It was a fantastic Mr. Olympia for my clients. I believe it was the first time the same coach got both the winner and the runner-up ready for the show. I also prepared the 202 winner, Kevin English. But please don't think I'm tooting my own horn, as all three men are extremely hard workers with the type of focus, dedication, and discipline that most competitors never come close to. First of all, congratulations are in order for Jay Cutler on earning his fourth Mr. Olympia title. Since last year, we had been focusing on improving his back thickness, and getting a rounder and fuller look to his chest. He achieved not only those two goals, but his legs were also more symmetrical than they've been in at least four or five years. Some people don't understand how I could work with both Jay and his toughest rival, Phil Heath, for the same contest. Once you know that Jay and Phil are actually good friends and that I'm a friend to both, it's not so hard to process. My job is to bring them both in as close to 100% as possible and let the judges decide the rest.
As for Jay's prep, I could easily write a whole article about it. Could he have looked a little better? The fact is that Jay peaked a few hours too early and was a couple meals shy from the fullness he should have had at the judging Friday night. His body changes so quickly that I need to be able to physically look at him at frequent intervals over the last couple days, and this time I wasn't able to do that. Jay stayed at home this year, which is a good thirty minutes away from the hotel Phil and I were at. Next year he will stay closer. In the interview I did for MD after the event, I mentioned that we essentially had to 'start over' right after the judging was finished. By that I meant that we had Jay start eating substantial amounts of carbs and drinking nearly a gallon of water and Gatorade before he even went to sleep that night, then began restricting his fluids again in the morning to dry him out. The carbs filled him out and pushed the muscles against his skin, and by the finals Jay was looking much better. He had already been ahead by 13 points after the judging, and by looking both fuller and drier Saturday night it was a clear decision for the judges to award him his fourth Mr. Olympia. He looked phenomenal, and was a full 8 pounds heavier than he had been the year before.
202 Showdown - another lesson in English 101
Kevin English did a great job of keeping his weight down between his win at the New York Pro and the
I don't understand why you are so against stimulants. Why don't you have anything in your EVP product to give it a nice kick, like every other pre-workout formula does?
Let me clarify something. I am not against stimulants in general. I feel they have a place in fat burners, and can be useful when used at the proper time, such as prior to your morning cardio. What I am against is habitual, overuse of stimulants, which occurs when taking them on a frequent basis. In particular, I feel stimulants do not belong in a pre-workout product, for these key reasons:
- They have a vaso-constrictive effect, meaning they restrict blood flow and impede your ability to get a pump.
- Stimulants dehydrate you, further working against the goal of getting a pump.
- Regular use of stimulants down-regulates your adrenal glands, meaning their effect becomes weaker and weaker over time.
- Stimulants kill your appetite, making it difficult to take in the nutrients you need after training to recover and grow.
The argument I often hear is, "Yeah, but I get great workouts when I take them!" But do you, really? I would counter that the negative effects of stimulants run counter to what you're trying to accomplish if muscle growth is your goal. It's even worse with some of the new 'concentrate products' that include 1,3 dimethyl. You might feel wide awake, alert, and energized, but good luck getting a pump despite the arginine and creatine also in the product. These extreme stimulant products might be great if you have a long, brutal final exam to take, but using them for training gives you a false sense of security. One way of looking at using a non-stimulant based pre-workout formula like EVP versus the others loaded with stimulants is a guy going out on a date who wants to make a great impression. Let's say he gets a haircut, showers, shaves, and puts on some nice clothes before he picks up his date. Chances are, his date will at least be impressed with his hygiene and style. What if instead, he came home from the gym in his sweaty clothes, and did a couple shots of Jägermeister before heading out? He might get a buzz and the false courage that alcohol can bring, and think he's God's gift to women. But in reality, he's a smelly, slovenly fool who will probably get the door slammed in his face! What I'm trying to say is, you can either use a product that actually prepares you to have a productive workout, or you can tweak on a mega-dose of stimulants and think you're stimulating muscle growth when chances are you're probably preventing it.