Nick Walker/Derek Lunsford tied at the Pittsburgh Pro?

[luki7788]

Well, to be fair, I am on professional muscle and just because I don’t know their names or follow them doesn’t mean I don’t see the threads that pop up here at least once a month talking about the “bubble gut”, if it wasn’t a thing, why are we still talking about it in 2025??



Why is it stupid? I followed it before, I was a fan before. I stopped being a fan when it stopped being exciting, when blown out waists became the norm.. Did Arnold not come out during his own competition a few years ago condemning where the open bodybuilding division is going??

Do YOU not constantly talk about your competitors and the need to put on size but keep the waists tight?

Actually, haven’t you had a few competitors that you’ve had to go through the process of actually getting their waist down because it was getting too out of control??

Correct me if I’m wrong here..

But again, just because I’m not a super fan doesn’t mean I don’t see what’s going on, on IG, on this forum, what’s being talked about etc..


I didn’t say I didn’t know who Big Ramy was, I said I had seen when he won but couldn’t tell you the year or how many times he won..

I was very aware of him during his come up, when he was 340lbs offseason and everyone was hyped on him.. When he was out in Kuwait I believe, putting on a lb of muscle a minute and everyone was hyped on him..

And he would show up to competition and look like shit time and time again.. He would constantly switch coaches if I recall correctly, just couldn’t get dialed in for years??

Yea, I stopped caring somewhere around those years..

Derek, yea I had no idea he won in 2023..



Sooo those guys above are all genetic structure and not gut control? It’s not that some of them still found a way to get huge and freaky but still maintain their mid section?

Because a few of them ended up losing that tight mid section as they went on competing.

And as I said above;

Didn’t Arnold come out at his own competition just a few years ago condemning the “bubble gut” and where the open division was going?

You can literally search on this site;

“Bubble Gut”
“Distention”
“Gut Control”
“Turtle shell gut”

I mean the list is looooooong, and you’ll see the hundreds of threads on here that pop up regularly on this issue..

Am I wrong to assume that if these threads and discussions are still coming up then it’s obviously still happening?

Did you not see the NY Pro results just yesterday and I’m sorry, maybe my vision is off but both Nick and Bonac’s waist look super wide and blown out, Bonac was completely bloated and his waist looked just as big as Nick’s??

Would you like me to take some time today and look through the major comps over the last 5 years or so, O, Arnold and NY Pro seem to be the top 3, and make a list for you of all the guys who seem to have blown out waists??

Your questions are fair, but again, I see the issue being brought up on this very forum constantly, I don’t think I need to follow the sport to a T myself to see what’s going on when it’s posted on here all the time.. But if you’d like, I have no problem doing the research myself..

Maybe it’s less of an issue now than I think it is and it’s been tightened up significantly since Arnold came forward about it..

man but why do you take everyone as if they were attacking you personally - I only said that it's stupid to comment on something you don't follow because today in the top 10-15 mr.o you don't have guys with "bubble gut" and in fact the only top bodybuilder with a waist is Nick Walker - look at the years from the end of the 90s to the early 2000s, that was the era of bloated intestines

 

[NEMSZ]

So putting aside that a lot of cases here are genetic structure and nothing to do with gut control, my question was how is having a gut normalized/accepted now? We see Nick struggling with it and he’s being knocked for it.

Not to mention I’m not sure how you can make much of a statement about todays athletes considering you clearly don’t even follow the sport?

So just looked at the 2020-2023 Mr.O (I’m trying to go through the last 5 years or so) and I haven’t looked at anyone outside the top 5-6 yet.

2020 - Phil had no business on that stage, clearly still having stomach issues in the posing videos.

Curry in the 2021 call outs, even during the front lat spread was having distention issues you can see in the videos.

2022 - Nick, Curry and Ramy clearly having some distention in some of their posing in the videos online

2023 - Hunter clearly having some stomach issues in the call out videos..


Maybe “normalized/accepted” is a bit of a stretch on my end, I can admit when I’m wrong, but it’s still happening.

I think it’s fair to say maybe it’s not happening with everyone in every competition, but I think it is fair to say that if it’s happening with 1-3 guys in the top 6 call outs at the best competition in the world, then it’s clearly still happening..

Maybe it’s only 20% of guys? I don’t know..

But also, you guys know Google is a thing and I didn’t need to be the #1 fan to easily find all this out..

 

[NEMSZ]

man but why do you take everyone as if they were attacking you personally - I only said that it's stupid to comment on something you don't follow because today in the top 10-15 mr.o you don't have guys with "bubble gut" and in fact the only top bodybuilder with a waist is Nick Walker - look at the years from the end of the 90s to the early 2000s, that was the era of bloated intestines

I promise you Luki, I’m not taking it as an attack at all..

I appreciate the way you guys are carrying on the conversation.

I know “tone” cannot be accounted for through reading/writing, so it can sometimes be hard to tell how someone is saying something.

Maybe it’s the way that I write that can give that off, but I promise you I’m not upset with you or @KingOfSushi or the other member (forgot his name) who were asking questions and bringing up your points and fair questions..

I know you’re Polish, and when you say “This is stupid” you don’t mean it like saying “you fucking dumbass” you’re actually just being blunt/literal with no offense, just making sense of it..

 

[KingOfSushi]

But also, you guys know Google is a thing and I didn’t need to be the #1 fan to easily find all this out..

Well yes I follow the sport and know what all these athletes look like. I DONT think guts are normalized. You DO however. Unfortunately I am unable to google “who does NEMSZ find unacceptable as far as gut size in modern bodybuilding” and get any meaningful result.

 

[NEMSZ]

Well yes I follow the sport and know what all these athletes look like. I DONT think guts are normalized. You DO however. Unfortunately I am unable to google “who does NEMSZ find unacceptable as far as gut size in modern bodybuilding” and get any meaningful result.

Well I did say;

Maybe saying it was “normalized” was a stretch on my end, that I can admit when I get something wrong. So I stand corrected on that

It’s definitely not as bad as I thought it was, but it’s still there with the examples I gave above..

Now you’re obviously a fan, and as you said, maybe it’s a difference of opinion on what’s “acceptable” given a competitors size..

So may I ask;

Do you agree with any of the examples I gave or in your view that’s just a part of the game, and you don’t think it’s that bad, you have to take some negatives when chasing the freakish size??