Yates vs Heath Comparison

There really is one hell of a difference in quality between how Yates looks (dense and carved out of stone) and how Heath looks (bubbly, and carved out of balloons).

I can’t say for certain what Phil’s personal approach has been, but I do think it’s fairly safe to say that SEO’s have become a lot more… acceptably viewed in terms of the top guys on the Pro stage.

Years ago you had people whining about Flex Wheeler using Escaline to inflame certain weak points, but according to some Pros, times have certainly changed. Obviously this practice isn’t the safest thing, as Milos Sarcev can tell you, and it isn’t fool proof, as you can find even multi-Mr Olympia winners sporting signs of “failed applications” (Cutler “tearing his bicep” in 2011 I think?)

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Impossible to say about the oil thing really. Could very well be the case though.

I think it’s more to do with the fact that conditioning was scored much more favourably in Dorian’s day. For a guy to come in Dorian’s size with that conditioning now is totally unheard of.

As a slight aside, I fucking love Dorian’s physique. Those black and white photos of him in his prime (you know the ones I mean) are some of the best bodybuilding shots ever taken in my opinion.

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Technically conditioning is supposed to be scored in this era as well, but somewhere, I think the definitions have been blurred, and we see people thinking that excessive veins and bad skin means that someone is “conditioned”, no matter how blurry the detail between their muscles actually appears.

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So you’re saying you’re more into white collar muscle?

lol, I’ll go with the gray collar… and no sleeves of course.

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I’m more of a spandex bodybuilder.

Tough marker putting Heath up against the freakiest back of all time but Phil has never had that grainy look - more full plump muscle bellies. Id be interested in seeing if it comes with age.

I think the point was to see if the sport has truly evolved with time. Was Ronnie better than Dorian? Was Dorian better than Haney? Were the 90’s really the best and it’s all been downhill since?

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When I make these comparisons i like to look at the breadth of competition rather than the winners. A weak field and a freaky competitor really throws the landscape off.

The 2011 Olympia field was a pretty deep one IMO and Phil brought an exceptional package - they didn’t really even bother comparing him to the rest. Still you look at some of those early Ronnie olympias and there’s plenty of recognisable faces.

I don’t think Ronnie was better than Dorian. He just looked different.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I think it has generally been downhill since the 90’s. But that’s just my personal preference. I can go into my usual complaints (e.g., bloat/water- logging, grotesque vascularity, bad skin) but I think most would tire of hearing about this all the time. Wait, I just did! :slight_smile:

I just recently saw an old Grand Prix video with Vince Taylor and Kevin Levrone battling it out, and I just couldn’t help but think “Damn! Either of these guys would destroy the majority of today’s top 5 pro competitors at the Olympia or the Arnold.”

Maybe I’m just getting old (seasoned perhaps? -lol), but I find myself looking at the guys from the 90’s more and more lately and just realizing how crazy the top talent was at the time.

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Agree.
Also, the tiny waists the 90s guys sported added to their overall aesthetic.

Although a lot of fans come to see today’s size freaks, it’s still breathtaking to see builds like Cedric’s onstage, what with his height, mass, tiny waist, and artistic posing routine bringing back that iconic, heroic look of the past.

agree…he just looked different…I’m not saying Ronnie didn’t look great or deserve to be Mr O but I was never a fan of his aesthetic. In my opinion, Flex Wheeler had my fav look

Thanks for the reply! Fellow ANBF pro here! :muscle:t2::grinning::+1:

nice bro!..small world…just zoomed in on your pic…this is Ronnie walker…we have talked recently on fb or ig

Oh, Great! What’s up? This is a great forum here! You should definitely make a log/personal thread here. Did you just join?

I think of Flex was more disciplined he could have beat Dorian.

I believe Dorian actually said something to that effect.

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I think politics has a lot to do with olympia also , certian people just got that look.
I think training was different also ,how many guys are still doing 405 pound bo rows. I think jay cutler only goes up to 400 on deadlifts.
I do like that the distended abdomen is on its way out though.

Jay went up to 500 on deadlifts at times. But let’s say he was only strong enough to do 405 at the end of a back workout. Would he need to do more than 405 if that’s all he could do and it produced the back he had, coupled with all the other things he did for back? Jay trained perfectly for his goals and was very thoughtful in how he mapped out his training and nutrition.

I think bent over rows is the most botched exercise out there and I have not seen one person ever do them with over 275 without TONS of bodily movement. In fact, Ive seldom seen anyone do them with over 225 with good form.

Obviously Jay knew what he was doing, 7 Sandow s i am sure he could have pulled freak weights if he felt like it, but why risk injury when you have enough for hypertrophy . I saw him in crowd at Arnold and he look huge let proportional, the caps on his shoulders truly looked like cannon balls.
I was referring to the amount of equipment now that is safer and just as effective as the old school free weights, i myself dont do bo rows anymore as i go to heavy and tweak back when i do them i am guilty as you stated is using horrible form, i do a combo shrug row on smith machine now which works great .
I just watch legends of iron last spring and remember Heath saying why should i do 200lb dumbell presses when the 170lb work great.
As far as Yates vs Heath i cant help but notice xmas tree lower back of Yates and the density he had.
Me personally i think Arnold Schwarzenegger would my choice of physique. He said he wished he would have trained legs more but i think he hit it on head .

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