some of the titles you won? Which title are you proudest of?
Northeastern America, Jr. USA Light Heavyweight Class, Mr. Universe, Mr. World, and runner-up to Pro Mr. Universe. I am most proud of the Mr. Universe. It was the hardest I ever trained and dedicated myself to one show. Also, after reading about all the former NABBA Universe winners, it was a great thrill going over to England and winning that contest.

Rx: Did you ever train with the notorious Steve Michalik? Was he really as intense as all the stories?
The first time I walked into Mr. America’s Gym, I met Steve Michalik. I was 19 at the time. We started talking about training and he told me to come back tomorrow so he could put me through a workout. Little did I know what I was in store for? I walked in and it was a leg day. All I know is we started training legs and we were up to about the 50th or 60th set and Steve said “Get on the leg extension machine”. The next thing I know, after the set of leg extensions he said, “Get up, you’re going to run around the building”. Here I was, running around the building on Hempstead Turnpike then going back into the gym to do another set of leg extensions (this went on for 3 more cycles). From that time on, I realized this is what you have to do to be great. That should answer your question.

Rx: Do you think if you had competed against today’s bodybuilders you would have been just as successful?
Yes, I think I would be just as successful. I would still have the same shape. I really don’t have that many weak points. My weight was still 220lb back then. When I was ripped up (with my shape), I looked about 20 pounds heavier. Even though today’s guys are much bigger, it still has to do with shape and muscle quality.

Rx: Are you upset that you never competed in the IFBB and, instead, chose to remain in NABBA?
No, I’m not one to look back and regret what I have done. As much as the IFBB had more opportunity, I made a commitment and I was loyal to NABBA the years I was there. When I was competing with NABBA, I had the opportunity to guest pose at two NPC shows which no one from other organizations did. Thanks to Jim Manion, President of the NPC, in 1989, I guest posed at the national qualifier in North Carolina. The guy running the show was the North Carolina District Chairman and I knew I was going to be under the spotlight (with this guest posing) so I trained for that guest posing like I was training for a contest. After I came off stage, he asked me if I was going to hit the 1990 USA, which was an IFFB Pro qualifier. I told him I was sitting out all of 1989 so I could hit the 1990 NPC USA. While I was preparing for that show, they announced that they would be drug testing the show that year so I didn’t bother continue training for the show. 1989 was the last time I got on stage again-- I was only 29 then. Four years later, I got the bug again to train I got my weight up to 270 and I was going to hit the 1993 IFBB North America. One night I was out partying and got fucked up driving home and I totaled my car on the expressway. It put a dent in my training, so I just figured it wasn’t in the cards to get back on stage again.

Rx: What well-known bodybuilders did you compete against in NABBA? Which ones did you beat?
I competed against Sammy Iouniddes (I beat him in the short class in the Mr. Universe). He later went on to become an IFBB Pro. I also beat the Jeff King in the Pro Mr.Universe.

Rx: Did you ever consider moving out to Venice, CA?
In 1987, after the Mr. Universe, I went out to Gold’s in California to do some photo shoots. My good friend Ed Conners told me that I should move out there. He told me it would be good for my career. I even had an opportunity to buy into a Gold’s Gym in North Ridge, California. I was ready to pack all my stuff up in 1988 thinking the deal was going to go good, and then the whole thing fell through. I ended up staying here. I went to England to guest pose for a couple of months and then came back and started training for the Pro Universe.

Rx: Someone told me that you only did squats to build those massive legs? Is that true?
Yeah, the first time I ever walked in the gym I had never done legs before. Someone put me on the squat rack and I ended up knocking out 185 for 20 reps. To me, you need to squat to build massive legs. Squats were also one of my favorite exercises. One of my most insane workouts was squatting for an hour straight. I ended up doing 27 sets of squats in an hour. Most people don’t wanna do legs with me because they know they will be crawling out of the gym after the workout.

Rx: I also heard that, like myself, you believe that you need to eat lots of protein and fat to get huge. Tell me why you never embraced the tuna and rice diet?
Back when I was training, I ate a lot of protein and ate almost as many carbs and fats pre-contest as I did off-season. Also, off-season, I ate tons of red meat, pizza, McDonalds, Burger King, and anything else I could get my hands on. To me, if you’re training hard enough, you can eat whatever you want and burn it off. Today, you try to explain to these kids that you have to eat “everything” to grow and they look at you like you have 3 heads. Then, I tell them if they think that Dorian Yates or Ronnie Coleman got that big by eating tuna and rice, they’re out of their mind. The reason why some of these kids don’t eat fats or carbs is because their training is so pathetic that they don’t need any energy for the workouts they do. I remember when training for the contests, I used to train to such exhaustion that I was looking for a Big Mac and fries when I left the gym.

Rx: I heard that you did a seminar at Dorian Yates’s gym before he even won A Night of Champions. What did you think of him back then?
After the 1987 Universe, I stayed in England for 3 months touring. I was doing a seminar at a gym, and after I was done, this huge guy came up to me and introduced himself as Dorian Yates. We started talking about what stuff was good to take and just bullshitted about different things. When I came back to the U.S., Dorian was training for the Mr. Britain (which he won) and I told a lot of people,” Wait till you see this guy coming over from England; he is probably going to win the Night of the Champions and the Mr. Olympia (one day)”. That was even before he hit his peak.

Rx: How did you book so many appearances throughout Europe? Most bodybuilders today never even get to visit the European countries.
After the Universe show in 1987, I started getting seminars and guest posings right after the contest. My good friend, Walter O’Mally, who was a long time NABBA competitor put me up in his house for 3 months and my other friends, Hazel and Brian Robison, put me up in a house as well. Walter and Brian knew a lot of the gyms and contests in England. People would contact me, directly, at their house to guest pose and do seminars. After I finished, I guess I made a good impression on the English people. I went back there in1988 for 3 more months. I personally think I got a lot of appearances because I was straight up front with seminars in the gyms and I was in good shape for the guest posing. I also did a commercial in England and an ad for a trucking company that was on a poster.

Rx: Which bodybuilders did you meet when you traveled through Europe?
One of my closest friends in Europe was Charles Clairmont. I met Charlie at Bob Cross’s Physique 2000 Gym. We ended up becoming good friends and I trained with Charlie for 3 months before I went back to the states. I knew Charlie was going to be the main competition when I came back in September to compete in the Pro Universe in England. One of the biggest thrills in England was meeting Dianne and Wag Bennit. Dianne had interviewed me for a magazine. These two were the ones that took Arnold in when he went to England. They also have this famous church that they turned into a gym and when I went inside, it still had most of the remains of the church. On the altar, they had a big Cardboard Cut-Out of Arnold. The gym was filled with old-time weights and machines.

Rx: Have you helped train or advise any well-known bodybuilders?
Probably the best bodybuilder I trained was IFBB Pro Johnny Moya. Here was a guy that was a middleweight and his shoulders were the width of a heavyweight. When I first met John, he came up to me and told me that he wanted to get big. The first thing I told him was that he had to eat a lot of food, train really hard, and take some anabolics. I also helped Rob Russo who was a top National caliber bodybuilder. I also helped Milos Sarcev with his posing a few weeks before the Night of the Champions (while he was training at my gym.

Rx: What do you think about the current state of affairs in the world of bodybuilding? What would you do to fix it?
It seems that bodybuilding has come along way and I guess that its good that guys are getting contracts from supplement companies. Also, the prize money in the shows is a lot more money. The bodybuilders can thank Arnold for creating the Arnold Classic and bringing more money into the sport. Arnold forced the Weider’s to have to bring in more money to the Mr. Olympia. I know it will never happen, but I think if everybody got together and formed some type of union years ago, a lot more guys could have stayed in the sport for a long time. If bodybuilding had union reps like baseball it would be a lot more rewarding for the pro competitors.

Rx: I understand that you used to (or still do) own part of GOLD’S GYM (in Deer Park, NY). Tell us a little bit about the gym and some of the bodybuilding stars that have trained there?
Yes I am still part owner of the Gold’s Gym in Deer Park with one of my best friends, Mike D’Modio. Also, there is a Gold’s Gym in Smithtown and there should be another 3 or 4 gyms in the next years to come. The gym is probably one of the best-equipped gyms on Long Island. Other than bodybuilders, we had WWE Wrestling star Taz training here. In the summer a lot of NY Jets train here. In the 90’s we had WBF stars train here, we had IFBB Pro Jim Quinn, Jimmy Pellecia, Rob Russo, Johnny Moya, and Sal Princiotta.

Rx: Jerry, I’ve heard you tell some pretty insane stories about all the crazy things that you’ve been witness to. What is the best bodybuilding “story” you can think of to tell our eager readers?
I was training a friend for a big completion and he called me up and said, “Something is going on with my shoulder here, you have to come over my house and check it out.” When I get to his house, he takes his shirt off and there is this big gigantic, purple, discolored, abscess on his shoulder. I got on the phone and called a friend of mine who was in med school and told him to come over and take a look at it. When he came over, he took a look at the shoulder and told him it was full of pus (it must have got contaminated from whatever stuff he took). My friend and the med student went to the bathroom and they yelled for me to get them a plastic bag. The next thing I know, he’s lacerating my friend’s shoulder and a stream of blood shot out like a bullet. He ended up pulling out 3 syringes full of pus and blood from the shoulder and put it in the plastic bag. He sewed up the shoulder and the kid was able to get to the gym two days later. He ended up winning the show 6 weeks later. Things you do to win a show!

Rx: Do you have a website or an email address for people to contact you?
You can contact me at MrU87@hotmail.com

Rx: Would you like to “plug” anything?
I’m in the process of creating a website which should be done in a couple months. It I will have my Phase Training System that I used in the 1980’s.

Rx: What do you think of the current crop of top bodybuilders?
I can’t really comment on some of the top bodybuilders but on the looks of some of the physiques, there is no question they are huge. It just seems there is not a lot of hard trained muscle. It seems that the same winners are winning the big shows every year and they’re the ones that are doing the work in the gym where it counts.

Rx: Jerry, I’m going to say one name. Respond with whatever comes to mind:
Lee Haney? The Best
Dorian Yates? Unbeatable
Arnold Schwarzenegger? The greatest, my idol.
Charles Clairmont? Great Friend
Bob Gruskin? Most trusted friend in bodybuilding
John Defendis? Insanity
Steve Michalik? The master of insanity.
Ronnie Coleman? From another world.
Dan Duchaine? The master of designer ‘roids

JERRY SCALESSE can be reached at (631) 586-4653 (DEER PARK GOLD’S GYM) for personal training. He also specializes in strength and conditioning for high school and NCAA college athletics. Jerry has trained many individuals that have gone on to achieve Allstate honors in high school and All-American status in college.