Hunter Labrada was candid about his future and feelings about the sport of bodybuilding. Taking to a recent YouTube video on November 6, 2024, Labrada shared his retirement timeline, his doubts about winning the Mr. Olympia, and why bodybuilders today are more conditioned than those from the 1990s.
Hunter Labrada is the son of bodybuilding veteran Lee Labrada. He proved himself multiple times atop the esteemed Mr. Olympia stage with his best finish coming in 2021 when he took fourth place. To earn his way back to the latest Olympia Weekend, he presented an all-time best look overseas at the 2024 Promuscle Italy Pro show.
Having refined his posing skills and corrected gut health issues, Labrada felt optimistic ahead of the 2024 Mr. Olympia. Although he impressed during the prejudging rounds, Labrada ended the show in sixth place. With time to breathe after the performance, Labrada opened up on the direction of his career and gave specifics on when he plans to step away from competing.
Hunter Labrada Sets Retirement Timeline, Unsure If Mr. Olympia Win Is ‘In The Cards,’ Wants to Preserve His Health
According to Labrada, he’ll have accomplished all he’s capable of within two or three years.
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“Not to say I don’t feel fulfilled from bodybuilding but as far as competitive bodybuilding goes, in another two years, three years, I’ll have done everything that I’m capable of doing.”
He hopes to retire and doesn’t want to ruin his health for the sake of competing longer than he should.
“I never want to be one of those delusional guys that continues to run their head into the wall and ruins their health and ruins their relationships and at the end of the day, it just ends up being a lonely broken bodybuilder. That’s not what I want.”
While he intends to train as if he’ll win Mr. Olympia, Labrada emphasized that he’s unsure if that is ‘in the cards’ for him.
“Until I’m done competitively bodybuilding I’m going to be training like I’m going to win Mr. Olympia but on the other side of that coin, I’ve always been very pragmatic about it.
I know people ahead of me are training that way too and there are some genetic limitations in my physique that other physiques ahead of mine don’t have. So, I don’t know if that’s in the cards. But at the end of the day, bodybuilding is the most miserable sport in the world if you attach yourself to a contest placing.”
He also stressed that bodybuilders today boast better conditioning than those who competed in the 1990s.
“Jim Manion and Tyler Manion, they’ll be the first to tell you that the bodybuilders today are more conditioned than the ones in the 90s. I think it’s for a couple things. A, the cameras have gotten so much better now,” says Labrada. “The cameras in the 90s are almost an Instagram filter with the sharpness and graininess all the way up.”
He specified that decorated IFBB Pros in the 1990s often came into contests out of shape and weren’t always at their best.
People fail to realize is there are pictures of those bodybuilders that we talk about, like Flex Wheeler, Kevin Levrone, Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates – Dorian Yates was never off but a lot of those guys had some absolutely incredible showings but they also showed up out of shape a lot.
Chris Cormier, all these guys that are really really famous in the ’90s and early 2000s are some of the greatest bodybuilders to ever live, but they missed the mark too, regularly.”
“I don’t think it’s correct to say it was just all-in-all better than it is now,” adds Labrada.
There’s no denying that Hunter Labrada has showcased dramatic improvements to his physique. He credits these changes to a dieting overhaul alongside refinements to his posing presentation and training discipline.
Even though he’s unsure if he can win the Mr. Olympia title, Labrada intends to give it his best shot over the next two to three years. In time, fans hope to hear which bodybuilding contest he is scheduled for next.
RELATED: Hunter Labrada Names Top Quad Exercise, Discusses Progressive Overload and Bulking in Off-Season
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