Dorian Yates

Six time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates, "The Shadow", changed the path of professional bodybuilding in the mid 1990’s by bringing outrageous size and proportion along with superb conditioning. He earned the nickname, The Shadow, because he would go long periods of time out of the public eye, e.g., turning down interviews and public appearances, only to show up out of nowhere to compete in major bodybuilding contests.

Competing and winning his last Mr. Olympia in 1997, most believed at the time he could have kept on wining for at least a few more years, but retired due to a torn biceps and triceps. The later occurred 3 weeks prior to his last Olympia victory.

Originally popularized by Mike Mentzer, Dorian espoused the High Intensity Training (HIT) style. He believed in a low volume approach, utilizing one working set per exercise. Each working set would be performed with 100% intensity, and taken to failure.