By Gary Chappell
AS Yinka Majolagbe hones in on the 2026 212 Olympia he has revealed the one thought that drives him on relentlessly: "The fear of waking up one morning and not being like this any more."
"People always ask me what gets me through that mental state and I always say the same thing – you have to be a little bit crazy to do bodybuilding," said Yinka, invited by Kevin Levrone to speak at one of his seminars.
"A normal person doesn't wake up every day for 16 weeks eating fish, broccoli and rice. You have to enjoy it. And I do. I enjoy the suffering.
"My biggest fear is waking up one morning and not being like this anymore, because bodybuilding gave me purpose.
"Whether I win a show or lose a show isn't really the point. The point is seeing myself through the process. The real achievement is surviving a contest prep."
That mentality was built through a library of VHS cassettes, portraying all-action heroes.
You see, long before he became an IFBB Pro or an Olympia competitor, he was a young boy growing up in Nigeria watching Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme films his father had recorded in the UK and shipped home.
"I came here when I was 13 years old," said Yinka. "My dad used to tape a lot of the movies from here [UK] – the Arnold movies, the Sylvester Stallone movies, Van Damme – and ship them home [to Nigeria]. So those were my TV programs.
"Not knowing it at the time, he [my dad] was fuelling me with seeing these guys with muscles. A lot of my toys were guys with muscles as well."
Like so many children, Yinka wanted to be like the heroes he watched on screen. Unlike most, that fascination never disappeared.
"When I came here [UK] I played basketball for a couple of years," he said. "Then I thought, 'You know what? Let me try and work out,' because I still remembered wanting to look like Arnold and people like that.
"I was very obsessed about being able to work out my biceps."
That obsession led him into the gym in 2011, but stepping on to a bodybuilding stage was not part of the plan. And it took some convincing from friends before he would even consider competing.
"They kept telling me, 'Man, you should give competing a shot'. And I was just like, 'Hell no. I'm not wearing those f***ing posing trunks'."
Eventually, curiosity won. And, like countless bodybuilders before him, he decided to give it a try.
Fortunately, Men's Physique had only recently emerged, making the transition feel a little less daunting.
"At the time Men's Physique had just come onto the scene," he said. "It felt a bit safer."
Ironically, it did not take long before people thought he was already too muscular for the division.
"I remember doing a Men's Physique show in 2018 and someone backstage said to me, 'You're too big for Men's Physique'. I was just like, 'What'? But looking back at those photos now... I was a big guy."
Yet the mindset that would eventually carry him to the Olympia was not forged in the gym, it began much earlier.
Yinka spent much of his childhood in boarding school in Nigeria, where independence was not encouraged – it was expected.
"I was in boarding school from about seven until I was 11," he said. "You had to grow up fast. Every morning they'd inspect your nails. If they weren't clean, you'd get punished. You'd come back from school and someone might have broken into your locker and taken your food. You just learned to survive."
His father was not around for much of his upbringing, leaving him to develop a fierce sense of self-reliance.
"I didn't really have my dad in the house until I was about 18, so I kind of learned everything for myself," he said
Looking back, he believes those experiences created the mentality bodybuilding demands. That mentality extends beyond bodybuilding.
"I'm a guy that has many talents," he said. "I was a keyboard player in a band. I've toured around the world."
Music remains a passion today and his ability behind a piano still surprises people.
"I play by ear, so I can pretty much play anything I hear."
When it's suggested that many people probably don't know that about him, he laughs.
"Maybe one day I'll show it online."
And his creativity did not stop there. "I used to style guys for weddings," he said. "I wanted them to look good. Somebody has to pop."
Looking back, he admits none of those ventures fulfilled him in quite the same way.
"I had so many talents, but none of them ever really got to the top level."
So, in 2020, he made a decision.
"I said, 'You know what? I'm going to go all in'. And within three years I turned pro. Then in 2025 I qualified for the Olympia. It's crazy."
Considering where it all began, perhaps it is. From a young boy in Nigeria inspired by taped Schwarzenegger films, to standing among the world's best physique athletes, Yinka's story is about far more than building muscle. It is about purpose, resilience and discovering that the same hardships which once forced him to grow up became the very qualities that allowed him to chase bodybuilding's biggest stage.
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