The Controversial Rise of Dorian Yates (Documentary)

and by the way I hit his elbow right, yeah, so I hit him and I did it a couple of times to let him know that you know and then in the downward pose, Lee Haney does this pose where he sticks his arms out. like that and I was behind and I know he took me out of the corner of his eye and cut me with his with his knuckle, I think it was okay, to recover something even though Dorian won the muscle-up round. Haney towered over him in Symmetry and won his record Mr Olympia title.

Mr Olympia, we, Le Haney, proving that his followers were right. Dorian came in second place. in a close battle with Haney, an act that after Haney's retirement from bodybuilding highlighted the arrival of the Englishman as the man to beat in 1992 to leave Norway. How you did it and coming second in your first Olympia was something very unheard of at that time. moment, yeah, yeah, you know, people like Ronnie Coleman J Cutler, a lot of other big body possessors took years to climb the ladder, while you just climbed to the top two right away and Then the guy you pushed by the title said yes, enough of that and next year bodybuilding was about to see a transformation that no one could have predicted in 1991.

Dorian had met the man who changed his approach to training. Someone introduced me to Mike. When I went to Venice, Mike was one of my heroes when I started physical. I liked his physique, he was powerful, strong, robust, but it was more about the intellect, the kindest and greatest of all. Dorian Yates was apparently motivated to start training as a result of seeing my photographs, reading my articles, buying and reading my books, he was brighter than the average bodybuilder. He came to understand the theory of high intensity training. He recognized its validity. He used it and won British championships.

The Night of Champions. I had Arthur Jones' Striking Training Theory by Mike Mener, so the theory appealed to me because it was logical and that's how my brain works. Works on logic, math and straight lines. In fact, Dorian was so analytical that he had all of his training written down. since 1983. I have all the workouts I did between 1983 and 1997 written down and underneath there are notes about how much weight I used, what exercise, how many reps I did and then every month I would do a check that I set. goals for the following month and before the 1992 Olympia he began to adopt striking principles and trained with Mike Mener at Gold's Gym, a clear striking fanatic, Dorian followed Mike's advice regarding training intensity and amount of series necessary to grow initially, this meant a series. to Absolute Failure, which eventually increased to several warm-up sets and then one or two sets, to Absolute Failure, which was a complete change from the encourage-not-kill ethos that his Olympia predecessor, Lee Haney, promoted.

Dorian's training was so hard that some professional bodybuilders like Chris Cormier could barely get through a session with him. The incredible intensity of Dorian's training was shown in his iconic blood and guts video released later in 1996. Hi, I'm d Ates four time Mr Olympia and this is blood and guts, the video I'll take you to my gym and show you How do I train to be number one in the world. I hope you're ready because it's going to be hard, no one has ever done a real bodybuilding workout like the one they're all on. little stringers on the beach is exactly why I did it.

He had a friend who was photographer Kevin Horton. I said Kevin, let's hire a video camera, but I want you to come in and I'm going to train like always. I don't want you to talk to me I don't want you to mess with lights or anything I just want you to capture the workout and the intensity and the weight and the feel and no one cares about the shadows and the angles and the lights that they want to see. and I want people to watch that training video and get excited and want to go to the gym now with an intense training protocol dialed in and with Haney out of the picture.

Dorian was ready to begin his dominion at Olympia. This year's Mr Olympia competition is going to be the hottest competition ever and that's saying a lot because last year we had a magnificent line-up, this year it's even better. I feel very satisfied with the preparation that I have improved. You know a lot about last year in all aspects, it's not just my physique but presentation and all that so you know, right now I feel very confident and I can't wait to get up there and show everyone what I've done in the last 12 months. Dorian took the stage in Helsinki.

Hall in Finland weighed approximately 260 pounds with an unprecedented combination of massive size and conditioning so impressive that people could see his muscle fibers a level of leanness now known as grainy when Dorian took the stage we never saw what the hell this is we never saw that kind of mass, that kind of size, Dorian changed the game, he ushered in massive monsters because no one thought Leany was a massive monster, he had a nice shape, but Dorian ushered in something that highlighted greatness and size, uh and Without a doubt, it was a turning point that was on their heels for the 1992 title: Lee Labrada, former second place in 1990, Shawn Ray, who took third and fifth place in the previous two years.

Lou Fno, who was returning after 17 years at 6'. 5,290 lbs and the new kid on the block Kevin Levrone, who had just won the Knight of Champions. After The Showdown, the first three to the podium were Lee Labrada in third, who had a respectable overall pressure but couldn't match the best. Coming in second place was Dorian's challenger, Kevin Lani, who despite having good aesthetics, his well-developed biceps and chest were no match for Dorian's musculature, especially in the back, lower back and lower body, the shade easily made it to number one to confirm the success it had the previous year. finally become Mr Olympia, this is my dream, a dream come true, you know, I really appreciate the sport of fil and I hope that as Mr Olympia I can give back to the sport after the coronation, he started training again next week to The next Mr Olympia was always one step ahead of everyone else and what Dorian had in store for next year was going to redefine the game once again if 1992 proved to be a turning point in Dorian's career. 1993 would be his defining year, a period in which he so widely distanced himself from the competition, that this year's Olympia would be a battle for second place and that his newly revealed physique would send shockwaves around the world. of bodybuilding.

He might have come into the competition bigger than me, but he was obsessed with having size. of a big heavyweight combined with the conditioning of a smaller, lighter bodybuilder and I think that's what I brought to '92 when I won the first half of the Olympia. I could see that I was actually pretty fit for the competition about six weeks out from the 992 Olympia, but I kept dieting more and more because I wanted to get super muscular and at the time I was aware that Lee Haney wasn't competing so I could beat the other guys, Shawn Ray, Vince Taylor, etc., in size, even if I lost a little bit of size, so I sacrificed the size at 92 to be in super condition and what I realized looking back is that I just I sacrificed a lot of muscle coming in, so if I don't do that next year I can become a lot bigger, the Pinnacle o What a lot of people felt was the pinnacle of bodybuilding was that 1993 era when you posted those blank and white photos. black.

This was Kevin Horton again. Can you come and take some pictures? I have some from last year that you took. in the gym I want to stand in the same place in the gym, same lights and everything, so it was just for my reference. He really said friend. I have developed those photos. I said yes, what do they look like? He said I'm going to bring them, you won't believe this, he said, I'm going to send them to the magazine, to flex magazine, that wasn't the original plan, it was just for me, that's why I still have the socks on yes Looks like, Weeder he put them in the magazine and by the way, he didn't like the pictures, he didn't understand them and he's like, oh, it's not the right lighting and Shadows I Joe, no one cares about that watch and they became like the most iconic. pictures of me Peter mcov was the editor of flex magazine, he was british and all the guys who used to train in venice california used to go to the weeder offices so peter said when they came in he said have you seen the pictures of Dorian?

No, no, no, we've gotten what it seems like he said. He casually just dropped them on the table and watched his face fall as if demoralized. From that moment on, everyone was looking to get second place and that was the first for them. so they were already mentally defeated before the contest not that it mattered because physically they were going to be defeated at the Atlanta Civic Center in Georgia a multitude of athletes were preparing to beat title holder Shawn Ray Le Labrada Kevin Levani and the new Challenger. Flex Wheeler who won the Iron Man Invitational and the Arnold Classic in his first two professional appearances.

Flex's symmetry and shape contrasted with Dorian's density and size, and his shocking physiques made the 1993 Olympia a must-see at the time when people hadn't really accepted the idea of ​​Dorian. place on the scene yet because he was still a new guy when he first won the title, they thought he might be a one-hit wonder, but 1993 was the year Dorian declared he was here to stay, he featured a physique that no one He had once hoped that his improved muscle mass combined with the conditioning he was known for as early as 1992 made him look like a giant from another planet.

There were quite a few big guys walking around this year, but none of them combined mass and shredding like Dorian. Did the judges place Dorian Yates Flex Wheeler and Sean Ray in the top three and they were compared side by side even though Shawn presented a respectable physique? The only real contender for Dorian was Flex. Flex had great symmetry in conditioning. Some judges described his physique as almost cartoonish due to his incredible proportion and spacing of muscular roundness, but despite his great aesthetics, he was simply no match for Dorian's musculature, who was in a league of his own in first place this tenth. consecutive year.

Dorian and despite his incredible performance that night, this one was not to everyone's liking. Dorian was criticized for his paunch and excessive muscularity, with his most famous critic being Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 1990s. Arnold criticized bodybuilding, which he believed privileged muscle mass over things like symmetry and appearance, for this reason Arnold criticized to Orian on several occasions. Arnold and those who defended the Golden Age of bodybuilding called for stricter drug testing protocols that they believed would curb the excesses that were seen as ruining the sport unless we changed the testing procedure and unless we did something about where .

They stop using guys with thicker necks and bigger muscles, but who don't look as nice because look at the old days when Steve Reeves won and you saw him on the beach, you say to yourself: I would love to have the body of this guy, look. how beautiful this man looks, but that's not what you can say about those guys the day they won those competitions, like for example, a lot of those guys have their stomachs sticking out, it used to be that you should have a B-shaped body , fans. On the other hand, bodybuilders of the 1990s claimed that Dorian was pushing the boundaries of what was possible, but regardless of these debates, Dorian had set the standards of bodybuilding for years to come and everyone else had to adapt or perish. because Dorian's domination in Olympia was only beginning if in 1993 the mass with which Dorian arrived was a surp

rise

for everyone by 1994 everyone knew what they had to fight against and did everything possible to overcome it the 1994 Mr Olympia was a clash between monstrosity and classicism but not It didn't go as planned after finishing second last year with a nicer but less monstrous physique.

Number one contender Flex Wheeler had his sights set on a rematch against Olympia this year, but this hope would be short-lived as he was absent from the contest after a horrendous car accident where he nearly suffered paralysis. Defending champion Dorian Yates also suffered his first muscle tears in preparation. I tore my biceps in 1994, 6 weeks before the contest. I think anyone else would have retired and I thought about it for a couple. Days like he was totally devastated. I had won in '92. I had won in '93 and in '93 I raised the bar so high that you know people couldn't believe it and now, bang, I have an injury that is definitely possible. a career-ending injury, so I was on my own for a day, I was devastated and thought I was going to have to quit, there's no way I can do this and then the positivist started taking over and saying well, what?

How do you know that? you know you can't do it until you try and to make matters even worse he had a virusstomach on the day of the contest and was retaining water. I felt sick and bloated when I woke up, he said just a little stomach virus or even a cold can make a noticeable difference to a super skinny physique as inflammation causes water retention. It was the opening that Flex Wheeler could have taken advantage of to snatch the Sandow trophy, but fortunately for Dorian, fate had already intervened, which is why many thought that Shawn Ray, who was at the best level of his career, could have surpassed the champion when he was about to. below their best I'm not doing it just for me anymore I realized that there are a lot of people supporting me supporting me I'm trying not to let them down, but in the end At the same time, I keep my head up and remember where I come from and keep my eyes forward where I'm going and that's straight to the top of Mr Olympia, on one hand you had the thickness of mass and density of Dorian, on the other you had the symmetry of shape and aesthetics of Shawn, eventually the top three would be Kevin Levrone Shawn Ray and Dorian Yates Kevin was a little too cloudy, clearly sweating out excess water as the prejudice progressed, his back also remained a weakness and if he was as fresh as he would make it through the following year he could have challenged Dorian for the first place at 29 years old, this year Shawn was in his prime and all of his major qualities were on display.

Excellent conditioning, proportionate development, elegant posing, deep quad separation and the best abs in the contest, which made some contend. who should have been declared the winner that night in second place, the number seven competitor, Shawn Ray, a lot of people don't really know this, but this year I had a lot of problems with injuries and stuff, and there were a couple of times I really thought I wasn't going to It might be possible for me to be here and compete in the mysterious Olympia, but I persevered, I kept going and that makes this victory even sweeter and I will be back next year.

I will definitely be back next year and better than ever Dorian won his third title that night, but not without controversy, many people point to 1994 as the year bodybuilding took a turn for the worse when a monster of disproportionate and swollen mass magnificently killed a smaller but tight waist. classicist provided, I forgot the fact that I thought he should have beaten Dorian and I think Dorian in '94 was a bit sloppy, listen, he was big, there's no doubt about it, you can't take that away, the color was completely leaking out of him. body, the biceps. The terror was very noticeable, but when he lowered his hands, his obliques were hanging over the shorts, so in fact, you should choose the one with the least floss.

Forget it, I'm not trying to say I'm perfect. but I had fewer flaws that day and this is where the sport of bodybuilding could have turned the corner and gone in a totally different direction, which would have worked in my favor, but when I got to the finals I pretty much knew that the people who were judging that program didn't They were going to change their mind, but they could have done the right thing and I thought they didn't that year, but that wouldn't stop Dorian from continuing his reign and coming in better shape than ever next year.

Since the 1960s, the West Coast, specifically California, has been a hotbed of bodybuilding activity for financially minded bodybuilders. It was also the headquarters of Joe and Ben Weeder, the men responsible for creating the Mr Olympia, and if Joe Weer liked you, it meant magazine covers, supplement offers. and paid appearances, so California offered Elite Training Partners the opportunity to train in the Mecca of sport and money, despite working for Weer, Dorian was against the idea of ​​staying in the United States, that is one of the reasons why I stayed where I was in England. although do you know that they pressured me to move to California?

I was working for the weeding company, they would like me to be there to have more access to me and you know, take more photos and then you know how you say you are. in Los Angeles, full of hot girls and parties, good weather, you have Sha Ray and these guys always in California driving a Corvette on the beach and it's nice, yeah, it's cool, but not from there we won't do that. I was afraid to relax. Man, because if I relax a little bit and enjoy it, maybe I'll just lose it. I'm going again, so I want to stay isolated, stay in the UK, stay in Birmingham, where my gym was, and just keep my head in that whole routine, which is like a workout. camp that people can do for two or three months before a contest.

I took that approach all year long. Nobody heard anything from you. You were calm on your own island doing your thing. You just came and won. I want everyone to hear something about me. I don't want anyone to know too much about me, it's part of my personality. I like my privacy and it also works psychologically. The kids tell me that's crazy over there in England and we don't know what you're doing. I know you're pushing all the time, so we have to keep pushing, we have this Shadow hanging over us. The gym I train at is my own gym.

I own the gym in England and it's basically a very small basement gym. very um tough um mainly free weights uh no we don't have any cardio equipment uh or anything like that the paint is falling off the walls and there are no showers or bathrooms they don't work um but it's a great atmosphere there it's a work environment hard I see people all the time at the top of the stairs looking down because you couldn't really see anything down there it was like you were walking into a black hole you could hear Rock M and people screaming weights hitting and a lot of people feel intimidated just going down the stairs.

It was an advantage for me to be in the UK. I was in this little hole in the ground in Birmingham and no one saw me all year, so this guy can't see somehow, you know, it's being built. like fear in your mind because you can't see it, you're doing something about it. I called him the shadow so you gave him the name B yeah I gave him the name you never ever saw him unless he was competing and he never. He dated anyone, so he's in the shadows, you know, just waiting to strike. Dorian's absence from the spotlight gave him a much-needed edge and in 1995 everyone wanted to see how he evolved from his biceps injury and how he evolved, and this.

I'm not necessarily older this year, but I feel like I've gotten much better. I've gotten more fit and better defined, better symmetry, everyone else is playing my old game, I'm playing a new one. game, you know, I doubt anyone has trained harder than this guy, when you do a series, you do one for mom, the babies, everyone and, as I've heard better than ever, Mr. Dorian and this year he took the big stage with conditioning that could have surpassed that of 93 Shawn Ray had been so close to number one and I wanted to take the crown this year no matter how many people support me how many people think that I'm already there I need that trophy to solidify my uh my mission and Kevin lone, who had already placed second in 1992 and third in 1994, was eager to claim the throne for himself.

Prejudice took the battle to the final four, Dorian Yates and Shawn Ray once again and a much improved Nasser El Sadi and Kevin. levrone fourth place a $25,000 check number eight competitor Shawn Ray in third place Naser elen NASA replaced Ray in the top three after some comparisons between him and Ray while Kevin and Dorian battled for number one the front double biceps was hotly contested among them as the Yates had half a smaller biceps and only always had his own name when it came to arms, the extended front lats were undoubtedly one of Dorian, no one came close to his huge lats, the lateral chest posture was again very close, but solid conditioning from Dorian. and the details gave him the advantage, the rear double biceps made Dorian shine and he managed to hide his torn biceps surprisingly well with a wide, thick back and a strong lower body.

He also took this round, the lateral triceps round becoming tight again as Levon's arm size increased. again against the conditioning detail and perfect posing of Dorian, who narrowly won the round, the stance of the abs and thighs put Levrone's slimmer waist against Oran's stronger and more developed muscular abdomen, the judges preferred To the latter, second place's 18th contender, Kevin Leone, and the winner of the fourth consecutive year receiving the largest check in bodybuilding history to date $110,000 in total, Shadow triumphed once again taking home his fourth Mr Olympia now everyone was starting to wonder if Dorian was even capable of stopping in 1996 Dorian didn't have the problem.

He had training the year before to recover from the biceps injury, so he was able to go full speed in the gym. He expected to be in top condition with an additional 4 pounds of quality muscle added to his already imposing physique. This is my eighth Mr. Lpia. I still have to win the title. I put my heart and soul into this one. I have been second. I have been third twice. I have been fourth and I have been fifth. And uh, I put my heart and soul into it, as I said. In this training I dedicated myself to refocusing it and now I believe that if I am ever going to win the Mr Olympia from these Mass monsters, I am going to win it solely due to the fact that they want to go in a different direction with the appearance of Ladies and Gentlemen Bodybuilding , current Mr Olympia Dorian Yates, the 1996 Mr Olympia was in many ways a repeat of 1994 and, as always, size, mass and conditioning were preferred over symmetry and aesthetics combined with a smaller size, when everything was said and done, no one could. compete with Dorian's back, which helped him win three rounds, front, back, back, back and double biceps, side chest and triceps, was also for Dorian, even Sean was more aesthetic with carefully separated muscles and a better abdominal and thigh posture, it just wasn't enough. to challenge the reigning champion second place winner Sha Ray and first place Dorian Y and with sixth in sight Dorian went straight back to work, re-analyzed his Olympia physique and noticed that it was flat due to excessive dieting, so which his goal was to show ready for the German Grand Prix, as lean as ever and even sharper than in 1995, managed a stacked lineup that included guys like Nasser Elson Batti Kevin Lone Paul DEET Ronnie Coleman and Vince Taylor Dorian emerged as the Six-time winner Sandow seemed like it was just a matter of time, but things didn't go as planned and next year he was about to prove himself much tougher, some kind of bodybuilding wizard.

Oran is a bodybuilder who could

rise

to the challenge, silence his detractors and prevail even if his training circumstances were less than ideal and the contest itself was one of controversies, such was the case in 1994 and the same scenario would return. Happening in 1997 at the most

controversial

Olympia in Dorian's race held in Long Beach, California, the 1997 Mr Olympia was publicized as the dying vestiges of The Reign of Dorian Yates despite winning the previous year, some of his competitors they clearly felt that they could be surpassed. I think fans are crying out for something different, basically because the weird doesn't last long, it starts to fade.

The challenge is already done. last year it was set at 894. I think I came full circle, I focused, I trained hard and I was very, very disciplined, so if the champion didn't do his homework, I will come and take my title. Everyone was wondering if Shawn Ray Nasar Elmat or Flex Wheeler could beat Dorian on the grandest stage of them all before Olympia Flex was touted as the top contender to dethrone the champion thanks in part to a series of strong performances in other competitions, but what no one knew is that Dorian was going to win.

I entered the contest with yet another injury, only this time it was even more serious than the last and that is the second injury that ended my career. It was 3 weeks before Mr Olympia tore his triceps tendon in his left elbow here and I literally couldn't now. I didn't train at all, I didn't train blank for 3 weeks and it was the same as if you can't compete, you go to the Dr. to quit. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to be public knowledge because then when I went on stage people would really be looking for everything I did for that contest the last three weeks with cardio without weight training, you know, for a bodybuilder, that it's very strange.

I had a friend who was a physical therapist, we had um, it's like a big balloon device. that goes over your arm and inflates and deflates, so it's constantly pumping all the time to try to get that fluid out of the injury. It was actually still a little black and blue and I tried to cover it with a tan, but you can. Look, very slightly. I went into that pageant in a state I'd never been in before, feeling weak and vulnerable, not even able to practice my pose because I was afraid I'd like posing too much.

He didn't know the extent of the injury. Until I went to the United States I basically said that you had 95%tendon detachment, so it hangs a little bit, so you better be very careful, so even posing I was nervous and didn't carry that energy that I normally had. of invincibility of the power of energy Chris to me, USA competes against me and Flex Wheeler said they could feel almost like a force field around me, the energy was very high, but that's how I felt and upon arriving At 97 I didn't feel like it. That, at all, was not my usual confidence and level going into it, it was very difficult for me to concentrate like in 1994, this injury was the golden opportunity that Flex Wheeler could have taken to dethrone the champion, but the same would develop scenery. again with a slight twist in the days leading up to the Olympia Flex surprised bodybuilding fans by announcing his retirement from that year's competition.

I was involved in a situation on Thursday that did not turn out well for me. I was hospitalized. I made a decision among myself to mask everything 48 hours before the event, he arrived at the Host Hotel with his left hand bandaged and claimed that 6 days earlier he had been involved in a botched carjacking at the hands of robbers with nunchucks and weapons Flex a Taekwondo black The belt himself decided to fight his asants rather than surrender, suffering enough injuries to rule him out of the competition. Over time, this story was twisted to refer to his asants as ninjas.

After the incident, rumors circulated that he had made up the story to avoid competing against Dorian as some skeptics theorized that he did not peak at the right time, however, Flex Wheeler's withdrawal from the competition would be just the beginning of the controversy, ready to defeat the reigning champion, the most vulnerable was Professor Nasser Elen, so this year I will probably weigh 275 pounds and I think that does not mean that it is more little. I think I look even bigger. I am sharper and straighter than ever. My back developed more. I have more separation. More quality.

Also my arms. it got bigger and the same can be said for my thighs, my legs, I think overall I improved, however, I'm competing with five ponds less than uh. Last year, in 1997, Nasser had worked his way into true contention for the Mr Olympia title, exemplified by five Pro Show wins and six top-three finishes, including third place at Mr Olympia 95 and 96. , before being disqualified from that spot in 96 after a drug test, but this year he was a legitimate threat for bodybuilding's biggest prize. Nasser entered the competition with a much better physique, larger and leaner than before and still possessing his famous symmetrical midsection and when the two men took the stage he looked like a new Champion would be crowned, he rivaled Dorian in terms of size and at the same time.

At the same time, it maintained an aesthetic quality that few could match. The prejudices of 1997 had put Dorian's traditional competitors, Kevin Iron Shawn Ray and Naser El, in third place to knock Ray out of the group. in the top four, the final showdown fell to Naser and Dorian Nasser was at the top of his game looking great, even outperforming an injured Dorian in some of the poses. The big advantage Dorian had was his famously big back, which rarely failed to impress, but the pain from his torn triceps severely hampered his posing routine, somewhat mitigating any advantage he had, but when it came time to announce the winner , it must have felt like deja vu throughout the second NASA Elon arena, depending on your point of view, this was either the story of Dorian surviving the NASA attack to become a six-time Mr Olympia or of Nasser being robbed in another

controversial

Olympia decision, either way it was the end of the Englishman's reign and his bodybuilding career.

I had surgery after the competition to reattach the tendon. And it was successful because it came back together, but the surgeon told me that the tendon was badly torn and part of the muscle was also torn, so not only was it functionally weak but it also looked a little different, maybe 97 was the moment for me. to do my last competition and the injury just forced me to that point. I remember starting my preparation for the Olympia in '97 and somehow I didn't have the enthusiasm I had before, it was starting to become a job and I was just getting started.

Thinking what am I going to do after this, something inside me was telling me that you need to change direction, but after the surgery and a couple of months of rehab and then I'll start training, it was pretty obvious to me that there was a big strength. balanced now between the left and right side, which made it impossible to train, that was my decision and now this was traumatic because it was a decision out of my hands, I went into a very deep depression to be honest and it was not like that. just the retirement, the forced retirement from bodybuilding, there were other factors in my life that were happening, but they all seemed to happen at the same time.

I almost didn't know who I was without this all-encompassing go. I do not know what happened? what am I going to do now what am I really going to do and who am I after retirement Dorian seems to have rediscovered himself after leaving the world of bodybuilding behind and embarked on a spiritual journey that emphasizes yoga Pilates, marijuana and hallucinogens and a Many people ask you now Dorian, do you even lift weights? Yeah, no, I don't even lift man, it's true, I don't even know. Yes he was and still is a controversial figure in bodybuilding, one who refused to train the way most people trained. he refused to train where most people trained and he refused to look how most people looked and, for better or worse, he single-handedly moved bodybuilding from the aesthetic era to the mass monster era, evolving the sport in a way that no one before him could.

I have a reputation for being very serious and never smiling, especially on stage, but what people have to realize is that when I'm on stage, when I'm in the gym, that's my job and for me you know it's serious. , I take it. seriously and