Staying big is a tall task, even for a pro.
Most bodybuilding fans and enthusiasts are often bodybuilders themselves. They want to have solid muscle and solid bulk so that they can turn heads in the streets, maybe get some girls to notice them, and have guys get green with envy. It’s the reason bodybuilders eat a bunch of meals and lift some serious weight. It’s the reason people bulk up and eventually cut down. To have their bodies be appreciated by the masses.
For the pros those notions are pretty much amplified ten fold. You have to eat six meals a day, train meticulously to see some major growth and be diligent with the diet that fuels their workouts. After years of training and putting on muscle you’d think that bodybuilders would want to remain in top form once they’ve finally decided to retire. Not for Dexter Jackson. In an interview with Muscular Development from 2015, The Blade explained that once his bodybuilding career is in the books, he’d be unlikely to keep on all the muscle he’s built over the years.
Will I stay this big and heavy? No way! I want to get as small as I can, which will still be pretty muscular and athletic, I bet. I don’t enjoy eating six times a day. That’s going out the window the minute I retire. I can get by on two or three meals a day with a couple of snacks, no problem.
– Dexter Jackson speaking with MD
It makes you understand just how difficult it is to be a bodybuilder at the pro level. Jackson explains that eating six meals a day is just a bit too much of a tall task. Fans tend to have the notion that once these bodybuilders get big that they’d love nothing more than to remain that way, but it appears to be far from the truth. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was by no means a small man after his retirement, definitely slowed down on the calories in his post bodybuilding career. Like anyone else, a pro bodybuilder treats competition like a job and after years of sacrifice and dedication, the whole endeavor could eventually burn them out.
It’s a bit ironic that the men that are idolized for their unique physiques, the men that fans and onlookers aspire to be, they may desire one thing after they’ve retired from competition: a chance at being normal. Most people eat two to three meals a day, which according to Jackson is the goal he has in mind after competing. “I might drop down to 200 pounds and it won’t bother me one bit. If others have a problem with it, oh well! It’s my body and my life.” Dexter has paid his dues in the sport and is a role model for many up and coming bodybuilders who wish to go pro. It’ll be a sad day once he retires and drops the weight, but after all isn’t that what bodybuilding is about? Achieving what you perceive to be the ultimate body? Everyone has their own idea of what that means. It seems that at this point of the game for Dexter Jackson the ultimate body is much closer to the norm.
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Source: Muscular Development
