2020 Olympia - Pictures Prejudging Pics from Andro

[Royalty]

https://www.team-andro.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4221&page=1#cpg-list

[NarcissisticDeity]

 

[galain]

Hadi and Ramy are the only ones who look like they trained abs for the past year. Phil...fuck man, if he's Mr O he's a very underwhelming one. Standing next to Ramy he looks tiny. Bonac needs a chest.

I think Hadi is the best onstage this year, but what the fuck do I know? Not a spectacular lineup.

[bLuEeYes]

Hadi and Ramy are the only ones who look like they trained abs for the past year. Phil...fuck man, if he's Mr O he's a very underwhelming one. Standing next to Ramy he looks tiny. Bonac needs a chest.

I think Hadi is the best onstage this year, but what the fuck do I know? Not a spectacular lineup.

Weak lineup compared to what we had in 2007 or even 2012 with phil at his best, kai wolf...
It should be Ramy first, Hadi second, Bonac third ( he lacks back and chest but at least he has good proportion)
Brandon proportions are just bad, lower body is below average

[Royalty]

Maxx Charles looked like he may have had an upper abdominal scar too

[kepler2008]

[sway]

Ramy is killing Heath in this shot

[njflex]

Ramy is killing Heath in this shot

WOW....

[Redux]

Philsulin's midsection is just permanently wrecked.
And his body is light years away from that fresh, full look he had years ago.
He's on the other side of the bodybuilder bell curve.
Kind of a pathetic lineup all together.

[Skeletor]

 



Waist starting to look like Kamali's:

[Matt]

Phil looks good...it's only minimal Palumboism setting in - it may actually only be size loss [unfortunately, some of which is in areas where he was already not strong].  But that rear lat spread against Ramy is not even close.

Does anyone in history beat Ramy in that rear lat spread?  Maybe Ronnie in 2003, but other than that, does any bodybuilder in history beat that shot?

[Royalty]

Phil looks good...it's only minimal Palumboism setting in - it may actually only be size loss [unfortunately, some of which is in areas where he was already not strong].  But that rear lat spread against Ramy is not even close.

Does anyone in history beat Ramy in that rear lat spread?  Maybe Ronnie in 2003, but other than that, does any bodybuilder in history beat that shot?

I think 1993 Yates and maybe 1995 Francois.

[Matt]

I think 1993 Yates and maybe 1995 Francois.

Right - no top back in history discussion can be had without Yates in it.  Dorian's back may not have necessarily been wider [I don't know even anyone beats Ramy just in terms of left to right width], but that's just one quality that makes up that shot.  Dorian's back thickness and muscle density are probably the number one in history in the rear lat spread.  Ronnie's back thickness is greater than Ramy's IMO, which brings us back to left/right width, which is where I don't know if I've ever seen a bodybuilder with a wider rear lat spread than Ramy's.

Mike Francois...I remember he was called "The Poor Man's Dorian Yates".  I know that's a great compliment but, lol.  I wonder how he felt about being called a "poor man's" version of someone.

He did have quite the back though.  I think he won an Arnold Classic, and was from Columbus.

But luckily, that's not the contest Ramy is in tonight - compared to Phil, I think Ramy's width just so overwhelms Phil's, that it isn't close in that shot, even though Phil's back may be more Ronnie-esque in terms of the shape it has.  Add that to his leg/hamstrings thickness, and I can't see Phil beating Ramy tonight.  And Ramy isn't exactly lacking in conditioning either.

Based on the shots I've seen so far, I'll go with [1] Big Ramy, [2] Phil Heath, [3] Brandon Curry.

I'm sure Phil will be disappointed with anything less than a win, but I don't see that happening tonight.  Unless he gets a Jay Cutler 2007-style gift, but I think that type of gift is usually only given to a reigning champ, and Phil isn't it this year.  Too bad for Phil - this was a pretty good "comeback", if you can call it that after only two years.  But I don't think he will win.

[wes]

I`d rather watch a top amatuer national level show

[ChristopherA]

I`d rather watch a top amatuer national level show

Watch the Classic class! They're incredible. Bumstead is the man

[Royalty]

I`d rather watch a top amatuer national level show

Care to reconsider?

Wes, this is the winner of 2020 NPC Nationals...

http://contests.npcnewsonline.com/contests/2020/npc_national_championships/jonathan_withers/

[WalterWhite]

Right - no top back in history discussion can be had without Yates in it.  Dorian's back may not have necessarily been wider [I don't know even anyone beats Ramy just in terms of left to right width], but that's just one quality that makes up that shot.  Dorian's back thickness and muscle density are probably the number one in history in the rear lat spread.  Ronnie's back thickness is greater than Ramy's IMO, which brings us back to left/right width, which is where I don't know if I've ever seen a bodybuilder with a wider rear lat spread than Ramy's.

Mike Francois...I remember he was called "The Poor Man's Dorian Yates".  I know that's a great compliment but, lol.  I wonder how he felt about being called a "poor man's" version of someone.

He did have quite the back though.  I think he won an Arnold Classic, and was from Columbus.

But luckily, that's not the contest Ramy is in tonight - compared to Phil, I think Ramy's width just so overwhelms Phil's, that it isn't close in that shot, even though Phil's back may be more Ronnie-esque in terms of the shape it has.  Add that to his leg/hamstrings thickness, and I can't see Phil beating Ramy tonight.  And Ramy isn't exactly lacking in conditioning either.

Based on the shots I've seen so far, I'll go with [1] Big Ramy, [2] Phil Heath, [3] Brandon Curry.

I'm sure Phil will be disappointed with anything less than a win, but I don't see that happening tonight.  Unless he gets a Jay Cutler 2007-style gift, but I think that type of gift is usually only given to a reigning champ, and Phil isn't it this year.  Too bad for Phil - this was a pretty good "comeback", if you can call it that after only two years.  But I don't think he will win.

Good review Matt especially regarding Francois.  Time to bring back your forum page so bodybuilding can be discussed vs constant political fighting. Not sure about Ramy though. Definitely the biggest but totally lacks the flow of many of the 90's, earlier 2000's mass monsters. Guys like Nasser and Rhul had better flow.

Watch the Classic class! They're incredible. Bumstead is the man

More entertaining than the open for sure.

[Walter Sobchak]

Right - no top back in history discussion can be had without Yates in it.  Dorian's back may not have necessarily been wider [I don't know even anyone beats Ramy just in terms of left to right width], but that's just one quality that makes up that shot.  Dorian's back thickness and muscle density are probably the number one in history in the rear lat spread.  Ronnie's back thickness is greater than Ramy's IMO, which brings us back to left/right width, which is where I don't know if I've ever seen a bodybuilder with a wider rear lat spread than Ramy's.

Mike Francois...I remember he was called "The Poor Man's Dorian Yates".  I know that's a great compliment but, lol.  I wonder how he felt about being called a "poor man's" version of someone.

He did have quite the back though.  I think he won an Arnold Classic, and was from Columbus.

But luckily, that's not the contest Ramy is in tonight - compared to Phil, I think Ramy's width just so overwhelms Phil's, that it isn't close in that shot, even though Phil's back may be more Ronnie-esque in terms of the shape it has.  Add that to his leg/hamstrings thickness, and I can't see Phil beating Ramy tonight.  And Ramy isn't exactly lacking in conditioning either.

Based on the shots I've seen so far, I'll go with [1] Big Ramy, [2] Phil Heath, [3] Brandon Curry.

I'm sure Phil will be disappointed with anything less than a win, but I don't see that happening tonight.  Unless he gets a Jay Cutler 2007-style gift, but I think that type of gift is usually only given to a reigning champ, and Phil isn't it this year.  Too bad for Phil - this was a pretty good "comeback", if you can call it that after only two years.  But I don't think he will win.

Did none of you guy’s ever see Lee Haney compete in person?

[oldschoolfan]

Bumsted smoked Breon

Breon should have hired the expert in everything the know it all dwarf asshole joe Marino to get

Him ready for this show

[AbrahamG]

Bumsted smoked Breon

Breon should have hired the expert in everything the know it all dwarf asshole joe Marino to get

Him ready for this show

Holy shit bro. You've really got a hard on for coach. What's the back story?

[Matt]

Good review Matt especially regarding Francois.  Time to bring back your forum page so bodybuilding can be discussed vs constant political fighting. Not sure about Ramy though. Definitely the biggest but totally lacks the flow of many of the 90's, earlier 2000's mass monsters. Guys like Nasser and Rhul had better flow.

Thanks WalterWhite!  Interesting that you brought up my Ironage forum - FYI, I use the word "Ironage" for any year prior to the current one.  So...two Fridays from now, on New Year's Day, this weekend's Mr. Olympia contest will be an "Ironage Mr. Olympia".    Only because I've never seen anyone conclusively specify what timeframe the Ironage actually was.

That being said, I enjoyed running my forum, but I find that board moderation is difficult.  I agree with you about politics being discussed too often in here.  I think Ron does a good job with the board with an extremely pro-free speech policy.  It's not 100% free speech - but I really don't feel censored much at all here.  I calm down on some topics on here since Ron is Jewish, but he's also a very rare Jewish American Republican.  Jews vote Democrat at extremely high rates, and in the past Ron has openly stated that the Democrat Party has thrown Israel under the bus far more than the Republican Party has.

And you know what - bless Ron's soul for standing up for the interests of his race/in-group, and not apologizing for it.  While I find it hard to be an "out" White male Alt-Right type, I imagine it may even be harder to be an American Jewish Republican for Ron among his Jewish friends, because of how low the percentage is - especially those who make no apologies about it like Ron.

For me personally...I need to get my posts shorter.  But for politics on this board...I wonder if there is any way to resolve that.  I would say just don't clutter up the board with thread after thread on politics.  We could then have just as much content, but all tucked away into a specific few threads, with the rest being bodybuilding.

One thing Ron can tell you about running a forum - it's not easy.  Be it the issue you just brought up, or walking that fine line between reasonable moderation versus being overly censorious.  I personally think Ron does the best job of any bodybuilding forum owner online, and that's why I come here.  And as far as I know, he does it for free.    Maybe he has expenses paid to go to expos, but I've always been intrigued with how much work Ron puts in to Getbig, and how popular the website is, yet Ron doesn't monetize it.

Also, is it just me, or is Ron a bit absent lately?  Not absentee in a negligent way, but just not around/posting very much.  I think his kids are in his teens now, so maybe his family dynamic changed.  For the past few months, I've been like "Where's Ron?"    Our epic leader, the true King of Getbig. 

Sorry for the long post [you'll hear this one a lot from me.  ].

Merry Christmas, WalterWhite!

[Matt]

^ Ugh...I thought that post was medium in word count. 

Did none of you guy’s ever see Lee Haney compete in person?

Not in his competitive heyday.  At expos post-career, and Lee Haney is a lot like Lee Labrada - in that they've both stayed in great shape post-retirement.  They both look like two men, getting older, who still work out, and probably take TRT or get similar help.

As for seeing Lee competing in person - he was excellent, and in my opinion, his 1991 win was the best bodybuilder of all-time by that time [I don't subscribe to the Ironage school of thought that Arnold was better than Lee].  But do you feel that Lee Haney is better than modern bodybuilders?

[Kwon]

I'd rather watch Wes rants and Wes go Postal in the Postal Office!

[bLuEeYes]

Ramy is a continuity of the freakish era started by Yates and then Coleman. 
As for the back, Coleman had a way thicker back but in width Ramy crush all bodybuilders from now and back then.

[harmankardon1]

Phil looks good...it's only minimal Palumboism setting in - it may actually only be size loss [unfortunately, some of which is in areas where he was already not strong].  But that rear lat spread against Ramy is not even close.

Does anyone in history beat Ramy in that rear lat spread?  Maybe Ronnie in 2003, but other than that, does any bodybuilder in history beat that shot?

Dorian beats him too imo, but that's about it...