Articles Latest News The Real Deal: Cormier Continues His Story About His First Weider Contract!
QUESTION: After watching a few of the old "Battle for the Olympia" tapes I noticed you were one of the only competitors who had natural looking calves in the mid to late 90's. They were very vascular and shredded with a natural look to them compared to most of the other competitors. Did this phenomenon have anything to do with synthol/site enhancement oils and how rampant was that 
back in your heyday?
ANSWER: I was doing deep tissue when I was a teenager. I told Jay to do this around 2000 and I started doing deep tissue on my calves first. I think that's one thing I had in my favor was the detail. It took me awhile to develop a mind-muscle connection and, actually, feel the reps in my calves. I never wanted to look stupid, and wanted everything to match. I thought I had better calves than Flex [Wheeler]. As far as site enhancement, that nasty shit guys were using in the 90's wasn't something I was into. Almost everyone was doing it. Only a few guys kept it pure without it. That was some nasty stuff. You could always tell with a good eye who was using it and who wasn't.
Staying Nostalgic about the good ol' days...
The goal with this new direction I'm taking in life and in business is to help competitors and keep the tradition of doing things the simple old school way alive. But not only do I want that to stay alive I want to fix the sport. Bring that camaraderie back. You all know what I mean? Back in the day I could walk into the gym and Flex, Rico (McClinton), Paul Dillett, Aaron Baker, and a lot of other cats would be training. There was electricity in the air and that's how everyone describes it but its true. You couldn't help but train your ass off. And everybody respected each other. I could always jump in a back workout with Flex or whoever and it was competitive between us, but in a good way. I miss those days. I want to help bring that feeling back in so bad.
Joe Weider: Part 2
So I left off last time telling you about my experience getting the rigmarole with Joe Weider. I was flying to appearances and trying to meet with Joe but it just didn't seem like it was happening. My rent was like 900 bucks; I was probably making 1500 and after food and everything else it was tight. So I went down to Mexico and was living off of guest posing money. This was about 5 weeks before my first pro show at the Ironman. I did some photo shoots and went to my first show without a contract. But after the show I took 2nd. and earned $4,000. That was the year Vince Taylor won. Then I did the Arnold and placed 4th. That gave me $17,000! I was really liking this whole earning money from something I loved thing. I mean, it felt good, but I still had no contract. Then I did a shoot with Chris Lund and had on some army gear. I had a do-rag on my head and Joe saw the photos again and basically went "Holy shit, sign this guy"! Funny huh? Didn't even recognize me from before but I guess he was very impressed! The first contract I signed was 24,000 dollars! May not sound like much now, and it isn't but back then it was ok. It helped but didn't do a lot because every month after the checks came they were gone way too fast! Anyone who's been in this sport long enough knows this is one expensive ass sport! After a while, I went to Joe and told him it wasn't enough money and I, actualy, got a little raise. It was decent but still not much. I took 6th place in my first Olympia and that was in 94'. I was competing every six months and did every Arnold and every Olympia for a decade. Who else do you know of today who does that? Nobody! So after competing as much as I did that's when the contracts started to come in. The contracts were always about a year long. After the Olympia I went to Joe to find out how much more I'd make. How much was it? NONE! That goes to show you, its all business. In this sport you have to make yourself an asset to the company you're representing or they'll drop your ass or you won't get a better salary when renewal time comes! Stuff just doesn't come to you in terms of contracts. You have to work and work hard!
Thanks again for reading guys! Next month I'll have some more questions answered and I'll see how far I can dig down to give you some good stories about the heydays of competitive bodybuilding. Until next time, I'm out. Peace!
