Most former IFBB Men's Physique competitors do not talk on the record about why they stopped competing. Steve Cook does. The conversation below, recorded in January 2024, when Cook was 38, is his retrospective on the trade he refused to make: the four-or-five-compound stack required to win at Olympia level, and the realisation that becoming…
Dr Max Pemberton Dr Max Pemberton is medical doctor, journalist and author. He works full-time as a psychiatrist in the National Health Service, specialising in eating disorders and addiction. He has written multiple best-selling books, including Trust me, I’m A (Junior) Doctor; Where Does it Hurt?; and The Marvellous Adventure of Being Human. He lives…



