Imagine appearing on the bodybuilding stage for the very first time… and winning three medals at once! Our interview with Mikhail Sidorychev.

The spring competition season has brought us many surprises in the bodybuilding world. One example is the performance by Mikhail Sidorychev, who made his debut at the Open Championship and the Bodybuilding, Fitness, and Body Fitness Cup in Moscow in April this year. Having won second place in the heavyweight category (over 100 kg) at this tournament, Mikhail continued to take part in other competitions, and won third place in the Russia Cup in Saint Petersburg just a week later. Finally, he came in first at the European IFBB Men’s Bodybuilding Championship on May 23. This athlete has taken the first step in the limelight of the bodybuilding stage. Thanks to fifteen years of hard training in strength and power sports, it is not just sheer luck that has given Mikhail this great start.

Somatrop.ru and Neotropin.ru resources are pleased to publish an interview with Mikhail Sidorychev on their Web pages after meeting up with the athlete.

- Tell us, Mikhail, how was this wish to participate in bodybuilding competitions born?

You’ve been practicing extreme power sports for a long time, and you were a powerlifter before engaging in strength sports. But, you spent only four months preparing for the Cup tournament in Moscow – “Zhelezny Mir” No.3, 2011 (Iron World No.3, 2011). Many bodybuilders have to work and train very hard for many years before winning such coveted medals. Your career beginning makes us all wonder..... I don’t think that my decision to take part in bodybuilding competitions was a hasty idea. I see it as an objective assessment of my personal capabilities. Being a weightlifter and not having to pump iron, not having to perform bench presses or squats – that’s virtually impossible!   So, I’ve always tried not only to gain extra weight, but also to work on my muscular system in a competent and intelligent way. To show the judges that I’m in great physical shape, I went from 147 kg to 125 kg and my muscles became much stronger. In a sense, I didn’t expect that so much high-quality “meat’ was hidden under all that fat. My vision for the future – moving on to a new sports discipline.

The past six years have been very stressful, and training with 400 kg weights has become the norm. Moreover, during competitions, you have to show and prove that you belong to that narrow circle of people that are the strongest in the world – all these factors have a great impact on your body. There is a reasonable limit. After retiring from strength sports, I hope that bodybuilding will be a good alternative choice for me, where I can give it all I’ve got.

- But, Mikhail, what about training assistance, advice, or just simple encouragement… Who helped you before your debut? - I prepared for competitions and trained by myself. Liudmila Tuboltseva was and remains my training partner; she’s the World Bodybuilding Champion and the multiple Absolute Champion of Moscow and Russia. It so happened that both Liudmila and I surprised everyone at the spring competitions – I made my debut, and Liudmila delighted her fans by appearing in Moscow and Russia after a break in competitions. We work together in a sports club – “Marcus Aurelius” – and combine coaching with our own preparations for future competitions. - Mikhail, what do you think… where is it harder to get ready for public appearances – for bodybuilding competitions or for extreme power sports? In my opinion, extreme sports are the most difficult as they are so much harder to perform than any other kinds of sports; after all, you’re competing with the strongest people in the world. And, your victory depends on your own results – how much weight you were able to lift - and not the judges’ subjective opinion.

In bodybuilding competitions, your performance is, on the one hand, the result of all your previous hard work and training, no matter how difficult it may have been, and on the other hand, it is not a demonstration of strength, but of a bodybuilder’s perfect body. The most difficult aspect of bodybuilding is being on a diet! I have never liked chicken breasts or rice, even in my childhood. I’ve got no appetite for this kind of food. So, I have to be very patient from the psychological standpoint. But, I really enjoy working out; I don’t feel tired at all, not as I used to when I was into power lifting and strength sports, or doing squats with half a ton on my shoulders.

- Tell us, Mikhail… have you ever used the growth hormone in fifteen years of your sports career? Can you give us an evaluation of the effectiveness of this drug?

I can say that Jintropin made quite a good impression on me; I really liked the effects of this drug. But, to tell the truth, I used it quite some time ago. Now, I use Neotropin during my training sessions, and I’m quite pleased with the results. Despite my strict diet and reduced intake of carbohydrates, I don’t lose muscle mass as I used to before when I didn’t take any growth hormones.

- Mikhail, your debut in spring competitions have made you very popular – your face is on the cover of Iron World, you have often been invited as a guest on different TV programs, you even give tips on exercising and healthy living in sports magazines – but, few people actually write or speak about your previous career. Visitors to our site would be interested in getting more information about you. Tell us how you started practicing sports, what you did before, and how you’ve made it to where you are now.

I started practising sports in my early childhood. I took up swimming and skating, and Greco-Roman wrestling.  I started strength sports when I was sixteen; I went to the gym, a basement workout room, and pumped iron stubbornly like all the other young kids at that age. When I was twenty, I met Aleksandr Chichukhin, master power lifter, and began working out in this sport. Of course, I didn’t look at all like I do now… I was tall and thin with slender legs… no one really had any special hopes for me.   But, after I completed the qualifying standard for Master of Sports, my coach and Honored Coach of Russia, Aginyan Karlenovich Vachigan, began to prepare me for more complex programs, in particular, using B. Sheyko’s method. As a result, I completed the qualifying standard for Master of Sports of International Class in Power Lifting. At that time, I performed squats with 410 kg, deadlifts with 370 kg, and close-grip bench presses with 280 kg. I was a multiple prize winner at the Russian Championship and winner of Zone Championships in Russia.

Extreme power sports have become very popular in our country since 2003. Television shows began broadcasting programs about strongmen, like “The Strongest Man” produced by Vladimir Turchinskiy. In my home town, Ivanono, I took part in extreme power sports competitions. After winning a few tournaments in my native region, I was spotted by Volodia Turchinskiy, and invited to take part in the finals of the Extreme Power Sports Championship of Russia in Odintsovo in 2004. I took fifth place out of fourteen competitors, titled sportsmen, who had spent a year competing for the right to participate in the finals. After that, I concluded a contract with the League of Professional Extreme Power Sports, under which I competed with the Russian national team of extreme power sports for six years. I won the international championship several times while competing with our national team. I also set several world records. One of them was the world record for a deadlift - lifting the world’s largest airplane, “Ruslan”.

- Thank you, Mikhail. In conclusion, would you please tell us about your immediate plans, and what tournaments you are planning to take part in this year?

In the near future, I’m planning to take part in the Baikal Grand Prix in Irkutsk.