Articles Latest News The Real Deal: Chris Cormier's Last Word on Back Training and His First Contract- Part 1
QUESTION: A lot of people knocked you for your back development earlier in your career. How did you bring it up and how could someone use it to increase his or her own back width and thickness?
ANSWER: Good question! In the beginning I lived in Palm Springs and had ok development for that scene. After I came to L.A. I noticed I had a small back. It was wide but not thick. Charles Glass said I had a baby back! So I started getting deep tissue work done on it and it made a big difference. To improve any body part you have to understand it. If I need to train lats, I train lats. If it's the lower back, its lower back. There's all kinds of tricks like different hand positions, playing with the arch of your back; little things you can change around can make all the difference. Once I figured out the little techniques and paid attention to detail my back took off. I eventually made it a strong point and my secret weapon when I got deeper into my career. One thing I do like to do that hits your whole back from traps to the base of your spinal erectors is a bodybuilding-style dead lift on the Smith Machine. When you come up squeeze it up high and keep the butt down, then come back and get a good stretch at the bottom. That movement gets everything on fire from traps down to your lower back. Watch out because it hurts!
Locking out is bad all around!
You know in bodybuilding they say locking out is bad. But it's just as bad in other sports too! I turn on ESPN and see all this talk about the lockout and what its doing for Football. Man, I think they're ruining it! Everyone's losing money every day! TV stations, teams, athletes. And worse, people are going to start getting hurt. They're going to start playing a lot harder to make themselves more of an asset. I think a lot more guys are going to start having more injuries. And the guys who could have made it in the NFL might not make it at all now. And that's sad thinking about the all this talent going to waste. This is a nasty mess any way you cut it. We could talk all day about how bad it is. But in the end I know one thing; I want my damn Football this fall! So I hope like hell each side can come to an agreement and work things out!
Real Deal Personal Training
I wanted to take a minute and tell you all what I'm all about at the moment. I'm brand new to this training thing but I just realized I'm good at it! I've been training people for a few months and my goal is to get my athletes to be the best they can be. I'm very hands on with my people. I'm not like a lot of other guys. I try to get all my clients to perfect their posing, train as hard as they can, spend weeks in the posing room trying to teach them how to be a general on stage. I take their whole prep into my hands. It's not just diet and training with me. I might not be a genius with all these potions and magic tricks but I know solid methods that work and a track record to prove it. I'm training at Gold's Venice still but I go to my clients and I want to put more into it than everyone else. It's not a problem to give for me. The philosophy I hold for my clients is I'll do whatever it takes for them to succeed. If any of you all want to get in touch with me you can get me at [email protected]. 1801 Lincoln BLVD Venice CA # 120. I do posing seminars, contest prep, and anything else bodybuilding related. I really think through training these guys the way I do I could help turn this sport around.
My first time signing on the dotted line...
I got a good story about the first contract I ever signed. Man I miss the days! It seems like just the other day I was visiting Joe [Weider] in his office for the first time. First I have to say Delores Cormier, my mother, was my first sponsor. She always supported me the most. That's what mothers are for, right? I came to Venice in the late 80's and money was an issue. I lived up the street from Venice and I was bouncing and working at GNC. There was barely enough left over after living expenses and food were taken care of. Those were some tough but fun years! This was around the time I trained with Flex (Wheeler) and Rico McClinton. In 1993 after winning the overall at the USA's I still didn't have a contract and I kept hoping for my lucky day. On a whim I was invited to a meeting with Paul Dillet and Robin Chang to meet Joe Weider. Robin told Joe, "I want you to meet 
this guy, Chris, and you're going to like him". So I come in the room and there's Joe sitting at his desk. Without hesitation he asked for a few poses and I took my shirt off and hit a few. He glanced around and said "Do you have any legs, son"? Man, that excited me because at the time legs were my thing! I was still coming into my own with my upper body. So I pulled the shorts down and did an abs-thigh and he was impressed! I could see it on his face. So here I am, 24 years old impressing Joe Weider! This guy has seen Arnold, Frank Zane, Robbie Robinson and all the other old timers. At the same time I'm thinking, "I beat Mike Francois, Edgar Fletcher, Craig Titus, Dennis Newman, in a tough class. So I was thinking I was going to get a contract. A short time after I was asked to do a guest posing for FLEX magazine in Arizona. Of course I said hell yeah! I needed the dough and wanted a contract in a bad way so I did my best to impress the Weider crew. After that I was supposed to have another meeting with Joe and guess what? Just my luck, he didn't want to see me!
What happens next after Chris' trip to Arizona? Did Joe apologize for not meeting him? Did he actually get a contract? Did he get snubbed again? Tune in for the next installment of the Final Word to see Chris field questions, dish out stories and opinions and find out what exactly happened with his first attempt to nab a Weider contract!
