Bodybuilders never die: They simply lose their pump is my new book launched on the 1st July 2013.
Bodybuilders never die – they simply lose their pump
I NEVER started out to write a story, but when you are going stir crazy at home and the doctors are telling you non-stop to rest, I thought that I would risk exercising the only two digits that I can type with. If you’re looking for an exercise or drug manual, then this isn’t for you. This is a personal account of a journey, and if you’re not an Iron Warrior, then I think it will give you a unique, no bullshit insight into what it takes to create a world-class physique and if you are one of the brethren, then maybe you will know someone like me or perhaps you’ll see yourself in my words.
Apart from the celebrated years of Arnold and films like Pumping Iron, bodybuilding is a much marginalised sport. In fact, when it is shown in the mainstream media, it is often in derogatory terms as some kind of homoerotica or they get some poor twat and poke fun at him. The only time bodybuilding is ever taken seriously is when it is demonised as in the case of people like Greg Valentino who used a drug called Synthol to make his arms look freaky, or Bertyl “Beef It” Fox who murdered his wife.
I have spent most of my life trying to defend my sport and I have realised that the bodybuilding magazines only ever highlight a handful of top bodybuilders with their glamorous lifestyles and people have very little insight into the bread and butter competitors like me. People have even asked me how much money I have made in winning my five titles. I think they are shocked when I tell them that I had won very little money and apart from some sponsorship, competing for nearly 20 years had cost me a small fortune.
My story is far from glamorous, but it isn’t ugly either. It is full of true-life events that I hope will tell you just how dedicated all the guys and girls who compete are. I will tell you how from my humble beginning of training in a makeshift gym at home, I ended up on stage competing against the best athletes in the world.
Hopefully people will see that bodybuilding is a lot more that just drugs; it takes dedication and guts and a lot of knowledge, with a little bit of insanity thrown in for good measure! Go past any gym in the morning or late at night – and I am not talking about leisure clubs here, where many of the so-called beautiful people go through the motions of training because they fear if they grimaced, they would need to take another visit to the local Botox clinic. No, I am talking about real gyms, where the screams of pain can be heard and the smell of sweat and Ralgex greets you on arrival. No matter what time of year, rain, snow or sunshine, you’ll see them, the dedicated either smashing out reps or torturing themselves on the bike or stepper machines.
I have collapsed many times in the gym, had nosebleeds, thrown up during workouts. To me and, as the world would describe them, the other “fanatics”, this was accepted as an everyday occurrence as we drove ourselves through session after session of masochistic intensity in pursuit of our dreams. I will take you into a world where the word average is spat out with distaste; I will speak of the drugs, the crazy and often humorous situations that I found myself in. I will introduce you to the people who shared my life, some dodgy as hell, some sadly no longer with us, but what we had in common was our love of the iron.
This is the journey I took to turn a wiry, long distance runner’s body of eight stone into a ripped up championship frame of over 15 stone. I will talk of victory, overcoming adversity and the drive and passion that made me into a world-class physique, but ultimately nearly killed me.
My introduction to the iron
THE PHYSIQUE is created for many reasons; some to keep the outside world at bay, some in the vain pursuit of attracting women, some in the hope of feeling “loved”. For others like me it was a mixture of all three and the ultimate stage to display it on: The Bodybuilding Competition. A place where one is judged not on strength but on the look of the physique. Its ideals are to show maximum muscularity with minimum body fat.
