In this Fantom Podcast episode, I’m genuinely honoured to sit down with one of my all-time bodybuilding idols, Rich Gaspari — the original “Dragon Slayer” — during Arnold Classic week in Birmingham. We get into how he built his competitive career from the early days, earning his IFBB Pro Card, and what it really took to stand next to monsters like Lee Haney. Rich is brutally honest about why he had to work even harder than the “genetically gifted” guys, and how he set a new standard in conditioning to pave his way to the top. We also talk about how bodybuilding and the supplement industry have changed: social media taking over expos, influencers becoming the new crowd-pullers, and why big brands don’t throw out insane freebies like they used to. Rich breaks down modern judging and conditioning with proper opinions on Hadi Choopan, Derek Lunsford, and Samson Dauda — and why posing and getting truly hard still separates the best from the rest. We finish on longevity, injuries, and knowing when it’s time to step away, plus Rich relaunching Gaspari in the UK and getting back into gyms and stores.