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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rain, snow or shine, on March 6th, we will be heading to the 2009 IFBB Arnold Classic in downtown Columbus, Ohio.\u00a0 \u00a0And as we do every year, many of us like to predict on how will win and who may not be the best at the contest.\u00a0 Of course this is just for fun, because in reality, none of us know how one is going to look in stage that day, but via rumors, reports and talk from follow competitors, fans and training and diet partners, the hype has begun. So who do I think will place well at the 2009 Arnold Classic. Here it goes, based on the 13 athletes that should be there.<\/p>\n
1 \u2013 Victor Martinez.\u00a0 Yes, a knee injury sidelined Victor from competing in the 2008 Mr. Olympia, in which many thought, if he had been healthy, could have been the new king. Instead, Victor now has some doubts from his fans, and others around the globe, on whether Victor will be ready when he gets on that state. Yes, he upper body should look fantastic, but will his legs match his incredible physique??? I think it will, and at the end, Victor will be crowned in first place.<\/p>\n
2 \u2013 Branch Warren.\u00a0 What? The man from Texas in second place? No way? Well, once again, we have a competitor who was injured going into the 2008 Mr. Olympia, and is very hungry on proving that he is on top of the bodybuilding world. Branch has been training very hard in Texas, and judging by fellow reports out there, he is ready to go, and will look his best at the Arnold. Branch should surprise the rest of the top competitors.<\/p>\n
3 \u2013 Toney Freeman.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t predict Toney would do well at the 2008 Mr. Olympia, and boy was I wrong. And Tony let me know it too! Toney backstage before he even went on at prejudging blasted me and said \u2018I will prove you wrong\u2019. And he did.\u00a0 But this is a new year, and it looks like Toney could of perfected his style and his physique in terms on final preparation. Toney will look good, and will impress all of us again.<\/p>\n
4 \u2013 Kai Greene.\u00a0 Kai\u00a0 Greene was third last year at this contest, but also was injured soon afterwards. Kai is looking good now, and he may have a chance to be in the top two. However, reports of Kai being 292 pounds has worried some that he may not be able to shed all that weight and look 100% great for the Arnold in time.\u00a0 Thus, I am putting Kai in 4th place.<\/p>\n
5 \u2013 Silvio Samuel. Silvio let me know it big time when I chose him in second place in my predictions for the 2009 IFBB Ironman Pro. Said how can I not predict him in first at that show. At the time, Moe El Moussawi looked great, but in the last few days, faltered in his preparations, in which Silvio handily won the 2009 Ironman.\u00a0 But the 2009 Arnold Classic is a much tougher competitor field. The top four above Silvio did not compete in the Ironman, and rumors are they will look great. Have we seen the best of Silvio at the Ironman? Or will Silvio step it up a little more and beat my prediction of 5th place.<\/p>\n
6 –\u00a0 Dennis James.\u00a0 Two shows last year, the Tampa and the Europa, Dennis James came in second place, with Toney Freeman beating him. Dennis was not happy with those results, because Dennis looked real good.\u00a0 At the Olympia, Dennis was one spot behind Silvio, which means that Dennis is going to have to look spectacular in order to move up from 6th place here.\u00a0 Go Dennis Go!<\/p>\n
7 \u2013 Moe El Moussawi.\u00a0 We had such high predictions for Moe for the 2009 Ironman, but Moe just wasn\u2019t 100% there.\u00a0 In terms of getting ready, Moe gained 10+ pounds, but lost some of his shredded look.\u00a0 Moe has beat Silvio in the past, and if Moe can come back to his shredded look, and take his time in getting ready in the final days of the show, he may surprise us all, and place higher here. And if he doesn\u2019t, then Ronny Rockel, Gustavo Badell and Johnnie Jackson just may pass him up.<\/p>\n
8 \u2013 Ronny Rockel.\u00a0 Surprised us all at the 2009 Ironman, which many saying that he should of placed second there above Moe El Moussawi.\u00a0 So Ronny has something to prove, coming into the Arnold with a motivation to show others that he is better and will be more shredded at this show.<\/p>\n
9 \u2013 Gutavo Badell. Gustavo was supposed to compete in the Ironman, but dropped out, due to family obligations.\u00a0 But with Gustavo, you never know how good or bad he will look on stage.\u00a0 I hope he looks good, and comes back to the overall shape he was at one time, but this year may be difficult. We will see.<\/p>\n
10 \u2013 Johnnie Jackson.\u00a0 \u00a0Johnnie entered into the 2009 Ironman at the last possible minute, and looked much worse than any of us predicted we will be.\u00a0 Johnnie could and should of looked much better than what he did, and I know he will improve coming into the Arnold Classic. The question is, with this tough lineup, can he do better than 10th place.<\/p>\n
11 \u2013 Ahmad Haider.\u00a0 At the 2009 Ironman, Ahmad qualified for the Mr. Olympia by placing 5th. He looked good, but I am not sure how much more can Ahmad improve, giving his fellow competitors an edge. I may be wrong, but Ahmad by just place out of the top 10 here in Columbus.<\/p>\n
12 \u2013 Marcus Haley.\u00a0 \u00a0A tough lineup here, and his will be good experience for Marcus. Whereas Marcus will not crack the top 10, he does have a change to prove he is the best poser, with only perhaps Kai Greene, and maybe Toney Freeman challenging him for that. Have fun Marcus, the Arnold is one great contest.<\/p>\n
13 – Sergey Shelestov. Wow \u2013 not sure why Sergey even wants to compete in this tough lineup, with almost no chance of not placing last, no matter how many people are in the lineup.\u00a0 A very interesting choice to be invited for the Arnold.\u00a0 Enjoy the show, and come in shape please!
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rain, snow or shine, on March 6th, we will be heading to the 2009 IFBB Arnold Classic in downtown Columbus, Ohio.\u00a0 \u00a0And as we do every year, many of us like to predict on how will win and who may not be the best at the contest.\u00a0 Of course this is just for fun, because<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}