Written by Peter McGough
22 August 2014

14dex-big-peter

Dexter Jackson...Jeez!

Can He Take a Second Sandow?

 

 

WHY DEXTER IS BACK IN THE OLYMPIA RUNNING AND WHY HE IS THE MOST REMARKABLE BODYBUILDER EVER.

 With the Olympia looming up on September 18th through 22nd, the scuttlebutt all summer has been about how Phil Heath is seemingly destined to take his fourth title, with his main contenders being Kai Greene, Dennis Wolf, and Big Ramy? Then suddenly over the last week 2008 Mr. Olympia, Dexter Jackson, rang a massive, “Don’t forget about me!” bell.

 This by virtue of the shots of Dexter, taken by J.M. Manion, Editor of NPC Newsonline, at the Shawn Ray Classic staged in Baltimore on August 17. Dexter was there to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award during which Shawn Ray and emcee Lonnie Teper persuaded the recipient to take his shirt off. Before you could say, “Photoshop, my ass!” (a statement of denial, not an instruction) the shots, which adorn this story, went viral and suddenly as in “Hold the Front ‘Dextra, Dextra, Read All about It’ Page” The Blade was back in top three (and maybe higher) Olympia contention.

 dex-big2We’ve never seen the Jacksonville (no they didn’t name it after our subject …. yet) native so big and so hard five weeks out. He was about 250 pounds whereas he’s usually 240ish at this stage. But the fullness, hardness and separation was of contest day mode.

 Every now and then you view a series of shots whose improvement curve comes out at you like Usain Bolt with a rocket strapped to his back. Past images that generated such a WTF response include those famous besocked shots of Dorian Yates taken seven weeks before the 1993 Olympia; photos of Phil Heath a few weeks before the 2008 Ironman which showed that his much commented on lack of width and chest thickness were a thing of the past; and those astonishing pics of Flex Lewis which surfaced in late 2013 making the 212 champ looking more like the 232 champ.

 What is remarkable about the Dexter reinvention is that he achieved it at age 44, after 15 years as a pro, whole the aforementioned trio did it relatively early in their careers. In fact this grey matter cannot recall any top class bodybuilder, who made a leap forward so late in his career on a par of the one Dexter launched this year. So how did this former Mr. Olympia do the seemingly impossible?

 ACTION JACKSON

 Well for starters, in tandem with contest prep advisor George Farah, he, for the first time ever followed a 12-month plan for this year’s Olympia. After his second place to Kai Greene at the Prague Pro Championships last October 19, he decided he would not compete in another contest until this year’s Olympia. Unlike every other year he has been a pro (apart from 2009) he would not do any early season contests and would have a straight run at the Olympia. Previously George and Dexter only worked together during the 10-wek contest prep period, but this time Mr. Farah devised a 12-month diet aimed at building strength and muscle.

 dex-big3Another change was that Dexter in past years would fly from Jacksonville to Venice for a couple of weeks every month to work under his training advisor, Charles Glass. This year he stayed in Venice most of the time thus his interaction with Charles almost doubled. And you know the old proverb, “People who live in Glass houses make spectacular gains.”

 Diet wise he was in contest mode for nearly 12 months. He ate a lot more than usual but he ate clean. With that training and diet approach he reached an offseason high of 265 pounds (previously he would max at 255ish) and by Olympia time he will be “Right on the button” at 240ish pounds; some six or seven pounds heavier than he’s ever been on contest day.

 Now the seven extra quality pounds on a 230 plus pound guy is quite an increase. The moral of the story is, you can teach an old dawg new tricks. What Dexter has achieved is really all down to shocking his system out of a regimen it had become used to, in order to kick start new gains. As my dear and late colleague Dr. Jim Wright (an encyclopedia of bodybuilding and physiological knowledge) used to say, when he recommended regularly ringing the changes, “Everything works, nothing works forever.”

 It’s clear from these pics that our subject does not have much to lose as regards surplus tissue. Phil Heath’s aces in the hole are full rounded muscle bellies, eye popping proportions and etched in detail from head to foot. Dexter has almost the same credentials. Based on these pics if Dexter nails it and comes in bigger, then perhaps some of the more fancied Olympians will think a better nickname for The Blade may be The Guillotine.

 WHY DEXTER IS THE MOST REMARKABL BODYBUILDER EVER!

 Here’s six reasons

 1.)    No competitor has ever made such gains this late in his career.

 2.)    This will be Dexter’s 15th Mr. Olympia appearance equaling Ronnie Coleman’s record.

 3.)    He’s competed in 69 pro contests, with 19 wins (one of them an Olympia and four Arnold Classics) and 63 top five finishes.

 4.)    He will be 45 in November and his first contest was the 1991 Jax Physique Championships when at 21 he won the bantamweight division and the overall titles, remarkably beating the heavyweight winner.

 5.)    At that first contest he carried 135 pounds on his 5’6” frame. Twenty-three years later at this year’s Olympia he will be 105 pounds heavier.

Just look at the friggin’ pics.

 

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