The former Olympia champ is pretty open and honest.

Dorian Yates is a six time Mr. Olympia champion and has competed against some of the most talented men to ever hit a posing stage. With Yates’ emergence as champion a new era of bodybuilding was born. The smaller waists and broad shoulders of the past would be overshadowed by the mass monsters, men with heavily muscled and bulked up physiques. Yates took the bodybuilding physique to a new level and if you wanted to become a championship level competitor then you better have been willing do the kind of bulking required.

Steroids being the hot button issue for every athletic endeavor always casts a shadow over the sport of bodybuilding and with good reason. Men having such massive forms is not exactly natural and other than proper supplementation and hard work, it’s hard to imagine someone bulking up to 250 lbs of solid muscle with some kind of anabolic aid. It’s a subject that Yates is unafraid to tackle and is pretty open and honest about the subject whenever asked.

Not too long ago, Muscular Development interviewed Yates and the former Mr. Olympia talked about a few interesting subjects ranging from steroids and the differences between a number of substances as well as the notion of free weights versus machines.

In the interview Yates touched on the idea that there are certain steroids for bulking up and those for cutting weight. He dismissed the notion of steroids for cutting weight. “The fact is, all steroids are synthetic versions of the hormone testosterone.” Simply put, the substance is used to build muscle not to make users lean and cut. Dorian was pretty frank about the fact that steroid use is a pretty common thing. He mentions that certain steroids can have a negative effect on the male body, one of which is the production of estrogen as a side effect. He goes on to mention that the reason for the gym myth behind steroids for cutting is the fact that certain substances, Anavar, Winstrol and Primobolan, are more on the anabolic side of the equation and don’t produce the estrogen side effect like other PEDs. Not all steroids are created equal it would seem.

Yates also touched on the difference between free weights and machines. There always seems to be an emphasis on free weights as opposed to machines when it comes to bodybuilding. But Yates states that both have their merits. Free weights offer more freedom in terms of range of motion and options depending on one’s particular body type. Machines are great for forced reps according to the former champ and as a whole could get you in the same shape as free weights. When it comes to getting an impressive physique it has more to do with genetics and hard work more than anything else.

The former Olympia champ definitely knows his stuff and he speaks with the kind of candor that you’d demand out of a politician. The sport definitely needs more men like Yates to open up the doors and pull away the curtains of the behind the scenes activities of bodybuilding. With this kind of honesty it’s easy to see why Dorian has built such a large fan base throughout the years and we for one can’t wait to hear what the former champion has to touch on next.
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Reference: Dorian Yates Mini-Seminar: On Blood Tests, Steroids to Get Ripped, Free Weights vs. Machines

Disclaimer: Despite the mentioning of PEDs in this article, we in no way endorse the use of any banned performance enhancing products.