Page 148 - Muscle & Fitness (February 2020)

FLEX_GÜNTERS GUIDE

the cool kids. He was the loner,
the foreign exchange student,
never invited to the best party. It
gnawed at his guts. Had he come

so far from that Teutonic farm to
go zero for 24? Would he retire
never having fulfilled his poten-
tial? He was stuck. He needed a
change—a big change.

GLASSWORK

A former collegiate gymnast,
Charles Glass won the middle-
weight class of the 1983 NPC
Nationals and IFBB World Cham-
pionships. Like Schlierkamp, he
shuffled through a middling IFBB
Pro League career. He was noted
for his pec and delt density and
razored abs, but he was cursed
with narrowness. His highest
finish was a fourth in the 1995
Masters Olympia. By then, he
was already muscledom’s most
celebrated trainer.
Glass, a mainstay in Gold’s
Venice since 1978, has seen a
lot of pro bodybuilders come

and go. Few of them had the
untapped everything of Schlier-
kamp. “When I first met Günter
in Gold’s years ago, I thought,
‘Damn, that guy’s got a lot of po-
tential to go places,’ ” Glass says.
“But for years he thought I didn’t
want to train him, and I thought
he didn’t want my help.” After GÜNTERMANIA phenomenon known as Günter-
his 15th in the 2001 Olympia, mania had taken hold of the body-
Schlierkamp sheepishly asked During the three weeks between building world, but Mr. Olympia
Glass if he could train him. Glass Schlierkamp’s improbable wouldn’t get punked in some new
enthusiastically agreed, and af- fifth-place finish at the 2002 contest in New Orleans. Before
ter consulting judges, he zeroed Olympia—where he received a and after the workout, I joked with
in on three areas his new trainee standing ovation from a crowd Schlierkamp about beating Cole-
most needed to improve: upper that felt he deserved to contend man in the SOS, but he dismissed
pecs, delts, and back thickness. for the title—and his unfathom- the possibility. Not gonna happen.
The duo began a 12-month able victory over the reigning He wouldn’t even allow himself

journey to turn those weak- Mr. O at the Show of Strength, I to dream so big. Instead, he was
nesses into strengths. Neither trained with Schlierkamp under aiming for another loss. But if he
man could have predicted how Glass’ tutelage. At the time, it could rise to second in a rematch
well they would succeed. didn’t seem momentous. Yes, the against three of the four men who

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