[suspenseful music playing]
Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[explodes]
[eerie music playing]
[man 1] The bodybuilder at its root
is concerned with self-development through self-mastery.
If you are in a day and age where you can more easily get
drug information about PEDs and how to cycle before you can get exposure
to what the significance or value of a rep is, that is a problem
because it makes it so that you are not able to be put in line
to appreciate the art form that this is, that this represents.
[suspenseful music playing]
[man 2] Marker, Generation Iron. Arnold interview take one.
[man 3] Arnold, where do you think the sport of bodybuilding is heading in the future?
What do you think is gonna happen to it?
[suspenseful music playing]
[man 4] In 1977, Arnold Schwarzenegger took bodybuilding into the mainstream
with a documentary Pumping Iron.
Since then, the sport grew along with the physiques of the competitors.
As athletes continue to grow, so do the public's awareness of steroids.
It became a media buzzword in the '90s
and soon became synonymous with bodybuilding.
From there, research and development
of anabolic substances and exercise science
continued making great strides and athletes grew bigger.
But is bigger better?
Have we sacrificed size for quality?
Do steroids help create a better show for the audience
or are they ultimately hindering the sport?
[dramatic music playing]
When you're a pro bodybuilder, they are... Every single one is on steroids.
Let's make that clear, right?
You know that, right?
I think the best answer is to allow the athletes to use the drugs
but provide medical treatment.
If you're gonna be great in anything,
you have to be a student of it first.
You know, is there a limit to growth?
You know, certainly there's a limit,
but I don't know that we found it.
I've worked with men who will say,
"If you told me that taking anabolic steroids is going to take 20 years off my life,
I would still do it because at least I would be big and muscular
in the time I was here."
It's risk versus benefit ratio
and I always tell people that if they want to go down that road that's up to them.
But when you're 25, you don't give a shit.
Steroids aren't addictive, steroids have never killed anybody, you know.
There's... There's no physiological proof, it's never been shown.
It's all what the media wants you to see.
"Anabolic" steroid users to a certain point of using the steroids
get left ventricular hypertrophy,
which is an enlargement of left ventricle
and they get a lower ejection fraction, which is heart failure.
Liver & Organ. So, I've been taking steroids for over 25 years, alright.
So, needless to say, you know, it does its damage and I'm aware of that.
I'm willing to take... you know, take my chances
but I'm gonna do it as safe as possible.
I want to say this, that I believe in drug-free bodybuilding
and I think it's very, very important as a person in the spotlight
that when it comes to talking about what choice should be made,
it's that unenhanced bodybuilding is the way to go.
And that can be done in every organization.
[plane swooshes]
[tranquil music playing]
[Vlad] Vegas is familiar to me.
It's been the home to one of the biggest bodybuilding shows in the world, Mr. Olympia.
But today, I arrive to explore a different competition, the Natural Olympia.
For over eight years, I've been documenting bodybuilding
and the many organizations within the sport.
Most of these organizations have one thing in common,
they generally don't drug test.
The bodybuilders who compete in these leagues
have gone far beyond what was thought possible,
across wide variety of divisions,
each showcasing different levels of muscularity and types of physiques.
But there is another world left unexplored in the realm of the sport,
natural bodybuilding.
These international competitions claim to enforce
strict drug policies on their athletes
and test them with the same standards used for the Olympics.
The Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association, more commonly known as the PNBA,
is the biggest natural bodybuilding organization in the world.
Despite this, I can't help but notice that the competitions are much more modest
in comparison to their untested rivals.
But this is the largest turnout of competitors in the PNBA's history
with over 450 professional and amateur contestants from all over the world,
all of them training and dieting for one purpose,
to win without the aid of anabolic substances.
This is their story.
[tranquil music playing]
[puffs air]
[calm music playing]
[woman 1] Turn left.
[Vlad] About a month ago,
I set out to meet the top athletes competing for Natural Olympia title.
Men and women with some of the best genetics and work ethics
who for varying reasons chose a drug-free path.
[announcer 1] Two-time Natural Olympia gold medalist...
[Vlad] The first athlete on my list was Rob Terry,
a reigning champion in men's open division for the last two years.
Originally from Wales, Rob came to U.S.
to pursue a career in professional wrestling
before making a name for himself in natural bodybuilding.
At 6.4, he towers over most of his peers
with a physique that commands attention.
- Well, how are you doing, Rob? - Good. How are you?
- Good to meet you, man. - Very good to meet you as well.
[Vlad] So, everything is set up. We are gonna be in that chair over there.
- [Rob] Okay. - [Vlad] And we'll... Right... Get right into it, man.
So, let's start from the beginning.
What is Natural Mr. Olympia for those who've never heard of it?
Natural Mr. Olympia, it's the biggest, the...
The best title that you can have as a natural bodybuilder.
Which organization do you represent? Which bodybuilding organization?
I compete and represent the... The INBA, PNBA.
The INBA, PNBA is a natural show where you get drugs tested.
That to me, was extremely important.
What's bigger than being the natural Mr. Olympia?
In my mind that was everything that I am.
I'm probably one of the biggest natural athletes in the world
and have been for a long, long time.
You... you don't see too many guys in the offseason especially that walk around,
280 pounds at six-foot-four, not a regular thing you see, but I possess that.
I want people in the natural bodybuilding circuit to be like, "Oh, my God!
This guy, he's huge and it's offseason. That guy is a freak."
And just accept me and understand you can do this on a natural level.
I want to be remembered as one of the best natural pro bodybuilders of all time.
[sighs]
[screams]
[thuds]
[Doug] You know, over the decades we've...
We've seen some freaks of nature that you would say
"Man, those guys were on the juice," you know,
"They're... They're taking steroids, I don't care what you say,"
and you'll hear people... Hear people say that about Rob.
That's just a statement without, you know, any facts behind it.
They just look like they've taken steroids.
I was really developing on a natural level and I was making big strides
and I just wanted to keep going and see how much I could do it on this level.
And I feel like I brought my physique to its natural full potential.
And what I love is that I'm able to maintain and keep it all year-round.
Rob Terry is a phenom, they would say, in natural bodybuilding.
He's an excellent competitor, an excellent natural bodybuilder,
and he is gonna stay, you know, at the top of the mountain for a little while.
[Doug] It's asked by Rob to run his blood work multiple times
and, uh, thoroughly convinced that, uh, he's natural athlete.
And that's one great thing about Rob.
Open book, you know, show up at his house, test him anytime-type person.
And you don't see that real often.
[Rob] One of the things that I told, um, Iron Man Magazine,
I told my sponsors and I also told the president of the INBA, PNBA,
is that it's really important for me as a champion of the INBA
to not only be tested on the show
which I've been tested every single time that I've won the title, but I...
I also wanted to be tested throughout the year randomly.
Three, two, three...
[Vlad] Have you ever considered or thought about taking performance-enhancement drugs?
[Rob] Given that I have one kidney, it wouldn't be a good health decision for me.
My body wouldn't be able to do it.
And it was just one of those decisions that I made very earlier on in my life.
I know my parents are real pretty concerned about my general health
but they supported me one thousand percent
as long as I stayed natural and healthy.
[John] Rob is very, very health conscious.
When he was eight years old, he had quite a life-changing experience.
He... he suffered from a severe case of hydronephrosis,
which actually meant he had to have a kidney surgically removed.
I'll never forget the day we went to the hospital and it was diagnosed.
And Chris and I both thought how on Earth are we gonna tell Robert
what the problem is and what's gonna have to happen.
And we were worried how he'd react to that.
And we were totally amazed when we told him, he just looked at us and said,
"Well, thanks for explaining that to me, I understand.
What have I got to do to get better after the operation?"
- And that was, to my mind, incredible. - Yeah.
Um, that he had such determination to get healthy again.
[inaudible]
- Yeah, I got it. - Okay.
Come here. Swing, please.
Pick which one you want to go on.
This swing? That one? This one? All right, let's jump...
[Brandon] If you haven't asked your support structure,
"Hey, this is what I want to do and this is what I need from you,"
it's never gonna happen.
Do your cardio, do your workout, prep your meals,
still be with your significant other
and have them understand that there are times
when you're really tired or really hungry
and you don't want to go out and sit at a restaurant and not eat it.
[Rob] ...straight down there.
I think it can be hard in a situation where you're with someone
and they don't understand what you're doing.
I'm really, really fortunate and I'm really lucky that my wife understands
everything that I do.
She understands everything that I want to do.
And she's incredibly supportive of that.
Yeah, I want to say I want to be the longest reigning
Natural Mr. Olympia champion back to back.
It's a goal that I'm hundred percent committed to.
[calm music playing]
[Vlad] Philip Ricardo Jr., originally a skinny kid from Brooklyn.
Phil joined the Marines at a young age where he began building his physique.
He developed quickly and was soon entering
and winning the bodybuilding competitions.
Eventually, he won enough titles to earn a nickname, "The Legend."
He's since retired from pro bodybuilder.
But at 48 years old, he has decided to come back
to reclaim his title of Natural Olympia.
[Philip] My family situation was... It was pretty rough.
My father, unfortunately, he went to jail,
so that's why I moved from Rochester to Brooklyn.
I was a very shy kid, pretty skinny.
Um, you know, I was in projects, so it's kind of, you know,
intimidating to be around that kind of atmosphere.
But it was that growing up I wanted to be healthy.
And I actually grew up very sickly.
I had asthma as a young kid.
It was more of a selfish thing, I wanted to be successful.
And I saw all these other bodybuilders, you know, being on ESPN and TV,
and so, I wanted to be on TV, I wanted to be in magazines, I wanted to be on the cover.
But as I've gotten older and family and kids and everything else,
you see that those things don't matter and all these things that I do is just kind of,
like, it's nice but it doesn't mean anything when it comes to eternal life.
I've seen the lifestyle around me, not just that, you know, drinking, drugs.
I saw my parents, you know, they were smoking stuff in the car while we're driving.
And me trying to do anything that would, you know,
deter me from being healthy by taking some kind of drugs
or putting anything bad into my system
would be counterproductive to a healthy lifestyle.
To be honest, I didn't really have this focused on my radar until really late
and people, you know, are always asking when I'm going to come back.
So, I thought it'll be just something good to do.
So, yeah, I feel like I wish I had more time to just really, really prepare.
But I also feel that I am in a good place now and I feel I am gonna be ready.
The one thing I'm most proud of is the fact that I've competed
against probably all the top natural bodybuilders.
I've been fortunate enough to have beaten all of them.
Well, we'll see what happens with Rob. I don't know if that's gonna happen, but...
I will never to see myself as being a legend,
but I think just because I have been in the sport so long
and going up against all the top guys.
[Brandon] When it comes to Phil, he is, to me, what drew me into natural bodybuilding.
It's the idea that you have this almost unattainable level
of not just physical appearance but sportsmanship overall.
Philip Ricardo Jr. is a past winner, 2015,
of this Natural Olympia and he's gonna try to take care of Rob.
[birds chirping]
[Philip] You know, been divorced and have, you know, extended family all over the place.
Not too long ago, my parents both passed away.
It's nice kind of how God works where you may lose something
and then you gain something else in... In return.
Now being engaged to... To Kelly, it's...
It's amazing that, you know, all the things I've been through, relationship-wise,
that I was able to find finally at this age, 48 years old,
a woman that really, I understand and she understands,
maybe we speak each other's love language.
[Kelly] I can't wait till Vegas when, uh, we go to that buffet he's been talking about.
So, that's good.
[Philip] She's been supportive the entire time.
She helps cook some of my food for me if I need it.
And so, having support and having someone that's not going to make it tougher on me
because it's already a very tough sport is definitely a blessing.
[Kelly] He has a very restrictive diet, which, you know,
we already know that chicken is one of the cleanest protein you could have besides fish
and that is the two things that he's been eating to prepare for his competition,
which is actually very perfect for our human body.
[Philip] So, like I said, Rob is huge, Chris is huge.
I've learned even in my last Olympia in 2015 that I won,
I had to go up against another great legend,
hall-of-famer Michael Waddington and another guy called Martin Daniels.
These guys are big.
And I knew if I came in just trying to get as super lean,
that's not gonna beat those guys.
[ominous music playing]
People could say I have good genetics but if I show a picture of when I was,
you know, in high school just that kind of like a straight up and down beanpole
and I think me training brought out whatever genetics I did have.
To be honest, I can't come in there saying I want...
I don't want to win because that doesn't make sense.
If you're a champion, you are always gonna want to win.
So, it's more of I want to go out there against guys I've never competed against
and once again test myself, you know, see where I'm at.
I'm 48 years old now, I'm not a spring chicken,
and no matter what the outcome, I'm gonna congratulate the winner
and, hopefully, I'm congratulating myself.
This is gonna be a dogfight, you know.
[light music playing]
[Vlad] You think testing for steroids and eliminating it from the sport
would maybe help it become mainstream?
No, not at all.
You have natural bodybuilding.
Nobody knows who they are.
All these organizations pop up and they try to compete against the NPC and the IFBB.
They're not gonna get there because everybody wants...
Has their Mr. Olympia dreams.
They want to step on that Olympia stage.
You know, that lure is too strong.
People like freaks. They write freaks. The... The sport has evolved.
What natural bodybuilding organizations am I familiar with?
Probably none. I mean, I don't... I don't really... Like I said, the...
I mean, the only organization I'm really familiar with is the IFBB.
As for actual set natty organizations, I don't know
and I don't really even buy that, you know, all of them are natural.
It's not that drug-free bodybuilding was as big.
I think number one, the information of the other realities that exist
wasn't as prevalent as it is now.
I don't know what started this whole idea that natural bodybuilding
was supposed to be unconditioned and boring
and, you know, smaller guys and nobody comes in conditioned.
I... I really hope that this portion of this decade and... And...
And this timeframe in our lives shows people
that it's about the excitement of the sport,
it's not about your lane, and our lane is natural bodybuilding.
[tranquil music playing]
[Vlad] The choice to use anabolics in the sport of bodybuilding
is just that a personal choice.
Athletes choose to use these drugs for different reasons
from expanding the limits of your genetics
to achieving recognition and accolades on a bodybuilding stage.
While it is a choice,
it's also assumed the more successful athletes and media influencers
enhance their bodies and get more attention because of that.
Mike O'Hearn, a former PNBA athlete,
has managed to become one of the most famous bodybuilding influencers
without the use of anabolic substances.
Though many people, both in and out of the industry, do not believe him.
[car rumbling]
Good to see you. I like you guys all coming in all pimpin looking.
Ready for you.
[laughter]
- It's cool, man, to have your own gym - Thank you. Thank you.
Welcome to the castle.
Can you tell me how you became a natural bodybuilder?
How did you get into it and why did you decide to be a natural bodybuilder?
My dad was a bodybuilder, football player, mom was a martial artist, so we just...
We all were bred for this.
Started at 9, competed at 13, Olympic lifting, 14, stepped on stage,
competed against 20 19-year-olds,
and at 14 years old, I beat them all.
[Vlad] How did you discover - INBA/ - PNBA league?
How'd you discover it and why you chose to compete for them?
It was the first show I discovered that was natural.
Um, and so, it was like in '89, and they had a show
and I drove down to Northern California and competed and I won the show.
I just thought it was a pretty badass thing.
Do people question you when... When you say you're natural,
- do they question you and say, "You can't be natural?" - Since I was 13 years old.
- Your whole life? - Since 13 years old. Imagine that.
I don't think he's natural.
I think... I don't think he's taking it to the insane levels, you know,
but, personally, I think he's dabbled in it here and there.
If I had to bet my house and is Mike O'Hearn natural
or is Mike O'Hearn on drug, of course, I'd bet my house that he's not natural.
So, I don't want to discount his hard work,
he is an extremely hard worker in the gym.
He has an incredible physique. He defies age.
But I don't believe for a minute that he's not using performance-enhancing drugs.
[man whoops]
[Mike Ryan] The old Michael, the Mike O'Hearn mystery.
I've known Mike for years and if he claims he'd be natural then I get he's natural.
You know what I mean? I... I'm not gonna refute him. But I will say one thng.
I mean people pick on this guy all the time
but I've been in that Gold's Gym since 1990 and Mike's been there
and that son of a bitch is there at four o'clock.
His life is dedicated to building his physique and no one can take that away.
Could be natural and looks like Mike it would be Mike. But Mike is probably
the one person out there that if a human being is capable of doing it, it's probably Mike.
Mike O'Hearn, even I see all these things that people say about him.
He's been doing this thing for a long time.
He powerlifts, he's strong, he's just...
He's just a freak just like Rob Terry, you know.
And I think that because he's still affiliated,
he's so involved with the Federation,
I don't think someone like that would be involved
if they were doing something that wasn't, you know, clean.
- I didn't know. - Did Joe hook it up?
Yeah. I'm doing it. Let's do it.
It really... It doesn't matter if you do it or don't do it
or if you believe I do it or don't do it doesn't matter.
I didn't make my career off of this.
What matters on, I always say if I did it,
my career would have been over in the '90s like everybody else's from back then.
And I can't think of anybody that stayed consistent as long as I have.
And that's solely nutrition.
[Vlad] Mike hasn't competed in years,
but he remains active in a natural bodybuilding world as a mentor
to up-and-coming talent.
[Mike O'Hearn] After you. Come.
[Vlad] Most recently, he has taken an interest in Adrian Pietrariu,
a Romanian refugee who stays in constant shape
by competing throughout the year.
I love this.
- Already, baby. - Now I get to watch.
From one champ to another, huh.
[chuckles]
- Let's throw down today, let's have some fun. - Let's do this.
[indistinct chatter]
[Vlad] Can tell you about Adrian, your relationship with him,
and kind of how would you assess him as an athlete as a competitor?
Adrian's focused. He's very precise.
He's a businessman, that's first and foremost.
And he does it for himself but he does not like anybody else to...
If they're gonna take stuff, he's definitely one against them.
Well, I usually want to be at 190,
so, uh, it gives me a lot of room to add some more carbs much lower...
[Mike O'Hearn] Adrian reveals the plans to finally step on a pro stage at a Natural Olympia
and compete against top talent like Rob and Phil.
But he's hesitant to do so.
Nice, nice.
[groans]
[sighs]
[inaudible].
[exhales]
Nice, nice.
[Mike O'Hearn] One thing is, and... And the main thing for him is to believe in himself,
um, because I know for the longest time he didn't go to the open and I wish he had.
I couldn't understand him still doing the...
The amateur shows and not doing the open.
[Vlad] Right.
So, for me it's just... It's a different mindset.
Um, I think he looks great.
I'm very curious to see when he actually crosses over into the pro class how he does.
He's a great competitor and I... I...
I hope soon that he stops competing amateur and...
And moves into the pro because I think he would do... Do well.
Just like you're on stage now, come on.
[Mike O'Hearn] A lot of people say, well, that's not the best because they're natural.
- Uh, you know... - Any rebuttal on that?
You know, yeah, uh, it is the best because the other way you're actually cheating.
So, if you're cheating, is that the best or not the best?
So, if you're throwing in things that, you know, are ways to cheat,
does that make you the best or does that make you just the best cheater?
- I'm going off here I'm just... - You know what I'm saying?
- I'm... I'm... I'm asking you the questions here, baby. - I'm telling you.
I'm telling you. I'm telling you. That's the way I feel.
- [Mike O'Hearn] Okay. - So, if you're using something other than yourself...
Your own best, right, so you're using ways to cheat, then it's not your best.
When if somebody has low testosterone or something,
and so, they're already fighting an uphill battle?
I think you have to do the best you can with what you have.
You know what I mean? So, there's a 43-year-old guy at the gym.
Hey, bro, I used to look like you.
When?
When you're 16?
I'm 41, motherfucker.
[chuckles]
You see what I'm saying? So, there... There's some hypocrite...
Hypocrites out there that say, "Hey, I look like this.
I'm doing it naturally," but they really aren't.
Well, I am, so...
Tell me when you're feeling it.
Yeah, I like to get that pump, you know.
- No, no, no... - Like, you feel like to get that blood flowing there.
- Don't show it until you're ready. - Right, right.
- [exhales] - I like the dryness, though.
Yeah.
See.
The Romanian blood.
- [laughs] - These vampires.
- [laughs] - Right.
Gotta love that.
[Adrian] This is my pro debut, man.
- Uh, I'd been... - [Mike O'Hearn] So, wait a minute.
Biggest show in the world, your pro debut,
- you're jumping in head to head with the greatest. - Yeah.
Then you just said, you know what, I'm getting in the fight this time.
I don't want to play around with the amateurs this time.
This time I want the very best of the best and that's it.
Well, I've been winning at all, so the next thing is gonna be... What's the next thing?
You gotta go to the next level, right?
[inaudible]
[Adrian] I'm excited being, you know, on the biggest stage, you know,
with all these athletes from...
The best natural athletes from all over the world that are coming in,
- I mean, from everywhere. - [Mike O'Hearn] Right.
So, it's not like just the U.S. or just...
- This is worldwide, man. - This is worldwide.
This is the Olympics for natural bodybuilding.
Getting ready for this show, is there anybody that you think you need to beat
or is it you coming in in your best wins this?
[Adrian] Me coming to my best is gonna win this.
[Mike O'Hearn] Play it up, play it up. Show them everything.
How many shows have you done drug tested?
[Adrian] So, uh, I've been competing, uh, since 2009
and, uh, I got tested from the very first show and every show after...
But people have... People have scammed and... And...
And snuck past those tests before, polygraph and urine and blood.
So, how... How is, uh... You never been busted for it?
[laughs]
Yeah, there's not gonna be busted if I'm not taking anything.
[Mike O'Hearn] There we go. There we go.
It's gonna be very hard to be busted when you're not taking anything. It's like...
Is it... Is it something more to you than just competing and doing it naturally?
- Is there something... What is it? - Man..
You know what it is for me, how can I eat really clean?
Chicken, rice, fish, turkey,
train hard, put all this great stuff in my system
and then throw in a substance that actually ruins my entire body,
uh, ruins my health, uh, you can end up dying from it.
It sounds very hypocritical to me.
Now is this what you normally eat after or roughly?
Yeah, I like to keep it pretty simple.
Um, I live alone, so for me, simplicity is, uh, the key.
Is...
[clears throat]
How important is nutrition in, uh, natural bodybuilding?
So, a hundred percent nutrition,
a hundred percent the gym and a hundred percent mindset.
So, uh, three hundred percent.
Salute.
[ominous music playing]
[Adrian sighs]
[Adrian] In '89, we decided to, uh, escape communism,
we ran over the border with my parents, my brothers. And my...
My mother being pregnant, they caught us over the border. They took us to, uh, jail.
My mother and the kids, we went to, uh, house arrest and my, uh...
My father, he went to a regular prison.
Two weeks later, they brought us together.
We said, well, the next place where we want to go, so, we try for the U.S.,
where the U.S., took us about three months or so to find out
and then the U.S. accepted us.
So, which... The U.S. was Michigan.
No, the other one... right there. Yeah, that one.
When we came to the U.S.,
going from where we were to coming here
was seemed like almost like it was heaven, right,
like things that we've never seen.
Grocery stores, they were full of just like what do we want to eat.
Toy store, and like what are you gonna buy as a young kid, right? We couldn't even figure it out.
Just things that we, you know, never really had.
[thrilling music playing]
I thought that all the guys that were taking drugs
that they were getting those results by being natural,
by taking the creatine and all this other supplements,
so, I was like, "They're taking supplements." I was naive.
So, first of all, I'm very competitive.
So, I don't like to lose.
I have always trained hard. I have always loved to compete.
So, when I go to the gym, like, if you and I train together, then I want to do more than you.
So, if you're doing 10 reps, I want to do 12, 15 reps.
It doesn't matter who you are.
And I don't like to do anything half-assed.
How do I beat the guy that's following the book?
I'm gonna create my own book.
I'm gonna do my own way.
And I'm gonna push myself so hard
because a lot of us don't know how much we can really handle.
And I want to win against the best in the world.
[suspenseful music playing]
[door closes]
[traffic noises]
[Vlad] The next athlete lives on the other side of the world in Qatar.
At six-foot-three, Christopher Oketch is able to display an impressive physique
that could rival Rob Terry in size.
Despite splitting his time between strongman and bodybuilding competitions,
Chris managed to move up to the third place in 2018.
Oh, hey.
- Let's do it, man. Let's do it. - Yes, yes.
What do we have here?
[indistinct chatter]
[Vlad] In less than two months,
we will see if he's able to close the gap and take Rob's title.
[treadmill whirring]
[Christopher] My trademark is that I'm three in one.
I'm a bodybuilder, a strength athlete and a fitness athlete.
So, in my training, I get to train the hardest.
Maybe I'm probably the hardest, you know,
worker in the bodybuilding or the Mr. Olympia coming up.
And I have to train strength events and bodybuilding.
So, in bodybuilding, you're training muscles.
In strength events, you... You're training movements for time.
[whoops]
[light music playing]
I was born and raised in a slum setting in the streets of Nairobi.
We had very big family, ten siblings.
Pretty much been very active all my life.
[metal clanking]
[groans]
I chose to stay natural because why
it's the only way that I could have gone as far as I could in this sport.
[thuds]
Chris Oketch is that guy that comes from a place that you've never been,
that you've never heard of, but he comes out of nowhere and you're like,
"Do they all look like this?" I mean, he's huge. The guy's enormous.
He's quiet, soft-spoken, but imposing onstage.
I mean you... You see him and you could be ten rows back in the crowd
and he's just larger than life.
[ominous music playing]
Feeling like a new man.
Yeah. [chuckles]
I want to be that Natural Olympia, the new Natural Olympia.
And I believe this given that, you know,
from where I come from,
from where I'm at right now and my discipline.
[Kai] The idea of being able to develop a...
A disciplined way of thinking that shaped or had a positive effect
on your mental, spiritual, and physical development,
the thing that I found to help me do that was cloaked in this idea of bodybuilding.
Learning how to pose, learning how to show your physique,
learning how to develop your physique.
Latissimus dorsi, what is it... This is beautiful. Wow.
Beautiful.
[Adrian] Bodybuilding is all about understanding what are your weaknesses
and working those harder.
So, symmetry, size and how cut you're able to be,
those are the three main things, technically.
My whole life is, is my passion is to... To...
To change bodybuilding where it really should be, you know, a beautiful sport.
You know, this is my heritage, you know, the history of Greece,
the history of the sports, the Olympics and it was...
It was the beauty of the... Of the physique, you know.
The way it was created was because the direction of what the bodybuilding
was going in the '80s.
The people were getting freaky, it was becoming unhealthy,
especially when the women starting to look like men, it ruined the sport.
I wanted to go back to what really bodybuilding should be like.
I thought it was the time for us to start a new organization
where it's really truly given even playing field and it's... It's a natural movement.
[announcer 2] Ladies, face front on the judges.
[Diana Kakos] Natural bodybuilding for me and the organization
is to promote health, wellness, life longevity
and to give the elite natural athletes the platform to compete and be competitive.
[applause]
We have never ended traditional female bodybuilding.
I love female bodybuilding.
We want to be able to enjoy the...
The beautiful physique of... Of our... Of our female athletes.
Women's figure is a very specific subset of the category, so I think it's...
It's almost not even fair to not talk about that piece of it
in terms of the division as a whole.
[Vlad] The women's figure division
is one of the most competitive categories in the league.
Alondra Chatman and Tiffany Stosich are two of the division's top athletes.
[traffic noises]
Just as male competitors, both women managed to find time to get ready for the competition
while balancing work and family.
[Tiffany] I grew up in West Valley, so it's kind of a rougher area.
My mom was divorced, so we kind of didn't live in the nicest places.
We usually rented rooms from other people
and it was just a hard time growing up with little money.
And my mom just did what she could to take care of us, so.
[car doors closing]
[car rumbling]
Thanks for looking after us.
So, growing up, I was kind of like an outcast
and I feel like I didn't grow up with the best genetics,
like I was always overweight, I was teased.
And then as soon as I got into lifting in high school,
I had a coach that was a bodybuilder
and he wanted me to do a lot of powerlifting.
So, I felt like it just helped me learn that through hard work,
you can do anything that you want.
[thumping]
[claps]
[Vlad] So, when did you begin your career as a bodybuilder?
Let's see. That probably would have been around 2000,
um, that I actually paid attention to it
as being something that I might be able to do.
And then, I had a cancer scare, so that kind of just pushed
everything back for me not being able to actually get to the stage.
[blender whirring]
It's always a challenge to balance career and family.
Being a wife and a mom, that's definitely a job.
It's not something you can ignore in any way and have it all function.
[car door closes]
[car rumbling]
[light music playing]
The gym is more than a job. I mean, this is my passion.
And, I mean, I worked for corporate for several years at Visa.
I left that to open a gym. We had a small facility.
It was just me when I first opened.
You just kind of make it work how you can.
[indistinct chatter]
[light music playing]
[Tiffany] I've done probably around 20 shows in my life.
I've done a lot of different federations from, um, NPC, NGA, IFBB Elite Pro,
and then now, I'm currently with the PNBA.
I just switched to natural after I had kids
'cause I just realized that I couldn't compete in the other leagues.
[Alondra] I can say as a woman, that every five years or so, things change slightly.
The more that I am focused on nutrition and staying consistent with my workouts,
the less change I see.
The strategy that I have right now is to maintain and even slightly improve
on what I brought to the last show.
[light music playing]
[Tiffany] I'm naturally a bigger girl
and I know like with being a bigger girl, I can build muscle easily,
but it's not easy for me to stay lean.
I have to like really watch what I eat.
And then having hypothyroidism is another, like, downfall with bodybuilding,
it's like my... My metabolism is really slow,
so, it's just having to like work even harder.
[Alondra] I want to walk home with again the... The gold medal and say,
"Hey, all this work that I've been doing for the last two years
ended up with me coming home with that first place,"
because that's literally the biggest show of the year and everyone wants to win.
Everyone is coming for that win.
[Tiffany] I've always been a hundred percent natural.
The reason why I decided when I got into the next level
is when everyone was starting to take steroids
and I just said that's not what I'm gonna do
and I'm gonna prove everyone wrong that I can do it without that.
[ominous music playing]
[Vlad] What's a typical bodybuilder's anabolic cycle looking like?
There's probably 2000 chemicals that have been... That... That have been derived.
But there's about 150 that have been produced in the world. And there's about 25.
Anadrol, Dbol, testosterone, esters, nor-19 drugs,
DHT derivatives, testosterone derivatives.
Those are steroids. Then you go on to SARMs.
There's a bunch of SARMs, right, there's about five or ten SARMs.
It sounds great for SARM, Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator, right?
There's no question that the future in real chemistry and science
is looking to a SARM.
[Vlad] The natural bodybuilders, however, are only limited to over-the-counter supplements
such as protein, amino acids, creatine, and vitamins.
As the result, natural physiques look drastically different from the enhanced.
You can judge for yourself.
[ominous music playing]
So, steroids, how dangerous are they really?
[Dr. Peter] When you look at the research where performance-enhanced athletes,
especially bodybuilders, when they get into their 40s and 50s,
they have lots of challenges with heart, with liver, with kidneys,
with brain and all of this function.
It has everything to do with this so-called steal syndrome
because they're stealing energy away from those organs to maintain that muscle.
Steroids are creating more muscle tissue because you recover faster,
you put on more muscle than your body would naturally allow you.
And so, the bigger you get, artificially,
the more you steal energy from those other organs
and you cause problems there long term.
When you use regular steroids, I don't care if you're 18, 19, 20 or 45,
and you gain that kind of weight, you know what happens, Sir?
Do you understand what happens?
If you grow this, you're gonna grow the left ventricle of the heart.
Mm-hmm. Now, you do it in four or five months, probably microscopic changes.
You're not gonna see it on a gross level.
You keep doing it, it's just gonna be like anything else, Sir.
You're gonna end up having side effects.
Natural bodybuilding aside, bodybuilding and fitness, in general,
is about health and to... To kind of have the understanding
that because this is a controlled substance, that we won't study it
to prove how dangerous or I'll go the extra mile,
or to disprove that it's not dangerous, is dangerous in and of itself.
Is it true if you take enough steroids and you do different things,
are you able to have a higher-level performance? Absolutely.
For people to say you don't, they're stupid, right?
But what it does is it can take someone that's already training hard
and all that and doing great make him a little bit better.
And so, they do do that, absolutely.
But the problem is,
is they do it at a cost and we don't know what that cost is for each individual.
I don't think that natural bodybuilders or natural bodybuilding exists
because it's not natural to take the body to a super muscular state.
That's not necessary for survival.
I mean, the problem is, that everybody thinks steroids are bad.
I don't believe they're bad.
I believe they're tools to enhance our quality of life, to enhance our performance,
to take us places the human body couldn't otherwise go.
Everybody's on steroids. Everybody.
From the doctor to the lawyer, to the judge, to the guy who plays, you know,
weekend golf, to the girl who just wants to lose weight, everybody's taking it.
[Kai] Because I was natural and still able to be 260 pounds in my offseason,
when I went into the natural competitions and natural organizations,
won in short teenage class and the overall.
And when it came to the idea of taking enhancements
to become even bigger and better athlete,
that was, at some point, very seductive.
A lot of times when you say you're natural or do do drugs, especially PEDs,
it is "technically cheating".
Steroid is such an ugly word to the world, you know what I mean?
They use it in such a bad connotation.
When something's bad, it's... That's on steroids, you know.
But the funny thing is when you're sick,
when you're hurt, if you're burnt or anything,
the first thing you take is a steroid to get you better.
The fact that when you're on steroids, everything changes, you know.
There's a whole feeling. It... It's... It's a euphoric feeling.
When you take anabolic steroids, it's a euphoric feeling.
I think anybody, athlete-wise, is tempted to take it because it enhances everything.
Football players do it. Baseball players do it. We know that it in all sports.
Gymnasts do it. Swimmers do it. Um, it makes you better.
So, it really just comes down to the individual how bad do they want it.
[Vlad] The use of anabolics goes way beyond bodybuilding.
It goes beyond sports.
It's common in the entertainment industry as well,
where stars are required to go through radical transformations in a matter of months.
Are steroids prominent in Hollywood? Yes.
You know, from one screen performance to the next, you know,
some people have immense muscle growth,
massive development in... In that short time.
A lot of it can't be done naturally.
Now, I've had actors in the past or pro athletes show up
that I've never worked with that have started alluding to questions on that
and I just can't answer him because I just don't know.
It's just not a world that I want to be affiliated with.
Any actor I have ever worked with,
every film that we've gotten them ready for,
we've all looked at it at the end and we've been really proud of.
Whether they've had enough time or they haven't had enough time, it's okay.
When you tighten things up, nutritionally, from a training standpoint,
from a recovery standpoint,
and you really start tweaking things that people just don't want to tweak,
you'd be shocked to see what the body can do.
The times have changed.
We look at the superheroes from 20 years ago to now.
You had, you know, you had Arnold and Van Damme and Stallone,
now you have Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans,
the image of the superhero is not massive, muscular freaky.
You don't see guys like me anymore.
You see more the European look, the slim look.
[mellow music playing]
[thuds]
[Vlad] Natural bodybuilding is a passion and a source of pride for its competitors,
but it doesn't pay all the bills.
While many athletes stay entrenched in fitness
as personal trainers, nutritionists, or gym owners,
others have chosen occupations outside of the fitness industry.
Rob Terry is a firefighter for the city of St. Petersburg, Florida.
He usually spends long shifts on call at the firehouse.
[Rob] What's up, guys?
[Rick Chipelo] I'd heard we hired a professional athlete
and when I first saw him, I was like, "That's a big dude."
So, it was kind of interesting and he came through here
and I knew that we wanted him as part of this family.
Since he has been here, everybody is really tuned into him
and what he's doing and following him and supporting him
and we're trying to watch what he's doing.
And he's very dedicated to it and it's... It's fun to watch.
[man 5] Some hot sauce.
[Rob] I'll take... You know what, I'll take some hot sauce.
[Rick] One thing that I do with personnel when they come through is,
I sit down and talk with them and try to find out what makes them tick,
inspire them, and motivate them, but I can't really inspire Rob.
He... He's so disciplined with everything that he does,
there's really not much that I can teach him on discipline.
- [man 6] Do a lot of other stations know that he's here? - [man 7] Everyone knows.
[woman 2] Yeah, everybody knows.
I was talking to a friend of mine who works in Hillsborough County...
[laughs]
...and he was telling me how much weight he's gained and this and that.
And he was like, "Well, I'm no Rob Terry, but..."
I'm like, "How do you even know Rob Terry?"
He eats his cereal with coffee.
- I had a lot of questions about that. - Yeah.
[woman 3] Every morning [inaudible] just the whole thing of black coffee.
- Yeah, pours black coffee in his cereal and stirs it up and... - It saves time, right?
- [man 6] Well, you're following the chicken stock... - [woman 3] Yes, yeah.
- ...with coffee right now. - That's true.
- [woman 3] Go get them. - [beeping]
Don't let the old man beat you, Rob.
- I'll give it my best shot. - [Dispatch over loud speaker] [inaudible]
[Brandon] Keeping a day job, it is difficult for us
because, you know, if you wake up at 5:00 a.m.
to do an hour of the workout and 30 minutes of cardio,
that's like the first six weeks of training.
Who's to say you're not going to need a second training,
or that you do that seven days a week with a newborn kid.
Um, if I win a bodybuilding show in the Naturals, even if I do, you know,
the major world championship, what am I winning, five, seven grand if I'm lucky.
So, it's one of those real double-edged swords that what makes lasting pros
is their ability to handle that type of stressor.
[Philip] Early in the year, I just went through a whole bunch of, you know, stuff.
My dad passed away. My mother had passed the year prior.
So, I was trying to, you know, deal with him
because I was going back and forth.
He lived in Philadelphia
and I was just kind of helping care for him in the hospital, hospital and hospice.
And after he passed away, being the oldest, I had to take care of all of his,
you know, things that have to do when you die, obviously.
So, there's a lot of stress. And then I was having to watch my kids full time
and take them back and forth to school and go to work.
I had to try to pick them up from school one day early
and try to also get a funeral arrangement done and I wrecked my car.
I had a SUV wrecked. It was like everything was just kind of spiraling.
And then about a month later, after the funeral, I lost my job.
So, it was like, "Wow, what is going on?"
I just felt kind of spiritually attacked and everything in life that I thought was so important
kind of seemed a little bit less important.
And now that I have this opportunity with this job,
I feel a lot more convicted to work a lot harder
and to just realize that I'm very lucky,
very blessed to have the things that I have
and be able to be financially secure,
'cause I'd never would even thought about competing, you know,
in a competition coming up soon in two weeks.
That was like the farthest thing from my mind.
Even just going to the gym was... It was a struggle and challenge.
But I'm just really shocked that I'm in this position.
So, did my best to get in shape for the show,
but right now, uh, first things first, going to work.
Hello, ladies. Good morning.
[Woman] Uh, oops, let me put my hat back on.
As you can tell, it's Halloween.
- [woman 4] Hello. - [woman 5] Hi.
[Philip] And this is the temptation that I have to go through every single day.
[Joanne Dean] We actually dress like this every day.
When you see him in his short sleeves and you see these muscles bulging out,
it's like you got to go and then ask further exactly what it is that he's doing.
Then he was eating all this strange food.
So, we knew there was something behind all that.
So, I'd get to see some of the other people that he's competing against
and so, they get to see the caliber.
And the fact that it's all natural, you know, it is a big deal, right?
The extent of someone that has a full-time job, that is technically challenging
but still somehow finds time to compete at that level is not just impressive
but it's also very inspirational, motivational.
[light music playing]
Is it difficult to combine bodybuilding, like, competing
and also, you know, being a full-time agent?
So, I mean, it is challenging.
Um, I mean, sometimes I wish that I had a job like most of my fellow competitors do,
you know, in the gym where I'm in the gym all day
and in between clients I can, you know, knock out,
you know, my workout or whatever.
But I worked cartels, which was... Which was exciting, exciting jobs.
- Investi... Like investigation? - [Colin] Yeah, investigation, yep.
Uh, then I moved on to a gang violent crime squad.
So, kidnappings, uh, murder-for-hire, uh, all that... Those type of violent gangs.
It was my... Kind of my thing.
I knew bodybuilders that worked blue-collar jobs,
tracklayers, carpenters, plumbers.
They worked 10 hours, 12 hours, and then you know what,
they made their way to the gym and they trained like animals.
[Philip] When you take, you know, anabolic steroids or drugs,
they're mainly taken so that it helps you recover quickly.
You're putting something foreign in your body that is a recovery agent,
so, you can continue to not only work out longer and harder,
but it's helping you to heal up so you can recover from the muscle breakdown
and then you can go ahead and workout again and work out heavier and stronger.
And as a natural athlete, you don't have those type of things that you can use
so, you have to be smart with your nutrition,
your training, to where you choose a body part that, you know,
you train it one day, but you got to give enough time to recover and get enough sleep.
[machine whirring]
[Chris] Half an inch to three-quarter of an inch on your arms today.
[Vlad] Being a champion and holding the title requires constant maintenance
both in and out of the gym.
Oh, yeah, I feel that.
[groans]
[mumbles]
Usually, when you're training with weight, towards like rep six to eight,
you get that crazy burn, fat pump and everything else.
With this, it starts from rep one, so it's as soon as you...
You touch that and Chris says "Go",
man, it's intense straight off the bat, you know what I mean?
But, uh, it's all worth it.
No pain no gain, right?
[Chris Williams] The back and forth padding, the bicep and tricep,
so that was a prime example of a loaded stretch both ways.
So, he was getting the best of both worlds at the same time.
So, I can tell Rob's central nervous system is really healthy.
He can handle a lot more current than the normal person that starts on the machine.
Sometimes there's a... There's a primer phase.
I was able to skip the primer phase and take him right into training.
So, uh, it was really impressive. I.. expected nothing less.
keeping the blood flow, that's diff, uh...
Is that different?
There's no... A paper cut would be deadly right now, my friend.
[laughs]
- Keep that paper away from me. - [Chris Williams] All right.
[thuds]
[Dr. Melo] So, this is just a pattern work using thermal imaging.
So, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic.
They both go like this all day long.
What ends up happening is if one's high and it's always revved.
That means he's not gonna heal like he should.
To the center and to the left.
Push it, push it, push it. To the center.
Keeping him strong here will keep him strong rest of his life.
[body thuds]
[sighs]
[thumps]
[Dr. Melo] Good, let's see what we got.
[sighs]
Let's go do some scraping. Let's do it, the fun stuff.
Which side you want to start?
Ah, we'll just start with left side.
Left side.
It can be pretty painful and he knows that, you know,
I don't want him to lighten up on me.
We talked about that at the beginning, you know, we... We go, you know, so. Yeah.
There were some people I got to, you know, even my...
What I call my desk jockeys, I got to go light.
They can't take the level of pain that he can,
but the more that this is done, A, the easier it is,
but the, B, you just get kinda used to it and by [inaudible] it's cool.
There's release.
Because with some people when I do, it lasts like 10 days.
- They get like, well, I did your lat what, a couple of weeks ago? - [Rob] Mm-hmm.
[Dr. Melo] That thing was magenta, fire-red, like real bad like, but he also heals quicker.
Between his eating, between all the other stuff he's doing, he's recovering really fast.
People will eat like crap and that takes a lot longer.
[exhales]
Sweatin' It
You and me, both.
[laughs]
I'm doing all the work here.
[laughs]
All right.
[inaudible].
- [laughs] - [Rob] Holy snap!
[laughs]
Yeah, look at that.
[Dr. Peter] Chiropractic is more of a mechanical, biomechanical balancing of muscles
and joints, the spine, your facade as we see it.
But really, that facade is held up by the structure behind it
which is all of your cells, all of your organs
and all of what makes that area of your life healthy.
And so, by me using the science that I learned,
I am able to keep my cells functioning more optimally so that my facade,
which is my physical body,
can be used further down the road without running out of gas.
[man 8] So, that tells me there's something going on.
That you're probably tighter from this side, okay?
There's something happening in here we got to work on.
So, that way, you are making sure you're standing completely upright.
Everything else from this view looks perfect.
[Dr. Peter] You... You have to maintain your facade which are...
Is your body from the internal cellular level and when you can...
Can maintain that inner workings,
you can continue to advance and enhance your physique.
We call it mature muscle.
And muscularity comes mainly from, uh, age.
If you have that muscularity when you flex, you definitely see it come out.
The conditioning side of that muscularity is when you diet and you train long enough
that you're actually making your skin thin enough
to where you're able to see those extra striations coming out.
So, you can see some older guys that may have more muscularity,
but then if the younger guy has more conditioning and you see stuff popping out,
it'll make them look more muscular and you see more definition.
So, like you should be able to see like an anatomy chart.
That's kind of how I would look at it.
You're trying your best to look like an anatomy chart.
I think that's the kind of distinction between the two.
Over time, the body likes... Will adapt, right?
And epigenetics, you're able to actually control your genetics
to a point by your environment and your stimulus.
And if you consistently stimulate the muscles
and they get used to working out often,
then over time, you get those larger mature muscles
that, um, is usually a little bit older group
that you'll see in the natural world
that really come out because of the muscle maturity.
And it's just that constant, uh, consistent work that they put in year after year after year.
And in Rob's case the, you know, five to seven days a week,
pretty much his whole life, you know,
working out at his level and being blessed with some good genetics and the...
And the right training and nutrition, he's been able to pull it off.
[metal thuds]
Three hundred grams of this. This is every day.
[Vlad] As competition draws closer,
athletes begin dropping fat by restricting and adjusting their diets
to visually enhance look and size of the muscle.
[Rob] 2 Grams off.
Where I am right now with my prep,
I would just sparingly space my meals throughout the day
because I have such an early start, you got to think it's gonna be a long day.
From 4:00 a.m. to potentially 10:00 p.m.
or even later, depending on when we have calls,
I just need to space out my food throughout the day.
[microwave beeps]
[microwave thuds]
Tomorrow is when that happens.
For now, we keep it about eight meals a day.
Three weeks before a show,
then have to eliminate some things out.
So, I'd have chicken with, uh, less condiments.
[Philip] You have to have a calorie surplus, not deficit.
So, you have to eat enough calories and get the right macronutrients
so, you're building muscle, getting enough protein,
but you're also having enough carbohydrates and fats to cushion your muscles,
cushion your tendons, so when you're working heavy, you know, you're not getting injured.
[Vlad] In bodybuilding, you have genetics, you have work, dieting, and chemicals.
Which is the most important in your opinion?
It is the food. You ask any professional bodybuilder
from Jay Cutler to Ronnie Coleman to Dexter Jackson to Phil Heath,
they'll all tell you... Everyone will tell you the same thing, it's the food.
Genetic is number one. Okay, genetics is number one.
I don't care who you are or how hard you train, I mean, the genetics is supreme.
Hard work, genetics have a huge, probably one and two over anything
because a lot of people are gonna just take drugs
and still look like shit, you know what I mean?
So, you do need the hard work and you definitely need the genetics.
So then comes the... Then comes probably the drug part.
[Don] Everyone always says it's, you know, 80-percent nutrition, 20-percent training
and I always kind of go against that
and I say it's a hundred percent mental
because I've seen people who are not genetically gifted individuals
do some pretty incredible things with their body.
And I feel like it really just comes down to discipline.
[Brandon] What makes lasting pros isn't genetics.
The most important piece of bodybuilding is a frame of mind
and the frame of mind needs to be on season, off season,
at the show, after the show, on social media.
Like all of these things will make you the best bodybuilder.
[thrilling music playing]
[panting]
[gunshot]
[gunshots]
[gunshot]
Whatever he hits, he destroys.
Can you kind of explain the, uh, bodybuilding in a nutshell,
meaning that the cycle leading up to the stage?
Meaning that you have to bulk up, then you have to cut, deplete yourself.
Anytime you're getting ready for a show,
what you want to do is take an off period, uh, so you can put on muscle.
And during that time, that 12 weeks, you'll raise your cardio periodically,
you'll cut the calories periodically
and then just keep trying to recover and retain all the muscle you possibly have
because at that stage, it's hard to put on muscle because you're in a deficit.
So, especially for the natural bodybuilders, it's the toughest thing in the world.
[Adrian] I'm drinking my two gallons of water,
maybe the day before I'll go to maybe a gallon and three-quarters,
um, may be the lowest, a gallon and a half,
but I don't really cut all my water,
where before, I used to do all those different experiments.
Some people want to be very, very, very cut.
Some people want to have a little more size, right?
So, the more cut you try to get, the less of a size you will have.
[Christopher] Keeping in mind, I'm pretty much depleted right now.
Yeah, so, I'll start peaking tomorrow.
Tomorrow I do my last cardio in the afternoon,
then boom, try to fill up, get ready for Saturday.
So, right now, as you can see me packing, uh, getting ready for States.
Flight's leaving tomorrow morning.
So, this... This is like just a little stuff that I'm taking with me.
[light music playing]
[Vlad] The competitors arrive to Vegas tired, exhausted,
depleted of water and hungry for victory.
They check into the hotel rooms and wait.
[light music playing]
The staff prepare pavilion 11 at the Rio Hotel & Casino
for the next two days of the competitions.
It's difficult not to compare PNBA's Natural Olympia to the IFBB's Mr. Olympia.
Aside from sharing similar names,
both competitions represent the best in each league, the top of the mountain.
[light music playing]
But considering the production that goes into the Mr. Olympia contest,
it's evident that PNBA has a long way to go
if they eventually want to catch up the popularity and scale.
The PNBA has a big roster of competitors,
but almost no fans aside from family members and friends.
The Natural Olympia top winner gets $5000,
which is roughly one percent of Mr. Olympia's $400,000 prize money.
I wish everybody comes and works with us.
All the other natural organizations,
I want them to be close with us and work together.
I... I'd like to see that because that way no one can deny natural bodybuilding.
But we don't have the sponsors.
But if we all unite and work together,
INBA, PNBA will always grow and become better.
You should marry a federation that marries the idea
that you've hit their judging criteria.
And as much as we want to admit that bodybuilding is a very, um, subjective sport,
the subjectivity between federations is also a very subjective thing.
I married the federation that treated me as an athlete the best
and I married the mentality of natural bodybuilding.
For me, I believe that any athlete that really wants to push themselves
in terms of their boundaries
and really stick to the ethos of,
"Look, I don't care how many people say it's a lie.
I'll take a blood test. I'll take a hair test. I'll take a urine test.
I'll take whatever test you want to prove that I'm natural," the INBA was it for me.
So, every show that I participate in,
if I am selected and even shows that I am at,
even if I am not participating, I am eligible to be selected to be drug tested.
We do in season and out of season testing.
No other natural organization does that. Only INBA, PNBA does that.
[Philip] So, every year, - W.A.D. - A comes up with the new standards.
So, what are the banned substances and the INBA, PNBA test their athletes.
It is pretty different from show to show.
They can either do it before registration,
whereas you're registering they'll say,
"Okay, we're gonna go to the bathroom and we're going to do an A&D sample
and they'll have a, you know, a representative from the federation
that'll be there in the bathroom watching you pee into a cup
and, you know, you fill out the whole form, the...
The form that's for the W.A.D.A compliancy that's going to go to the labs.
We have two different labs, and, um, once those are turned in, you know,
you'll get your results back and, hopefully, you pass.
[laughs]
- [door opens] - [woman 5] I'll start with you.
[Philip] You don't want to fail a test in this organization
because of social media these days.
There's something called "The Wall of Shame."
And you are posted on the Wall of Shame.
You are banned from competing in this organization
and it's out there for everybody to see.
[Denny] So, you can come to our website and you can see exactly if somebody failed,
banned for life, boom, boom, boom, here it is, everything it's all about it.
Guys that are doing substances that are taking steroids,
they're not gonna give credit to the natural guys.
They don't want to because they want everybody to believe that that is the way,
that they are doing it naturally.
But don't come into my world, not give me credit
and then say you're natural because then I don't respect you either.
I can't respect somebody that's lying.
Is it possible to beat the test?
I'm glad that we use a urine test, I will say, uh, because that's a pure system.
I would... I would... you know, but from the competitors' side,
if they were prepared, um, certainly, they could beat it.
There really isn't, um, a way to really prove that someone is lifetime natural,
if that's your question, or if they were on five or ten years ago.
Yeah, but if we get back to Rob Terry, personal opinion is that
there would be some parameters if he was on the steroids
that, uh, would've been needed to, you know, build size, if that's what got him big.
And there would be some...
Some effects that others might have been able to erase over time
that it'd be tough for a Rob Terry.
Again, in these natural shows, there's a lot of guys who did steroids for years,
then come off, and if they're off for five, six years, "I'm natural."
To me, you're natural if you've never taken anything.
The testing is... Is a joke.
I go back to what I'd said a few minutes ago, everybody's taken it.
[alarm beeping]
[thrilling music playing]
[sighs]
You going to say goodbye? Daddy is going to the gym.
- [chuckles] Okay, I love you. - I love you.
- Have fun. - Bye.
[thrilling music playing]
[beeping]
[Vlad] With one day before the main competition,
the athletes take advantage of their time with a final workout.
[upbeat music playing]
At such low body-fat percentage, they use lighter weights to prevent injury.
Staying relaxed, yet, mentally prepared is equally important.
Stress can make the body unpredictable and have a drastic impact on placings.
[upbeat music playing]
While the other professional athletes get ready for tomorrow's show,
Adrian shocks everyone with a decision to compete on an amateur stage
for the last time, before his pro debut tomorrow.
Um, I'm going to be competing as a amateur,
uh, my fifth show so far this year,
which is a little bit of a challenge,
but, you know, I'm kind of enjoying the challenge.
[man 8] You've never seen someone go and win an amateur Olympia,
like cleaning the whole house, meaning you winning your division and other division
and you're against everybody else in all their divisions
and then the next day go and... And do it in pros.
Like you normally win,
then you get invited to go to pros and then years later, you do that.
I mean, he's really gonna do this back to back.
[man 9] I hear you say these times. Let's keep it under wraps. You got time, man.
[Diana] Now, there's amateurs that win PNBA pro qualification quite often,
but that type of athlete doesn't want to be pro.
They want to compete whenever they want,
wherever they want, they just want to remain amateur.
It's crazy. I mean, look at Adrian, all these years, he's been an amateur athlete.
It's... It's a mindset. You have to be ready and it's...
There's no going back, really, I mean, once you turn professional.
[Vlad] This means Adrian will have to be in peak condition for two nights in a row,
a delicate process that involves limiting your water and food intake
to be at a very low body fat percentage.
This process is grueling to do for one evening.
Doing it for the entire weekend could be dangerous.
[indistinct chatter]
You know, two days out from the show, you look really skinny,
you know, kind of like stringy, if you will.
If you front-load then you'll... At the beginning of the week, you'll put a lot of carbs
and then you'll kind of cycle them down and still try...
And your muscles would be fuller at the end of the week.
If you deplete and then back load, then you're going...
You're gone from basically nothing
and at the end, you're throwing them all in to kind of fill out the muscle.
Like a peak week can't fix a bad prep, but a peak week can ruin them.
[announcer 3] From Italy.
[applause]
We got a repeat champion here in the gold.
Winner of the Men's Open Natural Bodybuilding for the Natural Olympia...
[Vlad] Adrian establishes his dominance in the amateur division once again
with another first-place victory.
Some may call it a selfish victory as he has been a pro caliber athlete for a while
and, yet, he feels satisfied.
But tomorrow, another battle is looming and this time against the big guys.
[applause]
[Mike O'Hearn] It is the best a body's gonna look right on stage
and it's the worst the person feels.
And it's the most unhealthy as well.
The water depletion and all those things and playing with it
and playing with your carbohydrates and...
And toying with how your body functions off of insulin and all that kind of stuff,
it's... It's a crazy thing to look that beautiful...
- [Vlad] Right. - ...for a split second.
You really take your body to a place that it's uncomfortable
and where it really shouldn't be,
kind of how I was for the last five days, for instance.
I mean, hormones are completely out of whack, I'm cold all the time,
my nails are blue, everything is messed up, you know,
and you're not supposed to take your body to those places.
[indistinct chatter]
All right, we have our Pro Men's Open Bodybuilding,
what everybody's been waiting for.
[applause]
He's a serious threat in this lineup to Rob Terry's title.
His name is Christopher Oketch. Christopher.
Today, I'm feeling very, very good, feeling happy and ready for tomorrow.
Tomorrow's gonna be... It's gonna be a fight. It's gonna be a big fight.
Another serious threat to Rob Terry's Natural Olympia title
comes by the way of Philip Ricardo, Jr.
I know that in order to stay, you know, within striking distance
and to be healthy and live a long healthy lifestyle,
which is what natural bodybuilding is all about
and what the PNBA, INBA is about,
I know that I need to just stay within striking range
just in case these opportunities come up,
like competing against the best in the world here, so.
[announcer 5] I mean, this is the deepest lineup of pro men bodybuilders
that the Natural Olympia has seen
in the seven years that I've been covering the show.
So, now I ask Rob Terry,
what kind of package you're bringing this year to compete with these new names?
I'm here because I set a challenge to myself.
This means everything. This is the Natural Olympia.
I am the reigning, defending, Natural Mr. Olympia Champion.
[announcer 5] "Reigning, defending".
And I am gonna do everything that I can to maintain that
and I will put on a fight with every single one of you tomorrow.
[announcer 5] So, you guys can file off stage now. Thanks, guys.
[ominous music playing]
[Vlad] We notice that Adrian is absent during the press conference.
We try to check in on him, but his reply was brief.
[vibrates]
[ominous music playing]
[Adrian] Heavenly Father, thank You for this beautiful Saturday morning,
this event that's coming up for us that you've just blessed us with,
being here is a very special day no matter what the outcome is,
celebrating together, Father.
We're so grateful to have this beautiful team for me
and that You blessed us to continue this great relationship.
And, Father, we just are looking forward to a special day
and a special evening and the rest of our time here in Las Vegas.
And just, thank You, for just being You, Father.
You are just so great, awesome and just the God of the universe and we love you.
- In Jesus' Holy Name we pray. Amen. - Amen.
You ready for this?
- He's born ready. - You're ready for this, right, Mason?
You got your little firetruck; you got your snacks.
- Come on. - Got the food.
Let's do this.
[ominous music playing]
[Vlad] As the men apply tan to look defined under the bright lights of the stage,
it's show time for Alondra and Tiffany.
[indistinct chatter]
[man 10] [inaudible] come on out, sweeties.
[inaudible].
[announcer 6] USA.
234, [inaudible], Netherlands.
385, [inaudible], USA.
356, Alondra Chatman, USA.
257, Tiffany Stosich, USA.
[emcee] Welcome to the stage, ladies. Welcome to the Natural Olympia.
[applause]
[crowd cheering]
The best in the world, ladies and gentlemen, are right here in...
[Philip] For all of the judging, there is a judging criteria that is specific to the INBA PNBA.
You do muscularity, um, conditioning and symmetry.
Um, so, they're all judged in two different rounds.
Basically, their first round is when you do your quarter turns.
So, when you're doing your quarter turn to your right, quarter turn right,
that's when they look at your balance
to see if your upper body and a lower... Your lower body, you know,
are balanced and look... I mean, match up.
If you have skinny legs then you're probably going to get marked down.
So, they give you certain poses that will help you judge those different criteria.
And a lot of times, to be honest with you,
is not just about that because you're not always doing a point system,
but it's who's the best physique on stage.
[crowd cheering]
[emcee] Well, then turn to your right.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer 7] All right, I'm gonna call out the top five ladies.
I want to congratulate all of you for gracing the Natural Olympia stage.
It's very, very difficult.
You're all top athletes in the world, here at the Natural Olympia.
257, Tiffany Stosich, USA.
[Vlad] Both Tiffany and Alondra are called out as two of the top five finishers.
Tiffany takes home fifth place.
[announcer 7] State USA.
[Vlad] As the rest of the medals are awarded, Alondra is the last woman standing.
[announcer 7] 227, Aisha Kimball, USA.
[crowd cheering]
Your winner, gold medal,
$5000 cash prize,
number 356 Alondra Chatman USA,
Pro Figure Open Natural Olympia.
[crowd cheering]
A couple, uh, of gold medals here today,
so, one for Evening Gown and one for Pro Figure Open, so, amazing.
Twenty-two ladies on stage, a lot of good competition.
Um, I've been training hard all year for this and we did it.
We made it. First place, so, oh, my God!
I am... I don't even have words.
[tranquil music playing]
[spray whizzing]
[Vlad] Without any notice, Adrian is spotted backstage again
fixing his tan in the final moments before the competition.
With a change of heart, he's finally ready.
He decided to step on a stage against the best in the world.
Yesterday, I was very like, like going,
I'm nervous and emotional and like, "Oh, my God! You know, am I gonna win again?
Am I... you know, what's... What's going to happen?" Right?
So, I thought I wasn't gonna do today, but then I said,
"You know, something, I need to be here.
I'm here and, uh, might as well just go all out
and, uh, go with the big guys and just see what I'm made of," you know.
I mean, I won everything, so what else am I gonna do, you know?
I can go back and do that again, or I can go to the next level like, right?
So, this is the next level for me. So, here I am.
- [Rob] Good to see you. How have you been? - Good to see you, man.
- [Rob] How are you doing? - You too. Good.
- Really good. - How you feeling?
- How is it going, man? - Going well. Will. Very nice to meet you.
So, like, how are you feeling today?
I feel really good, you know.
I feel... like I say that the battle against myself for 16 weeks was a success.
Um, that's something I can control every single day, every single minute.
Um, I just feel I did the best I can.
- Today is... is a... I'm... I'm... I'm up against 30 guys. - Thirty guys.
I want to say that's one of the biggest natural bodybuilding lineups
- that this organization might have ever had. - Right.
Um, that's what I've been told, so it...
It's gonna be a huge battle from... From start to finish and when we get up there,
you know, we're all gonna have to work.
Well, listen. Good luck with everything.
Hey, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you.
[suspenseful music playing]
[overlapping chatter]
- Rob, right here. - Thank you.
Rob Terry, here.
- [man 11] 171. - Right here.
Ooh. Let's fucking go. Let's do this.
[ominous music playing]
[announcer 8] Matt Porosky, USA.
142, Jonas Notter, Germany.
347, Christopher Oketch, Kenya.
[suspenseful music playing]
345, Robert Terry, USA.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your PNBA league,
Pro Men's Open Natural Bodybuilding.
- [applause] - Let's rock.
[emcee] All right, gentlemen, just listen.
Can we make sure the judges can see your number?
118, if you could lead those gentlemen to the blue line, please.
Follow him off, gentlemen.
Behind the blue line, the blue line, my friend.
[light music playing]
Gentlemen, step back from the red carpet, please.
Looking good, baby.
[light music playing]
[crowd scream]
[announcer 8] [inaudible]
Gentlemen, if I call your name and number, you are in the top five.
[Vlad] The 24 men on stage get narrowed down to the top five.
[announcer 8] 184, Tommy Thompson, USA. Come on back.
[applause]
305, Robert Terry, USA. Come on back.
[applause]
373, Shevon Cunningham, USA.
[applause]
322, Philip Ricardo, USA.
[crowd cheer]
276, Chad Havunen, USA.
[applause]
[Vlad] Adrian falls short of the top five with a sixth-place finish.
Christopher goes from the last year's third place finish down to the disappointing ninth.
They are both given participation medals, same as the other competitors.
On this stage, every athlete gets a medal.
[Christopher] Bodybuilding is such a subjective sport and I think that, you know,
over time, um, there are favorites that are... That are generated,
you know, and that... Just like in any other organization as well that, you know,
the judges are like all that, you know, that's... That's the guy.
I mean, he's... He's gonna win unless somebody else comes... Shows up and beats him.
The judges dictate a lot. It's people's own opinions of it.
It's very superficial, you know.
You look at it and you... You might like blondes; I might like brunettes.
Let's talk about bodybuilding in general.
The subjectivity of even what you're looking at is always there.
So, still then, getting a bad feedback from a judge gives you a bad frame of mind.
So, what makes you a good bodybuilder is your ability to take what they've said,
take out the bias, but understand that the actual judging criteria
and change what you're doing to come back to look like what they want to see
because, ultimately, they are the ones who were gonna hand you the title.
In this sport, it can be very subjective.
So, even though, someone may have like the great balance
and maybe even good conditioning,
there could be someone who's, obviously, bigger, a better poser,
and presents their physique better.
So, presentation is important, even though,
it's not specifically judged as far as points are concerned,
but if you know how to present your body,
you can sometimes beat out someone who may have better genetics, you know,
better symmetry, better balance, better muscularity.
Final five posing routines of the Natural Olympia with number 273,
Shevon Cunningham, USA.
[Vlad] The top five athletes take the stage one last time for individual posing.
It's a privilege to be selected as the best.
It's what every competitor trains for.
[suspenseful music playing]
[announcer 8] Sidelines here, right on the wings, right in front of the podium, please.
Shevon Cunningham, Chad Havunen, Philip Ricardo,
Robert Terry, Tommy Thompson, top five in the world,
PNBA league, Pro Men's Natural Bodybuilding Open.
[suspenseful music playing]
Thompson, USA, congratulations.
[applause]
Congratulations.
273, Shevon Cunningham, USA.
[applause]
[Vlad] Rob and Phil are the last two men on stage.
The next name called will be second place.
[suspenseful music playing]
[announcer 8] Second place, and a silver medal
and $2000 cash prize.
305, Robert Terry, USA.
[crowd cheering]
[applause]
Your champion, first place, gold medal,
bumped up to a $8000 cash prize,
your champion PNBA league, Pro Men's Bodybuilding Open,
the pinnacle of natural sports, Natural Olympian,
number 322, Philip Ricardo, USA.
- Yes! - [announcer 8] Congratulations.
[screams]
Oh, my God!
[light music playing]
[Vlad] So, what was going through your head
when they announced Rob Terry, second place?
[Philip] I just was already looking forward to just being humble
and accepting second place, honestly,
because I just, you know, I've seen him,
I've seen what he's done for the past couple of years.
I just didn't feel like... I... I don't know,
I didn't have the confidence that I was going to be able to do it
even though people were saying stuff. I've heard that before,
you know, and I look at other bodybuilders,
I'm just trying to put myself... The respect that I have for him.
Um, so, if I had gotten second,
I was just ready just to be prepared, emotionally, to accept it,
congratulate and hug him, all that good stuff.
But for me to... Yeah, it just didn't make sense.
The number I was expecting to hear is 322.
Get my second place. Be happy with that. But wow!
[light music playing]
[chuckles]
[mellow music playing]
[baby coos]
- Chocolate bar, first thing. - Yeah.
Absolutely.
Make them toes wiggle.
You're free.
[somber music playing]
So, what do you think... I mean, in today's world of bodybuilding, right,
what can be done to make natural bodybuilding more popular
and more, you know what I mean, more spread as opposed to enhanced bodybuilding?
What made the original bodybuilding great?
Do you think it was Arnold Schwarzenegger's physique?
- I don't think so. - Well, he put it on the map originally back in the...
Yeah, but what do you... What... What put it on the map?
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Muhammad Ali, those personalities...
- Mm. - ...that's a different level.
And that's what... That's what started bodybuilding.
So, for somebody to make natural bodybuilding, top notch, you need that personality.
- You need... You need those stars. - It can't be the body.
Yeah, you gotta have the stars.
I know that people want to go, "No, it's... It's the body, it's the body."
Arnold... Arnold did it because of the personality.
- Thanks, man... - No, bro.
- ...for the interview, man. Appreciate it, man. - Absolutely.
[dramatic music playing]
[Vlad] Nobody can deny that Arnold Schwarzenegger
brought bodybuilding to the mainstream,
but the sport has grown in his absence as well and became its own niche.
But is it true is one larger-than-life personality,
all that natural bodybuilding needs to reach the next level?
After Arnold left the pro stage, Lee Haney showed us
that the boundaries of human physique could go much further.
Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman continued the evolution,
growing in size while managing to stay conditioned,
eventually, creating a new term, the mass monster.
Many people today refer to bodybuilding as a freak show.
And whether that's negative or positive,
there's one fact that can't be ignored,
more and more people are tuning in.
So, is Mike, right?
Does natural bodybuilding need a personality to make it successful?
Can bodybuilding rely solely on the beauty within the sport
or does it need to be more than that?
Do we need it to be a freak show?
I'm thankful that we're getting some different, uh... Some different things
that potentially could create a platform for us to be, you know, more widely known,
uh, but even in the IFBB, if you look at the disparity between them, the money that...
That the open bodybuilders make and that men's physique guys make,
those men's physique guys look phenomenal.
They're bodybuilders in board shorts, but...
But they... They're not the open bodybuilding guys.
Those are the guys that draw that...
I mean, they're... They're mass monsters.
They're like... They have that absolute wow.
I'm... I'm hopeful that we're able to, you know, kind of find our niche in...
In the sport in that, you know, that we can draw eighth, you know,
a fraction of what the IFBB draws, but...
But, you know, it's gonna be... That's a tough... That's a tough mountain to climb.
For every time I meet an athlete that tells me,
"Hey, man, I am the so-and-so, so-and-so champion of such and such and such,
this year or that year. I won..."
"Well, what is the name of the organization?"
I always ask them what the name of the organization is.
They're afraid to say the name of the organization
because there's also built within that the distinction of,
"Well, I'm a natural. I'm an unenhanced athlete."
And that's why whether... Whatever way you...
Whatever side of the fence you fall on, there's no reason to really shun or...
Or... Or discredit or, you know, I think it all has value.
I think it really does have value.
I don't dislike people who use performance-enhancing drugs.
The only thing I care is that if... If that's your standard of competition,
then there are competitions for you and I would love to go see them,
I'd love to patron them and I'd love to be your coach or your supporter.
This is time right now for natural bodybuilding to grow.
This is the time where everybody's seeing that health is the most important thing.
[dramatic music playing]
[Vlad] Natural Pro Bodybuilding provides an option
for athletes who want to be competitive
without the possible risks that come with performance-enhancing drugs,
but it still has a long way to go to reach wide recognition
and, ultimately, it will be up to the audience to decide what's more popular.
But for these athletes, being natural stands way beyond recognition,
social media hype, or even mainstream success.
[dramatic music playing]
[light music playing]
My pleasure, my friend.
What time is it?
[laughs]
[singing]
[inaudible]
Cool.
Boom.
[chuckles]
You did that, champ.
[groans]