When Patrick Tuor was a young man, he didn’t know where he would end up as an adult. He had a passion for basketball, and wanted to turn professional in that sport. However, his attempt to play in Italy wasn’t successful, and as he told Dennis James on The Menace Podcast, playing in his homeland of Switzerland wasn’t worth it in his eyes.
“I had no intentions to go back and play in Switzerland,” Tuor said. “And, there was no money in it there.”
He discovered lifting weights while playing ball, and he eventually transitioned to bodybuilding. By 1999, he had turned professional, and he was ready to make his pro debut. The contest he entered was the 2000 World Pro Championships in San Marino, Italy, which actually included James, as well as Ronnie Coleman, Gunter Schlierkamp, and Jay Cutler among other competitors. He said that contest served as a wakeup call for what it would take for him to succeed as a pro.
“I really got a slapping,” he said jokingly. Tuor would finish 12th out of 13 men in that contest. “I looked at you guys from the back. I had the best seat in the house.”
Patrick Tuor would compete as an IFBB Pro until 2003, but he knew what he wanted to do going forward – coach others to be their best. When James asked about working with athletes, Tuor said that amateurs make the best clients.
“I think obviously amateurs are easier to work with and are more eager to learn,” he explained. “I think it makes it more fun in a way because you’re a bigger reason why they are successful or are to become successful.”
Tuor is also very well-known and respected in the pro ranks. He has worked with many athletes in his career. Among his most famous clients is Iain Valliere, who was considered a rising star in the sport. James asked what Tuor does when it comes to working with a professional of that caliber. Aside from learning about how the competitor got to where he is at that point, Tuor tries to find ways to improve on top of that.
“You try to go with what you have in front of you, and make small changes,” he shared. When it came to working with Valliere, Tuor focused on bringing up body parts that both athlete and coach felt were lacking.
“From the beginning, I think that was our strategy, bringing up certain body parts, prioritizing them in training. The second work was that we need to be bigger. He had traditionally been somebody that was easy to get into condition, but then to be one of the top contenders, (Valliere) was lacking a little bit of that size.”
How did the duo make that happen? In short, eating big and training heavy turned out to be the keys to the Canadian’s success.
“And so that’s what we’ve been working on offseason is trying to get in progressively more food, making sure he gets stronger and make sure he gets just overall bigger, not just you know, focusing on weaker body parts.”
The strategy and worked paid off for Valliere. He won two pro shows in 2021, finished as the runner-up at the 2021 Arnold Classic, and placed 7th at the 2021 Olympia. He’s now one of the elites in the IFBB Pro League, and is automatically considered a contender for the title at any shows he enters.
As for Patrick Tuor, he and James talk about his fluency in four languages, his journey to become an IFBB Pro after winning several amateur shows, and more.
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