Dorian Andrew Mientjez Yates (born 19 April 1962) is an English retired

professional bodybuilder Professional bodybuilding or pro bodybuilding can refer to bodybuilding for an income and/or possessing qualifications such as an IFBB or Wabba International Pro Card. A professional bodybuilder may be one who earns his or her primary income from ...

. He won the

Mr. Olympia Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation ...

title six consecutive times from 1992 to 1997 and has the fifth-highest number of Mr. Olympia wins in history, ranking behind

Ronnie Coleman Ronald "Ronnie" Dean Coleman (born May 13, 1964) is an American retired professional bodybuilder. The winner of the Mr. Olympia title for eight consecutive years, he is widely regarded as either the greatest bodybuilder of all time or one of th ...

(8),

Lee Haney Lee Haney (born November 11, 1959) is an American former IFBB professional bodybuilder. Haney shares the all-time record for most Mr. Olympia titles at eight with Ronnie Coleman and is regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders to ever grace th ...

(8),

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

(7), and

Phil Heath Phillip Jerrod Heath (born December 18, 1979) is an American IFBB professional bodybuilder. He is a seven-time Mr. Olympia winner, having won the competition every year from 2011 to 2017. His latest victory tied him with Arnold Schwarzeneg ...

(7). He is widely considered to be one of the top pro bodybuilders in history, and was well known for his high intensity training, top-level conditioning, and his wide, thick back.

Early life

Dorian Andrew Mientjez Yates was born on 19 April 1962, in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

, then in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He grew up on a farm in Hurley, rural

. Yates's father died of a heart attack when he was 13. He, his mother and his sister then moved to

Walmley Walmley is a suburban village situated in the civil parish of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. It lies within the City of Birmingham on its northeastern outer fringe, where it forms part of the Sutton Walmley and Minworth electoral ward. It is i ...

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...

. As a professional bodybuilder, Yates lived in the

Ladywood Ladywood is an inner-city district next to central Birmingham. Historically in Warwickshire, in June 2004, Birmingham City Council conducted a citywide "Ward Boundary Revision" to round-up the thirty-nine Birmingham wards to forty. As a result o ...

and

Castle Vale Castle Vale is a housing estate located between Erdington, Minworth and Castle Bromwich. Currently Castle Vale makes up the Castle Vale Ward of Birmingham City Council which is part of Erdington constituency (having previously been part of Birmin ...

areas of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. When Yates was 18, he and his friends were arrested while crossing Birmingham to get to a party. One day after the 1981 Birmingham city centre riots, they claimed to have come across a partially broken shop window, when one of Yates's friends attempted to steal a hat off of a mannequin, it had fallen, smashing the rest of the shop window in the process. Each of them received 6 months at Whatton Youth Detention Centre, where Yates would take up weight training.

Career

Yates started working out in 1983 at Martin's Gym, the original bodybuilding gym located in Temple Row, Birmingham. During this time he won the 1984 Mr. Birmingham as a novice and in 1986 became the British Champion at Heavyweight for the first time. His professional record consists of 15 major contest wins and two second-place finishes; from 1992 to his retirement in 1997 he won every single contest he entered. His career ended in large part due to chronic acute injuries, including torn

biceps The biceps or biceps brachii ( la, musculus biceps brachii, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join ...

and

triceps The triceps, or triceps brachii (Latin for "three-headed muscle of the arm"), is a large muscle on the back of the upper limb of many vertebrates. It consists of 3 parts: the medial, lateral, and long head. It is the muscle principally responsibl ...

, the latter just three weeks prior to his final contest, the 1997 Mr. Olympia, which he won in spite of the injury; his win generated controversy among fellow athletes, critics, and amateurs, who thought the runner-up

Nasser El Sonbaty Nasser El Sonbaty (October 15, 1965 – March 20, 2013) was an IFBB professional bodybuilder. He represented FR Yugoslavia at competitions. Early life Sonbaty was born in the German city of Stuttgart to an Egyptian father and a Yugoslav mothe ...

deserved to win. Yates was a proponent of Arthur Jones and

Mike Mentzer Mike Mentzer (November 15, 1951 – June 10, 2001) was an American IFBB professional bodybuilder, businessman and author. Early life and education Mike Mentzer was born on November 15, 1951, in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. In gramma ...

high-intensity training High-intensity training (HIT) is a form of strength training popularized in the 1970s by Arthur Jones, the founder of Nautilus. The training focuses on performing quality weight training repetitions to the point of momentary muscular failure. The ...

(HIT) style of bodybuilding, which poses that maximum muscle stimulation can be reached through short and intense workout sessions instead of long and slow ones.''High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way'' He earned the nickname "The Shadow" coined by Peter McGough for his tendency to unexpectedly appear at major bodybuilding contests and steal the win, having neither confirmed nor denied whether he would compete beforehand, and for spending most of his time between contests avoiding the public eye. Yates is considered to be the first of the "mass monsters" in bodybuilding. He combined his enormous muscle mass along with peak conditioning, quoted as being "granite hardness". He believes that his injuries are due to his habit of maintaining an extreme level of training intensity all year long, even when approaching contests, while being on a severely restricted "

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

" diet which weakens the body overall. Regarding the use of PEDs, he referenced the documentary ''

Super Size Me ''Super Size Me'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald's f ...

'' and stated that eating three

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

meals a day is more harmful for the metabolism than his 12 years of regular

steroid A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

use.

Post-competition career

In 1987, Yates purchased Temple Gym, located on Temple Street in

. In 2006, he franchised four additional Temple Gym locations, three of which are in the UK. As of 2020, only the original Birmingham gym is still in operation. The Birmingham gym has now relocated from Temple Street to the city's jewellery quarter. Yates formed the California-based company Heavy Duty Inc. in 1994 with

and

Ray Mentzer Ray Mentzer (August 3, 1953June 12, 2001) born in Philadelphia was the 1976 Junior Mr. America, 1978 IFBB Mr. USA and was winner of the 1979 Mr. America competition. Ray's brother, Mike Mentzer won the rival IFBB Mr. America in 1976 during Ray' ...

. The company marketed athletic apparel and bodybuilding-related books. In 1998, Yates partnered with

Kerry Kayes Kerry Thomas Kayes (born 3 April 1950) is a former British bodybuilding champion, bodybuilding show promoter, nutrition and strength coach and ex-owner of the supplement company CNP Professional and Betta Bodies gym. Bodybuilding Kayes started ...

to form the

bodybuilding supplement Bodybuilding supplements are dietary supplements commonly used by those involved in bodybuilding, weightlifting, mixed martial arts, and Athletics (physical culture), athletics for the purpose of facilitating an increase in lean body mass. Bodybui ...

company CNP Professional, which marketed a Dorian Yates Approved product line in the U.S. He left the company in 2006 to form his own company, Dorian Yates Ultimate Formulas, which offers a line of protein and weight-gain supplements. He started a second company in 2010, EU Peptides, which sells peptide hormones and other pro-hormone supplements. He left EU Peptides in 2012. In 2011, Yates founded a third company, DY Nutrition, which specializes in pre-workout formulas and has released several training DVDs. DY Nutrition is a line of supplements that consists of whey protein supplements, pre-workout, and post-workout supplements owned and endorsed by Yates.

Personal life

Yates now lives in Spain. He is married to Brazilian fitness model Glauce "Gal" Ferreira, who won the IFBB South American Bodyfitness event and was also the 2007 IFBB World Bodyfitness Champion. They had met at the 2008 Arnold Classic, and live in

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

. Yates's son from his ex-wife Deb, Lewis, has also taken up bodybuilding and works closely with his father. Yates has described yoga and meditation as a life altering experience. He does yoga on a daily basis. Yates has made statements in interviews concerning the negative health effects of

sodium fluoride Sodium fluoride (NaF) is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is used in trace amounts in the fluoridation of drinking water, in toothpaste, in metallurgy, and as a flux. It is a colorless or white solid that is readily soluble in water. I ...

additives in tap water and claimed that there are cancer viruses and sterilants in some vaccines. He has endorsed the use of some psychedelic

entheogens Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoacti ...

for religious and spiritual purposes, including

ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...

Books and videos

In 1993, Yates published an autobiography titled ''Blood and Guts'' (). In 1996, Yates released a workout video (VHS) of the same title, which features his weekly

weight training Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength, size of skeletal muscles and maintenance of strength.Keogh, Justin W, and Paul W Winwood. “Report for: The Epidemiology of Injuries Across the Weight-Traini ...

routines. In 1998, Yates coauthored ''A Warrior's Story'' (), in which he chronicles his path to success in bodybuilding. In 2012, Yates released a mass gain video trainer in collaboration with bodybuilding.com called ''Blood and Guts'', based on the HIT theory. In 2017, Yates attended the worldwide premiere of the

London Real Brian Rose (born May 1971) is an American-born podcaster based in London. He is the host of London Real, a podcast and YouTube channel he founded in 2011. Early life and career Rose was born in San Diego, United States, in May 1971. His early c ...

feature film, ''Dorian Yates: Inside The Shadow'', held at BAFTA in London.

Stats

*Height: 175 cm *Competition Weight: *Chest size: *Hip size: *Thigh Size: *Waist Size: *Calf Size: *Upper Arm Size:

Bodybuilding titles

*1984 Mr Birmingham Novice, 1st *1985 World Games, 7th Heavyweights *1986 British Championships, 1st Heavyweight *1988 British Championships, 1st Heavyweight and overall *1990 Night of Champions, 2nd *1991 Night of Champions, 1st *

1991 Mr. Olympia The 1991 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held in September 14, 1991 in Orlando, Florida. The score was tied after prejudging between Dorian Yates Dorian Andrew Mientjez Yates (born 19 April 1962) is an Eng ...

, 2nd *1991 English Grand Prix, 1st * 1992 Mr. Olympia, 1st *1992 English Grand Prix, 1st *

1993 Mr. Olympia The 1993 Mr. Olympia contest was an International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held on September 11, 1993, at the Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Results The total prize mo ...

, 1st * 1994 Mr. Olympia, 1st *1994 Spanish Grand Prix, 1st *1994 German Grand Prix, 1st *1994 English Grand Prix, 1st * 1995 Mr. Olympia, 1st * 1996 Mr. Olympia, 1st *1996 Spanish Grand Prix, 1st *1996 German Grand Prix, 1st *1996 English Grand Prix, 1st *

1997 Mr. Olympia The 1997 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held on September 20, 1997, at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California. Results Total prize amount awarded was $285,000. Notable events *Dorian Yates won hi ...

, 1st http://musclememory.com/show.php?s=Dorian+Yates&g=M

References

External links

DorianYates.netDorian Yates on FacebookDorian Yates on TwitterDorian Yates The Making of the Super BodybuilderDorian Yates Instagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Dorian 1962 births Living people People from Sutton Coldfield Professional bodybuilders English bodybuilders British bodybuilders English expatriates in Spain