ARMANDO BUTTIGIEG

[fabri]

It has been coming for a long time , I wanted to time this interview as near the Mr. Malta as possible, I have not seem Armando for a good few number years, before we meet we had a few conversation via the phone, it was good to reunite again and bond with the past, Armando was always the perfect gentleman, now that may years had gone over the bridge, I do have a few regrets that I was stupid enough not to have done something about them, oh I would have loved to have a few workouts with him perhaps talk shop on bodybuilding, I reckon I should had expanded my friendship with him a bit further, but because of the way we are and the way things happened this never happened, but I still have fond memories of him and all those bodybuilders of our era, we might see our history from a different prospective, but the feeling of respect will not change our friendship, I believe that our path in life will always form part of our life history, we might be nobody today, but back when our sun was shining high above we stood high and straight and we were counted, and we mattered.
To appreciate this man bodybuilding greatness, I am going to start with his competition history.
LOCAL COMPETITIONS WON
Mr Gymnasium ( cottonera barbell club) 1963, 1964, 1966
Mr Second district 1969
Mr Olympus 1969
Mr Hercules 1969
Mr Central Europe (local competition) 1970
Mr. Mediterranean 1970
Mr Health farm 1980
Mr Labour 1971, 1975, 1977, 1980.
Mr MALTA 1969, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1983
Malta’s best developed man 1969

INTERNATIONL COMPETITIONS
Nabba Mr. universe London 1970
Mediterranean championships (lightweight) 1972 4th
1989 5th

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (lightweight) 1973 6th
1977 3rd

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (lightweight) 1973 8th
1975 6th
1977 15th

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS 1980 vs. EGYPT
1983 vs. Sicily.
From the above one can take a clear picture of Armando success story, we sat down for this interview, at the fitness planet here in zebbug,and as I said before words were flowing at a supper sonic speed, there was so much fire being generated, that it took 4 cups of coffee to smooth our enthusiastic conversation, here was bodybuilding history being laid and relived, ours was an era that will not be copied or lived again, Armando started training when he was around 151/2 years old, it is the same old story why he started, a skinny guy wanted to have some muscles , they were a group of 4 and only Armando had what it takes to keep on pumping iron, once the seed what well placed inside him, bodybuilding took over his whole being. The year was 1961 when he walked through the doors of the Adonis Gym in Rahal Gdid, he keep pumping his muscles there for about one year, and with deep fond memories he still remembers that the gym had only one bench, and if you wanted any water you had to fetch it from a well, but those times were the building blocks of his bodybuilding character, in 1962 he moved on to the cottonerra barbell club, where he still trains today, I think this gym holds lots of fond memories, and it will always be home to him, Armando had always had deep relation ship with Joe Dimech, and as Joe was at the Farm house back in 1979 and at the time he was trying to build up the gym reputation , Armando was asked to change over to this gym , which he did, and when Joe opened the famous JD’S gym it was only naturally for Armando to follow.
While changing gear we talked about training routines, the first routine he ever did was a Reg park course, and it started with shoulders, which he believes was what gave him those fantastic shoulders he had; today he believes a beginner should start with a compound exercise like squats, or dead lift. In the off season he used to train 4 days a week with legs chest and back, one day shoulders arms and waist the other day, this was done twice a week, he also loved to do power training in the off season, but once he set his mind that he is going to compete he will change his routine to 5 or 6 times a week, a good point he made was that the mirror was always the indicator factor that indicated what he needs to change, today he still pump iron twice a week, and it is a full body workout, so he still trains each muscle twice weekly. changing into another gear we talked diet, while he believed in supplementation, he based his diet on 15 whole eggs and about 300grms of red meat, and these were eaten every day, back then it was important to have a high protein low carbs and low fat, as for carbs he would have Rice, salads jacket potatoes, and lots of tomatoes, which he loved, since he followed this diet all year round, he was always very close to contest shape, he would rearrange his diet accordingly as contest got nearer, training and diet were never motivated through how much he weighted, but by the mirror and how he looked, all this was after 1969, because before that Milk was the number one ingredient. Armando sat on the IFBB committee for a number of years, he was also a gym instructor at the san George lido, and at a gym in birzebuggia.
With that part of history out of the way the humane side of Armando came out of it’s shell, it was a pleasure hearing him praise, other bodybuilders, and to understand the man’s greatness you have to listen to his stories, as I mentioned some were else, to me he made ,or if you want to say he showed Harold how to reach the high standard his potential had to offer, he speaks with such loving care about this man that was his direct competitor , that it would bring a tear to your eyes if you understand competiveness bodybuilding, to him Harold was the best bodybuilder of that era, and he felt for his friend when he had stopped training abruptly, he told me that Harold was so good that when in 1973 both him and Harold where at the world, Serge Nubret had told Joe Dimech that he wanted Harold to form part of the European team which was going to challenge a USA team, it is a pity that such event never took place. Armando had only one training partner through out his bodybuilding career and that was Harold, after him he always trained alone. Very warm experience that he recall is that in the year of 1975, the Mr universe and Olympia that year were going to be held in south Africa, the IFBB had organized four planes to take the bodybuilders to the show, there was a plane in Paris and Bruges which were located for the American and Europeans, for the Asian there was one in Tokyo, and another one in rio in brazil, while in France they were treated to a restaurant, him frans borg and Joe, by Serge Nubret, on the plane to south Africa Franco sat next to them, Arnold was holding court, as usual, and when they arrived Arnold being Arnold he used their luggage as resting place for his suit, his only regret is that as mad as he is about Arnold he didn’t took the opportunity to take some photos with him.
Armando was blessed with luck in the department of meeting many top international bodybuilders, some of them he calls friends like the case of MAKKAWY, which he kept in contact with for many years, then there was the case of Zane which he meet at the NABBA universe, there were Frank Richard, Ken Waller and a host of others, and for those who do not know there was the Australian wonder Frank Colomberra,a LEE PREIST of the era, Armando’s training knowledge and his ability to pose, was noticed by Frank, who made it a point to come over 4 weeks before the Nabba Universe to train and learn the art of posing from the maestro himself, those were the days when life evolved around training, posing, sun bathing, and dreaming about bodybuilding, as if there was no motion that there is light before darkness.
I knew that he is a vivid collector of bodybuilding Magazines, and he was like that from the early 60’s, his collected knowledge has been build up through the reading of such Magazines, it would be nice if the modern troop of bodybuilders would sit down and listen to this man talking shop, and relating gone by local bodybuilding history. A question I always ask in my interviews is relating to me naming a few bodybuilders and I get a short answer, and we started with Joe dimech……dedicated to bodybuilding, a leader among men. Harold bonsfield…….hugh potential best training partner. Frans Borg one of the best late 70’s a pity he was size crazy. I would not close without mentioning the fondest respect he had for Joe Dimech, and the things he did for bodybuilding, while he has been cut off from the present scene he still wonder about today standard, there is more to say about this guy but I will use the material for my column ‘’ GOLDIEN OLDIES’’, well before I close I want to thank Armando for forming part of my life, and when I think about myself bodybuilding wise I will always look a him with the deepest of respect and brotherly love, there are a few things I would have change in our bodybuilding relationship, but the past is written in stone and it will never come back or it couldn’t be rearranged , but I feel honoured to call Armando a friend, keep pumping brother for you were one of a kind, and while today you might be a nobody you were a giant in building the foundation of what bodybuilding is today.

[Admin]

What an incredible bodybuilding career!!!!! He did achieve something !!!! Can we have some pictures of him?

[titanium]

very very interesting!
A pleasure to read!
_________________
"Stimulate not annihilate the muscle."
- Lee Haney

[sborg]

Hi,it is a pleasure to hear the history of such a great champion.For me he is one of the greatest bodybuilders we had all time ,a bodybuilder with symmetry, proportion ,vascularity and a great poser.The first time i saw him competing was when i was 15 years old,his last contest at the age of 44,in the mediterrenean championships of 1989.He was still very good ,he was really hard.From a line up of over 20 compatitors he came 5th beating always carmelo another good national competitor who came 6th. More than that i admire him when i watch him training.For me he is the best ever, doing each set and rep perfect.I always had a great respect for those old time great bodybuilders like armando ,lorry fabri,joe dimech,charles demanuele,freddie portelli(ir rabti)etc.Thank you for all your disciplene and knowledge you gave me in sports.Keep on pumping brothers.

[blade]

Humility seems one of the values of Armando...speak less about yourself do more and let the physique and the results do the talking!!

Well done Armando...u truly deserve this honour!!

[minime]

I was extremely lucky when I started BB that the instructer was Armando, with his vast knowledge i learnt how to properly execute each exercise and he would not just instruct me to do something but give me the full picture so then i'd be able to know why i'm doing something. Watching him working out was fascinating, he wouldnt say a word, most times he wouldnt even know you there such was his concentration during the whole workout.

I also used to spend hours listening to his stories, meeting all the greats of the 70's and 80's. I would picture it all in my mind and think about it al the time, even at school which would explain my grades:)

I saw him round November about a week after i came back from the Universe and he was praising me on how much i improved and that meant the world to me, better than any trophy.

Closing i'll say that i'm in great debt to this man.