Review - Brutal Bertil Fox Training with Phil Toppin DVD

REVIEW OF THE DVD!

This DVD is very interesting and is a one hour collage of Bertil Fox and his training and posing. The workouts are performed without a shirt on and in trunks to highlight Bertil's physique along the way.

A lot can be said about Bertil: in order to do so I will distinguish Bertil the bodybuilder from Bertil the person. CLICK HERE to learn more about Bertil.

First off, Bertil was underrated. If you watch this DVD, that becomes apparent. Fifth place in the 1983 Mr. Olympia Contest? Give me a break! He was pushing Samir to the edge and should have been a close second. Granted Samir looked incredible and deserved his victory, but Bertil had no business in fifth - it should have been an easy second place. Then on to the 1987 Mr. Olympia Contest - 12th place? Once again, this is crazy.

Underrated, no question about it.

Further - Bertil was one STRONG bodybuilder - one of the strongest around. He was able to bench press something in the range of 500 to 600 pounds and taking one look at his chest it was easy to see that he had such power. Honestly, Bertil quite easily had one of the best chests in the history of bodybuilding. One thing I always noticed about Bertil's chest training, and that this DVD confirmed, was that his cadence while doing dumbbell pressing movements was absolutely horrid. He had no timing at all. One side would go up at a completely separate time as the other. This was easily observed during every rep of dumbbell pressing movements. I also felt that his form was generally sloppy and that he could have upped his intensity by a bit. Clearly Bertil was a genetic mutant. He was no doubt the type of guy who could just look at food, weights, and steroids and grow.

The beginning of the DVD consisted of footage of Bertil and his training. It was interested to see Bertil train hard and heavy. He trains in a similar manner as many pros today, including Ronnie Coleman - using lighter weights of course but with what appeared to be the same degree of intensity. Although Bertil did not appear to take each set quite as fully as Ronnie usually does, his intensity could easily be seen.

Next Phil Toppin joined Bertil in the DVD. They were both working out outside in jeans using workout bands. This type of exercise strikes me as less valuable for muscle growth and more valuable for getting a pump ready (for example, backstage before a contest where posing would be in order. Bertil and Phil also did towel pulls outside. This is another technique commonly used when it comes to pumping up backstage before a contest. Bertil's arms looked enormous during this sequence, and they could easily stack up well with bodybuilders of today.

Bertil and Phil did some posing after their towel pulls and both of them looked fantastic, with Bertil having the edge in terms of overall muscularity.

Next Bertil did some pushups and then oiled himself up for some more poses. It was amazing how human he looked. Despite being a mass monster in his day, and huge even today to the average person, he just wasn't the cartoon character seen today. With bodybuilders today like Ronnie Coleman, Markus Ruhl, and Art Atwood, Bertil looked surprisingly ordinary despite his sheer size.

Bertil posed next, hitting the following poses:

Front Relaxed.
Hands on Hips Most Muscular.
Front Lat Spread.
Abs Pose.
Left Biceps Pose.
Front Double Biceps.
Right Side Chest.
Side Left Biceps Pose.
Rear Relaxed.
Rear Double Biceps.
Right Biceps Pose.
Crab Most Muscular.
Hands on Hips Most Muscular.
Arnold Pose.
Left Biceps.
Kneeling Front Double Biceps.
Kneeling Twisting Rear Double Biceps.
Kneeling Right Biceps Pose.
Crab Most Muscular (out of sight!).
Myth Pose.
Hands on Hips Most Muscular.
Back Pose.
Front Lat Spread.
Front Double Biceps.
Crab Most Muscular.
Most Muscular by Bertil
Crab Most Muscular.
Rear Relaxed.
Rear Double Biceps.
Rear Lat Spread.
Right Biceps Pose.
Right Side Pose.
Left Biceps Pose.
Left Side Pose.
Right Biceps Pose.
Rear Double Biceps.
Various Close Up Poses (Upper and Lower Body).

Next Bertil helped Phil with his oil and Phil went on to pose. He hit the following poses:

Front Double Biceps.
Right Biceps Pose.
Left Chest Pose.
Right Biceps Pose.
Arnold Pose.
Right Side Chest.
Left Side Triceps.
Right Biceps.
Left Biceps Pose.
Front Lat Spread
Twisting Back Poses
Rear Double Biceps
Rear Lat Spread
Right Biceps / Serratus Pose
Crab Most Muscular
Various Most Muscular Poses
Front Double Biceps
Right Biceps Pose
Front Double Biceps

Next Bertil and Phil posed together. Both bodybuilders looked incredible, of course with Bertil looking superior in terms of muscularity and overall balance.

Afterwards, Phil posed indoors, hitting the usual poses in fantastic shape. He did these poses in posing trunks and eventually oiled up and hit some more. Aside from posing, Phil also did some pumping up using workout bands again.

Next up on the DVD was Warren Frederick. Most of this portion of the DVD had him being oiled up backstage by a female assistant. This segment would be very entertaining for those of you who wish to see the physique on display. The entire DVD is mostly a pump and pose one, and not a sheer training DVD or instructional one, save for Bertil's segment at the beginning. You will enjoy this DVD if you appreciate seeing physiques on display. Warren hit several poses backstage after his oil was done.

Afterwards, previews of future GMV releases were shown. Some of these titles looked fantastic and I look forward to reviewing them...one by one.