Dorian Yates, “The Shadow,” was the giant of early 1990s bodybuilding. Winning 6 consecutive Mr. Olympia titles from 1992 to 1997, the British former bodybuilder was famous for his intense workout approaches.

He began training in 1983 at Martin's Gym in the Temple Row area of Birmingham. One year later, in 1984, Yates won the Mr. Birmingham competition. And in 1986, for the first time, he became the British Heavyweight bodybuilder champion. However, very few know which exercises the young Yates used to build confidence, muscle, and a shredded physique.

Recently, on March 11, the legend of bodybuilding himself shared his 1983 training routine with his 2 million Instagram fans with the caption:

“My earliest workouts from my log books! I found these from late June 1983, I think around 1 month after I started properly training. Even back then, I wrote little notes to myself like ‘increase weight’ and ‘must work harder!”. Let's see workouts from the logbook:

Movements from June 24, 1983, logbook

CHEST

• Dips: 12, 10, 8, and 6 reps
• Flyes: 12, 8, and 8 reps with 40, 50, and 50 lbs respectively (increase weight).

BACK

• B/Over Row: 10, 10, 8, 6 with 140, 150, 160, and 170 lbs respectively.
• Pull Down: 10, 8, and 7 reps with 150 lbs.

BICEPS

• B/B Curl: 90, 90, and 85 lbs for 10, 7, and 7 reps, respectively.
• Incline: 25, 12, and 10 reps.

Yates mentioned that those photos were taken by Martin, his former gym owner, because images from 1983 were not available to him.

Later, Yates added, “Like I said before, I did do dips back then, and exercises like bent over rows, pulldowns, barbell curls, hack squats, etc. I did them until my retirement… again basic exercises that work!”.

Now, let's see the workouts from 26 June.

Movements from June 26, 1983, logbook

• Squats: 15, 8, and 6 reps with 150, 180, and 220 lbs, respectively.
• Hack squats: 70 lbs.
• L/Curl: 15 12 10 — More weight
• P/B/H/Neck: 90 95 95 — Start on 95 for 10, 8, and 6 reps.
• Side Lateral: 25 lbs for 10, 8, and 8 reps
• Lying Tricep B/B: 85 lb for 10, 8, and 7 reps.

Dorian Yates had always been mysterious, especially about his workouts, which is why he was named The Shadow, until he released his B**** and Guts workout video in 1996, giving his fans a glimpse of his journey.

However, the workout routine he shared on his Instagram was not widely known, which is why he said, “I had to build it up over a decade, so people often wouldn’t see the beginning of the journey”.

The former bodybuilder ended the post by saying, “I was squatting 2 plates a side after just over a month of training as well, so I was always strong. And rowing 170lbs… 235lbs away from my max of 405lbs years later!

I put on around 15lbs of muscle in my first year of training. I was training 3 days per week and working a manual job too, and yes, I was natural here”.

So, the 63-year-old legend’s early lookbook highlights that he built his iconic physique through long-term consistency and basic exercises. Would you try it?

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Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Joyita Das