After Lee Haney’s dominant, record-setting Mr. Olympia reign, Dorian Yates won the coveted title. Yates began the mass monster era that changed bodybuilding forever. Gone were the days of the 250 lbs bodybuilders. Yates blew up to almost 300 lbs in the offseason, and later Ronnie Coleman took it even further. With the rise of the mass monsters, injuries also became more common. However, eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney is confident that there is a better way of doing things.

During a recent interview with Escape Fitness, the bodybuilding veteran revealed it’s possible to compete at an elite level without hurting the body. He also explained why old-school bodybuilders trained differently.

They understood the science behind bodybuilding

During the interview, the reporter points out the title of Lee Haney’s book, Fit at Any Age: Exercise to Stimulate Not Annihilate, before asking him a question. “You’ve had the best physique in the world… if you want to build muscle can you still do that without sort of destroying your body?” asked the interviewer.

“Oh! yes, yes. I’m living proof of it,” answered Haney. The former champion didn’t just use himself as an example but other bodybuilding legends as well. “Not only me but you have people like Ed Corney, you have Arnold, you have Franco Columbu,” he said. Ed Corney and two-time Mr. Olympia Franco Columbu were seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s training partners and also appeared in Pumping Iron (1977).

The former champion said none of the people he mentioned suffered massive injuries despite lifting heavy. Franco Columbu, who participated in the first edition of World’s Strongest Man, used to lift “a ton of weight,” but never got injured while training, said the 63-year-old. However, Columbu understood the “system… the science of our sport,” where longevity and recovery have equal priority.

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“We never got hurt, we’re still walking around without injuries and without surgeries,” stated the eight-time champion. However, the “younger school,” have issues with their back, knees, and hips and have “ripped themselves apart,” pursuing a bodybuilding career. The former Mr. Olympia also revealed why the way they trained might’ve also played a role in their longevity.

Never pushing it to the extreme

Ronnie Coleman, who also won eight Mr. Olympias now has to walk on crutches. During his prime, the King put on around 30 lbs in the offseason, in his quest to gain more muscle mass. On the contrary, Haney gained only 10 lbs of muscle in his eight years of competing in the Mr. Olympia. “We look at muscle maturity, balance, growth, over a period of time. We don’t we didn’t rush out physiques,” Haney told the interviewer.

He also said competitors today get injured because they have a tendency to over train. Some modern training systems emphasize focusing on only one body part a day. “If you’re training a body part for hours, you’re overtraining,” he said. According to the 63-year-old, this was something old-school legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger would never do.

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What do you make of Lee Haney’s explanation? Do you agree with the eight-time Mr. Olympia? Write your thoughts in the comments.