come on......270?
His best in 93 was 215 tops....
Absolutely. Isn't On_Swole a competitor and trainer, from somewhere in the Midwest? I would think he of all people would know that Flex was his best lighter...much lighter. I suppose one could make the argument that he was amazing at 235 also, but 270? I could only guess that he spilled over at that weight.
I could be wrong though. I would have to see photos. If my memory serves me well, I have never seen Flex Wheeler to the north of 250.
Do you remember when Ronnie did his "Unbelievable" DVD in 2000? He was 287 when that was shot, and clearly in contest shape. I think he was just so far ahead of the competition that Chad didn't believe he could bring him in at 287. So he kept cutting him down to around 265 - or maybe a bit lighter. In 2003, we all learned that Ronnie was indeed quite capable of competing at 287. But he didn't suddenly put on 42-lb of muscle from his 2002 form. As On_Swole himself could tell us, it was just a matter of over-diuresis* between 2000 and 2002. Ronnie could have competed at 287 during those three years.
I believe it was also On_Swole who said that Flex expected to win the 1998 Mr. Olympia [or maybe he said 1999], but that it was "not even close to not even being close." Something I agree with, and Flex probably realized later, upon reviewing contest shots.
Sorry for the long post, but at least I didn't bring up myself this time.
*On_Swole introduced me to that term when he was describing Ronnie's size at the press conference vs. his stage size at the 2004 Mr. Olympia contest. He said the first thing that went through his mind was "over-diuresis". On that note, while Ronnie was quite capable of competing at 287, I think it was a mistake to move up to 296 in 2004 - Ronnie should have focused on gradual refinements only, and competed at around 285.
