In a recent Iron OGs episode, IFBB Pro Chris Cook and King Kamali delivered a blunt reality check on celebrity trainer Hany Rambod. While Rambod is celebrated for shaping elite, title-winning physiques, Cook highlighted the lesser-discussed side of his methods

“I moved to San Jose. I’m training there, running this dude, this little short gremlin named Hany Rambod. While I was getting ready for a show, I had a guy named Vic helping me. And Vic asked Hany to take a look at me, and that's when I got to meet Hany. That's when Hany and I kind of started working together."

This was around 2001, when Hany Rambod was working with his first big name, Quincy Taylor. Taylor's win put Rambod on the map. However, things never really worked out between Rambod and Cook, even though, as the latter mentioned, they lived together.

"I won ’03 USA, ’04 USA, and that’s when I fired him and went over, you know. I left him because it wasn’t working out for various reasons... His way of negotiating with you is to get all p***** off to get you to do what he wants you to do. That's why it ultimately didn't work for us.”

By the late 2000s, Rambod began working with Jay Cutler and Jeremy Buendia, becoming the legendary coach known today.

Rambod's coaching style clearly evolved over the years.

Jay Cutler On When He Joined Hands With Hany Rambod

When Jay Cutler found himself demotivated after a loss to Dexter Jackson back in 2008, he lost all motivation for a comeback until he met Hany Rambod.

“Somehow, Hany and I end up in conversation. He checked on me. Hey, I hope you’re okay. Out of his heart. And we weren’t super close. He was a Ronnie Coleman camp guy. He loved Ronnie… He’s like you can do this, man. He said to me don’t think it’s done. You still have the tools. At the time, he hadn’t trained any greats. I was his first Olympian at the time."

After that conversation, they began filming the FST-7 routine at Cutler’s Las Vegas home in 2008. Ten weeks later, Cutler officially asked Rambod to be his coach.

A move that paid off, as Cutler reclaimed the Mr. Olympia title in 2009, becoming the first bodybuilder to lose the title and win it back.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar