[ Q ] You cross me as being a strong individualist. What is your view on these so-called training gurus of today that many bodybuilders employ to help? Would you use one to get into shape?
I think it is such bullsh!t, but maybe that could be my Englishness coming through. Everything is always more complicated and fancy in the States. At least that's the way we see it. Everyone (in the States) goes to therapy and all that sh!t, whereas we would simply say, "F@ck that, just get on with it." The thing that attracted me to bodybuilding in the first place was the fact it is an individual endeavor.
I enjoyed working out the best way to train, studying nutrition and doing my own diet and learning all about every aspect of this. To me that was all part of the challenge and when I stepped onstage, although I had moral support, if I won it was down to me and if I lost it was down to me. No excuses. A lot of guys in bodybuilding unfortunately are so insecure and they just want to be held by the hand and have somebody tell them what to do.
But I could never do that. It wouldn't matter how much I respected the person that was telling me, I would have to listen to the information, go away, assess it and ultimately make my own decision. If somebody said, "listen, this is what you have to eat and this is how you have to train and this is what you will have to take," I simply couldn't do that, whereas a lot of guys want somebody to hold their hand and tell them what to do all the time.
I think nobody could ever know how well your body reacts as you do, if you really study it and keep records. It's your body and you are with it every day. How can some guy looking at your pictures over the internet tell you what to do with it? I'm not a big fan of gurus. I think it is bullsh!t.
