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How I Won My Second NPC Team Universe Overall Title

The Sweetest Victory In My Career

This year's NPC Team Universe Heavyweight and Overall titles August 9th and 10th in New York City were achievements I worked extremely hard to earn. I "put it all on the table' as I invested all of my physical, mental, and emotional energy toward creating the physique I presented onstage--and I did so for and for an extended period of time.

This victory had to be the sweetest one in my long competitive bodybuilding career. I turned 40 years-old a couple of weeks before the show, it was my second Team Universe Overall Championship (record), my fourth class victory (record), and my ninth straight appearance which is all of them since the contest began in 1994 (record). Heck, it seemed like half of the bodybuilders at the show came up to me during the weekend and said they started bodybuilding because of my influence years ago!

The best thing about this win, however, is that I surpassed the amazing conditioning I achieved in 1998 when I won my first overall title. That level of conditioning in 1998 was a "ghost" that I have been desperately chasing for the last four years.

Hey, Skip! What Contributed to the Huge Improvements in Your Physique in 2002?

Since returning home after winning the overall title at the 2002 NPC Team Universe, many people have been asking me the question “What contributed to the huge improvements in your physique in 2002?”

During the next several months, I plan to break down, discuss, analyze, and present to you in an organized fashion exactly what caused my dramatic improvements in muscle mass and conditioning.

For now, however, I will give you a brief summary of the contributing factors.  

The Critical Last Week of Contest Preparation

For this year’s contest season, I made it my specific goal not to weigh over 215 pounds. I made this goal almost immediately after stepping off the Team Universe stage last year. Even though I can look very good and lean at 230 pounds, that much weight does not look the best on my frame. Packing-on as much muscle as humanly possible had always been what bodybuilding meant to me in the past. But competitive bodybuilding is also an art form. Anything more that 215 pounds on my frame takes away from its aesthetic appeal.

Secondly, this past year I finally discovered exactly what led me to my amazing 1998 condition. I knew that getting into that type of condition was obviously the result of a lot more than hard work. That awesome presentation all came down to my "fill up" process during the final week.

In the years between 1998 and this year, I would get to a certain "low point" in terms of weight during that last week and then start filling back up with food, water, and potassium.

This time around, however, I did things a lot more conservatively. And now, four years later, I can see this is what happened in 1998 as well. For the 2002 Team Universe (and for the 2002 USA as well), I got to that certain low point in terms of weight during the last week—and  let my weight continue to drop, drop, drop lower and lower. I knew I was looking better and better, so I wasn’t too worried what that number on the scale happened to read.

I kept track of all the figures and statistics during the entire process for future reference and to share my experiences with other competitive bodybuilders in the future. I weighed myself every couple of hours during the last week—even after the prejudging and Saturday before the night show.

I weighed-in on Thursday night at 216 pounds. But, did you know I weighed about 202 pounds posing down for the overall title on Saturday night? I weighed 205 pounds when I returned to the hotel after the pre-judging on Friday night. All day Saturday, my weight stayed at 205 pounds until I stopped eating at 6pm Saturday night.

It was those set of circumstances that resulted in the incredibly shredded look this year’s Team Universe and in 1998.

The Five Most Important Contributing Factors Throughout the Year

Outlined below are the most important and specific training, nutritional, supplementation strategies that were different and/or improved during this past year:

1. I followed Max-OT Training Execution to a “T” for 13 weeks before the Team Universe. I significantly reduced the volume of my training. I also changed my routine every few weeks which is something I didn’t do much of in the past.

2. I was better at my training execution and paid more attention to form more than ever over that time following Max-OT Training to a “T”. I improved my range of motion and stimulated the muscle more directly during every workout.  

3. I fully adopted and totally embraced Max-OT Cardio. I performed shorter, more intense cardio workouts in 16-minute sessions. I constantly challenged myself to raise my level of intensity and always document my performance.

Max-OT Cardio enabled me to get incredibly lean without sacrificing the size, quality, or fullness of my muscle.

4. I was extremely efficient with the type of food and the timing of the food I ate every single day. In other words, I adopted and embraced the “Nutrient Timing Factors” outlined by Paul Cribb early in the year and followed those winning nutritional strategies all season long..

About 70 percent of my calories for the day surrounded my workouts. Higher-glycemic, starchy carbohydrates were only consumed within the three hour window around my training. Vegetables were eaten throughout the other times of the day.

I  “bracketed” or surrounded all of my weight training sessions and my cardiovascular training sessions all season long with a mixture of VP2 Whey Protein Isolate, Creatine HSC, and GL-3 L-Glutamine.

When it came to supplementing with GL-3 L-Glutamine, I believed my body simply couldn’t get enough of it to aid in muscle recovery and repair. I had a small serving of GL-3 L-Glutamine with every single serving VP2 Whey Protein Isolate and Ny-Tro Pro 40 I ingested all year long.

5. I raised my standards with everything I did. I thought I was only going to do the NPC USA—and I knew I would have to perform much, much more effectively inside and outside the gym just not to embarrass myself due to the high level of competition at that show.

I didn't even know until the night of the pre-judging at the USAs (two weeks before the Team Universe) that I, as a past class winner, would be able to compete in the annual national drug-tested event. To be completely honest with you, I don't know if I would have been so driven and asked so much out of myself for such a long period of time if I knew I was just shooting for the Team Universe.

See 2002 NPC Team Universe Contest Photos

See a Photo Gallery of How My Physique Changed Week-by-Week During
the Final 16 Weeks of Contest Preparation