I am tired of all the nut-hugging that goes on for Shawn since his competitor days. People are always putting him as the example of the Greek ideal, of aesthetics personified, etc. Well, guess what? They are wrong. Shawn was far from an aesthetic ideal. How so? Well, if you're going to try to win bodybuilding contests on aesthetics, then you need to approach bodybuilding as you would a male beauty pageant, where muscles are only part of the equation. Shawn Ray is not an aesthetic ideal because aesthetics is not limited to muscles, but to the whole body. To me, aesthetics is about overral beauty and not only muscles. Overral beauty is related to genetic superiority, and Shawn Ray is quite simply a genetically inferior man. You don't believe me? Well, Shawn Ray:
- Is short.
- Has an average face.
- His thighs are too short.
- His torso is too long.
- His clavicle is too narrow.
- His calves are high.
I am sorry, but that is not aesthetic. His muscles were developed proportionally, but his body as a whole was too flawed for him to qualify as an aesthetic ideal. Also, in many cases, having "muscles proportionally developed" is an euphemism for lack of muscles. It is much easier to have good proportions between your muscle groups when you carry 50 lbs less of muscle than your competitors. The more you grow, the harder it is to maintain muscle proportions. Even Sergio Oliva, who had a combination of perfect structure with perfect muscular proportions, still does not qualify as an aesthetic ideal to me because he was somewhat lacking in height and had an ugly face. The only one I can think of that truly fullfils an aesthetic ideal in my book is Steve Reeves. Wheeler also except for the face - in his case I'll open an exception because Wheeler's structure and muscle proportionality were really superb. I can accept a 210 lbs Mr.Olympia as long as he has the structure, muscle proportionality and facial beauty of Michaelangelo's David.
People are so smitten by Ray's excellent muscle proportionality that they completely ignore his flaws in:
1. structure(short, narrow clavicle, long torso, short thighs)
2. Facial beauty(not a face that the Ancient Greeks would regard as worthy of a statue).
basically, I believe that there are two ways a man can win the Mr.Olympia. By:
1. Being the most heavily muscles man on Earth
or
2. being the most genetically gifted man on Earth(height, skeletal frame proportionality, muscular proportionality, facial beauty, skin tone)
Shawn Ray is not Mr.Olympia by either of these two criterias. I know that I'm gona get lots of hatered for stating this, but I needed to make it clear how stupid the people who believe that Shawn Ray was an aesthetic ideal are.
SUCKMYMUSCLE
