Chasing the Shadow

Dorian Yates and I have been friends over the last few years, judging shows and hanging out. However, the effect he has had on my bodybuilding goes back all the way to the 1980’s, 1989 to be exact, when Dorian came to Limerick Ireland to guest pose at a Provincial Bodybuilding Championships. Back then I was 11years old, in the pump up room, doing some push-ups before I went out on stage to pose. “Eye of the tiger” was the song and I nailed it!! But in the pump up room was Dorian, getting ready to do his guest spot, looking over at me smiling and shaking his head. I remember it like yesterday, well maybe more like last month, but I remember pretty well. He was the biggest thing I had ever seen, and little did I know that he would go on to become a 6 time Mr. Olympia. His attitude and training philosophy always inspired me, more so than his physique. After all, I was a Shawn Ray fan, a little fact that I keep getting reminded of by both men when I’m in the company of either. But the no frills training attitude of Dorian, I could relate to. I also came from a hole in the wall gym, chalk on the floor, spit in the corner kind of place. So when Dorian invited me over to Birmingham after I competed at the European Championships, I jumped at the opportunity, not only to train with a Mr. Olympia, but to fulfill a childhood dream of reliving the scenes from the Blood n Guts video. Yea I said video, Laser Disk was the big trend back then. Many of you are going, “Laser Disk WTF is that?” That’s how long ago it was! So once I had the cast removed from my leg, an injury I sustained while training for the IFBB European Championships, I booked the first flight and I was ready to rock and roll.


Monday, July 7th 21:00hrs my plane slams with a huge thud onto the runway at Birmingham International, but then again what do I expect from a flight I only paid €10 for!! The rain was spitting down in bucket loads. I would be forgiven for thinking I was landing in some equatorial country during the monsoon season, but no, I was in England in the middle of the summer. Then again I wasn’t in the UK for the good of my health, I was there to train, and train in the world’s most hardcore arena……… Dorian Yates’ Temple Gym! After checking into my hotel, no less than 50 yards from the gym, I text Dorian leaving him know I had landed and was checked in safe n sound. He replied “Get some rest mate, you’ll need it.” I decided to go out and do some reconnaissance; get my bearings in order to make sure I would not be late for my workout the following morning. With that in mind, I got a late night meal into me and hit the sack. It was 08:00 so I decided to get up and get some food into me, after all, what use would I be training in the most hardcore gym on the planet with an empty stomach? I somehow managed to miss the HUGE Starbucks sign at the corner of Temple Street, and hit some local coffee shop instead. I made the trek down this dirty alley where there was this little red door leading down a stairway to Temple Gym. Upon entering this dungeon, which was responsible for producing one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, one cannot help but inhale the hardcore atmosphere that it exudes. The wall at the bottom of the stairway is adorned with a half dozen gold Sandow medals. The walls are covered with pictures of every IFBB pro that has visited along with the covers of every magazine Dorian graced; no fancy frames, just some laminate and some blue tack!! It is truly a no frills kind of place and one can’t help but get the impression that you have to either train hard or F@#k off home.