'Depending on drugs more than on the quality of training' - Rich Gaspari takes jibe at Open bodybuilders' drug use

Rich Gaspari is a former professional bodybuilder. He finished as the runner-up three consecutive times between 1986 and 1988 at the Mr. Olympia competition. Gaspari was active from 1985 to 1996 after becoming a professional bodybuilder in 1984.

The former American bodybuilder was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2004, and nine years later, he was awarded the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.

Rich Gaspari was involved in an interaction with John Romano for a podcast. The video was posted on the YouTube channel of Dragon Slayer Media on January 26, 2023. During the exchange, Gaspari spoke about bodybuilders using drugs rather than working on their training in modern-day bodybuilding.

The three-time Mr. Olympia runner-up said:

"I believe that there is something to say about how guys are training and depending on drugs more than on the quality of training and that needs to come back. It seemed like training is lost."

Rich Gaspari continued to discuss training during his days as a professional bodybuilder. The former bodybuilder said:

"When I train for a show, I train for five days a week off pre-season. Pre-contest, I train six days a week, doing my bodyparts twice a week. It was basically I went back, you know, you talked about how Mentzer brought this 30-minute training. I brought back what Arnold did. You know, that's what worked for me."

Rich Gaspari added:

"When I was in my 20s, training for the Olympia, I trained so hard that I would pop blood vessels in my eyes. I was doing legs. That's how hard I trained.

"Again, I don't want to sit here on this show and bash people and say they're not training hard because I do believe there are lot of current champions that do train hard. What the open is doing to get that much more massive, it's probably a lot more eating. I don't want to say this on the show, but a lot more drugs and other things to take to get that big."

Apart from Rich Gaspari, Samir Bannout has also been vocal about the usage of drugs by present-day bodybuilders.

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Rich Gaspari shares his opinion about Nick Walker and Hadi Choopan

The three-time Mr. Olympia runner-up opened up about Nick Walker. Rich Gaspari said:

"Nick Walker, I believe he could also be a threat to win the show [2023 Mr. Olympia]. He's still not to that point of being super super hard. He needs to be super hard. I've seen videos of Nick Walker training, he's a freaking maniac with really heavy weights that guy is using and it's tremendous."

Fans do not need to wait until the 2023 Mr. Olympia to see Nick Walker in action, as he will compete in the upcoming 2023 Arnold Classic in March. In the 2022 Mr. Olympia, Nick Walker finished in third place.

Since the conclusion of the 2022 Mr. Olympia, there has been a feud between Rich Gaspari and the 2022 Mr. Olympia champion Hadi Choopan. The war of words between Gaspari and Hadi Choopan started when the three-time Mr. Olympia runner-up compared Dorian Yates and Hadi in an Instagram post.

Speaking about the present-day bodybuilders and Hadi Choopan, Rich Gaspari said:

"I normally have a really good response from my followers but since I made that post and I'm going to say by far. I'm not hating on Hadi Choopan. I think he's a great champion. I thought he looked phenomenal. I'm going to be a critic as a bodybuilder who has been doing this for four decades."

The former bodybuilder continued

:

"I'm being a critic to say, from the front Hadi [Choopan] had the most amazing physique, very dense, reminiscent to the older days. I still feel they are not as refined as today. But when you look at him from the front, dense as hell. From the back, he had a wide back. I'm not going to say he didn't have a great back, he had a great back, but I don't think the density was there compared to a Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, or a Lee Haney."

Gaspari added:

"The cameras were not better back in the day. It's the angle, oh he wasn't hitting this shot. I don't care, if you're in a relaxed position, you can see when somebody is hard. Even if they aren't hitting the shot totally. I didn't want to sit there and bash Hadi and piss on his parade because I think he's a great champion."

We have to wait and see whether things will start getting better between Hadi Choopan and Rich Gaspari. Apart from Hadi becoming the champion at the 2022 Mr. Olympia, Derek Lunsford clinched second place, followed by Nick Walker in third.