A conversation with Van Halen Album cover man, ESPN Bodyshaping star, and legendary bodybuilding champion, Rick Valente. By Dr. Michael Dusa

A conversation with Van Halen Album cover man, ESPN Bodyshaping star, and legendary bodybuilding champion, Rick Valente.

By Dr. Michael Dusa

MD: Hey Rick, great to talk to you!

RV: Thanks Mike.

MD: You know, you are one of the guys who came out of the tiny Nutmeg State of Connecticut, my home state, to make it big on the world scale.

RV: Yup. I was born in New Haven, and I grew up in Ansonia, you know, "The Valley."

MD: Last time I was there, I got knocked out! High school football game against Ansonia High School- a tough batch of youngsters!

RV: Well, yes. You had to be tough if you lived where I grew up. The high school and my home were right near the projects in Ansonia. There were drugs, gangs, motorcycle clubs-you name it.

MD: So, what was it like growing up there?

RV: First, let me tell you, I myself was no angel. I can also say that, without a doubt, lifting weights saved my life. Invariably, if I hadn't gotten involved with the iron at a very early age, I'd be dead today. No way would you and I be having this conversation now.

I started training in my parent's basement at about 12 or 13 years old. You know the story-I mailed out for the Charles Atlas routine. I have to say right now that my parents were the best-they were wonderful people and fully supported me. They let me run with my passion. My father let me drill holes in the walls to construct pulley and spring apparatus. I made a huge "vision board" on the wall.

MD: Before you go on, and not that I would forget, but just where in the world did those "best ever" triceps of yours come from?

RV: (laughs). Thanks Mike. Well, right away, at home, I started dips and reverse dips on two chairs. These were very easy for me to perform-the more I did, the better my bench press got. My triceps just grew! I was also into martial arts. I needed to be able to handle myself and look and be strong. The spectre of fighting always existed when I'd venture out from my house.

I mentioned I was no angel. I also want to say although I was surrounded by a lot of sinister influences and people of ill repute, I knew early that how I handled these influences would delegate my path in life. This was the 70's...yes, there was pot and cocaine...but heroine was very big at the time. I lost many close friends to drugs.

MD: But even though you had a lot of bad examples not to emulate, you must have had some pretty good role models, too.

RV: Oh of course! I worked at a grocery store and I'd always be out in the parking lot gathering and pushing the shopping carriages, and many times, there was big Sherman Backus, and great powerlifter and bodybuilder. He'd had a deadlift record at one time...a HUGE back! I'd see him coming and going and he'd always flex his huge arm for me! He was amazing to me! Too bad he's passed on.

MD: No, Rick. Sherman is alive, well, and still looks great! Just saw him in the gym and had a nice chat. I know him well...suffered defeat to him in the 85 Waterbury show.

RV: That's fantastic! Thank God. I heard wrong then. Such a great guy. When I was 15 I started training in the Ansonia YMCA which was housed in a tiny bolier room. Many of the older guys were good to know and learn from there. It was hardcore-no fluff. And I also went to Mike Katz's World Gym East in Hamden and trained with Mike, Jerry Mastrangelo and Joe Ugolik, who you know was with Mike in Pumping Iron. Joey had a three quarter twisting back double bicep shot that reminded you of Arnold! There was Ronnie Mangum, as well, great Hamden High School Football player and bodybuilder. I went to California to watch him compete in the AAU Mr. America in 1978-he took 6th. Tony Pearson won that year.

One guy who really ultimately made a difference for me was Bob Levine. He was about ten years older than me and joined the Ansonia YMCA. All the guys hated him because he'd smear a ton of Icy Hot all over his body and that's all you'd smell! They wanted to kill him. These guys were killers(laughs)! I befriended Bob. Eventually he moved to Florida, and gave me his card and said to look him up someday. More on him later though.

High school football days

MD: So you played sports in high school?

RV: Oh yes. Football. I was a pretty good player. Three kids who I really looked up to were a couple of years older but were great, great players were Roger Innes, Joey Cardella and Gary Taylor. Innes is a local legend-just an outstanding player. I played linebacker and fullback-I enjoyed hitting people. I also wrestled, but I was a bit small for that.

MD: So no bodybuilding contests for you in high school?

RV: No. That was a bit later. Through high school, and after I graduated-I mean, it was so bad where I lived. One of my earliest memories was me being at an Italian festival at age 8 and seeing two kids beat another so badly he lost consciousness...this was right in front of my mother and I. Another time I was at a house party with a bunch of people and the cops broke it up. Everyone there was arrested except a friend and I. We literally hid under a bed for four hours as the cops were standing right above us. They left and we got away. Mike...I can easily list a dozen guys who I knew who are now dead from drugs. Finally, I remember leaving a theater after watching a Clint Eastwood movie, and out in the parking lot there was, before our eyes, yet another colossal beat-down. That's the first time I recall thinking, "I've gotta get out of here."

I was torn between being Bruce Lee, Arnold, or having the biker life. We all had bikes then. Gangs were prolific. I chose the Arnold path.

First bike

MD: So, off to California.

RV: No. Not then. Bob Levine, who I mentioned earlier, told me to look him up if I ever cared to. This was the best thing I ever did. Bob had moved to Florida and lived in a condo on the beach. I moved there upon his invitation and got jobs as a lifeguard on the beach by day, and as a bouncer in a night club for evenings. At the club, we'd always get in fights. There were drunk college kids, drunk sailors in town-they were looking to fight. 


So we accommodated them (laughs)! We had a big crew of 14 guys on staff-Chris Duffy, a great bodybuilder, James Sisco. We'd all have each other's backs.

This club held the first bodybuilding show I'd ever entered, it was 1978 or 79, the "Mr. Summers" contest. I won, and I was hooked on competing. Competing was a whole new world for me. I was like a kid in a candy store. I won the Mr. Golden Glades and the Mr. Gold Coast shows. Soon, I knew I had to move to where the true action was-California.

Winning the Mr. Gold Coast show in 1981 before
moving to California

MD: Your goal as a bodybuilder at this point?

RV: Oh, I definitely wanted to be Mr. Olympia. I moved to LA with $500 in my pocket. I had no car, and initially stayed in a hotel. But, I was blessed. I tell you someone has always watched over me. Tim Kimber, Ed Conners and Pete Grymkowski took a liking to me and watched over me. They were great to me. They'd use me as a model in advertisements. At the time, Gold's had a motion picture department run by a guy named Derek Barton. Through him, I got a ton of commercial work.

Rick in one of his first ads

My whole life was training. I had a single room unit on the beach. Hot plate, sleeping bag. It was great. I was around the best. Pat Hayes, Charles Glass, Mike Christian, Tom Platz. Platz? He was on another planet. I swear he'd do leg curls, and you'd be spotting him, helping him do negatives. On the downward motion you'd PUSH down as hard as possible against his resistance. YOUR triceps would be spent doing this! He'd do 315 pounds squat for 50 reps to the floor. He was an animal. I'm not saying this was good, but we'd train so hard that we'd tear muscles from the bone. It was the Mecca, Gold's! There were wrestlers, athletes, bodybuilders and an assortment of freaks.

Gold's was just one big room. You'd have Viator, Pillow, Teagan Clive. These kids on Youtube now...they bench three change and think that's special. What do they want? A cookie? Look, we'd INCLINE 400 pounds for 10-15 reps. Everyone seemed to be doing dumbbell curls with 100's. This was the norm.

MD: Yes. The younger generation. They just don't know, many of them. Do they?

Rick's brother from
another planet

RV: Look Mike, guys like you and I have been around for decades. It's prudent and gracious to let someone else tell you how great you are. If you have got to blow your own horn, well, it's rather easy to figure out, now, isn't it? You are driven by arrogance, ego, fear. There's symbolism, and then there is substance. These kids now don't know who Mike Katz is. Are you kidding me? If it weren't for these guys, none of us would be lifting weights now.

Guys like Jack Lalanne. How could you possibly not know him or discount him? He was a friend. He was so on point. You know he said, "If God didn't make it-then don't eat it." I originally met him at a health and fitness expo and HE told Me that he was my fan! He knew me from Bodyshaping. I was beyond flattered.

MD: Man, I always wish I'd met Jack.

Autographed picture from
fitness icon Jack Lalanne

RV: I am blessed to have known him. So I continued competing in California. I won the Mr. Gold Coast in LA, and then was absolutely on cloud nine when I won the LA bodybuilding championships.

MD: That's a huge one. I remember back then the guys who would annex the LA and California shows were very likely to win the Mr. America, too.

RV: Exactly. It's like my original vision board that I had formulated in my parent's basement-it was all coming true for me. Backstage at the LA, Rick Wayne approached me and said he wanted to put me on the cover of Flex Magazine. I was shocked!

MD: You know, recently I read on the net that the Flex cover of you-you are curling a dumbbell from the side-was one of the most popular bodybuilding covers ever. You've done many covers, I've seen.

RV: Really? I didn't know that. Yes, I've appeared on 50 magazine covers. Around this time is when I started doing television commercials. I was on the beach and an assistant director approached me and asked me if I wanted to be in a television commercial. He walked me over to the Pit on Venice Beach, and they filmed me doing some curls. And there it was-I was in a Pepsi commercial. I met a commercial producer at a party named Joe Pitka, and I got many jobs through him. I did 15 commercials with Joe, in total I appeared in 47 television commercials. You know, everything in life comes down to relationships. Good ones lead you to where you want to go, who you want to be. It helped that I constantly stayed in good shape, and, frankly, when I'd go on a casting call, I'd usually get the job.

One of the most popular bodybuilding
magazine covers ever

MD: I recall a commercial with Bo Jackson...

RV: Yes! Bo was a great, great guy. One day during shooting he asked me my shoe size. A couple of weeks later a box arrived at my house and it was filled with Nike gear. He was a class act.

MD: No movies for you?

RV: I did a few scenes in movies, but I was not really attracted to the prospects of a movie career. I still wanted to pursue my competitive bodybuilding career. I was training very hard in 1987, and I recall Cameo Kneur, Cory Everson's sister, was spotting me on bench press. In the midst of the movement, my pec "locked" and the sound it made was like that of a piece of plywood being torn in half. The pectoral muscle belly was ripped completely in half. Lyle Alzado was there and he took me to the hospital, but, with me not having health insurance at the time, they turned me away. Lyle hooked me up with the surgeon for the Raiders and he did the surgical repair for me. I remember being in the hospital bed following the surgery, and two doctors saw me, one older, the other much younger. The younger guy emphasized that my tear was "the worst I've ever seen." The older doctor who came in later said I'd be fine, to stay positive. I want to stress here, right now, that for anybody reading this, it is very important to think about what comes out of your mouth before you say it.

Pumping arms on the sets

Of course, the older doctor was right, but, the simple truth at this point for me was that my dream of chasing the Mr. Olympia title was over. I must mention that Joe Pitka left me an envelope in my hospital room which held five thousand dollars in cash in it. I was astounded. To this day, he wont let me pay him back. Instead, I try to give back to others.

MD: A very bad injury indeed. Were you laid up for a long time?

RV: I couldn't really train as I'd have liked to for about a year. I had my arm in a sling for about eight weeks. I was reduced to using a two pound weight in physical therapy.

MD: Humbling. But you did of course get back into fantastic shape...and then ESPN's Bodyshaping came along...

RV: Well, remember what I said about relationships being key? I ended up having some words and a disagreement with one gentlemen. Around this time, I walked in to audition for Bodyshaping...and who was the owner of the show? Yes, the guy I had had words with. Right there, I pretty much said, "Okay, I'll just be on my way..." He told me to stay, and he gave me a second chance. I got the part as you know, and it was life changing for me. We shot for 10 years, and the show itself ran for 16 years. We shot all over the world. We'd do 100 shows a year, shooting five shows a day in two, ten day periods. I worked with the most wonderful people-Kiana Tom, Debbie Kruk, Boyer Coe, Sal the old timer. I ended up learning a lot about the technical aspects of production-lights, camera, positioning. I got so much out of the whole experience.

We all had to get certified in personal training every year. We had to answer fan mail, and, as you know, everyone is different. There is NO universal, cookie-cutter solution. We'd have to give the "safe" answer to the public. The only time I'd answer a question is if I tried it myself or researched it.

MD: So, tell me about Van Halen.

RV: Yes. There was a casting call for this opportunity at Gold's Gym. Derek Barton called me and told me to come on down and try out for it. There was a line of guys around the building trying out. I got the assignment. My mother taught me as a kid, if my grandmother or someone gave me some money or a gift for my birthday, always call them and thank them. If someone would give me a job, I'd always call and let them know of my appreciation. Derek Barton-he helped me get so many jobs. I ended up giving him a Movado watch as thanks.

I hung out with the guys from Van Halen for three days, we had a blast! They were all very cool. This was the time Sammy Hagar was with them. When the album came out, I could not believe it was only me on the cover!

MD: Have you trained any celebrities?

RV: Oh yes. Remember, in the late seventies and early eighties, personal training as we know it today really didn't exist. Gregory Hines, a wonderful person and a big, big bodybuilding fan, approached me in Gold's one day-he actually knew who I was. He asked me to train him. I wasn't really sure what to charge him, so I suggested $40 per hour. He said no, how about $75 and hour? I trained him for years. I trained him for his role in 'Tap,' 'Jelly's Last Jam,' I was a guest at his home many times. When he died, so young, it broke my heart.

MD: He appeared at one of my events I promoted. He didn't want an appearance fee or anything.

RV: You know, adversity introduces you to you. I buried my mom, my dad, and my brother, all within a two year time frame. The day my brother got killed was the same day my mother fell and broke her hip, which was the beginning of the end for her. I trained Tony Danza, and when his mother died, I could not relate to or feel his pain. When my mother died, it simply smashed me. Now, with the holidays, there is no childhood home to come back to. Everyone is gone.

It's sad to say, but the last thing you will do for your parents is choose their tomb stones. I've learned, at this point of my life, to wake up with gratitude and just be happy that I am alive.

I have a rich, diverse life. Look at Frank Zane. He's evolved into music, writing, other things other than bodybuilding. These bodybuilders today should not cheat themselves out of opportunities and experiences outside of the realm of physique. Face it. You are never, ever going to look like you did when you were 25. Some of these guys, they talk about making a comeback. Why on earth would they want to do this in their 50's? Their minds are simply not open to anything new.

MD: Agreed. I am a student of Zane. He talks of using "right speech."

RV: Exactly. Your thoughts make you who you are. I don't use certain words. I won't say "hate." Why would I let anything cause me to hate it? I walk away from toxicity. I'm always mindful of being responsible for the positive energy I bring into a room.

MD: So, how far would have you gone in bodybuilding had your path not taken the turns it did?

RV: Well, you know, I never did do human growth hormone. My legs could have been bigger. I had good upper body size. They are certainly not looking for my type of physique today. You know, you'd see Lee Haney and say, "Hey, I'd like to look like that." Today? No. Big blocky guys with their guts hanging out? Bodybuilding has changed, and not at all for the good. I was blessed that I was around in the days of Bob Paris and Matt Mendenhall. If I didn't have the pec tear? I'm really not sure how far I'd have gone.

MD: Joe Weider and Arnold?

RV: Joe-I loved him. He was great to me. I'd go to his office, he'd personally attend to the photo shoots. He gave me a contract, and he didn't give many of those out. It wasn't much money, but he was respectful of me and did open doors for me. He saw in me my marketability. Arnold I know but am not in his inner circle. He's always been nice to me, and has always reinvented himself. He's doing that even now.

MD: Rick, what is training like for you now?

RV: I do each body part once per week. I incorporate a little cardio, not too much of that. Like anyone at this for so many years, I train smarter now. There is arthritis, the old pec tear, my neck is jacked up. You know this doc-you are only as healthy as your spine lets you be. I am much kinder to myself now. I mean, back in the day, we'd train like a pack of caged animals. We'd pound the weights. Not good for the joints.

MD: So where are you at with things now?

RV: Well, I'm not rich, but I am in a position where I am free to pursue my passions. Freedom is key. Most of us don't know it, but that is what we are all struggling for. I feel I am in the fourth quarter of life now, and I want the coach to give me the ball. I don't always know how, but I will get to the goal line. I am writing a book on my life, my journey, my passions and motivations. I work a lot in photography. I have a friend dying currently from pancreatic cancer, and I'm there for him to help make his remaining days as good as possible.

MD: Rick, I'm happy to see that along with all of your success you are also happy and your path is unfettered by needless interruption. Thanks so much for your time my friend.

RV: Mike, I thank you. I just want to say that if you are positive, grateful, and pursue your passion, then happiness is sure to come.

Thank you Dr. Michael Dusa and Rick Valente for this fantastic interview

Best regards from

©,2015. Bodybuilding Mauritius. Any reprinting in any type of media is prohibited. Interview article published with permission from Dr. Michael Dusa (North Haven, Connecticut). 

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A Conversation with IFBB Professional and Scandinavian Giant, Viggo Snoghoj. By Dr. Micheal Dusa

A Conversation with IFBB Professional and Scandinavian Giant, Viggo Snoghoj. 

By Dr. Micheal Dusa

MD: Hi Viggo. I'll start off by saying you sound just like Arnold.

VS: Ha. Yes, I get that often.

MD: One of the criteria I have for choosing interviewees is the maintenance of excellence over extended periods of time. You are 54 years old and still look like you did when you were trodding the IFBB boards. Tell me how you started out.

Viggo at age 16

VS: Thanks Michael. I knew at a young age that I just had to find a way to get the hell out of Scandinavia. It's socialist, you know. Mediocrity is encouraged. If you distinguish yourself in any way as being better or rising to the heights in any endeavor, you are not looked upon well. There is jealousy. You will be the target of hatred. People who are sad, struggling, do-nothings, they are embraced.

MD: I am afraid that this likely did not sit very well with one such as you.

VS: Oh no. I LOVE America!

MD: America! I love to yell this. I love it here too. People complain here, too, you know. Maybe they should try struggling for some bread in Bangladesh.

VS: They have no idea. You know, I was born in Denmark, and my parents divorced when I was very young-I was five years old. My schooling? It was mostly done in Norway. The Norway school system-let me tell you, it was very, very rigorous. Far tougher than the same levels here. Not now, though. Things have changed over there. Along with school, I'd study 20 hours per week at home. I was very motivated to learn-I still am, and I got very smart as a student.

MD: Man, we could use that here. Too many rights. Kids beat up teachers here and say whatever the Hell they want. It's unreal. Weakness abounds!

VS: I am sad to say this is true.

MD: So, along with studies, were you involved in athletics?

VS: Oh yes. Winter sports were very big. I was an ectomorph-kind of naturally ripped. I had the gift of being an all-around, great athlete. I was good at soccer and track and field events. I did the 60 meter sprint, the 10K, I was a cross country skier in the winters. For these sports, I'd also spend two to three hours per day training for these sports.

MD: So, you were going to classes, attending to your studies at home at a 20 hour per week clip, playing various sports AND training 2-3 hrs a day for these same sports?

VS: Oh yes, of course. Like I said, high school in Norway, back then? Much harder than what it has become now. But, as I am today, I am bent on excellence. I had that fire, just like Arnold, even before I knew of him or heard his Bavarian bark.

I did start lifting weights at about age 16, because, let me tell you, you may never think it looking at me today, but, at 16, other kids my age were way ahead of me in height, weight, strength, everything! I school, we had gym class three days per week. We'd do track, basketball, and once per week we'd go to the swim complex in town. Well, we were there one day, and I saw the lifeguard, who was a bodybuilder. I was like , "Holy shit!" I was 16 years old and 140 pounds, and I had never seen anybody so big. This guy? To me, he didn't even look real.

MD: So you approached him to learn all of his secrets.

An early front lat spread. April 1979

VS: (laughs) No. I was too scared at the time to talk to him. Right there, my friend and I decided to start lifting. My mother was sick at the time, so my sister, brother and I were split up into different foster homes-we were spread far apart from each other all around the country. I joined a local gym but it was one of those set-ups where men could only use the facility on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the women on the other days. It was a tiny place. My friend and I used our scholarship and student loan money to buy some equipment, and we moved my mother's bedroom furniture into the living room, and equipped her bedroom with our new exercise gear. We used the end tables and stacked up phone books for makeshift squat racks, that kind of stuff. When my mother came back home from the hospital, she stayed in the living room and we continued to workout in her bedroom.

MD: Wow. But how were you guided? Did you know what to do, inherently?

VS: Nobody in particular helped us. We were training six days per week. In Norway, there was Weider's magazines, and a magazine called Hercules in the stores. We'd order stuff from Weider. First thing I recall seeing was a black and white photograph of Arnold doing a double bicep pose. Between seeing him and rapidly gaining ten pounds of muscle in about two months, I was like, "Holy crap," this is what I'm gonna do! By the time I was 17, and was learning more and more, well, I had to choose someone to model myself after. There was Mike Katz, tall like me, but not really the shape I wanted. Ferrigno too, but somewhat taller than me. Arnold? My height exactly, we are both 6'1.5". I was looking for sameness. I must say this: I feel that bodybuilding is about height, not weight. C'mon. comparing a guy four feet two inches to me, at six feet two inches? It's just not fair when you compare Lee Priest to me. The 212 class at the Olympia? It's stupid.

Viggo and Arnold

MD: LOTTA things nuts today, Viggo. Stupidity abounds.

VS: Charles Clairmonte, Shawn Ray, Vince Taylor, these guys did not weigh much, but they were the best ever. I think Clairmonte was perfect. This is bodybuilding, it is an art. It's not boxing, its not wrestling. The tall guys hardly get noticed, as it is easier to look at the short, more compact guys. Remember, when you are under the lights, weight means nothing.

Charles Clairmonte was perfect

MD: I was talking to Charles Fautz, and he was saying he'd see Zane under lights, alone, and he was untouchable-he looked like the most dense, carved marble.

VS: Yes. You know, I got hooked on it. I'd be at home, and I'd suddenly start to see stuff. I'd look in the mirror and seemingly all of a sudden there would be new lines and definition. I was doing Arnold's routine, and, you know, I'd trained 3-4 hours per day for sports, so a two hour lifting routine was not so bad at all. My legs did suck, however. I'd always run alot, and I started with very, very skinny legs. They were long, skinny, and bow-legged from playing soccer. I always warmed up every workout with five sets of calves. I saw what Arnold did for his calves, and we did lots of donkey calf raises in the bedroom for calves.

MD: You mentioned Arnold, Lou and Mike Katz.

VS: Oh yes, of course. There finally came the day when I was able to acquire the movie Pumping Iron...it didn't come to our country until well after it was released. (laughs) It was a BIG event in my area. Everyone came over to watch it. I had to keep shushing everyone , especially when Arnold would be talking, which was alot! I had to hear what he was saying! At a young age, I was endowed with Arnold's attitude. I would just flat out tell people that I was the best. Remember, Mike, where I told you I was coming from. It was socialism. Anyone here in America that thinks this nonsense works...well, it doesn't. They don't want you to think on your own. You certainly are not special. They want you hooked on the government dole. This doesn't go along with being an athlete. How do you think an athlete wins? By being the opposite of a socialist. There is jealousy, envy. Anyone like me in that part of the world, they get a tax shelter in Monaco or Luxembourg, and this is because they all want OUT.

1994 NOC weighing 270lbs

MD: Geez. Bodybuilding being a singular art, this is attractive to you?

VS: Of course. Track and field, skiing, bodybuilding, all of these things depend on self-reliance and the best that YOU can be. Soccer? Well, winning was certainly not important to everyone. Me? I couldn't win enough. I'd get pissed.

MD: Sounds alot like Michael Jordan.

VS: Yes. I HAD to win. I was born this way. I couldn't take it that most of the soccer guys couldn't give a shit, and I had to be part of that.

MD: So you wanted to pattern your physique after Arnold.

VS: Yes. But understand, my hips were wider than his, so I had to weigh more than him. I had to make my shoulders that much wider to create the contrast in the hip to shoulder ratio. Arnold's shoulders were so-so, his legs, unflexed, were slender, but great when flexed. These days he'd be considered a light bodybuilder. He had "movement" in his muscles. Guys now-they have clumps of unmoving, undetailed mass, slapped awkwardly here and there. We wanted tiny little fibers and details everywhere, butterflies, I call them. That is the look I like. The guy who just took second in the Arnold, Branch Warren. Now, Michael, just who in Hell wants to look like that? This Big Ramy fellow- the young fan boys may think he is "jacked," and "swole," but he will NEVER win the Olympia. Look at events like the FIBO. These guys, flocking around with all these ghastly tattoos, 25 inch arms. They are idiots.

MD: Viggo, I really think I'm gonna have to start pressuring you to tell me how you really feel....

VS: I avoid these gatherings. I never lie, Michael. In the 90's, I was top ten in the world. Me, Paul Dillett, Ferrigno, we were all in the same mold size wise. Did you know I was called "the Scientist?" I had access to HGH, I was the man. Look. Bodybuilding was my job. It was not a dalliance. I would not take a certain testosterone because I immediately got gynecomastia when I did. I am honest about what I did. Who is ever honest, about nearly anything?

MD: True. Once I finally started living a total life of truth, only then was I free.

VS: Right. In 1993-1994, everyone would ask about drugs. I'd explain it to them, and I was sponsored by Twinlab, who was very good to me. This was my full time job, I'd use any chemical available that I thought would further my career. I knew more about it than my doctor, he'd just write me the prescriptions. You know, before I ever did any steroid or bodybuilding drug, I read everything I could get my hands on for six and a half years. Chemistry, biology. My high school was very hard, and I concentrated on these areas there. I got accepted by three chiropractic universities in Canada back then, but didn't go, as I had gotten married at 20 and moved back to Denmark.

MD: I know we are jumping around a bit, but can you expand a bit about the pharmaceuticals?

VS: Of course. I lived at Ed Conner's house in Venice Beach and Paul Dillett lived nearby. I helped him with his schedule. We carefully went over his diuretic schedule leading up to the Arnold Classic show. It was exactly what I took four months earlier. I said, "Paul, you cannot take more than this!" I advised him on a Pedialyte concoction that I'd keep on the sidestage to drink if cramping up. Well, he went to the show with Charles Glass and some other prominent trainer-can't remember who right now.. Before prejudging, he thought he was holding a bit of water, and I advised him to take a tiny lasix shot. I told him to not be afraid to drink. Well, instead of 10mgs, he took 40 mgs of lasix! He cramped so badly onstage that he couldn't move, and, as you know, he was carried offstage in a most unceremonious way. He called me and said, "We fucked up." I was like, what do you mean "We?" He told me he followed my instructions. He didn't. They gave him IV sugar solution in the ambulance. The next two shows, in Europe, he did win, so he was in shape. It's just that he got very bad advice by his helpers at the Arnold.

I started steroids at 23 years of age. I had read that the safest time to do this was when the body had stopped growing, wisdom teeth had come in. I did a 6-8 week cycle of primobolin. Frankly, the results were not great. I won the 1982 Junior Scandanavian Championships at 21 years old with no drugs. I weighed the same as Zane, only I was taller. In 1983, I took the year off, but in 1984 I had read in Mentzer's book that he had taken dianabol, but I did not have this, so I took small doses of primobolin and deca durabolin.

Rules?

There were none back then. People would get the steroids on vacation, and bring them back home with them. I started eating voluminous levels of food to get big. At the Danish championships this year, I took third out of three guys in my class. Man, I was SO pissed off. I was picked as the coach of the Danish team to go to the world championships in Las Vegas, but my guys did not place very well. We did have a high old time, however. We were there for 17 days, spent half our time at Venice. It was a huge learning experience. That show, the winners were Demay, Christian and Rich Gaspari. All the guys were training at Joe Gold's World Gym-Haney, Paris, Platz, Samir Bannout. It was a fun, great atmosphere. Arnold was there.

Mike, you know who Sven Ole Thorsen is? Arnold's very close friend of years. Well, he owned a gym in Denmark when I won the Scandanavian championships. This is a show where the five Scandinavian countries are pitted against each other. Sven had pictures of Arnold everywhere in that gym. It was like a shrine to him.

Mike, I never take anything away from anyone. If you don't have the discipline and genetics to win, why do the drugs? To pick up girls? This was my profession, bodybuilding.

I was actually caught cheating in 1988. The team that caught me was the same team that nailed Ben Johnson in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. They were the IOC team, and they were sent to Brisbaine where the World's Fair was being held, as well as the Amateur Mr. Universe. We were told that we could stop the Winstrol 30 days out and not get caught by a drug test, but dianabol would be ok. Me and 11 other guys got caught on the winstrol, and I lost my license to compete for two years. I had to pay a fine of $1,500-which was plane fare. Here's one for you. The previous year, you know, Ben Weider always wanted to get bodybuilding into the Olympics.

1985 World Games

MD: That was never, ever going to happen, nor will it ever. Go on...

VS: They had a test the previous year. Joe and Ben were smoozing with the president of the IOC. It was a dog and pony show. Yes, they had a drug test, and everybody passed. The truth is half the guys failed, and they just thew the tests into the garbage.

MD: In Scandinavia, how were you looked upon being a bodybuilder?

VS: I was looked down upon. In Denmark, I was in a Burger King commercial, my image eating a burger was on all the buses, I was on TV in 85, it was a fantastic year. I was getting cocky, and this is not good in a socialist country. I paid 300% more money for a Toyota Supra that I would pay for it here, I had my own tee shirts. I brought an entourage of 50 wearing my shirts and they sat in the front row at a show I was in. I sure had everyone hating me. I had a perfect score, but still half the people booed me. These were the Danish Nationals and I won, I was the big name. The Russian dianabol and harder training did it for me. I do wish I had maintained a lower profile back then.

MD: How did you finally find your way into the IFBB?

VS: Well, the Danish federation wrote a letter to Wayne Demilia, asking if I could transfer my professional license from WABBA/NABBA, to it's IFBB representative in Denmark. They said to Wayne, Viggo-you will just love him. I paid $200 for my IFBB license and then started touring and guest posing as an IFBB pro.

MD: So, big changes occurred for you?

VS: Well, I started competing in IFBB shows. I got 11th and 12th in my first two shows. Remember, I was going against the greats, Coleman, Priest. There would be 30-40 guys, but I'd make the top 15 so could pose at the night show. I was doing very well. You know, it helped very much that I always stayed within 5 pounds of my stage weight. I'd guest pose always, a thousand dollars a pop. I'd sell pictures, shirts. Twinlab, my sponsor, would get me work. But no really big paychecks.

All the while, I was preparing myself for life in the USA. Twinlab in Sweden transfered me to Twinlab in New York, so this was a great step for me. The Blechman brothers, ABB and Twinlab were very good to me. I started placing higher, fifth in Finland, seventh in France post Olympia. Clairmonte had won all of these post-Olympia shows.

Taking 5th place at the 1993 IFBB Finland GP

In 1993 I made my initial move to the USA. Jim Lorimer invited me to do the Arnold, but I got the flu and called Wayne, asking him what I should do. He invited me to do the famous Night of the Champions in NYC, and he set me up and flew me out. I got 15th out of 44 guys, there were so, so many good bodybuilders there.

MD: Joe Weider?

VS: He flew me out to California in 1994. I remember the really nice hotel and I actually met Roger Callard in the lobby there. I got to my suite and had a very long telephone conversation with Joe. Remember, I was with Twinlab at the time. Joe said he needed me in California, but I told him I hated it there. The air was horrible, and in Florida it was so much better. He said he needed me training at Gold's, taking photos, all that. But I told him I could come and go, and he had plenty of guys out there anyway. We went back and forth like this other times, too, for some time. Look. Many, many guys would kiss Joe's ass. I was respectful, but I don't kiss ass. I stayed with ABB and Twinlab.

Battling with Charles Clairmonte 

But I'll tell you, I supplied all the top guys, the IFBB pros, with Swedish HGH. It was the best in the world. I got it straight from the factory and didn't have to pay for my own stuff-it was expensive

By 1996, I may not have known it, but I was pretty much retired. I had married my new wife, an American, and she was demanding and wanted more cash flow. I started working for Lexus as a leasing director.

MD: So the money quandary, as it directly relates in its paucity to pro bodybuilding, reared it's ugly head.

VS: Yes. Look, I could go in the Master's Olympia and try for the 10K top prize. Or, take an offer of a lifetime. I became the personal trainer, in-house, and bodyguard for a billionaire.

I met a world of people having nothing to do with the bodybuilding world. Private jets, equestrian, everything was a new experience. Helicopters. It was a different world. I went from 265 pounds to 210, and wasn't taking testosterone or deca so my joints were killing me. But the sky was the limit. I was paid 5k per month, no bills, all expenses paid. The urge to compete evaporated. I was with him for three years until his wife served him with divorce papers.

Viggo with wife Elizabeth

In 2003 I married my current wife, Elizabeth, and she was tired of all the traveling anyway, so I got back to things and started training again. I did the 2008 Pro World Masters and did only 20% of drugs I'd do in the past. Darrem Charles won, X-Man was second. I got middle of the pack.

MD: How about your inspiration, The Oak.

VS: I never got too personal with Arnold-he was always surrounded by a throng of people. I trained with Sven in 1985 at World's, and we'd all show up at 7:30, including Arnold. It was so much fun. He was loud, funny, cracking jokes. He didn't train much, but he was there. He was skinny, too. About 190 pounds.

MD: Really?

VS: Oh yes. I was about 230, much bigger than him.

MD: The Great Green one?

Florida beach

VS: Ferrigno was training with Billy Smith, and they'd do cardio. I wanted none of that, so I didn't join them. If you train hard enough with weights, well, there's your cardio!

MD: Food?

VS: I'd keep carbs high. I'd eat lots of broccoli and fart alot. I ate tremendous amounts of food. Everything was measured in pounds. Cottage cheese, broccoli, chicken.

MD: You seem like you'd be a template for a movie guy.

VS: I did castings in Florida, print work, TV, infomercials, they called me Fabio (laughs). I was always the only tall, blond, muscular guy with blue eyes, as in Florida, folks were black or cuban. I got lots of work. I did some Spanish soaps. But, I sucked so bad. I was conscious. You can't be conscious-you have to BECOME the character. Like an out of body experience. If I had worked at it like Arnold did, I could have done it. Remember Hercules in New York?

MD: Also known in some confines as Hercules Goes Bananas. Since that was an insult to monkees everywhere, they changed the title. Yes, I remember.

VS: They dubbed Arnold's voice in. He is unique. He's not an actor. He knows this. Deniro, he's an actor. Arnold? He's a movie star.

Bottle-feeding son Simon in 1886

MD: You have a son and a daughter.

VS: Yes. My son lives in Denmark and he is working on his second master's degree at Copenhagen University. He was a skateboarder and is now into golf. We have the greatest relationship. My daughter lives in Sweden and is a model, beautiful like her mother.

MD: So, you live in the perpetually sunny confines of Florida, and have a personal training business. Tell me about that.

VS: We live in Lighthouse Point, near Boca Raton and Coco Beach. It's a very wealthy area, and we have a duplex on the water. It's beautiful-we look out on the water and see the boats and palm trees. The training business has gone well, but my club is currently in transition, so I will see how that turns out.

MD: Will you ever compete again? At 54, looks like you could walk in a show today and represent.

VS: If Ferrigno runs a master's division at his Legacy show this year, I would do the over 50 for fun. I will say I hate the direction of bodybuilding now. Well, there is no direction. It is already dead in the water, going nowhere. You know that Vacuum shot of Zane, the iconic photo you post? THAT. No one was ever drier than that. He didn't even weigh much. Frank had it all. I liked the look of Levrone at his best.

At the 2008 Atlantic Masters Pro World

Charles Clairmonte, Berry DeMey, that is bodybuilding. Tell me, would anyone want to look like Kai Green, Big Ramy? I know the fan-boys say he is "swole" and a "beast," but he will NEVER win the Olympia. Green and Heath were WORSE than they were in 2013. Heath's stomach looked horrible. C'mon man. Too much HGH, IGF-1, Insulin. They are eating 8-10 meals per day. Fat grows around their intestines, they grow, the ab muscles are pushed to the sides, you can clearly see this. Dennis Wolf looks even worse. These guys are eating themselves into oblivion. You know-they set their alarm clocks for every 2-3 hours so they can get up and eat twice a nite-they have to feed every three hours.

MD: Good God, sounds like locusts or something!

VS: Tell me, how do you get people to participate in that? Who in Hell wants that?

You know, Vince Taylor, great guy, he's my friend down here. But, it's true, he is the laziest bodybuilder in the world. He eats junk. I tried to get him to do a leg workout with me, and he was done after my warm up. I told him we had two hours to go, and he was like , "Not me." He has all this muscle mass without the training. Everything he did was with light cables. The most he weighed was 220. Bodybuilding is the most narcissistic sport in history. The positive, old day camaraderie, basement gyms, out of the way places, local shows, hard core fans, gone.

MD: Viggo, keep this quiet, but if I told you that there was still a place like that, and I could take you there, would you come with me?

VS: You know, somehow, Michael, I believe you could. We were like the Gods of the universe back then, the 80's and 90's were best in those senses. We walk around at all times as our own product, we look different than others. The USA is very positive, people approach you, want their picture with you. Very few ask about drugs. In Europe? They don't want to know about the hard work, just the drugs. They make good times out of feeling sorry for themselves back there. In my country, mediocrity is rewarded. Here? People should be grateful. It is like night and day here.

"I am 54 and nobody wants to do my leg workout with me"

You know, Michael, in its finality, no, I could not be Mr. Olympia. But I did what I came here to do, I have had a very fun life, I have fans all over the world, except for some bad bursitis, I enjoy great health. (Laughs) I am 54 and nobody wants to do my leg workout with me. Young kids? Well, they either wear those goofy board shorts or think they are gonna get legs without training.

I hope Arnold puts the pressure on Manion. These guys would do well looking like Cedric McMillan, Toney Freeman, those types. The other guys can't even hold their poses. They get big and ugly.

MD: I do get down to Florida on occasion. I'd love to do lunch. Or some Scandanavian food. get your secrets. Just not a leg workout. Thanks so much for the words as well as your cosmopolitan world view, my friend.

VS: Thanks Michael. I appreciate what you are doing in the service of kindling the ebbing fire that was bodybuilding when it was good. May we see it's return soon.

Thank You for the Interview Dr. Michael Dusa. 

Tak Viggo og alle de bedste fra dine fans pa

©,2015. Bodybuilding Mauritius. Any reprinting in any type of media is prohibited. Interview article published with permission from Dr. Michael Dusa (North Haven, Connecticut). 

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