Classic Shawn

10 questions with Shawn Ray

1. Shawn, when you were competing, did you ever feel like quitting?

I never felt like giving up on my dream at any point of my career because I was getting so close to actually realizing it every year, even when I dropped a placing or two. Staying focused and hungry was something I did well, due to my ability to feel comfortable being alone. I focused solely on my training, my body, my career and my meals without the distractions of a relationship or other employment. Being a professional bodybuilder I only had one job, and that was to focus on my physique. Losing makes you hungrier to try and win. Getting closer to winning makes you hungrier to actually win! Putting myself in the best position to win was always my goal in an industry that was slowly falling out of love with symmetry and balance and more in love with size and mass!

2. What's best way to approach leg day in the gym?

Training legs is something you need to mentally prepare for if you're going to train them properly. Leg day is training one-half of your body in one session so added preparation is needed mentally and physically. Typically I chose four exercises: leg press, squats, leg extensions and leg curls. I never train using these exercises in the same order. I train legs twice a week; one heavy session with low reps, and the second session using moderate weight high repetitions. My goal is now on the heavy days (8-12 reps) to build size and on high-repetition days to sculpt and etch in detail (20-50 reps). I perform four sets per exercise with two warm-up sets preceding my working sets.

3. Unfortunately we had another superstar passing recently, Cedric McMillan. What are your thoughts?