Written by Justin Miller
18 September 2020

 

Gerorge Da Bull slider 91720

 

 

George ‘Da Bull’ Peterson - Road to the Olympia, Part 1

 

By Justin Miller

 

 

Editor’s note: This month we begin a four-part series on George Peterson as he makes his first run on the 212 Olympia title after three consecutive years placing third there in Classic Physique. Who better to chronicle this journey than his coach for over four years, Justin Miller? In part 1, Justin tells the story of how George only wanted to do one last NPC show in the new Classic division in 2016, became the first NPC National Champion in Classic, and takes us through his tumultuous and challenging rookie year as a pro that culminated in placing third in the Olympia.

 

This coming Tampa Pro will be my 11th show coaching George Peterson III. We’ve won several titles together including the 2016 Overall NPC Nationals, 2017 Tampa Pro and the 2019 Arnold Classic. In his first three years as an IFBB Classic Physique pro, George has taken three consecutive bronze medals in the Mr. Olympia. In less than two weeks, in his fourth season in the IFBB Pro League, we are flying to Tampa to try and win a second title there, this time with a lot more muscle and in the 212 division. A win there would earn George his fourth straight trip to the Mr. Olympia. What is most unique to me, however, is the story of how we got here.

 

I received a call in June of 2016 from my then new client, Marvin Elliot. We had just started working together for what would be Marvin’s first contest since 2013. The phone rang and Marvin said, “Hey coach, do you mind if George tags along with me today? He just wanted to take a ride with me and jump in for a workout at your house if it’s cool.” I replied, “George Peterson? Sure, tell him long time no see, and no problem. It would be great to see him.” I knew George from back when him and Marvin won their classes at the 2012 NY Metropolitans. George won the light-heavyweight and overall titles at that show. We all trained under the same coach at the time, before George walked away from bodybuilding.

 

I trained Marvin and George at my house that day. I then looked at George pose after the workout. For a guy who had been away from the whole bodybuilding lifestyle for three years, I thought he looked pretty good and inquired about him competing. To my surprise, he said he was inspired by the idea of maybe doing this new Classic Physique Division. I said, “Classic? I don’t know about that, George.” I just remembered him as being a good bodybuilder in the 190s. “You would have to be 177 pounds at your height!” 

 

George replied, “Honestly Justin, the reason I left bodybuilding was because I didn’t like how I looked. I no longer looked and felt like an athlete. I got too big too fast competing at 215 in 2013 and didn’t even make the top 15 as a heavyweight bodybuilder. I no longer liked my shape or my look and felt a bit uninspired. I felt burnt out, so I walked away completely from it. I’ve still lifted weights this whole time with Marvin, but other than that I have not eaten or lived the lifestyle of a bodybuilder for the last three years.”

 

Intrigued by George’s story, I had to know why he was even considering competing again. “My issue is that I don’t like how I left, and this new Classic division has me thinking about that,” he said. “I think I would be inspired to do one last show again but in this Classic division. If you would coach me, I’ll make 177 pounds no problem. I would actually enjoy the challenge of losing that weight. I got into bodybuilding to look more like my idol growing up, Bruce Lee, and I wanted to look athletic.”

 

George is a black belt and was a practicing martial artist since age 7 before a freak injury forced him to discover bodybuilding by chance. It was in the rehabilitation process that he discovered his love for lifting iron. He loved it so much that he eventually told his sensei he was going to leave and pursue a new sport: bodybuilding.

 

I said to George, “OK, so basically you think you will look and feel more athletic competing in this new Classic division?”

 

“Yes, exactly,” he replied, “and I feel like a got away from that playing that size game I was previously being advised to do. I’d love to do one last show ripped to the bone at an athletic-looking 177 pounds. I would be inspired to give that a try.”

 

So I said, “OK George, then you got a coach, my friend!” That was the day it all began.

 

Marvin got a new job opportunity in North Carolina and moved down there to start a new life only a month or so after. George and I continued training for the 2016 Eastern USA in Classic Physique. We were about two weeks out when I saw how much he was changing and I told him, “George I know you only wanted to do one last show, but if you end up winning the overall at the Eastern USA, would you be willing to fly us down to Miami and do Nationals two weeks later?” He said, “Well I wasn’t planning on it, but if I win the overall, not just my class, then you got a deal. I’ll fly us down to Miami and compete if I win overall; sure, why not?” Four weeks later a bodybuilding star was born when George Peterson III became the first ever NPC Overall National Champion in the newly formed Classic Physique Division.

 

Like the great Lee Haney did 34 years earlier, George became the first-ever NPC Overall National Champion, but in the newly formed Classic division. We left Miami grateful as well as humbled by what had transpired over the last couple of weeks. A retired amateur competitor, who only wanted to do one last show, was now proven to be the best amateur in the country. More than that, he was now a professional, and a professional we both knew could become a force in the IFBB Classic Physique division. So much for only doing one more show! It was such a powerful experience for both of us because we both knew that this was destiny stepping in. As we sat in our airplane seats on our way home from the Nationals in 2016, we both knew bigger things were surely to come.

 

His rookie year as a pro was no easy road, however; in fact it really tested our resolve. Even though George ended up taking third in the Mr. Olympia as a brand-new pro, the path there was a challenging one. What doesn’t kill a true warrior only makes him stronger. That’s how I view George. He has a true warrior’s mentality. George is all business. That 2017 season tested him, however. George grew as a competitor over that 2017 season. The truth is we both grew that year, him as a competitor and me as a coach. From the outside it may seem like an amazing success story to take third in three straight Mr. Olympia contests and win an Arnold Classic title in his first three years as a pro. Those are great accomplishments that we are both proud of, but it didn’t always go as planned. While it’s been filled with great moments, to be quite honest, I feel it’s also been three years filled with learning lessons and obstacles. We both learned that so long as you don’t repeat your mistakes, never take things too personally, and always keep improving, good things will happen eventually.

 

George and I picked the New York Pro as his pro debut before we ever even left the auditorium at the 2016 Nationals. A hometown pro debut was simply a no-brainer. After the Nationals, George went right back to work. We were back at Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym that Monday preparing for his pro debut in New York six months later. After George turned pro, I quickly studied all the best IFBB Classic competitors. This way if the best showed up, we would be ready. The goal was to win the New York Pro and qualify for the 2017 Mr. Olympia. We felt we were prepared to do that. As fate would have it, the best did show up that day and I didn’t have George ready. This was our first hard lesson together.

 

George looked great and he took runner-up at that show in a battle between George and the eventual 2017 Olympia champion, Breon Ansley. We made mistakes, however. To be more accurate, I made some mistakes. It was our third show together and George was supposed to wake up weighing 187 pounds. He woke up at 189.5, 2.5 pounds over the limit, at only two hours before the 9:00 a.m. weigh-in. We had no sauna, no plastic sweat suits, and we had only two hours. We both knew this was problematic. George made weight of course, as always, but he had to do 90 minutes of cardio with several layers of heavy clothes on to get down to 187. After that, his crazy-looking muscles didn’t have quite the same pop on stage. His posing could have been better. His tan was too light, partly the result of all that sweating. It just wasn’t his day, unfortunately. It was tough to digest as a coach because not waking up on weight, not posing as well and not having enough coloring on are all things that are fully controllable.

 

I felt I let George down at the 2017 New York Pro. Second place is always a tough pill to swallow, as you are there to win. That show was doubly as painful because not only did George get second, but so did my wife. Rita competed in that same show in Women’s Physique. Both took second place to the next Olympia champions in their respective divisions. Second sucks! Don’t let anyone tell you different because it’s BS; just being honest here. Second sucks when first qualifies you for the Super Bowl of the sport and second doesn’t. George being the true champion that he is wouldn’t let me accept full blame nor hold it against me. We took that one on the chin and went back to work Monday morning at the East Coast Mecca preparing for the Chicago Pro six weeks later.

 

For this next one we made the goal to show up in Chicago improved from New York in every aspect: to learn from our mistakes there and make sure presentation, color, weight and the other little details were on point. I’m proud to say we did just that! We went to Chicago improved in every area. Again, it went to a final two-man prejudging callout. Here is where the challenges and obstacles presented to George and I shifted a bit. I liked how he looked, and I had George winning the show. In New York I knew he might have lost before the finals started, but here we both left the prejudging confident we were on our way to the Olympia. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.

 

Bodybuilding is unlike many sports in that a photo can tell who crosses the finish line first or if a player crosses the goal line or not. In my opinion, bodybuilding is both a sport as well as an art at the same time. Any art form is subjective to the eye that’s viewing it. Add to that Classic was a new division, only in its second year in the pros, and the top two had entirely different looks that day. We really believed he won, but guess what? He didn’t! We were reminded once again how badly second place really feels. Remember I said we learned that if you keep improving, good things will happen, right? Well they do, but that’s why I had to add the word “eventually.”

 

We started back training Monday morning at Bev’s Gym like always and George booked us both for a Wednesday flight out to Vancouver, which was scheduled to be the last Classic Olympia qualifier of the year. He must have spent a fortune for flights for us to another country with only 48 hours notice. This was our last chance, so George said, “Let’s get it!” Off we went to Vancouver, Canada for a show the very next weekend. In the air I got a text from my friend Johnny saying, “Hey did you hear? Tampa has added Classic as an Olympia qualifier, it’s in a month.” I had no idea how I received a text at 30,000 feet but I replied, “Too late! Thanks for the info but we are halfway to Vancouver.” Despite all the crazy stress (George works a full-time job, by the way), he looked really good. Even with the tan peeling off him from last week and flying from coast to coast, George managed to look even better on stage than he did in Chicago.

 

Vancouver prejudging starts and they call out the top five – and George wasn’t in it! I was beyond shocked. He was the most ripped and muscular guy in the whole lineup. I simply didn’t get it. Fifth place would’ve put him into the Olympia on points by the way, but not sixth. In our eyes he was clearly first, certainly not sixth! We both left dumbfounded and dejected, to be honest. This was the best George had ever looked to this date and he was the best bodybuilder there, but he got sixthplace. It was heartbreaking for us both, to be honest. I returned back to work Monday at Bev’s to train clients, but George was nowhere to be seen. George was always at the gym on Mondays after all the other four shows we had done. He was a warrior with no days off and no chinks in his armor, until now.

 

I hadn’t seen George at the gym. I heard he had been there, but I hadn’t seen him. I left messages and received short replies. By the time I saw George it was well after Vancouver. We had about three weeks left before Tampa, which both my wife and George were preparing for since it was the very last Olympia qualifier of the year, or so I thought. I bumped into George late one night at the gym. His face was very puffy, and he was a bit unfriendly. This is what I mean by saying 2017 made us both grow. Not showing up right and losing because you aren’t good enough is tough. Showing up knowing you nailed it and losing is worse in a way, because the outcome is out of your control. George’s whole Classic career has been riddled in controversy. Since day one many felt he wasn’t “Classic,” whatever that means. It seemed like the whole Internet and bodybuilding world was saying to us, “He’s a bodybuilder, he’s not Classic.” George was the first Classic National Champion however, and this really meant something to him. He was on a mission to prove the haters and doubters wrong as well as to prove us right. Even the strongest of men have their breaking point, however.

 

George and I got in a huge argument that night, literally shouting at each other at midnight in the parking lot of Bev’s. I said, “George you can be an Olympia champion!” He yelled back, “An Olympia champion? I just got sixth place in Vancouver, so what the hell are you even talking about, bro? Listen, I’m tapped out! Mentally, physically, financially … I’m done! This year is over! Maybe I’ll compete again next year, who knows.” George, who works a full-time job and had no sponsor, had flown us and put us up in hotel rooms in what felt like every corner of North America. I knew this was incredibly hard, but I also believed we still had a chance. 

 

Rita, George and I had an hour meeting that night in the parking lot at 12:15 a.m. after my wife closed up the gym. We all came to terms on how to get to Tampa and each give this last chance our best effort. George and I went back to work. We went all out for three weeks. In the end when the smoke had cleared, George and I got the victory in Tampa and finally punched our ticket to the big dance in Las Vegas! Rita looked her best but didn’t get her Olympia qualification, unfortunately. Our buddy George did, so we all celebrated! George won the 2017 Tampa Pro that night and dedicated his win to our gym buddy Sean Harris, who was supposed to do the show with us but was killed in a car accident weeks earlier. It was a special night and that victory just meant so much more because of what we had to go through to get there.

 

2017 had left us battle hardened. Like a wildcard playoff team in the NFL that had to scratch and claw their way to the playoffs, George felt battle tested. We knew if George got into the tournament, he wouldn’t be just any other competitor. Winning in Tampa rejuvenated George. Five weeks later in Vegas on the cab ride over to the prejudging of the 2017 Classic Physique Olympia, we both felt confident. I saw what George looked like before we left the hotel room. He had lines I’d never seen before on a competitor. We rode over to the judging with a peaceful confidence. I turned to him and said, “George, we came a long way since the Eastern USA 10 months ago, man. You are about to show the whole world something cool. It’s your first Olympia and you had to scratch and fight your way here, but at this very moment you are the best you have ever been in your life.”

 

We were elated and honored to get that bronze medal at the Olympia in his rookie season as a pro. It was vindication, proof that we weren’t wrong, and that George was not only Classic, but one of the best Classic bodybuilders in the world. That following Monday we were back at Bev’s training and  preparing for the next Olympia, because we both knew that the best of George was yet to come. 

 

To contact Justin Miller for coaching inquiries:

IG @astrongspirit

 

 

 

 

 

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