Richard Gozdecki
Congratulations to Richard for winning the WNBF Heavyweight and Overall WORLD CHAMPION!
Click here to watch Richard's interview and training techniques on our new You Tube channel, GN TV!
Rich is another “natural bodybuilder” to have been welcomed to the Garnell Nutrition team. This guy puts many to shame with a strict diet plan and a 'hard as nails' training regime, he just works likes a machine. Identified by Clint Jones, the highly respected owner of Future Fitness in Coventry, Rich was recommended to Garnell earlier this year and we are delighted to have him in the team and to have been able to assist with his nutrition. Rich won the NPA Championships and went onto place 2nd in the Worlds. He plans to help others with training advice and is just “an inspiration to what can be achieved, when you believe and then commit!”.
Below is an article by Lee Kemp on Richard and how he became the NPA Champion
RICHARD GOZDECKI - NPA Overall British Champion 2010 - read how he became a CHAMPION!Richard Gozdecki - Profile of a British Champion
Article by Lee Kemp with photographic contributions from Rebecca Emerton, Mark Gozdecki, Eric Guy, Fivos Averkiou, Mark Oakes, and Michael Phillips. At8 years of age, Richard had begun swimming 5 times per week and at 10 years old he joined the City of Coventry Swimming Club which both then and now was one of the best in the country. Swimming became part of everyday life for the whole Gozdecki family with both Richard and Mark training 7 days per week. By the age of 12, Richard qualified for the English Nationals in the 100m breaststroke where he placed second. It was here that his desire to be the best at what he did was truly ‘ignited’. Shortly after this, at the age of 13, he was training between 11 and 12 times per week, with up to two hour sessions in the pool both before and after school on weekdays often with a very sleepy Eddie or Gill watching from the public gallery as their boys trained at 5am!
It was at 13 years old and amongst the already rigorous swimming training schedule that Richard and his brother had that he began training with weights, working out with their father on their first multi-gym apparatus at home. Eddie, a qualified engineer by trade, also made some solid dumbbells to add to the home gym and taught the boys the correct performance of the various exercises they needed to improve their athletic performance. In addition to this, there were other sports to be played as part of the school curriculum too and Richard participated in football, athletics, cross country running and particularly excelled at basketball which he spent as much of his very little spare time as possible playing. As his swimming career progressed however these other sports eventually had to be put aside to reduce the risk of injury or over-training.
The gruelling and dedicated training was soon to pay dividends, with Richard winning his first British title at the age of 15 in the 200m breaststroke against opposition up to 2 years older than him and only just missing out on a place in the British Men’s final! By this time, aspirations to one day compete at the very highest level were very realistic ones with a place on the British Olympic team being Richards’s ultimate goal both then and now.
By the age of 17, more swimming success had followed and Richard was at the peak of his career. It was then however that he took his first full time employment with Rolls Royce Aerospace where he still works today. College work towards his apprenticeship and full time hours on the shop floor quickly filled Richards’s day, and it soon became impossible to fit the required amount of swimming training into the day. Something had to give, and swimming wasn’t paying the bills! Stepping away from swimming still remains to this day the hardest decision that Richard has ever had to make.
As soon as training for the pool stopped, Richard concentrated on training in the local leisure centre gym to keep fit and to build some more muscle. At the start of his ‘regular’ weight training at this time, Richard was already carrying a relatively lean 95kg on his large 6 foot frame, and it wasn’t long before he began to gain size and strength through his new found love of weight training, especially the bench press which was typically all he wanted to do for the first few years. He also maintained a high level of fitness with intense cardio work such as running, rowing, cycling and playing football. A few years into his training he began working out with good friend Adi Duff. It was there rivalry and camaraderie to which Richard credits a lot of his bodybuilding success, never losing sight of the fact that without the years of training he shared with Adi he would not have been so well prepared for his eventual bodybuilding debut.
Of course, just so you don’t get the impression that Richard (as good as he is) was any different to most gym goers when he began training…yes, you guessed it, he didn’t touch his legs in the beginning believing that he didn’t ‘need’ to with all of the intense cardio he was doing. This is a familiar story with rookie gym goers worldwide, and a beginner’s mistake which would cost Richard some serious ‘blood, sweat and tears’ further down the road when he had to force his legs to play catch up!
By 2007 and at the age of 24, Richard was tipping the scales at a lean 103kg when he found himself working away from home in Blackpool, Lancs. He would be away from his family and girlfriend (now fiancée) Rebecca mid-week, returning home at weekends. This gave him a distraction free environment to train even harder than ever in a local bodybuilding gym at Blackpool YMCA, whilst devouring huge amounts of poached eggs and toast for breakfast, ready cooked supermarket chickens at lunchtime and the obligatory pub grub steak and chips in the evening. It was while training at this gym that he saw a poster advertising a local strongman contest, to be contested on a ‘pound for pound’ basis. The event would feature max rep challenges in the bench press, dip and chin with a car push, farmers walk and medley event and not forgetting the dreaded squats!! Almost instantly, the fire to compete and win was burning brighter than ever within Richard. The squat rack was met and acquainted with gusto, and once again the ever supportive ‘Gozdecki Road show’ was on its way to sunny Blackpool to cheer on one of their own. The contest was entered and won with style and the seed was sown for a fresh set of sporting conquests to be had, except this time on dry land and in the iron game!
It was shortly after this, and after some suggestion from gym buddies, that Richard decided to diet down and to compete in a bodybuilding contest. As somebody who had never considered the use of performance enhancing substances to aid his training, Richard was obviously keen to test himself against other natural athletes and after some searching he discovered the NPA, where he would make his competitive debut the following year. Training back at home in the same leisure centre gym in which he began his quest, there were no other competitive bodybuilders at hand so it was the internet which taught him everything he needed to know about diet and training for his impending contest debut. Beginning his first contest diet off the back of a gruelling 8 year ‘off-season’ was the thing Richard credits the most about his ability to compete at such a heavy bodyweight. But his extreme work ethic and enthusiasm coupled with the ‘more is better’ approach lead to him over-training and dieting for his first couple of contests. From a relatively lean starting weight of 108kg he would lose just under 20kg in bodyweight for his first contest which although was probably too much still saw him step onstage at a huge 89kg with rock hard conditioning very rarely seen on a first time competitor of such a size.
It was the 2008 NPA North West which Richard picked to make his debut. Despite the training and dieting he’d put himself through for the contest though, he’d never actually been to a contest in person to see what it was all about. Prior to walking through the door of the 2008 NPA Yorkshire as a paying punter, he’d learned what little he knew about contest posing and presentation from internet forums and video sharing websites. It was after driving his diet weary self to Batley that day that Richard watched the contest intently, taking in every detail of what was going on in front of him. It was also here that he got his first taste of the great camaraderie that exists in the sport, with a very helpful fellow bodybuilder gladly engaging in conversation with him and giving him some well received pointers on tanning and what goes on behind the stage curtain as the athletes make their final preparations before taking the stage. It was later that Richard was to discover that his helpful new friend was none other than Wayne Braddock, the then reigning NPA British Novice champion who has since gone on to win the British and World Heavyweight titles and become a WNBF Professional.
One week later, Richard and family made the journey to Manchester for what would be one of the most significant days of his sporting career to date. He still recalls the feeling of apprehension as he arrived, with tanned gaunt faces all around him and the smell of tan and oil wafting through the venue. Formalities of registering over, he went straight backstage with his father Eddie, who would be helping apply the finishing touches to his tan and oil and help him pump up. To this day, he remembers what he saw as the somewhat bizarre sight of he and the others around him having their tan and oil applied and the nerves and excitement for what he was about to do kicking in. Before he knew it, it was time for 6 other men and him to take the stage to contest the novice division and put their years of training and months of dieting to the test. The nerves soon disappeared and he was ready as always to give it nothing short of 100% on the stage. Richard will talk fondly of his first time on stage, admitting with a chuckle that although he gave himself ten out of ten for effort, his posing and strained facial expressions were probably more worthy of two out of ten! He describes himself as a shredded but weak and over dieted rookie who posed very poorly on this first occasion, but was proudly still good enough to win his class and take the Overall in his first ever bodybuilding contest.
Winning this contest is something that Richard will never forget. It was from the moment he was crowned champion that he called himself a bodybuilder and for the first time in a long time knew exactly what he wanted to do and where he wanted to be in the future. He had found his new home. From that moment onwards, training, dieting and research has all been geared towards bringing up the weak points in his physique and maximising his immense potential for success on the stage.
That year, second place at the NPA British followed, against the phenomenal Richard Lee. Rich had improved a lot since the North West, particularly in his posing which earned him the first of many best presentation awards that day, much to his satisfaction. It is so rare that two such specimens appear in the same year, and although it was a shame one had to come second, it made for an exciting battle at the finals. Far from disappointed with his second place in the Novices at this contest and full of a respect for his conqueror which he still holds to this day, Richard went away motivated to do what he does best. To train, improve and return better than ever.
The following year saw Richard undertake his first promotion, a charity strongman event similar to the one where he had made his return to competition two years earlier. Here, he undertook a personal challenge to squat his own bodyweight (by now just under 110kg) for maximum reps and managed 47 with each and every one rock bottom in depth. Suffice to say those legs were no longer a weak point! A few months later he would join his buddies from the leisure centre gym including his long standing friend and training partner Adi as they made their first foray as a gym into the local interclub bodybuilding show. A team of 4 lads from a gym never before known for producing competitive bodybuilders left the contest with a win, two seconds, a third and both the best poser (Rich himself, who was making a habit of taking that particular award) and best gym trophies away with them. It was Richards’s encouragement and endless enthusiasm which helped his pals grace the stage for the first time and has contributed to that small leisure centre gym turning out NPA competitors every year since.
Training continued, more intensely than ever as Richard spread his wings and found a new home at a well known bodybuilding gym, Future Fitness, in Coventry itself. As Adi decided to remain where he was to train, Rich began training without a regular training partner. The notable exception to this is at 4pm every Friday, where for Richard and his training partners Max O’Connor and Vit Bohac, everything else in the world stops and it’s time to destroy the quads! These three men have a great understanding of each other and these sessions are famed throughout the gym for their brutality and have produced three of the best sets of “wheels” that take their respective stages.
For upper body training sessions, Rich shares workouts with gym owner Clint Jones, Mens Health cover model Kirk Miller, professional boxer Llewellyn Davies, Craig Gummery and his brother Mark, who displays the same Gozdecki potential with great strength and stamina. Richard himself often states that if Mark put his mind to it, we could easily see another Gozdecki wreaking havoc on the natural bodybuilding stage! Rich will train with anybody who is prepared to turn up on time and give it their all.
Richard still trains with the same style that he and Adi hit the gym with in the beginning. High volume work with drop sets, super-sets, giant sets, pre-exhaust and 50 rep sets are some of his favourite techniques and a style of training for which he credits for keeping him mostly injury free. Most would say that he still over trains, but he loves spending time in the gym and feeling like he’s pushed himself as hard as he possibly can by the time he leaves for the day. Although he will admit that he could probably be stronger if he trained differently, it is very unusual to see him train in a traditional “heavy” bodybuilding fashion which would allow it. Despite this, some of his best lifts are as follows, and are certainly very impressive:
Bench press – 160kg for 4 sets of 10
Squat – 25 sets of 20 with 140kg or 10 sets of 10 with 180kg (this is not a misprint!)
Dead lift (stiff leg) – 220kg for 4 sets of 12
Incline Dumbbell press – 60kg bells for 4 sets of 10
Leg press – 640kg for 4 sets of 15, and has done a total of 100 tonnes in one hour for charity!
After another year of brutal training, Richard returned in 2010 and achieved his main goals of winning the Overall NPA Yorkshire and Britain titles, placing second at both the UIBBN European and World Championships to legendary Johnny Yrius (giving what most have said was Yrius’ toughest challenge to date) and throwing his hat into the ring in non-tested NABBA Midlands and UKBFF West Midlands contests, placing second in both to the eventual British champions in both Finals respectively. These two results in particular have given Richard great pleasure, in that he has been able to compete and hold his own as a Natural bodybuilder and using his balance, condition and shape to his advantage against typically larger opponents.
Those reading this article are bound to have a few questions they’d like to ask Richard, so with that in mind I’ll finish with a few words from the man himself:
LK - Why the natural route?
RG - Always have, always will. Until recently I trained in a small fitness orientated gym where nobody had the first idea about bodybuilding or the use of performance enhancing drugs, and when recently exposed to knowing how extensively drugs are used and spoken about in some areas of the sport, it has quite frankly been a real eye opener for me! I have an extensive sporting background, decent work ethic and a very supportive family who have blessed me with great genetics and this has always been enough for me. Having competed and done pretty well in non tested-shows this year I have found that my lines, narrow waist and condition (all aspects attributable to my natural status) have served me well. Would I be tempted to take drugs to improve my physique? No! Would drugs improve my physique? Maybe, but then I wouldn’t be a so-called ‘Natural Freak’ anymore and would just be another average bodybuilder. Plus, my family would go mad and my Mrs would probably leave me!!! I have submitted to drug tests at 5 of the 6 drug tested contests I have entered, including a gruelling 90 minute polygraph examination at the 2010 NPA Britain this year. Obviously I have passed every one and am happy to be tested any time, any place and by any means. Drug testing is the backbone of our sport, and the more I get tested the more credibility it gives both me and the sport as being ‘clean’. I would never accuse another natural bodybuilder of using drugs unless proven guilty by failing a test, and it upsets and annoys me when others do this. I have no time for the ‘accusers’ in the sport and often wonder why they bother being part of the sport at all with their attitudes the way they are!
LK - How did it feel to win the NPA British title?
RG - Wow, what a feeling! When my name was called as the Overall winner I was so confused. It was a moment I had pictured so many times, but when it happened it didn’t quite seem real. I always find it a little strange after a contest. The excitement and the buzz of the crowds, the lights, the buzz of pumping up and getting ready to go on-stage and on this occasion the joy of winning is quickly followed by a very quiet and reflective drive home with my family (usually stuffing my face with sandwiches, quiche, sausage rolls and crisps that my mum always brings me for after the shows) before the real celebrations start. This time though, those celebrations were short lived as after a slice of cake and can of Stella when I got home it was time to get to bed in preparation for training in the morning with the UIBBN Worlds in mind. It wasn’t really until after getting back from Barcelona that it all really sank in!
LK - How did you feel about being part of the NPA GB team at the UIBBN Worlds in Barcelona?
RG - Proud and honoured. Being part of that team was what it’s all about for me. I think that you can grasp my feelings of travelling to Barcelona with the British team by the emotion which was put into my report, (on the NPA web-site) following the UIBBN World Championships. Representing GB has got to be the highlight of anyone's competitive career and it was no different for me. Placings and world titles will always be remembered and recorded in history as the best at the current time. However, the feeling of being part of something bigger than that is what will stay with me forever. An overwhelming sense of team spirit, forging bonds with fellow competitors which will always be remembered. Barcelona was the final step of the 2010 competitive season for me, already with 6 shows and 1 guest spot under my belt, it was fair to say that the 38 weeks of dieting was beginning to take its toll. The memories of that trip, I will always hold dear to me and I only hope that I can recapture some of the magic as I progress into the rest of my bodybuilding career.
LK - Favourite body part to train?
RG - Quads. I love the brutality of the workouts and how satisfied I am afterwards.
LK - Least favourite?
RG - Abs. Boring and tedious.
LK - Favourite exercise?
RG - Incline dumbbell press.
LK - Favourite UK bodybuilders?
RG - Jay Hollingsworth, Godfrey Onyac, Will Uelese, Pete Chown, Chris Burford, Steve Howarth. All big heavyweights with legs to match their upper bodies. I have huge respect for all of these guys and use them as my inspiration. Of course, not forgetting my old friend Richard Lee. We’ll meet again one day, Sir, and I will always aspire to your level.
LK - Favourite physiques of all time?
RG - Kevin Levrone, Lee Priest, Arnold, Flex Wheeler, Sergio Oliva and Tom Platz’s legs!!
LK - Favourite food?
RG - When dieting, spicy seasoned chicken. When not, steak and cheesecake!
LK - What do you view as your strongest and weakest body parts?
RG - Strongest, chest. Weakest, biceps.
LK - How fat do you plan to get this off season?
RG - VERY fat!!!!!!!
LK - Finally, is there anyone you wish to thank?
RG - There certainly is. Here goes……..
My Mum Gill, Dad Eddie and Brother Mark. The support I have had from my family over the years, from the hundreds of hours, thousands of miles clocked up and countless sums of money invested in supporting my swimming career, to still popping round regularly with a big bag of steak, chicken and turkey to make sure I’m eating enough has been immeasurable and invaluable. Without you all, I wouldn’t be the man I am today and I will never forget that. Thank you.
To Neil Garnham of Garnell Nutrition, who offered me sponsorship this year and has supported me tremendously. I have used the full range of Garnell products prior to being sponsored by them, so was over the moon that Neil chose to support me not only with my favourite products but with advice on training and dieting, particularly through fellow sponsored athlete Pete Chown who has always been a bodybuilder who has inspired me. Pete offered me some great advice while dieting and it was very flattering to think that both he and Neil believed in me this year. Thank you Garnell Nutrition, I hope to do you proud in the years to come.
Clint Jones of Future Fitness Gym in Coventry. Without your sponsorship and advice, especially in the last 6 months, I would not have reached the level I did. I’m looking forward to working together on our next ‘project’.
To Max and Vit. We will always be team CMN!
My various training partners. Especially Craig, who kept me going this year.
Special thanks to Adi Duff for showing me how to train! It was those fierce workouts in the early days that got me where I am today and I will never forget that.
Thanks to all of my friends who have supported my bodybuilding career and charity efforts. Especially Gaz, Zoe and Jim Thompson, Matt and Charlie, Rebecca’s family and friends and all of the boys from Connexions, Future Fitness and The Workout Mill.
To all at the NPA, especially Lee Kemp, who has become a good friend. Since meeting in 2008 he has cast his experienced eye over me during contest prep, and his words are always honest, encouraging and invaluable.
Finally, my gorgeous fiancée, Rebecca. Like my parents, she hates to see me deprive myself so much when dieting, but knows exactly what it takes to succeed in the sport and is with me every step of the way. During contest preparation Rebecca helps me so much with cooking, shopping for my food, casting an eye over my physique (usually as I flash her whilst trudging tiredly from the shower!) and most importantly the emotional support that only she as my partner in life can give. When I’m low, she picks me up and is always there in the darkest times when I need dragging out to do my cardio or keeping company on a Saturday night when socialising is off the cards. I couldn’t do it without you, Bex. You are the most supportive person in my life and are behind all of my success. Thank you.
…and with those great words, I thank Richard for all his help in putting his profile together, and hope you enjoy reading it!
Lee Kemp
December 30th 2010
