No it's not the same as muscular bulk , muscularity relates to density & dryness and the ability to clearly see the muscles defined and separated from each other in the absence of bodyfat and water and guess who ruled the roost in this department? Ronnie in some areas shows more detail than Dorian and in some areas more striations it doesn't mean he's carrying more muscle , less fat or less water
striations are genetic obviously you need pretty great conditioning to see them but for the most part they are genetic , which is why some guys have more than others Munzer and have them in some places other don't like Munzer had striations on his rectus femoris and I don't recall seeing anyone else who had them
Dryness is the absence of water that can obscure the muscles from being fully shown , a lot of times you see a reference to Dorian's skin being like tissue paper covering pure muscle , no water or fat to obscure the muscles
Density is the absence of fat from the muscles so in essence all you're left with his pure muscle , again to use Dorian has the reference when they go on about his muscle hardness , which is exactly why Ronnie 1998/2001 is considered his best showings ever because his density & dryness are at their absolute best especially compared to 2003 and 2000
the combination of muscular bulk supplemented by muscle hardness ( density ) and muscle dryness is highly prized by the judges , it really can't be understated , it's extremely hard to tie this all-together in one shot and it was Dorian's hallmark for years and this combo is what saved his ass in 1997 because he was up against a guy who couldn't compete in this area and his severely deficient back
Symmetry doesn't really mean left right exactness , because nothing in nature is truly symmetrical , and right or left hand dominant people are always going to have one arm slighting bigger than the other , one quads etc , now obviously judges look for obvious and glaring signs of this type of discrepancy but in normal contexts on the word it refers to taper , joint size , hip size , waist size AND muscular balance & proportion , Flex is known as the Sultan of Symmetry for the first part of this criteria , and Dorian is know for the second
now the thing with all of this criteria is , it is ALL judged at the exact same time in every single pose from every single angle and no one part of the criteria is more important than the other , if a guy has great symmetry but is severely lacking in density & dryness and is a shitty poser he's not going to win , if a guy is carrying a lot of muscular bulk yet his conditioning sucks he's not gonna do well , it's who meets ALL of the criteria better than who he is being compared to us usually judged the winner
So as I've said before while Ronnie meets part(s) of the criteria better than Dorian , as a whole when everything is being ascertained he doesn't meet ALL of the criteria better.
Interesting information on the judging criteria. I already knew some of it, but I did not know other parts as you explained them in detail here.
As far as 98 Ronnie vs 93-95 Dorian, you say Dorian meets all of the criteria better, but others (myself included) say Ronnie meets it better. Since they never faced each other at their respective bests, we'll will never know the true outcome and just speculate.
