Chris Cormier Interview

[Natural_O]

Check out the interview with Chris "The Real Deal" Cormier for the first episode of The Bodybuilding Legends Show. One of the best professional bodybuilders of the 1990's, Chris talks about his rise in the sport of bodybuilding to become one of the best in the world, his friendship and rivalry with training partner Flex Wheeler, some of the close contest decisions in his bodybuilding career, his run-in with Mike Tyson at a night club and his brutal training sessions with Dorian Yates. http://www.floridaphysique.com/#!Bod...0Cormier/c18n6

[NaturalLoco]

absolutely awesome, looking forward to the series.. was quite interesting to hear about the intensity of Dorian's workouts, from what you have seen and in your experience John, apart from Dorian.. if you could name your Top 3, both present and past.. who trained the hardest?

[massakra]

[Jevyzzz]

LMAO at any1 who respects dorian yates...

i have seen that secret video where he pretends to be m8s with chris cornier

hes all like "hey lets train legs together bro, i won 5 olympias and can help you win one 2"

chris cornier believes him and trains but dorian makes him puke everywhere with his deceptive tactics...

chris cornier never did win that samdow dorian stabbed him in the back

[Natural_O]

absolutely awesome, looking forward to the series.. was quite interesting to hear about the intensity of Dorian's workouts, from what you have seen and in your experience John, apart from Dorian.. if you could name your Top 3, both present and past.. who trained the hardest?

Thank you, glad you liked the show!
Hardest trainers? I would definitely put Tom Platz at the top of the list. He trained until he almost collapsed (he did collapse sometimes!).
They said Mike Mentzer trained very hard but I never saw him. Growing up in the '80's, a lot of local guys trained very, very hard in the gyms.
I think Mike Francois trained hard in his day because he went so heavy. To me, hard training is about using the basic exercises with very heavy
weights and sometimes doing really high reps with those heavy weights, especially for legs.

[Natural_O]

LMAO at any1 who respects dorian yates...

i have seen that secret video where he pretends to be m8s with chris cornier

hes all like "hey lets train legs together bro, i won 5 olympias and can help you win one 2"

chris cornier believes him and trains but dorian makes him puke everywhere with his deceptive tactics...

chris cornier never did win that samdow dorian stabbed him in the back

I think it's a little extreme to say Dorian stabbed him in the back! Chris was near the end of his career when he started training with Dorian.

[Jevyzzz]

I think it's a little extreme to say Dorian stabbed him in the back! Chris was near the end of his career when he started training with Dorian.

but he made him vomit everywhere from training legs after eating ice cream

people might think its hardcore and cool but its actually really unhealthy 2 puke from training

[NaturalLoco]

Thank you, glad you liked the show!
Hardest trainers? I would definitely put Tom Platz at the top of the list. He trained until he almost collapsed (he did collapse sometimes!).
They said Mike Mentzer trained very hard but I never saw him. Growing up in the '80's, a lot of local guys trained very, very hard in the gyms.
I think Mike Francois trained hard in his day because he went so heavy. To me, hard training is about using the basic exercises with very heavy
weights and sometimes doing really high reps with those heavy weights, especially for legs.

Thank you for the insightful reply, I didn't know about Mike Francois.. I'll have to look him up and do some reading, cheers!

[61PWCC]

Casey Viator did some ridiculous training before he won the Mr. America at 19 years old. One of his last workouts was Universal Leg Press for 20 reps with 750lb no rest onto 225lb for 20 reps on a Universal Leg Extension machine and again without resting went onto 500lb FULL Squats for 13 reps!! This was TWO DAYS BEFORE THE CONTEST!! Casey was one strong son of a gun!!

[61PWCC]

Check out the interview with Chris "The Real Deal" Cormier for the first episode of The Bodybuilding Legends Show. One of the best professional bodybuilders of the 1990's, Chris talks about his rise in the sport of bodybuilding to become one of the best in the world, his friendship and rivalry with training partner Flex Wheeler, some of the close contest decisions in his bodybuilding career, his run-in with Mike Tyson at a night club and his brutal training sessions with Dorian Yates. http://www.floridaphysique.com/#!Bod...0Cormier/c18n6

I have watched three-quarters of the interview and think its excellent. I've been lifting 30 years now and am probably the only person who thought Chris was much more symmetrical than Flex!! His Front Biceps showed the most symmetrical Biceps I've ever seen. I'm talking about magazines I have going back to 1934!! His Biceps looked just about identical. His waist was Sergio/Brian Buchannan-esque.
Flex too me, always looked too Frankenstein-ish. His arms were way too big for his torso. He didn't seem to have flowing lines. If you took single shots of say his back or his arms, he looked phenomenal but all put together...I just didn't get what the fuss was all about. Obviuosly, I am wrong for Flex won a boatload of trophies at the big shows. I would rather have seen Chris, Shawn Ray or Lee Labrada winning.

[NaturalLoco]

Also forgot to ask how often will you be doing these episodes? cheers

[trulyhuge1]

Enjoyed this very much. Cormier is a cool dude. Liked to party which held him (I think) from being his best. I always thought of him as a mix between Flex and Ronnie. Not as big as Ronnie, not as full muscle bellies as Flex but looked great! I preferred his physique to Flex Wheeler's as well.
I like your list of hardest trainers. Francois was one of the first "powerbuilders" in terms of training. Lots of basic movements, low reps, strong as hell!
Yates definately was the hardest trainer. I admire his approach to training and not "succumbing" to the norm. He took HIT training, tweaked it a bit and created the best physique of his time.
I'd lump Priest in there. "Hardest/hardcore" is a little misleading I think. Is it mandatory to yell, scream and act nuts like Branch? Yates was hardcore and made "some" noise, but not to that level. Priest moved some impressive weights and you could hear a pin drop when he was training. Was his training hardcore? Well, 500+lb squats, 180lb db presses, etc. seems pretty damn hard and legit in my book.

[Natural_O]

I have watched three-quarters of the interview and think its excellent. I've been lifting 30 years now and am probably the only person who thought Chris was much more symmetrical than Flex!! His Front Biceps showed the most symmetrical Biceps I've ever seen. I'm talking about magazines I have going back to 1934!! His Biceps looked just about identical. His waist was Sergio/Brian Buchannan-esque.
Flex too me, always looked too Frankenstein-ish. His arms were way too big for his torso. He didn't seem to have flowing lines. If you took single shots of say his back or his arms, he looked phenomenal but all put together...I just didn't get what the fuss was all about. Obviuosly, I am wrong for Flex won a boatload of trophies at the big shows. I would rather have seen Chris, Shawn Ray or Lee Labrada winning.

I agree with you. Chris was so symmetrical that he was often overlooked for some of the bigger guys but Chris was also very big and thick. When I was picking the photos to use with this video interview, I was surprised how I had forgotten how great Chris really was.

[61PWCC]

I agree with you. Chris was so symmetrical that he was often overlooked for some of the bigger guys but Chris was also very big and thick. When I was picking the photos to use with this video interview, I was surprised how I had forgotten how great Chris really was.

I believe the same thing happened to Bob Paris. Bob in his prime was 6' and on stage at 230. I think everything blended so well that nothing stood out if that makes any sense. His best showing was third behind Phil Hill and Robby Robinson at the 1988 Night of Champions(RIP).

[Natural_O]

Also forgot to ask how often will you be doing these episodes? cheers

It will be every week or every other week. This is the off season for the contest season for the next 3 months so I'm going to alternate the Florida Physique Report with the Bodybuilding Legends show every week. www.FloridaPhysique.com.

[Natural_O]

Casey Viator did some ridiculous training before he won the Mr. America at 19 years old. One of his last workouts was Universal Leg Press for 20 reps with 750lb no rest onto 225lb for 20 reps on a Universal Leg Extension machine and again without resting went onto 500lb FULL Squats for 13 reps!! This was TWO DAYS BEFORE THE CONTEST!! Casey was one strong son of a gun!!

Yes, that's when Casey was training with Arthur Jones for his 1971 Mr. America win. Jones supposedly trained Sergio in 1971 as well.

[stealth_swimmer]

great interview! thx for posting. Was awesome getting so much insight into this piece of bodybuilding history.

[Natural_O]

great interview! thx for posting. Was awesome getting so much insight into this piece of bodybuilding history.

You're welcome. I think we will all learn a lot from the greats of bodybuilding from the last few decades. I'm really excited about this new show!

[61PWCC]

If you get a chance to interview Mike Ashley or Jean-Paul Guillame...that would be interesting!!

[Natural_O]

If you get a chance to interview Mike Ashley or Jean-Paul Guillame...that would be interesting!!

Those would both be great interviews! Two awesome bodybuilders from the '80's.

[OTTO]

Had to dust off my password and log into this place just to say thanks for this. Awesome interview with my all time favorite bodybuilder. Great format and I loved the mixed in videos and pictures. All around awesome and really appreciate videos like this. Great Job and can't wait for the future ones.

[Oirad77]

Awesome interview

[fretslayer]

Thank you for the insightful reply, I didn't know about Mike Francois.. I'll have to look him up and do some reading, cheers!

Definitely look him up, the guy came on to the scene with a bullet in the mid 90's. I think he won his first 3 shows including and Arnold Classic. Career was cut short due to illness unfortunately. Had an epic physique, mass with aesthetics.

[Natural_O]

Had to dust off my password and log into this place just to say thanks for this. Awesome interview with my all time favorite bodybuilder. Great format and I loved the mixed in videos and pictures. All around awesome and really appreciate videos like this. Great Job and can't wait for the future ones.

Thank you very much, I appreciate that! I worked hard adding all those pics and video clips so I appreciate you mentioning it. I'm looking forward to doing some more good interviews in the future.

[JohnSmeton]

Great show and insightful about how after his career is over, he says he lacked in hitt training and it would have helped his body look better-

Thank you for the interview

[Natural_O]

Great show and insightful about how after his career is over, he says he lacked in hitt training and it would have helped his body look better-

Thank you for the interview

Thanks John, glad you liked it.

[BartPimpson]

Honestly, the guy's extremely hard to listen to. Sounds like he has an IQ of 70. I listened at 150% speed and was still bored.

Not a knock on Cormier. He was the third best bodybuilder in the world once (twice, actually). But if you want charisma and conversational skill, he's basically the anti Shawn Ray.