Maybe his training system was shit. I've heard on many occasions that he was a first class asshole. I remember some kid on Ironage used to train with him. The routines he talked about were completely Insane. Kid kept posting pics to show his development but he looked more and more like shit. Finally the kid looked like total garbage then Minchalik scammed him out of money in a business deal. The kid completely idolized Minchalik and He just took advantage of it and ruined the kid physically and financially.
I remember that!
The kid really did idolize Steve. He posted his routines and, while I can't remember the specifics, they seemed vaguely similar to Mishko's giant set crap with baby weights and mega-volume.
The kid wasn't a bad bodybuilder, but it was obvious he was slowly regressing at best. He certainly wasn't improving.
He did a show and placed well, but an even thinner, more ripped guy won. In the video taken from the finals, after the latter won, you could hear Steve screaming, "The most muscular 'stick.' They gave it to the most muscular stick!"
I knew then that he was a classless clod and royal asshole.
His client eventually grew frustrated with Steve's bullshit training, ditched it and did much better on his own.