Lately, a lot of people have been discussing the physiques of pro BB’s in the forum. The 3 names that come up the most: Arnold, Zane, Shawn Ray. Now I couldn’t agree more that these three have incredible physiques. However, I feel there is one name being left out: Kevin Levrone. Personally, I think that he has the best physique EVER. (Feel free to disagree.) First off, his shoulders/traps are by far the best bodybuilding has ever seen. Also, while guys like Ruhl and Coleman look like big slabs of muscle, Levrone looks carved out of ice. He is symettrical and large, and I think that he is the true Mr. Olympia. If he competes at 100% (meaning legs up a little from the arnold and a little bit better condition) I don’t think anyone should beat him.
I think Flex in 1998/99 had the best build of all the current pros. Maybe the best ever.
I agree completely. Kevin’s shoulders are incredible. I would love to look like him (but smaller). Has he ever won the Olympia?
no, levrone hasnt won the O. in 2000, he totally should have. ronnie looked about 6 months pregnant.
As far as the pros go, i personally like the look of Nasser El Sonbaty, but Levrone has a great physique
Levrone’s awesome, when he’s not trying to cram an extra 40 lbs onto his frame. For my money, he looked his best in 2000.
Ditto…
char-dawg, couldnt agree with you more. actually i have some pictures of levrone in a book (on steriods and other supplements ironically) that has some pictures of levrone from 96 to about 99. there is one where he won the arnold where i think he looks better than he did at the 2000 O. By the way, does anyone know the years he won the arnold? i know he has won it 3 times.
JC, I feel the same way! Actually, I think the way he looked in the last O was the best he has ever looked. His chest has probably the best shape of any bodybuilder I can think of. But really the entire package (not to dis Flex-I think him in '98 and Shawn Ray around the same time were awsome.) I think it was in '94 that Ray’s obliques were so ripped you could make out the outline of the individual fibers, I have never seen anything like it sense. But in speeking of ripped how about Labradoa? His vascularity is some of the best since Don Ross (who was a complete freak to have that vascularity at that high of a body fat). I think Lee shows the difference between a bodybuilder that actually has low body fat, and a bodybuilder that has an IV of diruitics. Almost anyone can look lean (except Kovacs, hee, hee) but few can look like their circlatory systems are on the outside of their skin. Oh, and Nasser!? are you kidding? Rual (at least before his belly button exploded:) kicks his ass (even before his unfornate rear delt/synthol incident, I swear his rear delts look like Eddie -??? can’t remember last name- arms (or that dude in Iron man, but I’m not that cruel- I do rather like his personality (or at least what the rags protray his personality as). Nice to chat pro with you guys, brought some good memories.
I’d have to agree with Sewerhooker that Flex looks the best of any pro bodybuilders. I also think Shawn Ray looks better that Yates and Coleman anyday.
Kevin’s a cool customer (met him at a contest where he was guest-posing - he was a gentleman, at least to me). However, after how he just looked recently? It looked to me he had just “gone through the motions” of contest prep/training - but he’s done mentally.
Since we're traveling down memory lane: How about a couple of past Night of the Champions winners? Phil Hill and Vince Taylor. Well, I know Vince has done alot lately, but I preferred his physique about when he became a Pro. Or Vince Commerford - a past Nationals Champion. He had that "full, symmetrical" look that I like. While Lee Labrada has the "classical symmetrical" look that's great - as does Shawn Ray.
Patricia, I have to aggree with you about Vince Taylor, he looked awsome at the O this year (sans the ankle of course-he said he slipped chasing a cat!?) One of the main reasons I thought that he looked so good was that his arms are in proportion to the rest of his body. I don’t know if it was Dorian Backzilla Yates or Haney that has caused so many pros to be obbessed with their back developement. Don’t get me wrong, I love the look of a great lat spead (I think Mike Francios had one of the best ever-Jay Cutler’s sucks and that’s why he lost the O), but when it is a bodybuiler’s strongest body-part, even from the front? (ie. Doran-if you took away his back he would look like a joke from NPC, sorry, don’t want to insult the guys over at NPC. How about legs? I think that Lee Priest has some of the best. I will give Ronnie credit, his legs look great-until you see his pitiful hamstrings, I bet that his hams don’t even account for a fourth of his leg diameter. I personally think Colmen looked his best from '96-early’98, after that his stomach balloned and that funky midsection really started to show. Sorry if I’m rambling, but no one really likes to talk about pro BB where I live. One last thought, did anyone check out Craig Titus in the O? I have to admit that his tummy looked like it had lost some of the baby that was in it, but I think that it made it apparent that he will never be a top 5 at the Olympia. Plus, he said that he was working with Doran, and since then his stomach has gone down something like 3". What the hell? I will say that his stomach looked smaller, but Doran? Doran’s stomach was terriable! his obliques hung so far over his sides that it shaded his legs!
kent-- bro i’d be happy to talk with you, disagree, and argue about pro BBers anytime. i love discussing that, but with the people i try to discuss with (except 1 or 2) can only say “um he’s big.” and i never though about the thing you said about dorian. without his back he wasnt all that hot. speaking of ronnie’s hammys (or lack there of) you know who has incredible legs, including hams? tom prince
JC- I know how you feel, most of the time I even mention bodybuilders people say, “eeww, that’s gross,” and say something about the horribles of steriods. Yea, Dorian was really only a big pair of lats, his arms and delts looked pathetic (compaired to his back) espically his rear delts, his legs were ok, but only had decent shape till about half-way down, around the knee they were pretty small. Tom Prince , hmmm… I’ll have to think about that one, what was the last show that he competed in? Was he in Night of Champs? I don’t think that I have any recenct pics of him (in competition anyway, anyone can look good in a photo shot, things get a look different when they get on the stage). Speaking of which have you looked at the pics from the latest Arnold? Chris Cormer was looking great! Actually everyone was, a lot better than the O, is it just me or was everyone not as cut at the O? Continuing the leg debate, the reason I like Priest (besides his awsome interview for t-mag) is his calf to thigh ratio. While a lot of people look at a bodybuiler’s upper to lower body (a great way to do this is to cover-the upper or lower part of their body- and imagine how their-upper or lower-body should look. Well a derivation of this is to do it on upper and lower legs. While it is true that a lot of bb’s have nice calves (well not Flex-they are round and have no muscle seperation-that’s what synthol will do to you) they are completely out of proportion with the rest of thier bodies. Like Platz, true he had great quads, but what about his suck-ass calves? to me that invalidates quality of his thighs.
“bodybuilders are gross” “steroids are bad” why i never bring up the ifbb in my conversations b/c those are the two answers i get. oh yeah cant forget “your a bodybuilder? how much do you bench? i want a six pack what can i do? bigger biceps, bigger chest…”
yeah prince finshed 3rd in the NOC, and 16th at the O. he has the size to be a top 10 finisher, but he must not diet well enough b/c he wasnt in great shape at the O.
priest. what can i say? BADASS. 5’4 and 200+. wow. all i can say is he must have a hell of a time finding jeans.
I swear the last time I saw Lee Priest, he was shorter than me, and I’m 5’4". But yup, the guy is beeg. I appreciate his proportions and symmetry. But what’s up with these new pros’? Dexter and Orville? Ain’t they the new up and comers?
patricia- dexter james is going to be doing some DAMAGE soon. he’s finshed top 3 in 2 contests already this year.
orville burke, while his lat spread is almost a mile long, will be competing in the masters this year. yeah, he was a “rookie” at age 39 last year. he’s 40 now.
also, watch out for tommy thorvilleson (sp?)
I definitely agree with your summary of Dexter. Damn! Orville is really that old! He must have Robbie Robonson skin! How about King Kamal, what are his prospects? I thought he looked awsome at the arnold, but his arms were looking kind of smallish at the O.
Eeeuw, King Kamali…his shoulders are all funky now due to all that synthol. I just don’t know how to put it, except that he looks funny. And I don’t like Jay Cutler either. I’m a fan of Shawn Ray’s physique and Lee Priest’s. And Chris Cormier’s physique is quality, also.
I found a old muscle mag (FLEX) the other night, and I thumbed through it - there was a nice question and answer article with Frank Zane - with photos of past Olympias, Universes, etc. Wow. Even the 1983 Olympia, where he placed fourth and Samir Bannout won, is still impressive. Miss them days.
actually, kamali is a cool person. i chat with him through email every so often. he’s getting bigger (weighing 298 now) so hopefully he will stop the synthol. i lose respect for the synthol-oholics.
i just met cutler the other night at a show. daaaaamn he’s a big boy. made me feel about 100 pounds.