Steve Michalik was one of the best bodybuilders to grace the iron game. He was an unstoppable force and a bonafide mad man. He trained with reckless abandon. He worked out in the fields of war-torn Vietnam while ignoring sniper fire. Michalik was also probably the first bodybuilder to go on record saying he ate monkey brains as a performance enhancer.
It should go without saying, but I don’t recommend anyone do anything you’re about to read. This is for fun even though Steve was for real.
All that determination helped him build a world class physique. When Steve Michalik returned state side he went on to be a champion bodybuilder who pushed the limits of human capacity. He gained traction as a bodybuilding icon and landed on the cover of many popular muscle magazines during the Golden Era.
Steve Michalik had a stellar bodybuilding career. He won the Mr. USA, Mr. America contest, and Mr. Universe bodybuilding competitions.
Later on he owned a gym and trained thousands of people in the art and science of bodybuilding. Steve Michalik left his mark on the sport of bodybuilding. He trained to the very end and he trained with full force. And he left a legacy of intensity and myth and legend.
Steve Michalik the Old School Tough Guy
I love learning about the old school bodybuilders and their lifestyle, training methods, approach to food, and philosophy. They had a perspective and experience that we can learn a lot from.
Some of these guys had eccentric personalities that we only get to experience second hand through stories.
There was no Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Tic Tok to document the old school bodybuilding legends in their true authentic form.
Much of what we hear is morphed by myth and legend. So we do the best with what we got. And what we got is a bit of information here and there, and we do our best to piece it all together.
Steve Michalik Early Years
Steve Michalik was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He took to weight lifting at a young age.
According to him, Steve Michalik had a rough go as a kid. He was abused by family. One day he was thrown into a closet after an ass whooping. While locked inside he found a copy of Captain America comic book. Instead of crying and feeling sorry for himself he started doing pushups.
Captain America was his inspiration to start training. He “couldn’t be Captain America so he became Mr. America instead.” Not a bad consolation I guess.
It seems his early childhood trauma fueled his intensity. It harden him. It callused his mind.
He transmuted pain into something productive. He used it to forge himself into a champion.
It wasn’t long before young Steve was lifting weight and pushing his physical limits. Leaving his peers in the dust in terms of strength and size.
Steve Michalik took an interest in physiology at a young age and got pretty jacked in high school. After graduating Michalik enlisted in the military and was shipped overseas to Vietnam.
When he wasn’t reading books on base, he’d do bench press in the field with a makeshift barbell and cinderblocks. There he fought for months and allegedly stayed with taoist monks for some time. They helped shape his mind through meditation and ancient techniques.
Steve Michalik studied the taoist monks while touring Vietnam. He learned to transmute energy and matter with his mind. He used their teachings to channel energy into his training and transcend the pain barrier.
He came home back to America where he continued hitting the weights with a vengeance and won Mr. America at age 22.
Steve Michalik’s Bodybuilding Victories
Steve Michalik won many bodybuilding contests and competitions. He won the Mr. America, Mr. USA and Mr. Universe competition.
He collected a cult following at his gym. People would line up to be trained by him. They were drawn in by his electric personality and undeniable results.
Razor sharp focus and unyielding determination. He held the Mr. USA title. The Mr. America title, and after winning that he won Mr. Universe.
Extreme.
Steve Michalik had a ‘more is better mentality’.
He was fiercely competitive and would one-up anyone. If the guy next to him did 10 rep Steve did 11.
He’d do more reps, more sets, lift more weight, take more drugs, do more steroids, snort this, inject that, eat monkey brains, you name it.
If there was a chance it gave him an edge, he’d do it. Anything the competition did he would do more of. He pushed himself to the limit and redlined on life.
Steve was known for his intensity. It was his calling card.
Intensity-Insanity
Steve Michalik coined the phrase “Intensity or Insanity” to describe his punishing training method.
He trained to absolute failure.
To achieve this he deployed a disgusting amount of repetitions. Some workouts were 90 sets of legs. Back Squats, front squats, lunges, hack squats, all of the leg exercise you can think of he did.
Workouts were 1000’s of reps. The objective was to obliterate each and every muscle group.
Other bodybuilders tried to keep up with Steve but crashed and burned. Some that tried to go rep for rep with Michalik ended up in the hospital. Others lost their will to train for the big show. It whipped people good.
While other took the challenge and were set on the road to bodybuilding success. 90 sets of legs. 20 reps. Workouts would be 1000’s of reps. Obliterate each and every muscle group. Would flex in the mirror to activate each individual muscle fiber.
All bodybuilders train with intensity. But Steve Michalik was the bodybuilder that bodybuilders deems the most intense.
Quantum Fitness
“What I call Intensity-Insanity could easily be called Quantum fitness,” said Michalik.
“The principles are based on quantum physics. I use space, time, energy, and matter to create force inside muscle tissue in order to bring about a positive change.”
His knowledge, understanding and application of his life’s research and experience was interesting to say the least. He was on to something.
Many champion caliber bodybuilders speak to this principle, but they put it it different words.
Vince GiRonda spoke on something similar when he hypothesized about why champion physiques look different than others. Champions are build from the inside out using mind power.
Steve Michalik loose cannon
Michelin’s temper was legendary. There are locker room stories of him flying into a rage when some one asked him a question mid set. Steve threw dumbbells at the guy and then tossed him out a window.
People caught stating at Steve while training risked getting chucked out for ‘stealing his energy’.
Word travelled and people sought him out to train under his wing.
And Lord help those who didn’t pay their dues on time. Michalik once smashed a customer’s headlight with a baseball bat for not paying his gym fee.
Training is Internal
It’s a war between the two voices in your head. One voice telling you to quit and another that ignores it completely and cruises past.
Mind-Muscle Connection is what matters. To create muscular tension with your mind. That’s how you shape your physique.
Wall of Fire
The Wall of Fire is a term for the pain barrier you must pass in order to grow. Many succumb to the wall of fire and never reach their true potential. They quit too soon. The stop before they really get going.
Sad really. The real growth is on the other side of pain.
When you feel the burn THAT is your chance to earn your gains. Don’t turn from the burn lean into it and surpass it. That is how you make progress.
Steve Michalik Mr. America Contest Workout
Steve firmly believes in giving each area as much time and effort as he can manage. He divides his routine into two pieces to accomplish this. He works out his back, chest, and shoulders on the first day and his arms, chest, and shoulders the following day.
Every training session involves working the calf and abdominal muscles. Steve works out two days in a row before taking a break. Through the weekends, he keeps up this routine of two on and one-off. (You can see why Thomasina’s cooperation is crucial in this training regimen.)
He used an intensive volume training style known as “Intensity or Insanity” in his workout regimen, performing up to 100 sets for each body component.
He would work virtually nonstop until the muscle was completely exhausted, jumping from one exercise to the next like a man obsessed.
For instance, a typical chest workout would consist of the following exercises:
- Bench press
- Incline dumbbell flies
- Pullovers performed in a continuous circuit (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, etc.) Without resting in between.
He would perform as many nonstop circuits as he could until he became exhausted.
After a pain staking training session, good ol’ Steve would flex in the mirror to activate each individual muscle fiber. Flexing was an important part of training.
Flexing in a mirror trains your fine motor skills. It’s builds mind-muscle connection and allows you to control each individual muscle fiber.
Steve Michalik Mr. America Diet
Steve Michalik ate a lot of meat, fish, eggs and cheese. He ate six meals each day and only drank water and orange juice.
No milk, tea, beer, liquor, wine, spirits or any other kind of sauce. But he did eat a raw salad everyday.
Apparently Steve’s office had a stove and a refrigerator so he could keep a constant flow of calories coming.
Steve Michalik also had a protein supplement. Likely Rheo Blair because that was popular with bodybuilders but who knows. The best protein powder available on the market today is Transparent Labs Whey Protein. It’s pure. Everything is on the container.
Other supplements included 100 Liver tablets, 1000 units of vitamin E, 5000 mg of vitamin C, and a B-Complex and Mineral tablet every single day.
Steve Michalik: The Phantom Bodybuilder
Michalik had just won the tall class at the 1975 Mr. Universe competition when the unthinkable happened.
Michalik had a horrific car accident and ended up in a wheelchair. Doctors said he’d never walk again.
He said fuck that and spend every waking moment studying the human body, scouring over scientific research, and reading esoteric text to find solutions.
3 years later he took the stage in a Miami bodybuilding Grand Prix.
Steve Michalik used positive energy intentional directed to heal himself, and three years after his car accident he stepped back on stage for the IFBB Miami Grand Prix. Judge Arnold Schwarzenegger dubbed him The Phantom for his uncanny ability to move through impossible obstacles.
A miraculous recovery driven by sheer will, desire and very likely divine intervention. Him and his brother Pauly trained together every day to rehabilitate his injuries and literally get back on his feet.
Steve Michilak in the Later Years
Trained many people at his gym. Condensed their workouts to be extremely intense. Forced them to exercises harder than they ever have in their life.
Years of Steroid use and abuse led to health problems. He spent time campaigning and speaking about the wonders of physical fitness and the dangers of steroids. He was not shy about his steroid use and their effects. both positive and negative. Yes, steroids get you jacked if you train and eat right. They can also make a mess of your health. Including baseball size tumors of the liver and they can completely shut down your kidneys, etc.
Steve Michilak wasn’t one for moderation he went balls out in everything including his use of bodybuilding drugs.
Years before his death Steve Michalik went on a radical detoxification program. The detox involved hours of sauna and cold baths a day. Michalik was quoted saying the the bad ingredients would literally seep out of his pores.
Steve Michilak left a legacy of training material for us to learn from. Priceless experience for the good and the bad.
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