Mikk Raudsepp: an honest bodybuilding journey
Mikk Raudsepp didn’t arrive in bodybuilding through a grand plan. The gym simply got under their skin, coaches saw potential, and a young man who had once believed he needed at least 5-8 years of training before competing ended up on stage.
This story sums up the path from the gym at Jüri Gymnasium to the Zelluloos gym, then under Ott Kiivikas’s guidance and on to the international stage. The tone is honest: it has goals, a tough diet, supplements, and the moment when a person admits flatly: “I eat like an animal.”
Mikk Raudsepp and the road to bodybuilding
Mikk Raudsepp was busy building their body, in other words, bodybuilding. By the time of the interview they had four hard-working years behind them. The beginning wasn’t complicated or cinematic. A brother had dragged them along to the gym a few times, and it suited them. When a new sports complex was finished at Jüri Gymnasium, where they spent the last three grades, they started training regularly in the school gym.
At first they took a program from fitness and just started going at it. During the summer break that same year, they moved to the Zelluloos gym. There they caught the eye of Richard Land, who made a surprising suggestion: try competing in bodybuilding.
The yes didn’t come easily at first. Mikk was still only 17 and competed in the juniors the first time. They even remembered a thought they’d had about a month before the offer: “I need to train for at least 5-8 years before I go and compete.” But life had other plans. As Mikk colorfully put it, the wolves smelled a wandering lamb, smeared it brown and sent it onto the stage.
Mikk Raudsepp, the coach and the biggest achievement
Their coach was Ott Kiivikas. That name means a lot in Estonian bodybuilding. For a young athlete, it meant training was no longer just casually going to the gym, but work with a clear direction.
The biggest athletic achievement was 3rd place at the 2009 World Championships in the Junior Open Classic category. That’s no small line on a CV. Especially considering that the road to the stage began in a school gym and with an uncertain thought about whether they were ready at all.
The goal for the future was clear: to win a medal in the men’s division at the European Championships. Mikk spoke about it in big terms, but not as a promise plucked from thin air. The idea was simple: a goal has to be big yet realistic, and the thirst to fulfill it has to be unquenchable.
How does bodybuilding condition really come about?
Competition condition doesn’t come from a nice plan alone. Mikk described the end of the cutting phase as the hardest part. Training sessions get longer and more frequent, there’s too little time, and everything piles up at once. Emotions, fatigue, everyday life. Sometimes it feels like you’re one big tangled ball of yarn.
You don’t go out. You have no energy for socializing. You live largely inside yourself. This is an important, honest point, because from the outside, stage condition often looks like nothing more than a shining moment. The real work happens before it, often in near silence.
Was bodybuilding a job or a hobby for them? Their answer was “neither.” It was a hobby back when they weren’t yet competing. They couldn’t call it a job either, because it didn’t bring in any cash. It was more of a lifestyle where the goal drives the day.
Mikk Raudsepp on motivation and nutrition
By their own account, they had excess energy. If they couldn’t do something physical for a while, they became restless. Motivation was kept up by a mental picture: how they’d move big piles of iron in the future, what the competition moment would look like and what they wanted to achieve.
When it came to nutrition and supplements, the picture was concrete. In the morning they took vitamins and Fast joint support. Before training they used Fast “Pump+” and after training Fast “Muscle+”, to which they added Fast “Dextro”. Because of post-competition hunger, they ate a bit more than necessary for a while, but otherwise the rhythm was regular: 5 times a day. Within the Fast team, they had received quite a detailed overview of nutrition.
On rest, they said they usually don’t need much “me time.” They like to move and do something active. During the cutting phase, though, a need for quieter recovery did appear. Then they would fill the bathtub with hot water and bring something to read.
Advice for beginner athletes
To a young beginner, Mikk’s first recommendation was to go and talk to a coach. When reading on the internet, they said, you need a very strong filter to tell noise from melody. That’s as important now as it was then: there’s a lot of information, but not all of it gets you anywhere.
Second, they advised setting goals. Third, you have to accept that nothing comes easily. Everything takes sweat, tears and a little love. Sometimes harder times come, but after the first fall you have to get nimbly back on your feet and keep sprinting.
You also need to stock up on patience. Change doesn’t happen overnight. Their comparison is apt: the body is like the Great Wall of China, where you can add only one brick a day. And even then, you shouldn’t be content with everything. Once you’re completely satisfied, there’s supposedly no room left to grow.
https://reporter.kanal2.ee/3525093/mikk-raudsepp-tuli-euroopa-meistriks
FAQ
Who was Mikk Raudsepp’s coach?
Their coach was Ott Kiivikas, one of the best-known names in Estonian bodybuilding.
What was Mikk Raudsepp’s biggest achievement?
They named 3rd place at the 2009 World Championships in the Junior Open Classic category.
What did they recommend to a beginner athlete?
Talk to a coach, set goals, filter what you read on the internet and understand that progress takes patience. Not everything works out 100% every time either, but it’s worth striving for.
Author:Turg.Fitness.ee
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