“Paying the Price for All of That Heavy Lifting”: 86-Year-Old Bodybuilding Legend Shared the Dark Side of Careless Workouts He Did as a Youngster in 2008

While working out is important, it is more important to know the correct way to do so. Even legends like Frank Zane have made some mistakes in their rookie years. In an interview in 2008, Zane opened up about what price he had to pay for his negligence during his early training days.

Zane’s physique is one that brought about a major change in the pro-bodybuilding world. He popularized symmetry and aesthetics in bodybuilding. Naturally, to shred his body to get into that form, he did some heavy lighting in the gym. However, the downside of those weights soon caught up to him. In the interview with Flex Magazine, Zane gave a detailed account of the downsides of heavy lifting.

Frank Zane sheds light on the downside of negligent training

In August 2008, 3x Mr. Olympia Frank Zane sat down for an interview with Flex Magazine. He shed light on a lot of topics related to bodybuilding and weightlifting. He also talked about the drawbacks of not irresponsible training routines. The interviewer asked Zane if heavy lifting was necessary to set the foundation on which he built his aesthetic physique.

To this, the 86-year-old replied that while it did help him gain mass if he had a choice to redo everything, he won’t make the same choices. Elaborating on his answer, Zane revealed that heavy lifting causes injury. He shared that usually while training with weights, people tend to overlook the resistance the body subtly shows. Furthermore, one can’t take back once the damage is done.

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“You’re just focusing on the weight and often ignoring the subtle signs your body is giving you and once you’ve hurt yourself, that’s it. It never really goes away. Now I’m paying the price for all of that heavy lifting,” said ‘the chemist.’

Do the injuries of the young days catch up in the old ones?

Frank Zane says they definitely do. Zane believes it is impossible to escape the after-effects of the injuries one has sustained in the past. He added that there is a limit to how much the joints can take. Furthermore, he pointed out the parts that are more like to wear out.

He said, “I think shoulders are very susceptible to wearing out all that upper-body work, especially if you’re training upper body heavy, training upper body two days in a row. My shoulders have been traumatized and now I have to back off shoulder work.” He shared that now when he does chest or arms or back work out, even that is too much shoulder work for him.

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Zane won’t get a chance to rectify the mistakes he made with his body in the past. However, the younger generation that looks up to him can learn from his mistake. At times, we need to push ourselves to test our limits, but a gym is definitely not the place to do so. One should know when to stop.