What has changed?

[luki7788]

Mr O potential for sure, especially age wise he is only 27 or 28.

Rubiel is a genetic anomaly but he will certainly never win the Mr. O title - not because he is too weak for it or anything like that, but he is a complete freak and the judges are looking for something else

 

[Eguz22]

I think there’s a lot of survivorship bias and rose tinted glasses when we assess modern vs past bodybuilders. Maybe some day I’ll be saying “no one now trains like how Hadi and Nick did” lol.

In the past there were not many training videos of the best pros, you only had Okabe's DVDs and the battle for the Olympia.

Now you have training videos every day, it's hard to get excited and you think these guys train like girls.

DVDs like magazines painted bodybuilders as superheroes, youtube and insta don't create the same impression. It also doesn't help that a lot more machines than free weights are used now than before.

If you look at the Olympia champion, Arnold, Haney, Yates, Ronnie, Jay.... with all of them you got the impression that they trained hard and you could feel motivated before you went to train.

Then what do you have? Phil, Rhoden, Curry, Ramy, Hadi, Derek.

Hadi is the only one that comes close to the previous champions. I saw a video of Derek and Hadi being trained by Rambod on their leg day, you can see the noticeable difference between the two guys.

 

[luki7788]

In the past there were not many training videos of the best pros, you only had Okabe's DVDs and the battle for the Olympia.

Now you have training videos every day, it's hard to get excited and you think these guys train like girls.

DVDs like magazines painted bodybuilders as superheroes, youtube and insta don't create the same impression. It also doesn't help that a lot more machines than free weights are used now than before.

If you look at the Olympia champion, Arnold, Haney, Yates, Ronnie, Jay.... with all of them you got the impression that they trained hard and you could feel motivated before you went to train.

Then what do you have? Phil, Rhoden, Curry, Ramy, Hadi, Derek.

Hadi is the only one that comes close to the previous champions. I saw a video of Derek and Hadi being trained by Rambod on their leg day, you can see the noticeable difference between the two guys.

I wouldn't agree with the fact that Derek trains lightly - on the contrary, compared to other bodybuilders, his workouts contain much more free weights and a lot of raw lifting

 

[Eguz22]

Derek can train harder than some of his current competition but I was reviewing the Olympia champions.

Hadi has a better technique and Derek shortenes the range of movements. This was especially evident in lunges and the vertical press.

It also seems that Hadi has a higher tolerance to endure suffering.

 

[Yousef12O2]

Im excited to see how Brett Wilking would look next to the top guys now. Crazy muscle bellies and Trains extremely hard too bad he had to get out of last years Olympia.
Behrooz is another guy that could be in the top 3-5 mix easily. Rubiel said he started prepping, in my opinion he needs a long offseason to bring up his upper body to be able to be in the top 10 mix. Martin Fitz nearly beat Andrew at 2022 Texas, which might be Andrew's best showing so he could Martin could easily be in the top 10 too.

 

[luki7788]

Derek can train harder than some of his current competition but I was reviewing the Olympia champions.

Hadi has a better technique and Derek shortenes the range of movements. This was especially evident in lunges and the vertical press.

It also seems that Hadi has a higher tolerance to endure suffering.

Hadi is the typical mentality of an Arab soldier - blindfolds and I'm moving forward even if the world were to end the perfect mentality to be a champion but the risk of injury is also huge

 

[Doitagain]

Ive been following BB since the magazine days....

One thing that I have noticed is most delts today are not deeply striated like we used to see all the time in the past. Many delts are not angular and unnatural looking, IE: Hadi.

Also, the thigh outer sweep has gotten ridiculous and also angular on a lot of competitors.

I recall the first guy I saw where it was very apparent. Ernie Taylor.

The calves. Where the fuck are the calves even on the MrO stage. It's like an optional now.
Mike Marrazzo from the 90's would smoke today's calves? WTF?

 

[Shelby]

The calves. Where the fuck are the calves even on the MrO stage. It's like an optional now.
Mike Marrazzo from the 90's would smoke today's calves? WTF?

Calves are HIGHLY genetic. Anyone with super freakish calves (Matarrazo, Fankhouser, Ben Pak, etc.) had very good calves from the get-go.
If you have shitty calves you can improve them a bit but they will never be a stand out body part unless you start off with the right DNA.

 

[Yousef12O2]

Calves are HIGHLY genetic. Anyone with super freakish calves (Matarrazo, Fankhouser, Ben Pak, etc.) had very good calves from the get-go.
If you have shitty calves you can improve them a bit but they will never be a stand out body part unless you start off with the right DNA.

Back then if you didnt have calves you inject calves like nasser and flex

 

[Doitagain]

Calves are HIGHLY genetic. Anyone with super freakish calves (Matarrazo, Fankhouser, Ben Pak, etc.) had very good calves from the get-go.
If you have shitty calves you can improve them a bit but they will never be a stand out body part unless you start off with the right DNA.

So the current genetic elite now has selectively no good calves genes?

 

[b-boy]

Guys with good genetics who don’t train crazy insane? IMO Andrew Jacked is the first that comes to mind.

Thats not to say he doesn’t train “hard” as I know who his trainer and coaches are of course, but he just doesn’t train like a Ronnie Coleman and bend bars from what I’ve seen IMO.

To add to this- why do you think so many great coaches are refusing to work with top pro’s now? They’re drama queens and don’t want to put in the work. To me that’s just unheard of and crazy.

To be honest AJ is the only one that doesn't. Aceto, Ptuor, Hill, Farah, Milos, I don't see them turning down anyone of good potential. $$$$$

 

[bbxtreme]

To be honest AJ is the only one that doesn't. Aceto, Ptuor, Hill, Farah, Milos, I don't see them turning down anyone of good potential. $$$$$

Hany and Vu are two more that come to mind. And I know even when I was with Milos he had gotten more selective.

And let’s not forget @Shelby doesn’t even work with males anymore.

I agree though a lot of those guys will still take it on for the money and exposure because it’s a necessary evil to keep your name at the top of the list.

And for many having a big name pro helps you get more lifestyle clients which brings in more money.

 

[Shelby]

So the current genetic elite now has selectively no good calves genes?

Marcello De Angelis (horsemd, works with Milos) would definitely be considered to have good calves.
A lot of the top guys now have African genetics and generally speaking, high calf insertions (not good calf genetics)
Kuclo had crazy calves but not sure if he qualifies as a top guy right now.
And most of the guys with great calves (Matarazzo, Fank, Pak, etc.) never placed terribly welll at the Olympia.
Here's a short clip of Marcello (horsemd):

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[Shelby]

sorry double post

 

[Shelby]

Back then if you didnt have calves you inject calves like nasser and flex

Dexter used to go NUTS on his calves, then one year it looked like he completely gave that up. They completely deflated, like out of nowhere. Didn't really affect his placings though.

 

[Doitagain]

Marcello De Angelis (horsemd, works with Milos) would definitely be considered to have good calves.
A lot of the top guys now have African genetics and generally speaking, high calf insertions (not good calf genetics)
Kuclo had crazy calves but not sure if he qualifies as a top guy right now.
And most of the guys with great calves (Matarazzo, Fank, Pak, etc.) never placed terribly welll at the Olympia.
Here's a short clip of Marcello (horsemd):

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

I didn't say there's NO exception nowadays, but in general it really looks like nobody gives a fu¢k, genetics aside.

 

[stackdizzy]

Samson has some decent calves, imo!

 

[alfresco]

So would you say Derek had Synthol in his lats?

View attachment 194992

Reason for disqualification in my opinion. Haidi too. What do the judges and the spectators think? Are we all really that stupid or blind? It’s the lowering of standards with no end in sight . . .

 

[275bills]

Derek can train harder than some of his current competition but I was reviewing the Olympia champions.

Hadi has a better technique and Derek shortenes the range of movements. This was especially evident in lunges and the vertical press.

It also seems that Hadi has a higher tolerance to endure suffering.

This is a typical workout for us here at promuscle

 

[stackdizzy]

Derek can train harder than some of his current competition but I was reviewing the Olympia champions.

Hadi has a better technique and Derek shortenes the range of movements. This was especially evident in lunges and the vertical press.

It also seems that Hadi has a higher tolerance to endure suffering.

Darrick has no shoes on doing front squats! I really like that leg extension machine. Only into about half of it, Derek looks great legs are crazy.