Anyone care about this year’s Olympia?
[quote]harris447 wrote:
Anyone care about this year’s Olympia? [/quote]
I honestly haven’t truly cared since Lee Haney competed when I was a kid. I hate that newbies have their first orientation into bodybuilding ruled by megamonsters that are so far removed from what can be achieved without extreme practices. I used to read FLEX and feel so inspired to hit the gym that I couldn’t wait. I wanted to look like them badly. I don’t get that same motivation…even though they claim they are changing the rules slightly.
I still personally view Sergio Oliva and Serge Nubret to have some most inspiring physiques in bodybuilding. That isn’t just to give the same cliched response about bodybuilders of the 60’s either. Shawn Ray, Flex Wheeler (in the early to mid 90’s) and Lee Labrada were also impressive.
I gotta agree with you on Serge Nubret: that guy was as close to looking like a superhero as any human being could ever get.
Also with the mass monsters: as opposed to yesteryear, when bodybuilders had physiques to emulate (and that might turn women on), now an average person would most likely be disgusted.
I do like Lee Priest, though. And, Ahmad Haidar has the most aesthetic body out of all the pros that will be on the stage this weekend.
Yes, I love getting out my DVD of Pumping Iron and watching it.
What’s great to watch, is all the great bodybuilders of the time were OUTSIDE, playing football, jogging, etc. OMG, weren’t they afraid of catabolism??? They actually did NORMAL things!!! Even, GASP pre-contest!!!
Now they drag some bodybuilders off state straight into an ambulance. Sad state of affairs.
[quote]harris447 wrote:
I do like Lee Priest, though. And, Ahmad Haidar has the most aesthetic body out of all the pros that will be on the stage this weekend.[/quote]
I heard Lee Priest pulled out due to a contract issue. Was watching the shawn ray and kevin levrone prediction show and they both mentioned that.
[quote]ipjunkie wrote:
Yes, I love getting out my DVD of Pumping Iron and watching it.
What’s great to watch, is all the great bodybuilders of the time were OUTSIDE, playing football, jogging, etc. OMG, weren’t they afraid of catabolism??? They actually did NORMAL things!!! Even, GASP pre-contest!!!
Now they drag some bodybuilders off state straight into an ambulance. Sad state of affairs.[/quote]
Good point.
[quote]vbspiker wrote:
harris447 wrote:
I do like Lee Priest, though. And, Ahmad Haidar has the most aesthetic body out of all the pros that will be on the stage this weekend.
I heard Lee Priest pulled out due to a contract issue. Was watching the shawn ray and kevin levrone prediction show and they both mentioned that.[/quote]
Yup, Priest pulled out. He had some serious problems with the contract that he was supposed to sign.
I like BigRon (Coleman) and Jay Cutler…they are good guys…are motivated…and try as best they can to be role models in a Sport in transition…
The drama of this years Olympia is two-fold:
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Will Coleman tie Haney’s record of 8 consecutive Sandow’s?
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How will the new IFBB directive of “no distended bellies” affect the outcome…and how have the competitors responded…
It REALLY should be interesting! I wish I could be there…
(Anyone know if DirectTV will have it on PPV? I haven’t been able to find anything yet…)
Mufasa
It’s supposed to be on PPV; if it’s $20 or so, I might get it. Not if it’s $40.
Sucks about Lee Priest. If you read the dopey muscle magazines (and, obviously, I do), he’s the only one that really comes off as a straight-shooter. Plus, he’s got kinda-OK arms. I’d rather see him win than Ron, and definitely more than Jay Cutler, whose head gets more and more disturbing with every shot of GH.
[quote]Mufasa wrote:
(Anyone know if DirectTV will have it on PPV? I haven’t been able to find anything yet… [/quote]
Mufasa,
I’m pretty sure I saw it advertised for DirectTV PPV the other day, because they were also mentioning the 1000lb bench press attempt that will take place during the show.
I’ll look a little closer…thanks…
I went to the DirectTV site and saw “Jerry Springer Uncut”, “Jerry Springer Uncensored” and “Porn Star Blind Date” available on PPV…but no Mr.Olympia…
(How sad it THAT?)
It’s all about the bucks, I guess…
Mufasa
[quote]peck191 wrote:
Mufasa wrote:
(Anyone know if DirectTV will have it on PPV? I haven’t been able to find anything yet…
Mufasa,
I’m pretty sure I saw it advertised for DirectTV PPV the other day, because they were also mentioning the 1000lb bench press attempt that will take place during the show.[/quote]
Two questions:
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Who’s benching 1000lb? Has that ever been done before?
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Who was the greatest Mr. O ever? If you lined 'em al up next to one another (in their prime, of course), who gets the Sandow?
I can’t remember when I heard about the Mr Olympia for the first time; what I did know back then was that Arnold was the best. I didn’t know of any other bodybuilders except for Lou Ferrigno (cos I watched the Hulk TV series) and this other dude, who’s name I only learnt many years later: Frank Zane. I still think he has (had) the best body. Oh, I knew Steve Reeves, of course! I liked those films about Hercules 
From today’s blokes, I like Lee Priest; maybe because of his attitude, too. I give credit to Ronnie for what he’s accomplished, but that’s not the aesthetics I like. Really bad to hear the Lee won’t be at the Olympia; if it’s true that the judges will be following new directives, then Lee would have had a chance to be in the top 5 if he nailed his conditioning. Can anyone provide a bit more info on the subject of Lee quitting the Mr O?
From Bob Cicherillo:
OFFICIAL NOTICE:
LEE has pulled out of the Olympia!!!
His decision is bassed on his disapproval with the way the show is run and handled, he beleives he has to stick to his word .
The contract for the show is toataly restricting and onesided all the way for the promoters to the point it is dissrespectfull to the athletes in some instances.
The promoters requirements of the Athletes prior to the event is totaly unnessacery and shows no compasion for the compettitors.
The athletes have to participate in promotional products for the promoter which have the potential to earn millions of dollars with not one cent being given back to the athlete.
The athlete has to sighn away his rights to image and likeness for promotianl and product endorsement with no financial compensation what so ever, plus in most cases go against there Sponcers obligations and rights.
All the athlete gets to be at the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding is there flight paid for, a room(with no cooking facilitys, and no microwaves) plus a $50 buck meal allowance, and 1 ticket to the event.
If the athlete chooses to stay at a hotel other than the one given to them (because of cooking reqiurements) no transport will be offered to them to get to and from the event.
The judgeing is not independently monitored.
The challenge round is a joke and takes away the anticipation of the top 5 plus the money offered in this round should be used to pay for athletes lower down the placeings or should have been put to the Womens Olympia , which has been demoted to haveing their show held in the EXPO hall!
These issues are just some of the problems faceing the Olympia, and are issues shared by alot of the compettitors, its just that lee is a man of his word , so hes out, but not done by any amounts, trust me.
Good for him. Is there any other sport (and I’m just using that word as a shorthand–I don’t really think pro bodybuilding s a sport) that treats its athletes so poorly? As an analogy, can you imagine if the Superbowl was controlled and operated by the Patriots’ owner, and the refs were paid by Mr. Kraft? You’d look on Tom Brady with a little more skepticism, wouldn’t you?
Besides that, if you don’t win, you don’t get paid. Y’think pro bodybuilders really want to be personal trainers and steroid dealers? Course not, but there’s no money in it.
This has got to be one of the top three reasons bodybuilding is a rapidly dying freakshow.
Dexter Jackson I believe is skipping this years Olympia. Here was a guy who got screwed into a 4th place finish last year but was good enough to win the Arnold this year. I think he figured he had no chance at the Olympia.
And, furthermore: IPJunkie has the greatest avatar I’ve ever seen.
I would stab two of my cousins to brumski that woman. Not stab to death, but there would be scars, crying, and an ugly Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Thanks for that, Madman2.
Good for Lee! And I hope other athletes drop out of the Olympia too. The Blade and Lee are 2 of the best no-GH-gut bodybuilders out there; let’s see if Melvin Anthony and the other X-framers have the balls to boycott the show.
[quote]Miserere wrote:
Thanks for that, Madman2.
Good for Lee! And I hope other athletes drop out of the Olympia too. The Blade and Lee are 2 of the best no-GH-gut bodybuilders out there; let’s see if Melvin Anthony and the other X-framers have the balls to boycott the show.[/quote]
If they do there is no show. Melvin Anthony may have the smallest waist in bodybuilding right now.
No I’m not interested at all. They don’t even look like attainable physiques to me anymore, they look like bloated mutants. Ronnie’s gut in particular is massive.
I don’t understand the voting and I think it’s crap that the competitors get so little in return for the months of hard work, consistent eating and drug therapy that they go through to get ready.
Not my cup of tea at all.