Once the dust was settled from the 2021 Olympia, Regan Grimes tried to gather his thoughts after placing 15th, which was a huge disappointment for the Canadian competitor. He knew that changes had to be made if he was to improve and return to that stage next year. He wasted no time in reaching out to 90’s bodybuilding superstar Milos Sarcev.
The results spoke for themselves. Grimes placed second at the Legion Sports Fest two weeks after the Olympia. He then flew to Egypt and won the KO Pro show to qualify for the 2022 Olympia, taking place in Las Vegas, NV next December.
“The Mind” is not one to hold anything close to the pecs, so he spoke with Dennis James on The Menace Podcast and revealed that he made Grimes do a lot of work on little calories in order to achieve the results he showcased on the various stages. This was as inside of a look at how a competitor prepares for a show as one can get.
“I got him on two cardio sessions a day, two workouts a day, zero carbs for five days,” Sarcev said. “With supplementation, we made sure he wasn’t catabolic, so he wasn’t burning muscle.”
Sarcev explained that these tactics helped Grimes completely use up his glycogen storages, so he would be losing fat afterwards. Milos Sarcev also made sure that Grimes was prepared to do battle onstage as well when he faced the judges.
“Two posing sessions a day as well…drill, drill, drill,” he told James. “I could see him changing dramatically.”
With the contest in Reno, NV less than two days away, Sarcev reintroduced extra calories into Grimes’ meal plan so he could fill his muscles up in time to compete. There was also a method to this phase of Sarcev’s strategy.
“I do very aggressive loading, so we did what we could to load the muscles as much as we could in that 36-hour period. When I did the task, whew, we saw him respond very, very fast.” Sarcev explained.
Grimes went on to place second at the Legion Sports Fest to winner Shaun Clarida. Next, he had to fly to Egypt for the KO Pro show. That trip had numerous issues along the way, but Milos Sarcev worked around it by having Grimes go on zero carbs for four more days. This included the three days he had to work in a booth at an expo.
“Not the ideal situation when it comes to preparation,” he pointed out. “I got him depleted again, and then we loaded him back up, and it worked out well. If I was there with him, I think I could’ve done it a little bit better, but he was good enough to win.”
In the end, Grimes goal has been met for now. He’s qualified for the 2022 Olympia. Sarcev and James spoke more about how he worked under the circumstances he faced as well as other topics such as the 2022 Arnold Classic. Subscribe to the Muscle & Fitness YouTube channel to catch every episode of TMP, airing Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.
