Pavol Jablonicky is a legendary Czech bodybuilder who has participated in bodybuilding competitions for more than 20 years. His name in the Czech Republic is known even to people who have never had anything to do with bodybuilding, so far none of the Czech bodybuilders that has surpassed his achievements. Jablonicky had the honor to leave behind himself such great bodybuilders as Dexter Jackson, Milos Sartsev and Markus Rühl.
Pavol Jablonicky was born on January 24, 1963 in Borski Mikulash in Slovakia.
Pavol began his sports by playing in a small room at the football stadium Spartak in Hradec Králové. At that time in this city there were no good gyms, no coaches. Pavol did not have a bodybuilding magazine either. All the training schemes he picked up by trial and error, but he turned out to be a talented person and quickly found the methods that worked for him. In addition, Pavol has a great genetics, which he inherited from his father. His father was one of 13 children in the family, and all the brothers were simply huge.
At first, Pavol did not even think about the career of a bodybuilder. When he was offered to take part in competitions, he was indignant: “Is this a joke? Do you want me to go swimming on the stage?”. But still he agreed to attend, and it was the championship of Czechoslovakia. Pavol did not even think about victory, his main idea was not to disgrace himself. Nevertheless, he won. This inspired him so much that he was determined to become a competing bodybuilder. This championship was followed by the 1987 World Championship in Australia. Jablonicky himself recalls: “Then we were not competitive in skin tinting and used Nubian oil and tar, I took 2 bottles with me, but they broke up on the road and their contents poured in. So I went on stage without makeup. The sunburn and the performance was successful. I arrived without oil and became the world champion, my competitors were a little crazy. I won in the most difficult category, having a weight of 92.5 kg, in this category there were athletes with 15-20 kg heavier than me“.
After the Australian victory, Pavol Jablonicky thought about moving to the professionals and in 1989 went to conquer “Olympia”, but did not get into the number of prize-winners. Pavol was broken, in addition to preparing for the “Olympia“, it exhausted him financially. At this moment, Jablonicky received two proposals: to take part in the contest “Ironman” in California, but it was necessary to pay for the road and accommodation, or take part in the “Grand prix of Germany”, where the road was paid and 2 months of residence and training. Pavol accepted the second proposal and it became a turning point in his destiny, because he was going to completely stop his competitive career. At this tournament, Jablonicky takes the 5th place and continues to participate in professional tournaments.
Peak of Jablonicky’s career became in 2003 and 2004, when he won the “Grand Prix of Hungary” for 2 consecutive years. 2004 brought him 11th place at Olympia. Total on the podium of this competition, Jablonicky fought for the title 6 times. His last attend took place in 2011 at the “Florida Masters Pro”.
Pavol trains six days a week twice a day.
First day.
In the morning Pavol trains his chest. Usually the composition of the exercises is as follows: the classic bench press lying in the power frame, the hands in the “butterfly” simulator and the inclined press.
In the afternoon, training biceps and calf muscles. Jablonicky always trains biceps in different ways, sometimes he does purely isolation exercises, sometimes he works in basic exercises on simulators, and sometimes does lifts of a bar or dumbbells of big weight with the use of “cheating”. Caviar swings at first with weight, in 6-8 repetitions to failure, then without a break does another 10-15 repetitions with its own weight to failure. Thus does all four sets. In all exercises, Pavol performs 4 sets of 8 repetitions.
Second day.
In the morning Pavol trains his legs. As Jablonicky himself says, he does not do sit-ups with the barbell; he has a breathing problem. The legs were originally his weak point. In addition, in 1995, Pavol was examined for back problems and found a congenital defect of the spine, doctors forbade him to sit upright. Therefore, he performs as a basic exercise Gakk-sit-ups in the simulator and Presses with his feet. Then follow the extension and bending of the legs.
Evening – training shoulders.
The third day.
In the morning Pavol trains his back. The training begins with the pull of the top block behind the head, then the classic pull-ups are carried out with the usual wide grip. The next exercise is “rowing”, and the final one is the rod pull in the slope or the pull of the dumbbell with one hand.
In the evening – training triceps. Here Jablonicky uses all known exercises, except the French press, from which his elbows hurt.
Jablonicky by nature has a great press, but nevertheless he trains it with two exercises at each workout, with the exception of training on the biceps. Here he has a special point of view: he wants the blood pumped into the biceps to stay there as long as possible, and not pumped into the press. With the press Jablonicky, who is considered one of the best, there was an unpleasant situation on the “Nights of Champions” in 1997. At that time, the leadership of the IFBB decided to change the criteria for judging. On the eve of the introduction of doping tests, it was decided in advance to screen out “chemists”. An experienced judge’s view will always distinguish the “chemist” from the natural by some features: thinned hair over the forehead, pimples on the skin, and the surest sign is a bulging stomach due to water retention in the intestinal tissues. Before the contest, the judges were set up this way: see the “fallen” belly – punish. Innocent victim of this policy suddenly became Jablonicky. He had the imprudence to relax the press a couple of times during an arbitrary pose. This was enough for the judges to push him to the very end of the list of winners. As a result, he got the fifth place and 2 thousand dollars.
Since 2001, Pavol is the owner of his own fitness center “Profi studio Jablonicky”, where he trains himself and trains others. Perhaps, the list of his sports victories is not closed, and he will still appear on the stage.
