The Legend Tony Doherty

[TonyDoherty]

wow, have never seen that airbrush pic before!
Isnt there a pic of Ronnie in beast mode on the shrug machine in one of your gyms Tony?

Here you go!

[JM3K]

[Gorky88]

Tony, I cant help it anymore. I have to do this.

Can you compare Ronnie and Phil?

--
Give us some of your thoughts about these two guys and some of the other athletes that impressed you over the years and won your show too such as Kai Greene, Dennis Wolf and Dexter Jackson to name a few

Please

[Deano87]

Here you go!

Dat the one! Dear God!
I've already repped you so I cant rep you for a while. Get you soon.

[_XYDREX_]

OK here is my story, thanks for asking.

I started out in the gym business in about 1985, I had been working at a fitness centre in my home town for a year or two and saw an opportunity to buy it. I thought I knew everything and I paid way too much for it. At the time there was two gyms in a town of 100,000 people. Within three years there were nine gyms and the market share had shrunk. I still thought I knew it all and pushed ahead, losing money every month. I had gone into it with my parents backing and after the first few years just about lost the lot, including the family home. Being a cocky ****er, I just didn't get it and continued to think I knew it all, as young men do.

By 1994 things had become really bad, the town was over saturated by gyms, two more had opened up in my street and the wolves were circling. By then I was becoming well established as a bodybuilding promoter in Melbourne and knew that I needed to move quickly or lose the lot. I just could not see a way out. Then it hit me. I went to see the guy that had opened across the road, I knew his lease was coming up and he wanted to grow. I offered him my lease, all of my members and some equipment. I would walk away and he would get a better building and double his membership overnight. My only condition was that he would honour the members that had paid upfront, after all my folks still had to live int he town and I had to walk away with some dignity.

My dad has always been a partner in the business and we have become very close over the years, he still does all the bookwork and accounts which allows me to forge ahead.

I opened up in Brunswick, Melbourne in a small warehouse (400m2) with a truckload of worn out equipment, zero members and a dream. I had learned a lot but still thought I knew it all, there would be some more hard medicine ahead, all I had going for me was that I was too driven, stubborn or stupid to quit. At that time all I wanted was somewhere to train, somewhere to live and a Harley Davison motorcycle (one day).

The first year I lost everything to keep the doors open, house, cars, furniture, you name it I lost it. The phone or power got cut every month for the first year, at least. I had no where to live and no car, all I had was a vertical grill and a rice cooker. I slept on the couch at the gym most nights for that first 9 months, I would get up in the morning and walk up to the main road to get a paper and a coffee. This way it looked like I had come from somewhere when I would walk to the gym to open up at 6AM. I would work through to 9PM, most days on my own until everyone had left, once again I would lock up and pretend to head home until everyone had gone, then sneak back and let myself back in.

I stayed with Sonny Schmidt's family a couple of nights a week and his brother Pale stated working at the gym. They were very kind to me and that Samoan food kept me going. When Sonny moved back to Australia we managed to get a little rental across from the gym, it was a dump but worked great at the time. I started training like crazy with Sonny for the Olympia's and the gym started to get a following. People would come to watch us train and I started to get a few clients.

I still had nothing to show, but the gym was starting to go better and I had paid back most of the bills that I had bought with me. Once I started to get on top, I would buy a piece of equipment every time that I had some money in the bank. It was 6 years before started to get a regular wage but I managed to hustle up enough to survive between contests, personal training and a bit of debt collecting.

Holy sh!t I never imagined you struggled that hard for all those years. I was at the show when you bought Louie down in 93, even though I was pretty young I could tell you had true professionalism in the way you ran the show.
Also never knew you were that close with Sonny. Must have been pretty hard when he passed.

[TonyDoherty]

Holy sh!t I never imagined you struggled that hard for all those years. I was at the show when you bought Louie down in 93, even though I was pretty young I could tell you had true professionalism in the way you ran the show.
Also never knew you were that close with Sonny. Must have been pretty hard when he passed.

Wow, that is going back. That tour with Louie was one of the highlights of my whole career. He was incredible, 330lb in contest shape.

Yes I was very close with Sonny, he was best man at my wedding, just had our 13th anniversary.

Sonny and I lived together for a long time, trained together and traveled the world together, he was like my big brother. I still miss him every day.

[Jaixs]

Tony, I cant help it anymore. I have to do this.

Can you compare Ronnie and Phil?

--
Give us some of your thoughts about these two guys and some of the other athletes that impressed you over the years and won your show too such as Kai Greene, Dennis Wolf and Dexter Jackson to name a few

Please

Haha, well you gotta try

[Ehudd]

Bring a show to perth

[TonyDoherty]

Tony, I cant help it anymore. I have to do this.

Can you compare Ronnie and Phil?

--
Give us some of your thoughts about these two guys and some of the other athletes that impressed you over the years and won your show too such as Kai Greene, Dennis Wolf and Dexter Jackson to name a few

Please

Dont worry I will answer everything, as I think it through and get the time.

[TLF84]

Tony could you please PLEASE PLEASE open up a dohertys in ADELAIDE??? we are in need of a good training gym and not a corporate boutique ill even work for free to start her up

[TonyDoherty]

Tony could you please PLEASE PLEASE open up a dohertys in ADELAIDE??? we are in need of a good training gym and not a corporate boutique ill even work for free to start her up

I have actually had a lot of requests for Adelaide, we almost had a building about 6 months ago but it didn't work out.. The right building in the right location at the right price, or a good gym gone bad or run down and we are there.

[wtness]

Have you thought of franchising the name? Maybe get some people interested in opening a gym in sydney, ahem "me", to expand the name and legacy?

[TonyDoherty]

Have you thought of franchising the name? Maybe get some people interested in opening a gym in sydney, ahem "me", to expand the name and legacy?

We are always looking at ways to grow the brand, straight out franchising is not on my list just now. Having said that, a partnership with the right crew could possibly work. They would have to survive a thorough interview process and really understand the brand. I would never let it get in the hands of the wrong persons that may try to follow the industry into pathetic mainstream practices.

[TonyDoherty]

Question for you all. How come I cant inbed this Louie pic, I have tried the [url] thing, frustrating........

http://www.dohertysgym.com/images/st...tony_louie.jpg

[TheProgressiveOne]

Question for you all. How come I cant inbed this Louie pic, I have tried the [url] thing, frustrating........

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/attach...1&d=1326515294

Not sure if it's been attached properly, pm me and I'll help

[Jaixs]

Question for you all. How come I cant inbed this Louie pic, I have tried the [url] thing, frustrating........

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/attach...1&d=1326515294

Have you tried paying him 50 bucks before posting it?

[TonyDoherty]

Have you tried paying him 50 bucks before posting it?

Yes it worked!

[TonyDoherty]

I don't know if any of you guys follow WWE Wrestling, we have had them all train here during their Australian tours.

[tsiparlanaeht]

Lou was a Mountain of a man!

[baco_bacon]

Awesome thread! Keep them coming, Tony! Lou's pic... man he was enormous. I never realized truly how big that guy was

[tsiparlanaeht]

Tony thanks for the pics! May I ask what has been some of the most "holy crap look at that" moments you have ever had since you've met the who is who list of bodybuilders.

[TonyDoherty]

Awesome thread! Keep them coming, Tony! Lou's pic... man he was enormous. I never realized truly how big that guy was

He guest posed at 330lbs, in shape, he was a true superstar. I know he gets a lot of **** but to me he is bodybuilding royalty. i have a shot of him at that show somewhere, I will try to find it a post it up.

[featureless]

Tony, did you ever meet dorian or see him compete in his prime.

If so, is it true that pictures don't do his physique justice?

[TonyDoherty]

Tony, did you ever meet dorian or see him compete in his prime.

If so, is it true that pictures don't do his physique justice?

Yes I saw Dorian compete many times.

I emceed his 1st USA Pro Show, Night Of Champions in NYC, he lost to Benaziza, I think that and the Olympia to Haney were the only times he was ever beaten in his pro career.

I was at his 1st Olympia appearance in Orlando Florida and I was at his 1st Olympia win in Helsinki Finland. In fact I was back stage with him and in the press pit at the show.
He guest posed at my show after that and it was his first guest pose ever as Mr Olympia.

I will post up some pics later. I was also at the Olympia in 93, 94 and 97 from memory.

To answer your question, pics do not do him justice. In real life he look like he was carved out of granite, hard as nails and when he flexed he just got better and better. I remember being backstage with Sonny and seeing him walk in in clothes thinking he wasn't that big, then he would take his shirt off and have that much hanging muscle that it defied logic. He raised the stakes in pro bodybuilding and was an incredible athlete.

I remember interviewing him and asking him how could he beat Flex and Levrone and these guys with their genetics etc. His answer was simple, every time they broke their diet, he didn't, every time they had a crap workout or a day off he just went harder, he knew that they had potential in spades but he knew that he was mentally stronger than all of them put together.

[ONYDO]

Yes I saw Dorian compete many times.

I emceed his 1st USA Pro Show, Night Of Champions in NYC, he lost to Benaziza, I think that and the Olympia to Haney were the only times he was ever beaten in his pro career.

I was at his 1st Olympia appearance in Orlando Florida and I was at his 1st Olympia win in Helsinki Finland. In fact I was back stage with him and in the press pit at the show.
He guest posed at my show after that and it was his first guest pose ever as Mr Olympia.

I will post up some pics later. I was also at the Olympia in 93, 94 and 97 from memory.

To answer your question, pics do not do him justice. In real life he look like he was carved out of granite, hard as nails and when he flexed he just got better and better. I remember being backstage with Sonny and seeing him walk in in clothes thinking he wasn't that big, then he would take his shirt off and have that much hanging muscle that it defied logic. He raised the stakes in pro bodybuilding and was an incredible athlete.

I remember interviewing him and asking him how could he beat Flex and Levrone and these guys with their genetics etc. His answer was simple, every time they broke their diet, he didn't, every time they had a crap workout or a day off he just went harder, he knew that they had potential in spades but he knew that he was mentally stronger than all of them put together.

awesome

[sexnews]

Wow Lou is massive! Nice pic. Not interested in the WWE though.

[Proposturalized]

His answer was simple, every time they broke their diet, he didn't, every time they had a crap workout or a day off he just went harder, he knew that they had potential in spades but he knew that he was mentally stronger than all of them put together.

Damn, that's awesome. Talk about motivation!

[featureless]

Yes I saw Dorian compete many times.

I emceed his 1st USA Pro Show, Night Of Champions in NYC, he lost to Benaziza, I think that and the Olympia to Haney were the only times he was ever beaten in his pro career.

I was at his 1st Olympia appearance in Orlando Florida and I was at his 1st Olympia win in Helsinki Finland. In fact I was back stage with him and in the press pit at the show.
He guest posed at my show after that and it was his first guest pose ever as Mr Olympia.

I will post up some pics later. I was also at the Olympia in 93, 94 and 97 from memory.

To answer your question, pics do not do him justice. In real life he look like he was carved out of granite, hard as nails and when he flexed he just got better and better. I remember being backstage with Sonny and seeing him walk in in clothes thinking he wasn't that big, then he would take his shirt off and have that much hanging muscle that it defied logic. He raised the stakes in pro bodybuilding and was an incredible athlete.

I remember interviewing him and asking him how could he beat Flex and Levrone and these guys with their genetics etc. His answer was simple, every time they broke their diet, he didn't, every time they had a crap workout or a day off he just went harder, he knew that they had potential in spades but he knew that he was mentally stronger than all of them put together.

Wow!!! Thanks for such an honest and in depth answer.

This has made my day. Dorian is my favourite bodybuilder simply due to the way he inspires me. He inspires me for the reasons you just quoted.

Thanks again Tony. Have a nice day.

[Jaixs]

I remember interviewing him and asking him how could he beat Flex and Levrone and these guys with their genetics etc. His answer was simple, every time they broke their diet, he didn't, every time they had a crap workout or a day off he just went harder, he knew that they had potential in spades but he knew that he was mentally stronger than all of them put together.

Going on my fridge.

[TheProgressiveOne]

Will you work for free bro?

Yes, I will help out...I'm keen to break into the industry