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Profile of The quadfather, Peter Chown 2005
BNBF Central championships-overall champion
The build-up to Peter Chown’s competitive return in 2005 was akin to
something you’d see in Hollywood when an actor returns after a 10
year hiatus. Needless to say, the expectation reached fever-pitch
and his on-line “prime-time” photo’s on his own website had created
an almost Mythological-status around him, as we all gasped at the
condition, mass and granite-hard muscle on display.
Before 2004 when I first met peter in person, he was somewhat of an
enigma to me. If you have been a fan of natural body building and
followed the sport as I have since 1998, you would have been
well-aware of Peter’s reputation within the sport. If you weren’t
then you should have done your research and made sure you knew all
about the man with the freaky legs. Pete was winning British titles
as a junior, with a finely-honed physique probably unsurpassed
within those ranks until Jay Hollingsworth appeared out of nowhere
this year. Competing in the halcyon days of ANB heavyweights at the
same time as such luminaries as Palmer, Davies, Holder, Aurelius,
Averkiou, Perry et al served to remind us that here was a man
capable of being the very best. Resplendent with amazing quadriceps,
feathered, separated and striated beyond belief, huge hamstrings and
monster calves, it was always said of Pete that his upper body
lagged behind his show-stopping lower-half.
With this in mind, all those present at Aylesbury in 2005 at the
BNBF Central championships waited with baited breath to see if the
man could live up to the legend. Had he corrected the imbalance?
Were his legs really that freaky? What about his condition, could he
re-create former glories?
As peter walked out, all doubts were laid to rest. Here was an icon
of natural body building, a physique from the halcyon days returning
to claim what is rightfully his.
1 Full name - Peter Chown
2 Age - 32
3 Date of Birth - 9th August 1972
4 Profession - Retail, Marks & Spencer
5 Years of training experience - 16 years
6 Sum up Peter Chown in 1 sentence - Hard working, dedicated, quiet,
loyal.
JR-Pete, let’s begin with the basics, when and why did you begin
weight training?
PC- I became interested in the sport when I was about 14. I was into
BMX ( not competitively) and a book I was reading recommended weight
training to get stronger, so I went down to my local library and
found Vince Gironda's 'Unleashing The Wild Physique'. Once I saw the
pictures of people like Arnold, Serge Nubret, Mohammed Makkawy I
knew I wanted to look like them. One problem was I was too scared to
go to a gym, being extremely shy and all! I was into athletics at
the time as well (100m) so I was training for that but didn't do any
weights for it as that was on a tuesday night and I worked at my
local CO-OP that night! I was buying bodybuilding magazines at the
time though, reading and learning as much as I could ready for the
day I was brave enough to enter a gym! Anyway after 2 years being
interested in bodybuilding a gym was opening up in my local town of
Romford and they were having an open day. I persuaded my brother to
go with me for support. I remember walking in and seeing the owner
who was Malcolm Brown former EFBB British champion and IFBB pro. He
was wearing a suit and looked huge! I thought that's how I want to
look. So my brother and I joined up and a few days later we went for
our first workout. I loved it, using these machines and weights I
only had ever seen in magazines.
JR- How did this initial interest manifest itself into thinking
about competing as a body builder, it must have been a quick
transition, did you make gains immediately?
PC- I knew I wanted to compete in the sport as soon as I saw all the
bodybuilders in Vince Girondas book. When I started training I made
gains pretty quickly, gaining positive comments off of Malcolm and
the trainers there, especially a guy called Scott Thake who worked
there. So I plugged away with the weights making gains when after a
while Malcolm and Scott said I should compete. Me being my usual
confident self said no I'm no good! They carried on trying to
convince me and where I never used drugs they mentioned I should
enter a natural show saying 'you would piss the junior class!' So
after a lot of persuasion I decided to diet for a natural show.
JR-When you first competed as a junior what did your friends think
at the time? I mean surely most guys at that age were going out,
socialising, playing soccer, yet here were you dieting your ass off
and lifting weights that most grown men couldn’t shift. How did
those around you perceive what you were doing?
PC- As a teenager I was very shy and lacking in confidence so wasn't
really into pubs and clubs so I put 100% into bodybuilding. My
friends didn't really say much and a couple of them actually started
training themselves. Also I was making friends in the gym so that
was becoming my social time rather than going out getting drunk. I
never had any negative comments from what I remember.
JR-So what was your first show and did it live up to everything you
thought it would be?
PC-My first show was the ANB Junior South East in 1991. It was more
than I expected! Walking out on stage for the first time I thought I
can come across as shy with no confidence or pretend I was loving
it. But I needn't have worried because the feeling of being on stage
was amazing, I felt on top of the world and had all the confidence
in the world. I wanted to win my first ever show just like the top
guys I had read about in my magazines, and win I did, what an
amazing feeling.
JR-How did it feel to win the junior Britain title and then progress
onto world level? That must have given you some bragging rights as a
young guy, did this “fame” affect you and your personality or did
you pretty much continue life as normal? Did life change at all?
PC- My goal when I first decided to compete was to be Junior Mr
Britain and nothing was going to stop me. So for the 1992 season I
put all I had into achieving my goal. This was my last chance to win
the title as I was now 20. I trained and dieted harder than ever
which worked as I won the Junior British. It was an amazing feeling,
I had achieved my goal beating a very good line up that had Mark
Oakes and Simon Fan in it. I also got an invite to the European
championships in Holland which was something I didn't know about. I
was told I had no chance of winning that as the dutch were well into
there bodybuilding. But this was to be my last ever show as a junior
and I didn't want to get beaten so with the high of winning the
Britain I carried on with my training and dieting. I won the show,
more than I ever dreamed of! And it was one of the best shows I've
been in. Really well run, massive crowd of 2-3000 people and an
amazing atmosphere. Mike Williams was in the show as well winning
the overall.
The only time I ever bragged a bit was after my first couple of
shows. It built my confidence up a bit and became a little cocky,
not too much but a little. A couple of my friends told me and I soon
put a stop to that as it wasn't really me! It didn't change my life
at all, I was the same quiet Peter that I always was. I was more
noticed on the natural bodybuilding scene and a couple of times
people recognised me from the local papers that was it,
unfortunately I had no calls from a Mr Speilberg wanting me in his
latest film.
JR- Give the UK-M readers a list of your junior successes?
1991 South East 1st
1991 Britain 3rd
1992 South East 1st
1992 Britain 1st
1992 European 1st
JR- I remember seeing early photo’s of you competing against Mark
“The natural oak” Oakes in the junior ranks. It’s quite possible
that you and Mark could be once more battling it out for Britain
glory in 2005. Are you looking forward to this possibility?
PC- Yes he was in the 1992 Junior Britain where he came 3rd if I
remember rightly. I thought he had potential, which was right as he
won the Britain a few years later. It was nice to see someone doing
well from my time in the juniors as a lot of juniors tend to give up
once they get older never to be heard from again.
JR-What about early gains Peter, surely the wheels progressed
quickly? What about other body parts?
PC-I progressed pretty quickly which caught the attention of Malcolm
Brown so he started helping me which was great, getting help from an
IFBB pro! He convinced me to change my diet to make better gains. I
didn't think food would make much difference as it was only food
what was that gonna do! Well as soon as I changed from my jam
sandwiches to bodybuilding foods I just transformed putting on about
2 stone rapidly. I then realised the importance of a good
bodybuilding diet! Yeah my legs developed quickly, quicker than
anything else but I still made good progress with my other bodyparts,
but the legs were the muscles that got noticed the most, with their
size and strength.
JR-Describe your approach to body building at such a young age. Was
it the be-all and end-all, or could you switch off and do regular
“teenage” things?
PC- It was the be-all and end-all to me. I wasn't interested in
anything else. Bodybuilding was my world and nothing else mattered.
Probably not really a healthy attitude for a teenager but it paid
off. I never really switched off to do the regular teenage things.
Friday nights was socialising in the gym after training and hanging
around there after closing with my bodybuilding friends. I never
went drinking or clubbing. But it paid off, I had goals I wanted to
achieve as a junior and I achieved them all.
JR-What happened after your junior success Pete? What in your mind
was the next step and when did this transpire?
PC- Well after my junior shows I took time off from the gym to relax
as I was exhausted. I had no set plan as to when I would step up to
the senior classes, it would only happen when I knew I would be
ready. Also after the juniors I think I suffered a bit of burnout as
I couldn't get back into training. I wasn't enjoying it, making no
progress so decided to take some time out again to refocus my mind.
When I felt ready I joined a different gym and thats when it all
fell into place again. The gym was Bodyfitness which was where I met
the owner Tim Sharp. I then felt ready to focus on making my debut
into the heavyweights! The 1996 ANB South East was my new goal.
JR- As you progressed into the heavyweight ranks, who was your
favourite physique of the day? Who, if anyone, did you aspire to?
PC- Mike Williams definitely. He encouraged me a lot when we met at
the '92 ANB South East. He had a great attitude, physique, someone
to look up to. I wanted to one day to beat him as well. He was and
is a top bloke!
JR-You competed around the time as legends within this sport like
Davies, Palmer, Holder etc…did you compete against any of them?
PC-Yes I competed with most of them. I think the '96 heavyweight
Britain was the best line up ever. You had a lot of the names up
there, Holder, Palmer, Gale. I never competed with Nigel Davies
unfortunately. You don't get the line up these days as back then.
The whole top six were at a fantastic level.
JR-Moving into the present day, why the 6 year lay-off since 1999?
PC-Well the last show I done was the 2000 Britain. I really didn't
want to do the show as my motivation was non existent, I didn't want
to be there, but felt that I had too as I said to everyone that I
was doing it. I ended up 4th which wasn't too bad considering. But I
said I would never compete again until I was fully motivated. In the
following years I had injury after injury until I just didn't want
to be in the gym. I was making no progress so decided to take time
out until I really felt like going back to the gym. I ended up
taking six months off, no training whats so ever until I started to
miss it.
JR-During that period describe the position body building held in
your life. How important were the day to day things like training,
diet etc, compared to your first competitive stint?
PC- I didn't enjoy bodybuilding. I started to think what’s the point
of it all. I stopped reading about it and had no interest. That’s
when I realised I neeeded the time off. I'd been training since I
was sixteen and didn't want to think I would never do bodybuilding
again. The break done me a lot of good and recommend to anyone to
have a long layoff if things aren't going well. The progress I made
when I got back training was better than the previous few years.
JR- I would imagine that having trained for such a length of time
you will have tried every training “method” known to man? Are there
any which you could hand on your heart say “This worked best for me”
or has your physique simply been the result of maturity, good
genetics and consistency?
PC- I was a big fan of 'Heavy Duty' training and used this method of
training for years with great results. But lately I have been
training with more volume, doing more sets per body part and have
been improving even more, probably as it is a shock to my body. But
to be honest I believe the way to progress is just bloody hard work
and keeping over training to a minimum. I don't believe there's a
magic way to train. It's down to hard work, genetics and
consistency.
JR- Now we’ve touched on training methods, describe a regular
pre-contest training week during 2005 Pete?
PC-Well I would start my training week on monday with legs which I
train once a week. Tuesday would be say back and chest, thursday
shoulders and arms and saturday repeat tuesdays workout. Then
shoulders and arms would be worked again the following tuesday. So
you will notice the upper body gets worked more often than my legs
which has really helped me to progress my upper body development.
Cardio I do everyday except sunday as I use sunday to have a
complete break from training.
JR- What about favourite lifts? And tell us how you built them
wheels?
PC- My favourite lift has to be squats. I love the feeling of the
weight across the back and the sense of achievement after a good
squat workout. More people should be doing them. I find it annoying
the lack of leg development at shows. When I ask people do they
squat they quite often reply no, there just too hard! Unbelievable.
You just can't beat squats for leg mass. As you may notice I built
my leg mass with squats!
JR- Care to mention some of your best poundages?
PC-I have squatted a touch over six plates for 3 reps. I've always
been strong on them squatting 3 and a half plates at sixteen. Bench
press I have done 3 and a half plates but hardly ever do them
preffering incline which I have done the same weight. Deadlift 5
plates. Not my strongest of exercises.
JR- I know you work and train in Muscle limits gym, is this correct?
That place was renowned in the 90’s for churning out some British
body building greats wasn’t it? Did you ever meet the likes of
Wadley, Dawodu, Leonard St Cyr, Jamo Nezzar etc…
PC- Yeah they used to have some top guys there a few years ago. I
didn't meet many of them as they trained in the day, but I used to
see Patrick Nicholls the IFBB Pro. I used to chat with him, a really
nice bloke. I see Ricky Welling quite a lot, also Sarah Bridges
trains there. I remember Dorian was up there once doing a seminar.
He came behind the counter to have his dinner sitting next to me. A
perfect time to pick his brains and talk to the best bodybuilder in
the world. I said nothing other than a couple of dumb questions, I
was star struck. He was a massive inspiration to me and I couldn't
say anything!
JR- Does being around so many non-natural stars give you
extra-incentive to remain natural and go against the grain, or have
you ever been tempted to convert?
PC- I've never been tempted to convert. I've always wondered what I
would look like on the gear but never seriously tempted. Seeing
what’s involved in the non natural scene motivates me to remain
natural. You would also be surprised how much respect some of these
bodybuilders have for natural bodybuilders.
JR-Describe the reaction to being natural, firstly in your gym and
secondly around London as a whole. Is there more of a
natural-community there or is it just as “alien” as it is in
Newcastle? How are your achievements received?
PC- The reaction is good once they actually believe me, I get a lot
of respect for what I do. You always get the odd knob but on the
whole people are pleased to hear I'm natural. I wouldn't say there's
much of a natural community but there is a handful of us who get
together every now and then. Fivos, Marcel etc. I wouldn't say us
naturals are seen in any different light to non natural competitors,
at the end of the day we're all bodybuilders.
JR-There are many in and around the natural body building scene who
probably doubt your natural status Peter, given the extreme muscle
carried in your “sick” lower body?, how do you respond to them?
PC- If people don't believe me it doesn't bother me. I just tell
them if they don't believe me thats ok, I take it as a compliment,
but once people get to know me as a person they do believe my
natural status. They see I'm not the sort of person to do drugs of
any sort but that it's through bloody hard work!
JR- What’s your body building philosophy? Describe the key to body
building success in one sentence.
PC- Work hard, be consistent, never believe you know everything, you
know next to nothing and believe in yourself.
JR-Tell us what made you decide to return in 2005, what was your
motivation?
PC-Seeing Fivos on stage during 2004 and helping him backstage made
me start to miss the buzz of being on stage. I was already planning
on making my comeback in 2005 but that's what really motivated me.
JR- How did you structure your prep? What food did you eat, when did
you train and how long did you give yourself to get into prime
condition?
PC-I dieted for 16 weeks, the longest I've ever done. My diet was
pretty basic eating the same thing every day making adjustments when
needed. I ate the usual foods like chicken, sweet potatoes, veg and
protein supplements. The big difference this time was I used bottles
and bottles of Udo's, using sixteen dessert spoons at one point.
JR- I know you value the input of your mentor Tim Sharp. Describe
how Tim helps you get ready for your shows; are we talking mental,
physical or both? Additionally, many question the need to rely on
someone like this, what do you say to them?
PC- Tim’s been amazing through all this. He does everything for me,
my diet, training and the mental side of things. He's a great
motivator and really sorts my head out when things are getting on
top of me. I go round Tim’s every friday night to have my body fat
tested and make adjustments to my diet when needed. We took photos
every week and also he does deep tissue massage which really helps
things. Bloody painful though!
Having someone in your corner just takes a lot of stress out of the
preparation. It allows you to concentrate on your training and not
have to worry about anything else. I could do it on my own and have
done in the past but with Tim’s help I think I made better progress.
I don't disagree with people who do there preparation on their own,
everyone’s different.
JR- How did you feel as the competition came nearer Pete, were you
apprehensive and self-critical? What about when you stepped
on-stage? Describe your feelings over the last week?
PC- I felt awful the last week. I looked in the mirror and saw
something awful. I thought I looked terrible, small and was wasting
my time. So I was very self critical the worst I've ever been.
People where expecting a lot from me and was worried I might not
deliver. But I had my friends helping me out like Tim, Fiv and
yourself. When I stepped on stage I was a bit nervous which I think
noticed! Also it was very rushed back stage as the show was running
ahead of schedule so I didn’t finish pumping up until I walked on
stage. I usually like to relax before going on stage. I also didn't
see much of the other competitors so didn't really know what they
looked like.
JR- Feedback much have been great after the pre-judging and you
noticeable relaxed in the evening allowing your class to shine
through, what happened in the interval?
PC- Once I started to get the positive feedback I felt much better
and became much more confident. Also I went backstage a couple of
hours before my class and just took my time to pump up so I was a
lot more relaxed and I was getting a lot of positive comments off
the other competitors. I also didn't do any pumping up for about 15
minutes before going on stage so I wasn't shaky at all. I was ready
this time to go out and just have some fun!
JR- Obviously you’ve kept in touch with the competitive scene over
the last few years, who do you earmark as your main rivals in 2005?
PC- Yeah I've always kept in touch in what was happening on the
natural scene. I don't really focus on the other competitors I just
focus on myself and being the best that I can be. If I show up in
shape then I know I should do well.
JR- Are there any physiques competing now who you greatly admire?
Give us a rundown of your 5 favourite physiques over the last few
years.
PC- Yeah there's some good physiques around. My favourite 5? Rob
hope, Mike Williams, Fivos, Marcel, Jon Harris spring to mind at the
moment.
JR- You and I both know cheats exist within natural body building.
What is your general view of how the sport is trying to keep the
sport natural? Is enough being done to protect the natural body
builders from the trophy-hunting cheats
PC- I think more can be done like more testing, like out of season
random testing but I guess that it all comes down to money.
Hopefully as more money becomes available more testing will be
carried out to weed out the losers who compete in natural shows
using drugs. Very sad people.
JR- What about supplements Pete? Any you swear by?
PC- I'm a massive believer in supplements and have spent a small
fortune on them. The most essential I find are a protein supplement,
multi vit/mineral, creatine, glutamine and Udo's Choice. I have been
using plenty of glutamine and find it really helps me recover from
my training and keeps me nice and full. It also boosts my immune
system keeping colds at bay. I swear by Udo's as well. I always used
it in the off season mainly for health benefits but it has been
essential in my pre contest preparation. I've been through tons of
it. Works out very expensive though but worth it.
JR-Let’s get away from Peter Chown the body builder. I’ve been out
with you and Fivos socialising a few times and I can testify that
one lager and you’re both flat on your back, so obviously you don’t
drink much. What makes up Pete Chown’s social time, what do you like
doing when you’re not at the gym?
PC- One lager? As if! I'm a Romford boy and can manage at least 2
lager tops! I never used to drink hardly at all but realised every
now and then is fine, and when i do drink I do like to go for it. It
relaxes me and I end up having a much better night. I go out with
Tim a fair bit and also a few guys at work. I also love the cinema.
I'm a massive film fan, luckily my girlfriends brother is the
manager of a cinema! I love my music and am often going to gigs with
my mate Steve. I've seen loads of bands over the last couple of
years and it's been great and a bit of an eye opener as most of the
gigs are metal bands like Slipknot, Machine Head etc. A much
different crowd than the bodybuilding crowd! Good fun!
JR- Right that’s the hard stuff outta the way, what are your aims
and ambitions in body building and life in general within the
remainder of 2005 and then beyond?
PC- Well I want to win the Britain and earn my pro card in 2005 so
am trying my best for that. I then want to make a big impact on the
world scene in the future. That will make me very happy. I also am
going to change my career. I am going to study to be a quality
personal trainer and earn a good living from that. It's what I
really want to do now.
JR- What about Pete Chown in 10 years time? Where do you see
yourself both professionally and within body building?
PC- Well I want to be a top personal trainer earning decent money
having built up a very good business and being very happy doing
something I love, helping people achieve their goals. And within
bodybuilding hopefully I'll still be competing and improving with
age! If I'm not competing I will still be training my arse off as
it's what I enjoy.
JR- Pete, quick fire round, what’s your favourite:
-Diet meal
Chicken, brown rice and broccolli. I do actually enjoy it!
- Cheat meal
An indian followed by Ben and Jerry's
- Colour and why?
Blue, no reason just always been my favourite colour.
- Band/artist
Don't laugh but A-ha! Going to see them this year! Also a big fan of
Gary Numan, Slipknot, Genesis and Oasis. Quite a mix!
- Song
Hard to pick just one. Down in the Park is one by Gary Numan.
- Book
Arnold the Education of a Bodybuilder.
- Way to relax
A night in watching a dvd.
- Right that it champ, anyone you’d like to thank here’s your
chance.
A big thanks to Tim Sharp for everything he's done! We make a great
team. My mate Steve, the only person to have never missed any of my
shows. Fivos for his support. And my girlfriend Hazel for putting up
with me, I haven’t been easy to be around at times.
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