Patrik Herčzík is the first Czech to compete at the Classic Physique Olympia!

I had the honour to interview a great bodybuilder Patrik Herčzík, who competes in the Classic Physique category and most of us can only dream of a season like the one he is currently experiencing! He won his pro card at the EVLS Prague Amateur competition and shortly afterwards he signed a partnership directly with the EVLS team. Now that he's among the pros, he decided to show up at the next EVLS Prague Pro and dominated again, securing a nomination for the most prestigious event of all, the Olympia! Patrik works as a personal trainer at Max Fitness Lužiny in Prague and during this work he prepares with the help of another professional bodybuilder Miroslav Juricek, who competes in the Men's Physique category. Below I have written Patrik's answers to the questions you are most interested in.

EVLS Prague Pro

EVLS Prague Amateur

What are Patrick's feelings before the Olympics?

It's a great honour for me to be the first Czech to be nominated for the Olympia in the Classic Physique category and I really hope I won't disappoint you all. Sometimes I think about it and I think to myself that it is not possible. This has always been my dream and now I will really go there and compare myself with the best of the best. You know, I look at all these guys like Chris Bumsted and Terence Ruffin on social media and now I'm going to be there with them. Massacre, but I've got my feet on the ground and I'm hoping to at least get in that top 20 or top 10. We also have to remember that there's a bit of politics involved in this competition and they won't just let someone from Europe in, but that's obviously no excuse. Definitely something to look forward to though, because I'm planning a big change now and I want to come to the boards with the same weight as I do now at EVLS Pro, but with the hardness and dryness as I do at EVLS Amateur! Anyway, I want to bring you closer to the journey and everything involved through some of my vlogs, so stay tuned."

What's the journey going to be like and who is he even going with?

At first I was worried about how it was going to be and that I would be going on my own, but being on the EVLS team there will be a whole bunch of us going, both racers like Michal Krizanek and guys from the team and I'm also taking my girlfriend and I to make it a bit of a pre-Christmas trip. We're flying early because Olympia weekend is in Las Vegas and after a long flight and jet lag I need to straighten up. Ono when you sit on a plane for that amount of time, it throws off your body's water retention a bit and I need to have enough time to get used to the climate here.

Is he managing to train clients while also doing another third training session in a row?

What can I tell you, just getting ready after getting my pro card for the EVLS Pro was a very long time and now I have another six or seven weeks to prepare for the most important event of my career, so it's definitely not easy for me, but when you love it, there's nothing to worry about! Luckily, I'm okay with coaching clients in preparation, as I only keep a handful of clients afterwards who are sympathetic and know that it's not easy for me at the end of that preparation, but I'm still able to practice with them and at least tell them what to do and stuff. Sometimes it's such a crisis that I don't even have the strength to put the reels on the bar anymore, but that's why I keep, as I mentioned, only the ones who understand me. I'm going through some big changes now, both in practice and other things, so I'm curious to see how it all fits together. I have such a looser regimen now to rest my mind as well, because holding everything for so long is really exhausting and I felt the need for it. I think everyone should indulge in some deload where you take a break from the hard workouts, dieting and such. This is just a momentary thing though, then of course I'll jump in and get it going!

It is well known that Patrik is very good at posing, but what are his plans for the future?

You know, when I was little I used to watch my dad practising and I was inspired by him. I had my mom make me a swimsuit tag when I was five years old and I was posing and competing, so somewhere in there at an early age maybe that "mind connection" that's very important in posing deepened. But of course it didn't come by itself, the posing is worth the hours spent in front of the mirror and observing yourself. It also gives me a lot that I watch a lot of fighters who are not so successful competitors, but are mega good at posing. However, if anyone wants to fine tune their posing, it's no problem to contact me and we'll fine tune it together. This will also charge up my plans for the future. Somewhere in my head I have a nice idea that I would like to do posing seminars and to raise it to a higher level in the Czech Republic, because here it is still a bit behind in our Classic Physique category and I believe that I have found a hole in the market and there are those among you who would appreciate my help. I hope that thanks to the EVLS team I will succeed one day. I also plan to do these instructional videos where I show a pose with a cross that you don't do it that way and then the correct way to do it with a pipe, so I hope it will have a positive response among you.