Weight Lifting techniques and tips

Yes. I took those pics.

 

and supplements help too!

 

Health issues?

 

He has an autoimmune disorder plus he’s torn a different muscle during almost all if not each one of his previous Olympia attempts. It was one of his lats this year, bicep before and who knows what else.

 

I haven't paid attention to body building in a while but I do recall back in the day (90's) there was also controversy. Dorian Yates was a monster but IMO there were others that a had more pleasing shapes, i.e Flex Wheeler, Levrone and even Shawn Ray

 

FIFY

 

Not really. PEDs only get you so far and some people will never get that size or have that look no matter how much they take. It really comes down to genetics at that level.

 

I don't mind how they get there but to get to that size they've cycled at least a few times in their lives. Even if it's just once to gain mass. I hear the "I'm natural" argument a lot but I don't buy it. Besides, it's not like PED's are a push button solution. Even if they do they still have to put in a massive amount of work and dedication to get like that. Lol, I always tell my wife once I hit 65 I'm going to juice so I can be the most ripped guy in the retirement home!

Regardless, it's very cool to see how far the human body can be taken to.

 

I didn’t mean to imply they aren’t taking PEDs. Of course they are and they don’t hide that fact. The point I was trying to make is that getting to the Olympia also requires genetics. You can train, have proper nutrition and use PEDs all day long but that’s not going to get you all the way. Heck, I’d even go so far as saying just getting an IFBB pro card requires good genetics. And it goes without saying you also need the training and nutrition. There are people out there who take steroids but neglect the nutrition and also don’t train as hard as they should and you would never know they were using just by looking at them.

 

Gotcha. I agree with that completely.

I could take all the PED's in the world and I'd never get giant legs. It just isn't in my DNA.

 

There's a guy at my gym that's in his 60's, perhaps 70 that's got arms that make me think he's at least getting some test. No problem with it at all, he looks great.

I'm the same with my legs, but at least if someone tries to call you out for not working legs, you just have to show them the definition.

 

Olympia Bikini. Amazing how lean they are.
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Nice. been a while since I was at the Olympia. I found the last ones I attended to be quite boring.

 

Been in this industry for over 30 years now...
I can honestly say still, that genetics are everything.
Without them you can take all the PED's in the world, but they won't give you a pro card.
Heck, I've known more PED abusres that looked like **** vs natural guys that looked like they abused PED's.
You can tell from teenager pics from each and every Mr Olympia they have amazing genetics.
In fact, with each and every Mr Olympia you can see a night a day difference after just a few months of going to the gym.

To be on that stage, not only do you need elite genetics for muscle building, you also need the resillience from your tendons and a genetic advantage to 'absorb and utilize all teh drugs'. Nick Wlaker is a clear example of the last. There are plenty of pics of him floating around of his first competition and the bnext one after hiting the sauce!

 

Some say Dorian ruined body building as he was the first Mass Monster.....
I would say that Arnold was the first Mass Monster.
He was very open about that in his documentary; he wanted to be as big as possible and didn't care too much about symmetry and shape.
Flex is the Mr Olympia that never won that show! Amazing symmetry, but his health took a dramatic toll for it....

 

Couldn’t agree more.

 

Well, I signed up to compete again this year. I’m currently on day 5 of my prep. Last year I dropped 22lbs over the 12 weeks. Hoping this year it will only have to be 15 or so. We’ll see how it goes. Currently consuming 2,550 calories a day.

 

Good luck.
Second time will be a lot easier as you've already done it before and that stubborn fat around your mid section has been 'freed up' before.

 

You sure love your skullcrushers! I’ve bounced back and forth between sumo/conventional depending on how I’m feeling, and how strong I am. The real answer is simply geometry. Here’s an article that goes through some of the basic math. There are many other articles with many other formulas.

https://www.elitefts.com/education/choosing-conventional-or-sumo-based-on-your-bone-structure/

Also, I am weightlifting nerd, and I have watched a billion deadlifting videos. This recent video is one of the best. If you don’t know Mitch’s backstory, you should look it up. It almost doesn’t make any sense.



Here’s a couple of his earlier videos.

 

I’m not a fan of sumo. Deadlifts are one of my favorites though.

 

No never beaten still holding , nobody else is that crazy

 

Seeing these posts is giving me the urge to come out of retirement and compete again!!!

 

You remain sturdy and strong. Congrats. it's a treasure to be able to 'move' aka train without too much discomfort.
You never realize what a blessing that is until injuries start to confine you.

I was informed by my therapist that I REALLY need to dial down the spinal load as it's starting to cause issues.
My hips are sometimes so tight they lock up my lower back and I'm unable to walk straight.
I need to start looking into more endurance work to keep my system flexible vs deadlifting 500 pounds for reps.
Fok.