really ? my view is that he built a classic physique after recognizing he was obese.
This is indeed partly correct. I actually started out very skinny and remaining as lean as I could. For the first 3 years of training, I stayed around 165 lbs, then for 4 years straight, I ate as much food as I possibly could without ever being in a caloric deficit. I actually liked powerlifting a bit and figured I`d just diet down one day and so I did. I then repeated the process once or twice more of power bulking as I wanted to lift 600 lbs in the deadlift once again, that was around 2006 and my last time ever of force feeding. I had already dieted all the way down in 2004 and 2005 so I knew how easy it actually was. After 2006, I decided to stay lean forever and not force feed. When I say force feed, I really mean it. It was absurd the quantity of food I`d consume day in and day out. The amusing thing is, I could never EVER go above around 246 lbs or so, no matter how much I ate. I was easily doing 5000 calories or more a day for months and months on end and nothing would happen. 246 lbs seemed to be the max bodyweight I could obtain. Of course it was all fat, and I knew that, but it enabled my center of gravity and leverage to change in that I was capable of lifting and bearing pretty heavy loads.
I now maintain around 170-180 and stay very lean as it takes me only 2-4 weeks to get EXTREMELY shredded. (most of the weight lost in that time is just water, so therefore I do not carry much fat).