И помните: когда Дориан Йейтс позировал в "Butчи Чемпионов" и завоевал главный приз, никто не имел никаких ожиданий на его счет. Almost no one knew him. He let his magnificent muscles speak for themselves, and that was enough.

Of course, pre-judging is a complex process, and if the judges don't know much about you, they may see your best qualities on a crowded stage. Fame helps judges become familiar with specific qualities of the musculature. They don't have to study you on stage for long periods of time to realize your strengths, such as powerful lateral muscles or well-developed calves. They already know this, so now they only do a cursory inspection, confirm their expectations, and then move on to other participants, comparing them with you.

For some people, fame seems to come by itself, without much effort on their part. When I was training at the gym in Munich, I made "history in photographs": I walked around the winter city in swimming trunks for posing and showed off my muscles against the backdrop of monuments, the railway station and so on. Typical publicity stunt Hollywood was once famous for, something of a scandalous event, but the pictures were taken for Stern magazine, which was published in a million copies. It was my way of promoting bodybuilding to readers. To get into such a big magazine, you need to do something really unusual, but publications in bodybuilding magazines are built on a fundamentally different basis.

When I went to London for the Mr. Universe contest, I did not feel the need for such tricks. I was a young, burly guy, comparatively little known—another contender from Europe who appeared out of nowhere. But получилось so that, without even trying, I drew attention to myself, and my fame began to grow. I knew many other bodybuilders who had remarkable talents in this area. They were not only photogenic, but also, as they say, "advertising-worthy", and people always wanted to hear something about them. Франко всегда был таким, как и Frank Zane, хотя последний казался тихим и замкнутым человеком. Shawn Ray и Flex Wheeler то и дело мелькали на страницах журналов, но то же самое можно сказать про Майка Матараццо. Despite the fact that he did not have such high-profile victories, he was very popular with his fans and always readily agreed to shoot. Dennis Newman, before illness cut short his career, was on his way to becoming the next Steve Reeves - tall, muscular, aesthetic and charming, a real dream for magazine publishers.

Notoriety allows you to gain a certain edge in competition, but it is even more important when it comes to capitalizing on the fruits of your victory. Previously, the winner of the Mr. America pageant would appear in the pages of John Grimek's magazine throughout the next year with his articles and workout instructions. This helped to forever imprint his image in the minds of readers. These days, big competition winners are usually welcome in Joe Weider magazines and other bodybuilding-related sports periodicals. Not every bodybuilder is ready to take advantage of this opportunity. We had to beg some European champions to go to the United States for interviews and photo shoots.

If you do not win competitions, fame still does not lose its meaning. While the event is still in the memory of people, you can use this circumstance to your advantage. After all, more money is made from seminars and demonstrations than from competitions. Frustrated bodybuilders who come second or third with championship ambitions only cut the branch they are sitting on when they disappear without a trace and are not shown in public.

Of course, fame is only one of the factors in your career, although a very important one. By itself, it will not help you win the competition, but it can sway the judges in your favor. If you are thinking about moving to a professional level, you need fame like air for seminars, demonstrations, or direct mail sales.

Just don't forget that sports magazines are interested in publications and photos of talented bodybuilders. Therefore, if you have good physical data, if you perform well and do not hide from reporters, then sooner or later you will become a famous person. But дальше вам придется жить со своей известностью, а это может быть гораздо труднее, чем попасть в журналы.

DOMESTIC POLITICS AND PERSONAL RELATIONS

Some bodybuilders, frustrated by the poor results of their performances, believe that "politics" are involved - in other words, that some participants have an advantage from the very beginning due to personal connections with judges or officials.

On the one hand, this feeling is understandable: if you are a bodybuilder, then you should be judged by your muscles, and when it seems to you that they are being judged dishonestly, offended dignity cries out for revenge. Moreover, when a bodybuilder is ready to compete, he has months of grueling training and diet behind him, and if you add to this the additional psychological burden of competition, he becomes especially vulnerable emotionally. However, the idea that "politics" runs the show in bodybuilding and that friendships between different people in the bodybuilding world are reprehensible does not stand up to scrutiny.

Politics is just a set of rules by which people regulate their behavior and the activities of the various institutions in which they participate. In the broad sense of the word, nothing is done without political engagement. Politics is a fact of life. And since judges, bodybuilding federation administrators, and other officials are people like everyone else, certain “political” considerations are present in any competition, regardless of the honesty and morality of its founders.

I was not only a participant but also an organizer of the competition and I can assure you that the accusations of foul play made by some bodybuilders who have performed poorly are usually unfounded or have little basis. Bodybuilding is not a perfect sport, but judging is at a very high level. I can personally testify to the integrity of the bodybuilding contests I run with Jim Lorimer in Columbus. Moreover, at all the competitions where I participated or attended as a spectator, there were only minor problems with the judging. Bodybuilding is the same as any other sport - the best must win at all costs. And we all must strive to ensure that this rule is strictly followed.

What might be called "politics" or "strategy" in bodybuilding falls into a category that I call "public relations." Judging in bodybuilding competitions is a subjective, imperfect process. In most of the famous final fights (including my fight with Sergio Oliva), the line between victory and defeat was almost imperceptible and was no more than one or two points. And if you have to make a decision when the strength of the participants is almost equal, it can be very difficult for the judges to maintain objectivity. In such cases, the final result determines the personal opinion of the participants, even at a subconscious level.

Building a good relationship with the judges is not the way to score extra points; rather, it is a guarantee that you will not lose points due to unconscious hostility towards you. This is an opportunity to make sure that you get all the points that are rightfully yours. Unfortunately, many bodybuilders cause serious damage to their careers when they misbehave in front of the judges. There were times when they threw their prizes backstage or even went on stage and publicly insulted the judges. Once I saw how a participant, dissatisfied with the refereeing, told his "offenders" everything that he thinks about them. An hour later he cooled down and regretted his outburst. He sent letters of apology and tried to make amends. At the next Mr. America pageant, he lost, and I think partly because of his ridiculous antics. Therefore, it is important to maintain control over yourself, behave like an athlete, and not attack the judges, especially in the presence of spectators. Разумеется, такие джентльмены, как Джон Граймек, Стив Ривз, Рег Парк, Билл Перл, Ларри Скотт, Frank Zane и Ли Хэни, никогда не вели себя подобным образом.

CONCENTRATION BEFORE COMPETITIONМИ

A good bodybuilder plans his competition strategy in the same way that a skilled general plans his military campaign. You must choose the right time and place for the battle and make sure that your army (muscle) is well drilled and ready for battle. You need to be confident in your tactics. This is the ability to choose the right moment to advance or retreat, as well as the ability to maintain firepower (energy) until the end of the fight.

But многие культуристы с фантастической мускулатурой, мастерски владеющие искусством подготовки, позирования и прочими навыками, терпят неудачу лишь потому, что их стратегия оказывается ущербной в одном важном пункте: они не подходят к дню соревнований в абсолютно лучшей форме.

In bodybuilding competitions, it turns out who is the best on this day and on this stage. It doesn't matter who is potentially the best or who was the best the week or the day before the competition. You can be the best at any time, but if you don't organize your training in such a way that you come to the competition in the best possible way, then you will be disappointed.

The ability to perform at your best on race day depends on experience and proper timing. Everyone should figure out for themselves what changes need to be made to the diet and training schedule in order to reach peak shape before the competition. However есть общие принципы, которых стоит придерживаться. До one970 года я подходил к соревнованиям с небольшой задержкой и обретал лучшую форму через несколько дней после