Here’s a question we reckon even close followers of THE domestic bodybuilding SCENE might struggle to answer: who is the only man from the United Kingdom to have won two international IFBB contests since the beginning of 2010?
Okay, the photos on these pages are a bit of a giveaway but if you ask a friend they could be scratching their head for quite a while before coming up with the right answer.
They might nominate Welshman James “Flex” Lewis, who won the 202 pound class at the British Grand Prix this year, but his last victory before then was back in 2009.
They might also mention England’s Zack Khan but although he has received a lot of attention over the last couple of years, injuries have deprived him of the chance to compete, let alone win.
The person who actually holds the distinction is a relatively low profile Irishman called Steve Graham from the small town of Ballymoney in County Antrim. Steve won gold in the under-80 kg class at the IFBB European Masters Championships last year and followed that up with first place in the under-85 kg class at the inaugural amateur Olympia contest in London this year.
Modest, articulate and quietly spoken, Steve isn’t one to boast about his achievements. Perhaps this, and the fact that he is not a super-freak in size, goes some way to explaining why he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. His recent successes may go some way towards changing perceptions of this 41-year-old, whose competitive career began 21 years ago.
His interest in weight training dates back even further to when he was 17 and he and a mate started lifting weights in his dad’s garage. “At first it was only to put a little muscle on as I was always skinny at school,” he says. But he soon got serious. Iron was in his blood: his dad competed in weightlifting when he was young and his brother, who is seven years older, was a competitive bodybuilder.
Watching his brother convinced him to get on stage so he started training more seriously and at the age of 20 competed in his first competition, the NABBA Northern Ireland. He finished third in the juniors and was instantly hooked.
But he didn’t build on that and over the next 15 years competed only sporadically. “I moved away in 1993; in 1997 I changed my job to a permanent night shift and I lost my way a little,” he says. “I moved back to my home town in 2000 and started training seriously again until 2005 when I dipped my feet in the competition scene again.”
By then he was over 35 but it was to prove to be the start of a remarkable ascent to the summit of the sport. He won the 87.5 kg class and the overall title at the NIBBF Northern Ireland Championships and in the same year took part in his first European Championships, where he finished 6th to announce his arrival on the international scene.
Over the next few years Steve appeared regularly at world and European level without cracking the top three. But he was slowly improving. The decision to combine all the domestic IFBB federations into the United Kingdom Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation gave him the opportunity to compete against the best bodybuilders from England, Wales and Scotland and he made a strong impression at his first UK Championships in 2007 when he placed third in the under-80 kg class.
Steve is not exactly a small guy but condition is his trademark. He consistently turns up peeled to the bone and is very much a bodybuilder’s bodybuilder – someone respected by his peers for his quiet determination in making the most of his ability.
By the turn of the decade Steve had established himself as a consistent performer on the international stage and finally the medals came his way when he struck gold at the European Championships and gold in London at the new amateur Olympia, which was held in conjunction with the British Grand Prix. In the last year Steve has also finished sixth at the World Masters and eighth at the amateur Arnold Classic in America. He is now without doubt one of the best middleweight bodybuilders in the world,
Although he has come a long way and travelled around the world, Steve still lives and trains where he grew up in Ballymoney. He works out at Sam’s Gym, which is owned by his brother and caters for all kinds of iron athletes. “There are several world champion powerlifters there, including my brother Sam, who is seven-time GPC World Powerlifting Champion, many national powerlifting champions and several national and international strongmen,” says Steve, who works as a chief engineer for a tobacco manufacturer and as a personal trainer.
He is not averse to heavy lifting himself. “Over the years I’ve trained heavy and in the earlier years I must admit I did sacrifice form for more weight, but in the past few years I have concentrated more on keeping my form right and getting the mind-muscle connection with every movement,” he says. “I still train as heavy as possible but only whilst keeping my form correct. I will only cheat on my reps when I fail with correct form, to give me a few more forced reps.”
Steve usually does three exercises per bodypart for most muscle groups. Each exercise consists of three working sets of 10 to 12 reps each. “For complex muscle groups, such as back, I will perform maybe five exercises,” he says. “My form is always good and most working sets are to failure, with one or two forced reps if possible. My reps are all done slowly, without any bouncing to ensure I get the maximum contraction with each rep. I follow this for approximately eight weeks, until my gains slow or stop then I change to possibly high intensity training, FST-7 or giant sets. I feel this keeps me fresh and keeps the stimulus for growth active.”
Although training is obviously important, Steve attributes his success relatively late in life to a new approach to nutrition. “With good nutrition, supplementation and smarter training methods I am making better gains than I actually did many years ago when I was competing as a junior. I only wish I had used these methods years ago,” he says.
The daily meal plan he describes kicks in about eight weeks before a competition. “This will be the same for six days a week and on the seventh day I will usually have a high carb day, increasing my carbs by approximately 30% and adding a steak meal too. Consistency is what a diet is all about: never missing a meal and never cheating. If you have a cheat meal in your diet, enjoy it, but never cheat at any other time – the only guy that you are cheating is yourself and it will be evident when you stand onstage. There are guys that have a cheat day and it seems to work okay for them but I find that the diet that I use works well for me, and I can always get great condition with it so ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.”
To aid fat loss, Steve walks briskly for 45 minutes. “I have a Husky, so it keeps me at a decent pace,” he says. “All my cardio is done on an empty stomach upon rising in the mornings before meal 1. In the offseason, I do two cardio sessions per week but as a competition gets closer I add more morning sessions until about six weeks out I am doing 45 minutes every morning. As I work 12-hour shifts in my main job, and start work at 6.00 am on my working days I have to be out on the roads by 4.30 am in order to have time to complete my cardio and have my first meal before driving to work.”
Steve has become one of the most successful bodybuilders in Irish history. He was the first Irishman to compete at the amateur Arnold Classic and the first to win an IFBB European Championship. But the highlight for him was becoming the first winner from the UK at the first amateur Olympia in March this year. “What made it even sweeter was the fact that on the morning of the competition we were told that there were not enough competitors in the 80 kg class to make it a valid IFBB competition and that if we were to compete we would have to compete in the under-85 kg category. So I was giving away 5 kg to the other competitors and to still come out on top was a mind-blowing experience.”
The hunger still burns. “I’m back in the gym again trying to get those gains I need and want to fulfil my next goal, which is to win the IFBB World Masters in December,” he says.
Steve’s success has helped to raise the profile of bodybuilding in Northern Ireland, where the sport is enjoying a bit of a renaissance. “In recent years it has gone from strength to strength with many top class international and national competitors coming to the fore in all federations,” he says. “The depth of quality athletes is always improving and the number of competitors is always on the rise with many gyms opening and memberships increasing.” He wants to see more Irish bodybuilders compete at international level like he has. “As an international competitor for the UKBFF I can testify to how proud you feel to stand on that stage, representing your country,” he says.
Another way Steve promotes the sport is by organising the UKBFF Northern Ireland qualifier, which is on 2nd July this year. “This will be our fourth year of holding this qualifier and every year so far we have increased our competitor numbers and the number of athletes competing at the UKBFF finals,” he says. He also mentors competitors and prepares them for contests. It’s a busy schedule but one he enjoys and, although he is now a Master, he shows little sign of slowing up.
NUTRITION AND DIET
“In years gone by, I was much the same as most guys and used the offseason as an excuse to get fat, bulking up on fatty foods and letting my bodyweight go up to crazy levels. It left my precontest diets a struggle and I always craved sweet things. After my comeback in 2005, I contacted a few IFBB pros for advice and I also researched and educated myself on nutrition. Since then I have revised my nutritional plan and I now eat pretty clean all year-round, I eat the same foods that I do on my precontest diet but in greater quantities and seasoned with a few sauces etc. I have found that nutrition is the key part of the whole equation that I was missing. By eating quality foods even in the offseason, my gains have been much better and I stay much leaner than I was in the past, probably about 6 kg to 8 kg over my competition weight. I use a 14-week diet plan to prepare for competition, which means only changing little things in my diet and I lose minimal amounts of fat each week. By doing this I maintain my strength throughout the diet and keep the muscles full and hydrated.
On supplementation, through my sponsor Complete Gyms, I have worked with Dr Eric Serrano from Columbus, Ohio, on the health aspects such as keeping my blood oxygenated and my pH levels neutral so my supplements and nutrition work to their full potential. Recently I have also started working with Shaun Davis and Dinosaur Nutrition and I’m finding his products fantastic and they are helping me to keep my gains progressing.”
Typical Daily Meal Plan
MEAL 1
Oats
Whey isolate
Crushed walnuts
MEAL 2
2 rice cakes
Turkey
MEAL 3
Oats
Whey isolate
Crushed walnuts
MEAL 4
2 rice cakes
Turkey
MEAL 5
Boiled brown rice
Turkey
Broccoli
Fish oil or nut oil
MEAL 6
Postworkout protein shake
MEAL 7
Boiled brown rice
Turkey
Asparagus
Fish oil or nut oil
MEAL 8
Casein protein shake
Competition History
1990
Nabba Northern Ireland, Junior, 3rd
Nabba Ireland, Junior, 3rd
1993
NIWBF Mr. Ulster, Novice, 1st
1995
NIWBF Northern Ireland Championships, Under 70 kg, 1st
1996
NIWBF Northern Ireland Championships, Under 80 kg, 4th
2005
NIBBF Northern Ireland Championships, Under 87.5 kg and overall, 1st
IFBB European Championships, Under 80 kg, 6th
IFBB World Championships, Under 80 kg, 16th
2006
IFBB European Championships, Under 75 kg, 8th
IFBB World Championships, Under 80 kg, 16th
2007
UKBFF British Championships, Under 80 kg, 3rd
IFBB World Championships, Under 80 kg, 16th
2008
IFBB European Championships, Under 85 kg, 9th
UKBFF British Championships, Under 80 kg, 4th
IFBB World Championships, Under 80 kg, 16th
2009
UKBFF British Championships, Under 80 kg, 3rd
2010
IFBB European Masters Championships, Under 80 kg, 1st
UKBFF British Championships, Under 80 kg, 8th
IFBB World Masters Championships, Under 80 kg, 6th
2011
IFBB Amateur Arnold Classic, Under 80 kg, 8th
IFBB Amateur Mr. Olympia, Under 85 kg, 1st
Training split
MONDAY
Chest and biceps
TUESDAY
Quads and calves
WEDNESDAY
Off
THURSDAY
Delts, triceps and abs
FRIDAY
Off
SATURDAY
Back, hamstrings and rear delts
SUNDAY
Off
Training programme
MONDAY
Chest
Incline dumbbell press: 3 warm-up sets then 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Flat dumbbell press: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Pec deck, incline flyes or weighted dip: 3 sets x 12 to 15 reps
Biceps
Dumbbell curl: 3 warm-up sets then 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Barbell curl: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps (straight bar)
Hammer dumbbell curl: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
TUESDAY
Quads
Squat: 3 warm-up sets then 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Hack squat: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Extension: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Calves
Standing calf raise: 3 warm-up sets then 4 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Seating calf raise: 4 sets x 10 to 12 reps
THURSDAY
Delts
Dumbbell press: 3 warm-up sets then 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Military press: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Side-lateral raise: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Triceps
Close-grip pushdown: 3 warm-up sets then 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
French press (skullcrushers): 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Close-grip bench press: 3 sets x 10 reps
Abdominals
Sit-up: 3 sets x 15 to 20 reps
Machine crunch: 3 sets x 15 to 20 reps
SATURDAY
Back
Wide-grip pulldown: 3 warm-up sets then 3 sets x 10-12 reps
Reverse-grip pulldowns 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Cable row: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Deadlift: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Hyperextension: 3 sets x 15 to 20 reps
Dumbbell shrug: 3 sets x 10 reps
Hamstrings
Leg curl: 3 warm-up sets then 3 sets x 10 reps
Standing single-leg curl: 3 sets x 10 reps
Rear Delts
Bentover flye: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Reverse pec deck flye: 3 sets x 10 to 12 reps
Additional Images
