Last year Brooke Ence called me and asked me if I wanted to coach a “Big time bodybuilder.” I told her I had no experience whatsoever with bodybuilding and didn’t know how I could help him. She explained that he wanted to do a little Crossfit type stuff and learn some weightlifting and gymnastics. I said yes. That guy was Steve Cook.
Steve is one of the most recognized names in the fitness industry and has competed in the Men’s Physique category at Mr. Olympia for the past several years. In this interview we discuss the diet and training of a professional physique competitor. What I found most interesting were the things about his personal life. How to process 900k Instagram followers, how to deal with self-doubt, and how to work through the fear of failure.
In this episode we cover lots of different topics. Here’s a summary:
- His diet during the off-season
- How he cut 8 weeks out from a competition, and what he’d do differently now
- How he trains compared to how everyone else trains
- A list of people he attributes to his success
- The push-up punishment/reward technique
- How he pushes through the fear of failure
- Rules he gives himself for social media usage
- His thought process on dealing with fame and staying connected to those he loves