Before Ronnie Coleman’s reign, Dorian Yates was bodybuilding’s most feared force.

Between 1992 and 1997, he reshaped the sport, capturing six consecutive Mr. Olympia titles through unmatched size and intensity. Decades past his prime, Yates remains a mentor.

Now 63 and long past his competitive prime, Yates remains an astounding force in the fitness world. Recently, the 6x Mr. Olympia winner took to Instagram, sharing a glimpse of his humongous biceps training session. And, in the caption, he gave the golden advice, “First exercise for biceps: seated dumbbell curls.”

He further added, “I did experiment over the years with the order of exercises, and I found that when I performed barbell curls first, it brought my front delts and forearms into the movement too much, so I went with a direct isolation exercise first, such as seated curls, Nautilus curls, or dumbbell concentration curls.”

Dorian Yates further expressed that there should be a full range of motion in your workouts. For seated dumbbell curls, drive a strong contraction at the top and lower the dumbbells slowly, feeling the burn.

Yates used to hit 6–8 reps, then paused for deep breaths and alternated single-arm curls, adding 1–2 assisted reps per side to maximize focus on each biceps. In his prime, Yates’ 20-inch arms helped him oust the competition.

That’s not all, according to the 6-time Mr. Olympia winner, the biggest mistake a beginner makes in the gym is to deliberately distract himself.

“The worst thing you can do,” Dorian Yates advises the young

Dorian Yates comes from a generation where there were hardly any distractions. In 2025, focus is a luxury, and, according to Yates, the biggest mistake one can make is staying glued to their phone while working out. “The worst thing you can do—and I see you doing it—looking on your phone. Don’t do that,” said Yates in a podcast appearance.

He further added, “We’re just connected to that f****g phone, 24 hours a day. You’ve got one hour a day. Take that time to really focus on what you’re doing and leave everything behind, and that means leaving your umbilical cord to the rest of the world—which is your phone—leave it in your locker. Leave it in your bag.”

Dorian Yates advised keeping the phone in DND mode and focusing solely on workouts, with no other distractions.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Joyita Das