Dave Palumbo is a great friend of mine and possibly the most vascular man I've ever met. This week, I've chosen to regale you all with a tale about Dave and the time he ventured up to Canada to compete in the IFBB North American Championships. I chose this as my story this week because it was by far, in my opinion, Dave's best showing. And furthermore, I got the privilege to play a small part in it.
Dave stayed at my house during his visit. He, actually, arrived in Toronto the Wednesday before his show. I ventured out to Pearson Airport to pick him up and I remember seeing Dave lumbering around the airport waiting for me to arrive. It was always enjoyable seeing Dave in public because of the reactions he would get from strangers. I always loved the fact that Dave was so confident and comfortable in his own skin that he really didn't care what other people said or did. Dave had his own trademark way of dressing; a sleeveless Max Muscle hoodie, string tank, and shorts. Dave always wore shorts. It would be freezing outside, with snow pounding the pavement and Dave would be in shorts. It was unreal. In all honesty, I've probably only ever seen Dave in track pants a handful of times. So the thing is, because he always wore shorts and a sleeveless hoodie, his hulk-like mass, vascularity and conditioning was always shockingly apparent. Strangers would always be staring at him. This was in stark contrast to me, I always covered up. It was nice to have someone drawing attention away from me for once.
After the circus at the airport we had to stop for Dave's usual food of choice, pre-contest or off-season; McDonalds. McDonald's really missed out by not giving him an endorsement deal. He would have fit right in with Ronald, Hamburgler, Grimace and Mayor McCheese. Dave is the only bodybuilder I know that would eat four hamburgers and two cheeseburgers a week out from a show and still be shredded. It was even more shocking that he ate this way throughout his entire contest prep. I always found it perplexing that he could get away with that. I guess it is a testament to good genetics. After we wolfed down our burgers, we headed to my gym so Dave could do a final pump workout before the show.
I have always believed that there are a few different types of bodybuilders. There are stage bodybuilders; they look less impressive up close but look amazing on stage. Then there are gym physiques; the ones that you see in the gym with dense, grainy, hard, vascular mounds of ripped beef. These are the ones that you look at and think to yourself, "How the hell could this guy ever lose a show?" That was Dave. He was probably the freakiest gym physique I have ever seen. And Kovacs has seen them all. Dave's physique was just plain intimidating to look at. As we went through Dave's pump workout, he was getting stares of shock and awe from patrons in the gym. It made me proud to see my good friend receiving those kinds of looks. It was his final prep before the show and I had the distinct honor of being his second set of eyes. We were a team and I liked that.
The following day, we started Dave's carb up. If you pay any attention to the boards or to RX Muscle, you know that Dave is an advocate of a high fat diet with restricted carb intake. This holds true until the final loading process. Let me tell you, when Dave carb loads, Dave REALLY carb loads!! I figured I'd carb load with him, we were a team after all. My wife, at the time, made all sorts of desserts for after the show. Dave apparently misunderstood and used the cheesecake, apple pie, etc. for his final loading process. Dave was a freak and it worked perfectly. If the average bodybuilder ate what Dave did, I guarantee they would've spilled over and looked like shit. But Dave, with every feeding, kept getting fuller and drier. Dave was the epitome of the word freak. I actually looked up freak in the dictionary and there was a picture of the Palumbosaurus right beside the word. Seriously, no joke.
We were going through his poses the evening before the show and there was some sunlight filtering in through the window. The light complemented his physique perfectly. Dave was posing there and I thought that he looked like he belonged on the Olympia stage. He had combination of condition and mass that was mind blowing. Just as I was writing this I wished I had a picture or a video of what I saw that night. But we didn't do that stuff back in the day, we were old school. It never even crossed our minds that it might be a good idea to take a picture. Of course, back then it wasn't as easy as it is today. Back then you had to get a photographer to bring over their tripod camera.
When Dave stripped down at the weigh-ins, the looks on the faces on the other competitors was a lot like the looks I got when I stripped down at the Canadian Nationals. You could actually see the Pro-Tan on their faces fade away. The weight on the scale was exactly 275 pounds. That's right, 275 pounds of rock hard Palumbo. Dave wasn't the prettiest bodybuilder but he was damn impressive. You could compare him to Branch Warren. Not the prettiest physique but he was shredded to the bone and huge.
Dave's look wasn't favored by the amateur judging criteria and he didn't win his pro card. To me, and everyone in the audience, he should have been given his pro card. He blew the competition out of the water. He could have held his own with any pro from that era in the mass department. Somehow, Dave wound up in fifth place. This placing was met with a chorus of angered and pissed off boos. A subpar Jeremy Freeman won that day and my good friend, who should have won, received fifth. Without question, Dave had the best combination of size, fullness and condition. I think Dave had to be as full as possible because if he competed too light his structural flaws showed. Years later, Dave placed second in the USA which was ironic considering he looked better in Toronto. I think the lack of press and the show being held in Canada hurt his chances.
Dave deserves a Kovacs sized amount of respect. He is a bodybuilder who stuck it out after many years and he deserves to be able to stand on a pro stage. It is too bad he never got the chance. The lesson to be learned here is that Dave didn't whine about it and let himself fall by the way side. Dave carved out a niche for himself within the industry and has prospered. He has shown us that you don't have to be a pro to be a success in the sport. I respect Dave immensely and am very glad to be part of the RX team. Be sure to tune in next week. Same Kovacian time, same Kovacian channel.
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