Prince
Board Sponsor
The whole argument between whether athletes need coaches or not comes down to a livelihood question. After what Samson was able to accomplish at last year's Mr Olympia it became abundantly clear to most pundits that prep coaches for athletes at elite levels are no longer needed. I think it's something that we knew all along but that was confirmed when a top-tier athlete left a big name coach and was able to win a small show on the way to the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding.
I will admit that I was one of the people that said that it couldn't be done. Not that he couldn't win a small show on his own but that he couldn't win the Olympia on his own. It's one thing to self-prep for a small local show or even a small pro show, but to self-prep and win a show on the level of the New York Pro, the Arnold Classic, or the Mr Olympia, was quite another feat. I didn't think it could be done.
I will come clean and fess up right here on my own article. It's not that I didn't think that an athlete at the elite level could prepare themselves for a show of that magnitude, but I just think that the pressure would have been far too great to compartmentalize and be able to accomplish a winning look.