Interview with Boris Chimev
Boris Chimev, C.O.R.F.I.T. Bulgaria Assistant Professor, sat down for an interview with Ironman Bulgaria.
by: Ironman Bulgaria
(translated and re—published with the permission of Ironman Bulgaria)
Iron Man:
Tell me about yourself — when were you born, where are you from?
Boris Chimev:
AMy name is Boris Dimitrov Chimev. I’m 39 years old and I was born in Dupnitsa. I’ve been living in Montreal, Canada for 15 years. I’m 178 centimeters tall and I weigh 85 kilograms.
I.M.:How long have you been doing sports and how did you begin?
B.C.:I’ve been doing sports since I was 10. I started with field athletics; I have trained Kyokushinkai Karate and wrestling. In athletics, I competed at 800 meters and at 1500 meters, which helped me get admission to the High Institute of Phyical Culture "Georgi Dimitrov", which is now called "The National Sports Academy Vassil Levski". Julian Karabiberov was my trainer, and our friendship extended over the years.
Boris Chimev sitting in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria.
I.M.:You’ve been in Canada for 15 years, how did you get there?
B.C.:I left Bulgaria in 1990 as a "refugee". Many Bulgarians left then — about 300 I think, flying to Cuba. And then we were lucky to stay in Canada.
I.M.:Are you content with your choice?
B.C.:So far, yes.
I.M.:How do you make a living there?
B.C.:I’m a personal fitness and bodybuilding trainer and a Nutrition Specialist. I created my own company a couple of years ago — Billy Sport. I have 4 personal trainers working for me now. This allowed me to come for two weeks to Bulgaria.
I.M.:You are here with respect to the first C.O.R.F.I.T. course in Bulgaria. How did you get into the C.O.R.F.I.T. structure?
B.C.:I became part of C.O.R.F.I.T. 12 years ago, when I was working in a gym in Montreal. Then I met my teacher Glen Cunningham. I was very much impressed by his knowledge — both theoretical and practical. I decided to take the course, although I already had two other courses behind. But I liked C.O.R.F.I.T. a lot because the scientific theory was sound and the hands—on training was very much accentuated, unlike other courses I had seen.
I.M.:Is this why this course is better than the others? What benefits does it give to the graduates?
B.C.:There are a lot of courses, conducted through the so called system of distant learning, by correspondence. You can’t even see your tutor — does he look good, has he ever entered a gym? You just get a certificate via the Internet and you are allowed to work. I think that nobody would trust a doctor who got his diploma without any practice in medicine.
I.M.:You compete in a discipline that is not very popular in Bulgaria — Body for Life, at which you are the champion of Canada. Tell us some more about that.
B.C.:I was the Champion of Canada for 2000 — there are new champions each year. Body for Life is an international contest. Bill Phillips is the founder of this contest. It is becoming very popular in North America because it allows every person who does bodybuilding to become a competitor. Everyone on the street can be a bodybuilder — it all depends on the approach to the right way of living. In 2000, 40 000 people took part in the contest in Canada. There were 12 categories, divided by age. I became Canadian champion for 2000 in the 33—39 years category. I received a golden ring, 7 000 dollars and 2 years of free everyday supplementation from the company, as well as the right to use every gym in Montreal free of charge.
Boris Chimev (right) strikes a biceps pose with Bulgarian champion Dimitar Dimitrov (left).
I.M.:Is this a discipline which accentuates natural products over drugs?
B.C.:Yes, the company of Bill Phillips — EAS, which created the contest, wants to show that one can look good without using steroids and anabolic hormones. Just with proper nutrition and good supplementation.
I.M.:About the first C.O.R.F.I.T. in Bulgaria, I would like to ask you, do you think that the participants in this first course are well prepared and that the best two, who got invitations for work in Canada, have chances there?
B.C.:They have good chances. They are very well prepared. Usually, the course takes two months and we did it in 15 days, but no topic was sacrificed. The students put in a lot of effort and there were a lot of discussions during the course, which is good, because, as we know — truth is born in discussions. It was interesting for us to see the concepts here in Bulgaria and to compare them to our concepts in Canada. C.O.R.F.I.T. is an American system with its main office in Las Vegas, Nevada. Glen Cunningham now lives in Canada but he teaches in the United States as well. And we wanted to compare North America and Bulgaria.
I.M.:And what is the result of the comparison?
B.C.:Here most of the people accentuate on "chemicals" and anabolic steroids. The people think that bodybuilding creates personal trainers. And this is not true.
I.M.:You mean that, if someone competed, it doesn’t necessarily mean they would make a good personal trainer?
B.C.:Personal trainer doesn’t mean only lifting the bars in the gym. Personal trainer in this sense means someone who can apply correct scientific principles to both aerobic and anaerobic training so that their clients will achieve a healthy physical condition. I saw almost no people over 50 years of age in the gyms here in Bulgaria. I could see no women over 50 years of age at all. I have a female client, who is 72. Most of our clients in Canada are over 40. They don’t want to become bodybuilders — they just want to have a normal, healthy way of life.
I.M.:What are your future intents about the courses in Bulgaria?
B.C.:C.O.R.F.I.T. came to Bulgaria for the first time and because of the success Glen Cunningham is affiliating with Julian Karabiberov for future C.O.R.F.I.T. courses to be taught not only in Bulgaria but also all of Europe. This means, our plans for the future are to come several times a year to Europe, particularly Bulgaria, to teach the course. This way we can offer the students not only the Personal Trainer and Nutrition courses, but the Biomechanics and Teaching courses as well. The teaching conditions in Bulgaria are excellent and we look forward to our return.