Ron Partlow Interview

Meet Big Ron Partlow. First off, for all the times you see the word “big” attached to a bodybuilder’s name, in this case it’s not a cliche. Ron runs 6'1" and competes at 265. That’s big. What’s incredible though, if not record breaking, is that Big Ron placed second an unprecedented seven times in the Canadian Nationals superheavies. He did win it once and then missed the overall—and his pro card—by one point. So, yeah, the name fits. He’s so big, in fact, that it took a company as strong as Mutant to pick him up, not only as a sponsored athlete, but also full time as “Athlete Relations Specialist.”

“Athlete Relations Specialist?” I asked him. “That’s quite a mouthful. What does that actually entail?”
Ron let out a quiet laugh and said, “That only really covers half of what I do! For that part, I handle all the contracted athletes. I make sure they get paid and they get their supplements. If we have an event, I decide who goes to the show. I book their hotels and flights. I’m their only contact point between them and the company.”
“How do you decide who goes to a show? Doesn’t everyone want to go?”
“Yeah, pretty much!” Ron replied. “ We work around the competitions they’re doing so we’re not working them right around a show. And there might be some logistical factors. But, you’re right, all our guys want to be there. And they spend all day in the booth too! None of this two-hour shift stuff.”
“What’s the other half? What else do you do for Mutant?”
“The other half of what I do is online. I do all the on-camera video like Mutant on a Mission, where we go to hardcore gyms all over the world and film a workout. And I do a lot of interviews too. I’m really proud of our online presence.”
“Let’s talk about an idea you wouldn’t have been proud of,” I said. “What’s this business about being offered a pro card and turning it down. Is that true?”
“It is,” he admitted. “I was offered a pro card. The president, vice-president, the head judge, and a few of the other officials had a meeting and talked about a few guys who probably should get a card. They said I was one of them. But I said no.”
“Why?”

“I didn’t want anyone to think I got the easy one. I wanted to do Nationals again this year because I turn 40, so I can do the masters as well. It’s in my hometown.”
“You’d really rather stay an amateur and compete in the Nationals again than move up to the big show?”
“Absolutely,” Ron said. “I was disappointed with my last showing, I had a lot of injuries training for the show. I got sixth out of 32 guys, my worst placing ever. I didn’t want to go out like that and get a pro card. I want to feel like I won it, so I just turned it down.”
“That’s pretty big, bro. There’s an awful lot of guys who would have jumped on that.”
“I didn’t really think about it. Then people started calling me and … I guess it was a bigger deal than I thought.”
I was a little shocked. “Well, yeah, it’s a big deal. You made 13 attempts at winning your pro card; seven times a bridesmaid, won the superheavies once … you’re clearly pro caliber. No one would have blamed you for taking the card.”
Ron took a deep breath while he calculated a way to get through to this pesky American. “You have a lot more chances to turn pro in the NPC. Canada only has one show where you turn pro. Everyone here knows if I have a pro card, it’s because I won the overall at Nationals. Now, if, instead of placing sixth, I had won the superheavies again and they offered it, I might have taken it.”
“Okay, so what happens when you do turn pro? Then what?”
Ron responded as if he’d pondered this before. “I like the direction my career is going now. I’m working full-time at Mutant, and I’m really, really happy there and with the industry as a whole. I’m just not really not putting all my effort into competing as a pro.
“So, then what?” I asked, “Street cred?”
“Yeah, I’d probably get some cred with a pro card. I competed for a long time. But I have a much better opportunity with Mutant. A lot of guys with pro cards aren’t making a dime.”

That’s true. Just because you have a pro card doesn’t guarantee an income. It does guarantee, however, that you worked your butt off to get it. That comes down to training. Except for genetics; everything else comes after that. “So, we should talk about your training philosophy,” I said. Who would you say influenced you the most?”
“Dorian,” he said. “I admire a guy who sticks his body into the wall at 300 mph. It says a lot about a person. He just took it until he fell apart. If he had trained a little more carefully, like Haney did, he may never have won anything. There’s something about him that’s special.”
“And maybe a little nuts,” I said. “But, you can’t throw yourself at the wall at 300 mph forever. You’re going to break.”
“When you get to a certain age, you do get battered,” he said. “So, you really have to start exploring your options. I trained like Dorian for a long time, but certain parts just weren’t responding. I was stronger than I was developed, and I was getting hurt. Now I’m the opposite—I look stronger than I am and I’m not hurt.”
“Does that mean you’re off HIT training? Or have you found a way to maintain the intensity with less damage?”
“I really like time under tension,” he replied. “Short rest periods, change rep ranges, supersets … but, I work around what hurts. If I’m feeling good, then I’ll load up the bar. Then there’s days when I don’t go as heavy, but I’ll take shorter rest periods, do drop sets …  I can’t help it, I trained like Dorian too long. I just can’t do anything but train to failure. It’s a pride thing. I don’t want anyone to see me not going all out.”
I was confused. “So, like moderate-volume high intensity?”
Ron laughed. “No, I still use most of Dorian’s principles. I train volume, but I’m still training to failure. So, let’s say on this particular day it’s five exercises for a body part. Each exercise is going to have multiple work sets—drop sets, forced reps … it’s a lot of work. I know it sounds like volume, but…”

Let’s just say it’s brutal and leave it at that. It’s obviously working for him. What’s also working for him is his diet and supplementation. The off-season and pre-competition supplement stacks he lists here are, as Ron says, “100 percent legit. This is what I take.”

Off-Season:
MUTANT Pro 100, vanilla or peanut butter/chocolate chip
Creakong: 5–10 g per day
Pre-Workout: Mayhem with a serving of PUMP
Intra-Workout: 100 g Mutant Rehab

Pre-Contest
Mutant Pro 100
Creakong: 5–10 g per day
Pre-Workout: PUMP
Intra-Workout: 30 g BCAAs