He did mate. If you want, ask ND or Suckmymuscle to post pics of him from the 95, 96 and 97 Mr Olympia. Even in 1994, Doz's conditioning in the English Grand prix was amazing. Of course, I'm just talking level of conditioning, not shape or fullness or any other attribute.
On a bodybuilding contest, three things are evaluated:
- Muscularity.
- Symmetry.
- Conditioning.
Muscularity refers especifically to muscular development, or the size of a competitor's muscles. Symmetry refers to the size of each muscle in relation to each other, and in relation to a symmetrical frame.
What is conditioning? Conditioning is, essentially, what the muscles
appear to be like. When a bodybuilder diets and prepares for a contest, he loses subcutaneous adipose tissue, and when he restricts Sodium before a contest, he loses subcutaneous water. What is the purpose of this? To increase conditioning. Things like separations, striations, vascularity and density only appear when you drop your fat and water significantly. For instance, there are powerlifters and strongmen who weight in excess of 350 lbs; they are more muscular than any pro bodybuilder, but their muscles just plain don't look as good.
Dorian Yates never displayed deep separations - except for his back -, striations and vascularity, no matter how low his bodyfat and water were - exactly the reason why I conceaded that Ronnie was as conditioned as Dorian at the truce thread -, but his muscles had a "waxed marble" look to them which is unique in bodybuilding history. Even though he lacked things that conditioned bodybuilders like Shawn and Ronnie had, like deep separations and striations, Dorian had a second-to-none ability to lose the water under his skin, making him as conditioned if not more than the aforementioned bodybuuilders, because it gave him a look that made Shawn and others look soft next to him. Dorian's conditioning was ridiculous. Just ridiculous.
As for what year Dorian was at his best in terms of conditioning, that's an easy one: 1996. However, this was far from his best, because you can lose water not only beaneath your skin, but also the one that's inside the muscles. In 1996, Dorian didn't have even a single drop of water under his skin, making his hardness outrageous, but he had so little water inside his muscles that they looked shrinked like plumes. In 1994 and 1997, Dorian was immensely full, but he was obviously carrying a slight film of water under his skin. This is picking at straws, though, because even when he was off, Dorian's conditioning was still the suff of dreams: his "off" conditioning would be regarded as a carrier best by any other pro. In my opinion, Dorian was at his absolute best in 1995. That year, he was as dry as 1993 - although not as much as 1996 -, and had enough water inside his muscles to make them look engorged. 1993 he was as dry as 1995, but a little depleted - although not as much as 1996. I wouldn't go as far as saying that Dorian's 1995 Olympia package is the best ever, but it is easily in the top three. Dorian never had the swollen, round muscles of a Ronnie Coleman, but in 1995 he came close, while combining it with his trademarked preter-human dryness. Out of this World. Absolutely mind-blowing. I must confess that I'm somewhat biased towards Dorian - just like Hulkster is biased towards the narrow hipped and round muscles look of Coleman -, because I personally love his combination of incredible thickness with super-human hardness; no one ever did it better than him. The only bodybuilder who came close to being as thick from the sides as Dorian was Ronnie in 2003, but he was very, very soft when compared to Diesel.
Here are pics from 1996, his best conditioning ever - the best in bodybuilding history. I must reiterate, though, that this was far from his best overall - only in conditioning.
SUCKMYMUSCLE
