"That’s 100 percent what happened" - Legendary nutritionist Chad Nicholls reveals reason for longstanding beef with Shawn Ray
Chad Nicholls is widely known around the bodybuilding world as an exceptional coach and nutritionist. He is famed for having worked with some of the biggest and most successful names in the sport, including Flex Wheeler, Ronnie Coleman, and currently, Big Ramy.
At the Arnold Classic last month, Chad's son took it upon himself to confront a figure that had been antagonizing his father for the longest time. Dominic Nicholls towered over Shawn Ray and had some harsh words for the former bodybuilder.
In a recent episode of Bodybuilding University, Chad revealed that it all began when Shawn's friend Boyer Coe contacted him to coach Shawn.
"Boyer Coe called me on the phone and asked me, now I can’t swear to God that Shawn knew that Boyer was going to call me or not but Boyer Coe definitely called me and asked me if I’d be interested in working with Shawn."
According to Chad, Shawn Ray's hatred for him began when he disagreed to take Boyer Coe on as an athlete and coached Flex Wheeler instead.
"Of course, they both deny that now, but they’ve been friends for years. That’s 100 percent what happened. I think he’s pissed at me though when I started working with Flex, like he was beating a lot of these guys, and then next thing you know, he never beat one of my guys ever again. Then, he retired two or three years."
Shawn Ray has gone as far as calling Chad Nicholls 'Dr. Death Protocols' and blaming him for the death of many bodybuilders. This was the main reason for Dominic confronting him at the 2023 Arnold Classic.
"It’s going on for 20 years" - Chad Nicholls on 'petty' back and forth with former IFBB pro Shawn Ray
Former IFBB professional and veteran bodybuilder Shawn Ray has been on Nicholls' case for a long time. On the outside, it seems as though Ray genuinely disagrees with Nicholls' methods, but according to Chad, it's more personal.
"Here’s kind of what happened. Obviously, everybody knows the beef between me and Shawn. It’s going on for 20 years ever since I started training athletes and they all started placing ahead of him, so that was kind of no-brainer and it kind of back and forth."
Despite the back and forth the two had been having for a while, Chad stated that he wanted to 'squash' the beef between the two.
"When I saw Shawn, I had nothing but positive thoughts. I was going to be like, ‘Hey man, we need to talk. Let’s go and talk.’ My thinking was let’s just squash this sh*t. It’s all petty nonsense."
However, according to Nicholls, the event that led to his son's confrontation with Shawn was primarily instigated by the former bodybuilder.
"He kinda made a smart-ass thing, got my number and we’re both there, let’s go talk. I said let’s go talk and my thinking was we’ll exit the ballroom because I didn’t want to do in front of everybody."
Many significant figures in the sport have since come to dislike Shawn Ray because of his words post-retirement. This includes former bodybuilder Jose Raymond, who went as far as to call Ray a 'villain' in the fitness industry.