Roger Walker: Mr. Australia 1973

Roger Walker began training at 17 years of age. He never had any instruction or good equipment. In a way it was good because he had to find out the hard way what was good for him. It took a few years to make any progress. At that time he was in the Armed Services and was doing a lot of physical training which helped him to adapt. He never felt sore as he was into exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, etc.

At that time he weighed around 170 pounds. He was not thin. He had a fairly solid frame to work with but was a slow gainer.

His first contest was about when he was 20. He was training haphazardly and weighed around 190. He entered the Mr. South Britain and the Mr. South East Britain and placed 4th both. In fact he still have one of the trophies!

Roger Walker went to sea for three years and it was not until he was 23 that he entered his next show. He placed 2nd in the South Britain and won it the year after. 

That brought it up to 1972, then he entered the NABBA Mr. Britain and placed 3rd. His nest two shows he entered and won. They were the IFBB Mr. Great Britain and Mr. United Kingdom. Then he came to Australia in March, 1973.

The 1973 Mr. Australia in Queensland, he won this title, Clyde Bird was second and Bill Robertson from Perth was third.

Roger Walker Workout Routine
He used to train six days a week, a double split routine, one body part in the morning and one later afternoon as he was working during the day. But he has changed his training as he grew older. He was not using heavy weights anymore like he used to do. He applied strict form, shorter rest periods, more super sets up to 12 reps and cocnentrated on the action. He trained up to 2 hours.

Diet
He ate 3 times a day. He has natural bran (fiber) mixed with natural yogurt and 3-4 eggs along with his supplements RNA/DNA, stress formula organic mineral and 200 mg. of calcium abscorbate. This is his early morning meal. Sometimes he did have lunch. Lunch: Small chicken salad and maybe a fruit salad in the afternoon.
Evening meal: Tuna with a few slices of wholegrain bread. The vitamins and supplements he took are vitamin E, B15, a special brand of ginseng (eleutherococcus senticosus). He took his own liquid protein and his protein powder. He attributed these for his vast improvement.

For the Mr. Olympia contest 1980 he did not have any preparation routines. According to Walker he kept his body in shape all year around. 

Roger Walker’s key for success

Roger: ” You have to have ‘tunnel vision’. There are a lot of distractions you have to overcome such as relationships. You have to destroy your motivation. You have to deny yourself little pleasures continually, not just a short term basic so may that’s why bodybuilding has a lot of dropouts because it is a long term project and has to be attacked as such, for example it takes a pianist ten years before he reaches concert standard, then surely bodybuilding is no different.”

Roger Walker best lifts
Standing press, 5 reps with 300lb, 3 reps with 330
Benchpress 1x 490lb
Full Squat: 600lb
Alternate Dumbbell Curls 100lb

Measurements
Weight 240lb
Chest 55″
Arm 19″
Thigh 28″
Calf 17 1/2″