Page 187 - Muscle & Fitness (December 2019)

RETRO_FLEX
presentation. This is a whole
other level, so you have to bring
that up to par. Once you get that
J O H A N S E N K R AU S E ; C O U RT E S Y
down, you’ll be Mr. Olympia,’ ”
That day, Haney took
Schwarzenegger’s advice and
began his mission to up his
posing game. Considered a “big
bodybuilder,” as the Austrian
Oak called him, Haney needed to
pose big. That meant that
the days of front double biceps
from the knees were over. Stand
tall, flex wide, take over the
entire stage. And from there,
Haney would never again be
beaten at the Olympia, jumping
past Makkawy to win his first
Mr. O title. “I posed big and won
it hands down,” he says.
Always keep evolving was the
lesson learned, something he
took with him to his final O.
“What I had was good enough
to win those shows,” Haney says,
“but now standing onstage with
Frank Zane, Albert Beckles, and
Samir Bannout, who killed it in
’83, my presentation had to be
taken care of.”
Eight victories later, in 1991,
Haney capped his career by
fighting off Ray, Labrada, Vince
Taylor, and future legend Dorian
Yates and exiting the stage one
last time—this time with his
family. Now, nearly three de-
O F W E I D E R H E A LT H & F I T N E S S Haney recalls. the rivals remains tight.
cades later, the bond between
“We always cherish our time
together when we get together
each year at the Olympia,” Haney
says. “Man, we’ll crack jokes and
just have fun reminiscing about
those days.”