Anth Bailes "100% NASTY"

A DVD That Lives Up To Its Title

The newly released on DVD “100% Nasty”, featuring British champ Anth Bailes, is certainly one of the best and most professional bodybuilding DVDs ever produced. It’s up there with Flex Wheeler’s Dare2Dream made by my old pal Gary Phillips. Of course nothing beats Dorian Yates Blood & Guts DVD for sheer training intensity.

“100% Nasty” is superbly directed and edited by James Grealish, with a compelling and atmospheric soundtrack of original music composed by Kevin Derrick. It's capped off by great camera work including spectacular aerial footage.

Anth is 39 years old and has been training since he was 16. He won his pro card by winning the heavyweight and overall title at the 2012 British Championships – only one card a year is awarded to British bodybuilders. In 2014 he entered the 212 class at the Bodypower Championships and the Toronto Pro and finished eighth and tenth respectively.

In this near two hour DVD we have a fly-on-the-wall perspective of Anth as a bodybuilder and as a man. He has his own gym, Maxxmuscle Gym, in Hetton le Hole in Tyne & Wear, which is in the north east of England, where most of the training footage is shot. We see him strolling around his hometown and visit his home to see his wife, Donna and baby Leah born last March 16. He talks movingly on how fatherhood has changed him.

We meet his support group; his younger brother Mark, his training partner “Crazy” Dave Crawford and his mentor, that coach from hell, Leroy “Sergeant Major” Davis, who was Dorian Yates’ training partner throughout his six Sandow campaigns. We see a 19-year-old Anth posing back in1996 juxtaposed with footage of how he looked when he won the British title 17 years later.

PLANS GO AWRY

But the focus of the film is his prep for the 2016 Mozolani Pro staged in Slovakia last May 22. The story starts in December 2015 when he underwent pec surgery and was told his recovery would take four weeks. But it didn’t heal as he had sustained a severe hematoma at the site of the surgery whose swelling would not go away. As the weeks rolled by and he was deep into his contest prep the swelling was still there. We see him wrestling with the dilemma of going flat to the boards for 20 weeks with no guarantee that he would be able to compete. Thus we witness a pivotal scene where he and Leroy, two weeks out from the contest, discuss the options and reluctantly decide to pull out of the contest as the pec anomaly was still clearly visible. To appear in less that 100 percent condition was contrary to Anth’s lifelong bodybuilding philosophy. Later on his own Anth emotionally explains how the decision affected him.

So instead of going to Slovakia he visited Dorian Yates at his gym in Marbella, Spain. The same Yates who was Anth’s early idol and whose photos adorned his wall as a teenager. He undertakes a leg session with Dorian which should have a “Not for the squeamish” warning. It reminded me of the time I ran a spoof quiz with the first prize being a leg workout with Dorian with the second prize being two leg workouts with Dorian.

As he pushed Anth through the pain barrier, Dorian, now a very fit and lean looking 54 year old, explains, “It ain’t pretty but it works” He talks about how sacred his training was to him and offers the information that in his heyday they used to wipe the machines down at Temple Gym with old underpants.

At one point Anth asks Dorian, “Do you still have those calves?”

Dorian replied, “Haven’t trained them since 1997 (year of his retirement)” and then pulls his trouser leg up to show a splendid diamond calf.

Anth retorts, “Bastard! Still has huge calves and he doesn’t train them,”

THE LEROY WAY

In another scene Leroy Davies says, “A lot of guys will complain to me, that exercise hurts. I tell them it’s supposed to fucking hurt. Anth never says that, He has a similar mentality and attitude as Dorian.” That’s one hell of a compliment.

There’s an old warning to Hollywood actors not to work with children and animals because they’ll steal the show. The same warning can be applied to Leroy appearing in bodybuilding videos as with his own barking vocabulary style he bullies Anth with phases like, “It’s Nasty time. Come on they’re taking bread off your table. Educate them Bailes.”

We see Anth commuting regularly between his own gym in the north of England and Ultimate Fitness in Birmingham, where Leroy is stationed, 190 miles away. There’s a cameo appearance by British champ Ernie Taylor who hasn’t competed since the 2004 Arnold and at 46 looks in really good shape complete with the constant smile.

The movie ends with Anth and Leroy comparing the bodybuilding scene of the ‘90s with the landscape today, a comparison that Dorian spoke of earlier in the film. Men’s Physique competitors may want to skip the ending.

All in all this is a superb documentary that gives a deep insight into the drive and commitment of Anth Bailes. Personally it re-acquainted me with the British scene I grew up in and how much British bodybuilders revel in a down-in-the-trenches and spit-and- sawdust environment. They exude raw passion, they want to have it tough knowing it’s the only way to progress. “100% Nasty” is informative, entertaining and inspirational and is well worth seeing and for trailers and ordering instruction click on http://film.100percentnasty.com/.

Postscript: The latest news on Anth is that last December 5^th he flew to Boston, Mass, under the auspices of friend Jose Raymond, to have the scar tissue from his chest removed. This time he is confident the pec will heal completely and will enable him to enter a contest in late 2017. He’s also bringing out his own supplement line next spring. One way or another Anth Bailes is determined to be “100% Nasty.”

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