1ST SET
ASK THE CHAMP
BY PHIL HEATH, SEVEN-TIME
REIGNING MR. OLYMPIA
BUSTING A GUT
MR. O TALKS
ABOUT HIS
POST-O SURGERY.
You did a
post-Olympia
FLEX leg workout
photo shoot in
that condition?
Yeah, I worked right
through it. But I’ve got
to say, presurgery
and postsurgery were
a huge difference. It
was pretty humbling
to go from intense O
prep to competing in
and winning the O to
five days later not being
able to pick up and
carry my own luggage
to three weeks later
and I’m at 40 to 50%
of my normal strength.
What about
guest-posing
appearances, like
the Phil Heath
Yellowstone Classic
(which happened
mid-October)?
Unfortunately, I was
in a postsurgery
phase, so guest posing
had to be on the back
burner. I didn’t do any
posing on the Australia
tour that followed the
Yellowstone Classic,
either. I was still only
about 50% recovered
from the surgery.
Did you
have surgery
after the
2017 Olympia?
Yes, I did. I had surgery
for a double hernia less
than a week after the
Olympia. I can’t say that
36
FLEX | MARCH ’18
I felt anything at the O,
but I suspected
something was off. I
don’t think it affected
my prep or my
performance, but in
hindsight, I have to
wonder. I mean, on the
one hand, it’s pretty
impressive that I was
able to do what I did
having that going on
inside me, and it makes
me feel that I’m going
to be able to do that
much better next year
without that kind of
stress in my system.
I was doing what I
coul d, even at 50%,
and I’d been seeing
my doctor, but man,
I knew that going back
to full-on training was
going to be like starting
from square one. Truth
is, by the time I got to
that point, it was all I
was looking forward to.
When did you
start training
again?