Muscle & Fitness magazine’s website has published the recent exclusive question and answer interview they did with Vince McMahon, who recently appeared on the cover of a recent issue. You can read a few highlights below:
Vince McMahon Talks WWE’s corporate gym, the expected behavior:
I consider the gym church. It’s sacred ground. When you walk in there, you walk in with respect, and everyone is welcome. It doesn’t matter what your body type is. But if you’re screaming and growling and dropping your weights, I’ll show you the door. Stay away from the muscleheads who are growling. That’s not allowed in my gym. Another thing that’s not allowed in my gym are cell phones.
Vince on how he views diets and nutrition:
I look at eating as fuel. I’m not that conscious of the protein I eat, but I know it’s a lot. I think cheat meals are very important, so I do it about once a week. When you cheat, go for it. It’s important from a psychological standpoint. Oreos are my favorite cookie. I’ll eat an entire box. And my philosophy is that the body can assimilate only so much in a given time. If you have two or three Oreos every day, not good. But if you eat an entire package of Oreos at one time, it’s OK. It just passes through. I’ll eat pasta loaded up with meat sauce. Pizza. All the carbs you stay away from normally, load ’em up. I will gorge. It’s almost like I will force-feed myself on a cheat meal. And afterward I think, “Oh, my God, I don’t want to feel like this.” So it gets me back in the frame of mind immediately after the digestive process to do the right thing.
Vince’s view on turning 70:
Age really doesn’t have anything to do with it. I’ll be 70 in August. I had a personal best a few weeks ago on the incline Hammer Strength machine. I did five reps with 450. It’s important to make gains, but it’s important to be safe. If you have an injury in the gym, it sets you back so much it’s not worth whatever gain you were going to make. That’s why strict form is so important. It’s about form, not the weight.
How Vince sees the ‘Mr. McMahon’ heel boss character:
I grew up dirt poor. When you’re in that class, a lower economic class, everyone is, quote, “above you.” And there were a number of individuals who thought they were above me because of their economic situation. It always bugged me that people would think they were better than me. I developed a philosophy that no one’s better than me, and at the same time I’m no better than anyone else. Even though I am one, I don’t associate with rich people, generally speaking. I don’t belong to country clubs. It was easy for me to feel that [Mr. McMahon character] psychologically. As far as being mean, my background is a varied one. I had a violent stepfather. It was easy for me to feel what that was like. Really, I’m more like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin—I’m the common man. To this day I am. I drive a nice car and what have you, but I think one of the keys to WWE’s success, quite frankly, is that I remain who I am.
