During his bodybuilding career, Phil Heath had the best years when he won the Mr. Olympia title back-to-back seven times. But in the spirit of never saying never, he made a grand comeback in 2020 to see if he still got it. While he did not win that season, he left the stage with lots of lessons and good memories.
Heath’s documentary, ‘Breaking Olympia’, followed him on this journey of returning to the stage while capturing his raw feelings about competition. In a recent conversation at the Menace Podcast, he admitted to some setbacks that held him back from winning his eighth title, that reflected in the movie.
When the time finally came in 2019, not only did Heath feel incomplete without having a purpose to train but the makers of the documentary also felt something was amiss from the story. That’s when Dwayne Johnson encouraged Heath to return to the stage once more and fight for himself despite his physique needing more tweaking.
Veteran Milos Sarcev admitted that at the Mr. Olympia in 2020, Heath could’ve worked more on his abs, especially while creating a vacuum stomach. Heath agreed, recalling how he also couldn’t cope with his brain and train of thought at the time.
“I had a certain capacity of time right? You have to think of water depletion…carbing up, and all that stuff…so when they kept posing me in that fashion over and over and over again…the neurological signs did not exist.”
But when host Dennis James asked him if his stomach was the sole reason for his missed opportunity, Heath vehemently disagreed. The real culprits that both of them narrowed down to were his glutes and hamstrings that lost definition.
“Oh no I totally s**t the sheets on that one…I made a decision that I probably…I’ll regret for the rest of my life. I made a decision as far as how I was going to do the water depletion.”
Heath explained that he thought once the water peeled, it would give him an incredible definition. However, he did not have the volume necessary to push the muscles up. He managed to cover up and compensate well for his torso and biceps, but his glutes and hamstrings bore the brunt of the decision, pushing him to third place at that Olympia.
Phil Heath still stood proud of his work at the time
The seven-time champion had taken a break from the stage since 2017 after his last title. He wanted to focus on his health and try and live like a ‘civilian’ for once. At the time, he had also teamed up with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to film his documentary, which they aimed to wrap up by 2019.
Eventually, after they figured that Heath could go for another run on the stage, it was the former wrestler who pushed his friend to make the call. Johnson wanted him to bring out his vulnerable side and flaunt it to his fans, and no matter what the outcome was on stage, he would wave to everyone as a final sign.
Heath’s alleged retirement was never verbal through an announcement or a statement to the press. But now, looking at how he pushes rookie bodybuilders and his successors to win on stage, one can conclude that the icon has had a graceful run throughout.
