Dorian Yates won 6 consecutive Mr. Olympias between 1992- 1997  but that last year almost took him out of the competition due to a serious injury. See, in 1997 he underwent a tricep injury that had not only shaken him physically but mentally as well. Despite this, he still managed to stand tall on that podium as he laid claim to the title.

Decades later, the bodybuilder has spoken about how difficult that year really was and what he went through from the moment of injury till he went up the stage. Yates as an English bodybuilder confessed that the gravity of the injury he had was not easy enough for any surgeons to treat in the UK, so he had to go to New York to get it fixed. Given such intrinsic trouble, the bodybuilder still found himself training for the stage while also dealing with mental instability. He has now spoken about the difficult path he had to walk on to win his last Mr. Olympia in 1997.

Dorian Yates walked the road less traveled by

Temple Gym has always been Yates’ hunting ground, and needless to say, a lot of injuries also happened here. He recalled that while doing a set of lying tricep extensions he heard a sharp bang which was quite sonorous throughout the gym. He then said, “It was excruciatingly painful, I think I went into shock because after the initial agony, I couldn’t feel anything!”

Furthermore, the bodybuilder also confessed that he was in a tough position from the point of view of his mental state and to win the situation he started doing exercises from the unaffected side of his body. The only reason he would still win Mr. Olympia was that he still had the will. Yates tried his best to keep his diet the same and do light weight training. He also stated, “Almost every minute leading right up to the contest and even on stage, I was almost paranoid about anything involving the triceps, especially any mere touch when competitors often clash into one another when posing.”

Even outside of the injured days, Yates has always preferred to do short sessions of intense workouts instead of long hours in the gym. His Mantra for better performance hence stays distinct in the industry.

Dorian Yate’s Mantra for Intense Workout Sessions

For Yates, Workout sessions should yield productivity and hence his methods highly align with smart workout sessions instead of the traditional hard work for longer hours. He stated, “When it comes to bodybuilding, less is actually more… if the intensity is there! Short, hard, intense workouts are what I recommend.”

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Yates supported his beliefs by pointing out that if hard work was truly what one needed to have a magnificent body, then the workers who do physical labor every single day would have 20-inch arms. Hence, Dorian Yates’s methods of training during his injury and his mindset were really the elements that helped him win the 1997 Mr. Olympia.

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