Original subtitles

[dramatic soundtrack plays]

[man] What's next? What are you gonna do?

Oh, we're gonna party tonight, man. We're gonna party.

We're gonna party tonight, man. We're gonna party.

[telephone rings]

[ring]

[ring]

Hello?

[man] Good morning, Mr. Greene.

This is your requested 6 a.m. wakeup call.

You have a free continental breakfast.

[dramatic music]

[car horn honking]

[music intensifies]

[indistinct talking]

[crowd cheers]

♪♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Until I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ Never ♪

♪ Daddy was a gladiator ♪

♪ And I declare war ♪

♪ Gotta ♪

♪ Prove that I'm one of the greatest ♪

♪ And if I'm not ♪

♪ Then what am I here for? ♪

♪ You gotta do what you don't wanna do ♪

♪ Till you can do what you wanna do ♪

♪ And that's what I'm gonna do ♪

♪ Do what I gotta do ♪

♪ Truth is ♪

♪ You could use all the excuses ♪

♪ But out here they're useless ♪

♪ The proof is in the win ♪

♪ You gotta fight until the end ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ Came from the bottom of the bottoms ♪

♪ Where you can't complain 'Cause everybody got their problem ♪

♪ And the last thing They wanna hear about is yours ♪

♪ We're tryin' to find the lane To beat the odds and even scores ♪

♪ Got me walkin' through the Valley of Death searchin' for victory ♪

♪ Tryin' to get it all Before I let it all get to me ♪

♪ On my last leg and last breath Searchin' for energy ♪

♪ Tryin' to take the steps In the direction God given me ♪

♪ And I can see the light But the road get dark sometimes ♪

♪ Losin' sight, gotta be guided By my heart sometimes ♪

♪ Keep it together, even though I'm torn apart sometimes ♪

♪ Tryin' to finish, when I don't Wanna start sometimes ♪

♪ But I'd rather tried and failed Than never tried at all ♪

♪ But if I won't give it my all Then I won't try it at all ♪

♪ 'Cause half effort is a half result ♪

♪ See, it's more about How you play the hand ♪

♪ Than the cards you been dealt ♪

- ♪ I'm-a... ♪ -[static on radio]

[man on radio] It's gonna be a cold one in New York City, so dress warm.

This is the kind of weather that makes you want to stay home.

In fact, this kind of weather makes you

want to pack up and move somewhere warm.

[Mickey Rourke] I began my journey in bodybuilding a few years ago,

filming top athletes competing for the prestigious title

of the Mr. Olympia.

In the last four years, things have changed.

New stars have emerged.

Competitions added new divisions.

Social media is now a major driving force.

The fitness industry as a whole continues to grow,

yet to many, bodybuilding remains a subculture.

I decided to learn more about this phenomenon

and explore the industry further.

I begin my new journey

by reuniting with the first bodybuilder I met, Kai Greene.

[yawns]

Kai, how was India, man?

Man, that was wassup!

India rocks, man.

Gotta love India.

I heard there was a performance over there, huh... a lot of people.

They were really, really receptive. Warm people.

Make a left over there.

[Mickey] Kai has been the first Olympia runner-up

for three consecutive years.

Although he never won the title, he since has risen to become

one of bodybuilding's biggest stars.

[crowd chanting "Kai Greene!"]

Today, it seems that Kai's goals have shifted.

He's no longer passionate about competing for titles.

However, his passion for art and expression is stronger than ever.

[Mickey] Kai, when I first met you a few years ago,

your main goal in life, your main focus,

was to win Mr. Olympia.

How would you describe you then versus you now?

Interesting question, I guess, because

that was another time, I think, another time in my life.

I believed a lot more in another idea that today I don't believe in.

I was looking for the trophy.

I was looking for the medals, the new contracts.

I wanted to be a champion.

The first time I looked at a picture in a magazine and saw, you know,

a muscular physique,

I saw a limitless possibility.

It's just a certain amount of awareness that you don't have yet,

and I expected a large reward

and ended up having to discover there's a higher ceiling than that,

there's a larger stage than that.

♪♪

[Shawn] The term "bodybuilding," in a nutshell,

is exactly what it sounds like.

You're trying to change your appearance through lifting weights.

It encompasses a little bit more of everything these days,

but for me, bodybuilding is body sculpting.

I always considered myself a physique artist.

Bodybuilding is an art.

And there's nothing like

the feeling you get when you look in the mirror

and you're happy with how you look.

Do you know how many people wake up every day and look in the mirror

and don't like what they look like?

What you put your body through mentally and physically

is probably one of the toughest sports.

It's how I pay my bills, it's how I feed myself, so this is a job to me.

When you're a kid playing Pop Warner sports, man, it's great, it's beautiful,

you know, mom and dad are videotaping and all that,

but when you're trying to be the best in the world, that's out the door.

[Rich G.] I first got intrigued by bodybuilding

when I was about ten years old, reading about superheroes

like the Incredible Hulk and Superman,

and in the magazine itself,

they actually had a section there with a Joe Weider advertisement

saying, "Do you wanna build, you know, this ultimate body?"

And not anything against being gay or not, but then my mom thought I was gay

because I was hanging up pictures of bodybuilders in my bedroom.

[Steve] Bodybuilding has been around since forever, you know, 80 years.

I mean, the Weiders started in 1936,

and now Jim's taken over from that.

Joe just had the dream to always, you know,

make bodybuilding what it is today.

I mean, he's the one that discovered Arnold.

He brought Arnold here, you know...

His magazines made stars out of people, they really did.

They made them famous. That was before all the Internet now.

In 1965, Joe Weider put on the Mr. Olympia championships,

him and his brother Ben,

who founded the International Federation of Bodybuilding.

'67, '68 and '69, the Mr. Olympia title was won by a Cuban,

Sergio Oliva.

And then we came with "The Austrian Oak,"

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who went on to win six in a row,

from '70 to '75.

People liked the way we looked, you know.

Every guy, particularly, wants to have a great physique.

Uh, all the girls want to look good and, you know, sexy, nice waist,

you know, all those good stuff, so, and bodybuilding had that.

Talk to any bodybuilder, their generation was always the best.

Their time was always the best time.

Talk to Arnold, his generation was the best.

We're hearing a lot of people crave the old days.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger] Technology has changed,

food supplements have changed, the machines have changed.

The only thing that I feel that is still lacking is the posing.

Bodybuilders are not creative enough, coming up

with all kinds of different routines and drama on the stage,

to really make the audience go wild.

I think the golden age of bodybuilding goes to the late sixties,

when Arnold came about and where bodybuilding was then

in Venice Beach in California,

where it seemed like it was like this fun thing to do.

When I was a kid, I wanted to move to California to be a bodybuilder.

[watercraft revving]

♪♪

[Mickey] Meet Calum, a 26-year-old bodybuilder from Australia.

He recently moved to California to follow dreams of fame, glory,

and bodybuilding.

[Calum] I grew up in a very small town in central Victoria,

kind of out in the bush.

And we had chickens and ducks and geese, had a few ponies.

[Mickey] So why did you specifically choose bodybuilding for a career path?

[Calum] Um, I saw Pumping Iron, and yeah, that was...

That was it for me, it was all over.

And then, yeah, I was working away, just doing my thing.

And um, a guy came in, and he...

he's like, "Hey, do you mind if I come film you doing a workout?"

I was like... I never had someone record me on a camera doing a workout,

but I was, "Yeah, let's do one."

It introduced me to the fitness industry, and yeah, from there I had people

reaching out to me, companies wanting to sponsor me.

I went from living in a house, a quiet neighborhood,

to the middle of Hollywood.

[Mickey] You've gained millions of fans on social media.

How were you able to achieve that?

[Calum] I wanted to become known.

And the most effective way these days to do it is all online, social media.

It's such a powerful tool.

You know, it's like me when I was watching Pumping Iron.

They wanna see how I train, how I eat, what I do.

And they also enjoy my crazy antics sometimes, or whatever I'm up to.

God put me here to be in this industry,

because I tried so many other things and it just didn't work out.

[motorcycle idling]

[woman speaking indistinctly]

I'm not a stranger.

-Thanks, Reg. -[Reg] Okay. Have a good workout.

[man] Hey, man. How are ya?

[indistinct conversation]

[Frank] In this world of bodybuilding,

you know, a lot of people are out just for themselves and stuff and...

I always kept to myself, and then I met Calum and I was like, wow...

got a guy that's got some of the best genetics in the world.

You know, every... everything in the world going for him.

He has every right to have an ego and he still doesn't, you know what I mean?

and you don't see that in many people these days.

Okay, one, two, three...

[trainer] Okay, you got it, come on. Yep, come on, all you.

[Frank] It feels like old school bodybuilding,

like the guys used to train together, eat together, party together,

you know, go to the beach or do whatever together, and it's not that way anymore.

It's like, I've been backstage at shows and nobody talks to you.

I'm like, I know we're in competition with each other,

but it's still... We're having fun and stuff and...

I like having the camaraderie.

He's an all-around good person in every way.

[Mickey] Douchebag. [chuckles]

Nah, it's good.

I always like training with older or bigger people,

stronger than myself, some people that have more experience and knowledge,

because I can learn from them.

I feel like the lion in the... in the pride

with half the mane, and he's the one with the big mane.

And it's like trying to catch up to him.

-[Frank] You calling me old? -Nah, I'm saying you're the mature one.

And then everyone else, the crossfitters here are like the hyenas.

They're like scratching around, trying to take our weights and shit, our scraps...

'cause they're like... They were born with back legs shorter than the front legs,

so they're already disadvantaged.

I'm not trying to be mean, but it's real. Genetics are a big part of bodybuilding.

If it wasn't genetics, everyone could be like me.

Everyone could look like Frank.

-[Calum] It's all you. -[trainer] We're both doing it. Come on!

[Calum] Yeah, you saw me pushing.

[chuckles]

[starts engine]

♪♪

[distant screech]

[whispering] What the fuck?

[Mickey] Being social media famous

doesn't seem to satisfy Calum.

He wants to earn respect as a bodybuilder

and one day get on the Olympia stage.

But first he has to earn his way and become a pro.

[Jim Manion] Classic Physique was started out of the need for something

between men's physique and men's bodybuilding.

A lot of guys that entered men's physique

were kind of, were too big and would get disgusted.

Well, then we had some bodybuilders that weren't big enough for bodybuilding.

That's what prompted the growth in both NPC and IFBB,

because we have more people turning pro, so demand for more pro shows.

We have shows almost every weekend. We're in 20 countries right now.

♪♪

[Mickey] To explore the industry further,

we traveled to the Middle East.

In a country still rebuilding its infrastructure after the Gulf War,

Bader Boodai decided to invest in bodybuilding.

His mission is simple: prove to the world that his gym and his team are the best.

[Bader Boodai] I want to let the people in my country to know,

there is no difference between us and these people.

It's only the experience and the lifestyle.

And it starts to pay off now.

And this is what let me start to create a team to do pro show.

And now I think we have one of the toughest teams in the world.

♪♪ [grunting]

[Mickey] It seems that here, athletes take bodybuilding more seriously.

For them, it's more than a sport,

it's pride.

[Bader] What they do for the bodybuilder or for this sport

is only for passion, it's not about anything more.

[Brandon] I'm here, so Kuwait is definitely competition for the U.S.

I mean, what... Ashkanani has proved that, Big Ramy has proved that.

You know, just, the U.S. has kind of lost its luster.

What they're doing here is on a different level.

[Big Ramy] One time I go into U.S. to see

how people working in bodybuilding in the U.S.,

but I see Middle East, it have everything.

Coming to Kuwait, I think he said something like,

"Man, we can make you top six in the world."

And that kind of stuck with me. I was like...

"Wow."

You know, you've expected a lot

out of yourself in the past, and this is the time

to put it all on the table and make it happen.

Coming to a place like this where you're being pushed to extremes,

you kind of find out what genetics and what you're really made out of.

You kind of figure out what sets a bodybuilder apart, maybe,

from the normal community and why bodybuilders

of a historic period of time change and evolve the training a certain way.

[horn honks]

[indistinct conversation, laughter]

[Mickey] Ahmad Ashkanani made headlines in 2016

after placing second in the 212 Mr. Olympia Division.

He's now focused in competing in the Arnold Classic,

one of the world's most prestigious bodybuilding titles.

Winning this title would mean the world to him

and the whole Middle East.

[Ahmad] Our target is to take the title.

We make our athletes 100% focused for the show.

He feels like anything is not good for him, we keep it away.

He's eight weeks out.

We need him to be more...

...more bigger, and we need his quads to be bigger.

The good news for Ashkanani is, all the year he's in shape.

By comparing this year and last year, and this weight, 105,

he's more conditioned.

And before he was like more watery and more fat.

Now he's more... less fat and less water.

[speaking Arabic]

[Mickey] So, you know the Middle East is known to be very conservative.

How do you feel about women in bodybuilding?

Women's?

[chuckles]

My wife is here?

[woman laughs]

Okay.

What?

To... the sport is a change a lot of things in the woman, you know?

This is my opinion.

[Mickey] Due to the lack of popularity, in 2015,

all major competitions canceled women's bodybuilding.

[Shawn Ray] Women's bodybuilding has gone the way of the eight-track.

Women's bodybuilding was popular when I was coming in.

Cory Everson won the Ms. Olympia six times.

It evolved into Kim Chizevsky winning it four times,

and she took it to the extreme and became very hard and very dry

and very striated.

Then Lenda Murray came and she won it eight times, I believe it was,

and she had a very athletic look, and then Iris Kyle came along

and took it to the next level, and it became hardcore bodybuilding.

I mean, you were looking at nothing but muscle,

and it was very hard to then quantify the femininity in the sport,

because I thought women's bodybuilding

was about femininity as well as muscularity.

When you're viewing a person on stage and we're, we have, uh...

...being critiqued and standardized on what it should look like,

it's the X factor.

You're judging the X factor.

X factor is large, wide shoulders, tapered waist, and wide legs,

balance, then next would be the separation, mass.

Um, of course you want to look presentable on stage

and represent a full package.

You are trying to look beautiful,

but I think a lot of people are just so dialed in

and in disbelief that we have, you know...

this trace of muscle going through,

so they kind of look past our face.

And I know quite naturally I get real hard in the face.

Looks like I'm on cocaine all day.

So the part where they're saying "not attractive," we're not in a pageant.

It's not a beauty contest, it's a bodybuilding show.

[Jea] It's sad to see what's happened to women's bodybuilding,

but from a business standpoint, I understand it.

In order for them to gain a broader audience,

and to have more financial success in terms of more people in the seats,

more people entering contests, they had to make it less extreme.

[Steve Weinberger] You've got Fitness, which is very popular,

for the more, the gymnastic type people.

You've got Bikini, which is over the top.

I mean, if you're born with a nice body, you just maintain it in a gym,

you're pretty much ready to go.

And you got Figure, which is a little more muscle.

Women's Physique, which is more muscle.

Then you have Women's Bodybuilding, which is the ultimate.

But not a lot of women want to take it to the ultimate.

[Jim] There's a lot more beautiful women walking around

that just put on a bikini and high heels, and they do train.

Those women train, though.

A bodybuilder can't train like a bikini girl

and a bikini girl can't train like a bodybuilder.

There's different body types, of course.

But... I worked my ass off.

[Mickey] How did you feel when you found out

that you couldn't compete at the Olympia anymore?

Um...

shocked.

And I thought it was going to be something temporary,

and to see that it hasn't came back, it was like, really?

You have...

I have created a milestone for myself.

But there's so many women who loves it, there's so many fans that care for it

and support it.

For them to take bodybuilding out,

you're taking the mother away from her child

because we're the core of the sport, men and women, bodybuilding.

You know. How would you like for me to tell you that you don't...

You can't do what you love anymore?

[Mickey] Iris Kyle has dominated the bodybuilding stage for years.

[Iris] Damn! Broke a nail.

[Mickey] She has won ten Ms. Olympia titles,

more than anyone in the world.

While the glory of the Olympia stage is now just a memory,

Iris continues to work out daily.

She also trains Hidetada Yamagishi,

a pro 212 bodybuilder from Japan.

They're now a couple.

[Iris] Every time that I go pick him up to the airport,

believe it or not, I have stomach pains, like stage pains, like butterflies.

My armpits start to sweat, and it's still like that today.

I'm nervous. I'm like, oh my God...

So, I don't know, we just...

we... we click.

[Mickey] So you think you made him a better bodybuilder?

Hell yeah. [chuckles]

But you know I haven't been on stage for three years or whatever and...

watching Hide go through his prep,

I was like, whew! I miss it.

[Mickey] Missing the spotlight,

Iris signs up to compete at a smaller pro venue

in hopes to revamp her career.

[Iris] I talked it over with Hide and some more people in my camp,

they said, "Why not, Iris? Let's do it."

Right now her condition, it is the best ever I've seen her.

I've never seen her this big.

[Mickey] Did you ever consider losing some of your muscle mass

and moving down to another division, like Women's Physique or...

Never transpired, never thought of it.

And... I just think I created something in bodybuilding,

and that's where I'm going to land and live.

Rather stay or die.

If it ends my career as being able to compete, so be it.

But I think it's disrespectful of me to go down to another category.

[Shawn] The extinction of women's bodybuilding is the sole result

of the judge's, like the men, over-rewarding muscularity.

Athleticism, symmetry, shape...

Those are adjectives we don't even use today in bodybuilding.

It was beautiful when I started bodybuilding,

and then it somewhere evolved into just getting big at all cost.

[Gregg] Today, you get these guys, the short guys, in the off-season,

they're 250 or more.

The bodies are morphing and they're not looking good.

Dorian Yates brought in a whole era of just mass monsters.

It did change the sport.

I became way too big.

You know, the muscle, it wasn't as much vee'd,

and we started to have body parts that aren't as even as other ones.

If you said to me, "Jay, were you happy with the way you looked winning Olympias

or were you happy when you were up-and-coming?"

I would tell you the up-and-coming physique was probably better

than the Olympia physiques because

I never planned on being as muscular as I ever was.

Bodybuilders are pushing the boundaries of muscle size.

Like, they're pushing to new and new limits that no one else has ever seen.

People still want to see freaks,

and so when you're looking at these bodybuilders

like a Phil Heath or, you know, a Kai Greene,

they're just massive guys that are on stage

that, when people look at them, they're just so freaky looking.

Psychologically, gaining more and more mass

and finding the true limits of how much muscle you can gain

is an obsession.

[Mickey] Meet Rich Piana, a former NPC competitor

who never became a pro in spite of his best efforts.

Since then he has shifted his focus and used an image to build his brand

and a massive fan base.

[Rich] Normally, I would get up and take a shot of growth,

but I'm out of growth hormone.

And it's been harder and harder to get the actual real growth hormone.

And you can go to longevity doctors, but it's a fortune,

which I can afford, but I just still just can't see paying that much money.

You know, it's really more just, you know, to feel good,

hair, skin, longevity reasons.

It's not really for the bodybuilding reasons I did back in the day,

you know, when I would take, you know, 16, 18 IUs a day

to just become, you know...

to put on as much muscle and burn as much fat as possible.

[Shawn] There's a lot of things out there that are unhealthy for us

that people do on a regular basis.

You got to ask yourself, why are all these guys using the drugs?

Because they are training harder, longer, to get bigger, faster,

enduring all of these things, so there have to be some beneficial properties.

It's, you know, steroid usage and steroids abuse.

And then there's like massive abuse.

The long-term effects of using steroids, we really don't know.

Because back in Arnold's day, you know, guys took D-ball,

Deca, Test and shit,

But these guys are a totally different realm.

I mean, I was a drug dealer, and I didn't even know half of the shit that's out now.

[Rich] Liver & Organ!

So, I've been taking steroids for over 25 years.

All right, so, needless to say, you know, it does its damage.

And I'm aware of that.

I'm willing to take, you know, take my chances,

but I'm going to do it as safe as possible.

When you go on a cycle, your liver enzymes get elevated.

When you get off, they slowly come back,

but it takes months and months.

And over time, you know,

there comes a time when they might not come back to normal.

If you're gonna go down that road and you're gonna take steroids,

you need to do it right.

You need to go to a doctor, have your shit checked out,

you know, do everything you can to stay as healthy as possible.

[chuckles]

♪♪

[Rich P.] I do feel pressure to look a certain way.

I shouldn't feel that way, but I do.

If I'm sitting here and I'm telling you this and telling you that,

well, I better be following that shit, too.

Looking good is something that was instilled in me as a little kid.

You know, my mom was a competitive bodybuilder,

so she was very into how she looked.

And I was actually raised...

...basically the outer shell is very important.

At the age of six, I was in Gold's Gym playing with He-Man dolls,

you know, these guys with these huge muscles.

And, you know, my mom would date different bodybuilders,

because, you know, that's what she was into,

so I was around big, huge guys all the time.

And I was super intrigued, you know, so basically I was either

going to be a bodybuilder or be gay, one or the other.

You wanna arm wrestle? What's up?

Want some of this?

-[man] I think I'll break my shit. -[chuckles] No.

-Have a good day, brother. -[man] Likewise.

[rock music plays]

[rapid backwards audio]

[Rich] Hey, what's up, everyone?

So, today what I want to talk about is using your brain.

Again, I'm just trying to help, and this information will help everybody.

You know, it even helped myself.

As a teenager, I was really thinking about being a top professional bodybuilder,

you know, and being the best I can be and working my way up the ladder.

I gave everything I had.

I was eating 12 meals a day, two to three hours a day with weights,

taking all the drugs necessary,

and I did nothing else but body-build, and not winning, it just killed me.

I'm willing to do whatever it takes, but I'm not getting anything back.

And I'm spending a lot of money.

I'm messing up my family life, I'm messing up my relationship.

You know, my work is shit.

You know, everything in my life is shit because I'm focusing on bodybuilding.

You know, so I'm getting nothing.

I'm fucking my life up and getting nothing back.

So I think the reality slowly would kick in

and I'd realize, like, "What am I doing?"

I don't need you, you know, so you're not gonna be my boss.

You're not gonna be telling me what to do because,

I don't... you guys... I don't need what you're offering me.

Uh, like...

Like these are supposed to be YouTube songs.

But then when I use them, they won't monetize it.

Okay, if you still have the video up, I can figure out

how to get in touch with them and then email them and have proof

that it's one of their approved songs.

[Rich P.] I never did YouTube to make money, that was never my plan.

It was all about, I need to start a YouTube channel to market my products.

You know, like, that's a great way to market.

And that's what it was, and then when the money started coming, I'm like,

Jesus Christ. [chuckles]

[Rich G.] There's a lot of false, I call them false gurus.

I'm not a big fan of Rich Piana because I just think he sends out a wrong message

to the young millennials.

There's a person that I feel, you know, hurts the industry because

they show the aspects of taking, you know, the taboo part of taking the drugs,

but then they're sitting there selling their products,

touting that their products work and other ones don't.

[Lee] You have to be smart enough to dissemble

what's true and what's not.

You know, if you don't do that, then shame on you.

If you're gonna be great in anything, you have to be a student of it first.

None of these big-mouth guys on the, uh...

[clears throat] ...on social media know that.

They haven't been there, done that.

So how can they speak to the true science of how it's supposed to be done?

They're just a bunch of loudmouths.

[Shawn] You don't have to be

a Hall of Fame bodybuilder to have a million followers these days.

You have to have a niche.

Some girls out there have five million followers.

The only thing that's on their Instagram are pictures of their butts.

I mean, I've seen guys out there saying outlandish things

and becoming cartoon characters, but because they lift weights,

they're classified as, "Did you see the bodybuilder?"

So, we're now painted with this one big brush.

If there's anything I can say I have more of than anyone out there,

it's haters. [chuckles]

It helps my business, believe it or not.

If I have 10,000 negative comments, that helps that video go viral.

So, yeah, so the haters actually help me.

You know, when the time comes that you walk in a room and no one cares about you,

or you post a picture and no one comments, you know,

that's when things aren't good.

They actually stopped, stared at the picture, thought about it,

got angry, and took the time out of their day to comment on that picture.

I don't take time out of my schedule to comment on pictures, you know.

My time is too valuable.

We all get judged, you know.

My look might not be right for some women.

"Oh, she has too much muscle,"

or, "She's too small," or, "not enough muscle," or...

You know, everyone's gonna have an opinion,

especially when you're at the top.

Everyone's gonna judge you.

Everyone, no matter what.

Whether you're a guy, girl, whatever age,

everyone has done... had to deal with some sort of body image issues.

And I put it out there, like how I felt.

And uh... a lot of girls respect me for not doing what everyone else does.

Been told to get a boob job.

I've been told that I've been scored down because I look more masculine.

I mean, I've seen all the negative comments.

I look like a dude. Like, where are my boobs?

Fair or unfair, it's a fact. If you're quiet and withdrawn, it's hard.

And social media does, it lets your personality come out

and lets you see, for the fans, what kind of person you are.

The Internet has killed everything.

It's took what was once a great sport, in my opinion,

and now it's watered down.

Everybody's a celebrity today.

Without even looking for it, without even going to the magazine racks

or anything like we used to do, it falls upon you.

And now you see a whole new generation opening up.

I still look at other companies that are possibly doing better than me,

and my goal is to pass them up.

Our YouTube channels, my goal is to fly by them.

You know, and I see how many subscribers, how many comments, how many views,

you know, and my goal is to do whatever it takes to be better than them.

You know, and it's the greatest feeling when you pass them by.

You have someone like Kai who's big in social media

but also is a great champion,

but then there's a lot of other ones that could have higher followings.

Do I think it's right? I think it's two different things.

You work to be a pro bodybuilder or you work to be popular on social media.

A lot of times, they both don't mesh together.

♪♪

[Kai] I remember moments of achievement

and being at a very high place,

being at the center of a big stage with a lot of attention.

And I can remember interviews.

"Well, how does it feel? What does it feel like?" You know.

They see you on the cover of a magazine or they see the microphones

tilted toward you, but if you get a chance to see where they were starting from,

you might find out you have a hell of a lot more in common.

[music continues]

[Shawn] Kai Green's an interesting read.

You know, Kai Greene

came from the streets.

He came from the bottom up.

And I don' think Kai's dream was to be a professional bodybuilder.

When you struggle, you come from a boys' home,

I think you look just for a place to belong.

[Kai] I remember being in an institutional facility,

and one day in a meeting with the director of the facility,

he said, "You leaving this place,

we don't question your ability to survive," he said,

"what I question is the quality of your survival."

Fast-forward years later.

What have you done?

[Mickey] For the last year, Kai has been working on his graphic novel,

"Chronicles of King Kai."

With New York Comic Con days away, Kai visits his collaborator

to finalize a first edition.

[Kai] ...and allow them to imagine what the end will be.

You know, [gasp], "Tune in, Comic Con," you know, "2000," whatever.

But the point I'm just trying to make...

[Kai] There was a time the world would sooner see me as a 300-pound black guy

with an eight-inch scar down the side of his face.

[gasp] He would know nothing about feelings of vulnerability.

One thing I've noticed, particularly when I was a kid, when drawing,

I would see how people could turn around and, you know, be so quick to judge

what your project looked like in its earlier stage.

When you're drawing or starting out, people are less likely to encourage you,

and they, "Oh, that doesn't look like it's supposed to look."

There's a certain level of pressure that comes along with the spotlight

that I think can be very easily overwhelming.

Maddening.

Make no mistake about it, it can be a beast.

♪♪

[Jim M.] Kai, he's a very unique character.

He's got a great body, obviously,

but he creates a lot of mystique about him.

Obviously, he's the best poser and bodybuilder.

He's the most entertaining poser, that's for sure.

[Steve] He's very friendly, and one-on-one he's very real.

If you get him at the right time, he'll spend an hour talking to you.

You could be just, you know, some woman or some man off the street,

and if you ask him a question, he'll sit down

and he'll... he won't answer it, he'll explain it in vivid detail.

He's not like "Oh, yeah, thank you very much."

He's like, "The reason this is that way is because

the situation of the matter to the left..."

[Mickey] Do you think some fans will turn away from Kai because

he's not competing?

[Steve] I think it didn't help him.

I mean, he's always going to be popular and he's always going to be a big star,

but I think it did hurt him, to tell you the truth. I do.

The Olympia is the World Series.

So for him to not do that, I thought, was, in my opinion,

not a good business decision.

Kai Greene and Phil Heath,

like Phil Heath was the winner

but Kai Greene was right there in popularity.

And he was getting more fan appeal than Phil Heath was.

[Mickey] Do you think Kai quit because he thought he couldn't win the Olympia?

I don't think in Kai's mind he really thinks that he can't beat Phil

because I think Kai's a warrior and I think if he gets to it,

he could beat anybody if he really wants to.

Do you think he dropped out because of that?

[Kai] Listen, man, it's been a long time coming.

I... I get chills when I think about what's really happening here.

You know, sometimes people, they really just don't know.

This has been a long journey just to get to this point

and the seed is actually starting to bloom.

Each day we get a step closer and with each opportunity

we...

we make history.

♪♪

[Calum] I'm a bit of a thrill seeker. I love outdoor activities.

Skateboarding, all that stuff.

The world is a huge place and it's so much more than just a gym.

[Mickey] Aren't you afraid of getting an injury?

Uh, yeah, yeah.

Like my body is my livelihood, in a sense.

In my head, I'm always thinking that every single car on the road

is trying to hit me.

[Mickey] Can you tell me about your father's accident?

He had a motorbike accident when I was in the last year of high school.

So, yeah, someone hit him and it broke his neck, so it's no good.

I never got a chance to actually walk into a gym with him,

which, I gotta admit it would have been cool to have a dad or a figure

to, you know, like to maybe have someone older to really push me.

I never got that.

No, that's... Yeah, he's still got his crazy sense of humor.

That's all that matters. He's still alive, he can still talk to me, so that's good.

Ohh!

-Sorry. -[woman] Oh, that's okay.

-A bit carried away. Just practicing. -[woman] Okay.

I'm trying to be a professional skateboarder.

-[woman talking indistinctly] -Yeah, I got a competition in two weeks.

-[woman] Really? -Yep. See how I'm training?

[woman] Well, that is really nice.

Balancing... balancing stuff and...

Damn it. Oh...

-[man on intercom] How can I help you? -My name's Calum von Moger.

I got your contact from Jim Manion.

Uh, I'm looking at competing in the competition on November 12.

[man] You're aware of the guidelines for Classic Physique, correct,

in terms of weight and height?

Uh, Jim, yeah, Jim sent me a running sheet.

He said, I think, and for 6'2", I think, you have to be under 232,

-so I have to drop about 10 pounds? -Correct.

-Yeah, okay, cool. -Okay.

[Jim M.] Actually I'd never heard of him. My grandson mentioned who he was,

and I told him I ran into him at Gold's,

and he said this guy's all over social media.

My wife and I went to lunch with him, him and his trainer,

and... fine young man.

You know, good-looking, nice physique. Really, really nice guy.

He's competing in some other organizations.

Nothing against any other organizations.

You know, but when you step into the NPC and IFBB,

You know, I feel we're the best.

You know, we put the biggest competition, the best competition.

So for him to do this, it's only gonna make his social media blow up more.

[Mickey] Aren't you afraid you're not gonna make the weight?

[Calum] Last time I dropped seven pounds in a day.

I took that water pill, the diuretic, to help cut all the water out,

and within... in the morning, and then in the afternoon, at five o'clock,

it was... I went from 238 to 231.

[Mickey] Did you feel sick?

Uh, a little bit.

It's like... just sweating. And it was really hot, too.

Yeah, I do feel a little headache-y.

I was like in the show next day, so I had all sorts of pressures.

[Mickey] So you don't measure your meals at all?

Every bodybuilder I know measures their food.

[Calum] I don't ever...

I just measure the rice so I get the right ratios.

Don't know how to count a macro. I don't know how to do that.

Just, I wing it, I mostly eat at... Half the time, I don't even eat at home.

I'm always eating burgers and shit outside, so...

Or I just use that blender. I chuck everything in and drink it.

[Steve] There's so many things out there that are unhealthy for us.

I mean, sugar...

Too much sugar's gonna be unhealthy for us,

but at the end of the day, you have to decide,

is this unhealthy to the point where I'm not wanting to do this

or take part in this, to eat this,

to whatever it is, because you care about your body?

[Jay] It's consistency.

My day as a competitive bodybuilder was

eat, sleep, drink.

And it was Groundhog Day every day.

The lifestyle of a bodybuilder is a very Spartan lifestyle.

You're very disciplined and regimented in what you do,

from, you know, eating to training to sleeping.

You know, I was very focused.

You know, I had this ability to be this professional bodybuilder,

and I took it to the extreme, and, you know, I loved it.

You say, "Man, how am I looking today?"

Well, you're looking a little bit flat.

Flat? Well... let's go back and take a look at the proteins and the carbs,

particularly the carbs.

Oh, man, I know what...

I had a hundred less carbs today than I had yesterday.

No wonder I'm flat. Okay, Let's put them back in and see what happens tomorrow.

[Calum whispering] One, two. Maybe... [sniffles] A bit extra.

[Lee] Bodybuilders that listen,

that will follow instruction,

and that do their homework...

They are the ones that make it to the next level.

[sizzling]

That's good.

[video game sound effects]

Study hard?

-[Frank] Hey, asshole. -[Calum speaking indistinctly]

-[Frank] So you gonna do the show in...? -[Calum] Two weeks.

-Two weeks from today? -Yes.

-When are you gonna start dieting? -Uh... tomorrow?

Tomorrow? Tomorrow? Two weeks out. Yeah.

[Frank] What do you think Calum should be focusing on right now?

Start dieting.

Start cardio.

Uh...

And he's very lucky that he's, you know, gifted

in, you know, he doesn't get fat.

But I think, from here on out, it's gonna get harder,

because you go up to different levels of competition.

Especially when you turn pro, it's gonna get harder.

I want him to just walk out on stage and the people go, "That's it, it's over.

It's done. Like, everybody else is here for second place."

You know, 'cause he has so much great potential.

Don't waste it, just use it to 100%.

'Cause like, you'll get people that have great genetics like that

and they don't work

as hard as they should. You don't want someone beating you

just 'cause they're working harder, so you gotta work hard.

[Frank] It would be awesome to go to the Olympia and see you on stage.

Ooh... that would just be... that would be a dream.

-Just to walk onto the stage? -[Frank] Yeah.

Uh, and have my friends, you guys there, that's all I care about.

I want you to go all the way and you know, not make any mistakes on the way,

'cause there's no need to, you know what I mean?

-[Calum] Yeah, it's not worth it. -Yeah.

You know, 'cause like there's money problems and family

and women and problems...

Craziness.

And I think the mistakes that I made

and the opportunities that maybe I passed up,

-[Calum] Yep. -I don't want you to do that.

-[Calum] Yep. -So...

Yeah, you only get one shot.

[laughs]

-You never get it again. -[Calum chuckles]

♪♪

[music continues]

[music continues]

Oh!

I believe in my team

much more than them.

In beginning we're scared from this competition. Now...

These people is watching us.

Ahmad Ashkanani, he's ready, mindset, to fight with these people, you know?

People are keeping asking me long time,

"Why you have all nationalities except Kuwaiti pros?"

And it's genetics. You cannot do anything.

This is with anybody, you know.

I don't want to bring any Kuwaiti to get broke out and go to compete

and get last place.

The idea is to fight.

[woman speaking indistinctly]

Marie, you want me to take off everything, or only...

[Marie] Uh... take off everything, yes.

[Mickey] Injuries and muscle pain have been a constant headache for Ahmad.

Now more than ever, he's beginning to feel the pressure

as Arnold Classic is just weeks away.

-Here? -[Ahmad] Down.

Yeah, here.

[Marie] What we specialize in is mainly sports injury

and sports rehabilitation.

-This right hip flexor is locked up. -[Ahmad] Yeah.

And it's probably what's causing the tension in your back.

[Ahmad sighs]

[Marie] Okay?

[device humming]

[Ahmad sighs, car revs]

[Ahmad] A lot of fans here.

We will need you to get first, first, first place.

For the Arab people, my mind,

and this is for me like a motivation.

If you want good things,

you must do your best.

Go hard, fighting.

And when I get second place,

it's not good for me.

I should be first place.

♪♪

[Mickey] It's a bad day.

Confusion and a sense of disbelief dawn on Iris...

[Iris] Wow.

...as she gets an email from a show promoter.

I'm being told that I need to requalify, so...

I need to either do Puerto Rico, Omaha, Toronto, Chicago, North Fork, Tampa show.

One of his other shows to be welcomed back.

I'm freakin' ten time Ms. Olympia, I don't need to requalify.

Requalify? [scoffs]

Ten Olympia titles, seven Arnold Classic titles.

You're asking me to reach out and fraternize with the promoter.

Do you really think that's something legitimate that an athlete should do?

I don't even know why Jacob need to know who I am.

He should already know.

Hear me out and I'll let you speak. I'm going down in history

whether I grace your stage or not, so you take that back to Jacob.

How about that?

'Cause my next call's gonna be to Jim Manion. I'm ending this call.

[Mickey] Iris wanted to make a comeback this year.

She was getting ready for it, and then what happened?

Right, a politic... I would say, politic war.

I don't know, some kind of issues going on.

She win some awards, so it sounds like they don't want her to compete.

Why you don't want Iris Kyle to compete?

Why? I really don't,

and when I say this, I really don't have the true foundation, uh...

I know I had been offered to do some work with them that I don't agree with.

And that's my right if I don't want to.

[Mickey] What do you mean, exactly?

Um...

I... You know, it's a lot of things that goes on in our sport.

Sex sells.

And unfortunately, some of us women bodybuilders,

they take that avenue of selling themselves for very little.

And, uh...

You know, men rather you see it or hear it,

they're into women with muscle.

And it's called muscle worshiping.

A lot of photographers like to get the women in rooms

and have lingerie on and have them flex,

and that's very sexual to men, women, whoever.

[Shawn] I think in any sport or any industry,

you're going to have these subcultures.

And muscle worshiping definitely exists.

And because it's an individual, independent-contracting enterprise,

bodybuilders can do whatever they wanna do.

Sometimes I will get emails, like long emails and stuff,

and people will ask me,

"Hey, can I have your used socks after you work out?"

I've had people ask me for my used jocks.

"Hi, I'm a sex maniac. Just curious, are you available for muscle body worship?

I want to worship your huge muscles so bad.

Lift me, use me like a barbell.

Plus, I would love to..."

Oh... I don't know how much you wanna hear of this shit.

The beautiful thing about social media is, you can still control your audience

through your social media.

I'm gonna create my own Web domain.

I'm gonna have my own social media outlet, and I'm gonna promote myself

to the people that love my muscles, no matter how big they are.

That's not me. I'm an athlete. I pick up dumbbells. I build muscle.

[chuckles] I'm not "one of those."

[Mickey] Eventually, Iris is given a green light to compete.

However, she decides not to.

Instead, she shifts her focus on helping Hidetada prep

for the upcoming Arnold Classic.

[Iris] Nine, ten.

[guns firing]

[Mickey] While hated by many within the industry,

Rich is also loved by his loyal fans

and his team, the 5% crew.

[Rich P.] Pull it! Good. Two more, come on, two more. Hup!

[Mickey] What does it take to become a 5% sponsored athlete?

[Rich P.] I believe about 5% of the people in the world

are the ones that are willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goal.

What's up, brother,? How you doin'?

If I meet someone who's very motivating and they have a great story

and they've accomplished a lot in their life,

to me, they're a perfect example of a 5%-er, you know?

And that doesn't mean they have to be a 300-pound bodybuilder with abs

and tattoos and whatever else, but a lot of people out there,

that's what they think.

This is just the outer shell. Obviously there is the outer shell.

That is a part of it, but it's also how motivated this person is.

I know we were talking about sponsorship, and I want you

to shop around and I want you to get a feel for what's out there

and get a feel for what companies can do for you before you make that decision.

Because it's an important decision, and...

Most companies, what they're gonna do is lock you in.

So they're gonna lock you in for like a two-year contract.

And what that means is, you can't go somewhere else.

So if someone else comes and offers you $5,000 a month

and you're only getting whatever, you're stuck, you know?

And a bodybuilding career is short. It's not the longest career.

So you can leave at any time, and we can let you go at any time.

You know, and there's no hard feelings.

It is, also, a business, and it is something that

we are trying to make money at, and that's something I'm not gonna deny.

So as far as athletes having an Instagram following,

there's a big benefit to the company.

If you have 50,000 followers and you post an advertisement up

or a picture of you drinking one of our supplements,

then 50,000 people see that, you know.

That's a huge benefit for us.

You know, if you have 300 followers, that's really not gonna help us that much.

Earlier, when we were talking about videos,

when you said you don't have time for videos and this and that, like...

You gotta make time.

And it's not for me, it's for you, because what you get from a video,

if it gets a million hits, it's something you cannot get through bodybuilding.

Like, right now you have the look and you have everything,

but nobody knows of you except for the people at Gold's Venice.

Bodybuilders, we have a tendency to look at the next contest,

but you have to look beyond that. You have to look two years from now.

Pro bodybuilding is not what it used to be.

Before, you know, when you're a top pro, you're an instant success.

But now with YouTube and social media, it's no longer like that.

There are so many pros that nobody knows who they are, nobody cares who they are,

you know, which sucks,

because bodybuilders have always got the shit end of the stick.

Always, you know?

And they still do, you know?

And it's sad because bodybuilding is the toughest sport there is.

It's 24 hours a day.

And I think if you look at guys like me, you realize that

YouTube and Instagram, you know? That's what got us where we are.

Not only do you want to be a successful bodybuilder,

you want to be a rich bodybuilder.

-[Rich P. chuckles] -Right.

[Rich P.] After a couple videos, Instagram posts,

people know who you are, you could go to an expo and have a huge line of people

wanting to take a picture, you know? That's where the money comes in.

[woman] I can't believe it.

-[man 1] What's up, Rich? -[man 2] What's up!

-[laughter] -[Rich P.] Who said that?

[Nick] There's not many athletes that will literally work

every single minute

while the doors are open.

Rich is one of them, and, um, really has developed a brand,

I mean, from nothing.

[Mickey] How many people usually attend these type of fitness expos?

[Ollie] Expo-wise, we should do 100,000 visitors this year,

but across the world, we'll be doing around 250,000 visitors to our events.

We have a reach of around 50 million people globally.

Social media's very responsible for it, of course.

The thing is, with people like Rich and Calum,

they have identified exactly who their fans are,

and they speak to them.

And so when they get an opportunity to actually meet them in person,

they are prepared to wait for hours to see them.

[Ollie] Rich Piana talks about what he's done from a personal point of view.

Right or wrong, he will say

what has or hasn't worked for him.

He's very outspoken.

Some of the things he says, I think, oh... but...

You know, it works for him.

[Rich P.] It's fun. It's fun making videos. It's fun editing.

But I've noticed a lot of the big top people

have started not getting as many views as they used to.

You know, and I think that just people get tired of the same thing.

You know, you constantly have to do new things and keep people entertained.

It's kind of like, look at Madonna, you know, she's...

How many times has she reinvented herself? And she's still going at it.

It's like 30 years.

And then you have, like, the Britney Spears,

where they have a seven-year run

where they're just the shit and then it's done and over with.

♪♪

[Kai] The industry is changing.

You can't afford to be just an athlete.

Everybody wants you to sell them something now.

"Sell me, sell me, sell me! Can my joints be as strong as yours are?

Sell me the product."

I don't know.

I think this... it's a very interesting place we're at.

Passion and love, I don't know... I don't even know if they exist.

I don't know if they exist.

[Mickey] Do you still push yourself in the gym as hard as you used to?

[Kai] You know, when I was training,

with the belief in this sort of thing...

you had reason to put

505 or an 805 on your back and squat down to the floor and stand up

and feel like everything in your body was gonna break.

But you found a reason to do it.

Now you wouldn't put half that on your back, you wouldn't...

For what?

'Cause... what?

No, no, I mean, you know, "balls to the wall."

Everybody talks this bullshit now.

Everybody wants to talk bullshit.

What are we... What are we talking about?

You haven't endured any injuries yet.

You know, like I was when I was a teenager.

The older guys in the gym couldn't talk to me when I was...

You know, "Hey, young guy, I was as strong as you when I was younger."

Like, you've never been as strong as me.

Are you kidding me?

[scoffs]

I couldn't hear it.

[Adam] It's a bucket. It's a bucket.

Hmm.

Now, it's a moment like now when I realize I don't have all the answers, real talk.

You know, and...

I probably have, on my own,

never, ever, ever had to ask myself this question,

if I had to choose between one bucket or the other.

For purposes of packaging, which would appeal more to me,

the larger one or the smaller one?

[Kai] I'm always aiming for a target.

I think being happy is a luxury

that, when you're working to get things done,

sometimes that's just not an option.

I wanna work because I wanna be successful, you know.

I've spent too long in my life not successful

and knowing what that feels like.

I know what it's like to be broke. I know what it's like to just not have.

[Adam] We have our own vision and Kai has his own vision,

and the direction that the brand is going,

it's gonna be great,

uh, because it's the vision that we believe is right.

I love seeing Kai evolve and I love seeing him own things.

You see people in the gym, and you know that person in the gym,

but when they step out of the gym, you don't know who they are.

And we're at that point now, we're showing people

all this cool, creative stuff that we're working on... acting,

connecting one-on-one more with the fans.

There was a saying that someone told us once that,

"Hey, if you have to go there, there's branches.

And in order to move from one branch, you have to...

let go of another branch."

And we were like, why can't we just have the entire tree?

[alternating voices] Zip... zap... zop... zip... zap... zop... zip... zap...

zop... zip... zap... zop... zip... zap... zop...

zip... zap...

zop...

Freak out!

[all cheering, shouting]

Give me back my son!

Give me back my son.

Gimme back my son.

-All right, yeah, well done. -Whoo!

[Mickey] So, you taking this acting thing seriously?

[Kai] Just trying to take classes and...

...and go to these auditions and get, you know...

What's your technique?

What's your... I mean, if you're not solid in it yet, it can feel brutal.

Like... [gasp] "You didn't say this line right."

You mean I didn't say it right?

I mean, what... You're gonna judge me on how I say things now?

-Yes, girl. -[man laughs]

-Would you like another spoonful of sugar? -Of course I would!

So, spill the tea... are you dating Richard still?

He's a gentleman caller, he's very nice.

But I don't think I...

quite like his other charms.

[spectators laugh]

[Arnold Schwarzenegger] As long as you see,

no matter what you do, it takes the same effort,

and if you want to be a bodybuilding champion,

it takes hours and hours every day of being dedicated and passionate about it.

So if you switched it over now and you want to go and get into movies,

you have to do the same thing.

Like I did, for instance, I just took it as seriously as bodybuilding

and I took acting classes and accent removal classes,

English classes, and all of those different things,

and practiced and rehearsed, and did kind of reps.

The more often you do it, the more you do it, the better you get,

because you have to go out there for interviews.

You have to go out and shine when you walk into an office

and you see 15 people sit there and they want you to read a part.

They give you the pages and maybe a few minutes before,

so the faster you adapt to those kinds of things

and the faster you can turn on and be the character,

the better it's gonna be and the faster you're gonna get the job.

And also I've got something I'm gonna recommend you for

that might come down the pike.

-It was awesome. Thank you so much. -Thank you.

[gull calling]

-[Karina] Calum... -It was a big puppy.

-You didn't like big dogs. -[Karina] Do you know what today is?

The 8th of October.

No, when is my birthday?

Huh? In a few days.

So probably you need to get a present soon.

Calum, you promised you'd get me a puppy dog.

-Yeah, but you live in a tiny apartment. -No, I don't.

I'll only get you a dog if you take it in the pool every day

to give it swimming lessons.

Dogs already know how to swim.

Yeah, but just for fun anyway. It has to be a water dog.

What if I get you a baby seal?

I saw seals in the harbor today.

-And? -They smelled.

They smelled real bad.

[Lee] My first year in California, I'm married.

I had a wife to take care of. I had to feed her.

You got yourself a motorcycle.

Yeah, because a motorcycle is a necessity.

[Lee] That was another thing that Joe Weider would always push.

The importance of family.

I never will forget, he asked me,

he said, "Lee, do you have a girl that you're crazy about?"

I said, "Yes, sir, I do."

He said, "Well, I'll tell you what."

He said, "It's important for a young man to have stability in his life."

You know, it keeps him from wandering around with his mind crazy.

You know, having responsibility will get your mind right real quick.

Why do you want a puppy dog, Karina?

You gonna make an Instagram page about it and post a million pictures?

I'm gonna be like Kylie Jenner. It's gonna look so dope in my pictures.

[Lee] We've been married 34 years now, and having that stability there

really pushed me to be the very best that I can be.

You know, and the responsibility,

because next thing you know, she started having babies.

Any sport, to be the best, you gotta be a little bit selfish.

If you're getting ready for a competition and people don't understand the lifestyle,

it can be lonely at times.

Everything's regimented... your sleep, your meals.

You don't drink alcohol.

[Shawn] This is a sport that's probably the most selfish of all sports.

It requires 100% dedication and focus, and for anyone out there

that says that it's not something that requires 100%,

I can tell you they've never been second place

or first place in the Mr. Olympia.

My entire bodybuilding career I was single.

I had a couple of girlfriends here and there,

but the one thing that I'd continually been warned about

was that girls were like Kryptonite.

They are dream wreckers.

♪♪

[Mickey] With the pressure growing, Calum has to make a difficult decision

to put his relationship on hold and focus on training.

[trainer] Tuck in that waist. One, two, three,

four, five, six,

seven, eight...

[Jay] We go in the gym. We carve and shape.

Increase our arm size or leg size, whatever it may be.

We use the mirrors to judge.

And that allows us to be able to become,

you know, an exhibitionist, and that's

really what kind of drove me towards it.

♪♪

[indistinct off-screen chatter]

[scattered cheering]

[indistinct announcement over loudspeaker]

[coughs]

♪♪

[scattered cheering, applause]

[cheering]

[music continues]

[woman] Okay, our NPC Iron Games Classic Physique Overall champion

this evening is number...

151! Calum von Moger!

[cheering and applause]

[Calum] Feels very good.

You know, but it's just a taste. This is just a tiny little taste for me.

Honestly, it wasn't that challenging.

Uh, I wasn't nervous.

[Mickey] What did this competition mean to you?

[Calum] Um...

This competition is...

uh...

It was an introduction to the...

the American bodybuilding scene.

It was a taste of bodybuilding over here.

It motivated me to see how easily I kind of...

I don't wanna blow smoke up my skirt, but, you know, I kind of

walked away with the sword, no problems today.

You know, I was very confident. I didn't think

I was... There was no chance I was going to lose it.

So... but it just made me more focused to do another show and another show,

do the hardest shows and go up against tougher competition

and, uh, drive me to be the best.

It's cool, though, I got a sword. Never won a sword before, so...

[competition continues in background]

♪♪

[Jim] The Olympia contest has been

the Wimbledon of the sport.

And Arnold is himself a seven-time winner.

But we recognize that if a sport is to thrive,

you must have more than one, preferably many, opportunities

to compete and be rewarded at a high level.

The Weiders agreed that that was a concept that was workable,

and as a consequence, there are now quite a few professional opportunities.

But still there is, really, a Wimbledon and a U.S. Open.

Arnold's basic commitment, right from the very beginning,

was to enhance the opportunities in the sport of bodybuilding

for men and for women.

He said, "I am still making a cash prize

even though I'm the top athlete in the sport in the world

of just $1,000."

That first year, the cash prize was $10,000,

and three years later, it was $100,000.

And now the cash prizes we give in bodybuilding

are up close to a half million,

and there are a good many men and women making a very good living off of it.

[emcee] They're gonna come out one at a time

and do a 45-second compulsory routine.

And let's begin, are you ready? You wanna see some men?

[crowd cheers]

Competitor number one in the 2017 Arnold Classic 212 Championship,

Hidetada Yamagishi!

[applause]

[commentator] Returning champ Hidetada Yamagishi on the stage,

Japan's first professional bodybuilder.

A real veteran. He's been competing since 2000,

first in the Men's Open and now in the Men's 212.

He's always been known for his very powerful and dramatic posing routines.

Let's see what he's got this time.

We've been anxiously waiting to see Ashkanani again

after his second-place victory at last year's Mr. Olympia.

There's been a lot of talk about the training over in the Middle East.

Can Ashkanani become the first Kuwaiti athlete

to place first at the Arnold Classic?

You can see right off the bat this isn't exactly

the Hidetada we're used to.

He does look to me like he's holding on to a bit of water.

Just doesn't seem to pop.

He's looking a bit flat.

And he does not disappoint.

This might be his best physique we've ever seen.

The definition on his arms alone is extraordinary.

And look at those traps.

If he can keep this up in the finals, he's gonna be hard to beat.

Well, this definitely wasn't Hidetada's best performance,

but a lot can change between the prejudging and the finals.

It might take a miracle with the quality of the competitors tonight.

[Mickey] Aging and injuries are the two major factors when athletes decline.

[Jay] Eventually, you can't compete at the levels you had.

I mean, let's be real. Once you hit 40,

I mean, your body doesn't seem to go in this direction, it goes down.

[Gregg] These guys are willing to risk anything, it doesn't matter.

Long as they win that bodybuilding show,

but you know what it is, "pay me now or pay me later."

They may be fine today, but as they get older, all of a sudden,

they're gonna notice you've got kidney problems, you've got kidney damage,

you've got liver damage, you know what I'm saying?

[Jacob] What's really unhealthy, particularly in bodybuilding is, like,

when someone trains a certain way when you're young

and as they get older in the sport,

what ends up happening is that, like,

maybe their joints can't take that anymore.

And they're not willing to make an adjustment.

In that case, it becomes unhealthy because now they're causing further injury.

And now they're done with the sport and they can barely move.

[Mickey] A month ago, I traveled to Tampa to visit Dr. Jacob Wilson

in his ASPI facility.

After years of research,

he claims to help avoid injury and prolong careers.

[Mickey] It seems like you want to create a revolution here.

How do you plan to change the industry exactly?

[Jacob] We want to change the industry completely.

There is a lot of resistance.

On one side you have the hardcore athlete

who's training without really an understanding of science.

On the other hand, you have the scientist just looking in the lab.

We're taking those two and putting them together.

Science to us doesn't mean anything if you can't apply it,

apply it to having a better physique,

apply it to being bigger, faster, stronger.

We essentially look under the hood and come up with a prescription

so they can get from point A to point B

that much faster.

Your career's only gonna last so long, so every minute needs to count.

We can spot a knee injury before it happens with a lot of accuracy.

-[trainer 1] Come on. You're almost there. -[trainer 2] Two more, come on!

No pain, come on, no pain!

[Jacob] It's stimulating the muscle as much as possible.

And so when he comes up, it's still contracting

and he's trying to fight it to come down, so the muscle's tensed up,

but you have a lot of micro-tearing on the way down from the lift itself.

So you get a high amount of muscle damage, almost as much muscle damage or more

as when he first started training when he was a novice lifter.

So it's huge gains.

Like ridiculous gains.

His arms are gonna be better than they've ever been for the Mr. Olympia contest.

When doing dumbbell curls,

you know, at that very... that middle part of the movement to the bottom,

there's really not much resistance, but here,

you're actually pulling down to stretch the muscle when it's contracted,

so you get that full range the entire way.

Today we have in William "The Conqueror" Bonac.

[Jacob] We're gonna run a scan on him, make sure there's no asymmetries.

If there are, Neil's gonna go ahead and pin that up as well.

And I also go ahead and just take some of the major movements

and just analyze those and just make sure that all the muscles are firing properly.

[Jacob] Really what we're trying to build is like, do the research here,

help anyone who wants to come here but also help people

on a global scale.

-[trainer 1] There you go. -[trainer 2] Come on, push!

[trainer 2 ] The Arnold Classic's right here.

[trainer 1] Good.

[Rich P.] The reality is, is I'm 45 years old.

And I see myself having a good five more years, you know,

of being someone in the industry and, you know,

I'm continuing doing what I'm doing,

but, you know, steroids is not something I can do forever.

Now, as far as

hormone replacement, that is something that I will do forever,

and it's, honestly, it's the same thing as being on steroids.

It's the same thing as being on a cycle.

You're going to a doctor.

He checks your test levels.

Your test levels are below average, which they will be

because when you take steroids, your testes stop producing testosterone.

And so what happens is, it becomes mandatory

that you have hormone replacement testosterone therapy.

And they give you that every week, and that's just to keep you

as a normal male adult.

You know, when you have low testosterone, you're tired, you're lazy.

You don't feel like doing anything. You have no sex drive.

There's a lot of negatives,

so I guess the answer, I'll take it back,

I guess it would be, I do plan on being on steroids for the rest of my life

because that's where we go.

[Mickey] Knowing that competing will eventually run its course,

bodybuilders today are looking beyond the stage.

[Mickey] Ever feel nervous before these type of meetings?

I used to.

Yeah, I used to get a little bit nervous at the start,

because I go in there...

Half the time I don't know what the heck to say or...

uh, what I'm doing.

But I'll wing it. It's kind of what I'm good at, is, uh...

is, uh, just like putting on this kind of...

act like I know exactly what I'm doing and in control.

Confidence. Sometimes I have no idea, though.

So, but that makes it... For me, it's exciting, it's like...

I like to kind of go in without knowing and have no expectations.

And it's kind of like figuring each other out.

But I think it's interesting, it's funny.

-Hey, man. You just be Calum. -Hi.

-Pleasure to meet you. -Cheers.

[manager] A manager is somebody who tries to kind of

work with you and get you to where you want.

Sometimes you strategize, what do we do,

because as you've probably seen in L.A., you can do a lot of different things.

-Yeah. -[manager] So, having said that,

I have to ask, why acting?

Did you have a preference for like drama or comedy?

What's the end game?

Uh, probably more action stuff.

I grew up watching Arnold Schwarzenegger, I've seen all his movies.

And I think I could do really well in different roles and stuff.

So, yeah.

The good news is, obviously you have a very specific look

so that's very good in Hollywood as you know, because there's jobs

that sometimes they just want your look, which is great.

The other great thing is that you have a great social media following.

I mean, very strong, which is something that more and more we're seeing

these castings coming out of social media.

-Yeah, yeah. -Um...

The question is, speaking about action movies, is...

are you open to doing other stuff?

'Cause it's, like, the back side of having this specific look

is that you're gonna get typecast.

You look like a bodybuilder, you know what I mean?

so if I'm looking for a bodybuilder,

then, oh, I know Calum, great.

Don't have to do much work there.

If I'm looking for a detective and you wanna play a detective,

it's gonna be harder for you than it is for the guy who looks like a detective.

Would you be open to play kind of like, you know,

like... the bodybuilder who... and then makes a gaffe,

or like is funny, you know what I mean?

-I'm sure you've gotten that before. -Yeah.

If we're talking about speaking parts, you have a specific look.

Do you have like a monologue or something?

Like if I sent you to a casting director tomorrow at Fox

and she said, "Hit me with like a monologue."

-Yeah, I've got a monologue. -Great.

Um... can you hit me with that?

Um... I haven't practiced it for a little while, but, uh...

Um...

[manager] Is it dramatic? Is it comedic?

Uh... [chuckles]

It's, uh...

No, I have... It's, uh...

It's more of a... kind of a... uh, comedy, comedic.

I can't remember it that well. It was ages ago.

I see. You want to have that fresh and ready to go, you know what I mean?

Have you ever done any acting before?

-Like a reel? -Yeah, do you have a reel?

I haven't got a reel, no. I've been asked a few times, but I need to get that done.

You gotta build a reel, man,

because without a reel, sometimes you're not getting looked at.

Casting directors have buttons they can push.

You're gargantuan, you're a monster.

On camera, you're not going to be able to play a normal person.

Ultimately, you're not gonna be playing Al Pacino's roles.

♪ Did somebody pull the rug ♪

♪ From up under my feet? ♪

[Martyn] There's a lot of good-looking guys in the industry.

There's a lot of guys that look very similar to each other.

There's a lot of guys with amazing six-packs.

But they don't look any different.

You could pick one out of 50 of them.

There's not many guys that are covered in tattoos, 6'7", and 24, 25 stone.

So for me, that's...

...definitely where I see the advantage that I've got.

I'd set a goal, and for me,

once the goal is set, I had to try and do my best to achieve it.

And I just want to try and give myself every opportunity,

uh...

that when the time does come for that big role, I'm ready.

[Kai] The fear of being caught

and not prepared.

Before you know it, you'd be too crippled to even continue.

The potential of things failing is so large.

It's so large, you know.

Without a certain amount of preparation,

um... I think it can kill you.

♪♪

[announcer] The top six finishers from last year are back,

including last year's champion.

Will a newcomer break in that top six, or will they take it again?

On the subject of last year's champion, he's the only man to compete

in both the Arnold Classic and the Arnold 212.

First-ever pro from Japan.

And he won his biggest title of his career last year on this stage

when he took the 212 championship.

Let's welcome Hidetada Yamagishi.

[scattered cheers and applause]

♪♪

[music continues]

[applause]

From Kuwait, first time here at the Arnold,

please welcome Ahmad Ashkanani.

[applause]

♪♪

[applause]

-[man] David. -[woman] Mark?

[announcer] Ahmad, come between David and Jose.

Zane and Guy, switch, please.

[fan screams]

David and Jose, switch.

Gentlemen, front double bicep.

Sixth-place check for $1,000 goes to Hidetada Yamagishi.

[applause]

[muted dialogue]

[applause]

[Arnold chuckles]

You look fantastic. What does it feel like to be the winner?

Thanks, thanks to all my partners. Uh...

[Mickey] It's a big victory for Ahmad.

And even a bigger one for his team and the whole Middle East.

For Hidetada it's a tough loss.

He now has to get back to the drawing board

and figure out his next step.

[Jim Lorimer] Sports is life in microcosm.

I think there's still a perception out there that...

...that bodybuilding is not quite as popular as they think.

♪♪

[Mickey] Where is the industry heading?

Can bodybuilding ever go mainstream?

Will it flourish beyond the social media?

Will it ever be understood and accepted by the outsiders?

I asked these questions throughout the course of my filming.

The opinions were different.

When I was doing it, it was something where you had this magazine.

You almost hid it because it was this cultish type of sport,

and now you're going into 2016 and it's still a cultish sport.

After 30, 40 years, it's still the same.

I think it stays in its place and what grows are the other aspects of it.

You know, the Fitness Physique, you know, Bikini.

It's opened up much bigger to a lot more than it was before,

but it's just not gonna grow.

Bodybuilding itself is not gonna be that, you know... like football.

I don't think bodybuilders would be accepted as much outside.

Uh...

...because it's not understood.

I think we're seeing a boom in terms of the global expansion.

The growth is not slowing down.

Globalization of bodybuilding, the popularity of the sport

is at an all-time high right now.

[Arnold] Let's not forget that you see now bodybuilding gyms

in every university, in every high school, for sports and for fitness.

You see them at every military base,

you see them every fire station, police station.

I mean, it is used for everything, including in hospitals

for rehabilitation after surgery.

So it's like really amazing to see how bodybuilding became

kind of mainstream and accepted for everybody.

We're only getting better at understanding bodybuilding

and understanding how to get stronger and all these different things,

so it's great for the sport and that education is only gonna get better.

Every sport's gonna have its detractors.

Unfortunately in this world, we've got a whole load of,

for want of a better word, "haters," you know,

who, you know, enjoy...

badmouthing and being negative.

I say just ignore them and let's get on with it,

because millions of people enjoy it, so who cares what they say?

It doesn't cross over, and it's a shame.

Uh... 'cause these are extreme athletes

that put themselves through extreme training,

extreme dieting, and, I mean, it's just an extreme sport.

There's a lot of scrutiny and people just assume drugs for everything.

And there are athletes like myself that don't take any,

but I understand them.

I would... It's a weird thing to follow.

You either like bodybuilding or you don't. Let's get serious.

You're not gonna attract somebody that plays tennis every day.

I could go to someone and give them tickets for free,

or even for Mr. Olympia.

They'd tell me they're not interested, so most of the time,

you're either interested or you know somebody competing.

Obviously we're doing pretty well without it being mentioned on ESPN.

As much as we want it to be a mainstream sport,

it still really isn't, but that's okay.

It's kind of a cult thing and it works.

So we're doing fine.

You know, it would be great if we were like baseball or hockey or football,

but we're not, so we have to do the best we can with what we have.

♪♪

[music continues]

[father] I was really worried about, when you first went over there,

because I couldn't be there with you for the obvious reasons.

Nobody to guide you and watch over your shoulder.

And gradually you're on your own feet and now you're, uh,

you've seen more stuff than I have, and I'm very proud of you.

Kind of log this...

We'll get little Carly to record some of this, too. Sweet.

See? That stops and that starts. Right now it's stopped.

So you wanna start recording, press that red bar.

-[Carly] What do you want me to record? -[Calum] Just a bit of training.

-[Calum groaning] -Come on, come on.

Come on, come on, come on. Come on, two to go.

Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Last one.

It's all you. Come on. Good job.

[Calum groans]

[indistinct talking]

Ahhh!

-[man 1] Here you go. -[man 2] Hold still.

[Mickey] Would you say family's important to you?

[Rich P.] Um, a lot of people...

they feel that family is something that always has to be there.

You know, and for me, you know, blood...

I have more love for dogs

than I've had for other people.

Always there for you, would never do anything purposefully to harm you.

And it's funny 'cause a dog, they know they're bad,

but what do they do after that, they give love and kisses

and they lay next to you, you know.

It's like... imagine that with a person, you know.

You're fighting for three hours, they leave,

and it's this big drama, you know.

And for me to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish

and be successful, I have to surround myself with good people.

[Rich P.] What's your name? Good to meet you, man.

-Yeah, I've been watching your Web series. -Cool, brother. Gimme that hand.

♪♪

[Mickey] You know, you've built a successful business.

You have a lot of fans.

What more do you want to achieve in the industry and in life?

[Rich P.] You know, I always say that

I wanna be Rock famous, like the Rock, where, anywhere he goes,

they're like, "Oh, whatever you want, and daa-daa-daa," you know?

And so I'm definitely not there yet. [chuckles]

[music continues]

[Calum] I don't know if they can make bigger humans or better.

How far can you take the human body? It's a bit of a mystery for us all.

Be great to see what happens with this Classic division.

I'd love to see bodybuilding become more recognized, more accepted in society.

You know, that'd be cool.

[Bader in Arabic] You just focus, and I'm optimistic that next year you will win.

We will prove that we're mentally better than them.

Spending money is the only thing they are good at.

Our brains are more powerful than their money.

Our team is getting stronger every day.

For three years,

they have been making promises that they cannot keep.

We will keep our promises. Do you understand me?

By God's will.

It's going to be a good year, by God's will.

[all] Oxygen!

[Iris] Do I go ahead and accept the fact that I'll never grace the stage?

There's life after competing.

It saddens me, but God is good.

He gonna make things happen if it's...

If he wants me there, Iris will be there.

[Kai] How many people get up in the morning

and feel less than their best?

I wanna be successful. I just wanna be successful.

Being successful is one of those things that...

you know...

you don' t have to think I'm very, very attractive.

In fact, every time you look at me, you may just say,

"Wow, his nose is just too big, and you know what,

his lips just do not quite fit his face, and you know what,

that scar down the right side of his face, what the hell happened?"

But, you know,

if I'm a success because I've worked really hard

and I pay attention to the details that will allow me to grow

beyond those limitations, you know,

then I've found they will still put you on the cover of the magazine,

even if they thought you were ugly,

because there's still value.

♪♪

♪♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Until I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ Never ♪

♪ Daddy was a gladiator ♪

♪ And I declare war ♪

♪ Gotta ♪

♪ Prove that I'm one of the greatest ♪

♪ And if I'm not ♪

♪ Then what am I here for? ♪

♪ You gotta do what you don't wanna do ♪

♪ Till you can do what you wanna do ♪

♪ And that's what I'm gonna do ♪

♪ Do what I gotta do ♪

♪ Truth is ♪

♪ You could use all the excuses ♪

♪ But out here they're useless ♪

♪ The proof is in the win ♪

♪ You gotta fight until the end ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ Came from the bottom of the bottoms ♪

♪ Where you can't complain 'Cause everybody got their problem ♪

♪ And the last thing They wanna hear about is yours ♪

♪ We're tryin' to find the lane To beat the odds and even scores ♪

♪ Got me walkin' through the Valley of Death searchin' for victory ♪

♪ Tryin' to get it all Before I let it all get to me ♪

♪ On my last leg and last breath Searchin' for energy ♪

♪ Tryin' to take the steps In the direction God given me ♪

♪ And I can see the light But the road get dark sometimes ♪

♪ Losin' sight, gotta be guided By my heart sometimes ♪

♪ Keep it together, even though I'm torn apart sometimes ♪

♪ Tryin' to finish, when I don't Wanna start sometimes ♪

♪ But I'd rather tried and failed Than never tried at all ♪

♪ But if I won't give it my all Then I won't try it at all ♪

♪ 'Cause half effort is a half result ♪

♪ See, it's more about How you play the hand ♪

♪ Than the cards you been dealt ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ Never ♪

♪ If I fall down, gotta get up ♪

♪ I gotta get up and keep on pushin' ♪

♪ Keep on pushin' ♪

♪ Any time I feel stuck, I gotta get up ♪

♪ Gotta get up to keep on movin' ♪

♪ I gotta keep on movin' ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ I'm-a give it all it takes ♪

♪ Till I reach the top ♪

♪ I won't bend and I won't break ♪

♪ And I'm never gonna stop ♪

♪ Never ♪

You ready for this? You guys ready for this shit?

All right, you ready?

Here it comes.

[snarls]

-Goddamn it. -[man] Right.

Good shit.

[chuckles]

[music continues]