Post by Tim Wescott on Apr 7, 2006 21:31:34 GMT -5
After his long awaited recent return to professional bodybuilding, 1988 NPC National's champion Vince Taylor is once again poised for greatness. Having left the sport after an inauspicious, and controversial 13th at the 2001 Mr Olympia, and a 2002 Masters Olympia loss to Don Youngblood, five times Masters champion Vince, 49, figured he was through with bodybuilding for good.
However, leaving the sport on a sour note has niggled at Vince for four years and he is now back to take care of unfinished business, and to attract to bodybuilding a larger fan base with his classic physique and posing ability.
At the 2006 Australian Pro, Vince marked his comeback with an exceptionally well conditioned physique, replete with improved back density as well as the familiar flared calves and some of the fullest biceps the sport has seen.
With his return, Vince plans to give the fans a dose of the classic "old school" physique, the kind regularly seen onstage in the early to mid 90's, when, according to Vince, the top ten at the Olympia were all worthy of the title champion.
Having won the Nationals in 1988, Vince embarked on a journey to become one of bodybuilding's greats. He achieved this aim with top six finishes in four Olympia's, and five Master's Olympia wins. Along the way he became famous for his overall onstage presentation and flawless posing ability: who could forget Vince's Terminator routine, which rocked the house the world over.
This time around, Vince, at almost 50, is aiming to bring an improved package to whichever stage he graces. If Australia is anything to go by, Vince, the comeback kid, Taylor is well and truly back.
The Interview:
[ David Robson ] How did you feel about your comeback at the Australian Pro Vince? What led to your return?
Vince Taylor: It went fantastic, but it was a little premature. I didn't actually want anybody to see me just yet, because I am planning for bigger and better things in September. The reason I decided to make this comeback to bodybuilding is twofold. Number one: I wasn't really happy with where I left bodybuilding, which is more to do with being dissatisfied and not getting the respect I felt I deserved.
At my last Olympia appearance in 2001, I thought I had achieved close to the best conditioning I had ever accomplished. Being outside of the main event with the younger guys for five years, while I was doing the Masters (Olympia) was a forced move, not an accepted one.
It was a case of doing one or the other. I chose the Masters. When that went sour, everything I was achieving outside was also not recognized. When I got the nod to do the 2001 Mr. Olympia I could have swore I had made the top ten. Everyone who saw me, particularly the people backstage, including the photographers, was truly amazed by what they saw.
At 46 years old my conditioning was fantastic they told me. Pretty much everybody had me in the top six. To come off that stage at 13th just wasn't right. Furthermore, I was known for my posing and I put together a hell of a routine.
Even after the event, when I had a chance to get the video: hell, my posing routine was actually cut short. It was on for less than 20 seconds. That was another wake up call that I was truly not wanted anymore in this game, and that the powers that be were going to make sure any opportunities were going to be limited. On that note, I said to my self at the time I would just leave this thing alone.
However, and this leads me to my second reason for coming back, it was very comfortable working with the supplement company Pinnacle bodyonics, signing autographs and the like. It was fantastic. Then I threw in the posing shorts and didn't want to do it anymore. Then last year I was informed by Pinnacle that we weren't going to be working together anymore. That was a wake up call.
I have been looking at that and making adjustments prior to that as early as January, letting them know that I'm thinking of competing again. I thought maybe my inactivity was a problem for them.
They can put me in any expo in the booth doing what I'm supposed to be doing and I have got 1500 to 2000 people coming by to get autographs. That is a guarantee. Obviously that wasn't enough. Ironically they picked up Craig and Kelly Titus. And we know how the rest of that story goes.
[ DR ] So what is happening right now?
VT: Now I'm out here swimming. I have no endorsement contract. They snatched the bread right out of my mouth. As of March last year, I had to scramble to figure out what I am going to do. I decided, well Taylor you are almost 50 years old, you can go back into bodybuilding, but what is that going to give you.
There is no money in bodybuilding, unless you are top two. Top two are Ronnie and Jay Cutler. So there is no reward for going out there and competing, but I thought I would go and get my physique back, try to do some guest appearances and try to make some money.
In saying all that I knew they had to see me. So it was time to get a body together and get out there and try to make something happen and pay bills at the same time.
[ DR ] Where to now?
VT: Well, September was my game plan from the very beginning. I never thought I would be interested in qualifying for the Mr. Olympia after my last taste and what was going on in the IFBB. My thing was: I want to go back into bodybuilding and I want to have fun. I want to just do this without the stress and the bother.
Most of these guys are trying to win money and win titles. I call what is happening now, "Vince Taylor, The Second Episode." I have been there and done that, but the second episode is about having fun.
When I'm going out to train this physique, I am training to keep in the game and have fun doing it. Here is the thing: I just started training eight months ago after a three, almost four year layoff.
In those last eight months, as the contest started coming closer, the ideal about me getting back onstage and doing what I call my Vince Taylor farewell trip came clear. I want to get in great shape and go around the world and say here's the Terminator one more time, here I am going out the right way.
I contacted Jim Manion to do the Arnold Classic as I felt I needed a pulpit like that. I am a two time winner there, in the open class and the Masters. They love me there - I have attended every year for the last ten years. I figured that would be a great place to start, and let the world know that here he is back onstage. I spoke to Jim Manion and it was "yes that would be a good move."
I bought up the fact that Wayne Demilia is also creating this new federation (Pro Division Incorporated) and my question to Jim asked where the IFBB was going because I'm thinking about making the jump to this other federation. Of course there was,
"Vince, you need to stay where you are, IFBB is number one and if you want to do the Arnold you need an invite, and you are a two time winner."
At that point I made it a point that I would train for the Arnold and accepted what Jim had to say. I felt I had something to train for. It didn't happen. I spent from October after last years Olympia to January this year just training and waiting to see the competitors list come out. And low and behold, I scanned the computer and boom there is the competitors list and my name wasn't even on it.
That was disappointing. Then again, that is the inside IFBB, and I have been there and done that. I contacted Shawn Ray earlier in the year because I knew he was putting on a show, and I knew Shawn would get a lot of attention. I wanted him to say "hey, Vince is coming back at my show," to give me a little PR, and again I could let people know I was going to come back.
So I agreed to do Shawn's show in May and by the same token I saw the Australian show on there - I had put this on my list at the beginning of the year as one of my preferred shows. It was the Arnold Classic, the Australian and the Shawn Ray Classic. Obviously the Arnold didn't work for me, but the biggest bump for me to get my name back out there was being the commentator for the international pay per view for the Arnold Classic. That was fantastic.
That went into 25 countries worldwide, and I had an opportunity to tell my fan base then that I was back. So now I didn't have to go to Shawn's show to make the kind of announcement. Ultimately I would like to do well at the Olympia, or win Wayne Demilia's Night of Champions, but I'm not telling as to which one I will choose just yet.
[ DR ] Do you think your comeback in Australia was a successful one? How did you stack up against the other pros?
VT: Well that was the whole thing. I was going to the Australian pro for pure assessment. I had no clue what my body was looking like. I had no real clue as to the quality of physique out there. It was just a question of go somewhere far away from the United States where they won't see you and go out and just get the ring rust off.
I was truly rusty onstage, and was glad I was able to do that. But when I did get there, and the quality of competitors was there - and I respected everyone of them - it was just the fact that I had a chance to have first hand input on where I could finish in a line up.
With names like Lee Priest, Branch Warren and Ronnie Rockel in the show I think the quality was good. It was a really fun show, and I really wanted to go to Australia anyway (laughs). I had put it off for many years and thought I have to go this time. I loved the crowd, and the competitors themselves were fantastic.
You had every tier of competitor: some guys were really good and others may have needed some work, but no disrespect to none of them. We are all trying to get better. I think I fit right in, left to right.
[ DR ] Do you consider your shape at the Australian Pro to have been back where it needs to be to contest the top spots at the Olympia, should you choose to compete here?
VT: For the amount of time I had to develop what I was able to bring to Australia, I felt I was in excellent shape. Could it be better? Absolutely. The reason why is because I only had seven months of total training, and I had to try to learn how to get back in contest shape. I have taken notes, and the shape is good but it will get much better.
[ DR ] So you are now trying to improve your overall shape?
VT: Absolutely. I had the opportunity to get some photos and have spoken to a lot of people I call the gurus of the sport. Just the impact I had made, and some of the phone calls I get and the e-mails about my good shape, condition, symmetry and balance suggest I will be very competitive. They were all impressed, and I'm like "guys, I have been training for seven months."
"I'm just getting started." I'm waiting to see September to see some gains, to actually get a chance to see what my body looks like after a good solid year of training. Give me that first before you critique me. That is what I'm expecting. Just that gym time, that training time.
[ DR ] Your shape in Australia was by all accounts great and this raises another question. Is it harder to get into shape now that you are 49?
VT: It is truly not. I took the same attitude I always have and applied it to my training. It is all about doing what your body has given you and just keeping the training up. I don't train conventionally anymore. I have three exercise machines that I designed: one is a back, lat pull down, machine that works tremendously.
My back has never looked like this. That is one of the biggest okays I have gotten. Secondly, I have a patented leg press machine. In the past, I could not train legs that hard as my knees would kill me. I never squatted, and never had the squatter bodybuilder legs. I have got the leg press legs - narrow around the knees rather than heavy mass. My machine, which I am trying to get out on the market right now, I have been using for three years.
My knee problems are gone, my legs are stronger and now I have the opportunity to start hitting my legs to where I am actually starting to get some feel from them. I will be bringing my legs up. I noticed that any body part I can physically train will respond.
I just never had a chance to tie into my leg development, and that is what I am working on now. I also have a standing press machine which is just awesome, you have to see these things.
[ DR ] What is you current training strategy? Are you working wiser now?
VT: Yes, I am working wiser. I have never been a heavy power lifting type of guy. My attack has always been from angles. Most people try to say I use high repetitions. That is not true. I need a weight that will allow me to feel the contraction of the muscle. As corny as it may sound, I need to feel the muscle working.
My mind tells me if I apply blood flow stimulation to the muscle, that will work more than every 100 to 200 pounds I can push. I go by feel, filling muscles up with blood, training from different angles and resting the body - not pushing mass amounts of weight and all that stuff. My body just says, hey I can work like this. And this has been working fine so far.
[ DR ] Just what do you do for recovery?
VT: I am working six-days-a-week, with Sunday's off. I train split sessions, one hour in the morning and two hours in the evening. Time-wise it is two hours, but this is not necessarily workout time. I just give myself that window. This is how it has been from day one, push and pull training. I recover easily.
I go home from the gym to relax and come back four or five hours later. This has been steady all of my career - I have never gotten out of that cycle. The only thing that changes is when a contest approaches and Sunday gets picked up as a workout day, and I go straight through for thirteen weeks.
[ DR ] How has your diet evolved over the years?
VT: That is the worst thing ever (laughs). It still is and will never change.
My diet will never change... Coca Cola, red meat and ketchup.
I will always have my Coca Cola. Right now it gets blended with a little scotch most of the time, and I have my beer. My diet has always been relaxed. It has never been one of those strict diets.
I always try to maintain at least three meals a day, sometimes this is very hard. Sometimes it is one or two. This time around I have bumped it to five meals by adding two shakes to my diet. But overall I'm not a big food consumer, never have been, never would be. So nothing has really changed there.
[ DR ] That is a very unorthodox approach. What is the composition of your diet?
VT: High protein. High carbohydrates I have very seldom, especially now I have been training hard for the last seven months or so. My carb intake has always been low. I don't like breads and don't eat a lot of potatoes and white rice. You won't find my type of eating habits in home. My eating habits are more Burger King burgers - I do this often. My main meal is breakfast, which is bacon, eggs, ketchup.
[ DR ] If this works for you it works for you, but not a lot of guys would be following that.
VT: There you go, it is nothing you can right stories about. I do it because I like it.
[ DR ] Three meals a day seems inconceivable for a top tier bodybuilder like yourself?
VT: About three usually. It might be down to two depending on if I eat or skip breakfast. I'm out the door to the gym. Come home and have a meal between 12 and one. Back to the gym at five, come home and have something to eat, and have my scotch. All of a sudden you have only had two or three meals for the day. I'm used to that. I can go all day with only one meal.
[ DR ] And you can maintain your mass on that approach?
VT: And that is the sick part. I felt for years that if I had just eaten regularly and correctly I could be a big guy. But I have never had that appetite.
[ DR ] Has motivation ever been a problem for you?
VT: Honestly I would have to say motivation was a problem from 1996 to 2001 because all the goals involved in bodybuilding were tangible goals. Everything I thought I could accomplish in bodybuilding after the win, amounted to nothing. With my Masters career I was very disappointed.
My worst decision was probably to stay with the Masters and let the type of training I had prior to the Masters go down two notches. I was on a double A training schedule for the young lions. When I got to the Masters I instantly told myself I do not have to bring my A game to beat these guys.
I downsized my gains for five years. I was on a B game schedule: I dieted sometimes to compete, I worked out half way, and still wound up winning. But at the end of the day, I lost that bodybuilding time, the physicality, but I gained in momentum because I was getting what I wanted, winning those Sandow's - the Mr. Olympia Masters titles - but ultimately they came out empty because they were not worth anything.
Here in America they looked at them as the geriatric, old man contests. It was never respected. It got to a point where my whole thrill about the Masters was getting my trophy presentation onstage. And h*ll, three out of the five years I won they forgot to give me my trophy, they sent it to me by mail. That's ridiculous.
There is your motivation. Why bother training? What you are achieving is nothing. But if you take it outside of the United States, it is a big achievement. That's what I was able to wake up to.
However, leaving the sport on a sour note has niggled at Vince for four years and he is now back to take care of unfinished business, and to attract to bodybuilding a larger fan base with his classic physique and posing ability.
At the 2006 Australian Pro, Vince marked his comeback with an exceptionally well conditioned physique, replete with improved back density as well as the familiar flared calves and some of the fullest biceps the sport has seen.
With his return, Vince plans to give the fans a dose of the classic "old school" physique, the kind regularly seen onstage in the early to mid 90's, when, according to Vince, the top ten at the Olympia were all worthy of the title champion.
Having won the Nationals in 1988, Vince embarked on a journey to become one of bodybuilding's greats. He achieved this aim with top six finishes in four Olympia's, and five Master's Olympia wins. Along the way he became famous for his overall onstage presentation and flawless posing ability: who could forget Vince's Terminator routine, which rocked the house the world over.
This time around, Vince, at almost 50, is aiming to bring an improved package to whichever stage he graces. If Australia is anything to go by, Vince, the comeback kid, Taylor is well and truly back.
The Interview:
[ David Robson ] How did you feel about your comeback at the Australian Pro Vince? What led to your return?
Vince Taylor: It went fantastic, but it was a little premature. I didn't actually want anybody to see me just yet, because I am planning for bigger and better things in September. The reason I decided to make this comeback to bodybuilding is twofold. Number one: I wasn't really happy with where I left bodybuilding, which is more to do with being dissatisfied and not getting the respect I felt I deserved.
At my last Olympia appearance in 2001, I thought I had achieved close to the best conditioning I had ever accomplished. Being outside of the main event with the younger guys for five years, while I was doing the Masters (Olympia) was a forced move, not an accepted one.
It was a case of doing one or the other. I chose the Masters. When that went sour, everything I was achieving outside was also not recognized. When I got the nod to do the 2001 Mr. Olympia I could have swore I had made the top ten. Everyone who saw me, particularly the people backstage, including the photographers, was truly amazed by what they saw.
At 46 years old my conditioning was fantastic they told me. Pretty much everybody had me in the top six. To come off that stage at 13th just wasn't right. Furthermore, I was known for my posing and I put together a hell of a routine.
Even after the event, when I had a chance to get the video: hell, my posing routine was actually cut short. It was on for less than 20 seconds. That was another wake up call that I was truly not wanted anymore in this game, and that the powers that be were going to make sure any opportunities were going to be limited. On that note, I said to my self at the time I would just leave this thing alone.
However, and this leads me to my second reason for coming back, it was very comfortable working with the supplement company Pinnacle bodyonics, signing autographs and the like. It was fantastic. Then I threw in the posing shorts and didn't want to do it anymore. Then last year I was informed by Pinnacle that we weren't going to be working together anymore. That was a wake up call.
I have been looking at that and making adjustments prior to that as early as January, letting them know that I'm thinking of competing again. I thought maybe my inactivity was a problem for them.
They can put me in any expo in the booth doing what I'm supposed to be doing and I have got 1500 to 2000 people coming by to get autographs. That is a guarantee. Obviously that wasn't enough. Ironically they picked up Craig and Kelly Titus. And we know how the rest of that story goes.
[ DR ] So what is happening right now?
VT: Now I'm out here swimming. I have no endorsement contract. They snatched the bread right out of my mouth. As of March last year, I had to scramble to figure out what I am going to do. I decided, well Taylor you are almost 50 years old, you can go back into bodybuilding, but what is that going to give you.
There is no money in bodybuilding, unless you are top two. Top two are Ronnie and Jay Cutler. So there is no reward for going out there and competing, but I thought I would go and get my physique back, try to do some guest appearances and try to make some money.
In saying all that I knew they had to see me. So it was time to get a body together and get out there and try to make something happen and pay bills at the same time.
[ DR ] Where to now?
VT: Well, September was my game plan from the very beginning. I never thought I would be interested in qualifying for the Mr. Olympia after my last taste and what was going on in the IFBB. My thing was: I want to go back into bodybuilding and I want to have fun. I want to just do this without the stress and the bother.
Most of these guys are trying to win money and win titles. I call what is happening now, "Vince Taylor, The Second Episode." I have been there and done that, but the second episode is about having fun.
When I'm going out to train this physique, I am training to keep in the game and have fun doing it. Here is the thing: I just started training eight months ago after a three, almost four year layoff.
In those last eight months, as the contest started coming closer, the ideal about me getting back onstage and doing what I call my Vince Taylor farewell trip came clear. I want to get in great shape and go around the world and say here's the Terminator one more time, here I am going out the right way.
I contacted Jim Manion to do the Arnold Classic as I felt I needed a pulpit like that. I am a two time winner there, in the open class and the Masters. They love me there - I have attended every year for the last ten years. I figured that would be a great place to start, and let the world know that here he is back onstage. I spoke to Jim Manion and it was "yes that would be a good move."
I bought up the fact that Wayne Demilia is also creating this new federation (Pro Division Incorporated) and my question to Jim asked where the IFBB was going because I'm thinking about making the jump to this other federation. Of course there was,
"Vince, you need to stay where you are, IFBB is number one and if you want to do the Arnold you need an invite, and you are a two time winner."
At that point I made it a point that I would train for the Arnold and accepted what Jim had to say. I felt I had something to train for. It didn't happen. I spent from October after last years Olympia to January this year just training and waiting to see the competitors list come out. And low and behold, I scanned the computer and boom there is the competitors list and my name wasn't even on it.
That was disappointing. Then again, that is the inside IFBB, and I have been there and done that. I contacted Shawn Ray earlier in the year because I knew he was putting on a show, and I knew Shawn would get a lot of attention. I wanted him to say "hey, Vince is coming back at my show," to give me a little PR, and again I could let people know I was going to come back.
So I agreed to do Shawn's show in May and by the same token I saw the Australian show on there - I had put this on my list at the beginning of the year as one of my preferred shows. It was the Arnold Classic, the Australian and the Shawn Ray Classic. Obviously the Arnold didn't work for me, but the biggest bump for me to get my name back out there was being the commentator for the international pay per view for the Arnold Classic. That was fantastic.
That went into 25 countries worldwide, and I had an opportunity to tell my fan base then that I was back. So now I didn't have to go to Shawn's show to make the kind of announcement. Ultimately I would like to do well at the Olympia, or win Wayne Demilia's Night of Champions, but I'm not telling as to which one I will choose just yet.
[ DR ] Do you think your comeback in Australia was a successful one? How did you stack up against the other pros?
VT: Well that was the whole thing. I was going to the Australian pro for pure assessment. I had no clue what my body was looking like. I had no real clue as to the quality of physique out there. It was just a question of go somewhere far away from the United States where they won't see you and go out and just get the ring rust off.
I was truly rusty onstage, and was glad I was able to do that. But when I did get there, and the quality of competitors was there - and I respected everyone of them - it was just the fact that I had a chance to have first hand input on where I could finish in a line up.
With names like Lee Priest, Branch Warren and Ronnie Rockel in the show I think the quality was good. It was a really fun show, and I really wanted to go to Australia anyway (laughs). I had put it off for many years and thought I have to go this time. I loved the crowd, and the competitors themselves were fantastic.
You had every tier of competitor: some guys were really good and others may have needed some work, but no disrespect to none of them. We are all trying to get better. I think I fit right in, left to right.
[ DR ] Do you consider your shape at the Australian Pro to have been back where it needs to be to contest the top spots at the Olympia, should you choose to compete here?
VT: For the amount of time I had to develop what I was able to bring to Australia, I felt I was in excellent shape. Could it be better? Absolutely. The reason why is because I only had seven months of total training, and I had to try to learn how to get back in contest shape. I have taken notes, and the shape is good but it will get much better.
[ DR ] So you are now trying to improve your overall shape?
VT: Absolutely. I had the opportunity to get some photos and have spoken to a lot of people I call the gurus of the sport. Just the impact I had made, and some of the phone calls I get and the e-mails about my good shape, condition, symmetry and balance suggest I will be very competitive. They were all impressed, and I'm like "guys, I have been training for seven months."
"I'm just getting started." I'm waiting to see September to see some gains, to actually get a chance to see what my body looks like after a good solid year of training. Give me that first before you critique me. That is what I'm expecting. Just that gym time, that training time.
[ DR ] Your shape in Australia was by all accounts great and this raises another question. Is it harder to get into shape now that you are 49?
VT: It is truly not. I took the same attitude I always have and applied it to my training. It is all about doing what your body has given you and just keeping the training up. I don't train conventionally anymore. I have three exercise machines that I designed: one is a back, lat pull down, machine that works tremendously.
My back has never looked like this. That is one of the biggest okays I have gotten. Secondly, I have a patented leg press machine. In the past, I could not train legs that hard as my knees would kill me. I never squatted, and never had the squatter bodybuilder legs. I have got the leg press legs - narrow around the knees rather than heavy mass. My machine, which I am trying to get out on the market right now, I have been using for three years.
My knee problems are gone, my legs are stronger and now I have the opportunity to start hitting my legs to where I am actually starting to get some feel from them. I will be bringing my legs up. I noticed that any body part I can physically train will respond.
I just never had a chance to tie into my leg development, and that is what I am working on now. I also have a standing press machine which is just awesome, you have to see these things.
[ DR ] What is you current training strategy? Are you working wiser now?
VT: Yes, I am working wiser. I have never been a heavy power lifting type of guy. My attack has always been from angles. Most people try to say I use high repetitions. That is not true. I need a weight that will allow me to feel the contraction of the muscle. As corny as it may sound, I need to feel the muscle working.
My mind tells me if I apply blood flow stimulation to the muscle, that will work more than every 100 to 200 pounds I can push. I go by feel, filling muscles up with blood, training from different angles and resting the body - not pushing mass amounts of weight and all that stuff. My body just says, hey I can work like this. And this has been working fine so far.
[ DR ] Just what do you do for recovery?
VT: I am working six-days-a-week, with Sunday's off. I train split sessions, one hour in the morning and two hours in the evening. Time-wise it is two hours, but this is not necessarily workout time. I just give myself that window. This is how it has been from day one, push and pull training. I recover easily.
I go home from the gym to relax and come back four or five hours later. This has been steady all of my career - I have never gotten out of that cycle. The only thing that changes is when a contest approaches and Sunday gets picked up as a workout day, and I go straight through for thirteen weeks.
[ DR ] How has your diet evolved over the years?
VT: That is the worst thing ever (laughs). It still is and will never change.
My diet will never change... Coca Cola, red meat and ketchup.
I will always have my Coca Cola. Right now it gets blended with a little scotch most of the time, and I have my beer. My diet has always been relaxed. It has never been one of those strict diets.
I always try to maintain at least three meals a day, sometimes this is very hard. Sometimes it is one or two. This time around I have bumped it to five meals by adding two shakes to my diet. But overall I'm not a big food consumer, never have been, never would be. So nothing has really changed there.
[ DR ] That is a very unorthodox approach. What is the composition of your diet?
VT: High protein. High carbohydrates I have very seldom, especially now I have been training hard for the last seven months or so. My carb intake has always been low. I don't like breads and don't eat a lot of potatoes and white rice. You won't find my type of eating habits in home. My eating habits are more Burger King burgers - I do this often. My main meal is breakfast, which is bacon, eggs, ketchup.
[ DR ] If this works for you it works for you, but not a lot of guys would be following that.
VT: There you go, it is nothing you can right stories about. I do it because I like it.
[ DR ] Three meals a day seems inconceivable for a top tier bodybuilder like yourself?
VT: About three usually. It might be down to two depending on if I eat or skip breakfast. I'm out the door to the gym. Come home and have a meal between 12 and one. Back to the gym at five, come home and have something to eat, and have my scotch. All of a sudden you have only had two or three meals for the day. I'm used to that. I can go all day with only one meal.
[ DR ] And you can maintain your mass on that approach?
VT: And that is the sick part. I felt for years that if I had just eaten regularly and correctly I could be a big guy. But I have never had that appetite.
[ DR ] Has motivation ever been a problem for you?
VT: Honestly I would have to say motivation was a problem from 1996 to 2001 because all the goals involved in bodybuilding were tangible goals. Everything I thought I could accomplish in bodybuilding after the win, amounted to nothing. With my Masters career I was very disappointed.
My worst decision was probably to stay with the Masters and let the type of training I had prior to the Masters go down two notches. I was on a double A training schedule for the young lions. When I got to the Masters I instantly told myself I do not have to bring my A game to beat these guys.
I downsized my gains for five years. I was on a B game schedule: I dieted sometimes to compete, I worked out half way, and still wound up winning. But at the end of the day, I lost that bodybuilding time, the physicality, but I gained in momentum because I was getting what I wanted, winning those Sandow's - the Mr. Olympia Masters titles - but ultimately they came out empty because they were not worth anything.
Here in America they looked at them as the geriatric, old man contests. It was never respected. It got to a point where my whole thrill about the Masters was getting my trophy presentation onstage. And h*ll, three out of the five years I won they forgot to give me my trophy, they sent it to me by mail. That's ridiculous.
There is your motivation. Why bother training? What you are achieving is nothing. But if you take it outside of the United States, it is a big achievement. That's what I was able to wake up to.
