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Nasser El Sonbaty, one of bodybuilding's biggest, best competitors of all time, a man who revolutionized the massive, yet balanced and perfectly proportioned look, a man who even out-massed the huge Dorian Yates and outclassed him on more than one occasion, solidifying his reputation as the "uncrowned Mr. Olympia," can probably now add "most outspoken bodybuilder of all time" to his impressive resume.
  Click To Enlarge. Nasser El Sonbaty: (UMO) Uncrowned Mr. Olympia. Does this bother Nasser? Not really. As the man himself says: 
Nasser
Before I said things here and there but I could not say everything that was on my mind or bothering my soul because then you are no longer acceptable, not even for your own good or your sponsor. You are seen as a troublemaker, not as a freedom fighter. If you speak bluntly you are punished by the judges and will be placed lower, which compromises your earnings. The judge told me once/gave me the advice that "the best thing would be" for me not to say anything about the judging because it would benefit me positively in the future through higher placements.
In most cases you can't change anything. You can basically change your situation by making it worse and going downhill. You can't make a living through complaining and pointing the truth out and you can't progress to the top either. So, I do fully understand why so many athletes in the industry mostly do not speak up and why they are so afraid. Also by being a whistle blower or complainer, you do not attract many sponsors either. But - the "but" is there, where should you not self-surrender yourself to all given conditions.
 Click Image To Enlarge.You Can't Make A Living Through Complaining. Everyone who spoke out, on and off, if it is me, Dillett (Freakenstein), Ray (The Chihuahua), Milos (DCM), or Lee Priest got heavily punished. Less titles, less wins, less money, less favors, but more problems. At least, as I said, in my case I kept my integrity and dignity by not being just a saliva licker and yes-man.
 Click To Enlarge. Nasser at 298 lbs Bodyweight Owning Lee Priest & Kevin Levrone On the European Grand Prix Circuit Back In The Day.
On the opposite side of the complainer spectrum you find people like Gunter Schlierkamp, who I call "Smiley Slimecramp." His fake bright smiling behaviour and total acceptance of everything definitely helped him get better placements and even partially because of that he received a way higher paid Weider Contract compared to other much better (Weider) athletes.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Nasser El Sonbaty. Again, I spoke up several times before. And this is the main reason why I did not win more shows and why I was not accepted as being the new potential Mr. Olympia. If Coleman had been outspoken before he took the Olympia title in 1998, he would have never won the title. And if Cutler were less brown nosing to the right people he would have not won the Olympia.
Here I also have to say that there are always guys and will always be those who often feel robbed or cheated and less fairly judged. I do not encourage such people to get loud and I do not belong to this category of people either. "C'est la vie" - that is life. Cooperation, adaptation and submission are needed, otherwise the system will filter you out like a strainer. In an established system there is little tolerance for standoffish behaviour. All these people who are calling out for a rebellion are delusional idiots.
 Click Image To Enlarge."C'est la vie" - That Is Life.
At the same time nobody can be reduced to complete silence. Speaking up for the right reason has nothing to do with being disrespectful. I am a battle-experienced foe of injustice. I want to express my experience with the truth in my hand. I do not offend and we are, after all, still living in America.
 Click To Enlarge. Third Place At The 1995 Mr. Olympia. Also I do think that I am more precise and outspoken because even as a kid I was like that. I remember at the age of seven my mom told a neighbor (a lady) that she had bought a table for 200.00 Deutsch Marks (the former German currency before it was replaced by the Euro). I said to my mom and the neighbor: "No, that is not true, the table cost 191.00 Deutsch Marks." And I have also a good memory most of the time, so I can recall situations better than a lot of people who are just entrenched in forgetting, drugs, alcohol and other addictions and other distractive activities. Alcohol Articles: The other thing is that I have the tendency to be straightforward and blunt, sometimes even brutally honest - even to females, which has backfired on me and has cost some drama. But I would still rather like to be straightforward in many situations and cases. For sure I am not just blindly stepping on people's toes and being an elephant in a so-called porcelain store. But sometimes you have to say how it is. Just misguiding people all the time is not the right solution either. It is good to have the right mix of honesty and diplomacy.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Sometimes You Have To Say How It Is.
You have to weigh it out by yourself. In the case of the screwed up situation in bodybuilding, I do think it is good, necessary and refreshing to expose some shady shadow existences - some more, some less, some not at all - who like to be "some bodies" in the lime light but who are actually "little nobodies." Sometimes things should also be said before everyone gets just used to the completely screwed up daily routine of the bodybuilding environment.
Nasser El Sonbaty - 1997 Olympia.
 Click To Enlarge. Winning The 1999 Arnold Classic. Being realistic and honest does not mean being pessimistic and destructive either as some people have tried to accuse me of. And all the readers and bodybuilding fans should foster a different view, which is the real view of happenings and the figures in the bodybuilding world. And many of my peers do not like to speak out because they also have too much dirt on themselves. It is said that you should not throw stones in a glasshouse. That can be true. For sure nobody is perfect and I am not perfect either but at least I am not as borderless screwed up as many of these guys who are playing with their existences, lying all the time and enriching themselves at the expense of others.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Nasser El Sonbaty.
Also finally in my situation - I went to school for 13 years, went to University for 7.5 years and then had, for over a decade, a bodybuilding contract. What I like to say about that is that I did not have too many people who could say something to me except my parents, where I had plenty of home training. Training At Home Articles: I was never really in a situation where I had a boss for longer than six months at best. I had my parents above me, my teachers that were mostly intellectuals and a few people who told me what to do for a temporary amount of time. And when I was with Weider I was not bossed around either. And I did not have to be reminded either about what I was supposed to do in shows at shows, and I fulfilled, in most cases, all my set expectations. So, summa summarum, I, additional to my different personality with an independent way of thinking and acting, was not chained down by anyone specifically or in general."
 Click To Enlarge. At the 1997 Mr. Olympia, The Show Dorian Won With Multiple Torn Bodyparts.
David
Why would a man with Nasser's auspicious bodybuilding background and reputation as a knowledgeable and sought after expert on bodybuilding, training, and nutrition take such a major chance, some might say risk, exposing himself in this manner? Quite simple really.
Nasser
 Click To Enlarge. With Dave Palumbo At A New York Nightclub. I read a thread about Markus Ruhl, the German giant, on the 24th of January 2008 on Getbig. He mostly got very positive statements and comments and for sure the usual dumb ones as well. The funny thing really is that Marcus is a nice guy and I like him personally. But all these idiots on the boards like him not only because of his size but primarily because he does not have (officially) an opinion on everything and anything.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Markus Ruhl.
Are, in fact, people on all these different boards, and in general, who make pilgrimages to bodybuilding shows so dumb that they judge a person by their smile, handshake and a picture that was taken? Yes, indeed, I see it every day, not only in bodybuilding but all other areas of life as well.
 Click To Enlarge. At The 1998 Arnold Classic. Do these retards really think that Ruhl does not feel discriminated by the pro-USA bodybuilding judges, that he does not get any coverage in the US except from British people like McGough, Lund, Gethin (Editor's note: Kris Gethin is from Wales), and Horton.
Amazingly they do not only know almost nothing about bodybuilding besides thinking they know, but again they barely know anything about it because from their sentences you realize that basic knowledge and common sense is missing. No wonder some see people like the DCM and others as one-eyed kings among the many other completely blind kings.
 Click To Enlarge. Nasser With A Fan. If Ruhl retired and had spoken his mind as he does not - except privately - then all the miserable fake fan creatures would question why he is still so big and if he would become smaller like Levrone and Tom Prince, for example. Then he would become physically sick or it would be "all drugs." And if he is soon to be 50 years of age like the excellent-looking Gary Strydom then he would be "dead soon or have lost ten years of his life and living unhealthy." Steroids Articles: I can with much more right criticize my pro colleagues than any other person because I have been in the game. And most people on the boards, for example, do not even know what bodybuilding is really all about. To them it is just anabolics, GH, insulin, diuretics, more drugs, tanning, shaving, and flexing. If I say, for instance, that this or that bodybuilder has bad arms I am talking from my perspective as a seasoned and battle proven pro and I do not agree when a nobody says: "Oh, he (a pro bodybuilder) looks horrible."
 Click To Enlarge. Nasser With A Fan In 2006 At The USA Championships In Las Vegas. These people are not qualified to open their decayed mouths and use their under-developed brains. And if guys like King Kamali, who I personally like very much, speak up, then they try to make his physique look bad regardless of the fact that they won't achieve his body ever, despite taking a ton of drugs.
 Click Image To Enlarge.King Kamali.
It is also retarded to think that I am burning bridges - bridges to whom, to where? Bridges to people I never had a real - but fake - relation with? I really do not care what the Chihuahua (Ray), Kenny (The Zebra), drug dealing & narcotic addicts being amateurs, pros and judges, and dumb alcoholics like Art Bedway, think of me. People with intelligence, with personality, the true achievers in any area of life and the ones with no fear in their hearts know to value and to appreciate me.
 Click To Enlarge. With Ronnie Coleman And The Ze...Flex Wheeler. I do not want to be a fake, nice guy. I am either nice or being perceived as not being nice because I am speaking up - and the truth obviously hurts. Bodybuilding is not an asset to me, I am an asset to bodybuilding. I made bodybuilding history and there are only a few people in the sport, like the Weiders, who ever helped me first of all, and then a handful of others. Let the never existing bridges and the roads to nowhere burn in h*ll."
 Click To Enlarge. Nasser Placing Second At The English Grand Prix. Dorian Yates (Far Right) Won This Show. Who Should Have Won? You Decide.
David
He declined to take part in the Reg Park piece because he "had not followed Reg Park's career closely enough and on that basis could not give an honest assessment of Reg as a man." Nasser did, however, agree to a general interview on his bodybuilding career and so was born interview one.
 Click To Enlarge. At The 1998 Arnold Classic. Result: Second Place To The Zebra. While the questions I planned to ask for our first interview were general and mostly targeted at his bodybuilding career, a few controversial ones were added. My rationale was that he would either answer them or not and there would be nothing lost on both sides. As it turned out Nasser responded before I even posed my questions, before our first conversation, and specifically asked for questions that were not typically covered in bodybuilding interviews.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Nasser El Sonbaty.
As history shows, Nasser not only answered my questions but also delved deep into the bodybuilding industry, exposing those he perceived to be crooked and those he felt deserved outing. The man talked with great passion in a carefully measured manner leaving nothing out and putting it all on the table, the good, the bad and the ugly.
 Click To Enlarge. Nasser With All Weider Athletes In 2002. He spoke with a level of ferocity previously not witnessed by this interviewer, leaving no stone unturned in his relaying of the truth. As the information flowed and the interviews ran (over several months), demand from the public for more of the same became apparent. However, on the other side, responses were mixed.
Nasser El Sonbaty - 2000 Olympia.
Although the consensus was that what Nasser spoke out on is verifiably true, many accused him of irresponsibly dishing dirt on an industry that has supported him for many years. But this very belief is partly what has prompted Nasser to speak out. He has worked himself into the ground for many years, supported multi-million dollar organizations and companies, yet was not compensated in line with athletes from other sports, who typically sacrifice a small percentage of what Nasser has endured to become the best in his field.
 Click To Enlarge. Preparing Backstage For The 1995 Mr. Olympia In Atlanta Georgia.
Nasser
He does not even consume alcohol. So I emailed him back and said that I was very much ready for his possible questions. At the beginning Robson did ask me just general questions and I signaled to him - before he even asked me anything - that I would not like any average dumb @ss interview questions like, "What is your favorite movie... food?" These are just too plain, too stupid and too unimportant. I wanted real questions! So, originally we just planned to do one or two interviews but the questions came and the answers followed. Then in one of the interviews I mentioned that the DCM still owed me money (and still does) and after his rude and anti-social "response" on Getbig I just did not want to respond to it in simple terms.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Nasser And Milos Sarcev.
David
His purpose, as mentioned, is to bring awareness to the inequity facing pro bodybuilding competitors and to clarify misconceptions surrounding his own bodybuilding history, to bring real truth to the table. In both of these matters he has achieved his target. But there is still much work to do.
 Click To Enlarge. Nasser After Placing Second At the 1998 Arnold Classic. To understand why Nasser has come forward now, one must grasp the fact that Nasser is his own man; he has always carved his own track and has been straight up and direct with everyone he meets. Ask anyone.
 Click Image To Enlarge.Nasser Is His Own Man.
Whether the enemy is your typical pumpkin head, a seasoned professional who has crossed the line or a drug dealer who profits through others misfortunes, Nasser is ready to reveal the truth. No one is safe... Beyond a mere vitriolic tell-all, Nasser's series of interviews, in his own words, were intended to set the record straight in his own interminable style. He has wanted to do this for many years and felt, with his Bodybuilding.com association and writing partnership with myself that he was in the best possible position to do this.
 Click Image To Enlarge.No One Is Safe.
For many years the bodybuilding game and its varied and colorful players have been largely shrouded in mystery. Now one of its own, a man as close to the action as anyone is ever likely to get will speak out on all facets of an industry that is, in his view, at once corrupt and intriguing, a passionate and addictive pursuit that brings it own unique set of problems and battles. The interviews have been and gone. There will be no more. The book is coming and no one is safe; nothing is off limits. In line with his now famous, or infamous, interview series, Nasser's book, the most revealing of its kind ever, promises to be a major bodybuilding expose on an unprecedented scale.
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