Carving Out His Place in History

Dallas McCarver is the Youngest Overall Champ Ever

This article appeared in the January 2013 issue of MD

Overall at 21: Never done before

In recent years, we've been amazed when a bodybuilder manages to turn pro in his mid-twenties, because for a while it definitely seemed as if guys were getting their pro cards later and later - sometimes at nearly 40 years old. But with men like Phil Heath, Jason Huh, Evan Centopani, Steve Kuclo, Jonathan Delarosa, Seth Feroce, and most recently Antoine Vaillant all earning IFBB status well before they hit 30, faith was renewed that there were still plenty of young guns out there stepping up to become the next generation of stars as the older athletes headed toward the twilights of their careers. Late this summer, not only did we see another young man turn professional, but he did something that had never been done before. Tennessee's Dallas McCarver won the Super Heavyweight and Overall titles at the IFBB North American in Cleveland, Ohio at just 21 years old. This made him the youngest winner of a national contest in NPC history, and it also points to his enormous untapped potential. At six foot and 258 pounds on stage, can you imagine what he's going to look like in a couple years when he really fills out? The really crazy thing about his win, aside from being barely old enough to drink, is that he was a complete unknown. There were a few 'names' entering that show who had all done well at the recent USA Championships and were favored to win, but Dallas was definitely not among that group. I had certainly never heard of the kid, but then again; outside of Tennessee, pretty much no one else had either. It's time you got to know the newest IFBB Pro and the newest member of Team MD!

Just a big old farm boy

Dallas grew up on a farm in the hamlet of Jackson, Tennessee, about an hour east of Memphis. With ten horses and about 100 heads of cattle at any given time, McCarver always had plenty of chores to do: hauling hay, feeding the cows, cleaning out the stalls, and building fences. He tried several sports, but by middle school it was clear that football was where he shined. "I would go to school, stay for football practice, then come home and do my chores," he says of his tough schedule in those days. By the time he was 14 or 15, he badly wanted to lift weights to get stronger for football, but had no access to them. "I didn't have a car to get to a gym, so I did stuff like lifting, throwing, and dragging bales of hay and lifting buckets of water," he tells us. Dallas was always a big kid and describes himself as 'chunky' back then. "It's funny, because if you look at pictures of Evan Centopani and the timeline of how he looked over the years, I pretty much followed that exactly," he says. The minute he turned 16, Dallas got his driver's license and began training at the high school weight room in season, and a local gym soon after. His training for football was mainly squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and power cleans. At the same time, McCarver started buying bodybuilding magazines. "The first magazine I ever got had coverage of the 2005 Mr. Olympia in it, and I freaked out seeing Ronnie and Jay," he relates. "I couldn't believe human beings could look like that. I took that magazine to school and read it cover to cover I don't know how many times." In his mind, he had already decided that whenever he was done with football, he wanted to be a bodybuilder. Even that early on, Dallas already had to face the question we all have from the regular folks: why would you want to look like that? "I didn't pay them no mind," Dallas says in his easy Southern drawl. "I knew most people didn't understand or appreciate bodybuilding, but I knew it was my destiny." Being his best on the gridiron demanded that Dallas hold off on all the typical isolation exercises bodybuilders performed, but he was patient and kept it in perspective. "I knew that the longer I focused on the basics, the better a foundation I would build for when I did start bodybuilding."

NFL, no - IFBB, yes!

After graduating from Jackson Christian High School, Dallas moved on to Bethel University in Western Tennessee. He had bulked up to 320 pounds ("It wasn't pretty," he says), but was starting to realize that at six foot he wasn't quite tall enough to be an offensive guard in the NFL. He was also quickly growing weary of the constant injuries resulting from slamming into other monstrous young men on the field. Being part of a team sport was no longer as appealing as it had once been either. "Something I read in MD from Evan actually really stuck with me," he tells us. "It was something to the effect of, in bodybuilding, if you fuck up, you have no one else to blame, and if you do well, you get the credit - I liked the idea of having that type of personal responsibility and I also wanted to master bodybuilding on my own the way he did." And so it came to pass that when it was time to report for training camp at the start of his sophomore year, Dallas decided he'd had enough of football. A friend of his named Brian Moss (not the famous photographer and former owner of Better Bodies Gym in NYC) was a trainer and a nutritionist, and offered to help guide Dallas into his first contest. Dallas took the next six months to put on as much size as he could, then had Brian look at him in February and help him pick his first contest. "He said I could be ready in 16-18 weeks, so we found two shows pretty close together that May and went for it." Dieting wasn't as rough for Dallas as you might think based on his bulk. "Even though I'm from the South, I've never been big into fried food and biscuits and all that," he says. "I'd always liked steak, chicken, rice, and potatoes, it was just a matter of eating a little less." Coming down from 310 pounds, Dallas entered his first two contests at 241 pounds and won both. "I really wasn't even nervous up there, because there was no pressure on me to do well," he explains. "I wanted to have fun and enjoy myself. I figured, why would you even compete if you're gonna be miserable? I had a blast." Immediately people were telling Dallas he had pro potential, but he paid it little mind. "Of course that was my ultimate goal, but it was something I figured would happen in the distant future, not any time soon."

From unknown to pro in one fateful weekend

So with no hype on him and thus no pressure to do well, Dallas targeted the IFBB North American as his next contest, and enlisted John O'Regan to help with his diet. He saw more than a few of his fellow competitors posting daily on Facebook about their progress and intentions on winning, but he himself kept a low profile and remained anonymous for the time being. "I just feel that if you stay focused on doing what you need to do to be your best and don't worry about anyone else, that's the real key to success," he says. And in the meantime, while some of the other men he would be competing with had the luxury of sponsors allowing them to concentrate purely on training, eating, and sleeping, McCarver was putting in 45 hours a week behind a desk as a fleet manager for a trucking company. "I would do my morning cardio, eat, work from 8 to 6, then train," he tells us. "These other guys were doing videos and getting all sorts of hype, but I never let that affect my confidence. I knew I could do well, so I just said to myself; we'll see. On the day of the show, it's not about who your sponsor is or how many videos you have online - it's about who's got the best physique." Dallas had heard horror stories about how flying bloats you up like a fish, so he was overly cautious about eating and drinking too much in the final week. As a result, he flattened out and weighed in at 243 - nearly 15 pounds lighter than he'd been two weeks before in the same condition. "I also should have backed off the cardio some toward the end, but I'm still learning my body," he relates. Dallas started eating immediately after the weigh-ins, and by the time he collected his Overall trophy Saturday night he estimates he was around 258. "I was good enough to win, but I was still not satisfied because I knew I could have been a lot bigger and fuller if I'd done things differently in the last week or so."

Time to grow and improve

Dallas is nothing if not pragmatic, and he knows he needs a solid year's off-season to make the improvements necessary to make an impact on a pro stage. "Aside from my calves, which grow out of control, I think I have a pretty similar structure to Dennis Wolf, who is exactly my height," he says. "I need more back width and thickness, especially in the lower lats, more glutes and hams, just more legs overall other than the calves." He knows he has time to do this, and he's not in a mad rush. Dallas makes no predictions of his future greatness, but he is determined to fulfill his potential in the sport. "I'm grateful to be part of Team MD along with guys like Dennis Wolf and Evan who I've looked up to for years, as well as Branch, Victor, and the rest who I've been reading about in the magazines since I was in high school. I never expected to be a pro this soon or to be with the best bodybuilding magazine in the world, but I guarantee you I don't take any of it for granted. I want to make my family, my sponsors, and my fans - it still feels weird just saying that - proud. One thing I can guarantee you is that you ain't seen nothing yet!"

Dallas's complete contest history

2011 NPC Hub City Fitness Quest          Junior Heavyweight and Overall Champion

2011 NPC Battle at the River                  Super Heavyweight and Overall Champion

2012 IFBB North American                     Super Heavyweight and Overall Champion

Shoulder workout

Overhead press*                                  4 x 6-10

Barbell or dumbbell front raise               2-3 x 8-12

Dumbbell rear laterals                          3-4 x 8-12

Dumbbell lateral raise                           2 x 8-10

Superset with

Machine lateral raise                             2 x 10-12

Shrugs (barbell, dumbbell, or machine)   3 x 10-12

*Dallas alternates between barbell military presses, dumbbell presses, and behind-neck presses on the Smith machine. He goes up to 365 on the military press, and can do 150's for 10-12 reps.

Arm workout

Rope pushdowns                               3-4 x 15-20

Incline dumbbell curl                          3 x 8-12

Close-grip bench press (up to 405)      3 x 8-12

Barbell or machine preacher curl         3 x 8-12

Weighted dips (up to four 45's)            3 x 8-12

Barbell or dumbbell spider curl*           3 x 8-12

Skull crusher                                     3 x 8-12

Dumbbell concentration curl                3 x 8-12

Close-grip pushdown or                       3 x 8-12

Rope cable kickback

*Face down on incline bench

Off-season training Split

Monday:                       Chest

Tuesday:                       Back

Wednesday:                  Delts

Thursday:                      OFF

Friday:                          Arms

Saturday:                      Legs

Sunday:                        OFF

Pre-contest training split

Sunday:                        Hamstrings

Monday:                       Arms

Tuesday:                       Quadriceps

Wednesday:                  OFF

Thursday:                      Chest

Friday:                          Back

Saturday:                      Delts

Contest Diet

5 AM                Wake up, 60 minutes cardio

6:30 AM            Whey protein shake

7 AM                14 oz. chicken, 12 oz. sweet potato

9 AM                12 oz. tilapia or flounder, 12 oz. sweet potato

11 AM               14 oz. chicken, 12 oz. sweet potato

1 PM                12 oz. tilapia or flounder, 12 oz. sweet potato

3 PM                12 oz. tilapia or flounder, 12 oz. sweet potato

5 PM                12 oz. steak (top sirloin), 12 oz. white potato

6:30 PM            Train

8 PM                12 oz. chicken, 10 oz. sweet potato

9:30 PM            30-60 minutes cardio

11 PM               12 oz. fish, 8 oz. asparagus

Youngest Pro's in IFBB History

 Lee Priest                                 Age 18

1990 Australian Champion

(Pro Status not granted until 1993 at age 21)

Shane DiMora                           Age 19

1986 NPC Nationals Middleweight Winner

Ian Harrison                               Age 20

1989 EFBB British Heavyweight and Overall

Rich Gaspari                             Age 21

1984 NPC National and IFBB World Light-heavyweight winner

Mike Winters                             Age 21

1992 NPC Nationals Lightweight winner

Lee Haney                                 Age 22

1982 NPC National and IFBB World Heavyweight and Overall Champion

Shawn Ray                                Age 22

1987 NPC National Light-heavyweight and Overall Champion

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