Flex was ' lazy ' as well as inconsistent and unfocused , Yates said he talked with Flex one year and he was lamenting about how he wished he could look as good as the previous year and Yates asked if he kept a training log and what was he doing differently from the previous year , and he said ' No ' and he was basically winging it in contrast to Dorian who was literally weighing all of his food to the gram and keeping detailed training logs since he started training as well as keeping photos to gauge progress
Flex relied to much on his genetics and he would go half-ass in training sessions and diet , he admitted this much , I think he started out extremely hungry in 92 and 93 and then after the accident he lost focus and discipline and drive , I remember Dorian training the first time he came stateside in 92 and he was at Golds and saw how all the Pros were ' training ' and he was in disbelief how lackadaisical they were and he said he was going to make them all pay for it lol very laid back on the west coast to many distractions , they always said the east coast was more hardcore
Shawn Ray also winged it as well. To an extent. He said he didn't weight or keep track of his food, calories, but as he famously said, "pound for pound, I'll take a 300 pounder on anyday", and he trained Flex in 97, Flex had said that Shawn was a animal in the gym...and I think Shawn would have pushed Dorian as well...comes with the territoyry of being "smaller", always got something to prove.
I do think the accident effed Flex up in the head. He had said that when he went to 94 Olympia and was in the audience, that he didn't think he could compete with these monsters...uh, Flex, you came in 2nd last yr, so of course you could have...
But, as Nasser once said, you can't be a 4x Arnold Classic winner, 5x Ironman winner on genetics alone...