Really interested in seeing how Ramy goes. I haven’t bought into all of the hype surrounding this dude, but am reasonably impressed with his size to date, and just curious to see how far the hype train gets him…
Have paid a lot more attention to Jay’s prep this year. Like others I have thought his physique is a little “ugly” in the past, but I have been really impressed with his approach to challenging for the O again and the work ethic of the dude when he is coming in as an underdog. Good luck to him.
Kai I feel for, not a big fan but he brings a pretty solid overall package and hope he gets his dues one day. Not sure if it will happen though.
Tricky is in because he won the Chicago Wings of Strength (or whatever it was called), also Shelby’s pro debut - that’s the only reason I know. Also the same place Roelly qualified and looked awesome.
I’m a fan of David Henry, I remember when they first started showing him in the magazines and he was coming up through the field. He’s always had an awesome and aesthetic physique. I agree though, Flex will probably win, similar to last year in placings.
Yea, Wolf is hilarious in his videos, especially because he keeps saying “you know.” He’s got like a German Rocky type thing going with the way he talks, but he’s an awesome dude for sure, I’m a big fan.
I don’t see how Phil can win this year. He’s made a point of certainly not showing any videos of his progress and hasn’t done much in the lines of posedowns, but I don’t see him adding a ton of width/mass where Kai certainly has. Phil wins because of muscle belly shape, but Kai has it too and is getting bigger.
Speaking of Ced… how did he place 6th in the AC? I only saw the video of the posing on Youtube (because I forgot about the show due to time difference) but thought he had at least 4th from what I saw. Regardless, the guy is awesome looking and for once there is a tall bodybuilder (though there’s Freeman also).
[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
Tricky is in because he won the Chicago Wings of Strength (or whatever it was called), also Shelby’s pro debut - that’s the only reason I know. Also the same place Roelly qualified and looked awesome.
I’m a fan of David Henry, I remember when they first started showing him in the magazines and he was coming up through the field. He’s always had an awesome and aesthetic physique. I agree though, Flex will probably win, similar to last year in placings.
Yea, Wolf is hilarious in his videos, especially because he keeps saying “you know.” He’s got like a German Rocky type thing going with the way he talks, but he’s an awesome dude for sure, I’m a big fan.
I don’t see how Phil can win this year. He’s made a point of certainly not showing any videos of his progress and hasn’t done much in the lines of posedowns, but I don’t see him adding a ton of width/mass where Kai certainly has. Phil wins because of muscle belly shape, but Kai has it too and is getting bigger.
Speaking of Ced… how did he place 6th in the AC? I only saw the video of the posing on Youtube (because I forgot about the show due to time difference) but thought he had at least 4th from what I saw. Regardless, the guy is awesome looking and for once there is a tall bodybuilder (though there’s Freeman also).[/quote]
I feel like Cedric’s head is just not in it as much as these other guys. He got DQed from the AC Brazil, placed 12th at the NY Pro, and looked lack luster at the FIBO (despite winning). He does not seem to be setting himself up for success.
Maybe now that he’s reached where he’s at he sees what more he’ll have to do to go further and is losing motivation or not willing to take the risk. Face it, those guys have to be on a LOT of stuff. Him being taller and having to add more mass to fit his frame makes that even moreso.
Or its quite possible, like with Kai and some other pro’s (like Roelly) they just don’t come in dialed retaining water whatever and it hurts their placing. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to hit those low bodyfat percentages, remove all water, etc. Its pretty crazy everything they have to do, and one mess up (like eating carbs too soon/late) will impact their presentation.
I hope he does continue to develop positively, he’s got a beautiful physique, if that makes sense.
[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
Doesn’t look anything American as far as sports teams go to me. It has POWER written on it though, is that part of the polo, or just the colors/crest? His arms look just massive though.
[/quote]
I just watched again and can confirm that it’s an Australian Rugby League jersey from a team called the Brisbane Broncos. The Powers logo is actually a beer brand and you can date the jersey to 1992 from that.
I’m sure I only find this interesting because I’m Aussie but how strange is it that Evan wears an early 90’s vintage Australian league jersey?
Probably because we know how massive Aussie’s are, and seeing as Evan is similarly massive, he’s limited in his attire. Also he may be a Rugby fan and might be sporting it for the Australian guys, like Kai is sporting his attire for the BDSM folks! (kidding, partially).
[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
Or its quite possible, like with Kai and some other pro’s (like Roelly) they just don’t come in dialed retaining water whatever and it hurts their placing. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to hit those low bodyfat percentages, remove all water, etc. Its pretty crazy everything they have to do, and one mess up (like eating carbs too soon/late) will impact their presentation.
[/quote]
I wonder if it is actually harder for them than for a natty to get consistent conditioning BECAUSE of all the stuff they are taking. Clearly using all that stuff helps tremendously with shedding the fat and retaining muscle while cutting but maybe if you take more and more different stuff the complexity of the final process increases due to an increase in variables.
[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
Maybe now that he’s reached where he’s at he sees what more he’ll have to do to go further and is losing motivation or not willing to take the risk. Face it, those guys have to be on a LOT of stuff. Him being taller and having to add more mass to fit his frame makes that even moreso.
Or its quite possible, like with Kai and some other pro’s (like Roelly) they just don’t come in dialed retaining water whatever and it hurts their placing. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to hit those low bodyfat percentages, remove all water, etc. Its pretty crazy everything they have to do, and one mess up (like eating carbs too soon/late) will impact their presentation.
I hope he does continue to develop positively, he’s got a beautiful physique, if that makes sense.[/quote]
I agree. He has one of the better looking physiques and can really make things interesting if he can dial it in. I also have so much respect for him being in the army while dedicating his life to bodybuilding. That shit has to be tough on him.
Ill comment on the girls only because Candice Keene works out at my old gym and her coach is my fiances former coach so I have got to see her plenty. She will win the Figure hands down. Already dealt the death blow at the NY Pro.
As for the big boys, I would really like to see Kai win, but unless Phil comes in looking off it is a formality at this point. So curious how high Big Ramy will place.
I think Kai is going to take the show unless Phil pulls out an entirely political win. Kai is always bringing something new and better to the stage, whereas Phil looks like a cartoon balloon animal at this point.
Kai Greene
Jay Cutler
Phil Heath
Shawn Rhoden
Mamdouh Elssbiay
Dexter Jackson
Victor Martinez
Jay might take 3rd or 4th, but I can see him definitely taking 2nd.
Crap, I can’t see your posts at work Rattlehead, will have to wait until later tonight.
I’m hoping there will be some solid pics/updates this weekend at 9 weeks out. Also, I think the Tampa is this weekend, so we can steal some pics of Centopani (and maybe Jason Huh) from MD’s photo log of the competition and post them here.
I am also excited for this. I just hope the winnings and placings are deserved and not so political.
I don’t think Ramy will be top three. He has some proportionality issues/weaknesses that people seem to overlook because of his size. Plus, he’s not as dense/granite-hard looking as some of the guys who’ve been lifting for much longer. If his conditioning is perfectly dialed in, if he comes in dry and hard… maybe he’ll place top 5. But I don’t think he’ll come in perfectly conditioned, regardless of how good his guru is, because he’s never been on the Olympia stage before.
[quote]markwongty369 wrote:
Phil Heath 8 weeks out chest video is up on flex online. He does 6 plates per side on the hammer incline which looks very impressive!
[/quote]
Hammer strenght machine presses impressive? Fuck NO!
