David Henry

Name: David Henry

Nickname: D.H.

Date of birth: February 24, 1975

Height: 5’5″

Off-season weight: 230

Contest weight: 202

Current residence: Tucson, Arizona

Years training: 13 (“seriously for eight”)

Occupation: Pro bodybuilder, U.S. Air Force

Marital status: Married to Nicki

Children: Alyssa, 15

Hobbies: “Riding my motorcycle, taking my guns to the shooting range and playing my drums.”

How did you get into bodybuilding? “I was a track-and-field athlete in high school and was extremely lean and muscular. At age 16 I competed in my first bodybuilding contest, long before I’d even lifted my first weight, and placed third in the men’s novice lightweight division. That told me that I probably had pretty decent potential.”
Who inspired you when you were starting out? “My brother and I had that huge book, Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. The photos of him in that book were what really made me want to take my own physique to that level one day.”

Top titles: ’02 NPC National Middleweight champ; ’05 Mr. Olympia Wildcard Showdown champ; ’07 Mr. Olympia, 10th; ’08 Tampa Pro, 202-and-Under champ
Favorite bodypart to train: Chest or shoulders

Favorite exercises: Hammer Strength incline presses, up-the-rack dumbbell lateral raises

Least favorite exercise: “Deadlifts from the floor. Structurally, I’m not suited for that movement. I do rack deadlifts instead, and my back has responded quite well.”

Best bodypart: Back

Most challenging bodypart: Outer-quad sweep

Obstacles overcome: “I’ve always been very hard on myself, very critical. I used to get pretty worked up and stressed because I wasn’t satisfied with my physique and demanded more, but I’ve tried to relax a bit in recent years while still making improvements.”

Do you have a philosophy you try to live by? “Treat others the way you would like to be treated. The world would be a much nicer place if everybody simply did that.”

How do you stay motivated? “Now that I’m in the public eye, I have people telling me that they have been inspired to achieve goals by what I have done, that they look up to me. I don’t want to let them down by being anything less than what I can be, and I don’t want to let myself down.”

How would you describe your training style? “Since I turned pro, I’ve been following D.C. training, and I’m coached personally by its creator, Dante. The cornerstone of the program is brief workouts using heavy weights and mostly rest/pause sets, striving to increase the resistance over time. A stronger muscle is a bigger muscle, and I’ve used D.C. training to go from 175 to about 205 pounds.”

Training split: “Day 1, chest, shoulders, triceps; day 2, back and biceps; day 3, legs. I train four days a week, so whatever bodyparts I train first that week also get hit at the fourth workout. Every grouping of bodyparts is trained once a week for two weeks, then twice a week on the third week on this type of rotation.”

Favorite clean meal: Ground turkey and jasmine rice

Favorite cheat meal: “Chicken wings, bratwurst, whatever I can throw on the grill. And I may have a Sam Adams or two while I’m grilling.”

What’s your favorite supplement, and why? “Without question I would say GAKIC by MuscleTech. I’ve been using GAKIC since it first became available a couple years ago, and the results have been phenomenal. It enhances strength, and that’s priceless to me because the way I train is based on getting stronger.”

Goals in the sport: “My main goal used to be to place in the top 10 at the Mr. Olympia, which I did. Now that the IFBB has instituted the 202 class, my goal is to be the best 202-pound bodybuilder in the world. I am glad they have provided this option for those of us who will never be quite as large and heavy as Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman.” IM