The best pic of Shawn Ray ever... 1992/Glasses/Tri's

[Palpatine Q]

Right,he refined the size he already had......got a bit bigger of course,but improved dramatically without a huge weight gain.

I agree with what you guys are saying, i don't agree that he could have have gigantic quads if he wanted to, and tremendous arms...his genetics were what they were, and he was as big as he was.

I think he had one of the best physiques of all time, 100% complete...with great lines.And he NEVER had a bad showing in his entire career, he always looked great.   If he had a couple more inches in height, and a little more breadth across the shoulders, he would have been  perfect in my opinion. but structural limitations cannot be overcome.

as it is, I think he's one the the top five greatest bodybuilders of all time

you want to talk guys who had perfect proportions, and balanced development?....fuck Frank Zane...Shawn Ray fits the bill IMO

[njflex]

I agree with what you guys are saying, i don't agree that he could have have gigantic quads if he wanted to, and tremendous arms...his genetics were what they were, and he was as big as he was.

I think he had one of the best physiques of all time, 100% complete...with great lines.And he NEVER had a bad showing in his entire career, he always looked great.   If he had a couple more inches in height, and a little more breadth across the shoulders, he would have been  perfect in my opinion. but structural limitations cannot be overcome.

as it is, I think he's one the the top five greatest bodybuilders of all time

88 mro was his 1st and only bad showing out of top 10,,,,after that what a run,,,

[wes]

canestri,guzman,the egyptian named guy in lightweights all good ,,thing then some moved up over time to middleweight class or bantam to lightweight but it took yrs and they looked good when they bumped up,,today guys jump 2/3 classes over yr or 2 and look like crap for it...

Yup,jumping from bantam to light heavy in 2 years gives a bloofy all drugs chemical look if that makes any sense.

[wes]

I agree with what you guys are saying, i don't agree that he could have have gigantic quads if he wanted to, and tremendous arms...his genetics were what they were, and he was as big as he was.

I think he had one of the best physiques of all time, 100% complete...with great lines.And he NEVER had a bad showing in his entire career, he always looked great.   If he had a couple more inches in height, and a little more breadth across the shoulders, he would have been  perfect in my opinion. but structural limitations cannot be overcome.

as it is, I think he's one the the top five greatest bodybuilders of all time

you want to talk guys who had perfect proportions, and balanced development?....fuck Frank Zane...Shawn Ray fits the bill IMO

QFT

[GigantorX]

I agree with what you guys are saying, i don't agree that he could have have gigantic quads if he wanted to, and tremendous arms...his genetics were what they were, and he was as big as he was.

I think he had one of the best physiques of all time, 100% complete...with great lines.And he NEVER had a bad showing in his entire career, he always looked great.   If he had a couple more inches in height, and a little more breadth across the shoulders, he would have been  perfect in my opinion. but structural limitations cannot be overcome.

as it is, I think he's one the the top five greatest bodybuilders of all time

you want to talk guys who had perfect proportions, and balanced development?....fuck Frank Zane...Shawn Ray fits the bill IMO

Totally agree, good post.

He was the next generation of Lee Labrada although they kinda over lap....maybe Padilla is a better comparison.

[OTHstrong]

Ron Coleman as in Ronnie Coleman? Or the "natty" Rob Coleman?

I see, Phil Hill, Bob Chick, Vince Taylor, Darryl Stafford, Matt Mendenhall, Troy Zuc, Joe Meeko, JJ Marsh...a whole lotta dudes...

I don't see the crazy line up everyone is talking about, I see Coleman and Taylor and maybe Marsh the rest are just regular good bodybuilders,... I mean pick any Nationals since and you will have several future pros in it. Now the Nationals Levrone won, that was a line up

[Figo]

LOL....kept it in check.  he was on copious amounts of steroids...they make every muscle grow, they are not selective.  Once you are that deep into the gear, how hard you exercise, is irrelevant...The drugs dictate what your physique looks like.

His arms were as big as they were because that's how big they got...same with his legs...he trained them both, and trained them hard.

It's just the image he wanted to portray, the "I'm a sculptor" angle that the aesthetic guys always spit out.

Ray and gaspari couldve gone for the quadzilla look, legs grew and came easy, yes kept it in proportionguys like ray and taylor also had arms that were gene gifted, much like yourself.
Nowadays its cool to go for the cena look, it appeals to kids and sluts, much like heath.

I think you know what I mean, you were round back then and now

And yes, I agree ray got as big as he could whilst looking good, that was his limit.

[johnny1]

Thats a Great pic, heres another one, perhaps his absolute prime shape 1994 O

[Parker]

I agree with what you guys are saying, i don't agree that he could have have gigantic quads if he wanted to, and tremendous arms...his genetics were what they were, and he was as big as he was.

I think he had one of the best physiques of all time, 100% complete...with great lines.And he NEVER had a bad showing in his entire career, he always looked great.   If he had a couple more inches in height, and a little more breadth across the shoulders, he would have been  perfect in my opinion. but structural limitations cannot be overcome.

as it is, I think he's one the the top five greatest bodybuilders of all time

you want to talk guys who had perfect proportions, and balanced development?....fuck Frank Zane...Shawn
Ray fits the bill IMO

if you seen Shawn Ray's Final Countdown, and he was about 245 offseason, his quads were pretty thick...plus, he was a strong mofo for his size...and when he was training his quads, he was using the stack on the leg extensions,  saying "Imma brak this fucker!" to me, it looked like he liked training legs...
And they seemingly blew up...
Also, Shawn liked wearing suits and looking "athletic", meaing those 18.5 inch arms of his (he stated on here that his tailor measured them as such) weren't going to get any bigger by his choice.

Also, Shawn knew that if he got bigger, like 220-230, that he'd lose his conditioning...his hallmark was being in condition, and since he only competed once a yr, it meant he couldn't take any chances, come in too heavy, and he's out of the top 5 or top 6, meaning next yr he'd have to compete against Flex, Kev, Nasser, Dillet to qualify, and we saw how that went in 96.

[Palpatine Q]

I don't see the crazy line up everyone is talking about, I see Coleman and Taylor and maybe Marsh the rest are just regular good bodybuilders,... I mean pick any Nationals since and you will have several future pros in it. Now the Nationals Levrone won, that was a line up

funny thing is, back then..the North Americans and Nationals were BIG fucking shows....you knew who half the guys were, and it was an anticipated event.

These days...a guy turns pro, and you don't even know who the fuck he is, or how he got here...it's nothing like it used to be

[Royalty]

funny thing is, back then..the North Americans and Nationals were BIG fucking shows....you knew who half the guys were, and it was an anticipated event.

These days...a guy turns pro, and you don't even know who the fuck he is, or how he got here...it's nothing like it used to be

the over-reliance on drugs (and not training) has brought in a group of genetically below average people. This causes a "dime a dozen" type of physique. Very boring. Not impressive.... Very forgettable shows

[The_Iron_Disciple]

funny thing is, back then..the North Americans and Nationals were BIG fucking shows....you knew who half the guys were, and it was an anticipated event.

These days...a guy turns pro, and you don't even know who the fuck he is, or how he got here...it's nothing like it used to be

I agree with this post. The " big shows " of today are a joke. Plain and simple.

[hardgainerj]

no size 

dorians arms look like shite

[wes]

the over-reliance on drugs (and not training) as brought in a group of genetically below average people. This causes a "dime a dozen" type of physique. Very boring. Not impressive.... Very forgettable shows

X 100000000000000

[Jaime]

if you seen Shawn Ray's Final Countdown, and he was about 245 offseason, his quads were pretty thick...plus, he was a strong mofo for his size...and when he was training his quads, he was using the stack on the leg extensions,  saying "Imma brak this fucker!" to me, it looked like he liked training legs...
And they seemingly blew up...
Also, Shawn liked wearing suits and looking "athletic", meaing those 18.5 inch arms of his (he stated on here that his tailor measured them as such) weren't going to get any bigger by his choice.

Also, Shawn knew that if he got bigger, like 220-230, that he'd lose his conditioning...his hallmark was being in condition, and since he only competed once a yr, it meant he couldn't take any chances, come in too heavy, and he's out of the top 5 or top 6, meaning next yr he'd have to compete against Flex, Kev, Nasser, Dillet to qualify, and we saw how that went in 96.

I thought he should have been second to Flex at the 96 AC, not sure what happned there.

Agree. He also knew that if he put on more weight it would start fucking up his lines, Shawn always had full undertsanding of the situation.