They call Armen Pashikyan "the father of Uzbek bodybuilding." Long before federations, titles and the world stage, he trained a young Timur Sabirov in an ordinary gym and brought him to his first competition. This is the honest story of how it all began.
When there were no competitions
Bodybuilding tournaments were barely held in Uzbekistan. The last one was organised by Daniil Lageda in 2000 — Rustam Fatakhov won it. After that, competitions stopped, and athletes went looking for a stage at tournaments in Kazakhstan.
"We had no federation, but we had to say we did," Armen recalls. With the Uzbek flag, riding a bus through Chernyaevka, they reached Almaty — and Armen became city champion on his very first attempt. It was 2002–2003. A run of wins followed: silver in the overall a couple of times, but the golds kept coming.
How the federation was born
In 2006 Sergey Kozorin suggested opening a federation and putting on a showcase performance. Armen, already an experienced athlete, doubted the level — and decided to bring out his student instead.
"I was preparing Timur Sabirov for the stage at the time. I thought — I'll put Timur out there. He was 18, and his proportions were already excellent."
The two of them prepared, stepped on stage — and simply won. It was the first tournament Armen prepared as a coach. He then began working with the national team: teaching posing, contest prep and a scientific approach — explaining water, salt and carb loading.
100 egg whites a day
Back then there were almost no vitamins or amino acids. They prepared with what they had.
"Timur and I ate 100 egg whites a day. For the last 4 days before a contest we drank no water."
The results spoke for themselves: at 17–18, Timur stepped on stage with 48–49 cm arms in the heavyweight class. Armen himself competed at 93 kg — no amino acids, no growth hormone. Just two sessions a day and a love for the iron.
"Nothing is more dangerous than a happy athlete"
"As Mike Tyson said: there is nothing more dangerous than an athlete who lifts heavy and is happy doing it."
"We didn't train for money or fame," Armen says. "We trained to become better, bigger, stronger. The competition is just the result of our work."
His hand is on all of them
Many now-famous athletes came through Armen's hands. He helped prepare Misha Volynkin for the World Championship — dried him out in three or four days, and he won.
"I'm the guru, I'm the father of Uzbek bodybuilding. That's what they call me. Timur and I invented this whole bodybuilding scene."