When I decided to become a bodybuilder, I actually marked down a date. It was Oct. 8, 2002. The rest is pretty much history. It was an amazing feeling to know that I had the potential to become a champion.
You can give me credit on a skilled sport - golf, basketball - but when it comes to someone's appearance - how often do guys compliment another man on anything? They find it feminine.
You can't be around people who appease you all the time.
I went from 185 lbs to 285 lbs, became a 7X Mr. Olympia, tying Arnold Schwarzenegger, and competed against the most determined and fittest athletes in the world. This took hard work, tremendous dedication, and knowing what, how, and when to train.
The body is dynamic. You can eat something and get bloated in minutes.
I stick to bread-and-butter bodybuilding. I hit my muscles from various angles, work on bringing up any weaknesses, and design workouts that are always challenging and helping me progress.
I began bodybuilding shortly after I watched a couple friends compete at a state show and thought it would be cool to try.
My first bodybuilding competition was the 2003 NPC Northern Colorado, where I was a light-heavyweight weighing in at 192 lbs. I was very nervous, as it was my first real-life experience being a bodybuilder.
We have a great tradition of bodybuilding in the United States.
Constant tension should be applied to the last five reps of every working set, meaning, do the first 5-6 reps normal tempo, and the last few reps should be held for at least two seconds at the peak of the contraction. This allows your muscles to have more time under tension, and you work different muscle fibers.
Do cardio throughout the year at least three days a week for at least 30-40 minutes, whether it be first thing in the morning on an empty stomach or after a post-workout protein shake. Cardio won't kill your gains as much as you think; you'll see how much muscle you really have.
I see guys who are in the gym all the time, but their bodies are not a reflection of that. They look the same from year to year, and that has to do with the fact that they're not evaluating the effect of their efforts.
I believe you need to take enough rest to lift heavy weights, but if it takes you 5-10 minutes to rest and get psyched up for a big lift, I don't know if that's going to be good.
My goal every year is to be bigger and better than I was the year before. The competition just keeps getting better, and the pressure just gets hotter. Nothing gets easier.
I've done, on video, 150-pound dumbbells in each hand -I think it was, like, twenty two reps - on an incline.
When it comes to personal appearance, people are quick to cast judgment on people who look better than them. It's part of the human inferiority complex.
I grew up playing basketball in the inner city of Seattle, and by the time I was a senior, I earned a full scholarship to the University of Denver.
I want people to realize bodybuilders are athletes. We have a very meticulous philosophy on how we are able to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously.
To keep winning, I have to constantly outdo myself.
Dropsets overload the muscle with shorter rest periods and increasing volume, which you need to grow.
