“Any kind of extended solo, my left arm would just cramp up. It was frozen. I was definitely overdoing it”: George Lynch opens up about his bodybuilding days – and how it impacted his guitar playing

American guitarist and musician George Lynch, of the band Dokken, playing guitar during a concert, September 1997 .

While many consider the '80s and '90s the golden era of classic rock, the pressures that came with the "rock star" image often meant artists needed to look as sculpted as Ancient Greek statues on stage.

For some, this led to adopting weightlifting – with guitarists like George Lynch aspiring to transform their bodies into bodybuilding physiques à la Arnold Schwarzenegger at Mr. Olympia. However, Lynch recently admitted that these rigorous workout regimes took a toll on his guitar playing.