I'd like to get to a point where I am not considered natural by myself. When I say that I mean that I don't want to fit within the guidelines of what other people feel it is to be natural. If people feel that natural bodybuilders usually are the ones who lack legs or have poor body parts or don't train very hard or aren't very strong or aren't very intense, if that's your perception of what a natural bodybuilder is, then that's not what I want to be.

I feel it is a tremendous compliment to a natural competitor to hear "I just don't believe you're natural," because it means you just look that good.

My understanding about nutrition is not what I'd like it to be, so for a long time my dieting strategy was very crude. It's only very recently that I started to accept different ideas like using vegetables and natural seasonings that don't compromise the sodium and caloric value of the food while at the same time giving it some flavor. I'm still evolving; everybody is or at least should be in bodybuilding.

For me I'm natural not because somebody else believes I'm natural, I'm natural because I don't use steroids, I don't use growth hormone, I don't use any of those enhancers. I'm natural in my own right because I don't do that and not because other people accept the fact that I'm natural or not.

How intense could you be? Can you be intense enough to pick this 500Lbs off the floor? Are you intense enough to pick this 700Lbs up? Squat down to the floor and stand back up? So what if your eyes are bloodshot! So what if your bones feel like snapping! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO!

The weight is just a tool. Do you focus on the hammer or the nail? You better focus on the thing you're trying to hit.

It’s a very interesting thing to try to be your absolute best—not a percent better or a percent worse than that.