Tom Platz. History and biography.
Tom Platz is a fairly well-known bodybuilder. Despite the fact that in his “pockets” you will not find titles such as “Mr. Olympia” or “Mr. America”, his name is still kept on the lips of a huge number of bodybuilding fans.
Tom Platz was born on June 26, 1955 in one of the US states – Oklahoma. When the boy was 10 years old, the parents did not want their son to sit just like that, they made a decision – let Tom start playing sports. They purchased simulators and a detailed training manual for the famous Joe Weider – the man who founded the prestigious Mr. Olympia tournament. Tom was so fired up by a new hobby that he devoted all his free time to him.
The trainings continued, but so far only at the amateur level. Tom’s body slowly began to take on an athletic shape. Soon, quite by accident, a magazine came across the boy’s eyes, which featured bodybuilder Dave Draper. Tom literally fell in love with his muscles, he immediately wanted to become like this bodybuilder. And here, perhaps, we can give the beginning of the report, when Tom seriously decided to take up bodybuilding.
Some time passed, the guy matured and decided to move to live in California. And this is no coincidence – there he trained with the same man from the cover, Dave Draper. In addition to him, Tom was also a student of the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger. Through communication with Mr. Olympia, he learned a lot from him.
Looking at Tom Platz, you involuntarily pay attention to his legs – they are so pumped up that the question immediately arises: how does he put on jeans or trousers, do they really not tear? In fact, some curiosities in the life of an athlete are connected with this case – since he really could not fit into jeans, and all the trousers he put on immediately diverged at the seams, he had to put on “sweatpants” and walk only in them. Yes, apparently Tom’s most favorite exercises were squats. By the way, I would like to note that his training system can truly be called extreme – he hung six 20-kilogram pancakes on each side of the barbell and began to squat with such a weight until almost completely “passed out”. Of course, such training led to the fact that his muscles constantly ached with pain, but the athlete did not pay any attention to this. His main goal was to become the best in bodybuilding.
When Tom took part in the Mr. Olympia tournament, the judges often reprimanded him about his legs – they said that he had violated the rules of proportion. By the way, the athlete for the entire time of participation in this competition did not manage to win the main title. For your information: in 1981 he took only 3rd place, in 1982 – 6th place, in 1984 – 9th place, in 1985 – 7th place, in 1986 – 11th place.
After retiring from professional sports, Tom devoted himself to acting. He began acting in films. Basically, directors offered him the roles of detectives or gangsters. This did not bother the athlete at all.
While Platz was engaged in acting, his wife opened a fitness center. And then all of Tom’s experience and knowledge was useful to him – he began to train the visitors of the club. A little later, he joined the International Association of Sports Sciences, becoming the head of the bodybuilding department.