Written by Team MD
23 October 2020

 

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Hunter Labrada

The Dynasty Continues!

 

By Ron Harris

 

 

In the fall of 1987 as I was turning 18, I discovered bodybuilding magazines and immediately became enthralled with the sport and its top stars of the time. While I was inspired by the massive physiques of Mr. Olympia Lee Haney and his rivals like Mike Christian and Gary Strydom, I found them otherworldly and impossible to relate to as a kid of only 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds, as each stood around 6 feet and tipped the scales around 250. Yet there was one man who was neither particularly tall nor heavy, a Cuban immigrant from Houston named Lee Labrada who was referred to as “Mass with Class.” At 5-foot-6 and 185 pounds, he was a study in flawless shape, proportion, symmetry and condition, and a true master of posing and presentation. Labrada used his considerable arsenal to regularly defeat much larger opponents. He would go on to place in the top four at the Mr. Olympia an astonishing seven years in a row, including runner-up finishes to Haney in 1989 and 1990. The latter remains one of the most controversial near misses in Olympia history, as Labrada led Haney after judging but somehow lost in the posing round. At times I would wonder, what if Lee had just been a few inches taller? What would that shape look like, taller and bigger? Today we have the answer in his son Hunter, who recently made his pro debut by winning the Tampa Pro at 5-foot-9 and 253 pounds. It was the most eagerly anticipated pro debut since that of Sergio Olivia Jr. in 2017, as it’s only natural for fans to place incredibly high expectations on the sons of legends. Hunter did not disappoint. He’s been the talk of the bodybuilding world for the entire summer of 2020, and it’s time we learned more about this rookie sensation with the famous bloodline.

 

Gridiron Origins

 

Hunter’s first love was football, which he started playing in seventh grade at just 4-foot-11 and 88 pounds. It was in high school that he utilized the weight room to improve his size and strength as a cornerback, consistently adding 15-20 pounds every year and graduating at 205 pounds. “I had every lifting record on the team,” he recalls. Oddly enough, his father not only never pushed training on him, but was always concerned Hunter was safe. “I called him Safety Steve,” Hunter laughs. “I would come home and tell him, hey dad, I squatted 315 today for the first time, and he would tell me to please be careful.”

 

 

 

Football is a brutally physical game, and even young Mr. Labrada was not immune to injury. Over his high school football career, he suffered three concussions, and missed much of his final season due to a serious hamstring strain and an avulsion fracture in his hip. “In football, it’s not a matter of if you will get hurt,” he explains. “It’s when, and how badly. I feel fortunate that I got out without any injuries that would have affected me in terms of training for bodybuilding.” 

 

 

 

Still, he was a good enough football player to garner an athletic scholarship to a Division 2 school, Bentley University in my own hometown of Waltham, Massachusetts. Harboring no illusions of an NFL career, Hunter soon realized he no longer enjoyed playing as he once had and decided to move on. He transferred to Texas A&M University where he earned a degree in economics. Back in his senior year of high school when his lower body was healing from injuries, he’d adopted a typical “bro training split” and had seen fantastic results. He was well aware that he shared his father’s gifted genetics, and it was time to pick up the family legacy. 

 

The Strategic Road to the Pro Ranks

 

 

 

Hunter decided to become a pro bodybuilder at the age of 19 yet did not compete in his first competition until he was 25. He had a long-term plan that would be taken in steps: local show, regional show, junior national contest, and finally national contest/pro qualifier. Unlike most young athletes today, he was not in a mad rush to turn pro. 

 

 

 

“I don’t understand the obsession,” he tells us. “A piece of paper or a card doesn’t make you a professional, having a certain level of physique does. So many people turn pro and never compete again, or if they do, they get smashed.” 

 

 

 

At 21, he already knew it was futile to diet down from 220 pounds to 180 just to compete when he should be using that time to grow and improve. Every contest he did was a step forward, as he says, “never a lateral step or a step backward.” He began with a local show, the 2016 Branch Warren Classic, and won the overall. The next level was a regional contest in 2017, the Dallas Europa, and he won that overall as well. After that win, he began working with prep coach Andrew Vu. Hunter felt strongly that like in the old days, a bodybuilder should prove himself at a junior national contest before moving on to the USA or Nationals, plus he wanted Andrew to have a chance to learn his body and how it responded to the myriad variables in training and diet. Hunter wanted to be certain that when he turned pro, he would be ready to stand with the best right away. “My dad won his class at the Nationals in 1985, and that didn’t even give him a pro card,” he reminds us. “It gave him the opportunity to compete at the IFBB Worlds, where he beat all the best middleweights from every other country. The next year, he won his pro debut in New York at the Night of Champions.” 

 

 

 

Back to Hunter’s climb. He won the overall at the Junior USA, then proceeded to punch his ticket to the IFBB Pro League that November in Miami, joining past greats like Lee Haney, Shawn Ray and Kevin Levrone by being crowned Overall NPC Nationals Champion. 

 

 

 

“People were talking crap that I was waiting too long or dodging the tougher shows, but my record speaks to how solid the plan was. I never stepped up to the next level just to place; it was always about waiting until I was ready to win.”

 

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Shouldering on Through Pain and Surgery

 

 

 

Unless you follow Hunter on his social media or the Labrada Nutrition YouTube channel, you might not be aware of the struggles he faced with his shoulder injury. The pain was so excruciating that by April of 2018, he could not perform any type of overhead press, any free-weight pressing movements for chest, and no lateral raises aside from machines and light cables. 

 

 

 

“My shoulder was basically held together by duct tape and chewing gum,” he jibes. “When I trained, it felt like someone was stabbing the joint with an ice pick.” 

 

 

 

Once he had won the Nationals in November, Hunter spent three months of aggressive therapy that included deep tissue massage, dry needling, and PRP injections, all with the goal of avoiding surgery. When the pain persisted, it was clear surgery was the only solution. On March 19 of 2019, he had his rotator cuff debrided in four locations, and his AC joint and biceps tendon were cleaned up. He spent a full month in a sling, followed by three months of rehab, then three more months to gradually regain his former size and strength. This is significant because Hunter did not have the full year-plus off-season after the Nationals that many assumed he did. It wasn’t until September of 2019 that he was back to where he had been, and all further gains were made from then on. Also keep in mind that he started prep on February first of this year, as his original plan was to compete in the New York Pro on its originally scheduled date of May 16.

 

New Plan – Tampa

 

 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into all of our plans for this year. Since Hunter’s ultimate plan for 2020 was to step on the Mr. Olympia stage, he shifted his sights to the Tampa Pro on August first after the New York Pro had been postponed first to August and then to September. “All in all, it ended up being 28 weeks of prep by the time I got to Tampa,” he states. “But it all worked out. Every time a show I was going to do got canceled or postponed, I took a little time to hit a rebound, and I actually made serious gains over the course of the quarantine and extended contest prep.” 

 

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I was privileged to be front and center covering all the action for MD as Hunter took his first steps on stage as a pro. It was obvious to me and everyone else in attendance that we were looking at the winner, and everyone else would be fighting for the other spots. He was 253 pounds with striated glutes, up a full 25 pounds from his Nationals win. Hunter was not going to coast on his family name or reputation – he was the real deal, massive and shapely with the killer condition to back it all up. 

 

 

 

Lee and Robin were both in attendance to watch their son carry on the proud legacy his father had established a generation before. “I never felt any pressure in that respect,” Hunter reminds us. “I always wanted to be the best I could for me, not for anyone else. I loved bodybuilding and would have pursued it with or without any help or support from my dad. Of course, I knew I would be better off with him on my side, and I am grateful that he did and still does help guide me.” 

 

 

 

So, what next? Why, the Mr. Olympia of course! In the meantime, Hunter is resting and recharging after a prolonged contest prep and a well-deserved win. Stay tuned, because we are only witnessing the beginning of this young man’s career in the sport. In the meantime, it’s safe to say the Labrada legacy lives on in Hunter. 

 

Instagram @hunterlabrada

 

YouTube: Labrada Nutrition,GASPOfficial

 

Complete Contest History

 

2016 Branch Warren Classic

 

Heavyweight and Overall

 

2017 Dallas Europa

 

Super Heavyweight and Overall

 

2017 San Antonio Extravaganza

 

Super Heavyweight Winner

 

2019 Junior USA

 

Super Heavyweight and Overall

 

2018 NPC Nationals

 

Super Heavyweight and Overall

 

2020 Tampa Pro

 

Winner

 

Is Hunter a Lee Labrada Clone?

 

While there are certainly many similarities between Hunter and his father, they are not identical. Facially the resemblance is eerie, and Hunter himself points to his biceps, triceps and midsection as all being traits he inherited as almost carbon copies of Lee’s. But his mother Robin is 5-foot-11, and Lee is 5-foot-6. “They split the difference with me, as I’m 5-foot-9,” he says. “It’s what I feel is the perfect height for open bodybuilding.”

 

Hunter also possesses a far heavier bone structure than his father, as evidenced in his 9-inch wrists. But the final major difference is from the waist down. “My dad had smaller glutes, and mine are enormous,” he laughs. He’s not sure whether it’s a difference in training style or perhaps genetics, but Hunter’s legs are much larger than Lee’s ever were. “They were actually ahead of my upper body when I turned pro at Nationals, and I worked hard to add the needed tissue up top.”

 

A Company Man

 

Hunter never knew Lee Labrada the top Mr. Olympia competitor, as Lee retired when he was only 3 years old. Instead, Hunter knew his Dad as the owner and CEO of Labrada Nutrition, the family business that he himself has worked for since he was only 16. “In my last two years of high school, I worked summers in the warehouse and made deliveries to local retailers,” he says. “In my college years, I was an office assistant and attended meetings for marketing and content planning.” Hunter became a member of Labrada's social media marketing and became more involved in product research and development, having a hand in the development of top-sellers such as BCAA Power. Hunter is proud to be part of the company that lives up to its motto as “The Most Trusted Name in Sports Nutrition.”

 

 

 

“We’ve been around for 25 years now and have never used banned or dangerous ingredients in our product formulations,” he points out. “We also spend a lot of time and resources educating people to live a lifestyle of exercise and healthy eating, because without those even the best supplements in the world won’t do much for you.” 

 

Hunter’s Labrada Nutrition Stack

 

Meal 1

 

500ml Egg Whites

 

160g Oats

 

1 Tbsp Fish Oil

 

Meal 2

 

75g Labrada ISO Whey Protein

 

300g Rice

 

Meal 3

 

75g Labrada ISO Whey Protein

 

100g Karbolyn

 

8 oz Fish/Chicken

 

300g Rice

 

Meal 5

 

Free Meal (needs to be at least 50g protein)

 

Meal 6

 

500ml Egg Whites

 

Snacks:

 

Lean Body® Ready-to-Drink Protein Shakes

 

For more information, visit labrada.com


Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram

 

 

 SPECIAL BONUS:

HUNTER LABRADA: ROAD TO THE OLYMPIA 

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