Natural Bodybuilding Longevity

As I described in my first blog I have been training seriously since December 24th 1992. That is almost 24 years and doesn't time fly! In life it is easy to look back at things you wish you had done, but in terms of bodybuilding I have no regrets. I have been training for 24 years and still enjoy it so much that I can't see any reason for not training for the rest of my life. It was on television last night about 70 year old bodybuilders competing in the UK and I couldn't help thinking that could be me one day. By that time I will have done 50 years of bodybuilding!

Things could have been very different if I'd tried the drug route. In fact I might not even be alive to write this blog. Following my Christmas bodybuilding beginning in 1992 I returned to DeMontfort University a new man. I had a new hobby that was making me feel fitter, stronger and more confident. I wanted to learn more and more. So the first thing I bought from the University newsagent was the latest edition of FLEX magazine. It was the January 1993 edition and it was the first issue to describe Dorian Yates' 1992 Mr Olympia win. What amazed me the most in this issue was that Lou Ferrigno had made a comeback after 17 years. It bridged the gap nicely from when I was a nine year old and had watched Pumping Iron for the first time in 1982. I read this magazine twenty times and impatiently waited for the next issue. Looking at the pictures inspired me to train harder and model myself on the physiques of the professionals. The most eye popping picture was of Kevin Levrone flexing his hamstrings just before going on stage at the Olympia. I had never seen anything like it at the time and still don't think there is a better picture of hamstrings today.

I then became a committed FLEX reader and still subscribe to this day. There was no doubt that I wanted to be a professional and strongly believed that all I needed to do was train heavier as was described by the professionals in the muscle magazines. I bought the supplement Cybergenics Infiniti 3000 and it was excellent. When I lay in bed I could feel my muscles react to the combination of hard exercise and good nutrition. I was sure that when I got out of bed the next day I was more muscular. After several years I was in what many people told me was excellent shape. However I was nothing like the professionals. I tried extremely heavy deadlifts to build the mass and every Wednesday I would add 5 pounds to the bar. The thought of not being able to lift the weight caused stress and I would be genuinely nervous before the maximum set. Then one day I felt a spasm in my back and I was in so much pain that I couldn't even stand up. I remember being paralysed in my car not being able to get out and start work. It was at that point I realised that I was doing my body more harm than good. I immediately stopped doing heavy deadlifts and swapped the exercise for something kinder to the body. That was the first time that bodybuilding longevity entered my consciousness. I was not to damage my body but make it fitter and stronger. At my current gym I have heard young bodybuilders say that they are worried to go lighter because they will lose their gains. I was like that once and now know that the mind can sometimes be one step ahead of the body. My response to them now is to think of their bodybuilding longevity. There is no point going heavier than your body is designed for and then permanently injuring yourself and causing a premature end to your bodybuilding career.

From that point on I trained smarter and still made gains when I focused on the muscle being worked. As described on this website - stretch and squeeze. But although my gains were good there was still no comparison with the professionals. Up to this point I still believed I could do it and so started going to bodybuilding seminars. During the first seminar I went to drugs were not mentioned at all. But during the second it was the only subject that was mentioned. As described elsewhere on this website the bodybuilder, who was not even eligible to compete in the Olympia, embarrassingly described his drug use. I was stunned and somewhat annoyed that none of the bodybuilding magazines I read had mentioned the prevalence of drug taking in the sport. The truth was that I didn't want to believe they were taking drugs. I should have known better when I watched the 1990 Mr Olympia. The athletes were noticeably smaller in this competition - the only Mr Olympia to be drug tested.

24 years later and I have continued to train naturally, never tempted by drugs that many members of my gym whisper about in the corner. Every year that goes by I continue to feel fit, happy and strong. In fact I feel stronger and fitter in my 40s than I ever did in my 20s. The same can not be said of the professionals of the 1990s who I idolised when I first started. The number of obituaries I read about from this era are alarming. Mike Matarazzo, Nasser El Sonbaty to name but two. There bodybuilding longevity was sadly short but a long one is what I strive for. And hopefully by reading some of the ideas in this website your bodybuilding longevity will be looking good too.