Olympia Observations
Now that the biggest and most highly anticipated bodybuilding competition has come and gone, what have we learned? The 2013 Mr. Olympia contest was hyped as one of the biggest and best Mr. Olympia contests in its 49-year history. With the reigning champ Phil Heath being challenged by last year’s runner-up Kai Greene as well as the return of 4-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler and the debut of Big Ramy, could it get any more exciting than this? Here are my observations from the 2013 Mr. Olympia contest.
Phil Heath is the definitive Champ!
After last year’s narrow victory over challenger Kai Greene, many people felt that Phil Heath had chinks in his muscular armor and an upset could be in the cards. There are two reasons why this definitely didn’t happen at the 2013 Mr. Olympia.
First of all, Heath never misses his peak. As we all know, bodybuilding is not an exact science. That’s why the best bodybuilders in the world hire “gurus” – to tell them what to do so they come into the contest absolutely peaked. Phil is not only “gifted” with superb muscle bellies and incredible separation, he is also apparently blessed in the art of peaking on contest day.
Can you remember the last time Phil Heath showed up onstage either flat or smooth? Even when he was sick from food poisoning at the 2009 Mr. Olympia, he was still ripped and made the top five. The guy simply does not miss his peak on the big day!
The second reason is that Phil wants to win more than anyone else. Although many fans of the sport view Heath as a cocky asshole, his desire to win can never be debated. Last year, when the word was out that Kai Greene was very close to upsetting him for the title after the prejudging, Heath came out onstage for the finals like he wanted blood.
When Phil Heath is introduced to the audience at the Mr. Olympia contest, he doesn’t slowly amble onstage à laDexter Jackson or pump his hands into the air like Ronnie Coleman used to do, he STALKS the stage like a lion in search of his prey. Heath poses with passion and fury as he attacks the mandatory poses. It’s almost as if he is saying, “Go ahead, try to take my title away from me, I dare you!” If Phil Heath goes down, he’s not going down easy!
Age Catches Up to All of Us
Superstar athletes are to be admired and idolized. They provide us with the inspiration we need to motivate us to become better. Whether your idol was Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Joe Montana, we put our superstar athletes on pedestals and always imagine them as the invincible heroes that we remember.
Unfortunately, the truth is that we all get old. Our idols are flesh and blood, not comic book superheroes who never age or get fat. This applies to bodybuilders as well as the rest of the human race. These physically superior supermen will eventually lose their extraordinary muscle mass, their tight, youthful skin will begin to sag and their ripped, fat-free bodies will start to accumulate ugly adipose tissue.
The 2013 Mr. Olympia contest featured the return of the most popular bodybuilder in the sport, 4-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler. When Jay announced his return to the Mr. Olympia contest, many of his fans (myself included) immediately visualized a 2009 Jay Cutler storming the Olympia stage in huge, ripped condition. I imagined the crowd standing on their feet roaring their support as Cutler would do the famous Quad Stomp, extending his massive left thigh while it bursts into freaky striations. Cutler would do the impossible by overwhelming the younger competition, regaining the Mr. Olympia title once again.
Those dreams were dashed into the dirt when Jay Cutler walked onstage for the Friday night prejudging. As he hit a front double biceps, his waist looked to be twice as wide as his competition and his muscle mass was dramatically reduced. Pose after pose, it was immediately evident to all watching that Jay was not going to do the impossible this year and come away with the Hollywood happy ending.
Jay is now 40 years old and he has been a pro for the last 17 years, earning his pro card at the 1996 NPC Nationals at a mere 23 years of age. This was his 13th Mr. Olympia. He has logged in many, many hours in the gym and has traveled the world as the best representative of the sport of bodybuilding. Whether Jay decides to endure another grueling year of training to try to win back the Mr. Olympia title again is up to him. One of the brutal truths about getting older in bodybuilding is that it takes twice as much effort to try and look almost as good as you used to. In the end, it’s almost impossible to look as good as you did when you were younger… even if your name is Jay Cutler.
Dexter Jackson and Toney Freeman are two other bodybuilders who are competing in their 40’s. Dexter, at 43 years of age, is still looking incredible, winning the Masters Mr. Olympia, the Arnold Classic and making the top five in one of the most competitive Mr. Olympia contests of all time, all in the last 12 months. Toney, on the other hand, was surprisingly down in muscle mass this year, reducing him to the dreaded third call-out at the prejudging. At 47 years of age, the hands of time are closing in on Freeman’s incredible physique. Dexter may continue to compete successfully for another year or two but his physique will also begin to change eventually.
This is a situation that happens to all bodybuilders, no matter how dominant they once were. There was a time during Ronnie Coleman’s Mr. Olympia reign when he was so superior to his competition that it was widely accepted that the only contest was for second place. When Ronnie competed in his last Mr. Olympia contest in 2007, posing to the same music and using the same posing routine as when he first won the title in 1998, his muscle mass, shape and conditioning was a shadow of the juggernaut he once was. It happens to all of us.
The Promise of the Future
The changing of the guard is an inevitability in any sport. In 1999, Jay Cutler and Dexter Jackson were competing in their first Mr. Olympia contest. This year, several rookies were making their Olympia debuts. They included Mamdouh“Big Ramy” Elssbiayand Steve Kuclo. This year’s Mr. Olympia included several bodybuilders who could definitely be the Stars of the Future.
Big Ramy, at first impression, was a slight disappointment. It was similar to meeting a member of the opposite sex online. You share pictures, engage in some flirtatious online chatting, and make plans to meet in person. As the pictures continue, you highly anticipate the date of seeing your new crush in person. When the big day arrives and your date finally walks into the room, your heart sinks. It’s not that your new found love looks bad, they just don’t look the same as you anticipated.
That’s how I felt when Big Ramy walked onstage at the Mr. Olympia. Yes, he was big and impressive but he looked shorter than I imagined and his incredibly wide shoulders seemed diluted after viewing the Big Bad Wolf. However, as I watched Ramy posing again on Saturday night and especially during the big 10-man posedown, I started to gain a new found appreciation for this promising newcomer. His incredible muscle mass is as obvious as a Kim Kardashian derriere in a pair of tight jeans. With only three years of serious training under his belt and just as many competitions, it’s very possible that Ramy will be a BIG threat in the next year or two.
Steve Kuclo shows crazy potential as a rookie professional. Still in his early 20’s, Steve has the height and structure along with great shape and muscle mass to be a force in the future. Kuclo definitely needs more polish and some added size but he’s just getting started. It’s also worth noting that Kuclo seems mentally well balanced with a solid family support system and a good sense of what it takes to be a champion in the future without delusional misconceptions.
After the dramatic improvements shown by Dennis Wolf, what can we hope for him in the next few years? Wolf seems to have hit on a winning formula this year by staying leaner in the off season and not being afraid to come onstage big and full. With his huge structure, Dennis cannot over diet and be flat for a contest like the Mr. Olympia. By competing both big and ripped, Dennis rose right to the top this year and should be a big threat in the future if he can repeat this condition.
Another bright light at the 2013 Mr. Olympia was mass monster Roelly Winklaar. After having the opportunity to see Roelly up close at the Chicago Pro Show this year, I appreciated what a freak he really is. The size and thickness of his arms, delts and legs has to be seen to be believed. I predicted that if Roelly could repeat that combination of conditioning with his freaky size for the Olympia, he would be a force to be reckoned with. Normally stepping onstage either flat or smooth for the biggest show of the year, I think Roelly took the judges by surprise this year and was placed a few places too low. If Roelly can repeat this peaked condition next year, he should easily be at the top.
Finally, it looks like Lionel Beyeke has discovered the winning formula for peaking for a competition. For years, Beyeke seemed like that genetic freak who was too lazy to diet hard for a contest to realize his vast potential. This year, under the tutelage of coach Dennis James, Lionel has regained the fire and has gotten harder and harder with each show he has entered after his disappointing finish at the Tampa Pro. If Lionel can have a productive off season and add some quality pounds to his physique, he could really be something else next year if he can repeat his conditioning.
The other potential bright light on the pro bodybuilding scene is Cedric McMillan. Possessed with one of the best structures in the sport, Cedric combines a small waist with incredible muscle size and volume. He is both aesthetically pleasing and incredibly massive. Cedric just needs some of Phil Heath’s fierce desire to win and he could move right to the top of the ladder. C’mon Cedric, you only live once and you have the structure and muscle mass that most pro bodybuilders would KILL for! Let’s do this!!
Some Suggestions for Improvement
As a long time fan of bodybuilding, I would like to offer some hopeful suggestions for improving the Mr. Olympia contest. I know I’m just a guy in the peanut gallery throwing out my two cents, but why not? Like Clint Eastwood once said in his role as the iconic Dirty Harry, “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.”
Although it’s probably not economically feasible, I would like to see the Olympia reduced to a one day event again. I think the two-day judging makes it harder for the competitors to peak. It happens every year where so many bodybuilders don’t peak in time for the important prejudging on Friday night but they look so much better 24 hours later on Saturday. Of course, the opposite also happens with some of the competitors nailing their condition on Friday but showing up Saturday either flat or soft.
Another idea is to actually judge the posing routines at the finals. Force the bodybuilders to construct a posing routine that will be judged for its artistic value and the ability of the bodybuilder to show off his physique. The jaw-dropping posing routines once witnessed by legends such as Mohamed Makkawy, Frank Zane, Lee Labrada and Shawn Ray are regrettably a thing of the past.
Today’s champs are content with walking around the stage, waving their hands to the fans for more applause as if they were guest posing and not competing in the biggest show of the year and using music that has nothing to do with the poses they are doing.
Why don’t more bodybuilders work on performing a truly incredible posing routine? Because they don’t have to! Unfortunately, this horrible example set by most of the pro bodybuilders is filtering its way down to the amateur competitions.
Have you watched a local bodybuilding contest lately? It’s obvious that these new, upcoming bodybuilders don’t have any good role models to emulate because they are doing the same “walking around the stage, waving the arms” routine seen by some many of the pros. Many of the young bodybuilders competing today have never even heard of Makkawy or Corney so they don’t have any inspiration to work hard on their posing to create their own “work of art” onstage.
Extend the prejudging to include more comparisons. Back in the day, each judge on the panel would be allowed to call their own comparisons at the prejudging. This can lead to multiple comparisons with the same bodybuilders and a longer prejudging but it does give the judges and the audience more viewing time to see the best bodybuilders in the world at the biggest contest of the year. The prejudging is the Action part of a bodybuilding contest. If the men were judged by themselves on Saturday morning/afternoon, the judges might have some more time to look at multiple comparisons. I know the fans would love it.
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