hi everybody and welcome to the 30th anniversary Arnold classic bodybuilding championship my name is Jim sight sir and I've had the wonderful honor to be here every year for 30 years to help with what used to be called The Sunday seminar but now it's the legends and champion you know get together and seminars so glad to be here again and for the first time ever we've done a couple of things this year that we haven't done we had the coffee with the pros out there which is just terrific brought all you people in here and we have as many of the prior winners of the mr. international as we can get on stage here for the for the first time for you as well so we're thrilled and delighted to have this going I'm gonna give this over to Bob checker illo now who's going to do a little conduct a little interview and have a little fun with these guys so stay with us it's great to have you here how we doing everybody that was pretty lackluster they very tired from last night now Dexter he's already live-streaming very nice sir anything for this show fans from around the world welcome to the Arnold Classic [Applause] hey was who's the new guy folks as you can see how about a big round of applause to some of the greatest bodybuilders in history right here on the same stage 30 years of champions starting from the very first year 30 years ago obviously till just last night we crowned a brand new champion so this is a very special event a very special moment rarely can you get this caliber of Hall of Famers in one spot at one time so this is a real treat for me but we're gonna start right down the line and with our first ever champ actually you don't want rich I'll have you come this way in the center spot your first ever Arnold Classic champion the Dragonslayer rich against Barry let me grab another mic here we steal that from the event welcome rich good to be here it was on this stage figuratively because obviously you're in a much different spot back down at the vets but a brand new 30 years ago a brand new show emerged on the scene called the Arnold Classic and people didn't know a lot about it but they knew who Arnold was so it's probably seemed like a good idea for you to jump in there but you came out with the first would ever win yeah the first Arnold Classic 1989 I was competing in the Grand Prix's in the mr. Olympia in 1988 came in second to the Olympia then it was seven Grand Prix shows right after that Olympia which I won four out of the seven and leave I had this battle with Lila Bharata I really didn't want to compete in the show I was really burnt out from doing all those shows eight shows in you know a little about a month and a half but Arnold call me says rich I would like you to enter the first Arnold Classic you would be the first guy to enter the show and win the show it's gonna be big you know so I you know he invited me to the show he goes we're gonna have a lot of publicity which he did I was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that year I also was you know when they had this show back then they had this show called Wide World of Sports was on there with my family and they show me cuz you know I'm gonna tell you not bringing and I was there there eating there you know spaghetti and meatballs and I was saying they're eating my diet food you know they were watching so it was a real just great honor to enter that show and to win it not always fun it obviously I grew up in an Italian family as well but you know they're all eating pasta and lasagna you've got dry chicken and sawdust and your mother of corn your mother ritual verify you can have a little bit it ain't gonna hurt you by the way for those who we are two different people for many years I don't how many people riches actually been with me up in places and they'll come up and they'll say man I am the your biggest fan in this world and I've seen all your shows I'm I don't thank you very much you know and then you know I don't mean to interrupt but can we get a picture sure absolutely and you know I take a picture and then they go well thank you I just appreciate it mr. gaspari like I just said no problem good to verify that we are indeed individuals well rich I mean how did it feel to be the first-ever champ they have Arnold come out on stage to present you with that and obviously you didn't know it would be a 30 year venture at that point it was the very first one no I really I knew this was a show that Arnold was running and I knew that was gonna be big what made it even bigger is he raised the prize money up back then the Olympia the in 88 was 25,000 he rose the he put the Arnold Classic at 55,000 so when he did that that challenged the Olympia to continue raising their prize money so it was a great thing that I thought you know he was gonna do he said this was gonna be a fitness expo back then it wasn't really a big fitness accident described it right I mean everybody knows what the Arnold is today obviously it's a huge gigantic you know hundreds of thousands of people Busan but back then that was maybe the size of this area here you know with a couple booths and it really wasn't that big you know you had it at the Veterans Memorial and they didn't have really a big venue they didn't have this expo hall that they have today it was it was a much different experience but I knew they had a vision Jim Lorimer you know with Arnold had this vision of making this something great and as you can see 30 years later it's something just amazing well rich you'd go on obviously a great career after that obviously not only in the body blowing stage but in the bodybuilding world gaspari nutrition obviously a household name in the bodybuilding community and worldwide so congratulations and all your achievements thank you and great to have you here Richard thank you you got it rich Gaspari your next champ we haven't seen Mike in a little while but please welcome the natural wonder himself Mike Ashley to the stage Mike great seeing ya a lot of the champs we see a lot but I run in each other here and there at the shows but it's great to have you here for this historic event we heard some great stories from rich you've got your own perspective obviously when you're two comes around you throw your name in the Hat yes in terms of competing all right well as far as the Arnold Classic in 1990 it was an amazing experience and I can't say anything without first thanking the fans all of you for being here and also respect to my fellow competitors but you know in 1986 was the first year they tested the world championships and as a guy who kind of did it in a natural way I decided I was going to go for that and then when I heard the same thing was happening in 1990 I went ahead and that was my ticket and I'm just very thankful that I was able to be victorious and be able to be acknowledged among all my fellow competitors here and Mike that was the the level of competition at that point was tremendous and people talked about the golden era of bodybuilding and depending on who you talk to now there can be anywhere from the the old gold gym days and they're pumping iron to the more modern era a lot of people consider the area you competed in as the golden era of competitors and the level of achievement your thoughts looking back then to the some of the guys here you actually stood on stage with and were able to beat him there's very competition well the way I located this competition it doesn't matter how you go about competing I'm a very vicious person when it comes to preparing for competition and vicious look at their things no no I'm serious it's it's I live it and I breathe it and I don't compromise when I'm doing it so as far as I was concerned you don't go to a competition expecting to come second otherwise that's your first mistake I go to every competition to win now it's not really my decision it's really up to the judges and I was this very fortunate that I came out the victor you were very fortunate because like I said that was a stellar lineup back in 1990 your thoughts about bodybuilding today Mike I don't know if you keep track of the you know all the shows or obviously certainly the Olympia and the Arnold probably throughout the year what do you think of the level of competition today verse your day well I I will say it's just like in any sport bodybuilding is advanced tremendously as a matter of fact I had an interview yesterday and I was just so proud of the sport considering that this is the largest sporting event in the world and a bodybuilder originating it so that I'm very proud of and I want to say the athletes today are just extremely phenomenal but that's expected we cannot say you know the guys I've here heard controversial things about the guys are the 90s and the guys today and yes they look completely different there's a different look to them but that's what happened you can't look at baseball from the 40's and expect baseball today to be the same there has to be some sort of evolving going on otherwise we're being stagnant the guys today are monstrous but that's what today is absolutely give it up for one of the greatest vicious Mike Ashley thank you very much well this next guy is never short on opinion I've been working with him for many years sugar Sean ray what about the troublemaker Dexter calls the troublemaker you know come on far be it for Shawn never make a controversial statement or opinion so nice thing about you Shawn as an interview is always very easy because I don't have to pry questions out of you so or answers for that matter yeah your thoughts on the show last night be kind of Dexter you know it was ridiculously competitive I mean first of all I got to give my hats off to Dex you are ridiculously amazing the best most consistent body builder of all time and I'm a fan of the sport first so including Ronnie Coleman I watched his journey from last place to eight Olympia trophies but what you're doing is nothing short of amazing and with that said William Banach welcome to the big time you served notice last night actually serve notice that the Olympia but you've arrived well I called him hi green 2.0 shirk I like sad too yeah and he plans on growing the hair longer William I know you got a start oh sorry about that all right yeah let's get back to it let's get back to your day a couple changes as I looking at you and Mike the flat tops are gone well not really not for some of us I know see Italian things rich will tell you let's talk bodybuilding back in the day Shawn you and I actually came up together in the teenage days we actually competed in the teenage national champions and championships in 84 we're both lucky to be born in 65 yes when Larry Scott won the first Olympia and I've been very fortunate being a fan to meet all the mr. Olympia champions and as well we were at the legends competition and Larry Scott got awarded so it's amazing to watch the evolution being born in 65 is it the 53rd Olympia coming now that's that hole is there a year one thing because we're 52 but it's the 53rd Olympian all that but that's all another seminar yeah so my first Olympia was in 88 I never missed it this competition the first one was in 89 actually was preparing for this show and I got injured so to watch what you did with Robbie Robinson on that stage obviously set the tone for me coming here and in 1991 well again historic competitions back then with Mike and rich and all these guys who came up anybody could see you coming a mile away for any of us that competed against you you won the teens you won the national championships at 21 years old boom you hit the ground running Arnel classic championship comes up you're in it yeah well I mean for those that aren't historians of the sport I became the Ben Johnson of this sport so to speak I was 23 years old I believe in Arnold had the first drug-tested competition here in 1990 and winning that competition and then getting the results back two weeks later that I had failed the test I was so glad it was Mike Ashley because Mike Ashley was consistently the natural boy in bodybuilding they nailed you for branched-chain amino acids is yes something but it was the beginning it was the beginning of my controversial career well why would they ever put that on the banned list and the things you should have known now yeah I didn't know anything about drug testing and failing the test I was at a crossroads as the beginning of my career came here the year after I prepared sitting on the sidelines having to watch and then leaving Ohio with nothing but a bad taste in my mouth considering that I didn't get paid you know it was dangled in front of me it was like the trophy it had to be tough to overcome him you won the show and then you didn't win the show well I the hardest part was given that damn trophy back MMI keeps talking about the money money comes and goes but that trophy was on my mantle and I had to take it off my mom's fireplace and take it down to Gold's Gym for them to ship it to Mike Ashley over in in Arizona who says thank you for them you're welcome Mike okay and so in doing that I knew at that point in time that I would have to come back here in 1991 he wants to say something yeah so I had to make up my mind to come back here in 1991 and get that title and get my own trophy I love Sean and we're always awesome but I don't like to hear when it says I won 1990 Arnold Classic and I was disqualified there was a glitch they should have announced the disqualification before the final and they didn't and I respected it and I never anything about it but I when I win in title I don't want to hear someone else say they won that title I won the title the disqualification was not made when it should have been and that's why the show turned out as well as it was I chose not to say anything about it love you brother buddy remember I'm the one that won that contest all right thank you you got the end the money listen I got the solution right here and right now gentlemen pose down come on hey listen I got lighting we got judges slow down slow down slow down all right all right so it's fast forward back to 91 anyways that set the tone I mean having something in your hand and kind of watch it evaporate at 23 24 years old you've got to reevaluate what you're doing there well here's the cool thing Shawn okay listen you got knocked down about us in bodybuilding that's about as much as you're gonna get knocked down but like any true champ you came back the next year and what happened when you competed the next year well I mean I won the competition and it provided me this competition you guys may not realize that but it changes all of our lives dramatically it allowed me to move out of my mom's house and buy my own house I have Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer to thank for that because if it wasn't for the handshake agreement that they made to have this competition I don't know how I would have shaped my career but that check I brought got here actually allowed me to become a man I grew up in 91 and it gave me the confidence that maybe I could actually win the Olympia because that same year Mike they did drug test the Olympia and I wound up going from 13th to third in the mr. Olympia which set the tone for coming back here and I believe then that I could actually do this for a living in a career and think Siddhanta classic I mean I had a great run well Sean congratulations on a great career and more importantly on getting out of your mom's basement that's right sugar Sean ray this next gentleman is certainly no stranger you talk about some of the greatest bodybuilders in history and certainly the guys who reinvented the art of posing it's The Quiet Storm Vince Taylor now Vince unlike your two buddies over here you actually could pose down today you keep yourself in tremendous shape no offense to you guys you know I'm glad you brought that up because that's for anybody who follows bodybuilding you actually put that out years ago and I think people thought there was a tongue-in-cheek response exactly I'm not your typical bodybuilder it never was you know guys look at me and they say well that's the old man of bodybuilding understandably I started bodybuilding at 27 literally started okay when I was really engaged in bodybuilding living in Europe in Berlin Germany I had the privilege of meeting the first bodybuilding giant that I was know which is Shawn Ray at 18 years old I was 33 at the time when I met Shawn so you got to understand my dieting and my preparations and my constant knowledge of bodybuilding came from magazines that we were getting muscle and fitness when they would float them across the international waters to Berlin behind the Iron Curtain you know we would get him three times a year you know so my knowledge from that came from reading those books and then when I saw what I lights I saw the article when John Brown told me Vince you got to do three things to be right in bodybuilding and Shawn was that you three B's trained big eat big and sleep big and he was a beef guy eat your beef and ever since then it's been Burger King beef hand tell ya that's my diet baby bear coca-cola red meat and ketchup I sense a book coming out Vince obviously you're known as one of the greatest body bows of all time but in addition to that a man who literally reinvented the art of posing and not traditional posing because we've seen lots ahead over the years and even though that's kind of a dying art itself Sean's mentor John Brown was one of the first guys I remember doing it you kind of took what he did and then took it to a whole other level with your terminator routines and the Macarena routine and then I mean there was some just spectacular routines on stays very inventive where did that come from originally again knowing John Brown if any of you guys who knew John Brown today John was probably the most prolific pose in the world he must invented the word posing because he put everything into it with posing was about his physical communication utilizing the stage to dramatize you guys and put you in a place where you haven't been by watching him perform so it was a performance so when I met John in Germany at a exhibition he was guest posing 245 pounds jheri curl Jeremy didn't see nothing like that he came over there doing robot turns and flips and and it's crazy he electrified everything I wanted to do that he invited me over to his home in 84 and that's where I met Sean you know and in John's living room he taught me the art spaces of posing with Sean and I saw Sean do the same thing because he killed it in the Nationals with the bill year we was like wow but well posing me came to me was a way of an expression and I learned two things utilize the music let the music tell the story do the animation to the music and you'll be fine it worked like a charm and that's the secret of posing you got to let the communication happen you got to keep that contact and the chromosome it doesn't hurt either well you were never lacking in charisma unless that's for sure but this enabled you listen you won a whole bunch of shows actually you held the record that Dexter currently held holds now for 15 years I probably more nobody beat that you've won almost every show you went into there you go but the business of bodybuilding entail much more than winning a trophy and putting that cheque in your pocket you tour you've been around world 3 times over with with guest appearances in it from every corner of the globe people would bring you in not just cuz you were a great champion but more for that entertainment value exactly I mean that my friends was what I call a wonder that was my contribution to this sport when you say Vince Taylor you know I was never the biggest I was never the best-looking you know but when it came down to that version of trying to communicate with that audience I decided this is what I was going to be about give you something that will really go WOW I'll pose a routine that set it all off was at the 1991 mr. Olympia you know that Terminator routine I saw Arnold I saw The Terminator I saw a predator it's like you know what my wife I gotta give her all the credit in the world my wife was like you guys there you go you know she's my trainer my coach she Suzie's everything you know that's what some of these people to understand I never had a trainer you know the infamous trainers in California I lived in Florida Baltimore Maryland my homeboy he'll ever Oney and then I moved to Berlin Germany when I was 19 years old when I stay in I was 30 you know so trying to communicate around the world and then create an image like such I was able to do when we were posing on stage in my career or wife saying you know what you guys pose like like you're in a phone box it's so boring saying well you've got a point there you know the ladies were just all around the stage was tremendous to watch I'm like okay so we sat down and we put together protein on the protein a protein opposing routine that was stimulated by my two good friends Lela bride and sharm ray okay we were training in Florida and Sean and Liberata came to Florida on seminars and I was happy to my boys were in town I was out of town and somebody asked a question what you think about fins Taylor I'm gonna tell you two comments but wasn't bad but it was true for once said once beaten always beaten because I never be no one said no competition and we just happen to get ready for the mr. Olympia and we were watching TV and my wife said to me we got to do something different I'll say okay cool so I'm watching a show on TV and ball two called Emma's a dance show and the guy came out called DJ Robocop like wow this is cool he came out he has some sunglasses on he made these sounds like wow and then I was watching The Terminator and then I was watching predator now watch sergeant sharp i watch honor walking to the audience and say he's searching for Sarah Connor that was cool so all of a sudden he's hit me I said well listen my buddies came to town they called me out on a nice way and let me know what my place was so I said I need to determinate somebody I haven't beaten easy one of these guys okay this is a big draw for me so this is what we're gonna do I'm gonna find a song that addresses each one of their comments and of course Lee Haney was my idol at the time as well I was like okay let's do this so I found three separate songs that had certain lyrics to it like I said lyrics are powerful you got to listen to the song and a movement put three songs together utilize a little Robo movement never done before you know all the sound effects myself you know me and my little cassette player and start and stop no no cellphones also kind of stuff me talking that is 91 but we were able to put the government routine within one week and it was exactly that Terminator routine and ladies and gentlemen it took me around the world for 15 years because everywhere I went standing ovations nobody sat down and that was a contribution to what they liked and I kind of took it from there just keep keep giving them what they like well normally Vince I call you off their big rounding the rousing applause and however I got to get some of that Terminator routine man I got it I don't know if we have music capabilities but I tell you what we do have yeah right you know me better than that I don't think we have any music stuff we can put on but ladies and gentlemen I do have happen I got a whole bunch of people or we get some we get some rhythmic clapping going on here give me some clamps somebody start the clap don't even start because at 62 years old I ain't even try the meat clamp black folks help the white folks out [Applause] hey hey give me that microphone give it give me that microphone give me give me that microphone hey give me that better give them something they're gonna stay up here we go come on give me some hey give me some Terminator move come on give me something there we go who can do a beatboxer anybody hey guys help me out here give me some beep you can't do that who's I get I got 18 brothers up here and then that rhythm no rhythm Sean I've asked you for the rhythm but we all know that's your two best friends you got you got none of their moves none of their moves what's up flex four time Arnold Classic champ the Sultan of symmetry flex wheeler [Applause] let's uh yeah it's still there thing going on you powered that from Ronnie's lumpy routine from years ago yeah I did was the Moses we're gonna its routine what's going on there champ I'm doing great how about you Bobby I'm doing great you know another on the classic championship memories of the Honorable obviously have to be almost first and foremost in your mind if not yeah much like Vince has held that title of all-time wins you held onto for Arnold Classic titles again folks this is before there was any other Arnold there's only this one right here which by the way I know you guys who have won this title you don't really count the other ones do you I mean when you guys count Arnold wins really this is the one that counts the most does that still correct yes because we didn't do the other ones but obviously ducks is gonna calm him because he won oh yeah you know what Dexter said the same thing he announced well if we want to go there I mean me and Vince was just talking about his son you know what happened when we were in our prime you wasn't even there so let's just be nice up here okay yeah we got pictures of us standing together I mean no let's stop let's stop look away so we talking right here very much so okay well flex some listen the there was obviously is already know there's the Arnold there's the Olympia that Olympia title was right there your finger was in the brass ring and this guy next to you over here kind of you know change that up yeah just keep tweeting okay Ronnie don't worry about it social media his King so the Flexi aren't when I came to the Arnold's you were unbeatable every time you got on that show I met Mike Francois over here yeah well we're gonna get the hemorrhage yeah merciless Mike give me some of your first thought your first Arnold win very first time you're an emotional guy we've interviewed $1,000 I know you for 25 years what was the emotions on that moment when you were standing there and that announcement was made and here comes Arnold with the trophy you know to be honest and not to be long-winded unlike a lot of the other guys up here I'm not really a historian when it came to the sport you know I couldn't afford magazines or any like that so I didn't know that much about it so I didn't know the history of it and when I turned pro I did the Iron Man because sits right in my backyard I lived in Los Angeles and I had to honor of Watson Vince and Shawn compete so the next thing to do was to go and teen on a classic it was just a week later so my very first show I was competing against Lela Bharata and I was terrified and anahat Leela brought in Vince Taylor to deal with the Arnold so honestly in my my ignorance I'm like you know these guys are champions I'm just up here just to have fun so to win I wasn't even aware what I have achieved because I wasn't aware of the sport and anything like that so I think the innocence of it actually helped me do to better because it wasn't scared I just like I'm just here you didn't know these guy I mean you knew him but you didn't know the magnitude of body mad at us to read it off I didn't know not at all so it was just great but again I have to be honest I didn't think really any big deal of it because I didn't really know what I had achieved so honestly I believe it I believe it know one thing about flex you'll get pure honesty you know whether it's good or bad like you said you put it all out there in books and things some of the stuff you're not proud of but you said look at this is my life yeah I'm a different guy today than I was then and you even said in Prior interviews you know you look I look I didn't like the flex wheeler back then the other of course I I mean you know I unlike a lot of these other guys again I mean I come from you know humble beginnings you know welfare homeless and stuff like that so you know when you get propelled into the limelight I didn't know really how to control myself as a youth and everything I was pretty hard from the streets and stuff like that so that's just the way it was but you know you I grew up under the light so I had to learn a lot of things so but it was just great but like I said it's it's an honor story just to show no matter where you come from doesn't mean where you going to end up at and I think that's a contribute to all of us up here flex I'm gonna skip ahead to your fourth are no classic title you're in uncharted waters nobody had ever won four but you did I was arrogant Dan yeah I knew what I was doing you knew about that time you knew the lay of the land and who would you were competing against how were you different as a competitor from your first idol win to your fourth Arnold won well I I you know I kind of not known I created this alter-ego type person because in my childhood I was taking advantage of in a number of different ways so you know when I got bigger and started making money I I was putting myself out there I'm not the one who'd be took an advantage of anymore so I I kind of believed that and I walked that walk and I talked that talk so just to further on antic there was a difference between Kenny wheeler yes and flex wheeler yeah yeah definitely no I've been claimed to have it about four or five different people inside me at various different moments but anyway I my first two shows were actually my first four shows I made more than anyone else in my entire family tree so all the weight of that was put on me and everything but my my very last honor classic I had competed on was in a most enough time from because then I was aware of what was going on and everything like that and in history it's been made so but it was it was in most of time as you guys all seen I I cried like a baby you know hugging Chris Cormier up here and everything like that but it was a great journey but I have to first and foremost you know give respect to a Dexter again like Shawn said just unbelievable I remember you know me and Dexter actually having an argument at a Ronnie show and you know Dex administer pikal self as he's seen shooting his mouth off and back then you know I was quick to shoot back and we're having an argument and I forgot what he said and I said Dexter you know if you ever think you'll break any of my record so you know wake up and slap the out of yourself you know and and here he is broken everyone's record so again just I'm just unimaginable you know right that you had bro just an amazing you should be very proud of yourself where you come from definitely so I gotta tip my hat to you just epitome of what bodybow they can do an aged and ageless which is um which is more amazing considering that most of us are the same age Shawn myself you Kevin know Ritchie's really oh that was a couple years behind but not many but but amazingly to even think at 48 I don't know if he's 48 cuz telling me he's been 48 for like two years now man we need huh yeah I mean we need a record tennis tennis he shaved a few points off there but that's all right but listen any were even close to 250 to actually be up here in contention for the title do you even imagine still doing this I mean no not at all not at all at this level the probably only person who came close to that was Vince I mean we're not aware of what Vince was doing and how old he was being competitive and I even remember I think was a San Jose championship were what place did you get that year no I did no but he placed really high probably remember it I remember him walking backstage and send you guys let this old man whoop y'all ass but you got to remember his age he was 46 47 and even feet competing that 50 being competitive won in Olympia so you know that's my first inkling of would a person to do it there aids but what Dex has done is just amazing you know it's just amazing for Shaun being one of the most consistent bodybuilders in history what Dex has done now he's proven how consistent he's mine and he's been probably the only he's only competitive up on stage who actually competed with the majority of all of us up here and he's still up here today so I don't think that's enough on him anyway thank you I think you did pretty good yourself and your career flex obviously a hall-of-famer again for Arnold Classic ties you came back last year yeah and got back up on the stage and that was a very personal yeah journey for you it wasn't about the placing it was about you know trying to win the thing you had your own personal reasons for getting on that stage and I applaud that thank you thank you very much thank you guys for everything enjoy flex wheeler all right he mentioned the man let's get Mike Francois up here hey yo Michael how are you always great to see you you were the new guy in town I mean these guys were all competing for many years together they were the veterans also there comes this new guy this Mike guy that can't pronounce his last name like Francis like you but you did the unthinkable you came in with conditioning that probably hadn't been seen since rich Gaspari and that was the key to your Arnold Classic victory but bring me back to that day and your thoughts competing with some of the very guys you see here another outstanding lineup but with every success of you're getting closer to the late 90s it got tougher and tougher yeah it was tough like kind of flex said I was naive I didn't even think about who's gonna be in the show I just knew what I had to do and the people I had helping me and the effort I had put in so I was confident I'm just one that goes in never thinking necessary that I'm gonna win but in my heart out there I think I'm the best even though I may not say that or act like I do but that was always my philosophy because I never thought that uh you know I would ever even be in bodybuilding so anything I did was really gravy and and so I didn't get too nervous because I was I guess I was naive usually the best remedy in bodybuilding that keeps the nerves down it's better than not know to realize where you're at in the magnitude of the competition and who's surrounding right take me back to the actual moment is you're competing all right you're you're getting call-outs things are going on and back then they used to mix it up a lot more in some respects I kind of like that because you didn't really know who was gonna place where it was just a bunch of Mixon mansions of call-outs and things where did you think you were during a competition I mean obviously you knew you were probably doing well did you think you were actually in the lead that you think well maybe I'll crack the top five where was your mentality at that point I could tell from the call-outs it was flex or myself and obviously being flex wheeler it's you know you think he's I don't really think he was gonna beat me but it was I knew he's between us too and and you're always nervous until they finally made the decision and so I I knew it was going to be tough to unseat the champ and just luckily away in my way I mean it's gotta be something as you're staying like you say you were a little naive yourself to the whole game but you knew who flex wheeler was or clearly yeah and here it's down to you too and you gotta be looking because his body bowlers for any of us that have ever competed you always sink the other guy looks butter alright no matter how good you look at whether you nail it you're hundred-percent you're backstage you're looking at somebody else go man I don't know this guy's big man he looks good you know what would you think of that moment that you think your hand where did you think maybe it's my day I hate saying I think you said take the check so flex you in a you had a feeling that Mike had you that day yeah you know it doesn't enter my mind I guess I'm just wanna third doing my thing whatever happens happens but I I was confident let's just say that Mike you're um unfortunately your career got cut short as most people know by now due to some health issues that you had that really had it kind of hit hard I mean you were literally at the peak of your game when unfortunately these things occurred and forced you to have to retire from the stage but obviously that memory of being the Arnold Classic champion that year will always be first and foremost I'm guessing yeah it is and you know I had colitis and runs on both sides of my family and so the same genetics that were allowed me to be a professional bodybuilder the same ones that gave me that so I can't complain but uh so it's something that was tough to overcome and I just wasn't able to come back from that and but I was you know looking back I'm very grateful for what I was able to achieve yeah I got cut short and I wish I could have won four or five more Arnold classics and maybe done have done better in the Olympia but didn't happen and life goes on if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have my boys and my family wouldn't be what it is either so I'm proud of that one of the all-time greats Mike Francois thank you oh hang on a second yes Kevin I'm running a show here get flights recording it yeah buddy he Kevin does his own thing he doesn't you don't care where you said you please introduce yourself to the people and I want to thank y'all for staying so long because it's I know they just kind of get kind of boring now since so long but uh thank y'all for coming out and staying so long and listening to us be as boring as we possibly can be but uh they just say all is coming up in 15 minutes so being a bit more patient please hey he's just gonna have to wait all right let's it is what it is we've got champs to get to speaking of chance somewhere in between all your Olympia titles you found time to actually get had an Arnold stage which at the time you got criticized for it people thought maybe it was a bad move what's he doing he's the champ why put your title on the line if he gets beat all that stuff you didn't care about any of that stuff but what is mr. Olympia at the time what made you on an arnold classic title well mr. Jim Norma called me and tell me he was getting way a Hummer and I always wanted one so I'm like I mean you know I I always love you for that Ron yeah again we've done many interviews together and you actually got into body bullying for what reason what does guy told me to give me free membership to the gym and at the time I was real cool and I couldn't afford the membership so I'm like you had me everybody but they took some you know some convincing because my first day there he told me I could be mr. Lippe and I'm like what is that never heard of that title second day they I use like be world champion like I don't think so my Thursday there he's like I'm telling you you can do this I'm like nah I don't want to do this I'm I'm a police officer and I like eating hamburgers and pizza and all that kind of so does Vince but he wasn't doing that for for 20 years yeah but I didn't know that yeah and the fourth day he said I'll tell you what I get your free membership to the gym if you compete I'm like done you had me at free so you got into competing for a free membership and you went in the Arnall because he was giving away a Hummer exactly well listen as it would turn out a lot of people dispute where the best ronnie coleman has ever been on stage it's some people say 98 some people but a lot of people say 2001 Arnold stage what do you say agree with them in 1998 Miss Olympia yeah that's a tough one and I've asked you this before Ron I said if I wind up all the Ronnie Coleman's on stage from the Olympius all you guys against each other who wins me every time yeah no doubt about it Ronnie obviously everybody knows your story and unfortunately you've had some some injuries that have required major surgeries over the last couple years eight of them yeah and another unfortunately just talking to Ronnie earlier and a ninth one coming up this week I mean the everything use them strong enough how do you keep snapping screws that they keep putting in like two or three of them so far and keep snapping so hopefully hopefully they come up with something that that's gonna work for me because I'm tired of all these surgeries for sure well Ronnie it's it's I'm gonna let you cut your shorts I know you want to probably get spec said anyway yeah it is what one of the best of all time Ronnie Coleman there is no quit in Ronnie Coleman he's believed in between surgeries he is I'm not making he gets back in the gym and trains if anybody sees his videos out there I ain't making it up god bless you Ronnie all right we're gonna skip ahead here because this man's got places to be and people to see and babies the shake and you know babies to kiss hands to shake you know whatever that whole thing is William bone act your winner and new Arnold Classic champion are you okay being on this side it's your good side okay any sides good it doesn't matter to me Brahma professional I can go either hand put it look at William you were just serious kind of seemed like minutes ago different spean is instead of me the governor was here asking you how did you train and you know you look fantastic you did look fantastic you know you beat this guy which is not easy to do we keeping you up it's really enjoy the show we'll get to you after the governor great competition well I mean this has been touted as one of the deepest lineups in many years now we had some great champ so it's tough to get you get 10 guys in there that are excellent made for a great competition you guys have battled a few times but obviously as everybody knows Dexter owns this stage and at least he has until last night so how did that feel taking out the champ face the audience I'm sorry they want to they want to see the golden smile although you're down to only two teeth yeah I'm getting older yeah yeah the older you get you keep mister you keep losing one in a second that's all right that's all right come to maturity thing you'll get it through to win it and privilege you know to stand among all these great guys you know thank you guys all for supporting all right William take me back to just last night less than 24 hours ago well I've ever stood on that one for this this is a great moment for you you've done well obviously the last couple of years you can see you come in any of us in the bodybuilding media I can see William Bonet coming up on the radar eighth place top five 15 top 15 to start actually it's a guy named Ronnie Coleman actually started that years ago and he didn't make the cut and his first Olympia but he turned out okay but yeah you've been coming up steadily you made improvements made improvements made improvements I know you came in this competition to win but you knew you had this guy and a whole bunch of others Shawn Rhoden too unfortunately couldn't compete you had a stacked lineup what did you think about the call-out says they were going yesterday at prejudging I was I think it was good for me it was fair good call-outs yeah very good call-outs real obviously you see Dexter backstage he's always in shapes I mean that's not even a can you know he's gonna be touched or we knew about it yeah shake it up I do the show we got a coming condition because you know Dexter always come in shape you know you had the defending champ Cedric in there so this was not easy for you but you did your homework as we talked about the other day attention to detail and I asked you specifically what what is you working are you pretty complete you're not missing anything so what do you work on at this level and your answer was a point my back still it was once my weak bone but it's not one of my strongest point and just keeping it up my team and step by step no brushing at all right but more refinement it was your point - that was looking I'm looking at refining I'm looking at I'm not looking to make in the shoulders bigger I'm looking to bring in the waist down the illusion of a butter by the genetics to get huge as Ronnie Coleman was or jay cutler or dorian yates you know so i have to do it with my size you know I'm like seen figures like Dexter so I have to do it would right here and my best thing is my condition so that's how I play my game your condition was was spot on the money as you see the preaching and folded on the call as you can see it was kind of coming down between you and Dexter at the moment they announced Cedric in third and now you know it's between you guys for the title what was going through your mind did you think you had him or did you think he had you either way you know you know so I was just you know praying into myself like my god I know you didn't bring me here just you know to I'm up second place and I know you know yeah formation for me so you know I was just praying in myself like no let this be true let this be my day well now you're an ARMA Classic champion it's got to be quite an honor sitting with the selection of gentlemen you're talking 30 years of bodybuilding history right on this stage and your name is right there beside them though what do you think about that I used to watch all these guys you know and on YouTube videos that summer I was you know at my job and you know I was like hold me I really want to do this you know and to be honest in 2008 when I saw like Dexter bean in the mr. Olympia this one I really started believing like hey it is possible you don't have to be a masked monster you know to be a bodybuilder all to Rema show so that really motivated me and like they said you know with the posing I didn't like the way the bodybuilders was posing you know and some of them like the LeBron ah and v Ziggler and all these guys you know like you know I love the week I was posing when I saw him also in the same year 2008 you know a bodybuilder this big standing on his head that got my attention you know I was like man everybody's attention to be able to do that kind of stuff you know and yeah absolutely William I know you got to go I know you're on a short time crunch oh that's that's what happens when you're champion you guys a lot of places that to get to but we appreciate you taking the time to come out here and to address our fans or they came to say thank you he's your new Arnold Classic champion William Bonin yeah what's up Jay hey it's Jay Cutler everybody all right well Jay obviously you got a few Olympia titles yourself you got a little bit different story than some of the guys and that is that you're pretty much a working man's body but you actually built your fan base by losing the Ronnie Coleman every year that's true well no it's true like we say that with all due respect of course but but you did you became the people's champion other listen everybody likes the champ to lose they'd love that you take a guy who's won at five six seven times and he it's kind of natural you want to kind of see a new champ you want to see him beat you know it's the underdog type of thing but you actually built your fan base with that you built you know the structure of your career they all the pillars of your career on that and then obviously you know in your own right started to get those titles you pretty much won every title in the game Jay where does the Arnold rank up in there with the Olympia wins and everything else I just want it I just want to say thanks for everyone coming out and listening like these other guys are saying and you know thank you for everyone that we share this stage with because you know I'm looking at this side along with Kevin you know these were my idols you know I was telling rich yesterday I mean I watched his his program on there was ESPN when I watched it and it was well whatever it was I think it was on lose the wick show at the time and I remember sitting with his family and saying I'm gonna win the first Arnold Classic and of course you know Arnold fan and you know watching all these other guys come through the process and looking at the magazines which was our only outlet back in those days I was a huge fan of it and I was able to you know get on the stage and compete as an amateur and easily worked my way through the pros to the pro stage because it only took me three contests in the amateurs to actually turn pro and then I had to stand next to the likes I mean I remember meeting flex with her for the first time 93 when I was teenager and you know Mike Francois was a huge mentor of mine like watching his programs and you know and of course getting to this guy I had a battle with him but you know the Arnold Classic was one of the the most prestigious shows the Olympia was number one and Arnold was number two so when I had that chance to be at that level and be able to stand on the Arnold Classic stage and the Veterans Memorial was a huge opportunity for me to do that he's been in and of course where it's nagar representing the show it was you know it's it's prestigious as as you can possibly get so I was able to come win three years in a row and be very careful what you say Jay and I like the Hummer trucks too cuz I won three of them yeah you did you sure did we're getting we're getting bombed by the governor he's coming for you don't worry well Jay you wanted you want an equal number of Arnold wins to Olympia when Jewish thought that would be kind of cool obviously your career was outstanding like I see your well at least I won three and three and yeah yeah yeah the three and three then he got he got the other Olympia so Dexter took one but Ronnie quit quit Ronnie quick to point out how many you have one why do I I know it's very honorable that's right well Jay you continue to be one of the favorites sort of a fan favorites despite the fact you've been off the stage for a few years now in retirement not from bodybuilding but from competing big difference because you're still as active as ever with travel and obviously all your enterprises with anything from clothing to everything else that you sell in your web presence especially your social media presence so congratulations day because you continue to be an ambassador for by one of the best we've ever had out there that's all you hear from people Jay Cutler one of the most well-spoken best ambassadors of bodybuilding I think has to be applauded well listen I couldn't have done it all without the fan base you guys coming you know we see these crazy lines and expos and coming out year-to-year and supporting all the athletes the newer guys coming in and we couldn't do it without the fans so I'm all about the fans and giving back and I'll continue to do that until the end of time so thank you Thank You Jane appreciate it man ladies and gentlemen before we get to the rest of our esteemed panel I think there's a governor somewhere in this area know ladies and gentlemen Arnold Schwarzenegger [Applause] you look fantastic you know when you're not good and imitating mags and everybody's got to do it come on it's a thank you we do it because we love your governor thank you thank you guys Arnold Arnold guys well I I was listening in the back a little bit what some of you had to say and it is just so unbelievable I don't think we have ever had that in any bodybuilding competition to have that many champions and the wisdom and the knowledge of that many champions on one stage so I really want to say thank you all from the bottom of my heart this contribute so much to our fans that are coming here every year don't you think this was really terrific we have all this guy stuff here and to give it a first hand information and how to build a party I will be mr. Olympia to be our tastic winner or mr. America whatever the title is that you're going after but this is really I mean a cumulative kind of like absolutely there's no rarely do we get this combination of not only top champions but the years 30 years celebrating the Arnold Classic and you've always been a visionary I mean clearly you saw this coming years ago when you started at the over at the vets with a few booths but you knew you would expand it obviously now globally well it was clear that Jim Norma and myself we had a very clear vision where we wanted to go and we always look at that in two ways one of them was to promote the sport of bodybuilding to increase the cash prices to increase the kind of respect bodybuilding was getting and to have competitions like this all over the world but at the same time we also wanted to popularize the sport of bodybuilding for the general public because we always feel like you know this is no different than skiing you have we watched your Olympics in you watched a downhill race and the slalom but not everyone wants to do that always ready to do that but people want to go and ski recreationally and just have fun and the same is with bodybuilding there's so many people didn't want to get into training and they didn't know how to do that they want to be inspired so our competitions it was all about inspiring and this is why we added then weightlifting and we added powerlifting we added the World's Strongest Man competition in orders events and now we have 78 different sports and one of the things that we are most proud of is is that we really want to reach out and promote bodybuilding and fitness training for everybody so it's not just for guys like this that are extraordinarily strong and powerful and have a fantastic body but what is if someone has a leg missing because they just came back from Iraq and they lost the lake and they have an artificial leg do we have a competition for that person and we do so that they went yesterday men have walked around for instance we saw people that had handicaps physical handicaps which really you couldn't call it that anymore because they were like it was saying yesterday cleaning children like 315 pounds with an artificial leg so it was really extraordinary there were Special Olympic kids there that were doing martial arts there was all kinds of people with certain kind of problems and handicaps that are included in our fitness movement and included in the arm of classic because we want to promote all over the world the idea that fitness and strength training and all of the stuff is for everybody it doesn't matter what your category is what your colors what your income level is if you're handicapped or not everyone ought to have the right to get help it fit so this is what we are promoting and this is why we have you know 78 different sports we have 21,000 athletes here and it is really a celebration of health and fitness and everyone having a great time absolutely Arnold lots of changes this year lots of drama going on there's everybody knows by now we had a split with the IFBB where it's now on kind of two different federations your thoughts on all the changes going on currently well you know you have to understand that when you think about what I just said that we want to do bodybuilding for the mass for the millions and millions of people in all the 200 plus countries around the world then what we are talking about here the competitive bodybuilding order the Pickering that's going on between federations is kind of like the the the Pick of the iceberg this is like the top of the iceberg did you see but underneath what is this huge mass this is what the general public is and they don't care about any of that no one when you walk down Fifth Avenue in New York and you ask anyone do you have a major concern about the IFBB from the professional section and the if' would be a mature section have just now heard of an argument and that Jim meinen is not getting along with Raphael this is what the you're talking about but that's what they were saying yes so so you have to kind of like you know when you see situations like that I hope they get back together and all this stuff and we are gonna do everything that we can to make sure that you know that we stay away from this whole idea of punishing bodybuilders when they don't compete and this is the place and punishing them and it can be done another Federation all this is nonsense dialogue you know that you should always look for who are the best body builders who are the best weight lifters who are the best shovel installers who are the best skiers and not all these restrictions yeah only if you don't compete here and only if you don't say this and only if you don't endorse this and it is you know it is kind of little thinking you know I I'm nothing that that I'm into just you know promoting bodybuilding it doesn't matter if they're two three four different federations and people can't go around and all those guys can compete over there and they can come over and compete over here let's have a great time and let's celebrate the sport of bodybuilding rather than you know being so picky about all of this stuff but you know you have to understand that that I am only interested in one thing and this is to make this worth getting bigger and bigger and bigger all the time and when you think about it that when I came over here to this country we had maybe in the 5,000 gymnasiums and now we have I think there's like sixty thousand clubs there'd be no often this is not even counting now you know places like all the police stations and all the fire stations and all the military bases and notice so I mean the growth of this whole thing there's terminations there's 200,000 gymnasiums worldwide I mean there's an 80 billion dollar industry and if you add the food supplement business which is another one hundred and twenty billion dollar industry I mean are you talking about an enormous industry growth for people to get jobs and doors those are the kind of issues that I'm talking about that is extremely important and at the same time the promoters are the professional side of body building so that body builders can make millions and millions of dollars my vision always was I was always mad when I saw on television hearing end of this basketball player was just bought for thirty million dollars and this football player was bought for fifty million dollars I said well that's where we ought to be in bodybuilding and so on my struggle and my fight will continue on until we can raise the cash prizes and then though we can have that kind of a respect and it's an ongoing struggle and I am so proud of how far we have come and I'm so proud of each and every one of those guys that have become champions because not only they're champions but they're circulating and explaining the training and to motivate people in order stuff so I'm a really happy camper being able to facilitate and to put on this show here nervous it's great athletes around it absolutely [Applause] Arnel speaking of changes the newest addition into pro bodybuilding has been classic physique and I know you've been a very big proponent of classic physique as you watch the classic competitors on stage what are your thoughts is though how that class is evolving and the physics that we're seeing on stage well I think this class is it's a new class I think it says 2016 right if I'm not mistaken yeah and I think it's terrific because I don't want the big bodybuilders that are just monstrous weighs 300 pounds disappear but what I want to do is I want to keep the traditional kind of a physique alive that we had in our days and so I think that the classic physique is one way of doing that so that you have let's say the mr. Lampe of the Arnold Classic win and orders and guys are just really the most muscular and most extraordinary poses and most defined and most proportion and all this stuff but in the eye and in the classic physique you can only go to a certain body weight if you have a certain height so a guy that is like 6 feet 2 feet 6 feet - he can only go up to 240 pounds he cannot be 250 pounds or 280 pounds and so so it forces you to perfect of what you have this 240 pounds to such an extent that you really use everything 100% of every little ounce of talent if it's imposing if it's in proportion if it's it in definition and off the stuff your presentation everything if to really get deep down inside and really use every ounce in order to be the winner and that because otherwise someone else would be do but it's not by being bigger that is not the thing that we are asking for you can be big it can be cut but not that big like the guy said that the day and then mr. Lonza on elastic stage the on that same note a couple of years ago you were very vocal on where the physiques were going in the open in particular the bellies you were a friend somebody's guys looking like bottles that they were just misshapen kind of you're not not really the ideals of what bodybuilding should be all about do you feel like the changes that you implemented into your shows has helped in that respect over the last two years now what there's two things one of them is is that I think as we get into certain kind of supplements and certain kind of things that people are taking that maybe creates this kind of a more bloated look or extending the belly where you don't have that much control over the belly I think that you know for every attack there's a defense so if you see that happening then you have to do something about it and I think that you have to just spend hours and hours to practice the vacuum so you keep that stomach in because people do not come to the show to see bellies and if they want to do that they go to the maternity ward or something like that and they can see plenty of stomachs there but I mean it's when you come to a bodybuilding show you got to see guys that they're able to do a vacuum and they keep that stomach in you got to train if it is hours and hours every day it makes no difference but you got the train to keep your waist small and so this is really was the issue and I thought that by taking the category of posing out of the judging procedure was a big mistake because the posing is the most important thing I mean you can have the greatest party in the world but if you don't have if you're not able to really display your body if you're not able to hold your pose for 20 seconds at the time if you're not able to go and turn without tripping over and all of those kind of things and if you're not able to suck your waist in when you turn and keep it in with a smile then you know you haven't trained enough in their holding so this was my argument my argument was always I don't mind the monster guys because people move on I mean did people get in better shape all the time the day they're in better shape than when I was a champion and you know in 20 years from now people will be in better shape than their today so that's all perfectly fine but let's just say let's keep the great classical physique let's keep the small waist in the wide shoulder and it kind of athletic look even though bigger and so today I felt like we're the armor classic you have included now the posing again because of that you will see that guys have made much more effort over the last five years I've seen great changes already very rarely did I see anyone yesterday stomach get out of control very rarely and I look at that very in a very sensitive way and so I think that I want to congratulate the champions for having made a real effort to pay much much more attention to posing into the presentation and I think in the end it is really beneficial for the audience to watch that and you can see the reaction when someone poses well on stage you see the reaction of the audience you know you gets up this more excitement there and all that stuff so it's great that all four you have really paid attention that that really started really thinking about you know keeping the waist as small as possible and it was nice we had a few classic routines he today yamagishi from Japan very classical cédric always very classical very much in your own style from years ago and then you had Freddie smalls up there in the spirit of Kai Greene I didn't stand on his head but absolutely phenomenal what differences between classic and you know pop and lock in and and all that kind of stuff but the audience seems to like them both I I just thought yesterday it was a perfect example of how great and entertaining posing can be I mean it was wonderful the different styles of posing you know it kind of this flow it's it's it's it's basically reflection of yourself you know it's a it's it's great to watch the slow performance and the graceful performance then you have someone come out and to kind of like a dance routine and also the show the flexibility and all is there I mean to see that many guys going down in the split I mean I was holding myself as an owl I mean this is like this is like wild I'm in my place to tell you I've never seen anyone do a split that is really extraordinary with that size and there's huge thighs and back in orders of and do I beg to be able to just split like this so this was great and this really adds to your posing routines points I think and so I thought the posing yesterday was really extraordinary and very entertaining for me and all the people that I had that have never seen a bodybuilding competition before absolutely changing the subject we've just seen the Olympics come and go Winter Olympics in every sport from you pick it you know from baseball to curling there's drug controversies these days what are your thoughts on that presently and where that is today and the the in the sports in general well first of all I want to just because he said don't limping it's really interesting you know because bodybuilding was controlled for so many years by weightlifting the weightlifting Federation as you know Bob Hoffman AAA you know and and and and not that they were evil people or anything like that they tried very hard to help bodybuilding but nevertheless their first prayer where he was weightlifting and so bodybuilding for years was affected by that they didn't get the full attention of a federation that was not just thinking first of weightlifting and then bodybuilding or first time powerlifting and then bodybuilding and the same thing happened also in the Olympics over said we do it there was a documentary on about snowboarding and they were complaining how for years they were controlled but the Ski Federation you know skiing meaning that you skim two skis and those snowboarders have one port and they wanted to be separated and they couldn't separate and so they were always stuck with their performances that were boring and that were not really exciting and then they're separated from the Ski Federation and now they have all those different competitions in snowboarding and this became kind of the hardest competition and now they are exploding and they're going even much further skiing is and this exactly would happen in bodybuilding when we got free from weightlifting we loved weightlifting and we have them included in an Arnold Classic here in our sports first of all in orders but we are now in our own that we make the decisions in which direction we want to go with bodybuilding it's not a Bob Hoffman that's not a weightlifter that makes the decision it's bodybuilders and people that are interested in bodybuilding they make the decisions so this is the great thing and it is it the kind of things the growing pains that we went through other sports goes through the same way so it was interesting to watch dead house the snowboarders finally celebrating and say we are free and now we can do our own competition so let's number one I want to say number two when it comes to drugs look I think that as long as there will be sports there will be drug use and there will be drug testing and there will be for every test there is there will be a way around it because that's what drug companies do is they they check what is available in technology and mainly through the drug testing so you really never know anymore when you look at the any sports event who takes something who doesn't who is enhancing here who is enhancing there nor those kind of things and we of course the Arnold Classic organization we don't get involved in those kind of issues because we have 78 different organizations here so we have you know the gymnasts here we have the cheerleaders here we have the power lifters with the world Strongest Man if the fencers we have all of those different Federation's here so we cannot get involved in all of those different Federation's drug policies and drug testing policies so we just go and have a blanket statement that says look guys this is bodybuilding let's build the body let's make the body healthy and let's stay away from drugs and all kinds of this stuff but we cannot go and tell someone I think that you've been taking something that maybe you cannot attend or something so we don't get involved in this we have 78 different sports 78 federations and they have to do their own checking and there to have their own policies and we are very happy that if that many sports part of this and we hope that they have their own policies and follow through with it governor let's switch gears for a moment to last night right here in this very stage we saw a new champion William bone a crown but I want a key on the man he beat last night that's Dexter Jackson all-time winningest Arnold Classic champion and at 48 years old continues to defy father time in missed his title by one point what do you think about Dexter and his extraordinary career here on the Arnold stage well in the movies we have special effects this is no special effect this is the real-life and so to me it is I mean beyond belief because I tell you that when I came back to compete in the 1980 mr. Olympia I saw how tough it is when you lay off a while and when you get to be over 30 in my case how injury started coming in and how I could not come back as quickly and heal and as times goes on it becomes more and more punishing for the body and this is why you see usually younger people doing sports and performing and competing and so on so this is a very unusual situation that someone can go and be in the top top shape in the life with the age of 48 so I think first of all it is a huge hand of applause for Dexter Jackson for being so extraordinary so only only he can tell you how he does it and how he stays away from injuries in how he can recuperate and recover the partners don't know what they would know is him but to me I look at it every time I see him and I just I mean ah to look at him and I said myself I the age of 30 and 31 have already felt the pain and the injuries and he is now 48 and is still competing and it looks flawless submitted it's really unbelievable to see this a congratulation to the great work that you're doing is absolutely and I just want to add that it's not just inspiring me but I think it is inspiring millions and millions of people they'd think that they are over-the-hill because they're 40 oh that shouldn't do anything anymore this is exactly what we're talking about when we're talking about inspiring people and making them feel kind of guilty when they walk away from the Arnold Classic say with this guy with a 48 is still a champion then we can do something about it too and we can go to the gym and work out so you're inspiring so many people so this is what this is all about Arnold as uh as you came out here you came down the line you shook every one of these champions hands thirty years of excellence and and Arnold Classic champions as you look down from any everybody from rich Gaspari that the very first champion can you remember details almost from every show I know you've got a very sharp rock collection when it comes to detail and every single year that you're seeing represented here I would not go that far that I would say that there is no details of every show but there is certain people on this stage that I have very clear memories simply because of the relationship we had and the conversations we had and Gaspari was one of those guys that was always an animal you know so I remember that but not physically speaking but all the many he had this energy and he always wanted to be successful not just in bodybuilding but in other things in business and so he had that and so it's no surprise to me that the cmp six cell successful with his business and to be such great motivation for so many people because I think that one has to be clear that there's a certain time where everyone where everyone's career comes to an end and it's sad you know it's it's it's no different than when you're governor and you always said and have to leave office because you need there's only two terms and then that's it right so you go now what you know it's it's kind of like a downer but in the same as with competing I remember when I left this bodybuilding stage in 1980 and it's fairly artsy but I mean I had something else to go to I did Conan the Barbarian and they did movies and so on and so I think that's the key thing when you're there is several RPN stage as a matter of fact many they have taken bodybuilding and then continued on and use that background for something really good and if it's in business if it is to be motivational speakers or something whatever it may be and I think this is really terrific and so I thought that all of those guys that came to the Arnold Classic here and started winning competition they were very wise in using that title and not just the arm elastic but mr. Olympia whatever title it is professional event using the title to do something with that because this is what what it's all about such just about your love and you know while you're training but how do you make a living off that later on how can you have a health food store and be really smart about healthful how can you have a gymnasium how the average gymnasium chain how do you have a food supplement line how do you do all this stuff how to come up with young magazine whatever it is there's so many opportunities today because like I said it's such a growing businesses it's such a huge industry so I'm proud of each and every one of them for the great work that they've done and how much they've contributed to popularize bodybuilding Arnall one of the memories I'm sure you would be recall fondly was when Vince Taylor came out and it is now famous Terminator routine and this had never been seen before what were your thoughts as you were watching Vince do that incredible Terminator routine Taylor write to you I immediately say that myself I wish I could move like that it's like it's really fantastic I mean there it's it's Talent it's unbelievable talent to do this to the music and to have this kind of robotic kind of moves down and all that I never had those kind of moves down but the minute looks fantastic on stage and it looks fantastic with the posing but this is what we're talking about earlier when we talk about posing to be unique to be different than to be entertaining and at the same time the show this extraordinary body and the definition and all that stuff so it was it was fantastic Ronnie Coleman comes out back in the day as a multi Olympia champion and announces to the world I'm gonna do the Arnold I want the Arnold title he says he wants to Hummer but I think it was I think he wanted the title but did you think at that time of an Olympian champion coming onto your stage for your title well first of all it Ron it was always he was kind of like he was breaking through from where we were in size and all of a sudden he became kind of a whole new dimension you know there was like just lumps and mass he's very lumpy I mean it's like III remember that he and I we talked and he was standing right in front of me just before he went out on stage and I remember that and that's just it took me a while to look from the left shoulder to the right shoulder you know just I keep going like this you're going like this the shoulder was so wide especially when he did this lat spread I mean it looked like the curtain closed and it was never light coming through so it was really unbelievable you know this to see that and he was such a graceful poser also at the same time so it was really a whole new dimension in bodybuilding that thing that he showed the body girls that there's a whole other way of in in his file size and proportion that you can go and I think that he broke through that and since then a lot of the guys have broken through that and they've gotten much much bigger and more impressive one of the things you can't help but notice as you look at all these great champions over 30 years time is the different kinds of physiques not just styles opposing but actual physiques from you know from Shawn Ray to mike Francois to branch Warren you know branch brought a whole new level of conditioning that we had probably seen since rich Gaspari back in the day you know why does is tall and as muscular as anybody on this stage he's one for most muscular Awards branch six sorry six most muscular Awards on the stage if that doesn't tell you everything but what do you think of the wide variety I don't a love of this is what truly makes bodybuilding great is that it's not everybody's not a cookie cutter you don't have to look a complete certain way to earn a title of this of this stature well I think the important thing isn't that thing with this guys have done is they even though the bodies is so different but they have adjusted the opposing routine to their body type and everyone has their own unique quality when they go on stage even though as you said they're so different from one another and I think that's what makes that what creates the kind of entertainment it's what makes it enjoyable to watch and what what fascinates means how an I ain't that judges can come up with the decision because I tell you that yesterday when you saw the top six guys standing out there I would have needed at least another hour to stand up there and to check out body part of a body part at that time when this competition was over I could not make up my mind yet who should win and who should not so it was it's gets so difficult because the guys are all getting so good so defined so cut this dude everyone has now huge calves well maybe there was one guy that didn't but I mean but yeah I mean you know that's just the way it is but I mean every every guy it used to be that you know when you were of color if African American they didn't have calves and you know there was in the old days and then and and we white people didn't have the waistline that they had noticed but the date is gone it's gone yeah yesterday everyone had massive calves everyone had a small waist everyone had this huge gigantic Joris notice of so there is no anymore the difference between one type of a body and so it was really extraordinary to see that and like I said the judging becomes tough and tough for the day I don't know how the judges do it to come up with the winner because if you really take this seriously this whole thing because he is it's not that an easy decision to make because everyone works so hard so many hours and put so much into it so you cannot just dismiss someone and say well you know maybe next time I can let him win but this time I put sound so because I can't make up my mind as a it's not that easy of a decision it's a tough decision to make absolutely the judges certainly did a great job I think to be applauded for that comparing different physiques is very difficult for these judges like say you've got guys five foot three and you've got guys six foot two as you were back in the day you and Franco many battles which speaking of which he's here today and he wants a rematch on this stage right now he says he's got the short end of the stick and he wants you governor right here ladies and gentlemen Franco Columbu [Applause] Franco gentlemen pose down how are you sir good good are you doing very well yes I'm just talking with your friend here and he was talking about when he beat you back in the 1972 mr. Olympia 575 yeah you remember that one a lot of people though was specially the short guys this year to live one you know in the shooter like that the sort of one said you know what you never catch me next year maybe I'm over here you know but I thought that we are here for an educational seminar to talk about training nutrition and I've been waiting and waiting you know to find things from you guys from the new champions some secret nothing oh wait a minute wait a minute I beg to differ Vince Taylor just a few minute maybe you weren't here yet he gave the secrets to his success hamburgers coke and ketchup oh I can tell their story but hamburgers you know in Europe didn't do much hamburgers that's an American thing and when I came to another state arnold started getting addicted to hamburger i don't think he even remember that and we would go to the store I would buy steak and then when he went to the story but hamburgers then he will cook him and then he will do his things you know whatever he was doing he would go and pull him out burned and I never got to taste a good hamburger because it is overcooked and I never figured out he was doing purpose that I cook or you know whatever I didn't care you know and I capital e one thing for our know they always number ones and numbers five there's no number two too much and the number one was he prioritized the training our number one is training every time in the gym a slowdown training it will sell Franco get over here do one more rep you did nine what I counted in the mirror he's posted to eleven I thought we were doing ten you know but he is a food as more like ascension and you do have to eat when you train and we were like doing everything that was fast as possible like in the money we did a good protein drink and you know it's very interesting that we never really went another strong diet I think you people should know that like we never believed in low fat things and everything was no no II forget the milk we won't with cream you know and that is that's how we train did that's why we were never has ripped as those guys they were you got to be honest Franco here okay I know you Italian but then what the hell I never liked it but then we competed in these to give body part and then when they Frank link him to me inferences I be Arnold so you next I say okay I say we gonna compete 100 times and you will never beat me and I say even in your situps he used to do a thousand sit-ups and I did when I got 225 and ex-mp and we're not the went home and I bet him sit-ups after that he got used to it to lose but you know I don't to say that we didn't even know probably I don't know you know but I once in a while a we did mind training you know like talking like that with the mind and didn't even know I was doing that probably take me back Arnold to your early days with Franco before the big bucks started rolling in you guys were putting up bricks you were building walls and in California take us back to that well bodybuilding started like that you know where people really had to work and had to have a regular job and so because I was mr. universe and because Franco was mr. universe and mr. Olympia didn't mean that we didn't have to work I mean I remember Joe Weider gave us $65 a week okay safe to think about that but we were very grateful then because that money because it gave us a little cushion and a little bit something but the fact of the matter is is that you know we had to go out and do construction work Franco was a construction worker and he was a prick layer and masonry expert he trained that in Italy and in Germany so I knew that and I was always kind of with a businessman so I said to Frank or say Franco there's no reason why we shouldn't open up a company that's free in America or we have to risk it to the City Hall and get the business license and to go to the IRS and let them know we will make an estimated amount of money every year and be pay the taxes and get our social security number in orders and that's exactly what we did we put an ad in the paper in the LA Times and two days after we put the ad in Europe in bricklayers with experts in masonry work and stonework and auras the earthquake happened in Los Angeles and so a lot of the chimneys fell off and a lot of cracked walls and in patio frozen orders and so Frank and I we got jobs staying for day and night I mean all we did was work work work ins construction and made a lot of money this way and so this was kind of our beginning in this but that's where party pooling was then you had to kind of figure out how do you and in those days we trained like five hours a day well not him he didn't like to train dead long frankly trained around three and a half three and a half hours you talk to people sometimes exactly yeah but there were so we had two different body types mind I would always like to be a bit over trained because this was my only way to really get defined because I guess he said we were not on a diet per se we were on a diet but you know that just meant don't have desserts or something like that but we were not and even that didn't work because a week before the Olympia we went to the house of pies and had you know - two cherry pies then or itself so we didn't always have the discipline but in any case we over trained and that's how I got defined and then Franco trained also very hard but he didn't like to train us hard or he drained his heart but not as long I should say and his body didn't needed but we were you know had a great time being training partners you have to understand that I come from the bodybuilding background in weightlifting kind of background so when I met Franco in 1965 he won the European Championships in powerlifting in the lightweight division and I want the junior mr. Europe competition so that's how we met so he said to me I want to be a bodybuilding champion and I said them I want to be a powerlifting champion so we started training together when I moved to Munich eventually and then I talked WIDA into bringing him a Franco to America so because I came over here in 68 so Frank we deployed Franco in 69 so this is the great work that Joe Weider did he did not kind of like just throw money at you but he gave you opportunities and he gave us opportunities Frank and me we wouldn't be sitting here if it wouldn't be for Joe Weider he has really helped us he gave us the exposure in the magazines and the covers inside the magazine and all that stuff and it was an absolute rule and we were like best of friends with him until he passed away but this way is where body bullying started we had to work and we never were shy of working and top not only because in bodybuilding but because we were immigrants and Franklin and I we've always the kind of immigrants we loved America loved America and we said we got to work twice as hard as the Americans because we have to give something back to say thank you to America for receiving us with open arms and giving us all this opportunities yeah right Franco how was how was Arnold as a bricklayer brick it makes us a man I should leave the bridge however you know like to talk about zhihui them it was very generous we actually started training and and when we laid bricks one good thing came out of that and that was we got more definition and you will actually are not start with $65 then then I got 65 then Arnold got a raise he got 85 a week champion you know one thing I can tell you say I remember the routine that was here it was became kind of known because so frança was a very good craftsman I was the business guy always was good with numbers so I said to Frank I said let me work out and make the proposals and work at the estimates so I started working and measuring things and writing down numbers but all in German centimeters and millimeters and meters and other stuff so that the people could not understand when they were looking at our paper so then I said okay franca how much do you think this will be approximately what do you think franca says probably $2,000 or so is that the birth that the material will be $1,000 pouring the will bearer and that the mixing machine and Ora staff will custody he says if I think for $2,000 we can do it so I wouldn't go to the person and they will say Franco says it is $5,000 and and they said $5,000 and I says well let me work him over a little bit they said I think I can get them down to around for I say but let me work on a little bit so Frank and I will get in the corner and we start screaming in German let's come sister feet tutorial this is it this is ozone across you fake it come to Frank are you the most heated up and this is how we were arguing and they couldn't understand the thing we were saying and Franco was arguing back in German okay I got him down so this is the job you got to lower the price now how did you do this with Joe Weider now I know you used the same tactics to Joe Weider how did you work this with Joe to get raises Joe be they had different things in the mind he will go to our note and you say are not an article he do the articles with Franco call from Jane demo called all the guys to the apartment and do crazy articles and at the same time Joe we have been a one-time I asked him I will never ask him again I said we have to get more money save the money we get like a Friday to Safeway store and I spend all the money that is really bad and I said why he says if I give it too much money you get fat in July get an answer for everything and I will get quietly Shino are not you deal with all of that you're absolutely correct because I remember walking with the Jowan them out of a temple and there was this homeless person standing outside and saying oh please help I haven't eaten in seven days in Chowchilla and says I wish I had you discipline but anyway it's a Jo Jo was for me a little bit easier than for Franco but to kind of manipulate because the church ever knew that he didn't have a son so we read a wonderful daughter but not the son Erik wieder had a son I mean Ben tweeder had a son by name of Eric and so I always would go when I wanted something from Jo and he would say no I've always got a choice it is the weirdest thing I sometimes wake up as if feel like I'm your son and Joe says ah I'm telling you you so much like me eh those bastards are the body builders they just take advantage of me you work hard I really like you you're like a son I said the Jo I said I feel like a sign of this it wouldn't it be cool as if I'm really you son and always so it they never say that Joe I said look Frank and I we want to go to Munich for this bodybuilding competition we need your LAN tickets I think can you get the element because there is now of course why didn't you say so hey you know it would give us the tickets but the week before he would just deny us the tickets yeah so Jo was for me easy to deal with because I always use kind of the emotional thing about being his son so there was there was a deal closer you appreciated any either your potential that will never end and you know if it's all that that by the new 50 min by the way that's true we actually did something that no it does today by the building and one of them was we went to Europe and we competed like misty reopen the earth be and and and so on everyone should have been completed there too and then we will come we actually competed one time the first time we competed here in Columbus Ohio so probably we went to London and I don't want they I'm not the professional mr. universe and I want my class in the amateur and we flew that next morning early and Jim Laurie my pict us up from the private jet from New York and we came here to this place and all the bodybuilders were lined up they delay the show and they were so happy that Arnold and Frank are not here and he shot from behind and I and some I say you go they a nickel here and then every time I say something I don't doesn't like to listen then he switch so he's going like this but he start touching the body builders and of sudden they get the vibrations and they go like this and they say Arnold sneaking in there and I sneak in here was incredible that we've able to compete the same weekend in two different continents and we were so hungry we wanted to compete in everything everywhere and we never pay attention and you will I went to Arnold I remember saying why no but I mean I think that the other point that you were about to address is about the Federation's because think about that I was competing in the IFBB mr. universe contest and one in New York flew over and the week later competed in the Napa Mr Universe contest and won and the next day because of that private jet that Frank is talking about we flew from London to New York and there we were picked up with the private jet so we could make it here at five o'clock when the body building mr. world competition started which was wrong but the AAU so now if I have PB Napa and AAU and I won all three competitions which was kind of the golden three that the win all three federations where you could claim this is the middle of the Federation is I want their title and this you couldn't do that they anymore because of all the crazy restrictions that we have that you can't compete in certain events otherwise you get penalized and punished you know do competing and you get thrown out or whatever so I mean that was the big advantages in the old days that you could do that Arnold because you guys made it here in 1970 and your obvious friendship with Jim Laura at that point where you made that promise that you would come back and be a promoter with him we're here today 30 years later with these great champions I know you guys got other events to get to so I want to begin for Franco Columbu and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger thank you very much thank you all for coming [Applause] all right always entertaining I love hearing the old stories of course with franco and arnold and they've got a million of them with Joe Weider and some the course ever he's got a Joe Weider imitation including Arnold so we're gonna continue on we got a few more champs to get to here all right Dex Dexter Jackson the blade he does microphone on we turn our mics off tryin out thanks we go it's up champ tired it's one difference is between yesterday and today is obviously with each year it gets a little bit more tiring battling with these these young guys on here Yugi and William had a great battle last night that was close stacks very close was close enough to prejudging it was even closer I thought you sharpened up at night a little bit which made it a little bit closer even more smoke clears you're still in the runner-up position which you can't be I mean you have to be disappointed on one hand but not on the other were you antics thank you and if you guys know me you know my snap stories I say all the time that every show that I get into I go to win no matter what I'm doing them I'm trying to win I can be playing my five year old kid in the game I'm trying to win you know what I'm saying so I hate to losing anything that's why I guess I've had that that sense of thought for so you know coming up through my life that time I've been able to continue to do what I'm doing for so long and it keeps me motivated well you know we talked the other day you know the in the interview before the competition and I asked you everybody asks you how much longer you got thanks how much gas you got that tank how many years you think you can keep going and you were quick to point out look at I'm at the top of my game still as long as I'm competitive as long as I'm staying healthy which you are as long as I'm cashing those checks and making a living from sport that I've devoted my life to why stop exactly why stop you know I'm only 48 years old that's not old - you know standards and of course it's sports it's old but um I'm only 40 years old my parents you know they've all retired and young and guess what they're doing now doing a little side job somewhere cuz they bored so I said you know what why retire I'm still on top of my game I'm still placing in the top six in Olympia you know so until I get put out of the top six in there with you I have no desire to retire nice to know we're gonna have to played around for some years to come cuz I gotta be honest next you ain't you ain't slowing down man I mean nobody's looking at you going well you know he's still good but you know if you saw him back in the day you don't get that you get Dexter's Dexter Herman that's kind of become a cliche in bodybuilding well again have to thank my parents my genetics that's the main thing you know coming up through the years I didn't have to do know Carter y'all know ABS none of that stuff I mean until five years ago I started doing that you know so that right there alone makes my lifespan even longer made it longer you know what I'm saying cuz I know guys like Ronnie and him doing two hours and three hours of cardio a day that if I had to do that back then I would be retired by now too you know what I'm saying so so you're on the you're on the Arnold program I'm just skipping dessert traveled I will just eat a cup of mcdonald burgers in the airport well I have very blessed an adage man I remember when like sad dude Arnold and Australia show was the falling weekend or something like that I will come off my dying like lack last night and I will stay off to Thursday then going on struggling where but I can't do that now you know because I'm small but I can but I'm sure you can I'm smarter now so so I just need to make sure that I still on top of my game and and like I said I try and win everything I injure that's you beat the great flex wheelers record in gaining your fifth Arnall classic championship title I know you like to get rib him about that but obviously listen that that's a feat that nobody thought anybody would be I think people people pretty much thought for is gonna be about it and nobody's gonna come around and do five but you're there yeah it's pretty I'm blessed I mean for honor titles and he particularly got a couple more saying I feel I could have got a couple more as well but we all feel that way like I said but for was the record for many many years and our Millah next told me nobody told me what do you say flex yeah no like I said you know back then it was me and Ronnie and you know we were just running a game and Dexter as aggressive as he has low young whippersnapper you know shooting his mouth off you know already said it I said hey if you ever think you're gonna break my record you know wake up slap the out of yourself but I guess that's me getting slapped now so but again records are meant to be broken and I've always said if anybody was to break my record I want it to be you and you did so congratulations thank you well when flex said that that fueled me you know what I'm saying because you know as the minute shows if I was competing in I knew I had a shot to do it you got you you'll have to complete you would have to compete as long as I'm competing to be able to break this record insisting it's just it's really almost as impossible okay because most of the guys when they start winning are know a couple of times then they become a strong an mp4 tender then they want to start skipping the Harlem yeah I can do that you know I'm saying I only want one and then that allowed me to say you know what let's go back to our own and that's how I continued what's the schedule now you certainly don't seem like you're slowing down Australia two weeks you can make the trip Australian two weeks and then I must you know sit it out to the Olympia so you know everybody know me I come to win so they better be ready um that's a special show for you I mean obviously Australia is quite the flight you've done this a number but you but you that's a show you don't miss no tax like you say you're gonna take the rest of the you're off to the Olympia but you made sure to hit Australia I mean it makes sense you already in shape why not you know what I'm saying that Tony dort is a amazing promoter you take care that's a great guy like no other no other promoter man so you know he scratch my back I scratch his and that's how we made a special relationship because I I've been this Tony shows about Palmer 10 times and I tell you man I really hate flying it on straight that is the worst flight ever yeah and I tell myself every year nah and Tony always told me you can't say no to Tony he's literally one of the best guys in Korea but I know the fans appreciated Dex and you've got a great fan base all around the world your favorite moment on the Arnold stage out of out of all your wins my favorite I will have to say man I mean it's tough because you've got your first win ever as always got to be special you've won the Arnold Classic you know but you've got monumental spaces I mean you've also got a fifth one that beats the record and puts five in your so that's got to be a tough it's a tough question but is there any one moment that stands out above the rest of us a special moment for you you know the first one you know I was always told you never win a big show so the Arnold was the show that I wanted to win so that was special in itself then the next person I think was when I lost him to be titled most people think when people lose that's on the top you know they pretty much going down they retired so when I won when I when I lost it in the Libya tide in 2008 and then 2009 I started to go down slide and wasn't placing as high as I normally do up still top five somewhere in there and I met George after a couple years after and then I warned 2013 so that was really special as well because you know coming back she went after I was on the downslide and contemplating on retiring you know what I'm saying so that was a really special day in 2015 when I bought the record of course breaking Flex's record which was you know he's my idol man growing up I mean that was I mean that was really really special so I you know I would have to say those three I can't just say one nor should you my friends the blade Dexter Jackson that brings us to the Dominican dominator Victor Martinez let's get in the center circle here and my brother hello everyone you like the old stories with Arnold you gotta love them love them listen to and it's motivation his passions though for bodybuilding and his passion still wanting to give more in which you know not a lot of promoters do that not a lot of people that have shows and I hope to follow his lead having my own shows same way raising the money every year for the first pro show I'm having so that's and tell everybody about that I was gonna get to that afterwards but as long as you brought him up let's get to that now Victor has thrown his hat in at a promotion ring we've got IFBB Pro qualifying events all over the world now and you were quick to jump in there and go hey man that want mine yeah I mean you know organizations fight they argue they break up and it was good it was good for us yeah yeah we're not complaining it gave us opportunities to have our own shows put our own shows together and you know I'm having a pro show in the Dominican Republic the our coat of arms can't have bodybuilding they said conflict of interest but I'm having our two twelve even though you put this on with your buddy John de la Rosa with John little Rosa yes exactly and again you know first year we have a cap on the monies but we will be increasing it every year again I don't want to be that show with the same amount of money every year again I want to give more to the body go there to the physique to the bikinis for your girls anything you know just keep moving up well Victor you had your own moment on the on the Arnold stage and you've had some great moments in your career we lost Jay but I was gonna give him I know you're gonna give him some crap about the 2007 Olympia he saw you coming he's like Jay said okay good time hit the bathroom right now and that was a moment that you missed by this much you know you're literally this far away from that Olympia title but you do have an Arnold Classic title tell us about that That moment when you want it was great I mean that year I mean it was just the stars were aligned you know everything was perfect but died the training uh no injuries nothing like that um perfect baby on the way I mean I couldn't complain at all you know it was the perfect year especially getting ready for the Arnold and nothing better than Arnold handing you the trophy his trophy I mean the handshake of course always but uh Arnold himself give me a trophy it's it's history and like I always say never gets old now what sure don't and speaking of old we got some champions over here Victor at that uh that's a Joey anybody caught that one there he's getting sleepy now what do you think as you look down this this lineup of greats again from from the first Arnold to obviously today and some of the champions in that that you followed in the footsteps of these gentlemen that share the stage with you motivation every time I see him again it's just uh not just Arnold but seeing all these guys I mean my gosh the rich Gaspari are Sean ray I mean Vince Taylor always I mean great great added to no matter what I don't think I ever seen him angry because he was eating cheeseburgers while you were eating chicken breasts and in a good mood automatically yeah my flex wheel of course I mean his shape I mean many can try and copy it don't it's not gonna happen ever so just get over it my Francois always was a big fan only because it's tenacity and again the way he just entered the are knowing came in and crushed so many guys that were you know there were bodybuilding famous but he just came in and crushed them and Andrade I mean I can't say enough bye Ronnie Ronnie's just uh he's a beast he just goes on and does it doesn't think twice doesn't doubt himself he always I mean people say think you're gonna win Ronnie I don't think had a single thought of ever losing any and he's just the inspiration all the way through and even now he inspires me just with his freakin surgeries there's nothing that Ronnie does it doesn't inspire me just seeing him go through surgeries and bouncing back making it out here to the r know most people don't come because they have a cold you know and he's here you know Ronnie always is down on yes please Victor you certainly put your mark on the body billing history yourself obviously with an Arnold Classic championship many other championships throughout the years what's the future hold you're certainly not done yet and now you know you've got to keep going because Dexter keeps raising the bar so you can't use age as an excuse anymore ya can use an excuse Dexter's a whole of the level of inspiration again most people say I'm Don a I'm old and he takes all those excuses out of the box I mean come on you can't you can't say any of that so he's definitely motivating me to keep going motivates me to stay in shape all year round and not you know go away offseason like most of us used to do back in the days and and Dexter is just in the leveling of itself you know as far as always like flex they're always consistent and always staying on top and you know he was second but y'all know yesterday he was he was still first no matter what you know forget the second he's always first just being up there no oh he's and uh in kind you guys you know no I started a long time ago I was already you know champion and what he is now he should have been a long time ago I teach saying any time and time again in the IFBB would have been a start you know 20 years ago and you know he's a big star now but me and Kyle were the total gym rats in the gym I mean we'll work out four or five hours a day he will have a bucket of dry chicken I would have a blimpy sandwich and in between sites every once in a while just play a game of chess you know that's what we did John Eli's gym back in the days and and like Ronnie and one of Ronnie's stories I can relate I wasn't going to continue bodybuilding but Chris Dickerson's cousin Steve Dickerson said you know you could be a champion you know he actually got me the gym membership so I continued otherwise I would have been you know somewhere else doing extra security jobs who knows what you know there's anything wrong with that was just a horrible security guard other than that what's this year looking like Vica we're gonna see you on stage this year with the return uh get back get back in the Olympia you know always great to be on that stage you know keep inspiring the fans motivate you know my kids I gotta have my kids see me on that stage you know some of them having been now watch me there so it'll be great and like I said some of us you know up here have kids but probably I think I'm catching up to Ronnie maybe I don't know if I passed them yet but you know I have a lot of kids I know branch has a beautiful daughter too it's a branch are always one of the toughest guys in the gym I mean I could always go into the gym and say I want to go mean and hard and train it's crazy as branch but it doesn't happen you know because that's so he just kills the weight you know I'm more like pet the weights a little bit you know yeah and Cedric you know one of my favorites you know always push for him to do great you know I sign knows you know he's going up against X and all these other guys but Cedric always you know always looking up to you and always see you up top you know he has his whole life he's one of the young guys you know so I'm worried about him one of the young kids up here yeah thank you congratulations on a great career and continued success going forward Olympia wouldn't be the same without the Dominican dominator they're given all these young guys hell so give it up for one of the best Victor Martinez ah my man kai green the predator hello well it's about time we get you back up on a stage we need you on here with your posing trunks on I think that's what is what I'm alluding to Kai how are you my friend I'm great I'm great thank you everybody for staying so late no catabolic gotta hit that window keep the game oh yeah oh yeah congratulations under coverage I heard it went very well you and sugar Shawn hope the sicker so ray hope he wasn't too bad too rough on you on the color commentary but no I got a lot of opportunity to learn he's really awesome that's okay you've really expanded their horizons is obviously a former Arnold Classic champ Olympia contender for many years and now it seems like you've taken that next step into anything from movies to production to commercials we we've seen you all over the place on network TV congratulations on all your successes thank you for saying thank you an accomplished artist I want to leave that out because if anybody's ever seen Kai's artwork absolutely tremendous I mean I don't know if you further that more with I didn't you have your own comic book coming out or we have a graphic novel we're gonna be making a major release in comic-con this year in San Diego coming so we're really really excited when the process of doing some things to actually make that happen but um yeah I've got a really good team that I'm working with and I'm just really excited about the project so yeah it'll be coming out this year San Diego nice what do you think about the I know you guys are doing a coverage but sometimes you got to almost step back to actually see the competition as it unfolds rather than covering it what did you think about the the results last night man I mean you know this was really really interesting on a classic this year a loaded deck a lot of talent yeah I'm just very excited you know I got a chance to sit back and watch and really kind of reconnect with some of the thing that inspired me to love this sport in the first place I think you got a chance last night to see everybody fight you know Cedric is a friend of mine you know coming in as a defending champion and we definitely wanted to see him blow the doors off the stage tonight and defend I mean last night and you know what I felt like such it was able to come in and represent really really hard and he fought a very very good fight and I don't feel like there's a loss I feel like this there's a movement there's a change but going forward there's an opportunity to continue to progress and come back and I love the normal classic stage because it it is one of the lists it's probably the stage where the larger dream is the seeds of the dream are allowed to come true you know you could water them you can tend them and you could actually see them come to life here as Andre said a little bit earlier on the other side of this experience from this stage you know it's it's your career that's able to get a tremendous boost and even in other things that I'm doing and the other business side of my life now I'm able to see just how fruitful a victory here can be okay you've been on the Olympia stage you've been on the Arnold stage a number of times over the years is there this difference between the two fields between the two I mean limpy's the Olympia of course it's its grandiose it's it's our number one in the in the sport but the honor has its own unique flavor obviously you know with the name of Arnold and then the history do you feel a difference in your history of competing on both well you know for me really interestingly enough other side of this thing on classic is the own classic I mean I've seen it carries such distinction I've gotten opportunities to do things that I would not have otherwise had simply because I had this victory to my credit I remember hearing Vince Taylor say earlier today that your life can change after the Arnold Classic and that is really really true it happened for me I've seen the miracle of that happen in my life so I will definitely endorse that obviously going towards your career let me bring you to present I obviously you've been off to competitive stage for a little while now are we gonna receive return to you on the competitive stage well it's very very possible right now I'm very very excited I think they want to get the thumbs up and I've definitely not retired 2018 looks a little interesting we'll see how how that turns out I'm really excited about stranger things I'm very excited about some of the things we're doing with dynamo so this year and you know I have some other pursuits that are really really important to get done this year so it'll be interesting to see how the competitive calendar looks if it's even a possibility just because we're also doing our first show the high green classic and believe it or not I'm gonna get into the arena of having a aah show I'm gonna be a show promoter so you know I mean you look like a show promoter right I you know if this doesn't scream I'm a promoter I mean what does well you know I've just I've got a lot to be excited about and a lot to be thankful for and no doubt about it the Arnold Classic stage has been a tremendous help to creating that reality for myself kinda seeing dexter continue to do what he does at 48 does that broaden that spectrum of you know maybe some years ago I would have thought well you know I'm getting older now and I've kind of done a whole bunch of things maybe I just I'm to move on but when you're seeing the guy like Dexter at 48 continue to dominate the stage and put titles in his back pocket you know I mean it has to kind of broaden your horizons of well look at I he's still doing it at 48 so I got some years ahead of me still I mean if you if you want to think I mean also - I got a chance to see like like last night you know just seeing Dexter in the lineup he really forces all of the other guys that were competing last night to fight and step up their game it's almost I saw the lion not the Lion King but I got a chance to see I hit you over there Lion King big all the time but I got a chance to see black panther recently and I love the movie not endorsing it but I'm just trying to say that there was a character in the film that in the process he got a chance to he was another King that got a chance to stand up and vie for the title of being the Black Panther King and interestingly enough he wasn't doing it to serve his own ambition to become the black panther he did it just to test the fiber you know of those that were identifying themselves as worthy you know so I just think that you know when you have a statesman like Dexter Jackson in the lineup last night you know what happens is it's not a loss what it does is is it helps the other athletes you know get a chance to try their tests try their fiber you know and see if they are worthy you know I really think that that was a really good thing that happened last night I feel myself privileged to have gotten a chance to see it happen here on this stage absolutely kai you grew up a fan of the sport as I did as Sean alluded to earlier he's a fan of a bodybuilding first and foremost than a bodybuilder I know you had you know your history very well about body but when you look at some of the the great champs that that won this very title that you won was there anybody that inspired you now you obviously have your own unique style of posing I think we can agree on but not necessarily ball weighs appreciated all kinds of poses and Sean Ray's very classical in his posing I've bench Taylor obviously you know open that door you know with the terminated routines and stuff but is there anybody that you looked up to back then in terms of their posing and presentation was it a Vince Taylor style that was closer to you or was a Sean Ray style that was completely classical and a different well honestly I think if the truth be told everybody had something to contribute that was worthy to watch and pay attention to I mean a lot of times when people think about posing they'll think about just pretty flashy movements you know and call that posing but you know being aware of your technical fundamentals is very very important I think what happens is when you got a chance to look at a lot of the veteran honor classic competitors and champions one thing that they have in common is a very strong command and awareness of their their their basics basics are critically important you can't I remember hearing flex wheeler say in an interview when I was a kid you can't fly he cannot fly if he didn't have his basics down if you did not have his basics together so the fundamentals are important and I think before you can get to a place where you can be flashy flashy flashy you have to have solid fundamentals so yeah man I you know I got a chance to watch over and over and over again you know the rich Gaspari of this experience I watched rich as far as posing routine you know there's a number of them done at the Olympia that were really really awesome masterpieces in their own right they really were you know he paid attention to detail and he really did spend time developing his pose and I could say that about everybody but you know when you're looking for it you can see it and I think there was a lesson to be gained from each of the athletes you know like actually believe it or not I watched and watched as a number of really awesome things they got a chance to see him do that you know interestingly most muscular with the hands out with the one leg forward flexing the quads now I I remember seeing Mike Ashley do it and having a number of photos that actually made the magazine over and over again as one of those amazing just shots that always inspired me I can do this with each athlete and I know you don't want to hear me do that because Kai is known for being very long-winded but I want to say this most of all that it was its athletes like these gentlemen here these champions that really helped an athlete like me develop an appreciation for the art and the love you know for it now a lot of times today people will talk about they'll sooner you know get lost in these conversations about drugs or or these other things that are really not bodybuilding it's it's not bodybuilding bodybuilding is not those things as much as it is the the beautiful fundamentals that I got a chance to see and appreciate when I looked at these champions in front of me I kind of myself privileged to be able to join this class of elite athletes and you know we welcome the new on the other end with well that left and Cedric you know and you know going forward and I just want to thank everybody for coming tonight and being so cool to help us celebrate this experience this year all right Thank You Kai great having you here appreciate it and hopefully we'll see Kai coming to a stage near you stranger things have happened my friends things can't happen that's right that's all right let's bring up the hardest working man in bodybuilding the Texas Titan branch Warren all right what's up champ first I just like to thank all of you for coming out supporting us supporting the Arnold Classic if it wasn't for you guys your support we wouldn't have an auto classic so thank you you know branched it's great to see the fans out and I do appreciate you all coming here I mean it's great to hear from the the governor and Franco and I love the old stories I mean it's great and especially from the the champs I mean that's always great to see everybody's perspective branch is a veteran competitor on the Arnold stage as you were quick to correct me six most muscular titles and including some Arnold Classic champ titles themselves and you miss in Olympia by this much a second place finish at the Olympia you've pretty much done all you can do when it comes to competing and I know you've turned your attention to two business ventures this past year tell us about it you know I uh my last competition was Arnold Classic in 2016 and uh you just know when decide win and I got down with the competition and uh you know talk to my wife afterwards and uh I said you know I think this is it's a good place to just step out I know I accomplished everything I want to accomplish whatever you contest the world except for the Olympia got close to doing it you know Jayne edged me out that you're you know that he deserved it you look great so I'm healthy and starting out and you know I'm a father now and so uh that's a big big difference to is um being a bodybuilder especially to be a champion bodybuilder you're gonna be a selfish self-centered person because it's all about you you you all day long you're training your diet your nutrition your workout and from the time I get up in the morning so I go to bed I was over the first thought of my mind was whatever competition I was preparing for and the last thought I thought about at night was the competition I was thinking about and now dream about night you know winning the Arnold win there lip you you know that's consumed a whole day every day and now when you have a family you know family has to be pretty understanding so since I retired I've become a better husband and a better father and those are the things to me that are most important life well-said ranch branches you look back over your career and I want to be quick to point out um when you told me you know I'm done I'm gonna hang them up I asked you I says you know how do you want to go out do you want to you know get out Olympia stage you know you know do the best you can and there hope for a good finish and we'll you know we'll kind of get you off wave into the standing ovation and not that this surprises me because I know you very well you had no interest to that you're like numb you know I don't need the big send-off I don't need the big standing I appreciate it but I don't I don't really need that it doesn't shock me knowing you as I do because it's not really your style no you know I like I said you just know when to say when and I knew what I've tried in my last competition here at the Arnold that uh this is a good deal it was Tom you know it's time to hang it up and move on to the next chapter my life and uh you know being very successful with our self accompany uh I'm still with gas out of clothing line through them I've got four competitions and expose and uh Dallas Houston Minneapolis and Chicago I'm promoting got a new business adventure I'm about to announce the next month so stay tuned and I'm I didn't need the big send-off I've been very blessed I've had a lot of great fans and show me a lot of love and they still do so very appreciative to all those guys and girls out there and I just didn't fill that up you know I want to go out on top you know what go out as a top five top six guy which I was good with it branch I know these gentlemen that are sitting here respect you for a lot of different reasons but mostly every one of them has had injuries throughout your career you know varying from small to you know things that are quite substantial nobody in the sport has overcome more obstacles and injuries than you have to get back on you've had a multitude of terrors and rips and you tore your quad off the bone and all that got to reattached and so that I'm not done yet but it's one of you know give that credit where it's due that that you know one of the things most admired about you in the sport of bottling amongst your peers as your tenacity and your willingness to not give up and not let injury take you out you know guys bad things happened in life doesn't matter what you do if you're a bodybuilder a football player just everyday life so what's something bad happens what are you gonna do quit are you going overcome it before I quit never quit and I was in distr like I said I was a time to say when I've had four surgeries a lot of other injuries didn't require surgery over the years and I never once thought about quitting the worst one was the quad injury 30 days often the 2011 mr. Olympia just won the first Arnold Classic that year and got second and third in the previous Olympians and um you know I was in great shape and that was pretty awesome OHS devastating moment in my career at that point I don't know anybody that come back from that particular injury that she was a career ender and everybody all the so-called experts and everybody were seeing my end but uh me being me I just got pissed so I had surgery on a Monday and Wednesday I'm telling my wife I said you know what I'm looking I'm gonna do the Arnold Classic and go defend my title you know be Trish being Trish because right we better start eating more so she started cooking me some chicken rice and I went to work in so that was a the best the best moment of my entire career was a 2012 Arnold my daughter was born 3ch before the competition so I remember I was in the hospital and my wife and I was still having a slip out girl trained cooked my food and bring it back to the hospital and my daughter was born you know I remember sleeping in the hospital with a load on my chest and eating my chicken and rice and stuff enough to go do cardio every morning and I didn't know what I was 30 days from the show if I was even going to do that I knew I would compete I didn't know if I was going to be compete successful in about 30 days out which was a week before my daughter was born I remember looking in the gym and opposing I was like I can do this and my daughter was born three weeks later on when I defended my title was potentially career-ending up until that point so sometimes the worst things that happen in your life in the end turned out to be the best things that happen your life and I would back that injury is a blessing just overcoming the great message to send branch because obviously everybody knows overcoming obstacles nobody's gonna win every show they ever go in it's always a tough climb you're good you know if every complains you see it all on social media oh I've got this I've got that I've got kids I got whatever it doesn't really matter at the end of the day you're on stage and the judges are looking at your physique you don't get to submit your resume of what I had to overcome and don't care if you're not winning shows because there's something wrong your body so go look in the mirror figure out what's wrong go the gym and fix it plain and simple I think that pretty much sums it up branch warrant ladies and gentlemen last but certainly not least give it up for Sir Cedric [Applause] join me Hey look uh I'm gonna wrap this up I know all y'all ready to go yeah everybody hungry mr. Coleman probably need to take some pain medicine or something I know he he hurt Dexter look hungry as hell bodybuilding is the most superficial sport in the world and some people do it for superficial reasons because they want to make money they want prestige you know they want to be looked up to they want to be the biggest you know most intimidating person whatever but there are some people that do it for reasons that are not superficial because they have a genuine love right and what's sad is that there are people that have participated in this sport and gave more than 100% to it but we never have a chance to celebrate them like this because 1% get to call themselves a champion and be able to come to be celebrated but those lives and those careers of those people that gave everything are just as valuable as that 1% that actually have a chance to be celebrated and I think that's important now we can talk about who's mr. Lampe Oh who's Arnold Classic winner and stuff like that but when I look out you know some of y'all already left so you're gonna listen to this later but I see people they have to damn go to work in the morning I'll see people that got off work you know took days off to be able to come here and you trying to figure out how you can manage your money in order to pay your bills do what you do in the gym and get your food and supplements trying to manage family and all your other responsibilities and then go to the gym that effort is just as valuable as the effort that we put into what we do but nobody gets a chance to celebrate that so I'm here to say that for me you are mr. and mrs. Olympia you ought to mr. and mrs. honor classic champions because you know think about it think about this industry you know we we helped to endorse supplement products and we promote the sport and we get the privilege of focusing on bodybuilding all day long and we promote it to people that can't focus on it all day long you know and there's some understanding that needs to be put in place for that and I want to tell you as a soldier working 12 14 sometimes 20 hours a day but wanting to be a bodybuilder did I understand you and I understand what your struggles are and I understand where you come from you don't compete you don't lift weights you don't exercise for superficial reasons some of you just do it because you want to be healthy some of you do it just because you love it and that is just as special as doing it for a championship for me so and and without you we don't even have a reason to be here we're here for you so I love you you know what I'm saying and I and and I was you looking at these guys and wanting to be like them or wanting to apply their motivation to my life and whatever it was that I was doing and and so that's all I have to say about that but one more thing I look at these everybody just sitting up hearing all these champions and some of them gone and I you know last year when I won I was able to say something about eight-year-old Cedric sitting on the living room floor looking at TV and seeing Conan the Barbarian and I remember bodybuilding shoulders on ESPN and f is pictures of me at five years old flexing muscles I didn't even remember this but you know whenever any time somebody see anything with muscle related somebody calling me I'm outside I said you don't bodybuilders on TV and I run in and I look at him and you know amazed by it and it was it was it was easy people here and coming from the situation that I came from and some people up here can relate I hear your stories I didn't have an image to look up to the wannabe like I didn't have a daddy to teach me a skill or teach me confidence or determination or to teach me how to have a killer instinct or to teach me not to give up and not to quit I didn't have nobody to teach me those things so I never was able to develop those but to see that and these men here gave me something to want to inspire to be in the absence of anything what am I supposed to do just grow up get a job help pay bills you know that's what it is and looking at them made me say I want to be like them and I wanna you know I didn't have confidence enough to play sports in school because I'm an you know if I don't catch the ball or if my shot don't go in we would be the reason why I lose and I don't want that responsibility I don't I'm not confident enough to deal with that but I was able to close myself off into my bedroom and do my push-ups and sit-ups and I was able to flip through the magazine you didn't have money to buy magazines the magazines people gave me old magazines because they know how much I love it I'm able to do my push-ups in my room and do my sit-ups you know it's a man that my mama in love with and he mad today and he beaten my mama up now I'm not strong enough to go stop him but one day I will be so I'm just I'm gonna do these curls I want to kill him but i'ma cuties perils until I can stop him you know some people do this for reasons that are not superficial okay and all of this comes from seeing these champions but we all can apply these values to the different parts of our life that we when I decided one day you know what I can't be a bodybuilder I'm gonna try it it immediately went back to the 90s in the 80s and the 70s - all of those images that I loved and what I wanted to do was you know I watch bodybuilding evolved as mr. acid said it evolves everything every sport does but as the sport evolved my image of it didn't my vision of what was beautiful in the sport didn't change and what I wanted to do was represent the part of bodybuilding that I fell in love with and you know there be a few times when some of these guys I've talked to privately and I tell them but now I can just say it to everybody all I wanted you know look let me say this first I don't have this killer instinct I don't have this job and determination that says I come to every show to win you know I heard that said a lot why because man I wasn't born a winner being a winner ain't something that I ever thought I could do and even still now I'd be backstage or getting ready for a show scared because I know I'm probably gonna lose and some people will say well that way of thinking you'll never win you know okay so that leads me to say this sometimes the things that you do is not necessarily about the win it's about the process that you go through to get to the point where you can win or lose and for me that's what it's about not a superficial reason like winning but an unsupervised of you say don't try is not a word that's not yes it is and I love the try right look if you dream it you can achieve it you hear people say that I can't dream to have a bigger penis all day it ain't gone bro bro it ain't gonna grow any won't grow however working towards it could make me a better person it might give me a little something just by trying you know what I'm saying maybe I can improve my technique or something you know so I like to try but cuz trying is what make you a better person trying is what life is about you know trying to achieve something and let me say this you ain't got to be mr. Limpy to be a good bodybuilder man and these whenever I typed in I'm telling you right now it was 2001 I'm typing in old-school bodybuilding classic bodybuilding and I seen people in her life ok-hee oh he was mr. limb peon no he was and he was mr. Limpy and no he wasn't and I'm saying man why are these beautiful bodies they never had a chance to be that you know and it's just because that's just how life is sometimes 1% you know but it still don't mean that their accomplishments are any less then that 1% so anyway getting back to my story what I wanted to be able to do was for these guys that have been champions and that have paved the way for us not even trying to pave the way they just doing anything they trying to win shows mr. accidents we just say tenacious you know I'm trying to win he ain't thinking about no from the from the hood living in the projects he ain't thinking about me he trying to do his thing but I'm looking at him while he doing it you know and I'm creating this image for myself that I could possibly be that you know so he so he influenced me indirectly you know so what I wanted was when I do my thing I'm doing it for them and I'm doing it as a recognition as an appreciation for them giving me something to want to be in life and I just hope that they can look at me you know and look man I got my ass beat all up and down the stage you know whatever place you want to name I got it right you know I lose more than I win but I hope that they can look at me and say you man back when we was doing our thing he looked like how we used to look at he kind of you know doing it the way we used to do it he posed the way we used to do it so that I can give my appreciation back to them by what I'm trying to do and what I'm trying to represent and so that's what I'm thankful for and one last thing that I want to say is don't let nobody define to you what is winning and what is losing don't let this social media mess you up you know we look and we see people in what they do and we see comments and sometimes that that drives our behavior what you got to do man is be true to yourself and let you know when all this is finishing you know when we hang out posing trunks up or when we put our workout gloves in the closet forever let you know what you have done along the way be something that you can be proud of and be true to that not let me do what's popular so I can get this W you know let you know this is what the judges is looking for so let me try to be tact in order now you be what you want to be you know win or lose be true to yourself you know and if you ain't being true to yourself and you're just trying to do whatever is gonna get you the superficial win then are you really genuine you know so anyway that's all I want to say Bob cheek you got some long ass shoes on [Applause] well said thank you very much and Cedric one of the things I love most about you is your your honesty your ability to connect with the audience and certainly some of the most colorful analogies I've ever heard
There's a lot of amazing stuff in this session. Champs from several generations crediting dexter as being the best bodybuilder to ever exist, Franco and Arnold bickering about their masonry business and manipulating joe weider. And well spoken interviews by all the previous Arnold champs. It's an awesome watch!
It is also amazing at how, with all do respect, broken down Ronnie is, yet how fantastic Jay looks...oh and Ced is a monster.
Listening to Ronnie. Apparently some of his surgeries are because he’s snapped screws? Jesus Christ, come on.
1:26:30 Franco surprise appearance
If anyone doesn't watch the whole thing, I recommend looking at Cedrics speech at the end. That's was tear jerking motivation
Dang always great to hear all the old champs talk about the competition!