money do you win fifty thousand dollars great success [Applause] [Music] [Music] well well what is up YouTube I am going to be doing a q a today Focus solely on the Olympia put up I found a trick too if I put up with question boxes they're just all over the place but if I give you specified questions to give me such as Olympia focused I get a lot better questions at least kind of another question but you guys can still step it up but anyways I'm going to get into this q a I'm just going
to run through the questions I think are interesting and they're all focused on the Olympia so stay tuned first question did you change your sleep habit I am very big on sleep especially in prep sleep is so important for bodybuilding especially in prep in terms of cortisol make sure your body Fat's still dropping also recovery and everything and I just I'm obsessed with it especially in prep so yeah my sleep habits change a lot I started wearing these like blue light blocking glasses at night for a while I try not to be on my phone
I need to put my phone on airplane mode an hour before bed I try and go to bed every night at like 10 pm which is really early for me and I try and make sure that I'm like up at the same time every day and I'm on the same sleep schedule just get to my circadian rhythm in a in a rhythm and it makes my energy level more consistent and more reliable so that I can do what I need to do all day but sleep is [ __ ] huge and I think everyone should
be able to make a strict schedule to be consistent with it when did you start to implement more cardio how many weeks out and duration so optimally you should do cardio all year and I do I flake off sometimes I usually do at least 20 30 minutes five times a week and that's how I started my prep at about 16 weeks out it slowly just ramps up as I need it so it started there and then the longest it sat at was 45 minutes for like eight weeks I just said 45 minutes in the morning
and I hardly didn't want me doing longer than one session of 45 minutes so we added another session later on which was 30 minutes so the most characters did all prep for the last four weeks was an hour and 15 minutes total split up into 45 in the morning 30 minutes of post workout how do you say motivating knowing that you're already Miles Ahead first of all I don't know or feel like I'm out of the head I also try not to let myself believe that second of all I'm truly not focused anymore on trying
to beat someone the last person I tried to beat like genuinely was Breon when he beat me and I was like Hey [ __ ] if I want to be a one in the Olympia I felt like I had to be brilliant but even then I should have been focusing on beating myself but now at the top I have this probably impossible Vision in my mind of a physique that I want to see in pictures that on stage and when I have that then like I'll be like I'm happy but I probably won't ever get
that but it's more of like a legacy than I really want to build right now and then internal satisfaction of my previous self that I want to be so better myself every single year is something that I'm excited to be so being mild ahead of people doesn't affect my motivation in any way nothing to do with it my goals are a lot more intrinsic of being my best self and knowing how hard I worked in years past and be able to work harder than that this year you describe what you felt right before going on
stage so every year is a little bit different and this was the first year where I was like actually pretty just like calm getting it on stage I don't I was like backstage and it was in the morning there was Hani was there most over there Calvin was there everyone was backstage recording with their world like chilling so it's super like laid back and relaxed and it was a bit of a battle in my mind with my torn bicep trying to like not focus on that but also be there but I felt this like last
year that I did too but I just felt like the Champs that put on stage I was like you know I've been here I'm a veteran been on this lumpy stage just go out there and [ __ ] [ __ ] up and I just felt confident and like I was ready to rock and roll so it was fun this year not having like I kind of missed the nerves a little bit because I used to be more nervous I've still got them do my routine because I hate doing routines but you know I was
confident this year and it was just fun to get up there I heard before the show bodybuilders dehydrate themselves and when do they start so what I've learned in getting in better conditioning over there and working harder in my prep is that the a leaner and better shape you are the less you need to dehydrate yourself so to speak so you we typically cut water and I'll get to that but you don't need to like a lot of people are like oh when I take a diuretic I'm going to look better if I cut water
then I'm going to look like I'm in shape like if you're in shape even drinking water all day you're going to look late and you're going to wake up every morning just naturally dry because you pee throughout the night you're not drinking water and the less body fat you have the less water you're going to hold on to but with that being said I cut water Friday afternoon I reduced it I think I had like a liter Friday afternoon for the rest of the day so it wasn't like nothing and then I had like a
leader probably all Saturday before the until after the night show so it's not like I have zero water but I'm just like restricting it a little bit but you only do it for that was 36 hours that was restricting it but you're not cutting it fully if you're in shape so nothing drastic at all I chose this question just to laugh at you but I said do you think about competing in the 212 category one day I don't think people understand I'm 240 pounds on stage and 212 means you're 212 pounds or less so I
would have to lose 28 pounds just to make it in that cloud I would not look good looking 28 pounds my first show ever I was like 211. I don't think I'm gonna be 212 so no I'm not gonna do the 212. what do you do the night before the show the night before the show typically Ian's competing and Melissa and Courtney will go watch the night show and with Ian competing the night before so I'll be alone in the hotel room just like chilling last year I made up my whole routine in an hour
alone in the Airbnb when we're in Orlando and that's I was just like listening to my music playing that but honestly this year I was just watching I think of watching Wolverine on Disney I was watching some X-Men and I just try to be super laid back I'm not on Instagram I'm not diving into anything I'm not even really trying to think too deeply about the show I'm just trying to relax you know the work is done I've enjoyed it and I'm just kind of trying to get my mind off thing to go to bed
super early because I wake up at 5am every day every show day and I'm just trying to go to bed but I also used to have like a burger and fries night before shows and like really fuel up but it's really inconsistent with how your body will react to that so typically I just have a decent sized meal this year I think I just had like 400 grams of rice and 100 grams of steak for lightning milk because it was delicious but ate that went to bed early and got to get back but nothing crazy
the day before the show how did you handle it when things weren't going exactly how you wanted them to I think this is that thing in regards to my bicep and this is something I've spoken on that video my Instagram but it was just a battle that I had to go through and I had to kind of I've been through a lot of [ __ ] going into Olympia perhaps and I just had to kind of remember like the mindset I've established how many times I've done this before and how capable I am to take
things that are coming into my life and build that focus on what's In My Control what's not in my control I was not in my control of what I could do to my bicep I couldn't heal it I couldn't bring the information down I can fix it I didn't even know what was wrong with it at the point but what was in my control was to keep doing following the plan get unsafe with confidence get on save some Champion mindset and just like be the best I could be out there and that's all my focus
was my focus was on join the moment and controlling what I can control and that's all you can do in life and when you can kind of take a step back when you're feeling anxious stressed whatever if you can just like don't try and deny it don't try and bury it just like feel it for a moment and be like okay like I feel anxious dress what's going on right now why am I stressing but that can I even do anything about a torn bicep right now no so like what can you do right now
and do that and I just kind of have to walk myself through that feel the stress not deny it and just move forward approximately how many hours you train per day so peak time in the gym the highest amount of time I was in the gym was 45 minutes of cardio plus 30 minutes of cardio an hour and 15 plus about a two hour workout so three hours and 15 minutes of cardio plus training was the most I probably ever did in the past I've trained for like three hours but I was bullshitting talking with
my friends but back in college but highest prep was three hours 15 minutes in the gym if you have self-doubt before stage day mentally how do you deal with negative thoughts so I don't really have self-doubt in my ability to win I think I just put a really high amount of pressure on myself and it increases every single year you can almost see my demeanor shift like a little tense because I'm like [ __ ] there's this like pressure on me and then immediately after Olympia I'm like my shoulders drop a little bit I'm a
little bit relaxed and that's more that's not a doubt that I have in myself like I said it's just like that pressure of us just like if you're like [ __ ] I have to be perfect [ __ ] I have to do this ever expecting this and the only way I can deal with that is to try and remove myself from that and take a step back and be like what are you [ __ ] stressing about right now like this isn't helping where you're trying to go right now and like in my heart
I believe that I can win I have the ability to me I will never say I'm going to win I've already won I won't speak like that because I know that I have no control over the future I just know I have control of what I know I can do and I believe in myself to win so when I kind of remember that that's already inside me and I've already done this four times now I kind of can help myself relax a little bit but usually when you get caught up in those feelings of doubt
if you're having them or pressure or stress all you just need to do is just like look at them as like you're like an outside perspective looking down yourself remove yourself from a little bit and just like realize it's just [ __ ] thoughts in your brain so chill the [ __ ] out should there be a limit on competitors at the Olympia 59 in classic was a lot dot dot I agree with this I think there should be a cap amount of people 15 to 20 people at the Olympia Max and it may seem
harsh because they're cutting 40 people out but I also think the 40 people will eventually make it to the Olympia when they do it'll be a lot more rewarding the harder it is to achieve something the more rewarding the more prestigious it is and the Olympia the most prestigious show in the world so I think the less people that go to it the even more procedural add to it and I also have to pay for all the people to come out so business-wide I think it would help the Olympia and it would add to The
Prestige of the show and it would be a lot easier time wise to run it I think they were going on until midnight 1am a few for a few parts of the show and that's because there's so many people on stage so there's a lot of things I think they'll help from having those people but there's a lot of shows in the year so I don't really know how they'd manage that what's your favorite pose this is adapted now my favorite pose when I was young and I had a Titan waist and big athletes was
the front lat scraps still one of my favorite poses sadly it's not a mandatory post but I always hit it in my free posing but my favorite pose here was definitely a side chest which is cool because I used to be kind of thin from the side but as I've got more muscle maturity and muscle mass from the side I have like a hamstring job and like a little bit thicker chest and you just it's harder to look big from the side when you're tall so now that I do side chest is my favorite pose
during prep you set short-term goals in conjunction to the Olympia or do you keep a more narrow Focus I definitely do both I have a narrow Focus right now at the end of the day my ultimate driving factor is winning the Olympia and that's like a huge like intrinsic motivation or in terms of like when I'm having a bad day or a shitty day overall I know I'm so [ __ ] good to do whatever I have to do Olympia but with that being said I also do have short-term goals within the literal day where
I wake up and my only thought is to wake up and get to breakfast sometimes so it's like all right what do I got to do I gotta get through Cutty right now and then I get to eat breakfast and then that's my only focus I'm not like [ __ ] I have to do cardio for six seven to eight nine more weeks I'm thinking about my one cardio session and that's it I'm thinking about getting my next meal eating this meal getting this workout done at the end when I'm exhausted and I have to
just do legs later in the day I'm like okay just do legs later today my only focus and the short-term goals kind of keep me going I also have some goals like oh I want to get under 250 by like four weeks out or something I want to be under 250 pounds and then I'm kind of pushing towards that that I get there it's like all right now I want to make weight by a weekend into those little things but I definitely think those help you keep on track and kind of stay driven and focused
on something when like perhaps can kind of seem how to reach at a certain point in prep how important is it to surround yourself with positive people I think the higher you get higher level you get anything in life the people around you are [ __ ] so important and it's so hard to even notice because they sit and pay such a silent crucial role but this year especially I think one of the things I appreciate and value the most was the circle of people I had around me it literally felt like a [ __
] army people came to help support me and like it was just like I can't explain how much it helped to take my mind of having to think of things Calvin's got the camera creating this content and just like kind of silently there Honey's [ __ ] taking on all the stress telling me everything to do according to take him out all the stress cooking everything Maddie's being My Bodyguard [ __ ] getting everyone's tickets planning everything making sure we got to go everywhere we had security at the Olympia walking me through so I could
get through because it was hectic and there were just like so many little things of people that came together that helped me just like not have to even think about anything other than competing and just that helps so much and also just the thought of not having someone bitching about it like I was a [ __ ] child I was a little baby and everyone taking care of me and no one bitched about it and normally and I do feel guilty about that stuff but no one made me feel more guilty than I needed to
for it so people surrounding yourself with positive people is [ __ ] everything if you're trying to be the best in the world at something and you have some negative people in your [ __ ] Faith you need to cut them the [ __ ] out because they're only going to bring you down and you can't have that kind of energy unless you want to be second or third or fourth or fifth but you know all right my circle is trying to win so what did you do in off days before the Olympia so at
the beginning of prep off days I would always try and come into the office coming to work and just like distract myself for the longest part of the day and then I'd go home and I would sauna cold tub go to bed super early and just distract myself but at the end I was too lazy to even drive all the way out here to the warehouse so I was gaming for a little bit I started playing God of War Ragnarok which I didn't finish and now I probably never will because when I'm not in prep
I don't really game but I was gaming a little bit I would sit on a cold tub every single single day off I used to do that a lot more but then I started over doing it in my off days during the Olympia prep I would do cardio go to the grocery store if I had to anything to kill time really but you know this year I was at a peaceful state but I was also really [ __ ] tired and I think I could have literally laid down on my couch and stared at the
wall for like two hours and been like good because my brain was so dead it almost puts you in like a meditative State because you're so low calorie and tired so just kind of chilled out you get called automatically every year at the Olympia or do you have to take tests I think this is a qualifying question so for those that don't know when you win the Olympia you're qualified for life so I never have to do a show ever I could at 80 years old come back and do the Olympia if I really wanted
to Grandpa sebum and the Olympia but other than that you have to win a show to qualify or be top three I think so I think top three re-qualifies for one year and then everyone else has to go win a show so you know so say you go to the New York Pro Arnold Pro whatever you win that then you get to go that year so everybody but me I guess has to re-qualify was it a difficult adjustment transitioning into ffv7 training so I don't think people understand that honey does FSC created fsc7 but he's
not all he does I honestly barely even used it he used it a little bit at the beginning and I think in my off season we'll utilize a little bit more volume so I don't have to do as much highways and kind of injure myself especially now that I have enough muscle mass but throughout prep we used it a few times when I had enough food in me but for the most part his training was adapted or just very similar to how I train it was keeping things heavy kind of volume at a consistent pace
and just kind of moving weight in good form really so the biggest thing he changed was pieces of my form and my Tempo because I can kind of rush things a little bit and slowing down my Tempo really helped me a lot this year but other than that we weren't really doing a whole lot of FFC 7 so it wasn't a big transition and when I added it in I'm used to doing a lot of volume and intensifiers so for me it was nothing [Music] which was the most important part to you diet mindset or
training so I think this is interesting because when I started competing I think diet I thought diet was the most important part I was like Diet the only change I made and I made all the changes and then when diet was down I realized that there was so much more untapped potential into my training and when I really understood how to train effectively rest properly trained to failure and balance full intensity with resting and actually proper training like people don't understand what the [ __ ] that is and how intense it can be my physique
skyrocketed once again and I went to a new level and then when I won the Olympia and the diet in training was kind of down the hardest part and the most important part that I had to learn was my mindset I had to learn how to keep myself motivated I learned how to handle the pressure I lived to learn how to handle all these outside voices and critics even the ball the positive [ __ ] that I hear not letting that get to my head I have to kind of adapt my mindset into keeping myself
motivated and disciplined as a champion and kind of coming back to back people don't understand the pressures it takes to win back to back to back to back titles normally people climb up reach Pinnacle success and then fall off because hard to hold it so I would say throughout my career they've each been important but as of most recently because diet and training is already to me like very good and I'm still working on it but mindset has been a huge focus of my kind of a priority on increasing whether your training affected while you
were a couple days out from the show [ __ ] yes my training starting at like three weeks out started to kind of really Decline and by a week out I was so depleted so hungry and so tired I was literally just dragging ass to get to the gym like it was I I literally didn't want to work out I look forward to rest days which is so rare for me I literally just wanted to rest because going to the gym was so difficult and of course it was affected then my body just doesn't have
the energy I don't have the glycogen stores I don't have the strength or anything to really push through a workout so the last week was very effective very weak you guys saw the show Day videos or Peak Week videos I was just like dying in the gym so it is what it is why don't you participate in the Arnold Classic so as I said because I won the Olympia I qualify for life and I think that puts me in a huge Advantage because I can then take three months off to really give my body a
break recover and relax and then I can get into my office you can slowly ease into it and make the changes and growth that I need to and then I can start prepping I don't have to worry about other shows in between and that allows me that give me an advantage because I get more time in the year in between shows Arnold Classic is always six months until the Olympia six month post Olympia each show is every six months so that would literally give me like a month to recover a month off season and then
I'd be into a three month prep and I would just be like kind of in that cycle super quick with no down time and I really want my body to stay young rested and Youthful because I don't want to start to look old and tired and beat up and injured on stage all I want to do is win olympias that's a legacy I'm trying to build right now so Arnold is not my priority how does it feel when it's only you and the other person standing in your way of being four times Mr Olympia well
it's funny I've never I've written that question I never ever thought of someone standing in my way of winning Olympia when we're in that top two I'm just thinking about I'm just thinking about getting that metal around my neck and holding that trophy but in the moment of waiting there some of my [ __ ] favorite moments of my entire life is standing on the Olympia stage hearing Bob trickle chickarella's voice kind of leading up to that point and I can see I often see my family this year it was a stage I couldn't see
them but I could see honey down there just looking at me like you [ __ ] got this man and just like the world just kind of blacks out goes silent and you're in this like calm extremely focused just like present moment and just very present with the best way to explain it and it's just it's hard to explain what it feels like unless you're there but it's just like a peaceful Bliss yeah if you can imagine what it feels like to enter Heaven for a second that's kind of what I would say it feels
like so definitely a beautiful moment it's a moment I cherish forever and it's a feeling I have even before they have been announced so whenever just like all this work you put in everything you did it you brought it here you just [ __ ] did it or take that pressure and that stress off you for a moment and just like enjoy this moment right here so it's a very peaceful State and something that I love and experience every year so yeah it's a good time hard to explain in words though all right that's going
to be wrapped on this Olympia Focus q a if you guys liked the video please like the video remember to subscribe if you have more questions put them down below if you like this style video [ __ ] tell me if you want more q and A's whatever you guys tell me Calvin's back we're ready to rock and roll non-prep we're just gonna be buzzing out content so let me know what you guys want below remember please subscribe I love you guys please subscribe and I'll see you in the next video
