Paul George Interview
It’s April 14th, I’m sitting in the foyer
of Pudsey Civic Hall in Leeds, the venue of the NABBA
North East show. Opposite me sits Paul George, he’s
got a nose piercing, a goatee beard and blonde Mohican
haircut making him stand out from the crowd. He also
has one of the most shredded physiques around, a physique
that has earned him honours such as British champion
and world champion. Paul is a veteran of the sport with
more than 25 years of training and competition under
his belt and has stood on the same stage as some of
the best competitors this country and this sport has
to offer. Having recently made the decision not to renew
his pro-card with the IFBB Paul is about to embark on
three guest posing appearances with NABBA and a competitive
outing in Scotland’s Mr. Caledonia contest.
Hi Paul, first up, just how old are you:
45
How long have you been competing now:
I did my very first show in 1982, which is twenty five
years ago.
Have you ever placed last:
Twelfth out of Ten, the first show I ever did I was
well out of my depth, I just thought, ah I can have
a go at this, but was just so out of my depth. Id been
training for six months in the gym and I got to the
show and it was an open class.
So how long from that before you had your first
win, or a first success where you thought ‘I’ve
done really well there’:
Ten years. After being twelfth out of ten I went away
and I didn’t compete again for another 10 years.
You have a mean biker appearance, are you as
mean as you look, when you speak you actually seem very
calm and very mild mannered:
Yes and no. When I was a kid I was really ferocious
and really angry, I didn’t really know what I
wanted. I was very belligerent and aggressive and I
used to fight a lot. But as I kind of got older, you
mature into yourself don’t you, but I can still
be real nasty and I have a hard streak that is for sure.
Is the training something that helps with that?
It controls it, but also it’s a way of life, I
won’t suffer fools gladly. I would put my life
on the line for someone and give them everything if
I think they’re worth it, but if someone messes
me around I aren’t even interested and not even
going to open the door. But also that keeps people away
and I’m not always a good people person, I am
when I know people and I know what I’m talking
about but, there’s a lot of idiots out there,
so I have all the things that are seen as taboo –
I have my nose pierced, I have tattoos, I have a beard
and I have a mohican, in a way these are seen as all
the aggressive things. So I thought, if I can have all
of them then there’s less likelihood of someone
coming and having a go at me because if they’re
going to have a go at me looking like this then they’re
going to have a go at anybody, so in a way it’s
just a self defence mechanism.
Are you an actual biker to go along with the
appearance?
Oh yes, I’ve had bikes now for thirty years.
And what have you got at the minute?
I’m riding a Triumph Speedmaster at the moment,
which is like a sport tourer which is a 900cc bike which
has a bit of comfort and a bit of speed so its kind
of middle ground. And it’s black and chrome.
Let’s get more into your recent bodybuilding
career, in 2004 you won the overall EFBB British championships
and earned an IFBB pro card. Would this rank as the
highlight of your career so far?
I was actually just talking to someone about this before
and I was debating whether it was the best decision
that I ever made – or the worst! The reason being
because, it’s kind of taken me out of the British
bodybuilding scene and elevated me to the American scene,
which realistically hasn’t really done me any
favours. I’ve not earned any money from it. I’ve
probably lost some popularity and ranking and standings
just because I can’t afford to pay the £3,000
to £4,000 to go to America and compete every other
month, and being 45 and not 25 I’m not going to
get up and relocate to America. So, yeah I think on
the way up everybody sees it as being the thing that
you aim for. But I think realistically, in hindsight
when you get it, it’s that thing where you have
to be careful what you wish for because its not always
as it seems. I would never tell anybody not to try and
aim for it but definitely don’t set your stall
out for it because it just wont open up that Pandora’s
Box of riches.
Is there anything other than when you earned
that pro card when you’ve stood back and thought
to yourself you’re a hundred percent proud of
that?
Yeah, several things actually. When I competed with
the WPF and captained the Britain team in Italy, we
came I think second or third in the world rankings.
I won first in the middleweights and the masters so
I came back from Italy with two world titles having
captained the team. I’m not really any sort of
royalist or anything like that, but when I was stood
on stage and they were playing the national anthem the
hairs on the back of my neck were stood up. That union
jack flag was up and I’m thinking, I’m representing
my country you know, there’s twenty two people
stood behind me, with twenty two teams. That was just
awesome!
What about low points, has there been any times
when you have thought is this all worth it?
Yeah last Thursday! (laughs) I was sat in the gym on
my arse. We’d tried to train chest and it just
wasn’t happening. This last week I’ve had
so much energy and been really positive and really focussed,
and yet last Thursday I was so on the floor. I couldn’t
do anything and was thinking can I do this. And I said
that to Tanya (Pauls partner) and she said “you
know what, if your going to do that then don’t
do it in the first place, you cant get 14 weeks into
your diet and then say that because its not fair on
me and its not fair on all the people who have been
looking forward to coming to see you. And you’re
better than that!” I thought, your right! I think
it was just a hormonal momentary blip, you know where
you get just to the edge, and you know I woke up the
next day and it was like somebody had just plugged me
back in and I’ve not looked back since but it
was just a really really tough day!
For all the other competitors reading this,
is that something that you would say regularly happens
on a diet or was that just a one-off and how do you
deal with these things?
Luckily it’s not a regular occurrence but it isn’t
a one-off either. It does happen. I’m very secure
in the relationship I’m in, me and Tanya have
only been together for two years but she’s really
good with me and I think having a secure background
and relationship makes the whole contest preparation
a lot easier because the other person can’t understand
it but if they can just be with you and take some of
the pressure away then that makes a massive difference
When you look at a photo of yourself, either
now or in the past, is there anything that you look
at and you think – I don’t like that?
No, because changes are so slight and so small and it
can take a long time to change something that I think,
I’m happy where I’m at. It never ends, you
just carry on and carry on and there’s no fixed
point so even if there’s something I didn’t
like I can change it. It might not be this in twenty
years but then it’ll be in the next twenty years
and that’s how I view it.
Is there anything that you look at and you
think here’s where I am now, that’s where
I was twenty years ago and you look in the mirror and
your really proud of the way that particular muscle
looks because you’ve worked hard for that?
Shoulders. I used to hate training shoulders and I think
my rear delts now and my back are probably my best points
whereas at one point, because I used to play a lot of
rugby league my legs and my calves were always good.
And it would be nice to have an extra inch on the peak
of my arms!
You have stood on stage alongside Ronnie Coleman.
How did that feel to share the same stage as the man
who was at the absolute pinnacle of the sport?
To be honest, I just approached it like I would do any
other show. If you start worrying about other people
it just throws you off your game. Having just won the
middleweights and taken the overall my confidence was
running pretty high and I was just going with the flow.
At the time, I never really stopped to think that Ronnie
would be there or any of the others. It was only afterwards,
when I read the magazines and saw the pictures that
I thought ‘Hey! That was me….F****** ‘ell!!!!!’
Its now a few weeks after Paul’s guest posing
appearances and return to competition. He came second
in the Mr. Caledonia pro-am contest to Masoom Butt.
Lets get up to speed with how he felt everything went
and see if he enjoyed being back on the stage.
Okay, so second place in a very tough pro-am
contest. How did you feel with that result? Was it the
return to competition that you had hoped for?
The result was fair. To be honest I was lucky to get
second. Having seen the pictures from the show and comparing
them to some from the guest spots that I’d done
in previous weeks, I have to say that I was probably
5 – 6 lbs too light. I had probably peaked too
early and my body had gone catabolic. Backstage, as
much as I tried to get a pump it just wasn’t happening.
I had no carbs in my system. Yeah I was lean but I had
nothing left to take advantage of it. My shape and symmetry
got me through but I was flat and hardly any vascularity.
I learnt a lot this year, mainly, be realistic in what
you can achieve. In fact I remember you asking me a
question about how I was going to keep my condition
for so long and the answer was - I couldn’t!
Obviously the lead up to that show was your
NABBA guest appearances. Did you enjoy being the centre
of attention?
I got to the first show with mixed emotions. I was excited
and apprehensive at the same time. I felt there was
a lot of pressure on me, most of it internal. In a competition
you can get beat and that’s fine but as a guest
spot you are there to entertain and exhibit and, in
my opinion, if you’re not up to scratch you are
doing yourself and the public a disservice. Once I got
on stage though I loved it! For me it’s what competitive
bodybuilding is about, pure unadulterated exhibitionism!
I’d really like to thank NABBA for the invites
to their shows. I really enjoyed every one of them and
hope that I lived up to people’s expectations.
The atmosphere at the shows was fantastic and it was
a real pleasant change to find everyone so approachable
and friendly.
The audience seemed to really appreciate your
physique and your routine, although at the Leeds show
you came out wearing a pair of sunglasses, I don’t
think the audience realised this but you couldn’t
actually see a thing with them on I believe?
Not a bloody thing! It was spur of the moment thing
and seemed like a good idea until I hit the stage and
the light and I thought ‘oops I’m in trouble
here’. I decided to use it to my advantage and
dramatically cast them aside mid routine - to stop me
falling off the edge of the stage!
You’re famed for your conditioning, having
now seen you up close and personal I can appreciate
that the conditioning is amazing (shredded is not the
word), however for me the most awesome thing about your
physique is the amount of individual detail that shows
through in each muscle group. It’s not just the
fact that your body fat seems as low as possible or
that your skin seems as thin as cling film, it’s
the amount of muscle detail which shows through this
conditioning. Is this something that you train specifically
for and that you are conscious of?
To be honest yes I do train for this. I realised round
about 1997/98 that I was never going to be huge so if
I was going to win I had to have something different
to offer. That’s when I consciously decided to
find an alternate way of training. It’s not that
I do anything magical. It’s just that I’ve
found a series of exercises and a way of training that
suits me. That, and the fact that I have hardly ever
missed a training session or a workout in the last 15
years. It’s all about training smarter not necessarily
harder - although my workouts aren’t easy that’s
for sure! As you will find out when you come down next
month. In fact Tania perversely says that one way of
proving that I love her is to make training partners
throw up!
Tell us about how you diet for a show, are
there any quirks to the Paul George approach to a contest
diet or is it the regular turkey, rice and broccoli?
I have to be honest and say I do have a very fast metabolism
and it seems the leaner I get the faster it works. This
is how I blew it at the Caledonia. Even though I was
constantly being nagged I just didn’t eat enough.
So it’s pretty much a flapjack a day when I’m
prepping. By the same rule this stops me from being
a twenty stone monster. Other than that my food is pretty
normal fair. No magic, no gimmicks. The only thing that
I do is a lot of cardio all the way through my prep.
Up to two hours a day. I don’t like to cut my
calories too much so I’d rather eat more and walk
it off than go around hungry.
Yet another year of competition is now under
your belt. What is next for Paul George?
Good question. I was planning to do the PDI Night of
Champions and the NABBA Universe in October but have
decided against this due to personal reasons and other
commitments, which take us into next year and that will
be another storey. It’s fair to say there is more
to come yet from Paul George - watch this space!
Pauls Competitive History:
1991 Crewe and Alsager 1st
1992 Bradford 2nd
1992 EFBB Britain, not placed
1993 Mansfield 1st
1993 EFBB Britain, not placed
1994 Warrington 1st
1994 EFBB Britain, not placed
1996 EFBB Qualifier 1st
1996 EFBB Britain, 6th
1998 Warrington 1st
1998 EFBB Britain Lightweight, 1st
1999 EFBB Britain Lightweight, 1st
2000 EFBB Britain Lightweight, 1st
2000 EPF Britain Middleweight, 1st
2000 EPF Britain Masters, 1st
2000 EPF Britain Overall, 1st
2001 EPF Britain Middleweight, 1st
2001 EPF Britain Masters, 1st
2001 EPF Britain Overall winner
2001 WPF World Middleweight, 1st
2002 EPF Britain Middleweight, 1st
2002 EPF Britain Masters, 1st
2002 EPF Britain Overall winner
2002 WPF World Middleweight 1st
2002 WPF World Masters 1st
2003 Wigan Open 1st
2003 EFBB Britain Masters, 1st
2003 EPF Britain Middleweight, 1st
2003 EPF Britain Masters, 1st
2003 EPF Britain Overall, 1st
2003 WPF World Middleweight, 1st
2003 WPF World Masters, 1st
2003 EFBB Masters, 1st
2004 EFBB Middleweight, 1st
2004 EFBB Overall British Champion
2004 IFBB British Grand Prix 8th
2007 MR Caledonia Pro-Am 2nd
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