Elite Performance Secrets Of A 7X World Champion Bodybuilder - Phil Heath - #673

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello everybody, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Phil Heath. He's a professional bodybuilder, seven time Mr. Olympia winner, entrepreneur and an author. Phil Heath is one of the greatest and most dominant bodybuilders of all time. But what does it take to win Mr. Olympia for seven consecutive years? And just what are the inner workings of his mind that led him to that success? Expect to learn Phil's reflections on his rivalry with Kai Greene, what it was like being a part of the generation Iron documentary, how to improve your relationship with pain, how to conquer small impulses, why Phil used far fewer PEDs than everyone thinks, his 10 best exercises for building muscle, what he thinks of Chris Bumstead, his opinion on the current field of Olympia competitors, and much more. Phil is a very impressive human being. He is much more than just a set of biceps. He is an incredibly sharp guy. And this went for over two hours. I really loved it. This great location that we found in LA, which was an active woodworking studio with a chainsaw in the background. It was really fun. And if you want to go and check that out on YouTube, you can do. Some other cool updates that you might be interested in. I am back away to the UK for a full two and a bit weeks next week, and I will be recording with three huge guests, many of whom have been requested for a very, very long time. Also, every Monday for the next month, we will be releasing another cinema episode from that huge weekend that we did in LA. The guests are fantastic, also massively requested, huge platforms. So if you want to support the show and make sure you don't miss those, when they go up, please hit the subscribe button. It really does make a difference and we're working hard at the moment. I'm flying all over the world trying to track down interesting people and attach them to a chair for a few hours so that I can ask them questions. So support the show, please, by hitting the subscribe button wherever you are listening. I thank you. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Phil Heath.
Where did the name, The Gift, come from?

**Phil Heath** (2:22)
Well, it wasn't me, okay? It was an old roommate that I had.
I was already getting into the sport of bodybuilding, and he was like, bro, I have the perfect nickname for you. I was like, what is it? He was like, The Gift. I was like, seriously? You couldn't have picked a better name than this? Everybody's gonna be like, this guy's conceited, he's arrogant, he's cocky, this and that and the other. He was like, no, no, no, no, think deeper. You're a former division I athlete, you're intelligent, you're college educated, you have a great physique and you know how to speak to those audiences. No one's ever seen this. And I was like, yeah, man, but I'm not even pro yet. He goes, doesn't matter. He's like, I've been around, cause he had competed before and he's actually from Cyprus. So I feel like him being European and seeing more bodybuilders over there and just in that area, because of bodybuilding, being in a much bigger sport overseas than it is here in the States. He just saw talent and he was like, this is you and your gift is to give. And then I was like, ah, that's what I'm going to use it as. Allow people to form their own opinion initially, but that's based on their own stuff. Even like me, I was like, oh yeah, I think it's this. When really it's not. It's about what I can give to you. A gift is something I can give to you. So then you do what? You have happiness, you have joy, you have peace. And I use that. You know, I use the gifts that I have. And obviously in bodybuilding, you know, did some incredible things, but it was about how I got there so then I can help other people get to their, you know, champion podium to go through their levels of adversity to create better moments of triumph. And I love the nickname because I feel like we all have a gift. You have one, I have one, everyone has one. But we have to face those fears as well and understand that we're only as good as the tests. Are we truly battle tested? So it's like, what makes a person so smart? What makes a person, you know, we always see like, oh, well Shaquille O'Neal hit a lot of free throws by himself, but when the lights were on, maybe not as much, right? So you can't say like, oh yeah, this guy, he's so bad ass, it's like, no, man, that gift is only as good as it's been tested and it's been forged and fortified over and over and over again. So for me, it's just, it takes on a greater meaning than just like, oh yeah, he thinks he's God's gift to this. It's like, oh no, I can be, if I porn to myself and be willing to porn to others.