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Many moons ago back when I was a teenager there was a thing called MTV. It was a channel that actually played music videos, go figure, right? And on that channel there was a very successful series called The Real World. Basically, what that show was all about was a group of strangers living together in a house that had cameras running 24\/7 and their interactions became the whole gist of the show. Millions of people would tune in each week to see what was going on with the residents of the home. There were heels, there were heroes, and there were several people in between. Each person had a different story and journey and trials and tribulations. It was that interaction, that real life interaction, that made it so addictive. Everybody wanted to watch. And as a result of that, the series was renewed with different casts of totally new roommates. No one is suggesting that something like that happen in the world of bodybuilding, but it\u2019s very interesting that the reigning Mr. Olympia Nick Walker has announced that he wants to live with his coach. But it doesn\u2019t stop there. He\u2019s also said that he wants to live with other roommates. And that\u2019s where my 47-year-old brain started thinking.<\/p>\n
Why not have a bodybuilding version of MTV\u2019s The Real World? If you\u2019re going to have to residence with Mr. O, his coach, and I would presume other bodybuilding roommates, why not throw some cameras in there and make some social media content out of it? The big difference between 2026 and 1992 is the fact that we have social media and tell me who wouldn\u2019t want to watch something like that today? I mean it\u2019s obvious everybody would want to. But there\u2019s other factors to this story that I think are worth mentioning and why such a living situation could be a recipe for disaster. On the one hand, it could be absolute utopia and on the other it could be absolute chaos. So, let\u2019s dive into this article and flush it out a little bit more. Of course, the most important part of\u00a0 this is your feedback. and of course, we have to tip our hat to the boss man Robert DiMaggio for bringing back the comments section in such a way that makes it more interactive than ever. So don\u2019t just read the article, be ready with your comments for feedback.<\/p>\n
Over the course of the years, I have often written about athletes that need to have their hand held. These are athletes that cannot be either trusted or simply do not want to be alone for what is known as hell week. Other people call it Peak Week<\/em>. I\u2019m not a big fan of calling it peak week because I don\u2019t believe that somebody that does a responsible prep needs to have a week where it seems like everything but the kitchen sink gets thrown into the mix and the competitor\u2019s metabolic rate gets thrown into disarray. There\u2019s no reason to dry out to the point that it feels like a kidney is going to fall out. There\u2019s also no point in doing cardio with trash bags on or taking enemas to make weight. That to me is the product of a bad prep. In other words, why not just coast into it like the guys did and the golden era? Or the way the guys did it in the 80s? Why has the sport become so dependent on drugs that these MacGyver moves are made at the last 48 hours? That\u2019s a great way to throw a 16-week prep down the drain. Not to mention the fact that so many competitors have literally died during this very chaotic period of time. It just doesn\u2019t serve a purpose. In any event, maybe living with your coach would probably be the best guarantee that this type of crash course never takes place. Because a responsible coach is going to be watching that competitor day and night. I mean how could they avoid it? if they live together, eat together, presumably do social activities together, then there\u2019s no time for the athlete to fall off the proverbial wagon.<\/p>\n I would say that for competitors who require that level of attention, that living together would make a lot of sense. This also speaks to the fact that there are competitors that will pay the extra money to fly their coaches out to whatever shows they\u2019re doing. Some competitors will even split a room with their coach so that their coach can watch over them the final 48 hours or sometimes \u2013 even the final week. But in this case if the coach lives with Nick, then one would argue that Nick would be monitored 24\/7. It\u2019s very similar to the stories we\u2019ve heard about Big Ramy having to be roused from bed and sometimes even dragged from bed because he didn\u2019t want to go train. Well then if Nick Walker was anything like Big Ramy, then he would greatly benefit from living with his coach. But what about the chaos factor?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n