William Arnold ‘Bill’ Pearl – Complete Profile: Height, Workout And Diet

William Arnold ‘Bill’ Pearl was an American professional bodybuilder. He is best known for his mindful approach to bodybuilding. This article explores his complete profile, biography, workout routine, and diet.

William Arnold ‘Bill’ Pearl

Born: October 31, 1930

Died: September 14, 2022

Birthplace: Prineville, Oregon, USA

Residence: Phoenix, Oregon, USA

Nickname: World’s Best-Built Man of the Century

Height: 5′ 9″ (175 cm)

Weight: 220 lbs (100 kg)

William Arnold “Bill” Pearl Biography

Early Life

William Arnold “Bill” Pearl was born on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation near Prineville, Oregon in 1930. He is primarily of Native American descent. His fascination with strength and muscle began at age eight, when he saw a circus strongman in his local town. As a youth Pearl was fond of boxing and he took up weight training at the tender age of ten, so he could compete against his older brother, Harold.

From an early age, he had a passion for collecting cars which he has kept to this day. Pearl continued to weight train through high school utilizing the written works of old-time strongmen and a York Big Ten Special weight set. He was a gifted athlete excelling at wrestling and football and his weight regime shifted to the local YMCA under the tutelage of a local bodybuilder.

Career

After leaving high school and entering the Navy, Pearl joined Leo Stern’s gym in San Diego, California and a lifelong friendship was born. Pearl made great gains in Stern’s gym winning local competitions in 1952. But 1953 was his first big year winning Mr America and the NABBA Amateur Mr. Universe titles. ’53 was the year the legend was born.

Pearl won his first professional NABBA Mr. Universe in 1956 and won it again 1961, 1967, 1971. In 1974 he was named “World’s Best-Built Man of the Century“, and since then has been entered into numerous hall-of-fames and gained many lifetime achievement awards.

His switch to vegetarianism in 1969 has been the talk of many bodybuilding articles. Pearl is a lacto-ovo vegetarian, allowing the consumption of milk and eggs, a practice he has maintained to this day.

He has also been the successful owner of several gym and health food businesses, a successful author, trained Apollo astronauts, and coached top bodybuilding stars one such individual was Mr. Olympia, Chris Dickerson.

In 2004, Pearl was awarded the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic Lifetime Achievement Award for significantly impacting the world of bodybuilding.

In 2011 Pearl appeared in the documentary Challenging Impossibility (film) describing when he hosted the 2004 strength exhibition by spiritual teacher and peace advocate Sri Chinmoy. The film was an Official Selection of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.

Later years and death

Bill Pearl lived in Phoenix, Oregon in his later years. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2016 and passed away on September 14, 2022, at 91 years of age.

Mr. & Masters Olympia Results

• Never Competed

Titles Won

• 1953 – AAU Mr. America
• 1953 – AAU Mr. California
• 1953 – AAU Mr. Southern California
• 1953 – NABBA Mr. Universe
• 1956 – AAU Mr. USA
• 1956 – NABBA Pro Mr. Universe (Tall)
• 1961 – NABBA Pro Mr. Universe
• 1967 – NABBA Pro Mr. Universe
• 1971 – NABBA Pro Mr. Universe

William Arnold ‘Bill’ Pearl Workout

Bill Pearl’s physique was not something out of a science fiction movie. In fact, his body composition was something that anyone could achieve with a good training regimen and diet. This was one of the reasons young bodybuilders were fascinated with him.

The veteran bodybuilder never gave too much importance to size. Instead, building a physique that had well-defined and clear muscles was the primary goal of his training routine.

Pearl trained not only to gain muscle but also to get strong and athletic. He followed the progressive overload principle to make advances in his bodybuilding journey but did not rush things, allowing the natural progression to take place.

Contrary to some of the modern bodybuilding ideas, Pearl often advised taking long rest periods (three to five minutes) between the sets. While some feel that taking shorter rest periods between sets can increase the aerobic intensity of the workout, Pearl believed that performing exercises with the right load, form, and technique is the most important thing.

According to Bill Pearl, rushing through the sets can lead to subconsciously compromising the form. Therefore, he suggested recovering completely between the sets to get the most out of a training session.

As a rule of thumb, Bill Pearl advised training three times a week with each training session lasting about 45 to 75 minutes. According to him, cellular changes occur on rest days. So every training day must be followed by a rest day.

“Remember to rest. The benefits of your training program will be so clear and there will be such noticeable changes that you will be tempted to overtrain. If you do not rest enough, you will soon be plagued by injury. If you are injured, you can’t work out. If you can’t work out, you can’t improve. Sounds obvious but many people make the mistake of pushing too hard too fast. Do not overtrain. Listen to your body. When you’re tired – Rest!”

In addition to this, Pearl believed that cardio training is a must to keep the heart, lungs, and the overall respiratory and circulation system healthy. According to him, a person must get 30 minutes of cardio, three times a week. Ideally, the cardio exercises should be done on the day when you’re not doing the weight training.

To make progress in terms of strength and muscle mass, Bill Pearl famously advised following a three-course training regimen that was suited for beginner to intermediate-level bodybuilders:

Course 1

• Dumbbell Swing of 1 set of 10 reps
• Lying Leg Raises on the floor or on a bench 1 set of 30 reps 
• Barbell Squats 2 sets of 15 reps
• Bent Over Lateral Raises (superset with squats) 2 sets of 12 reps 
• Standing Calf Raises 3 sets of 20 reps 
• Dumbbell Shrugs 2 sets of 18 reps 
• Bench Press 2 sets of 8 reps 
• Seated Cable Rows 2 sets of 8 reps
• Press Behind Neck 2 sets of 8 reps 
• Barbell Curl 2 sets of 8 reps 
• Deadlifts 3 sets of 5 reps

Course 2

• Dumbbell Swing 1 set of 10-15 reps
• Sit Ups 1 set of 15-50 reps 
• Leg Raises 1 set of 10-30 reps
• Deep Knee Bend 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps 
• Bent Arm Dumbbell Pullover 3-5 sets of 8-10 reps
• Calf Raises 3 sets of 15-20 reps 
• Seated Cable Rows 2 sets of 8 reps 
• Military Press 2 sets of 5-6 reps 
• One Arm Dumbbell Row 3 sets of 8 reps
• Deadlift 2 sets of 8 reps 
• Incline Dumbbell Press 2 sets of 6-8 reps 
• Bent Over Lateral Raises 2 sets of 6-8 reps
• One Arm Dumbbell French Press 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Course 3

• Sit Ups 1 set of 25 reps
• Leg Raises1 set of 25 reps 
• Bench Press 5 sets of 5 reps
• Press Behind Neck 5 sets of 5 reps 
• Barbell Bent-Over Row 5 sets of 6 reps 
• Bent Arm Pullover 3 sets of 8 reps 
• Barbell Curls 4 sets of 6 reps
• French Press 4 sets of 6 reps

William Arnold ‘Bill’ Pearl Diet

Bill Pearl had a fairly practical approach to dieting. He followed a high-protein diet during the peak of his bodybuilding career to sustain the massive muscle mass. Pearl insisted that it is not the right approach to try and follow a stringent bodybuilding diet right from the beginning of your training journey.

He felt that adopting a bodybuilding lifestyle can be a tiresome and exhaustive experience and the chances of you falling off the wagon significantly increase if you try to make too many changes at the same time.

Pearl suggested easing your way into it, especially in terms of diet. According to him, following a 100 percent clean diet or getting rid of habits like smoking and drinking should not even be on the agenda when you start. The veteran bodybuilder thought that it is best to slowly implement these things in the lifestyle. But once you commit to a healthy lifestyle and adapt it completely, you should not go back.

“I’m not going to preach. The better your condition. The more in tune you’ll be with your body. Harmful habits will drop by the wayside naturally!”

But Pearl sternly mentioned that as you progress and get better, diet becomes the thing of utmost importance and addictions have no place in your life.

During his competitive years, Bill Pearl followed a diet that most bodybuilders follow. In the off-season, 30 to 40% of his calories came from protein while carbohydrates contributed 40 to 50% and fats 10 to 20%. During the competition prep, Pearl reduced his carbohydrates to 30 to 45% and fats to 5 to 10% of total caloric intake.

When he was 39, Bill Pearl started following a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, which means that he ate dairy products and eggs along with a vegetarian diet but refrained from eating meat.

To Conclude…

Bill Pearl embodies everything that bodybuilding is about – getting stronger, and muscular and leading a healthy life that allows you to do different activities. As bodybuilding became more about looking a certain way, it appeared to be losing its essence. However, it was individuals like Bill Pearl who kept it alive by preaching the importance of functional strength, performance longevity, flexibility and other attributes along with muscle gain and aesthetics.

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