Bodybuilder Jeff Seid Talks About His Comeback at the 2024 Natural Olympia

With his boyband style good looks, perfect hair, and chiseled physique, it’s easy to take an instant, if unwarranted dislike to Jeff Seid. But you don’t have to dig too deep before you figure out why this 6-feet-tall social media star has racked up so many loyal fans.

Having recently returned to the bodybuilding stage, the self-professed “King of Aesthetics” is back on his throne after a lengthy layoff, and is more driven than ever as he explained to M&F in this wide-ranging chat covering his future, preferred supplements, attitude towards natural body building, and even a surprise announcement regarding future competition.

Seid was born in Seattle, WA, where he became a high school All-America wrestling champion. He also appeared to have a big future in football ahead of him, before an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury to his left leg required surgery. “That kind of definitely changed my plans for everything,” he tells M&F, explaining that to make things worse, he paid the price for playing basketball just 6-weeks removed from the surgery and tore that same ACL once again.

After finally getting reconstructive surgery, Seid came to the realization that football was out of the equation, but with great genetics and a ripped physique stemming from a love of lifting weights that took off when he received a set for his twelfth birthday, the young upstart decided to focus on bodybuilding.

That decision was met with instant success. He became the youngest IFBB pro ever at the time. At age 19, Seide by beat out more than one hundred other competitors in the National Championships. He soon went on to compete in three Olympia events (2013, 2014, 2016) peaking at 11th place in the Men’s Physique division in 2013. By this time, despite his inability to crack the Olympia top ten, his star was on the rise on social media and he’d amassed a loyal fan base. The bodybuilder now has more than 1.35 million YouTube subscribers, a growing TikTok audience approaching half a million, and an incredible 4.8 million Instagram fans.

Jeff Seid Returned to Bodybuilding and Won the 2024 Natural Olympia

Seid’s return to the stage, some eight years after his last major appearance has understandably caught the imagination of fans and critics alike. Not only did he make his Natural Olympia debut, but he also won gold in the process. Jeff Seid has always advocated that he is a lifetime natural bodybuilder. He’s far from afraid when asked a direct question on the subject.

“Even when I was like 14, I would be getting accused of being on steroids. It’s like, come on, what kind of 14-year-old is on gear?” His recent win has only fanned the flames for those internet commentators. “So, I’m still getting the accusations till this day and it’s nothing new to me. I mean, it’s like, I’m just used to it at this point. I see it as kind of like a compliment.”

Seid says that he has never taken steroids as an athlete, pointing out that he weighed 172 pounds for his first Olympia show in 2013. Before that, back in his wrestling days, Seid weighed in just one pound shy of that number. In his last Olympia appearance in 2016, he weighed in at 182 pounds. In 2024, with a more mature physique at 30 years of age Seid shares that he is now at 187 pounds on stage. “If you really look at my physique over the years, I’ve never really had big Jurassic-like getting huge, getting smaller. It’s always consistently been getting bigger and bigger,” he explains.

Jeff Seid: Less Can Be More as When It Comes To Training

“When I used to train when I was younger, I would be the guy that would train like 20 days in a row,” he shares. “And I’d be bragging about it like; ‘oh, yeah, I haven’t taken a rest day in over a couple weeks’. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how important rest days are. I mean, maybe I could get away with that when I was 18. I’m 30 years old now. I can start feeling my body if I start training too many days in a row. It’s like I need the rest. That’s how you’re going to be growing.”

Three weeks out from the natural Olympia, Seid explains that his training was focused on workouts with no more than 60 seconds of rest in order to torch fat and stay strong. Now out of that phase, he’s all about muscle building through longer rest periods of three minutes. “You got to have the rest periods, and then the best thing about that is you also have a lot more intensity when you hit your sets because you’re more recovered and you can just hit It a lot harder.”

Seid is also an advocate of C4 products. “Some of these pre workouts that you take, you gotta be careful what you’re (consuming),” explains the bodybuilder. “Because you don’t know what they’re putting in the pre workout.” Seid says to look out for brands such as C4 that are NSF certified. This means it’s checked for banned substances and other contaminants. “I like even just having the (C4 Energy) canned drinks it’s 0 sugar, 200 milligrams caffeine. It’s enough to get you going,” he shares.

Jeff Seid Considers a Division Change for 2025

As always, Seid is keeping fans guessing regarding his next move. “I’m definitely going to be competing again,” he confirms. “I haven’t really announced this anywhere yet, but that might have been my last Men’s Physique.” The star explains that he is not a fan of the long shorts. “I think it’s time to hang up the board shorts. I’ll let the boys play in the sand. I might be moving on.” Seid is considering a move to Classic Physique. “I train my legs so hard, got good legs. I don’t want to cover them up with the shorts.”

Despite having all the attributes to be the contrary, Seid is far from conceited. He’s open and forthcoming. It makes it easy to see how he’s developed such a great relationship with his fan base. His loyalists remain inspired by his hard work ethic. ”Motivation is nice, but motivation only takes you so much,” he explains. “That’s when discipline really comes into play … I’m probably not going to be competing forever, but I’m going to be training forever. It’s just a passion of mine.”

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