A Star Profile: George Farah - Mr. Bulletproof

Part 2

It isn’t very often that I get to talk to a bodybuilder who has had a truly eventful life. Aside from playing sports as a kid and having a rare ability to build muscle, a lot of the pro’s haven’t done much that’s dramatic or exciting. George Farah is a notable exception. Growing up in war-torn Beirut, his early years were bathed in violence and tragedy. Several years after immigrating to the United States, he was shot three times in a brutal robbery attempt and barely managed to survive. Rather than give up on bodybuilding after this incident, he redoubled his resolve and somehow managed to turn professional on his very first attempt, a feat that would be remarkable enough without the extenuating circumstances. Written off as too small to make an impact in the land of the giants we call the IFBB, he placed third at his pro debut in Texas and qualified for the Olympia, defeating a slew of men with far more size and competitive experience. George Farah’s whole life has been based on beating the odds stacked against him, which in my mind makes him one hell of an inspiration to all of us who face the myriad adversities life hands us.

The following interview was conducted in 2003.

Going into your first Nationals, did you really expect to walk away a pro when you were up against a lot of middleweights who had been doing that show for five or more years?

GF: It’s strange, I felt so comfortable at that show and I didn’t know why. I even had business cards made up beforehand that said ‘George Farah, 2000 National Middleweight Champion and IFBB Pro.’ One reason was that I had carefully studied photos of the top five middleweights from 1999, and I saw that they all looked great from the front but only average from behind. I decided to make my back stand out, and I felt that would give me an advantage. I did a lot of good mornings and stiff-leg deadlifts for the lower back so my Christmas tree would be more dramatic. I stayed more upright in rowing exercises and really concentrated on squeezing in muscular detail. When the time came to file onstage, I got the first callout and wound up getting all first-place votes from the judges. A couple of them told me I reminded them a lot of Lee Labrada and that I won the class as soon as we turned and they saw my back. Now I tell everyone I consult with to make their back a secret weapon. Not many bodybuilders will look as good from the back as they do the front, and it’s a very effective strategy to stand out above the rest.

Do you get a lot of letters and e-mails from those who have been inspired by your amazing story of triumph over tragedy?

GF: There have been so many, and they are what keep me going on even when I am feeling discouraged about not making much money from bodybuilding or something. I think I would make an excellent spokesman for a supplement company with my story and my knowledge. So many fans came up to me at the Olympia wanting to buy my pictures or take a picture with me, I was totally humbled by it all. A lot of them have had some serious accident or injury, some of them had even been shot. They figured if I could bounce back and do this well, so could they.

What were your goals as you trained for over 18 months between the Nationals and your pro debut, and did you reach them?

GF: I weighed 176 pounds when I won the Nationals, and I knew that was nowhere near big enough to mix it up on an IFBB stage. I figured I had to be at least 200 pounds and shredded to the bone. My conditioning had to be better than everyone else’s, because I couldn’t beat the top guys on mass. I achieved what I set out to do, and qualified for the Mr. Olympia in my first pro contest.

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Were you upset when some critics, a couple of them your fellow IFBB pro’s, questioned your third place at the Southwest Pro, as if you didn’t deserve it?

GF: All I can say is that pictures don’t lie. I don’t worry about what the other guys think or say. It’s not my fault they didn’t take the contest seriously enough to do their homework and show up in top condition like I did. You can be big and have nice shape, but you can’t be smooth and expect to do very well. Look at the pictures from the contest and you will see what I mean.

Why do some insist on doubting things like your bodyweight onstage or the size of your arms? Your arms look pretty fricking huge in every picture I’ve ever seen of them.

GF: I honestly don’t know. I have been accused of using Synthol, which is crazy. My arms are shredded, and anyone who puts a bunch of that shit in their arms always has a blurry look to the biceps and triceps with very little separation and detail. My arms were twenty inches even when I was a middleweight, they have always been a good bodypart for me from day one. In the movie Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood said, “Opinions are like assholes – everybody’s got one.” Maybe it’s just a matter of pride. You know how bodybuilders are. It’s very hard for some of the guys to accept that they were beaten by someone like myself who is a lot smaller than they are.

At the last Olympia some felt you were too small to be up on that stage, yet Lee Labrada, who some have compared you to, was no bigger. Why are so many people hung up on a pro having to weigh 250-300 pounds?

GF: That’s what sells tickets these days, bottom line. People want to see the freaks, and the judges are human like anyone else. When I walk onstage people don’t freak out the way they do when Markus Ruhl or Gunter comes out. Could I put on a lot more size? Of course I could, if I didn’t care about ruining my lines and having a larger waist. At 209 pounds I have a 29-inch waist. I want to have the most beautiful physique I can possibly build, and a lot more size wouldn’t do that for me. Flex magazine said in their Olympia report that I was “not ready for Freakville.” When I’m backstage with some of these guys or standing right next to them under the stage lights, I see all kinds of marks, acne, weird lumps, and bruises. I don’t want to look like that. I don’t even have a single zit on my back. I need to be happy with the body I see in the mirror, even if it’s not as big and freaky as what some fans or judges like to see.

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You have gained a reputation for helping other top competitors with their diets. How did you learn how to do this, and who are some of the men and women you have worked with?

GF: As I said before, I have been reading anything I could about nutrition since I was a teenager. I don’t think it’s so much that I know things none of these other guys do, it’s more that I have a very good eye. I can look at a guy and see him just as a judge would. I worked with Bob Cicherillo, and after thirteen years he finally turned pro. I worked with Jeremy Freeman and he finally got his pro card too. I helped Mat Duvall move up to second place after having done poorly the last few times he had competed. With Dave Palumbo, I wasn’t doing much with the nutrition because Dave is extremely knowledgeable himself and knows how to dial in properly on contest day. I did suggest to him that he stop squatting and deadlifting, bring his waist down, and come in a little smaller. Dave finished higher this year than he ever has because he did do those things. I have a very good track record at being able to change a guy’s condition very fast.

So who helps you when it’s time to compete, kind of like asking who cuts the barber’s hair?

GF: I only trust a couple people. One of them is Shane DiMora, who was the youngest man to ever turn pro back in the 1980’s. He looks at me and will tell me what needs work. For my nutrition I started working with Chad Nicholls last year for the Southwest Pro. No matter how much you know, you start doubting yourself at the end and need someone to talk to who can keep your head straight. I’m a good friend of Chad and his wife Kim, and he is a tremendous asset for a bodybuilder to have access to.

What are the most common mistakes bodybuilders make with their nutrition?

GF: By far, the biggest mistake most guys make is to panic at the last minute and trying all kinds of different things in that last week. They listen to too many different people and stress out over who to believe. This is a time when you should be relaxed and filling out. It’s why you always hear guys saying how great they looked a week before the show or the day after.

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Do you believe in bulking up? How much fat gain is acceptable in your eyes?

GF: I don’t believe in gaining too much fat, because your fat cells get bigger and it becomes harder and harder to get ripped. I shake my head when I hear guys who compete at 240 yet balloon up to 300 pounds or more in the off-season. So much of that weight is just unnecessary. I think a good benchmark is to try and stay within 15-20 pounds of your contest weight. For a male, bodyfat should never get much higher than ten percent. A woman should be 15-16 percent or less. You will notice that the competitors who stay in good shape year-round are the most consistent in terms of showing up in top condition at contests. You should always be able to see your abs. The highest I will let my weight get up to is around 230.

What are your competitive plans for this year?

GF: I am doing the same two shows, the Toronto and the Southwest Pro. Last year they were back to back and I got sick before Toronto, only competing at about 50% of my best. This year they are four months apart so I get to relax a bit between them. I hope to qualify for the Olympia again and improve on last year’s placing.

Well, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for a great interview.

GF: You are very welcome.