Bodybuilding legend Tom Platz credits a surprising food for helping his joints early in his career: chicken wings.

On his Instagram account, @tomplatz shared his struggles with joint and shoulder pain. However, it was his wife, Cha Nikito-Platz, who suggested he eat chicken wings

The aim was not only to meet his protein goal. "You know? The end of the wings that are like soft bone. The joints, cartilaginous material you eat. Those things helped my shoulders and my joints. And I felt great," Plats said in his reel from October 2025.

Interestingly, eating that was a return to form for Platz. "I mean, this is what I did back when I was 19 and 20... I didn't have any money back when I was 19, so I had gone to somebody's porch and trained for the Mr. America contest, and I ate chicken wings," he added.

And it wasn't just wings, but rather a cleaner diet, that changed when putting on muscle became the focus during his pro bodybuilding days.

How Tom Platz ate as a Mr. Olympia contender

While Platz was far from the biggest bodybuilder on the stage, he was shredded at 220 lbs. So, like a typical pro during his era, the Quadfather followed a calorie-dense diet.

Pre-workout

Two Pieces of whole-grain toast with butter and jelly, juice or milk, and coffee Supplements.

Lunch (Post-Workout)

• Three to six eggs, a hamburger patty, sliced tomatoes, juice, and two pieces of bread

Snacks

• Cheese and crackers with a glass of milk

Dinner

• Prime rib salad with cottage cheese and nuts, bread and butter with some ice cream, coffee, or milk.

Evening snacks

• A couple of pints of ice cream or a bag of nuts

So it's not difficult to see that a lot of Platz's diet included inflammatory foods. While it fit his diet when he was training to compete, it created some long-term issues. It's something Tom Platz acknowledged.

"Once I got successful, I started eating anti-inflammatories…. that pharmaceutical… which led me into problems," the odybuilding icon said in the video.

Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi