Bodyworks

Sport

The muscle-bound Sonny Schmidt tells of the tortures and treasures of body building

Text and photography by Chris Peteru

In a sport where your body, or lack of it, is the winning difference, the “Shape Monster”, Sonny Schmidt, has proved consistently that he’s got the goods. By building one of the most per fectly put together physiques ever seen in top competition (hence the nickname), the 1995 Mr Olympia Masters champion says the key to it all is self-belief.

“When you believe in yourself and don’t give up, you’ll get there,” he says.

Competing in a sport where egos can become as huge as the standard-issue 45inch chests, the 43-year-old Samoan can still laugh at himself despite the success.

Surprisingly youthful looking, Schmidt

began pumping iron when he was 26, making him a definite late starter. While waiting for a banged-up shoulder he hurt playing rugby to mend in New Zealand, a girlfriend persuaded him to do some weight training at Clive Greens, one of the first serious weight gyms in the region. It was 1980. That year, he won the Mr Auckland title, and was on his way.

“I left for Australia after that and let the body building slide. I was making good money with the job I had, was having a good time and didn’t want to train just for a trophy.”

For awhile he took up rugby league but still kept up an interest in body building.

The next nine years were spent training hard, but inconsistently. While the titles came - winning Mr Australia twice, then Mr Universe - the laid-back Schmidt never really took the sport, or encourage ment, from his supporters too seriously.

“I was told by a lot of people that if I kept at it, I’d have the makings of a world class physique; but I’d just say, ‘Yeah,

sure, right man, stop lying.’”

It wasn’t until he was offered a pro card (the ticket to cash contests) in 1989 that he made a concerted effort to lift his game. The deal was to represent Australia in the Mr Universe contest being held in Melbourne that year. The effort paid off.

With only 11 weeks to train, he placed well enough against the likes of Robby Robinson, Bob Paris and Gary Strydom all top professionals and Olympia finalists - and was given his pro card.

“It was then I thought, ‘Hey, this could be a good career for me.”’ Stepping up to the highest level meant having to sacrifice plenty and focus on getting to the top. By 1991, the Samoan had landed a sixth plac ing in his first Mr Olympia, won by American Lee Haney, who went on to

eclipse the legendary Arnold

Schwarzenegger by winning a record

eight Olympia titles before retiring unde

feated.“ Standing there for the posedown that night against the best in the business, guys I had only seen in magazines, I was the happiest man in the world. I have to say Lee Haney is the best ever.”

Muscle and Fitness Magazine, the bible of body building, described Schmidt’s arrival to the big time with "the kind of genetics that body builders would kill for, huge potential and symmetry that is out of this world”.

Even with good genetics, in the gym that means training incredibly hard, often twice a day, depending on his training cycle, and up to six days a week.

Grinding, gut-busting workouts have included 600-pound squats for eight repe titions, and crashing through physical pain barriers to get the result.

“A lot of guys just train their chest and arms, and their legs look like sticks. Other body builders think I’m bullshitting when I train. I say to them, ‘Try it.’ It’s hard, man; sometimes you feel your head is gonna explode. When you put the bar back on the .rack, you see stars and your head is pounding so hard it feels like it could come out and knock someone over.

“You’ve got to feel your muscle; when you train your chest, man, you concentrate on your chest, really feel the pump, if you train your biceps or legs, really, really focus on it because that’s how your body grows.” Together with a monastic diet, it adds up to being one of the toughest sports in the world. In the supermarket, it means a strict almost year-round diet of mainly boiled chicken breasts, rice, egg whites and steamed vegetables, broken down into six meals a day. Being a teetotaller ensures not too many late nights, while junk food gets a look in maybe twice a year. It’s a

tough call.

“Man, after about a month, you start to dream about pizza, Big Macs - you can’t

Schmidt... "when you believe in yourself and don’t give up, you’ll get there”

help it, man. When you go to the supermarket, you Just look at those chocolate biscuits, wow, see the ice cream and the bread, wow especially the white bread. So, I look at the food, sniff it and say to myself, ‘Wait until after the contest, then I’m coming to get you.’”

Getting properly primed before the contest is where sacrific ing the fat calories pays off. Seven days out, carbohydrate foods, like rice and pasta, the body’s main source of energy are out.

Seventy-two hours before, ‘carbs’, in small quantities, are taken in slowly. To ensure maximum muscle definition, “getting ripped”, as little water as possible is consumed during the week.

If done correctly, the physical results, come showtime, are stun ning.

“By 11 o’clock the night before the contest, the carbs should be hitting your muscles, and they start growing, veins come pop ping out, wow. If you hit it right and you’re on the money, man, you’re the happiest man in the world. Backstage you look at yourself and say, ‘Man, I’m on.’ You can’t wait to go out on stage and show people what you’ve got.

“Usually, I’m a 36-inch waist, but when I get into contest shape, I go to 29 inches, and the V-shape look. Man, you wish you could stay in that shape no matter what you eat!”

It was that kind of peak conditioning that saw him take out the 1995 Mr Olympia Masters title. He came second last year to Vince Taylor, ranked in the world’s top four, but believes he was hard done by. “I should have won. 1 was really upset. When we stood together, the guy was fat; wait until you see the video. But this year. I’m gonna have a go again."

As with other sports, steroid use has caused plenty of contro versy in body-building circles. The problem was highlighted at

last year’s Mr Olympia, when the world’s biggest body builder, European sensation Nassar Sambati, 271 pounds of “ripped mus cle”, tested positive, losing his third placing.

Guys use steroids to train harder and' to get a finish, says Schmidt, but agrees drug use is widespread.

From what he has seen locally during his first trip home in five years, steroid-free Islanders were naturals for the sport.

“They’re big but with good quality muscles, shape, proportion -

everything.”

His commitment to living a healthy lifestyle has led to his opening a health food and equipment shop on Sydney Road, Melbourne, Australia, last month.

With bigger, tougher quality opposition turning up at every contest, and larger prize purses, competing is becoming a tougher assignment every time.

“It’s not like the days when Arnold (Schwarzenegger) used to compete for the Mr Olympia. There might have been only five people in the whole contest, and man, they had no legs, all skin ny legs - you know what I’m saying? If Arnold, in his best shape then, competed in the Mr Olympia now, man, he would come last. Nowadays, you gotta have proportion and the whole pack age - arms...boom, small waist...boom, legs...boom. Those guys back then, check out their chests, yeah, check out their legs, man, they have the shape of a frog. You’ve got to have the shape, like a beautiful woman. “It doesn’t matter how heavy or big you are, it’s the quality shape and the good proportion.”

Having already picked up his first title for the year in Samoa - becoming high chief Taito Sonny Schmidt - he’s aiming to qualify for shots at both the Mr Olympia and Masters titles in 1997 with a view to retiring next year.

“My family keeps telling me to get married - you know us.

But I know what I’m doing, and I might get married soon and look after the business.” While the titles, travel and fame have been fun, the chance to compete with the top players in the sport has given him the most satisfaction. “I’ve been luckier than most - there are thousands of body builders who try year after year for the Olympia. Even if you come last, you are still in the winners’ circle, man - the best of the best.”

His one regret is not having picked up a barbell sooner.

“Still, it’s given me everything I could have wanted and I’m

grateful.” ■

Sonny Schmidt 1980 Mr Auckland 1985 iMr Melbourne, Mr Victoria, Mr Australia 1986 Mr Australia, Mr Universe 1988 Mr Universe top 10 finish 1989 Mr Universe top 10 finish (gained pro card) 1990 Night of the Champions, Niagara Falls, top 8 finish Night of the Champions, New York, runner-up 1991 Qualified for Mr Olympia top 6 finish 1992 Qualified for Mr Olympia top 10 finish 1993 Qualified for Mr Olympia top 8 finish 1994 Qualified for Mr Olympia 1995 Mr Olympia Masters winner 1996 Mr Olympia Masters second place

Schmidt receives his chiefly title