this is not story time with lats but, it is interesting nonetheless.. my buddy who lives in cali and lived for quita spell with haney called me the other day.. we usually talk twice a month .. he was a national caliber competitor in the 80's and early 90's.. is 44 years old and looks awesome to say the least.. i found some of his comments very interesting over the years and will tell ya what he has told me.. most of which is the exact opposite of what ya read in the mags.. 1) THE PROS EAT 5-6 TIMES A DAY.. he always laughs about this.. here is what he says.. "yeah.. maybe before a show.. they tighten up the diet.. but, off season.. please.. i have dined with them any times.. most of these guys grow from just breathing.. haney in the off season was only concerned about calories.. he would eat about three times a day.. and a shake.. but, none of this every three hours crap.. we just eat a lot.. period.. whether it was done in two or three meals was just fine with us.. 2) BODYBUILDERS EAT CLEAN.. now i have watched my buddy numerous times eat.. here is his diet.. get out of bed at around 8 am.. eat a large bowl of cereal.. fruit loops , cheerios, it really does not seem to matter.. wait a hour and hit the gym.. two hours later.. go back to the house and get some work done.. no after workout shake or nothing.. he says "that is silly.. your body is always repairing it self.. plus.. i am not hungry after my workout.. why eat?" at 1 or so.. eat a sandwhich at the beach.. may be a hamburger and fires.. with lemonade.. always lemonade.. at 6 go to a resturant and eat alot of pasta and salad.. "carbs are where its at.. high protein is just silly". i happen to agree that people put way too much emphasis on protein.. but... anyway .. go home and finish up some work.. before bed may be some popcorn or if he remembers.. a met rx shake.. he says what he does is not that far off what he watched mike christian do and strydom ect.. 3) THE PROS HAVE ACCESS TO ALL THE GOODIES.. he laughs at that.. "i just used what i could find and put it to use in my cycles.. i just make the proper adjustments if it was something ai did not want.. i'd use it anyway.. it all works.. just has to be used different.." he says many pros were in the same boat.. basically "what do ya have?" and use it.. he says some were better connected than others but, even his buds sometime could not get what they wanted.. 4) TEST IS THE BEST.. now i agree that test is awesome.. he has a different opinion. . " i preferred eq and other things.. i would use test because it was so cheap.. but, it was not something a liked.. i would do 600 mgs a week of test..never more.. made ,e feel bad.. but, i liked eq and sometimes would just run that.. loved that stuff.. like deca too.. and winny.. but, would use what was available to me.. vic richards loved eq.. but, the big thing was parabolan.. everyone wanted that.. not everyone could get it on a regular basis.. oh well".. now he has a script from a very generous doc.. he uses 500-600 of test cyp and deca.. he can get other things but, just now runs the basics.. 5) NEVER TAPER.. he is very old school in that regard.. he tapers everything down in the last 3 weeks of his cycle.. and believe it or not.. only took hcg in the last weeks and no clomid or nolva.. now of course.. he is on 200 mgs of test cyp even when off.. but, in his day.. he did not use a extensive pct and said he felt fine.. he states that many of his pro friends never did that either. just tapered and used hcg.. oh well.. lol 6) PROS TRAIN HARD.. some do.. my buddy to this day trains like a manic.. but, he says " haney trained hard in the last 8 weeks of a show.. but, in the off season he trained heavy.. but, not to failure.. and he ate.. many of them were that way..in the off sesson.. train heavy.. eat and get big.. no drop sets.. no forced reps.. just food and heavy weight.. dont strain too much.. HECK.. IT WAS TOUGH GETTING CHRISTIAN TO THE GYM LOL.. NEVER DISCOUNT GENETICS..PROS HAVE A GIFT." he also states that mike christian would do chest back and legs in the off season.. no delts or arms.. at least not too regular.. my buddy has some of the best arms i have seen.. does not train them..7) PROS ABUSE DRUGS.. he laughs.. "sometimes we would literally forget to take our shots.. haney was not hip on the drug thing.. he took the of course, but never in large amounts and sometimes he would forget.. we would remind him".. 8) PROS AND MOST BODYBUILDERS ARE STUPID.. "that is ridiculous.. many do get by on their great genetics.. but, many are very well read on the human body and anabolics.. some need coaches to help them.. they do not care to know this stuff.. but, many are very smart.. dean torebeane (misspelled) was very intelligent.. a thinkings man bodybuilder.. he knew his shit.. and many went to him for help.. there were many like him out there.. (by the way.. dean is seen on infomercials at night.. he is looking awesome and could still be competitive..) 9)MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PROTEIN IS REQUIRED FOR BUILDING MUSCLE.. "that is silly.. and wasteful.. i never eat much protein and many others i know never did either.. we just ate a lot.. it might be carbs.. it might have more protein.. i never gave it much thought.. except before a show..i would monitor what i ate.. 12 weeks out of the year.. the rest of the year?.. i just ate.. i needed my carbs.. i would guess that i never went over 125-150 in protein a day.. and that was a on a good day"..i have to agree to some extent.. i never get to 200 grams.. ever.. sometimes much less.. oh well..lol never felt the need.. just my opinion ... 10) THEY TAKE THEIR SPONSORS PRODUCTS.. he said that he very rarely saw them take a shake.. and when they did.. he said he saw a lot of metrx being taken.. not who was sponsoring them.. go figure.. so there ya have it.. agree or disagree.. he was in the middle of it for a long time.. interesting nonetheless.. just thought i would throw it out there.