Roger Waters

Name: Roger Waters

Age: 41

Gym: Physique Warehouse, Hampton Court, Surrey

Q1. I first started training at 18 years of age after having chicken pox and losing a stone in weight! I went to the gym to put the weight back on and took off from there!

I had no real aspirations towards competition at the time...

Q2. Day 1 is Chest, Day 2 is Legs (getting the big workouts out of the way at the start of the week when fresh!) Day 3 is Biceps & Back. Day 4 is Delts & Triceps

Workouts are always the basic exercises, heavy, low reps & slow (with lots of warm up sets) & only one top all out set per exercise with maybe forced reps etc. to go past failure!

If you get stronger you get bigger! Simple!

I may throw in a high rep "finishing exercise," perhaps a "bodyweight" exercise like "chins" or "dips" just for fun, variety & to shock the muscle just at the end...

I do football training year round, trying to make cardio as enjoyable as possible, liking a "team" sport and liking the "banter" with the lads. Cardio increases near a competion.

The workouts always stay the same. If you can keep your strength up you know you have kept your muscle coming up to a competition, especially if you're a "natural".

Competiton preparation is all about diet & aerobics and the weights workouts are kept very seperate.

Q3. I competed 1997-1999 getting up to European & World Natural Championship standard. I came back after a break last year, so I have been competing just over 10 years.

Q4. I was lucky enough last year to win The INBA World Natural Bodybuilding Heavyweight Championships, The Natural Mr Olympia in Thessaloniki, Greece!

I have also just won the British Natural Bodybuilding Federation British Masters Championships for the second year running...

Q5. I am aiming to defend my World Natural Heavyweight & Masters Championships in 2 weeks time in San Francisco then go on to do The Natural Universe in Los Angeles!

Q6. I like Arnold Schwarzenegger from the "golden era" (for the way he put his body together) Ronnie Coleman as possibly the best bodybuilder ever (so many good bodyparts next to each other. Sometimes a good chest means weak triceps or a good back means weak biceps) and Dorain Yates (for that grissly granite condition that made him different to everyone else!) In the Naturals I like Mike O'Hearn (who also likes to train hard & very heavy!)

Q7. Years of hard heavy training have enabled me to make continuous gains over the years! Consistency is important and also I am my own worst critic...You always want more!

Q8. I think bodybuilding is best kept simple and one of the golden rules is "you are what you eat!" (e.g. On a contest diet you realise protein is protein and does not give you any energy!)

I take a good Whey Protein supplement and keep the protein levels high off-season. It is very hard to get enough protein through normal food sources and it is also much easier to drink it than try and eat all that protein every day, as well as being delicious & enjoyable! (I make sure they have a low carb content close to competition)

I also take Creatine Ethyl Ester capsules & L-Glutamine capsules to aid workout recovery and a good multi-vitamin & mineral supplement close to competition, as well as fat burners.

Q9. I think you have to get your basic natural diet right with plenty of variety of protein sources, plenty of fruits & vegetables & different sources of carbohydrate because supplements are just supplements but by the same token, i think they give you a vital "edge" in achieving your maximum potential!

Q10. The thing that gets me through a workout is I love the "buzz" of taking on the big heavy weights and whereas you are not always going to do personal bests.. I never want to have a worse workout than the last one!

Finally, thanks to everyone at Physique Warehouse for their support and encouragement (it really is a good training atmosphere down there!) my training partner Dave, everyone at the BNBF for making competition day such a pleasurable, well organised experience, and my Mum and Dad for giving me good genetics!