Rich Gaspari shares his take on the criticism against Chad Nicholls. Where does the responsibility lie for gurus?
Recently, Chad Nicholls has been under fire for risking the health of athletes that he had helped train throughout his career. He was slammed by Shawn Ray in a recent interview – and the moment went viral. Since then he had gone onto King Kamali’s weekly series, King’s World, to discuss his career. We recently had a chance to sit down with Rich Gaspari, an old school bodybuilder who’s stayed involved with each era of bodybuilding for decades. What does he think of the recent controversy? In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Rich Gaspari shares his take on the Chad Nicholls criticism and whether or not bodybuilding gurus should be responsible for athletes’ health.
Over time the bodybuilding industry has often put certain bodybuilding coaches and trainers on a pedestal. They’ve been credited with helping certain legendary bodybuilders evolve to the next level. Yes, certainly the bodybuilder is largely responsible for his or her own success. But getting different perspectives and building a team that helps support and evolve your potential is key towards becoming the best.
Today in 2020, we have many bodybuilding coaches and gurus. Are they all legit? And how responsible are they for the health of a bodybuilder? When they suggest a certain protocol, are they to blame if it leads to health issues in the future?
Rich Gaspari is a bodybuilder who has seen it all and been actively embedded into the bodybuilding world for decades. He’s seen how the sport has evolved and how the concept of bodybuilding gurus has developed. While he doesn’t know the exact private conversations gurus have with certain star bodybuilders – Rich does think that the overall direction is going downhill.
Rich Gaspari believes that bodybuilders today are too blindly following the words of coaches and gurus. They don’t question anything – simply follow orders. Rich recalls back when he was competing – he would often do his own research to make sure that advice he was given was accurate.
So are bodybuilding gurus to blame? Yes and no. Rich doesn’t think that a guru is a doctor and shouldn’t be held responsible for the health of a bodybuilder. Ultimately, it’s up to the bodybuilder to decide – is this advice good for me? Is it going to risk my health? Perhaps the current bodybuilding culture has put too much stock in coaches and gurus – but that’s not necessarily the guru’s fault. Every individual needs to be responsible and start favoring hard work and research over simple answers Google’d on the internet.
You can catch Rich Gaspari’s full response in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above!
