http:\/\/www.ironmanmagazine.com\/blogs\/lonnie\/?p=1953<\/a><\/p>\nFrom LT’s blog…<\/p>\n
As always, there will be plenty of new highlights at the Arnold Sports Festival, which gets underway with a bang Thursday night. That\u2019s when the prejudging for fitness, figure and bikini will take place\u2014at Veterans Memorial Auditorium\u2014for the Arnold Amateur. And, as always, I\u2019ll be behind the podium, so make sure to come by and say hi if you make it there\u2026100 bikini competitors in only its second year!<\/p>\n
One impressive new look this year will be the bodies of \u201cThe Experts\u201d after the Swami, Harbody Hinds and Yogi Avidan had to purchase new pants last season for our rapidly expanding waist lines. After tipping the scales are nearly 200 pounds a while back, I\u2019ll be at 188 come show time (at 5\u201910\u201d), with 16\u201d guns. The 5\u201911\u201d Hinds, up to 225 over the holidays, swears he\u2019ll be a trim 205 by the time he arrives in Columbus on Wednesday, with 15\u201d guns. Avidan, at 6\u20191\u201d, ballooned up to a disgusting 259 after the \u2018Olympia, but will be under the 240 mark in Ohio, with 14\u201d guns. <\/p>\n
Okay, so we still suck, physique wise, but we\u2019re known for our vaunted cerebral gifts anyway, not mind-boggling muscle mass. And here we are to tackle\u2014as I point out on my inside look in the ASC video on this site\u2014what could be the most competitive event ever. With four\u2014yes FOUR\u2014legit title contenders. <\/p>\n
Who else to start out the prognostications but the elder statesman and the group. And the sharpest of them all\u2026.me. Oh, just to let you know, the rule for this one was we had to all make different selections for our winner, just to mix things up a bit. And, as you see, I\u2019m the only one who still has faith that \u201cThe Blade\u201d is still sublime enough to cut up this tough field.<\/p>\n
SWAMI: LT<\/p>\n
1. Dexter Jackson (ties Flex Wheeler for all-time ASC record with his 4th win)
\n2. Kai Greene
\n3. Branch Warren
\n4. Phil Heath
\n5. Toney Freeman
\n6. Melvin Anthony<\/p>\n
HARDBODY: Isaac<\/p>\n
1. Phil Heath
\n2. Dexter Jackson
\n3. Branch Warren
\n4. Kai Greene
\n5. Melvin Anthony
\n6. Toney Freeman<\/p>\n
YOGI: Ron<\/p>\n
1. Kai Greene
\n2. Phil Heath
\n3. Dexter Jackson
\n4. Branch Warren
\n5. Toney Freeman
\n6. Melvin Anthony<\/p>\n
*SWAMI LONGSHOT: Don\u2019t be surprised if Ronny Rockel finds his way into the top 6. My counterparts feel the same way about Hide Yamagishi.<\/p>\n
Are you ready? Let\u2019s get ready to rumble\u2026or is it crumble?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All right, here is goes – the predictions of the ones who assume they know more than the rest – the so called experts – the ones who understand the sport – the ones who have more years of experience in guessing then some of you have been alive… http:\/\/www.ironmanmagazine.com\/blogs\/lonnie\/?p=1953 From LT’s blog… As always,<\/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-687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687","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=687"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getbig.com\/headlines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}