You announced your retirement in May after being away from competition for over three years already. What led to that decision, and how tough was it to make?
The bottom line was that I had to starve myself to get into the 212 class for four of the last seven years I was winning. When I decided to move to the Open, the complete mindset shift went from having to limit my food even in the off-season to force-feeding myself. I've had gut and digestion issues for many years, which I've always documented on my journeys. In that first year, 2019, I had a special invitation to the Mr. Olympia. Neil and I were talking about this yesterday. At 16 weeks out, he saw me and said, "You're going to win the Mr. Olympia." And you know how Neil is. He doesn't bullshit. Unfortunately, my gut and my mindset were on two different levels. My mind was all about winning, but my gut said, you can't even live life right now. I was miserable. I tried everything to fix my gut. I saw two specialists. I went to Medellín, Colombia and had stem cells put into all my body parts, including my gut. I got on a better track for a couple of months, but then once we increased the food again, I was miserable. I put up with that for two years. I can honestly in my heart of hearts walk away knowing that I’d done everything in my power to stay in the game. I spent a small fortune trying to get on that Mr. Olympia stage. The biggest thing I took away from that was there were other things I needed to focus on.
How much bigger were you trying to get? I always thought the way you looked at about five to six weeks out from the 212 shows was plentybig enough.
This story is from the September 2022 edition of Muscular Development.
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This story is from the September 2022 edition of Muscular Development.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Best Cardio for Fat Loss - High Intensity vs. Low Intensity
Low-intensity cardiovascular exercise is the most common way to reduce body fat, despite mounting scientific evidence showing this form of cardiovascular training may not burn body fat as effectively as high-intensity cardio. In addition, low-intensity cardio has also been shown to inhibit muscle growth¹2, making the use of this approach to enhance your physique even more questionable.
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