Getbig's favorite pro King Kamali in his prime

[ChristopherA]

Exactly right.

People throw him some shade on here, but I think if any of us are being honest, he looked fantastic in his prime. For whatever reason, he crashed and burned sooner than most pros did, but maybe that was because he was training from a very young age [old contest shot below].

In a photo when he was 13, he had more mass than I do now, lol. Not that that is saying much - but perhaps training from such an early age burnt his physique out relatively early in his career.

As for King looking terrible - compared to Ronnie Coleman, sure. Even King at his best, would probably look like an amateur compared to Ronnie.

But at the 2003 Olympia, even Jay Cutler looked like an amateur compared to Ronnie. So that's not an insult [maybe Jay didn't look like an AMATEUR...but he was #2, yet clearly nowhere near Ronnie].

And King himself admitted that no one was in Ronnie's league.

I couldn't find the article below on Getbig, but Ron was kind enough to let me use it on my website, and here is an archived version:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200807181418/http://www.bodybuildingpro.com/olympiareport05.html

Love King or hate him - I don't think anyone can deny he looked great in his prime, if they are being honest.

Here's a blast from the past - an Ironage interview with King by Getbig Leader Ron! To think that was 21 years ago now:

https://www.getbig.com/iview/kamali01.htm

Meltdown

[Matt]

Meltdown

Yes - but nothing like the one I had in Darren's vegan thread.

I get defensive about King, because if he "looks like shit", how bad must people think I look?

I get that different standards are held for pro bodybuilders versus normal lifters, but for the life of me, I don't exactly see a physique riddled with flaws here:

[Matt]

Unidentified Getbigger assessing King's physique. 

[ProudVirgin69]

Yes - but nothing like the one I had in Darren's vegan thread.

I get defensive about King, because if he "looks like shit", how bad must people think I look?

I get that different standards are held for pro bodybuilders versus normal lifters, but for the life of me, I don't exactly see a physique riddled with flaws here:

he looks great in these photos but he always squats down in his BDB, making it look like he's about to take a shit

[bhank]

If he was 200lbs lean and fit he would get the same level of critique here at Getbig, the place where one never wins.

Yep

[bhank]

Kamali looked pretty good back in the day. The issue is he bulked so much he eventually just couldn't dial it back in and now appears stuck in the perma bulk phase.

[ThisisOverload]

Yes - but nothing like the one I had in Darren's vegan thread.

I get defensive about King, because if he "looks like shit", how bad must people think I look?

I get that different standards are held for pro bodybuilders versus normal lifters, but for the life of me, I don't exactly see a physique riddled with flaws here:

Zero forearms.

Weak calves.

Delts and biceps pumped full of oil.

That's a huge distraction.

I think King looked amazing in the 90's.

But he over cooked himself later in his career.

He looks like shit today, but 20+ years ago he was middle of the pack as a Pro. He had a lot of very good competition.

[Taffin]

He almost looks like a completely different person....

[Grenache]

When he turned pro by winning the Heavyweight category at the 1999 NPC Nationals:

[michael arvilla]

Never saw this one before/ one of the best pics ever of King

[Rambone]

Never saw this one before/ one of the best pics ever of King

Same here. Best I’ve ever seen him look

[AbrahamG]

Chad ruined him.  I'm honestly surprised he's still alive.  Met him at the Arnold in 2002 I believe.  He was working whatever booth was sponsoring him.  Pretty cool guy and willing to chat it up with just about anyone. 

[Matt]

Zero forearms.

Weak calves.

Delts and biceps pumped full of oil.

That's a huge distraction.

I think King looked amazing in the 90's.

But he over cooked himself later in his career.

He looks like shit today, but 20+ years ago he was middle of the pack as a Pro. He had a lot of very good competition.

I was just thinking about his forearms as a weak point after seeing the photo posted by Taffin - I cant deny that, or anything that you said.

But he was at one point, among the top ten bodybuilders in the world - even if he got gifted a couple of places, that would put him at 12th in 2001.

Heck, even if he was last place in 2001 - it's still the best bodybuilding show on earth.

He did crash and burn though - like few I've ever seen. Like, what happened? Did he stop responding to gear entirely or something?  Seems like it.

[bhank]

Kamali is his own worst enemy if he dropped some weight he would look a lot better

[wes]

[Grape Ape]

I get defensive about King, because if he "looks like shit", how bad must people think I look?

I think Walter Sobchak's been pretty clear on this issue.

[wes]

I think Walter Sobchak's been pretty clear on this issue.

[youandme]

Yes - but nothing like the one I had in Darren's vegan thread.

I get defensive about King, because if he "looks like shit", how bad must people think I look?

I get that different standards are held for pro bodybuilders versus normal lifters, but for the life of me, I don't exactly see a physique riddled with flaws here:

Yeah he looked good before a show and seemed to always carb up way too much and smooth over with a distended stomach.

[AbrahamG]

I think Walter Sobchak's been pretty clear on this issue.

This is awesome GA. 

[Matt]

I think Walter Sobchak's been pretty clear on this issue.

My guess is that Walter Sobchak is another Sarcasm-like fellow, who talks a big talk, but looks horrible, hence why he won't post pictures.

[rocket]

His flaws were obvious.  He had comparatively weak arms / forearms and it wrecked him.  They got weaker as the Palumboism began to take hold.

He should be congratulated for ever getting as far as he did - the one thing that really does not work for pros is weak arms.

[ThisisOverload]

He did crash and burn though - like few I've ever seen. Like, what happened? Did he stop responding to gear entirely or something?  Seems like it.

When you blast crazy amounts of AAS, GH, Slin, IGF and other peptides for 20 years it can cause Palumboism.

Not 100% sure on the mechanism, as not all Pro's seem to get as bad as King.

With gear abuse for a long period, lots of injuries, muscle tears and nerve issues, the body starts to go backwards.

His body is deteriorating on the inside.

On borrowed time.

I always liked King, but he's addicted to this lifestyle.

Should have walked away 10+ years ago.

[AbrahamG]

When you blast crazy amounts of AAS, GH, Slin, IGF and other peptides for 20 years it can cause Palumboism.

Not 100% sure on the mechanism, as not all Pro's seem to get as bad as King.

With gear abuse for a long period, lots of injuries, muscle tears and nerve issues, the body starts to go backwards.

His body is deteriorating on the inside.

On borrowed time.

I always liked King, but he's addicted to this lifestyle.

Should have walked away 10+ years ago.

Word.

[Van_Bilderass]

Genetics-wise, he got very far with what he had. Which is a compliment and he should rightfully be proud of the accomplishment. If you analyzed his body he was nowhere near top 10 in the world at any time. His back was great but the rest was comparatively poor. Does that mean he didn't deserve to place where he did? No, it means he managed to top off everything in a certain way where he managed to rightfully beat a ton of genetically better bodybuilders.

What happend to him? Well he damaged his body in various ways but it looks extra bad in his case because he didn't have lots of room to deteriorate before it looked extra shitty. Due to genetics. For example, like in his case, if you have very short biceps to begin with you can't afford to lose any size/length/shape at all due to tears/oil lumps or whatever.

Rich Gaspari is another example of a guy who got extremely far with what he had. If you looked at Rich after his career you would wonder how he ever got as far as he did. Like Kamali.

Some bodybuilders are shit/very good at the same time. There are more examples. Look at Branch Warren. If you analyzed his bodyparts you wonder how in the hell he ever placed second in the world. But imo he did probably deserve it at one time.

[Fortress]

King is mutating into a lump of Palumbian dogshit at record speed.