Episode 513: From Country Boy to 8 Time Mr. Olympia with Lee Haney

Welcome to this edition of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

I'm here with Lee Haney. How are you doing, Lee?

I'm doing great, Larry.

This is quite an honor. Hadn't seen you in a long time, man. And sounds. Adam. Adam tells me you've been busy.

Oh, yeah, man, we've been rocking and rolling. I got three granddaughters now and you know how that is, particularly with girls, you know.

Wow.

And we have the, the Lee Haney Games going on, the IAF certification program, Lee Haney supplement. So we got a lot going on, man, which is great.

I want to get into those things. But just so people will know who we are talking to, we're talking to a guy who, at 24 at the youngest age, became Mr. Olympia. And Mr. Olympia is like the super bowl of the bodybuilding world worldwide. And Lee, there's a lot of people in that sport. Lee became the number one at 24 and then he went on and won eight in a row. Unbelievable. And so that. What gives you eight by the time you're 32? Something like that, yes.

I retired at the age of 31 with eight under my belt. Yep. Yeah.

Wait, wait, you know, congratulations on that again. That's a historic all time achievement. And when, where did that fit into the Arnold Schwarzenegger era of the bodybuilding?

Well, Larry, Arnold won the Mr. Olympia title six years in a row. Came back after a four year retirement. Well, let's say he was doing some film, came back and mourned it. 7th time. I was the first to win it 8 years in a row and was undefeated and retired at age of 31.

Yeah. Unbelievable.

Yep.

One more than Arnold, you know.

Right. He had to call me Uncle Larry.

Yeah, he'll never be able to come back and even that up, you know, so. Right. He missed his chance, so way to go. And that competitive streak, I guess, has always been with you, Lee.

Oh, yeah, man. You know, when you're a country boy growing up in the woods, you gotta have a fire on you, under you, if you're gonna stay there.

Talk about that country boy phase of your life again. Where was that?

I was born in a small town called Whitestone, South Carolina, sort of outside of Greenville and Spartanburg. You know, everybody knew everybody in the neighborhood. It was a small deal. A lot of relatives lived within that small community. And it was there that I learned the importance of hard work and stick to itness. You know, we had a small farm. We had pigs, you know, chickens, we had a garden. So the, the foundation of hard work was instilled in me as a youngster.

And, you know, you can develop some pretty good muscles just working on the farm because back then they didn't have a lot of the heavy equipment that did the heavy lifting and everything for you like they do now, but that wasn't good enough for you. How did you get the body build in, Bug?

Well, Larry, I recall growing up and when my parents would take me, we would go to the grocery store, I would always go to the bookshelf and started flipping through magazines and so forth. And all of us were raised on watching Hercules and read the stories of Samson and this sort of thing. So that sort of put a fire under me, wanting to be a muscle man or a man of great strength and wisdom. So every opportunity I had to read and to study, study on training, nutrition, and watching legends like Arnold and Robbie Robinson, Frank Zane, Franco Colombo and, and these guys, man, Steve Reed, I would, I would just draw to it like a sponge.

Yeah, Isn't it funny? You can't control what you're attracted to. But that, you know, that was, that spoke to you and how quick did you get involved in it?

Well, I tell you what, I asked my parents for a set of weights for Christmas when I was around 11 years old, and they got them for me. And in that workout equipment, which was a plastic set of dumbbells and barbells, that kind of deal, I came with. It was a Charles Atlas book, you know, and, man, I, I, I, I read it, I followed the, the program that he had laid out for us. And next thing you know, I started to develop, you know, very well, you know, country boy development, you know, pinto beans, black eyed peas, cabbage, squash, corn, you know, eggs, all of the good stuff that we eat in the country. And let's say, you know, by the time I turn 16, I had a pretty good physique, you know, and I then joined a YMCA and started training there. You know, we didn't have any modernized equipment. We just had, you know, the pulleys and the free weight, that sort of thing. And there were older gentlemen, gentlemen that was training there, that, that was into the weight training. And one of them in particular, a guy named Danny Rogers, took me under his wings and, and he said to me at the age of 15, 16, he said, Kid, you have the type of physique that can grow to become one of the best bodybuilders in the world, if you stick to this. And he saw me end up winning the, the, the NPC nationals and to go on to win a Mr. Olympia eight years in a row. Wow.

And so what town was this now that you were, you were lift, you started lifting in Same town?

Yes, Martin Burg, South Carolina. You know this, which was the county in which Whitestone was located? Whitestone is a small place, tiny place. And not only did I come from Whitestone as a champion, another guy named Chad Silvers, who was the eight time world arm wrestling champion, came from Whitestone. So those country roofs, man, it was some bad boys came out of that place.

Now how far did you have to go to the gym? How you know, how much of an effort was that?

Well, you know what, the gym wasn't that far away. I figured probably around a 20 minute drive.

Yeah. And so you got your start that way. Where did you run in your first brick wall type thing of where like you're going and then things don't turn out right, you know, because bodybuild has got a lot of disappointments along the way. Because where people don't know is you get judged. It's not like strongman competition where you go in and whoever lifts the most wins. There's no question about it. You go get. And they like this, you know, they like this physique versus that physique. And, and you can go in there and you can actually be the best one there and get passed over, you know, and so there's a lot of that that goes on. How, where did you get your first big disappointment of any, any kind of. We're like, I don't know if I should be doing this.

Well, you know what, Larry? I fell in love with the sport of bodybuilding. You know, I just love being around it and it was a lot of fun for me. It wasn't about making money or anything like that. As a youngster, you know, I competed in my first show when I was 16 years old. Didn't play, but man, I had a lot of fun. And after that I was told by several of the judges that I had great potential. And I really dug in then and started to train and read and study the routines handed down by some of the other champions. And then I entered, let's say, the teenage coastal usa, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia. I was then at the age of, I think 18 years old when in that show I took fourth place, which was fine with me. I'm happy to be in the show, first of all. And then next thing you know, I continue to grow and get better and better. So I then entered the what is called the Mr. Palmetto, which took place in Greenville. And I was still at the age of 18, you know, near 19. And in that show I beat guys who was 30 and 40 years old. So all of a sudden, man, I mean, I grew real fast and won that show. And then a few months later, I entered the Mr. South, which again, I was a teenager entering a show with men that was experiencing, and I won that show. So that said to me as a teenager, if you're able to be men that's seasoned, physical, wise, then you may be on the way. And the next thing you know, you had the Teenage America coming up in Detroit, Michigan in 1979. And I go into that show and beat over 70 teenagers from across the United States and won the Mr. Teenage America. So I knew, man, after that, whoo, I was on the way. So I never ran into a disappointing situation. I've always took it in stride and enjoyed the process.

Right, and everybody doesn't do that, though. I mean, you know, you grew up in that environment. What do you think caused you to stay? You know, you enjoyed it, but what do you think were the other things that kind of kept you in as a disciplined life? You know, it's a. People don't know the discipline that goes into bodybuilding. Like every meal, every calorie, everywhere. You know, it's not just the lifting, it's the aerobics. You know, you got to do the aerobics and every body part matters. You know, you have to give attention to develop. And some of them come easy, you know, depending on your structure.

Right.

Some are natural, but then there's. Everybody has a part that's hard for them to develop, except maybe you.

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Well, you know what, Larry? I, you know, I was Part of the routines, as I said, it was handed down by some of the icons in the sport. And my body just. It grew rapidly and easy. My mom was like 5 foot 11, 180, 190 pounds.

Yeah.

My dad, the 5, 11 and a half, you know, 215 pounds. So my genetic blueprint was near perfect from day one.

Yeah.

So really. And then when it came to nutrition, I was blessed to have what is called a mesomorphic body type, which means naturally muscular and lean.

Yeah.

So, man, dieting was never a hard thing for me. What was for me and was beneficial is that I could eat about anything and get away with it, you know, so I didn't have to. You were young, you know, you were a teenager.

You were a teenager too. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, I was a teenager. And so. And all of that helped, you know, natural high testosterone levels. So, man, it was a big plus for me. I never had to diet. Even in my professional career. I've always been of the mindset to eat clean. I never was into eating junk or anything like that, you know, because one thing about reading about what Arnold and Robbie and all of these guys did, it was all about, you know, developing your body. It was about staying healthy, you know, so your sweet potatoes, your chicken, your eggs, your rice, your green beans, all of the real things that were by nature part of the diet of a country boy was what we did.

Yeah.

You know, so it didn't really change. I never had to go and eat tuna fish and green beans and deprive myself of anything that tastes good, you know, so that was never, ever a problem for me. I never had to eat like a bird because I was never a person that carried a lot of body fat.

Yeah.

Or who was genetically had a slow metabolism like the that of an endomorph, carry natural high body fat. You had to watch what they ate. You know, if you look at the era of Arnold and. And Lou Ferrig, these guys always trained up for a show. They never trained down. They never had to lose body fat and get down the contest weight. They would eat more as they train harder to get ready for the show and actually got bigger. Yeah. So I was given the same genetic blueprint and followed a program very similar to what they did.

Well, the thing is that, you know, as people are listening to this, hopefully youngsters are listening to it, is if you can lock in the earlier, you can lock in to what you're going to be doing the rest of your life and really if you look at everybody as young, you know, whatever your age is, you're young compared to the rest of your life. You know, if you're 40 years old, you're a teenager compared to the rest of your life, you're young right now. You're as young as you're going to be.

That's right.

And if you look at the rest of your life, you know, if you're not locked in, not happy and excited about what you're doing, you feel like there's something else, the quicker you can lock into a program and, and you can duplicate. You know, this is the pattern of success, right?

You hit it right on the nail, Larry. You hit it right on the nail and go ahead. And everybody that I've been, you know, some of my associates and people I've been around from Steve Harvey, I trained Steve Harvey. I've trained Ivana Holifield, I've worked with Tyler Perry. But then beyond that, the guy who started European healthball, a guy named Ken Melbourne, Ron Hammel Garden, you know, Bob Rice and Rice University. A lot of these people that has been extremely successful in what they do, they lock in early. They have the plan A, they never have a plan B. It's A, A, A, A. Until I get it right, how can I polish A to make it better than what it is? And I found that to be the key to being successful. You know, I'm not competing anymore, but I'm still with plan A by you know, training other athletes, training myself, developing a supplement business around what I do and where I come from, developing a personal trainer organization around what I do and where I came from. So I'm still doing my plan A, but in different ways now. So that's always. If you, you know, I watch those patterns of successful people, that's what they do. They stay with A and they make a better and better and better.

Now, talk about if we're going to kind of summarize this for people early on, the things that, you know, it's nice to have the support around you, but, you know, everything that's good, some people just find a way to screw it up. You know, like they'll have the good family, but then they'll rebel against the family. You know, they'll have the, you know, the good values and all. They'll build, they'll rebel against that. They have the advantages and they rebel against it, you know, and it's usually because they haven't found what they supposed to do with their life. You know, that's why I encourage people, you know, to do what you feel is inside you to do because you're going to have to lock in again with that plan A. And you got to keep yourself on it. Nobody's going to be, you know, nobody can supervise you 24 hours a day. You know, some people you had advantages and you took advantage of them. But I mentioned earlier, you stayed on track, you went through those things, you enjoyed it, you grew. But not everybody who gets on that track stays on that. And you've seen a lot of people fall out. You probably noticed it from the beginning. What do you notice about people like that? That, that right from the beginning they don't give, you know, one way of saying is they don't stay with it. They don't give a chance for their efforts to compound and multiply. They don't give themselves a chance to be successful. You know, talk about that.

Well, you know, Larry, some people it has to do a lot with. You know, I've seen guys that was gifted who had some of the best physiques. I mean, I know one guy in particular, I'm not going to call his name. He passed not long ago. But this young man was a real life he man, he had one of the most beautiful physiques. And I kept my eyes on him because I knew if there were ever a fire lit under him, he would give me a run for my money. But his work ethic just wasn't is strong. You know, I've actually worked out with him in the gym before and we would train and he said, well, I don't need to do that because you know, I already have that. And he was, he had that kind of attitude. Sometimes being over physically gifted in our sport can make you lazy, whereby, you know, country boy, you know, my dad was a long distance trucker. My mom only had a second grade. It was instilled in me real early. Son, whatever you do, you got to do your best. Don't have but do anything. Do your very best and no man is better than you. Each man put his legs on, pants on, one leg at a time. That was my daddy speaking to me and speaking into me when I was a youngster. And my mom would fall over there and say, son, you put God first in your life and it'll take you around the world. Do your very best at whatever you set your hand to do. And those principles nurtured me in such a way that, man, I wasn't going to take anything laying down. It was going to be to the last breath and What I found all great athletes, the one that would go into greatness had a similar attitude.

Yeah, you know, you hear that with Michael Jordan. You know, he would. You know, that's. He would analyze his competition, his friends. He'd make friends with them just like Arnold would, you know, just to get close to them, to find out how they think, but just also see where they drop the ball. And to get here for distance. You just think everybody's working around the clock. But you get close to him, you could start to see the flaws. And he would be noticing those things. And he would. You know, it's like, okay, I got him there. And even, like, I met that dream, one thing was the dream team. That's why, you know, where they went to Greece, you know, the Olympics, the basketball. He had all of those superstars there. He was. He was analyzing them all. And he made sure, you know, they divide up teams. He made sure his team won every stinking time. You know, if they ever got beat, they had to play again, you know, and that's what they said. When he came back for his retirement with a Space Jam. He had the Space Jam movie, but he built a full basketball court out there in that for that movie. And he had all the stars in the NBA come in at different times to play, you know, practice in the off season. But he was sizing them up, and he was watching. He was watching not only their. Their. Their tendencies and what they like to do, but also their work ethic. And that's why I never really worried about Barkley. You know, Like, I could. I could. I don't know, Barkley. So I could. I mean, I could. I won't get in trouble because he's not going to come find me. But Barkley, you know, there was a reason Barkley didn't win a championship. And Mike, you know, when. When Michael played against Charles in the. The finals, everything wasn't ever really worried, you know, and because he knew, he just, you know, he didn't want it that much. He didn't push himself that much. In fact, he would try and soften him up. But he'd have him over for dinner. Even during the finals, he'd have him over for dinner, you know, this, that, the other. You know, it's kind of like when we were in high school and you'd have a football game and the visiting team, you. They'd stay at a hotel. You'd send them all quarts of milk, you know, before.

To give them, gang.

Yeah, and. But Tiger woods is the same way I know people that have talked to him, you know, in this stage of his life. And he said, you know, when he came out of college, he went out on the tour, he wasn't scared of anybody because he said, I know how hard they work. I knew how hard I worked. He said, I knew I was going to kill him. And you know, the hard work aspect, they might have had almost as much talent or whatever, but that hard work is a separator. Think so. Thanks much, Lee.

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