Q-1) CAN YOU TELLS US ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR ON SEASON TRAINING DIET AND OFF SEASON TRAINING AND DIET?

Dave Draper A) My diet is pretty much the same year-round, high protein, low carb and medium good fats. Remember, I’m 61 years old and though I train harder and more effectively in many ways than I did during my developing and competitive days, my needs are different, my capabilities and possibilities limited. I no longer have an on- and off-season. It is one season and mostly on.

I do, however, hold extra bodyweight by choice as part of my smart training scheme. This is done to assure my body of an anabolic environment and allow me to train harder and heavier. (I’m no striking powerhouse, of course; time and injury redefine your training.) Carrying an extra 5 or 10 pounds, I’m more resistant to injury, less restricted in menu and less critical of a finished-physique look. The latter is a stress and stumbling block in itself, as if hoisting the iron wasn’t enough.

The serviceable bodyfat is personally acceptable. I feel tight and I can button my pants.

Something of interest: My diet is the same now as it was when I was training hard to gain mass and power in the ’60s and ’70s. I just ate more, lots more. No fast or junk foods, though ice cream reached my plate and eventually my obliques during those formative years. That’s gone and the smorgasbord eating is gone. Lots of beef, fish, chicken and dairy, plus heaps of salads and steamed cruciferous vegetables constitute my menu now as then. I depend more and more on a good protein powder (love my Bomber Blend) for important protein feedings throughout the day (breakfast, pre- and post-workout meals and pre-bedtime feeding) and a super vitamin and mineral. I also take creatine and EFAs these past years.

Pre-contest dieting for me consisted mostly of eating less in general, dumping the dairy the last weeks as I gauged hardness and cut the carbs to a minimum. There are individual tricks to dial in muscularity and fullness the last weeks and days, but you get the idea.

Today we have an extreme sport with extreme measures about which I know nothing.

Q-2) WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR A YOUNGER LIFTER WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE A BODYBUILDING CHAMPION?

A) Think twice about the champion part and fall in love with the lifting of iron and steel. The goal can get in your way causing you to trip over your feet before you learn how to squat. Train hard, eat right, find joy in the disciplines and practice them consistently. Grow up and into the sport day by day and, thus, avoid setting yourself up for disappointment, expecting too much, being ever critical and trying to satisfy an image.

The real deal is in the training, the struggle, the perseverance, the self control and the determination. The champion will rise up from these qualities.

Goals are important to me. I prefer direction and am most productive when they are clear before me. But the top floor is too far away and I get dizzy looking up. Step by step, one floor at a time with guts and persistence. That’s the certain way to the top.

You, dear reader, have chosen a fantastic sport to build your life around. It requires hard work, thank God, and only basic knowledge as your education. The rest comes from you, your diligent practice, your sacrifice, your strong will, self-awareness, trust and patience. You see there are no shortcuts, no secrets. It’s you, the weights, the awesome gravity and the clang of metal, deep breathing and sweat and pain and joy.

Encouragement from each other is priceless, like oxygen to a drowning mate.

Too much information and seeking it endlessly is a dead end. We’re all different with different needs. Who are you? Train long enough and you’ll find out. It’s the basics, man, in working out and eating right.

Unless, of course, you choose pharmaceuticals to support your cause.

Q-3) WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE BODYBUILDING MOMENT?

Dave Draper A) I won Mr. America in 1965 and Mr. Universe in 1966. Things in bodybuilding were moving fast in those days and the sport was taking its first steps toward the moon. Onstage and winning those titles with the competing champions was nothing short of sensational. The contests were held in the Opera House of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the audience was brand new, standing room only. They didn’t know what to expect, they had no previous exposure to the likes of the new champions and they were completely uninhibited. You’d have to have been there. The roar of the crowd was almost frightening. Never had I expected so much honest emotion to erupt from a bunch of happy-go-lucky bodybuilding fans. The exuberant human sounds came in huge waves and we felt literally lifted up and shifted. The staging shook, the curtains quivered and the NY union workers grabbed their gear and readied their post as if soldiers under siege.

What a night. The crowds are great now, but they’ve been there-done that, if you know what I mean. Nothing like spontaneity.

Q-4) HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF BODYBUILDING?

A) Not through tired eyes, though they may bear a slight squint. I love it more than ever, though I have always thought of it as weight lifting and musclebuilding. Tell you the truth, I’m not crazy about the bodybuilding thing or the fitness thing. Too dopey, imitated and false. I like the iron, the intensity, pushing and pulling and making muscles. Yeah, like that’s not dopey.

Anyhow, I wish more people would see the picture and get in shape, but that’s not happening in the next 24 hours. About bodybuilding, I see it traveling the same road for awhile. There are actually several roads, the highways and the byways. The highways serve the fast-paced sub-culture of extreme bodybuilders who will continue to seek the extremes and thrill the audience of crazies and rads. Can’t hold them down, though the big market might not support them forever and they might slowly diminish in popularity. The core will become smaller and tighter with greater critical mass.

The byways are bumper to bumper with standard bodybuilders and muscle makers, some who are on a little stuff, some into natural competition, some who just love being strong and in good shape and striving and some who loved it when they were a kid and now that they’re 40, 50 and 60, want it again: good health and muscles and might and long-life and sweet training. The latter fringe is growing.

Q-5) WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST MISTAKES YOU SEE BEGINNERS MAKING?

Dave Draper Bodybuilding, weightlifting and powerlifting have many components and the new participants come in all shapes and sizes. The mistakes made are numerous and various. Off the top of my head let me list the top six mistakes in the beginner’s section: 1- Jumping into training without a clue. This worked for me and pre-historic man, but some basic knowledge picked up from an honest-to-goodness coach, be he a friend or professional, is not a bad idea. Get the basics down and start pounding away, learning as you go with focus and self-awareness. Once you learn the basics in exercise, muscle action and muscle grouping, sets and reps, your mistakes will become your guide.

2- Not working legs, like they were totally disconnected from their shoulders and arms. Another way of saying this is; they don’t do squats. Gasp. The single most important builder of the body (next to the bench press, I guess one might say, if they were locked in a gym with a bunch of bench press-crazed physical culturists). Get with it.

3- Not addressing the training component of sound nutrition and right eating. Lots of protein, breakfast, frequent feedings, no junk food. things like that… vitamins and minerals, lots of water. You are what you eat.

4- Expecting and looking for too much, too soon and submission to disappointment. Not giving the training a chance, the real test and, thus, not applying or developing discipline, patience and perseverance. or muscle and might.

5- Doing bench presses that are too heavy, too soon and ferociously wrong in form. You know, the severely arched back, the big bounce, the right goes up followed sometime later by the left. Very personal. Your shoulders hate you for the rest of your life. Train hard, be wise, take care of your joints, tendons and muscles.

6- Seeking information like it was gold — the real answer, the hidden truth, the secret, the faster way, the better way, the pro’s way. Along with that is believing in the magazines and studying their advertisements. Research more, train less, learn less, go nowhere, go home. It’s in you, it’s in the iron, it’s in the work, hard consistent work. That’s also where the joy is stashed, where fulfillment overflows and where boys become men and girls become stronger and leaner girls. Hi cutie.

Q-6) HOW IMPORTANT IS THE QUESTION, “HOW MUCH DO YOU BENCH PRESS,” TO A BODYBUILDER?

A) Well, the best I did as a bodybuilder was 440 at 6AM in the dungeon on a poorly made bench of splintered 2x4s and protruding 10-penny nails bentover to prevent tripping, lacerations or punctures. I was without a spot; I was alone as usual and the bar was bent like a buffalo bar. Great for squatting. I did not often pursue one-rep maxes as I couldn’t handle the possibility of failure. Security is not a bodybuilder’s strong point. I could have done more if I worked at it.

The question is important. The greatest lure to the newbie (and the guy who should know better) who walks across the gym floor is the mound of iron held invitingly, threateningly, precariously over the flat bench. It stares at you and you stare back. The challenge is unspoken, unavoidable. inevitable. It’s the law.

The bench press is considered the true measure of one’s weight lifting prowess; the definer, one’s credentials, the passport and the demanding, yet affectionate daddy of all exercises.

How much can you bench press, big question mark, is the writ of passage.

The problem is the price for pushing the bench is high. It’s those shoulders, man. Dumbbell inclines are a great and safe substitute and big chest and shoulder builder.

Q-7) IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO IRONMAN READERS?

Absolutely, if ya’ll have time to listen. Please sign up for my free weekly newsletter at davedraper.com and we can communicate regularly. The facts are limited, but there’s no end to the learning.

Go with God,

The Bomber, Dave Draper

Source: criticalbench.com

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Introduction: Facts about Peter Putnam and Jess:

1) Peter and Jessica Putnam have an online personal training/consulting business called, Physique Pros Personal Training.

2) Peter Putnam is a (top NPC National Level Bodybuilder) and he is sponsored by Met-rx athlete

3) Jess Paxson-Putnam is a sponsored athlete for ABB/Optimum nutrition and she is also an IFBB pro.

4) Peter Endorses and does speaking appearances for Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Peter and Jessica are both Christians who hope to be positive examples in the health and fitness industry.

5) Peter and Jess do promotional work and train at a gym called “The Rush Fitness Complex.”

Critical Bench was fortunate to interview Peter and Jess. Over the course of the last year, Peter and Jess were hard for me to get a hold of since they are always busy traveling and get publicity frequently in the world of iron. However, Critical Bench feels very blessed to have gotten a hold of them. With no further ado, Critical Bench presents all of you with an interview with the amazing married couple, Peter and Jess Putnam!

CRITICAL BENCH: I am here with Peter and Jess Putnam! Peter and Jess welcome to Critical Bench! It’s great to have you both here with us today!

Jess and Peter: Thank you

2) CRITICAL BENCH: Jess, let me start with you. Jess, how did you and Peter meet?

Jess: Peter and I met at the 2004 Collegiate Nationals. Where I won the figure overall and he won the bodybuilding overall.

I came up to congratulate him after the show at a restaurant called Houlihan’s. We took a picture together and didn’t think much of it. He had a girlfriend at the time and I had a boyfriend. Six weeks later he had broken up with his girlfriend and he e-mailed me the day my boyfriend broke up with me. The rest is history.

3) CRITICAL BENCH: Jess, shortly after you started dating Peter, you and Peter shocked the fitness world by getting married in Vegas. What was the wedding experience like and what did it mean to you?

Jess: Our wedding was wonderful. It was very beautiful and intimate. We got married outdoors at Caesars Palace and we wouldn’t change a thing about the whole experience.

4) CRITICAL BENCH: Jess, now that you and Peter are married, what are your future goals in bodybuilding/ modeling and with your marriage?

Jess: Peter and I have been very blessed with all of the opportunities that have come our way. We are hoping to continue to strive to do well competitively. We are hoping and praying Peter earns his pro card. We also want to continue to work with the magazines, work for our sponsors (ABB/ON-Jessica, and Met-rx-Peter), and continue to train clients both at the Rush Fitness Complex in Knoxville and online.

Peter and my ultimate goal in our marriage are to keep Christ at the center of our marriage and to honor Him in all that we do. With God in our lives we truly believe we can achieve anything.

5) CRITICAL BENCH: Jess, do you and Peter plan on having children?

Jess: As far as children, we would love to have a family someday. We are saying that we will want to start our family in about four years, but you never know Sometimes we can’t plan these things and if it were to happen sooner we would count it as a blessing.

We plan on raising our children to love the Lord first and foremost. Again, Christ will be at the center of our lives and we want our children to be raised in a loving Christian home.

6) CRITICAL BENCH: It’s great that your children will be raised with values and great parents! Jess, how has your life and your training changed since meeting Peter?

My life and training have changed for the better since Peter entered my life. Peter has helped me to truly believe in myself and stand up for myself and my beliefs. He has also helped me to stay on track with my training and especially my diet. I have a hard time with the diet and he helps me stay the course.

7) CRITICAL BENCH: Jess, you are on the cover of FLEX for June 07! They choose you out of all the models in the world! So Jess, let me ask you, before you were winning contest, making covers of magazines, and being a celebrity guest at major fitness events, what got you started in fitness modeling?

I went to train with well known trainer Mike Davies when I was 20 years old. A friend brought me with her to attend a boot camp weekend with him. He mentioned that I had potential and should try competing. I did my first show when I was 21.

I got into the modeling aspect of it because Peter contacted a lot of the photographers to line up shoots. I also got contacted after stepping on the Olympia stage. We both feel very blessed to be able compete and to have our images used in the magazines.

CRITICAL BENCH: Jess, to achieve such success you have put your time in the gym, can you tell us about your diet and training routine? How is your routine and diet different now from when you first started doing figure competitions?

Jess: I am on a somewhat normal contest diet. I eat six small meals a day. They consist of 100% whey (ON Nutrition’s whey gold standard), grilled chicken, tilapia, egg whites, sweet pot., oatmeal, and asparagus.

I used to do a lot of plyometrics and supersets when I first started training, but now I try and lift heavy and rest in between sets. It helps to build in the off-season and to preserve muscle while I am training for a show. I am not that muscular to begin with so I have to do all I can to hold onto what I have.

9) CRITICAL BENCH: SO, YOU TRAIN LIKE A POWERLIFTER???? (Do you lift impressive numbers?)

NO!!! I don’t train like a powerlifter . I just lift heavy, usually 10-12 reps, and rest in between sets

10) CRITICAL BENCH: Heavy with reps! That’s like the fitness version of hardcore powerlifting, since it’s powerlifting with reps! Well, Jess it was great talking to you about your marriage and training. Now let’s put Peter on for part 2 of the Peter and Jess Putnan interview!

Jess Putnan: Thank you Ben!

Peter and Jess Putnam 11) Critical Bench! Okay, I am here with Jess Paxson-Putnam’s husband Peter now. Peter, tell us about the “RUSH GYM.” What is the “RUSH GYM” like?

Peter Putnam: The Rush Fitness Complex is the fastest growing health club in the country. Each facility is roughly 24,000 sq ft, and carries 12 different lines of equipment. Even though it is a health club, the facility is geared towards all types of training. Bodybuilders and powerlifters can easily train there. Dumbbells go up 150 lbs. The Rush is the brain child of former 24 Hr Fitness President, Larry Gurney. The Rush has recently begun its national expansion over the past year. Jessica and I are apart of the PR department and do promotional work for them. We also do personal training part time at one of the locations in Knoxville. Visit www.therush247.com for more details.

12) CRITICAL BENCH: Very cool! Everyone reading this visit the Rush Fitness Complex and set a date to go! Peter, what’s your advice for a younger or average bodybuilder who would like to be a pro someday?

Peter Putnam: Be realistic. Not many people ever turn pro. There is such a genetic element. (I know people don’t want to hear that) to the sport. For example, if I was out shooting hoops every day and wearing basketball gear, it doesn’t mean I will make it to a professional level. If you don’t play college ball after high school the odds are that playing professional will never happen. You can always play as a hobby, but that’s it.

I tend to find with bodybuilding there is a delusion that anyone can make it. That’s not true the majority of the time. You can keep on competing every year and convincing yourself that one day you can make it if you build this or improve that, but it’s not cut and dry like football or basketball, for example.

Here’s the way I would view it. There are a couple things to consider if you have your heart set on turning pro, get your face out by attending national shows and ALWAYS be respectful. Remember, bodybuilding is a personal journey and one doesn’t have to have the goal of turning pro to enhance their sense of well being and life. Also, remember that this is temporal. One should always strive to be balanced and put other priorities first before bodybuilding.

13) CRITICAL BENCH: Very wise. Peter, what supplements do you take, and what’s your workout system like?

Peter Putnam: I like to eat clean throughout the majority of the year. I keep protein high, carbs moderate, and I don’t shy away from plenty of essential fats. My diet changes as my body adapts, and my goals dictate where I need to go with my nutrition and training. I typically train about 5 to 6 times a week. One thing that I do is make sure to try and rest after every two days of training. I lift heavy, but form is important. I like high intensity training, but I think some body parts such as back and arms need to be trained with higher volume.

14) CRITICAL BENCH: Peter, so in your bodybuilding journey, what has been your favorite moment, most memorable moment, craziest moment, funniest moment and the moment that changed your life the most?

My favorite moment was winning the Collegiate and meeting my future wife at the same show.

My most memorable moment was my first trip to CA for photo shoots and walking into the Weider Offices

My craziest moment was getting married to Jess after the Olympia .

My funniest moment was asking Arnold if he knew who I was.

The moment that changed my life beyond my faith in Christ, was meeting Jessica.

15) CRITICAL BENCH: What a story! Jess and Peter thank you so much for sharing your story with us today. We wish you the best with everything that you do is there anything else that you would like to say?

Peter and Jess: Thanks for the interview. Please check out our websites:

www.peterputnam.com

www.physiquepros.com

www.therush247.com

www.JessFit.com

Peter Putnam’s myspace page:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=62397892

Jess’s myspace page:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=59127910

Train hard, stay the course! God Bless,

Peter and Jess Putnam

Source: criticalbench.com

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By Annette Stark

Back when he was considered one of the World’s Strongest Men, renowned bodybuilder Franco Columbu would bench press 520 pounds, dead lift 750, and squat 655. He bent a bar across his face in one contest, carried a refrigerator on his back in another, power-lifted a car, and blew into a hot water bottle ’til it exploded like a party balloon, spraying water all over the audience.

He hasn’t carried a refrigerator in years, but his imprint on body culture is indelible. Today, at 54, Dr. Franco Columbu is a Los Angeles chiropractor, nutritionist, and trainer who has cowritten several health and fitness books, including Weight Training and Bodybuilding: A Complete Guide for Young Athletes (with Richard Tyler, D.C.); Franco Columbu’s Complete Book of Bodybuilding (with a foreword by Arnold Schwarzenegger); and The Bodybuilder’s Nutrition Book (with Lydia Fragomeni).

Most people will recognize Columbu as the muscleman posing next to Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of the greatest guy flicks ever, the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron. That body-fetish classic followed these guys through daily workout regimens that included five hours a day in the gym, ballet classes for posing techniques, and humongous mounds of ground beef and egg-and-tuna omelets.

A lot of cholesterol went into the making of that film. Even now, it’s not uncommon for serious weight-training programs to include as much as 200 grams of protein per day, and nearly all of it from animal sources. As a key figure in the culture since the ’70s – (he won Mr. World, Mr. Universe, and Mr. Olympia titles) – Columbu has seen the 200-gram protein diet, as well as every other extreme food fad, come and go.

Mostly, he avoided all of it. “It didn’t come out in Pumping Iron, but Arnold and I never went on those diets,” he says. “We used to eat things in front of people and they:???, ‘You eat that?’” He didn’t do the high carb, he didn’t do the low carb, and he didn’t do the “food combining” diet, either. “Remember that one? Don’t eat protein with carbohydrates. Food combining was so bad; I thought, these people are really out to lunch. How do you separate protein from string beans, pasta, potatoes, and rice? All these foods are half carbohydrate, half protein.”

Then there was the egg-white craze. “I had guests come to my house, bodybuilders, Frank Zane, Arnold, all the guys from Pumping Iron. Arnold didn’t care about egg whites. Arnold said, ‘Give me the protein and let’s go to the gym.’ So I would separate the eggs because the other guys wanted the whites. We ended up drinking the yolks.”

In the ’80s, a lot of bodybuilders switched to diets of water and meat. “Frank Zane and Lou Ferrigno, a lot of those guys believed in low carbohydrates. But we realized that some of these guys had very low energy as a result. So we went with our instincts, which was that you need protein for the body and the stored glycogen and stored fat in the body for energy. The brain needs carbohydrates.”

Columbu and Schwarzenegger were roommates during that time. Backstage before a competition, Schwarzenegger would announce, “Franco, it’s time for pizza.” They did it for the energy and also to psyche the other guys out.

Their grocery bills were huge. Columbu recalls, “Joe Weider paid us $80 a week each. We’d go to the market, and three days later all the money was gone. We’d work construction to make extra money.”

Schwarzenegger, Columbu reveals, never ate a fad diet. But he was jealous of Columbu’s even less-exclusive menu. “I could eat sweets, and this would make him angry. He’d say, ‘Oh, you. You can make muscle if you eat wood.’”

How to Eat Like a Strongman

Columbu received his degree from Cleveland Chiropractic College in 1978. He’s married and has a 10-year-old daughter, Maria. “Most of Maria’s friends are told, ‘Don’t eat this and don’t eat that.’ I say, ‘Eat the pasta.’ She eats everything. And she is in the best shape of all of her friends. What I’m saying is, to put a kid on a diet is devastating, in my opinion.”

The two-time Mr. Olympia has become a respected expert in nutrition, sports medicine, and kinesiology. He does special training programs for sports injuries, and the list of celebrities who have sought his bodybuilding advice includes Sylvester Stallone, whom Columbu made sign a contract promising that he wouldn’t even swallow a vitamin pill without seeking Columbu’s approval first.

But he doesn’t spend his whole life in the gym anymore. Columbu works out for maybe 20 minutes three times a week. He still sees Schwarzenegger all the time, but they gave up the constant training in favor of tennis. “I started playing tennis with Arnold in 1995, and we play on weekends. I mix up the sports … tennis, cycling. I like hiking.”

As to diet, he pretty much eats the same way he did when he was competing, except that he eats less (about 120 grams of protein per day). He recommends eating high-quality proteins. In order of importance, these are: eggs, fish, dairy, and meat (including poultry and pork).

Eggs are the highest quality protein, he points out, and still the most important to any fitness program. He notes that most dietary guides are wrong when they say eggs cause cholesterol problems. In fact, egg yolks contain enough of the fat emulsifier lecithin to neutralize cholesterol in other foods. Columbu cites a study: “In a group of 100 people, the first group ate eggs. The second group drank only milk. The third drank milk and ate eggs. And people thought, that third group is really going to have high cholesterol. But the eggs lowered the cholesterol, even in the group drinking milk.”

Much of Columbu’s information goes against conventional wisdom. “Let’s say you’re going to the gym at 3 p.m. Breakfast isn’t important. Bread and eggs is perfect. Lunch is when you eat a big meal with carbohydrates. Why? Because you can’t go to the gym without energy. But if you eat that for dinner and you don’t burn it, it will store as fat overnight.”

He stresses eating smaller meals and more frequently and that high-protein diets require extra Vitamin B6. Also, check the labels for sulfur dioxide, prevalent on fruits and vegetables. “You can’t digest it, and it bloats your stomach. People say they can’t eat grapes. It’s not true. It’s the sulfites.”

But the biggest tip for anyone who is looking for a flatter stomach and smaller waistline is that many folks on high-protein diets require hydrochloric acid and enzyme supplements. The body just doesn’t make enough on its own, especially past age 26.

On the Juice

It’s well known that they took steroids in the Pumping Iron days. Even Schwarzenegger has come clean about this. Fact is, they didn’t have the information back then about how dangerous the drugs are. But Columbu found that the negatives far outweighed the positives; you got big but you lost definition. And he notes that musclemen who kept using drugs eventually developed fat stomachs.

He sees those symptoms in today’s bodybuilders, some of whom are so massive they make the Pumping Iron bunch seem small. Columbu sees a lot of fat stomachs, which indicates to him that drugs are rampant. He tells young athletes and bodybuilders to stay off the juice, including Human Growth Hormone (HGH).
“Old people are trying to live longer, but young people want to win,” he explains. “Even if you tell them that they are taking something that is killing them. But … the minute you start taking these drugs, your workout stops. You will be depending on that instead of going to the gym. Once you switch your mind to depend on a secret like steroids, winning is over.”

Source: www.lacitybeat.com

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On December 8, 2004,

MIKE MATARAZZO: I had a couple of setbacks. At one point, I had some fluid in my lungs, and I still feel really drained. Other than that [as of early April], I’m driving again, I walk three or four miles a day on a treadmill, I’m hitting a bag, and I’m just barely starting to lift weights, very light, super-high repetitions. My surgeon told me it would take at least a year before I’m back to 100%. For now, I’m very limited, and I don’t need a doctor to tell me that. I feel extreme soreness and pain in my chest and shoulders, and I still hear my chest cracking, so I have to be careful. I get aggravated on a daily basis, because I want to do more, but I’m also aware that I have a problem, so mentally it plays a lot of games on me.

Fear?

That’s the biggest thing. I never before thought about death or even injuries. I always thought I would age gracefully, like everyone else in my family, and I thought my bodybuilding lifestyle would allow me to be healthy and active for an incredibly long time.

This whole thing–it makes you doubt yourself, and I’m a pessimist as it is. I tend to dwell on the bad. I went to see my surgeon in the middle of March and I asked him, point-blank, “Doc, do I have to continue seeing a doctor for the rest of my life, or can I just take my chances and get on with my life, the way it was?”

He looked at me and said, straightforward, “Mike, you didn’t have your appendix removed. I know you feel good right now, but, yes, you’re going to have to see a doctor for the rest of your life. You’re going to have to be on medication for the rest of your life. You’re going to have to have a stress test every six months for the rest of your life. You’ll have to have an echocardiogram once a year for the rest of your life.” These are things that, before, were totally alien to me. That alone has really depressed me. I now feel as if I’m on a leash. I have to check in with someone regularly to make sure that everything I always thought was OK might now need some maintenance.

Shouldn’t everyone take that precaution?

Sure, and I did. I’d get a clean bill of health, and the doctors would joke, “What are you doing here?” But these things sneak up on you. I used to believe that I was 100% healthy, but those days are gone, and I’m angry, because I did it to myself.

How?

Oh, god, where do I begin? I’d have to say that everything that led to my heart problem began the minute I started getting serious about competitive bodybuilding. In order to get bigger, I’d eat five, six, seven pounds of red meat a day, no vegetables. And I’d stay away from fruits because of their sugar.

Worst were the chemicals. I have so many memories of being alone in a hotel room the week, five days or two days before a contest, and doing unspeakable things to my body–steroids, growth hormones, diuretics–anything and everything that we as bodybuilders do to achieve a certain look. The greatest danger, though, is that, while dieting and training stay the same through the years, there’s a compulsion to experiment more wildly with chemicals. Every day, guys are on the phone asking who’s using what, where are they getting it, how are they mixing it? There are guys out there who are being paid big money by pros to mix special concoctions for them. I remember being all over the world, a few nights before a contest, putting chemicals into my body, knowing I was hurting myself, but I did whatever it took to attain a “look.”

If I could go back in time, those things never would have happened. I would have gone back to driving a truck. I have no doubt in my mind that the primary cause of my problem–the biggest thing–was the chemicals. It was the steroids, the growth hormones, the diuretics. We take Cytomel to lose fat, knowing it’s an incredibly powerful thyroid drug, and that’s only one of the many, many drugs out there taken by everyone, from amateurs to the highest level in the world.

I wouldn’t in a million years change a lot of the aspects about bodybuilding, but that’s the one aspect I’d discontinue if I had a second chance.

What should those who still have a second chance do about it?

Put it away. Only a handful of men on this entire planet make barely a decent living at bodybuilding. I happened to be one who did for 15 years, but I probably took 20 years off my life. No amount of money in the world is worth that. I’d rather go back in time and get a nine-to-five job and live to a ripe old age, like my grandfather.

There’s no way you can do those things and guarantee safety. It’s impossible. Furthermore, I was on the lighter end of the scale of doing things to myself. I had opportunities to do a lot more to myself chemically, but I didn’t; yet, I still got hurt. I never did insulin, but guys these days are doing insulin like it’s water. Some take a shot with every meal. That’s insane, and it’s the luck of the draw whether it’ll [hurt] you or the next guy.

I took that gamble and lost in every way. Physically, I’m completely limited. Financially, I’m pretty close to ruined. Emotionally, it made a guy like me–whose only fear in life was the loss of my mother and father–afraid of every little ache and pain. I’m afraid I’m not going to be here to enjoy another sunrise, or enjoy another day of laughter with my fiancee, Lacy Porter, or the elation of our wedding in August–all those little things people take for granted. That wears on me.

It has affected my whole life, so to all those guys who are on an eternal quest to have 21″ arms and 20″ calves, and who are so vain about their never-say-die attitude, I say, “Change your attitude.” Worry about keeping that body of yours as healthy as possible, because it’s going to have to last you not just through your next contest or to the end of your bodybuilding contract, but for a long time. And a long time for a human being is nothing. It goes by real quick, even quicker when your health is gone and you have nothing to stand on.

Is there any optimism in your life at the moment?

Yeah, I’m still here. Beyond that, I have to take it day by day. I can’t formulate a plan, because I have to attend to everything that basically caved in on me this past year. It’s been devastating, and I still have many months ahead, in which I’ll have to work through that rubble. I’m 38 years old, but if your health starts waning, time is not on your side.

Is there a glimmer of confidence left?

All my life, my confidence always came from my physicality. I was a boxer, and that gave me confidence. When I became a bodybuilder, just being able to step onstage, go to the gym, battle myself and push myself further than I ever thought possible built lots of confidence. But no matter how strong you are mentally, when you take away that physicality, and you look in the mirror and feel the way I do right now, it just zaps you. It’s taking awhile, but it’s coming back.

That physicality was an effect, not a cause. A deeper strength enabled you to build that physicality in the first place.

I’ve said the same thing to myself: where did I get that push to get myself to do a certain thing or look a certain way? It had to come from within, and it’s still there. Many times, when I was in the hospital, that little voice in the back of my head said, “Get your act together. Get the hell out of here.”

You have tons of fan support out there.

I want to say this from the bottom of my heart: I can’t thank the people out there enough for their cards, letters and get-well messages, and especially the people who have been trying to help me out financially. It’s been incredible. It’s really touching that people who don’t have a lot of money are scraping together whatever they can to send to me. I’ve received letters from people in the armed services, who don’t make a lot of money, but they send $20, $12. It’s just great, it really is. And it’s really nice when they tell me they’ve been following me in FLEX since 1991. They say, “You’re more to us than just a good bodybuilder.” What an honor that people are remembering me. It has brought me to tears many times. I can say I truly feel honest love and affection for all of those who have kept me in their thoughts and prayers, and I hope they will continue to do so. It’s an incredible lift for me. I just want to say a huge, huge thank you to everybody.

FOR MORE OF THE LOVE OF MIKE

Mike Matarazzo is facing some hefty medical bills. As someone who has brought a lot of pleasure to a generation of bodybuilding fans, he is worthy of our support through these difficult times. If you want to help Matarazzo and are able to make a donation to his medical fees, please send your donation (check made out to Mike Matarazzo) to Mike Matarazzo, c/o FLEX magazine, 21122 Erwin Street, Woodland Hills CA 91367.

INTERVIEW BY JULIAN SCHMIDT

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THE RETURN OF THE GIANT KILLER – part three

by Jason Meuller

Jason Meuller: So, did the treatment that you received at the hands of the IFBB, on more than one occasion, have anything to do with you signing on with the WBF?
Danny Padilla: The IFBB is a great organization, but let’s face it, America’s about big. Bodybuilding is about the being the biggest, tallest, strongest guy in the world . . . and for some reason, the powers that be thought that a guy like me just couldn’t sell because of my height. I don’t understand why that is. I certainly don’t believe it’s true. I certainly can’t say that I had it the worst in the IFBB. Other athletes were treated far worse than I was. But I always had my “problems” with the organization. When I competed in the Night of Champions all they ever talked about is achieving perfect scores. I scored a perfect score in New York and I still lost. Of course, the explanation was that I didn’t pose hard enough, that my heart wasn’t in it.
JM: What show was this?
DP: It either the 1978 or 1979 Night Of Champions. Among the competitors were Robby Robinson, Mike Mentzer, and me. It was in all the magazines. We were the three top guns at the time. I beat Mike. He took third. If Mike Mentzer ever scored a perfect score, the whole world would know about it. The same goes for when either Casey or Robby scored that way. I scored a perfect score in New York and I lost. They told me that after three or four pose downs they thought that I kind of gave up, so they awarded the show to Robby.
JM: Wait a minute. You’re telling me that you have a perfect score; it’s obvious to the judges that numerically you’re the winner, yet they keep calling the three of you out for pose downs? Why?
DP: Why? Who knows? I have no answer for that. Maybe Robby was expected to win the show and when I showed up in better shape I threw a monkey wrench into their plans. The most ironic part of that whole show was that we had an athletes meeting in the morning where we were told that if anyone had a high score, if you were scored 290, 295, what have you, that was it, you’d be the winner of the show. They also said that the night show was just for the fans and the scoring at the prejudging would decide the winner. We we’re told to give it our all for the night show, to please the audience of course, but that the scores from prejudging were final. Well, at prejudging, I had 300 and Robby had 297. Danny Padilla loses. You explain it to me, because I don’t understand.
JM: So in 1990, you get a phone call from Vince McMahon, right?
DP: In 1990, I decided to compete in the IFBB after an eight year layoff. The only reason why I was gone that long was because of an experience that I had at the Night of Champions in 1982. I arrived in New York in tremendous shape. Immediately before the competitors meeting I went to go eat. Coming back from eating, I was about two minutes late for the meeting and they locked the doors. I said to Demilia, “Wayne, what’s up with this”? He told me about how they had a new rule and that rules cannot be bent for anyone, including me. I continued to ask him to allow me to compete, he told me that he’d have to put it to a vote with my fellow competitors.
Now I ask you, how in the world do you leave a decision like that up to your fellow competitors? I looked great, they’re not stupid, if I won I’d be taking a paycheck away from them. So naturally, they voted me out. After being eliminated, I quit bodybuilding for 8 years.
In 1990, I decided to make a comeback. I competed in the Niagara Falls show and took second to Eddie Robinson.
JM: At what age?
DP: At 40 years of age. Then I went to the Night of Champions that same year. I lost to Dorian Yates and Mohammed Benaziza. Two great champions defeated me, but I felt, that night, I really beat them both. I felt I had the best overall physique, I was muscular, I was cut, and I was more complete than either Dorian and Momo were. You have to understand, Dorian was definitely ripped but he was much lighter. He was just starting to make the rounds. They had just flown him in from Europe and were going to keep him in the States to prepare him for the Olympia. Momo Benaziza looked tremendous and was rock hard, but he had definite flaws. But believe me, I was still happy to take third behind the two of them . . . even if I truly believed that I should have won the show. So I then went to Europe and did seven Grand Prix shows and place in the top five in six of them. It was immediately after this that I was approached by Vince McMahon and offered a job in the newly formed WBF. Tom Platz was involved; there was some serious money behind the project. I knew deep down inside that the WBF wasn’t going to be successful, I mean, how long could it possibly last. But I felt bodybuilding and the IFBB needed a jolt of some sort, some kind of competition. I figured if anyone could do it, it would be Vince McMahon. They paid me a hefty little paycheck and I joined. Hey, money talks, bullshit walks.
I joined the WBF and all hell broke loose. Everybody was very disappointed and upset. I think the IFBB had aspirations for me because I had done so well. The IFBB couldn’t believe that I was 40 years old and was able to compete with those guys that I done so well against during the 1990 shows.
JM: Didn’t this prompt a personal phone call from Joe Weider?
DP: But, of course! Joe Weider wanted to know how I could do this to him. He told me not to join the WBF because McMahon was a “queer”. He said that Vince would destroy my name and that I shouldn’t be a traitor to Weider and the IFBB. But of course like I said, money talks. Joe never made me a counteroffer to stay with the IFBB. They simply told me not to go to the WBF and made a lot of empty promises. Considering my previous experience with the IFBB, could you blame me for not believing their bullshit? I went to where the money was, which, at that moment, was the WBF.
JM: So what you’re telling me is that despite the IFBB’s claims to the contrary, they knew full well that athletes were being approached by the WBF and made no counteroffers to keep athletes from leaving?
DP: They made no counteroffers whatsoever. I suppose the IFBB felt they could afford to lose a few athletes. They got Eddie Robinson and Gary Strydom, both of whom got really great contracts. But other than that, with athletes like Jim Quinn and Mike Quinn, they really weren’t taking the top guns of the bodybuilding world. We still were hoping that we could start something at the WBF. The good thing that came out of the whole episode is that a lot of guys in the IFBB started getting contracts. Suddenly guys who couldn’t win Mr. Lake Ontario were at least getting a small contract. So, in that sense, the WBF was worthwhile. The competition that the WBF presented brought about the beginning of contracts for athletes in the IFBB.
JM: So what happened to you after the WBF fell apart, did you want to go back to the IFBB?
DP: Well, I just retired to be honest with you. I figured it was over; I’m 42 years old, where am I going to go? But what happened to the guys that came back to the IFBB is that they had to endure a lot of bullshit, like theatrical presentations of graveyards and being raised from the dead . . . they also had to pay stiff fines. I refused to do any of that. I was eventually approached by the IFBB because they were having the first Masters Olympia and they wanted me to be a part of it. They told me that if I agreed to come back and compete, all would be forgiven and that I wouldn’t have to pay any fines. So I came right back to the IFBB . . . and, really, it was no big deal.
JM: So the Masters Olympia was your first show back?
DP: Yes, and I got whooped!! (laughing) I think I got so excited that I over trained.
JM: Danny, it seems to me that the Masters Olympia competitors are treated very poorly. Why don’t you think it is that someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger who has millions of dollars doesn’t get behind the show and promote it properly?
DP: I think it’s a sad day when someone like Arnold doesn’t take the show because he would probably promote it better than anyone out there. It’s obvious that the IFBB doesn’t really care about the Masters Olympia anymore. The first Masters Olympia in Atlanta was a beautiful show. Wayne Demilia, along with the promoters, did a fantastic job. But things have definitely shifted since then. Maybe the IFBB can’t get sponsors to support the show or they can’t get fans interested enough to buy tickets. I think there’s also the fear in the IFBB that if the prize money got too good, some of these old-timers will train themselves to death. We’ve certainly already seen that with some of the younger bodybuilders. But the contest reminds me of the old AAU shows where we’d line up fifty guys on stage and we’d all have to change in the bathroom. The best thing about the Masters Olympia is the dinner after, everything else about the show is pretty second rate.
JM: If you do decide to do the Masters Olympia next year, who do you see as your main competition?
DP: Well, looking at this year’s competition, Hnatyschak came in great shape, the guy who took second place apparently weighed in at a shredded 240 pounds, and, of course, you have the perennial winner, Vince Taylor, to contend with.
JM: What about Robby?
DP: Robby and I are going to bump heads for the fifty and over division. I think he got fourth overall and probably took the fifty and over division, so he and I are definitely going to bump heads. After I whoop him, I’m going to take on the rest of the guys in the show, that’s if they let me compete. They might be scared of me.
JM: There seems to be only one pro bodybuilder who’s very short that’s doing well right now, and that’s Lee Priest. I believe Lee is 5′ 4″ and you’re 5′ 2″. How do you feel you’d fare against a guy like Lee Priest if you were able to get back into shape?
DP: I tell you what; I’d love to compete next to a guy like Lee Priest just for comparison. But I’d have to be in ungodly, phenomenal, freakish shape to compete against this kid. As great as he looks, I still believe he gets screwed in every show he enters. I don’t know if he’s not talking to the right people, or if he’s insulted somebody, because he’s got such a beautiful physique and should be placing higher. I would love to get myself in the best shape of my life and go head to head with Lee Priest. If he beats me, I don’t care. He’s a short guy and he looks great.
JM: Do you still believe it’s a situation in the IFBB that a short bodybuilder cannot get his just rewards simply because he’s short?
DP: Like I said earlier, I definitely believe that Americans love big things. The bigger the better, and you see that in every sport. Bodybuilding is following that. I guess Mr. Olympia now has to be 6′ 8″ and 960 lbs. Lee Priest, for example, is just not as big and as ugly as some of these other guys. Don’t get me wrong, he’s huge, he’s a giant for his height, but I guess he’s just not ugly enough. The problem is that he’s just got to get a bit more ugly.
JM: Danny I appreciate your time and have really enjoyed this interview. Are we going to be seeing more of The Giant Killer?
DP: Hey, I’m 50 years old. I’d have to be crazy to think about competing again. Then again, most people have always thought I was crazy.

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THE RETURN OF THE GIANT KILLER – part one

by Jason Meuller

Jason Meuller: What are some of the major titles you’ve won?
Danny Padilla: When I was very young?
JM: Yes.
DP: Well, for the local area I was the youngest guy to ever win Mr. Rochester, which is the town we’re in right now. I was only 18 years old at the time and still in high school. Some of the major titles I’ve held in the IFBB include Mr. America, Mr. USA, Mr. Universe, and I placed top 5 in the Olympia at least 5 times.
JM: What year did you win the Universe?
DP: I won the Universe in 1977 and I won Mr. America in 1977. Frank Zane and myself are the only two bodybuilders ever to win both titles in the same year.
JM: Recently, you were supposed to compete in the Masters Olympia, I heard you got in great shape, but you didn’t show up. What happened?
DP: Well, basically I guess that when you’ve been eating low carbs for too long you get a little mean and, in that state of mind, I decided that I didn’t want to pay for a pro card. I felt that because I’d been a pro for so long and there’s only one Masters Olympia, the guys involved shouldn’t have to pay for a pro card. So, we wound up in a minor dispute over the issue. Eventually I broke down and paid the $175 but I never received an answer as to whether I was in or not. I made a couple of phone calls but still never received an answer, so I decided to drop out.
JM: Then there was also an issue of the show being moved up 7 days at the last minute, correct?
DP: They changed the show date three times. It was supposed to be on the 14th, then on the 10th, and it finally ended up on the 3rd. I was so involved with my training, I never took 2 minutes to check the date on the computer. Even in the magazines, they had printed the August 10th date. I went into the gym and some guy is telling me that I only have a week and a half left, and here I was gearing my diet for the August 10th show date. Obviously I have to change the regimen immediately, I had to get more extreme with my diet, do more aerobics; I wanted to look as freaky as possible . . . to be as big and as cut as I possible could. I still was in tremendous shape but then the issue of the pro card came up.
JM: So you’re 5’2”, and you were planning on hitting the show at what weight?
DP: Well, at the time, I was hoping to hit it at about 175-180 lbs. I had been training all year and my bodyweight had reached the high 180’s, low 190’s. By the time I tightened down on the diet, cut down on the calories and carbs, I had bottomed out in the mid-170’s.
JM: You seem to have an unusual style of contest prep.
DP: I still believe in the old high protein, low carb diet. I consume as much protein as I can, six to eight pounds of meat a day. I also incorporate a certain amount of aerobics, but it’s usually an aerobic workout where I’m not straining the whole body, you can’t go out there and run seven miles or even jog. I’ll use the stairmaster or a lifecycle. The closer it comes to the show; of course, I’ll cut the carbs down. I was probably on 150 to 200 grams of carbs per day for most of the year. Then about two months before the show I went down to about 100 grams of carbs per day. Three months before the show I decided to use the old Arnold training regimen that we had used when I was out there in California. We worked each bodypart three times a week. Of course they told me, that because I was an old man, it wouldn’t be possible for me to grow on an intense schedule like that. Well, I passed up all the young guns in my gym.
JM: So, let me get this straight. You’re training each body part three times a week on a double-split and you’re still growing?
DP: I was still growing, absolutely. I would just increase the calories. It’s all about calories, you must feed the machine. I would train chest and back in the morning, legs at night. Then I would train shoulders and arms the next morning plus calves and abs then next night. I would start the routine all over again Wednesday. And I grew on it.
JM: Along with how much cardio?
DP: At that time, I was doing 20 minutes exactly. Then about two weeks before the show, I started doing 30 to 40 minutes on the stairmaster and as much as an hour on the lifecycle.
JM: So you missed the Masters Olympia, but you still look great. What’s next for Danny Padilla?
DP: Well, Danny Padilla is pissed-off. He paid $175 for a pro card, so that means I’m a pro again. I’m thinking about possibly entering an open show to see how good these young guys really are. I’m a little crazy right now.
JM: Let me get this straight. You’re 50 years old, is that correct?
DP: That’s correct.
JM: And you’re looking to enter a men’s open IFBB show?
DP: I’m looking into a show right now and there’s a very strong possibility that I will end up competing.
JM: Realistically, how do feel you could do against today’s pros?
DP: Well, against the top Olympia contenders, I would be crazy to say that I could kick ass. But, against some of these guys that enter the Night of Champions, most of the time they come in out of condition, too heavy, not prepared, I think I could whip some of these guys.
JM: Specifically who?
DP: Specifically who? Well, there are a lot of guys I think I could whip. Hey, I don’t even know half the names of these guys anymore, I don’t even open the magazines, but I was looking at some of the top contenders at the Toronto show last March, I didn’t know who half these guys were, but I knew I could whip some of these guys. They look terrible.
JM: What weight do you think you could come in at 50 years of age?
DP: At 50 years of age, I think I could hit a good 220 lbs, rock-hard, shredded.
JM: That would put you up there with Lee Priest.
DP: Well, Lee Priest is in tremendous shape. To this day, I can’t understand why he doesn’t place higher. It’s like attack on the short guys. The guy’s phenomenal. He’s got huge arms, huge everything. I think with his physique, it’s almost complete, doesn’t really lack anything. I look at these taller guys; I’m seeing bits and pieces. I mean, they’re huge, but to me, Lee Priest is just much more balanced than those guys. For whatever reason, he just doesn’t get a higher placing.
JM: Obviously you come from a time period where aesthetics were valued over pure size.
DP: Absolutely.
JM: Do you feel you can be competitive in an era where size is king? Where a premium is placed on overall mass and aesthetics fall by the wayside?
DP: You have to remember that in the era that I came from I was called the Giant Killer. The reason for that is because I had both the aesthetics as well as a lot of mass for a little guy. You could never tell my height until you put a big guy next to me because my body was so complete and I was also so thick. I had a lot of muscle density. Now, for myself, with all the new supplements out there, I’m pretty sure that I can play catch up. I’d probably hurt a lot of feelings.
JM: What’s your favorite Arnold story that you can tell me?
DP: That’s tough; because I’ve got a lot of stories that I can’t tell you. One time, when we were all at the gym working out . . . Arnold told it one way in Pumping Iron . . . but I’m going to tell you how it really happened. This guy came in; I believe he was from Canada. Arnold was training for the Olympia and I was training for the Universe. This guy came in and said, “Where’s Arnold Schwarzenegger? I’ve come to beat Arnold, I’m going to be the replacement for Arnold.” So we looked at this guy, he was tall and lanky with more hair than muscle, but he was going to be Arnold’s replacement? So then, of course, Arnold sent us to get this special muscle oil, because he wanted to see this guy pose, and he told the guy, “I have to see how you look”. So, the guy took his clothes off and Arnold told us to give the special muscle oil to this guy. All I could find was transmission fluid. So, we gave it to Arnold He poured it on the guy, he put it all on, and Arnold said, “Now pose. Do you feel bigger?” And the guy was swearing that he felt bigger, he could feel the stuff working. So Arnold asked the guy to show us his posing routine, and as the guy posed, Arnold told him that it was almost perfect, but that as he hit the most muscular pose, he should scream. So, here was this guy posing, all of a sudden you would hear this loud scream. Everyone in the old Gold’s Gym was wondering what the hell was going on, they didn’t know if we’d killed the guy or what. Here was this guy screaming at the top of his lungs, and Arnold was screaming right back at him, “Incredible, beautiful, you are the man, you are what we’re looking for. You must go see Joe Weider now!” So he sent the guy out to Joe Weider’s office. He ran up the stairs, went into Joe’s office and jumped on his desk. He started posing and while he hit his most muscular, he started screaming. Joe threw the guy out of his office and called Arnold and me to tell us we were fired because he knew it had to be us that were behind the whole escapade.
JM: That’s hilarious. What’s your current weight?
DP: My weight at this point is 184 lbs.
JM: And I’m told you put on muscle fairly easily.
DP: I train, I grow.
JM: What can we expect from Danny Padilla in three months?
DP: In three months I’ll be over 200 pounds. This is serious for me now. I’ve got a point to prove. I got bumped out of the Masters because I was a cheapskate and didn’t want to pay for a pro card. And when I finally paid for my pro card, they didn’t have the courtesy to let me know if I could still compete. So now that I have my pro card, I’ve decided I’m going to compete with the big boys. What’s the worst that could happen?

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THE RETURN OF THE GIANT KILLER – part two

by Jason Meuller

Jason Meuller: So what’s going to happen if Danny Padilla competes and does well against guys twenty-five years younger than he is?
Danny Padilla: I suppose I’ll have to reveal the secrets behind my comeback and longevity in the sport. When you look at me, you cannot guess my age, I have good skin texture, and I really don’t feel any different in the gym now than I did 25 years ago. So obviously I’m doing something right, you know? I’ll tell you a funny story. During my recent preparation for the Masters Olympia, I found that someone had gone through my gym bag and attempted to pry open my locker from the top. I was wondering why the hell someone would want to do this. I was approached by the owner of the gym. He told me that word around the gym was that Arnold had sent me some secret youth formula from Germany. There were actually guys in the gym who were convinced that I was on this magic stuff. My bag was searched and my locker broken into in an attempt to discover the fountain of youth.
JM: That’s hilarious, although it doesn’t surprise me that people might think you’ve got some secret elixer up your sleeve. For God’s sake man, look at you! Can we talk a bit about how you got started in bodybuilding?
DP: I got started in bodybuilding at the age of seven. I had an older brother and a cousin who were both champion wrestlers in high school. They used to workout with some old York barbells in the basement. I would watch them train and slowly I got involved with it as well. I picked up the weights and it was like a drug. I liked what I felt and so I kept going with it.
JM: Is your whole family like you, genetically gifted to put on muscle?
DP: I have two brothers that could have easily been pros; they just didn’t like the sport. I also have a younger brother who I trained for 3 months, in that time he gained close to 30 pounds of muscle – drug free, of course. He was just gifted like that. Everyone was afraid of him; they were asking me, “What are you going to do with this guy?” He eventually told me that bodybuilding just wasn’t for him, he went to college and became a school teacher and is also involved in music. In my family, I guess you could say that all the men are genetically gifted in this way.
JM: When you were coming up in the sport, who were your idols? What bodybuilders did you look to for inspiration?
DP: Back in those days you had Chuck Sipes, Chet Yorton, Bill Pearl, Sergio Oliva, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, Larry Scott, Harold Poole, Freddy Ortiz…those were the “guys”. They were the champions during that time period.
JM: So what was it like for you, to look up to these guys and then so quickly find yourself standing on stage next to many of them?
DP: Well, it was kind of freaky, I started competing very early. At the age of 18 I entered my first local bodybuilding show and won it. It was only a matter of a few years before I was standing on a pro contest stage in the same lineup with some of those guys that I had been reading about in the magazines during high school.
JM: So at that time you entered that first local show, you’d been lifting weight for about 11 years?
DP: Yes, about 11 years on and off. I can’t say that I really knew what I was doing. I wasn’t focusing on bodybuilding; I hadn’t even known what bodybuilding really was all about for most of that time. I had just been lifting for strength. I was doing basic moves with barbells and chin-ups and dips using the water pipes that ran through the basement. I came from a big family that had very little money; so joining a real gym was impossible. I developed a pretty good physique just using that home equipment. I was a good high school wrestler, then I became involved in gymnastics, then I became a bodybuilder. I competed in the AAU for many years and did fairly well but they used to say to me “Danny, you’ve got this incredible physique, you’ve got the most beautiful physique we’ve seen as far as symmetry and balance, but you’re just too short, you’re never going to make it.” It was then that I decided to compete in the IFBB. It was 1975. In Rochester, at that time, nobody really understood what trying to be a competitive bodybuilder was all about. People were asking me what I was training for. I’d tell them that I was getting ready for the Mr. USA, which was going to be held down in New York City at Madison Square Garden. This was a show with the “big league” guys of the time, Robby Robinson, Roger Callard, Denny Gable, Harold Poole and Anibal Lopez. So I walked in to Madison Square Garden, of course nobody knew who I was. The East Coast guys hated the West Coast guys back then (sort of like the rappers today). I didn’t know about this whole coastal rivalry thing. Being a guy from New York at a New york show, I guess you could say that I was in right place at the right time. This was my first major show, and boom, I won the Mr. USA. It freaked everybody out, including me.
JM: And yet after that win, it seems like you’ve had a lot of bad luck surrounding your career in the sport. Why do you think that is?
DP: You know, as I progressed in the bodybuilding world and had a chance to experience the so-called “pro bodybuilding lifestyle”, I have to say I was mostly disappointed. I didn’t think the athletes were treated properly. In my case, I had to pay my own way through all of my competitive career. My dad and I owned a grocery store. My whole life I was both working full-time and training. I’d get to a show and I’d see pros that had no money to get themselves home. They’d basically be waiting for some “big gun” to give them their plane ticket. Then there would be some stipulation about not giving them their ticket unless they agreed to do a photo shoot for no pay. I was disgusted with this. I’m thinking this is the way a professional athlete is treated? There’s something very wrong with this. In the case that I just mentioned, they all had no choice but to do these photo shoots to get their airfare paid for. The photos were then used in magazines. And, let’s just say, that those magazines are not non-profit ventures. Certain individuals became wealthy off of this system. This was how the game was played. I went next to compete in the Mr. America in California and won it. My friend Larry Baker was with me at the America, I also met Ken Waller at that time and we became good friends. I was taking a shower after my win and they came and told me that I had to get out of the shower because they needed another “look” at my physique. Apparently Roger Callard wasn’t happy at having been defeated by me. I had won the lightweight division first and then I had to defeat the heavyweight winner, who was Pete Grymkowski, to take the overall title. They couldn’t believe that a guy who was 5’2” and whose eyes weren’t blue had beaten them. Roger was having a heart attack. So, somehow he got his “people” to convince the judges to make us pose yet again. Here I was, still wet from the shower, I had to put on my posing trunks and go out and pose again. Of course, the decision stood, and I won the title again, but that wouldn’t have happened to another bodybuilder. It was always rough for me.
JM: You were in Pumping Iron, albeit briefly. Why don’t you tell me the true story of what happened with in the movie?
DP: That’s another heartbreaker for me. I remember flying out to California. They had us compete in New York for spots on the Universe Team. I won the lightweight spot, Robby took the Middleweight, and Ken Waller the heavyweight. So we were, by far, the best American bodybuilders in the country and we were going to represent our country at the Mr. Universe contest. Those of us who were not living on the West Coast were flown out to California. We all trained at the original Gold’s Gym. I got to Gold’s and I saw Arnold and Ed Corney, Franco and Frank Zane, Ken Waller and Robby Robinson. All the great guys were there because they were filming Pumping Iron. George Butler filmed all of us eating, training and hanging out. It was going to be the first movie ever made that documented the sport. They filmed me training for three months, the IFBB paid all of our expenses and then they flew us to South Africa. They continued to film us there in Pretoria. They put us up in a hotel and covered our expenses. We were excited because we believed that it was going to be the first time in history that the United States was going to take all three divisions (light, middleweight, and heavy) at the Universe. I was still doing all these photos by the pool, being filmed by Butler and his crew and watching Arnold psych out Lou. That stuff you’ve seen in the film, I was watching it happen in front of my eyes. Arnold’s telling Ferrigno, “Louie, you look pretty good but maybe next year you’ll be ready for the show.”
JM: And this is actually working on Lou?
DP: It’s tearing the poor guy apart. Arnold tells Lou and his family that he had called his mother the night before and told her that he had already won the show. Louie’s mom asks Arnold, “How can you do that, the show’s not until tomorrow?” Arnold says, “If Louie’s the man to beat, I have no problems. Louie looks good but his timing is off. Maybe he’ll get it down next year.” Arnold was just demoralizing this poor kid. He was really breaking him down. I also watched Ken Waller demolish poor Mike Katz. Little did I know, the morning of the show, I was going to be the one to be REALLY demoralized. I finished eating breakfast. We had fifteen minutes to wait before we got on the bus to take us over to the show. It was then that I was told that I was “bumped”. They had decided to have two heavyweights, one middleweight, and no lightweight. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t compete. Apparently what had happened was that Waller and Katz were going to pose in front of the American coach, Ed Jubinville. Then he was going to decide which one of them would represent the United States in the heavyweight division. Mike Katz was Jubinville’s protégé. Ed absolutely loved the guy. I guess the South African government also liked Mike Katz. It was decided that since I was a young guy, at the beginning of my career, I could always come back next year, so I was bumped. It absolutely broke my heart. I had already told my friends and family that I would easily win the lightweight division. I went all the way to South Africa and was told, with fifteen minutes of warning, that I couldn’t compete for the United States.
I wasn’t just devastated, I was also pissed off. I start thinking that I should just compete for another team. The only team that didn’t have a lightweight competitor was Portugal. I asked the Portuguese coach if he would you like to have me on his team. He thought I was joking. I told him, “No it’s not a joke. I’ve come all the way to South Africa and now the United States team has dumped me.” At the time Oscar State was running most of the show for the IFBB. I went to him and said, “My mom was born in Spain, my dad was born in Puerto Rico, somewhere in the middle we had to have crossed Portugal.” Oscar laughed and, I guess figuring it couldn’t possibly hurt, agreed to let me compete on Team Portugal. I went on stage with the Portuguese banner and no one could believe what the hell was going on. They all started laughing, thinking nothing about it until It began to look like I was going to take the title. At that point Belgium and England began to protest. It was down to the three of us. Before we could finish, because of the British and Belgian protests, the IFBB had a meeting, and I was thrown out yet again.
JM: Obviously, you wound up playing a MUCH diminished role in the Pumping Iron movie because of all of this nonsense.
DP: Definitely. When Pumping Iron was shot, I was in a lot of the footage. They filmed me training at Gold’s, in South Africa, on the bus, etc. . . . I was supposed to be part of the group that was focused on in the movie. I was edited out because I made the IFBB look stupid. How could they show me competing for Portugal after having paid my way to South Africa? Of course, because of what the IFBB did to me; had it been included in the final edit of the movie, it would have portrayed them in a bad light. Nobody wanted to take public responsibility for the abuse I took. I was bumped from the show after months of preparation. If I had any kind of common sense, I probably would have hired an attorney and sued somebody. All you see of me in the final film is a very short segment when Arnold approached me to ask me if I was OK after he heard about what had happened. I told him, “I’m OK, let’s just enjoy the show.” That’s when we started talking about Ed Corney and Franco from the audience during prejudging. I make that comment about Franco, “My God, his lats are huge, he could fly with them.” To this day, when people hear what happened over there in South Africa, they respond with disbelief. I always counter with, “Why would I be sitting in the theater in South Africa talking to Arnold in that scene in Pumping Iron if my account of the events is untrue?” Maybe they think that I flew over there just to watch these guys do lat spreads.

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A: I prepared for the 1981 Olympia for a full year.

Q: How did you qualify to compete at this Olympia and what inspired you to get into such great shape?

A: I came in second in my weight class at a previous Olympia to qualify for the 1981 Olympia. While in California, someone told me that I had never won the show because I was never cut enough . . . this motivated me to compete.

Q: How old were you when you competed at the 1981 Olympia?

A: I was 30 years old.

Q: What did you weigh and what was your body-fat percentage?

A: One week prior to this contest I weighed 157 pounds. On the night of the show I weighed 176. There was no fat to be found anywhere on my body at the ’81 Olympia.

Q: In the off-season, prior to this Olympia, what was your body weight, and body-fat percentage, if you can recall this?

A: My body-fat percentage was 16% in the off-season at 178 pounds. I never really get grossly out of shape.

Q: Did you bring any muscle groups up for this contest? Which ones, and by how much?

A: I improved my back muscles and abdominals while bringing my waistline down to 28 inches.

Q: Overall, what improvements did you make for the ’81 Olympia?

A: Basically, the overall improvement was a to bring in a complete package. Every muscle and all of the muscle groups could be seen.

Q: What training methods did you use at the time? Also, describe your pre-contest diet at this time.

A: Each body part was trained twice a week. The push-pull system was used the last 10 weeks before the show, three times a week. I went against the rule of low carbs and stayed on 80 grams of protein and consumed all the carbs that I needed (mostly fruits, veggies, brown rice and yogurt). At that point I did not worry about calories. I also jogged three days a week, 5 miles per run. In the last two weeks prior to the show I counted calories: On the first week I took in 1500 calories and on the last week, 1000. Mind you, during the last ten days prior to the show I was too weak to lift weights or do aerobics. I basically worked in the store with my dad and rested as much as I could. The Monday before the contest I weighed exactly 157. On Wednesday I began to double my calories and double my carbs until Saturday.

Q: How did you feel mentally during the weeks leading up to this competition? Were you excited, confident of doing well?

A: I visualized what I wanted to look like before the show and then came up with a plan to achieve that condition. I was excited and confident because Arnold had retired and I figured I had a real chance.

Q: Physically, how did you feel? Did you feel strong and energetic, or depleted and weak?

A: I felt very strong in the beginning of my program but in the last two weeks I was depleted.

Q: Do you think you achieved the best shape of your life for this contest? What did you do differently to achieve this effect.

A: I was in the best shape of my life for the 1981 Olympia, even though the IFBB said I looked too depleted because they had to save face for choosing the wrong winner. If Tom Platz, or Roy Calender, won, I could have accepted it. Although I would have liked it better if I had won. The other show I looked great for was the 1990 Night of the Champions. I was beat by Dorian Yates and Momo Benaziza. I thought that I had the most complete physique at a body weight of 225 pounds, and cut to shreds.

Q: As an athlete, what did you gain from doing well in this Olympia?

A: Well, the only thing I gained was I became world famous. Also, I made the Padilla name famous and it’s in the history books of bodybuilding. There were some financial benefits but, unfortunately, when you’re five foot two and your eyes ain’t blue you don’t make the same amount of money as a man over six feet . . . because with the Olympia it’s the tallest and biggest man that makes the show.

Q: Who did you train with (if anyone) during the pre-contest phase building up to the 81′ Olympia? What other support did you have?

A: I trained with my best friend Larry Baker, an attorney who loved to lift weights. The only other support I had was me, myself and I. Of course, my parents supported me. I received no support from Weider or the magazine (Muscle Builder).

Q: Where did you train (which town and what gym)?

A: I trained at the Rockelle Fitness Centre in Rochester, NY.

Q: Going into the show, did you know who your main competition would be?

A: I had an idea Roy Calender would be tough. Also, I knew that Tom Platz would be tough. At the time I knew that Arnold had two “friends” that were in the contest. That was Franco Columbu, (who had won the Olympia one time already) and another guy from Germany. His name was Jusup Wilcosz.

Q: Who did you see as your biggest threat to winning the Olympia?

A: The biggest threat was Franco, Arnold’s training partner.

Q: During the contest, what were some of the moments you remember as being interesting? What was the atmosphere like backstage?

A: I remember Arnold talking to Franco, basically stating that it was going to be tough for him to win the show because of Tom Platz, and myself. I personally think Arnold wanted Franco to drop out, but he stayed anyway and somehow he won the show, the atmosphere was incredible. I remember distinctly, Arnold, Franco and Bill drake pumping up . . . getting Franco ready for the show. I was very confident. I knew I looked incredible, and my friend Larry Baker thought for sure that I won the show. We heard people calling on a pay phone in the back saying that they “didn’t think Danny could lose this show”.

Q: After the ’81 Olympia, were you back in the gym training, or did you take some time off?

A: After the 1981 Olympia, because working out was my first love, even though I was humiliated, I still trained. But I lost my drive for competition.

Q: What were your thoughts on the outcome of the ’81 Olympia? Do you think you deserved better, and why?

A: I definitely thought that if I didn’t win, I could have at least been second. The crowd was with me. When I was called fifth, half the audience booed and left the auditorium. The fans followed me all the way to my hotel! But the worst part of this show was the network that was filming stopped because of the audience reaction. The other mysterious thing about this show is that there are hardly any photos and absolutely no film of it. Who has ever heard of a Mr. Olympia not being filmed? If anyone does have film or photos, please contact me. The only photos I know of are owned by Joe Weider and Flex magazine and John Balik, the owner of Ironman.

Q: Well, you are obviously very committed to bodybuilding as evidenced by your return to the Masters stage. What are your thoughts on the cancellation of the Masters Olympia this year?

A: I was disappointed that it was cancelled. I was in training and in great shape.

Q: Thank you very much for your time Danny. One last question. Are you determined to compete at the Masters Olympia if it is held again?

A: Hopefully, if my health holds out and they don’t cancel the show again. It’s obvious that I’d have to compete for “ego” only because the prize money is so bad I can make more by selling newspapers. It is very sad that when a bodybuilder hits his forties or fifties, it’s not like the golf masters, they just want you to go away and die somewhere.

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Interviewed by: Leesa Paul

WP:Patty was heavier as a kid and not in shape. She came from a small town where food was plenty and exercise was not in the vocabulary. As she started getting older and looking at health magazines, she discovered that that was an area in her life she wanted to learn more about. From that point; she never looked back! Now, Patty is a Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor, Figure Competitor and Fitness Model.

She truly enjoy working out and fitness related activities, as she loves the feeling of a strong body. “Exercise gives me discipline, determination and dedication. Because I am so passionate about what I do, I love to motivate my clients to also love it for themselves. I strive to be a life coach for my clients. My goal is to encourage and challenge my clients to feel stronger and more confident with every session”, say Patty.

Hello, Patty. It’s great to be here with you today. Ready to get started?

PW: It’s great to be here! Sure! Let’s go!

WP: I understand you have been a Personal Trainer for over 12 years. You have a Bachelor’s in Business Administration; which is amazing. In addition, you are certified through AFAA, and other certifications such as: Johnny G spin instructor, CPR and first aid. That’s a lot of certification and qualitifcations for your line of work. You should be proud of yourself. Where do you train your clients? Do you train them in a gym, at home, or where?

PW: Thank you, Leesa. I am currently working on more certifications. I train my clients out of a private gym, out of their homes, and outside. I can devise a workout for anyplace clients would like.

WP: How much time per day do you typically spend with a client?

PW: I spend a minimum of an hour with each client per session.

WP: So, I’m going to pick your brain for a few questions for a bit of “Personal Training” information. This might actually help some of our readers. You don’t mind, do you?

PW: Of course not. Ask away.

WP: Here we go! What forms of exercise do you find to be the most effective for gaining mass?

PW: To gain mass, I believe in low intensity cardio and low reps with heavy weight. I also recommend changing the program about every 4 weeks.

WP: Okay, what about losing weight. What type of exercises do you recommend?

PW: I feel the person should at least do 45 minutes cardio 5 days a week and incorporate a variety of weight training into their workout.

WP: What if their goal is to get cut? What do you recommend?

PW: I recommend increasing their cardio to an 1 hour a day and continue to lift moderately. Now, if they are doing this before a competition compete, I recommend them to taper off from the cardio to rest about 2 days before big day.

WP: Thank you for allowing me to pick your brain like that. Now, I know you compete and you actually won the title, ’2009 Fitness America Competition Southwest’. A little birdy told me. What other titles have you won?

PW: A little birdy, huh? Ha-ha! Thus far, I have won the following titles other then the one you just mentioned:

Fitness America: Mesa, AZ, I placed 2nd in Figure & 3rd in Sports Model.

2008 OCB Naturals, Mesa, AZ place 3rd in Figure & 4th in Fitness model.

2008 America’s Fittest Model, Scottsdale, AZ Fitness Model Competitor.

2008 NPC Emerald Cup, Seattle WA Figure Competitor.

2007 NPC USA Nationals, Las Vegas, NV placed 16th in Figure Class.

2007 NPC Jr Nationals, Culver City CA placed 4th in Figure Class

and, 2007 NPC Western USA, Phoenix, AZ placed 1st in Figure Class.

WP: You have came along way! That’s a great list! How does your routine and life changes when you go from pre-contest to off-season?

PW: I still workout everyday during my off-season, It’s just not as intense and don’t get crazy if I miss a day of working out. I also stick to a clean diet during my off-season, but I do allow myself some cheat meals.

WP: What do you like and dislike about competing?

PW: I like the mindset it puts me into when I compete. I get more focused and in tuned with everything I put into my body and do. I dislike being so critical sometimes.

WP: Being critical at times is probably what gets you to your goals. But, I can understand. You compete in several different federations such as NPC & OCB. In addition, you also compete in the Fitness Universe. Are you aiming for your Pro-Card?

PW: I am, eventually.

WP: What do you feel you must do to reach your goal?

PW: At this point, I enjoy competing in different organizations to get the knowledge of what each want from their competitors and the experience. By doing this, I feel it will make it easier to pick the one I love the most.

WP: That’s pretty smart! From your past contests, what have you learned you need to correct or work on for the physique you are aiming for?

PW: I have learned that there is always room for improvement and a great attitude will go along way.

WP: What problems have you had as far as staying motivated and disciplined to stick with your workouts?

PW: Not getting sufficient sleep is the biggest, right now. Also, I over commit myself to others.

WP: Sounds like you have a heart of gold! What problems did you have to overcome in order to stay on track with your fitness program?

PW: My downfall is finding time for my workouts, but never underestimate me…I DO get them done…what ever time of day or night and getting all my meals in on time!

WP: How have you changed over the years?

PW: My eating habits have done a 360 for the better. Every year, I have made my body better and better naturally. I have developed so much respect for those who truly take this sport to heart. Many people do not understand our insanity.

WP: No, they don’t. If they did, there would be a lot of more respect for the athletes in this industry. Please explain your workouts to me.

PW: I do an hour of cardio daily, mixing it up from bleachers, to running, etc. I then do a half hour of weights everyday; splitting up my body parts. On leg day, I weight train about an hour. I vary my routine and do high repetitions with moderate weights. On other days, I do heavy weights with low repetitions. I rarely take a day off.

WP: You mentioned earlier that you eat a clean diet. Can you tell me about your diet?

PW: I eat 5 to 6 times a day. I stay within 300 calories per meal and 150 per snack. I take in about 120 grams protein, 100 grams carbohydrates, and 25 to 30 grams of healthy fats.

WP: Who had the most impact on you in your life thus far?

PW: My Grandma, who is no longer with us but who is a truely the strongest person I have ever known.

WP: What were you like in high school?

PW: Ha-ha! I was more like the class clown. I was never much on going out and partying.

WP: Class clown? Ha-ha! You just gave me a vision of you in a colorful wig and a big red nose! Sorry! Ha-ha! What are your hobbies outside of fitness?

PW: I love to read, dance, and spending time with my family; especially my little niece, Taylor. I enjoy hanging out with good people and traveling.

WP: What type of music do you listen to?

PW: I listen to everything! From Country to Hip Hop.

WP: What supplements do you take?

PW: Right now, I take Omega 3′s, Multi vitamin, Chromium Picolinate, grape seed extract, alpha lipoic acid, and L-Carnitine.

WP: What accomplishments have you achieved thus far in your life that you are proud of?

PW: Gosh, there are so many! I don’t know where to begin! One accomplishment is taking my personal accomplishment of stepping on the competition stage and also being in magazines…and covers of magazines, which one coming up is the cover of Your Health Magazine coming in November. And of course, having this interview with World Physique! I’d anticipate being on your next cover! Ha-ha!

WP: Patty, that is a thought! You would light up that cover! Anything you would like to mention before we close?

PW: I just want to tell your readers who read this to never doubt your abilities. I truly believe we are all capable of anything we set our minds and heart on. My favorite quote is, “It’s not about being perfect, it is about being persistent” and that, I am!

WP: Great advice, Patty. It has been great to talk to you again. Wonder what it would our cover would look like with you on it? Hummmm…

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Tom Platz was one of the most beloved bodybuilders of the late 1970s and 1980s. Known by his adoring fans as the “Golden Eagle,” Tom competed in and won multiple professional bodybuilding competitions throughout his era, most notably taking a controversial third place finish at the 1981 Mr. Olympia. Perhaps most recognized for his remarkable leg development, Tom made a professional bodybuilding comeback in 1995 and was awarded honorary Mr. America. Now at the age of 53, the Golden Eagle is again strongly thinking of making another comeback. I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Tom recently to discuss the possible comeback among other things.

Q: When did you begin bodybuilding? What motivated you to pick that particular sport and how did you retain that motivation throughout your career?

A: I could probably talk for an hour about that! Well, I began bodybuilding when I was 9 years old and I became very serious about it in a short period of time. When I saw Dave Draper in the movie Don’t Make Waves, I was absolutely mesmerized. I thought, my God, look at that guy! To a young kid looking for an identity, looking to gain some notoriety, it was that movie and also a particular fitness advertisement of Mr. Draper endorsing Weider exercise equipment that really got me inspired to be a bodybuilder. I told my dad, “when I grow-up, I want to be like him (Dave Draper), that’s what I want to do!” My life changed forever and was essentially shaped in a sense by seeing Dave Draper in those two things.

As far as how I retained that motivation throughout my career, I trained myself from a young age to always feel like every competition was my very first one. Every exhibition I ever did, I would try and pretend that it was my first time and that I was essentially the underdog. By doing this, it not only kept me motivated, but it also gave me a mental advantage. In every venture I’ve ever pursued, I always perform better when I have butterflies in my stomach, whether it is competing in bodybuilding, acting, teaching or selling cars.

Q: What was the experience like for you when you first left home to train and pursue pro bodybuilding in Los Angeles, California? How did it feel to know that you’d be training alongside some of the best in the world?

A: I had just graduated from college (Wayne State University). I went to the airport with one suitcase, fifty bucks in my pocket and a single plane ticket. Just before I boarded the plane I remember asking my dad, should I really do this. He said, “Are you kidding me? You’ve been talking about this since you were nine years old, you better do it!” He then assured me that if it didn’t work out I could do something else. As I was sitting on the plane, on the way to what was then the Mecca of Bodybuilding (Los Angeles/Venice Beach), all I could think the entire flight was, it’s finally arrived…What I’ve been waiting for since I was nine years old has finally come! As the plane started to descend toward LAX, I looked out the window in awe thinking, oh my God, that’s Gold’s Gym down there…That’s Venice Beach, that’s where Arnold lives!

Q: What was it like stepping into the famous Gold’s Gym for the first time?

A: I can remember this so clearly it’s like it was this morning. I walked into Gold’s Gym and standing there under the first skylight I had ever seen, was legendary bodybuilder Robby Robinson. I just stood there and watched him in awe as he did baby reps with a 45 lb. barbell, gazing at his god-like physique in the mirror. As his muscles and veins bulged out of his ripped-up tank top, they glistened as the sun beamed down on them. I instantly knew at that moment, I was at the place I’d wanted to be for so long. I’d finally arrived! Pro bodybuilder, Kent Kuehn, who also working the front desk said, “Welcome to Gold’s Gym! Let me introduce you to some of the guys.” So he took me around the gym introducing me to Arnold, Frank Zane, Robby Robinson and others. Now this was just after the movie Pumping Iron had come out, so you can imagine what that experience was like for me. Let me also say, that to this day I’m indebted to Ken for being so gracious with me at such an early point in my career.

Q: Can you tell our readers a little bit about the life of a bodybuilder? What did your weekly routine consist of during your professional bodybuilding career?

A: Well, everybody has a different perception or conception of what it was. When I turned pro in bodybuilding, I also become a professional businessman as well. As a business school graduate, I understood the concept of branding a product. I was the product in this case…with the blond hair and the red trunks, and I knew how to sell that image. As for my workout routine, I learned quickly that I didn’t have to have the frequency of training that some of the others pros did. The amount of workouts I did was always low. I could train four days a week and keep it all together, where a guy like Arnold had to train twice a day, everyday. I would be in the gym for two hours Monday-Thursday and try and be competition ready by Thursday night. I’d fly out Friday morning and do the exhibition over the weekend, then fly home Sunday night and start the process over again on Monday. That was my life for 15 years! It was very similar to the lifestyle of a traveling musician. It was a 15-year tour for me (laughs). I will say it was a very lucrative and meaningful experience; lucrative mentally, spiritually, financially, and physically.

Q: How did you feel the first time you stepped onto the Mr. Olympia stage? It must have been nerve wracking. How did you handle the pressure?

A: I was just thrilled to death to be standing next to and competing against the guys I had been reading about since I was a kid. I was standing next to Frank Zane and others saying, oh my God, am I going to be able to handle this. Really at that point, I didn’t feel like I was one of the best yet. I knew I was good, but these guys were the greatest of all time! However, when I went up on stage I quickly eradicated those feelings and replaced them with childlike confidence. I was ready to win! You’ve really got to understand; to these guys I was just a kid. Ed Corney, Frank Zane, these guys were ten, twenty years older than I was when I arrived on the scene. They were my heroes as a kid. To be honest, I still get goose bumps when I hear their names (laughs).

Q: In the pro bodybuilding realm, you’ve often been dubbed as “America’s Favorite” and the “Gentleman’s Bodybuilder”. However, you never received the ultimate crown of Mr. Olympia. What do you think was the reason for that?

A: (Thinks deeply for about ten seconds, and laughs) I had a case pre-made for the Mr. Olympia trophy. I fully anticipated winning it, but it just never happened. I am very grateful for having received the accolades and trophies that I did win. I wouldn’t want the Mr. Olympia trophy quite frankly if it was void of what I did receive. Just the feelings, the fans, the camaraderie, the people saying I was their choice…As much as I would love to have that trophy (Mr. Olympia), I don’t know if I would trade in being the people’s choice. I loved 1981 when I barely lost (third place finish), I went more places, and I made more money than any winner ever did. I obviously would loved to have won the Mr. Olympia trophy and had the chance to go down in history as a Mr. Olympia winner, it just didn’t happen, but a lot of great things did. In all honesty I have to say this and I’ve never said it in an interview before, (pause) Arnold coming back and winning in 1980…(long pause), I think my chances should have been more in my favor than the results revealed In 1981. I really felt I did everything just perfect! Arnold was there in attendance that night but not competing. I don’t see how the judges could have agreed with the decision for first place. In fact, all of the international judges invited me to guest pose for the next year in their respective countries. But you know, I raised his (Franco’s) arm up and said congratulations.

Q: When you were competing, what did your diet consist of on a daily basis? Did you have any nutrition secrets that helped you have success?

A: My diet and nutrition varied all the time and that’s the secret! The key is to constantly keep switching metabolisms. I haven’t really said this before in an interview, but what I mean by switching metabolisms is this. When you’re not getting ready to compete and your have some time off, eat the opposite way that you normally would prior to a big event. I would traditionally go on a higher fat diet and a high calorie diet, going into what I call “high fat metabolism.” Really in the 70’s we were all on the high-fat, high-protein diet; eating mostly eggs, tuna, and other meats, basically restricting our carbohydrate intake. But let me tell you, I had a lot of success in 1981, when I switched to a high carbohydrate low fat diet. All of a sudden my body came together and I was like oh my God! I looked in the mirror almost scared at how good the results were! I still obviously stuck to a high protein diet but just limited the fat intake. I was in unbelievable condition, and that was probably my best year ever by switching like that. As in eating and nutrition, in workouts, periodic change is the secret. You know a lot of this is done now with some of the gurus of the sport, but back then I was experimenting with it.

Q: You became famous for your legendary leg development. Are there any secrets to your success in that regard?

A: Well you have to squat. I’m sorry to say, you can’t replace the squat with conventional new machines and secondary exercises. It has to be about the squats…The squats have to be sacred ground. I was raised catholic, and squatting has to be the altar (laughs), that’s where life and death takes place. You really have to approach it like a separate sport. I was taught how to squat and train my legs by Olympic lifters. I was fourteen at the gym and shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but they let me in because I was persistent and wanted to learn. I would just watch these Olympic lifters with their flawless technique; it really was amazing to watch! You know, I think more power lifters and bodybuilders should be around and watch Olympic lifters to learn their technique and let it rub off on you. It’s almost like a religion…You know, if you’re studying Buddhism you should be around Buddhists to have their knowledge of the religion rub off on you. Unfortunately there’s less of that in bodybuilding today.

Q: What moment in your career was your pinnacle?

A: I would say 1981. Being kind of the newcomer just out of college and placing third at Mr. Olympia. Then to be recognized as one of the all-time greats in ‘81, I mean wow! I was guest posing everywhere that year in the free world and the un-free world (East Germany). It was an amazing experience and a highlight of my life.

Q: What made you decide to retire from the sport the first time? It must have been hard for you.

A: I’m not sure if this holds true in other sports, but in bodybuilding nobody tells you it’s time to retire. You just sort of know when its time. Bodybuilding has eras, and about every ten years or so, new guys emerge onto the scene and represent that era. In the seventies it was Arnold, Corney and Zane. The late seventies to the mid-to-late eighties was my time. As the late eighties were approaching, I had been bodybuilding professionally for nearly ten years, and I started to think it’s probably about time to get out. Quite frankly, the lifestyle just became too much. Every single weekend, every four days I was performing somewhere else. When I wasn’t in the gym training, I was traveling to different locations to perform. I’d get a month or two off and then spend three or four months in Europe training and performing. It looks and maybe even sounds like a glamorous life but let me tell you, its hard work! After Arnold retired in the late seventies he pretty much handed me the ball and told me to run with it. But by the mid-eighties monotony was setting in. When the blond hair and the red trunks started to become tedious, and the job was getting to be more about the money and less about the love, I knew it was time to move on.

Q: You have a teaching degree and a Masters in Business. After you retired the first time from professional bodybuilding, you had the opportunity to teach for a number of years. I also understand that you did a couple of movies as well. Would you like to expound on these things?

A: That was one of the deals I made with my father at nine years old, that I would get a college education. I received my Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Nutrition from Wayne State University, a Masters in Fitness Science from Michigan State University, and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of California. I had the opportunity to teach after I retired from bodybuilding at really all levels of education from Kindergarten on up to college level, and I loved it! I believe that success in anything relies on three things: genetics, instincts and education. As I mentioned before, towards the end of my bodybuilding career, I was beginning to just go through the motions and it was beginning to be more about the money and less about the love of the art. Being an artist, you have to have passion for what you are doing to grow. Bodybuilding was becoming less of a challenge for me and it wasn’t making me uncomfortable anymore. The butterflies just weren’t as intense. So I wanted a new challenge, something that made me uncomfortable and brought back those butterflies. I pursed acting to some degree for a short period of time and had the opportunity to do a few movies in the late eighties and early nineties. Getting into theatre groups and having the opportunity to act, gave me those butterflies for a period of time and it caused me to grow as an artist.

Q: I understand you worked with Vince McMahon and the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF). What was your job? Can you tell us a little bit about the WBF and what your ultimate goals were for the new federation at that time?

A: I was recruited by Vince McMahon like a high school All-American football star. After I had retired from bodybuilding, Vince had some of his people drop by the beach to express his interest in my future career. They invited me on Vince’s behalf to meet with him at his company headquarters in Connecticut. So I sat down with Vince a few days later and he offered me a job. He was starting a bodybuilding organization called the World Bodybuilding Federation and he wanted me to be the Director of Talent Development. I accepted the job and basically served as the liaison between the talent and the front office. With the success of the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) at that time, which was also run by Mr. McMahon, it seemed like a tremendous opportunity. I thought that I could help build the sport of bodybuilding into more of a mainstream entity. With pro-wresting drawing 80-90,000 people to its events, I figured that through this opportunity, I could help bodybuilding do the same. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but I still have a tremendous amount of respect for Vince, and I consider the opportunity a great learning experience.

Q: I understand that you have deep love and passion for cars. Where did this passion come from?

A: Muscle cars and bodybuilding have both been passions of mine since I was a little kid. Back in the 70’s it was the 383 six-packs, and the 427 hemi, oh my God! In high school I had a ‘68 black Dodge Charger that I absolutely worshiped! Cars to me were really like an extension of bodybuilding. In fact, at one time, I had to make a decision between which career I wanted to pursue, bodybuilding or working on cars. I chose bodybuilding because it was cheaper (laughs). But you know, when I did well in bodybuilding I started collecting cars. I had Corvettes, Porches, BMWs and many others. I eventually got into selling cars which is actually a lot like the acting and performing part of bodybuilding, it makes me uncomfortable. Throughout my career in bodybuilding, film acting, teaching, and now selling cars, I tend to find more success with professions that give me the butterflies. I actually attribute much of what I do with selling cars to what I learned in the gym. You know, I apply the education of what I learned in the gym to so many facets of life.

Q: What is your view on the sport of bodybuilding right now? What has changed since you were competing?

A: To be honest, I’m concerned about modern-day bodybuilding. It seems too many bodybuilders today are taking too many risks and a lot of the competitors don’t really even know how to talk or give an interview. They (bodybuilders today) have nothing to say about the love of the sport, nothing to say that’s going to engage and draw people in. I sort of see it going back to the garage sport, to where the general public can’t really relate to it as well. There was a time when bodybuilding was growing. You know, with the Stallone movies and the Arnold movies bodybuilding was becoming big. Not that bodybuilding isn’t big right now, fitness is just bigger. Again, the bodybuilders today are taking too many risks. The health, the lifestyle, dare I say, without getting into too much detail about pharmaceutical applications. Anything too much is counterproductive. You know, I’m not a saint but what we did compared to now…..(10 second pause) I don’t want to get into this too much but I’ve always thought that if there were no drugs at all and never were, the same superstars would be the same superstars because the drugs don’t make you pose better, the drugs don’t give you the ability to go on stage and put it all together, the drugs are only one small part of it…and it seems that’s being identified too much nowadays. There’s even natural competitions nowadays, which essentially identifies the non-natural. Do you see natural football? Do you see natural volleyball? It’s really kind of a self-marketing downfall. Bodybuilding’s about a lot more than just that, and that’s where I’d like to see it go again. You know everything is retro, bellbottoms came back, and I think that that era is coming back and I think that’s the reason we’re here today doing this interview.

Q: I understand that you have been a naturalist for about 11 years and that you don’t really use any supplements. Are there any exceptions to this?

A: Well to be honest with you, yes, there are a few exceptions. Recently, I have used the Supreme Protein® bar; peanut butter is my favorite, but I also enjoy the caramel chocolate. My wife and I have researched the ingredients thoroughly and feel they are a good source of supplemental protein for when you cannot get to foods right away. In preparation for my comeback, I will clearly need to ramp up my protein intake; this product will be part of my dietary preparation. One thing for sure, they taste unbelievable!

Q: Supreme Protein® is actually the number one protein bar in the retail marketplace. What do you like most about their bars?

A: I actually just finished eating one before this interview. They’re very satisfying, they digest well, and they cause absolutely no bloating. It basically tastes like a candy bar but has 30 grams of protein, six grams of carbs, and also contains flaxseed oil. So eating one a day in addition to foods is what I advise others to do.

Q: In the January 2000 “Best Body Parts of the 20th Century” poll, Flex Magazine deemed you as having the best quads and hamstrings of all time. What was your reaction to that recognition?

A: (Long pause) I don’t know how to respond to that…It’s very humbling. When you’re considered the very best at something in 100 years, its like one side of you says, “Oh wow, are you kidding” and the other side is like “Yeah, you know I was the best!” But you know, I never quite believed I was good, because you always can get better. But then I look back at pictures from those days and I’m like, “Hey, I guess I was ok.” (Laughs) I tried really hard never to believe the stuff that was written about me at the time, because I always wanted to believe I could get better. You never get there, you know, you can always be a little better tomorrow. There’s always something left in the basement.

Q: You retired from pro bodybuilding competitions in 1987 but did a ‘Comeback’ in 1995 and you were awarded Honorary Mr. America. Any plans for making another comeback?

A: Yes actually I am. I’ve actually been thinking about this for two years now, but next year 2009, I’m seriously considering making a comeback. It’s not something that just happens in your mind, it’s more than that. I still have that same passion as I did when I was nine. When I saw the most recent Rocky film that came out about two years ago and he said that line “I think there’s something still left in the basement” I could relate to it and it inspired me.

Q: Being that you are now 53, will you train the same way you did in your younger years?

A: No, it’s going to be catered to where I am right now. There will obviously be some similarities and some notes that are played similar from those notes of the past. Again, one of the main things I’ve learned over the years is that you don’t have to be deprived to get in great shape. I can do a lot less as far as training and eat more fats and still stay in shape. It’s not about deprivation, it’s about abundance. Those are some things I recognize now more in my older age. Over the years, I’ve really tried to stay consistent in going to the gym at least twice a week. You’d be surprised how much I get done in that amount of time. It’s not about how many times you go anyway, it’s about what happens when you’re there. But the gym is my first love, it’s my home. That’s where I learned everything about life. So the gym has that reverence for me.

Q: Are there any bodybuilders that you still keep in touch with?

A: Absolutely! Ed Corney, Frank Zane, Draper, we’re all like family. It’s the common bond. I talked to Ed this morning actually and Frank yesterday morning, so yes we’re all still very close.

Q: Are there any people in particular that you would like to thank for helping you get to where you are today as well as how far you got in the sport of bodybuilding?

A: First off, I have to thank my wife Cha. I wouldn’t be healthy enough to ever consider making a comeback if it wasn’t for her coming into my life; mentally, spiritually, and physically. This is a whole other article, but I probably wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for her. As far as bodybuilding, there have been so many over the years. Any success I’ve had, a lot of other people helped me get there. My training partners were always there to help and encourage me. When my arm was seriously hurt, they would stand with me as I worked out and hand me the dumbbells or whatever. Let me tell you, I’m standing on the shoulders of many, many, many great men before me. To be an artist and to be an athlete, and a businessman and a diplomat is all that bodybuilding entails. But the most vital aspect in my opinion was to be an artist. To be a good artist you have to have the influence of other artists, you know, you have to look at their work too. Corney, Draper, Zane, and bunch of other guys, all had a huge influence on my work.

Biography:

Birthdate: June 26, 1955
Height: 5’ 8″
Weight: 185-190
Hometown: Santa Monica, CA
Education: MBA, MFS, BSc
Occupation: Entrepreneur, Cars
Martial Status: Married to Dr Cha on September 11, 2000
Pets: Hermit Crabs
Favorite Car: Early 60s Corvette
Favorite Music: Iz, Babyface, Eric Clapton, R&B
Relaxation: Nintendo Wii & DS, Water/Snow Sports, Movies

Career Highlights:

1995 Honorary Mr. America – AAU
1987 Grand Prix: Detroit 6th
1986 Mr. Olympia 11th
1985 Mr. Olympia 7th
1984 Mr. Olympia 10th
1982 Mr. Olympia 6th
1981 Mr. Olympia 3rd
1980 Pro Mr. Universe 2nd
1980 Mr. Olympia 9th
1980 Night of Champions 14th
1980 Grand Prix: Pittsburgh 10th
1980 Grand Prix: Lafayette, Louisiana 9th
1979 Mr. Olympia 8th (under 200 pounds)
1978 Mr. Universe, World Championships – IFBB Middleweight & Overall Champion
1978 Mr. America – AAU, Short, 2nd
1977 Mr. Southeastern USA – AAU
1977 Mr. America – AAU, Short, 2nd
1976 Mr. America – AAU, Short, 3rd
1975 Mr. Michigan – AAU
1974 Junior & Senior State Power lifting Championships – AAU, 220 Class Champ
1974 Teen Mr. America – AAU, 2nd
1973 Mr. Adonis – AAU
1973 Mr. Ironman – AAU

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