One thing that has helped me out a lot in my own journey towards success is the examples set by others in my particular areas of interest. So one of the things I will be doing for the “Success” section of this site is talking about examples of successful people and going over the lesson that each individual truly lived out. We’ll call these “Sonny’s Role Models.” This first one I will talk about is Dorian Yates.

Dorian Yates’ Lesson: Success is About What You Don’t See

For those of you who do not know who Dorian Yates is, he was the 6 time Mr. Olympia who ruled the 1990’s before Ronnie Coleman rose to the top of the sport. Dorian Yates is by far my favorite bodybuilder of all time. The reason for this is because he really understood success and what it took to be NUMBER 1.

He knew that he had to SEPARATE HIMSELF from the pack in order to be #1.

Yates was destined to be a champion. He entered 17 professional contests and only failed to win 2 of them: his pro debut and his Olympia debut. Now those would hardly seem like failures to most people but keep in mind, Dorian Yates was not “most people.” They were failures to him because it was all about winning. For instance, when he finished runner-up in his pro-debut at the 1990 Night of Champions, a lot of people told Yates that he was robbed and that he should have won. He didn’t buy any of it. He attributed the winner’s victory to his superior back. As a result, Yates worked even harder bringing up this body part so that there would be NO EXCUSES next time around.   

Once Yates won his first Olympia crown in 1992, the stage was set. He would never lose again. And when we take a further look into the environment he placed himself in and how he distanced himself from his competition, it becomes obvious that Yates was destined to live out the rest of his competitive days as THE TOP DOG.

Dorian Yates was nicknamed THE SHADOW which is interesting because I truly believe this is what separated him from everyone else and made him a champion. The 1990s were a very flashy time in the history of bodybuilding. This was the era with arguably the most talented competitors who also had the biggest egos. A lot of these competitors spent their time working out in Sunny California and interacting with one another. There was a lot of trash talking and a lot of these competitors would post pre-contest pictures to try to intimidate one another.

Yates never got involved in any of that. He pretty much stayed hidden for the entire year and no one would really know what he was up to. Well, little did the other competitors know that while they were laughing and training half-assed in Venice Beach… Yates was absolutely killing it in his dungeon (Temple Gym) in Birmingham, England. Yates truly understood the notion of not worrying about what the other guy was doing and just worrying about being his very best. He truly understood and took pride in this idea that:

SUCCESS IS ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T SEE

People didn’t see what was going on in the depths of Temple Gym. They would only see the product when he would step on the Olympia stage and obliterate the competition. Well, in 1994, the bodybuilding world got to see what it took for Yates to become Mr. Olympia when he released his training video, Blood and Guts. In this video, Yates shows why he was the reigning Mr. Olympia. This brief glimpse into his training showed that his workouts were absolutely brutal. No one trained as hardcore as he did…. which is why no one could top him on the Olympia Stage. Not even the various injuries he sustained throughout the years could bring him down.

One thing I admire about Dorian Yates was that this dude was a true warrior. Unlike the other bodybuilders, his passion was not about going up on stage and showing off. He lived for the IRON GAME. His passion was simply about training his ass off in Temple Gym knowing that he was making incredible gains. To Yates, going up on stage and destroying the competition was his reward for training like no else had…. Taking both his mind and body where no one else had.

Notice the difference…

Get a sense of the vibe. The first video (Yates) shows a competitor who put his heart and soul into this. He trained like his life depended on remaining Mr. Olympia. He didn’t care about fame, looking good, or what the other guys were doing. He just wanted another Sandow and was going to do whatever it took to get it.

Now check out this second video. Another top competitor from the 1990s. Incredible genetics and potential. He could never beat Yates and he never won an Olympia. You can kind of get a sense as to why that is just by looking at this brief video. He was satisfied. He was a superstar in the world of bodybuilding, he was visible to everyone (California) and that seemed to be enough. He enjoyed being a top dog but never trained with the intensity or drive to become THE TOP DOG. In a lot of his videos, you’ll see him joking around and training half-assed. Unfortunately, it takes more than that to become Mr. Olympia.

Here’s a recent quote I found from Yates in a magazine that gives great insight into who he is and is a great example of what we stand for at Strength By Sonny:

“I never thought about having to win a specific number of Mr. Olympia titles. I just wanted to keep winning as long as I could. And when it was over, I walked away with no regrets and ready to move on to other things in life.”

That’s what it’s all about… NO REGRETS. Dorian Yates… a true champion that I try to emulate in many aspects of my life. I will definitely look to Dorian’s example as I continue to work on this site and truly make it something special.

 Sonny

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