Kevin English guest posing.......HOLY SH*T!

[venom]

since i am all hyped up on coffee at the moment.. let me rant about the 202 class...I HATE THE IDEA.. silliest thing the ifbb ever did.. now, i have wrtten this on another board before.. but will again because i detest this class so much..

it is unfair.. the issues are not being addressed in this class.. a guy 5'6 can only weigh 202.. but, a guy 5'3 or 5'4 also can weigh 202.. so the taller guy is limited and has to "stand still" and wait for others to catch him who are shorter.. the shorter guy has free reign to bring what ever package he wants to the stage... so where does that leave henry, english, and a few other front runners..?

ok.. henry cannot afford to add another pound of muscle.. he is maxed out in that class.. english also.. correa too.. so what do they do with the rest of their career? train to maintain?? how silly.. these guys have conditioning down.. so please dont bring up the "refinement" word.. they are refined already at this point.. they cant afford to really try and bring up weak points since this could translate to higher bodyweight..

so what do teh fans get? well.. we will see the same dave henry, eduardo correa, english ect for the rest of their careers.. the same package every show.. i bet i can tell ya what they will weigh.. 202!!!! they are stuck doing this while guys like lewis, raymond and few others can still add 10-12 more pounds to play around with their physique.. so essentially they are waiting for others to catch up.. flex can bring in his best package and make some modifications.. henry? no.. gonna get pretty boring race fans!!

so what if henry thinks he would look better at 210? english has stated that he looks his best at 215.. so these guy, who are pros, cann not be allowed to bring thier best package to the stage over a silly arbitrary number?.. where did 202 come from by the way? why not 204? why not 212.5 ? dont know either.. so you ask " why not just have them go to open class".. well, they will get smoked..

so what is the solution.. pretty simple.. A SHORT CLASS!!!!! all these guys are 5'6 and under..let them compete against guys of like stature and let them bring their best package.. whether that is 215 or 190.. let henry go against rockell.. right now, rockell is in the open.. he does not want to drop 15 pounds of hard earned muscle.. dont blame him.. plus, it would not be his best look... so lets make it a 5'6 1/2 and under class.. an d let the guys we call pros come in at their best weight and look.. whether that be 190 or 215..

can you imagine a 215 pound englsih against the 210 of henry.. rockell at 215 shredded pounds.. this is excitment.. the reason why the open class is so exciting is you dont know what the competitors are going to bring.. will cutler be huge or go shredded.. will he be 275 or drop to 260 and streamline a bit.. will kai be a freaky 270 pounds and or a shredded 260.. that is what made it exciting.. with the 202 you know what weight the top runners will be and what package they will bring (except for raymond and lewis as they have room to make changes)..

instead the ifbb wants to "dumb down" the shows.. and let every one be competitive.. so how do you do this? by holding others back.. dont let genetic elites get too far ahead.. keep them in check and let the others catch up.. like making jimmie johnson pull over so others have a chance instead of making them drive bettter.. silly..

Good point LATS I never really thought about it like that!

 

[LATS]

mightyjohn.. the issue is not that they cant move up.. hide does do "ok" at his height.. but, if you put hide in a SHORT class with others of his stature it would be very exciting to see.. most will not just bite the bullet and move up because they feel that they wont get a fair shake with the taller competitors .. i can see their point to a extent.. but, it is the pros..


every sport is limited by genetics.. we are not seeing the nba lowering hoops so the shorter guys have a shot.. ect ect.. but, if the ifbb is going to go this route then at least make it fair to those involved .. the 202 is just too limiting.. they dont put a 250 pound limit on those in the open.. they just come in at the best package and let the weight feel where it may.. the guy in the 202 cant do that..

i talked to two guys in the 202 last year and both agreed with me that it needs to be a short class.. basically, people were bitching not long ago that the 202 guys were not compensated enough for their wins.. what? lets face it, the 202 attracts 3 tier pros (except for henry who has proven himself in the open class.. english has beaten henry but, has not proven him self in open class recently).. if these guys want better compensation you need to get better pros in that division.. but, the rockells, hides and a few others are not going to drop hard earned muscle to make a silly class that does not allow their best package to be brought forth.. they can make more being in the top 10 at most open shows..

now i do agree with you that if they must keep this silly arbitrary number then up it (215 or so) so that these guys have a spring board to make it in the open pros.. but, most of them will not make it out of the 202 based on teh fact of how long it will take most them to aquire the needed mass.. but, if they can grow into the 215 class then the can make the transition (to open) much easier..

right now the guys like flex lewis are coming in at 192 pounds.. if he manages to get to the upper limit of the 202 then he still has a hell of a jump to be competitive in teh open..

either way, a short class is much better for the sport.. let the winner of the short class duke it out wit the winner of the open at the end of the show.. a short class would still be packed with top guys and this in turn would draw more sponsors and hopefully more money for them.. but , right now i dont see any sponsor wanting to throw more money at guys who are placing out of the top 5 in the 202 and would never be competitive in the open..

 

[MightyJohn]

Lats I completly see where You are coming from....I for one I a fan of the 202 class...not so much for the short freaks but more for the competitors that come in still looking asthetic

 

[LATS]

i can see that mightjohn.. but, they are pleasing because they are smaller... some prefer that.. but a short class will still allow those types of competitiors since many are not going to have that freak build anyway.. but, if others want that look at least they can bring it.. either way, most of the guys in the 202 could afford to add some muscle.. and i believe that most will still have very pleasing physiques even after they add some.. so it would be a win win.. hopefully the ifbb will see some of what we are talking about in the future..

 

[buselmo]

Dude probably ate a lot a grass fed beef these last weeks...

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL