OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE

Dedication is key when it comes to body-building. The obsession with perfection is an all-consuming mantra, 24-7, 365. Endlessly focusing on your plyometric exercise and your progressive resistance, building sharp definition beneath your onion skin.

A key facet is the idea of the overload principle – applying a greater load than normal to a muscle to increase its capability, a concept that has a clear crossover to the car tuning scene. This is something Al Smyth appreciates all too well, being a former body-builder “I competed up to professional Mr Universe standard,” he explains. “I was Mr Northern Ireland twice, Mr Britain, and a Mr Universe