[quote]Sick Rick wrote:
I don’t think people will be able to get much bigger than the current Olympia competitors.
[/quote]
Erm, the most of the current olympia guys are actually way smaller than the cast from a few years ago.
Just some food for thought (harhar, no pun intended)… unless I’m mistaken, pretty much all of the really big “mass monsters” in pro bodybuilding - Gunter Schlierkamp, Paul Dillet, Greg Kovacs, Markus Ruhl, Bob Cicherillo, etc. - never really placed super-well on a regular basis.
The only guy that consistently placed high, who was known for being a big mofo, was Nasser (okay yeah, and Dorian and Cutler). Has this changed recently, not counting the recent Mr. O?
I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t followed competitive bodybuilding in quite a while, so forgive my overuse of late-90’s names. 
If it helps, I did attend the '98 Olympia to see Ronnie win his first Sandow.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Just some food for thought (harhar, no pun intended)… unless I’m mistaken, pretty much all of the really big “mass monsters” in pro bodybuilding - Gunter Schlierkamp, Paul Dillet, Greg Kovacs, Markus Ruhl, Bob Cicherillo, etc. - never really placed super-well on a regular basis.
The only guy that consistently placed high, who was known for being a big mofo, was Nasser (okay yeah, and Dorian and Cutler). Has this changed recently, not counting the recent Mr. O?
I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t followed competitive bodybuilding in quite a while, so forgive my overuse of late-90’s names. If it helps, I did attend the '98 Olympia to see Ronnie win his first Sandow.[/quote]
Toney Freeman.
Also, Quincy Taylor shouldn’t be overlooked for much longer. This guy is well over 300lbs in contest shape and gets to 360lbs in the off season.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Just some food for thought (harhar, no pun intended)… unless I’m mistaken, pretty much all of the really big “mass monsters” in pro bodybuilding - Gunter Schlierkamp, Paul Dillet, Greg Kovacs, Markus Ruhl, Bob Cicherillo, etc. - never really placed super-well on a regular basis.
The only guy that consistently placed high, who was known for being a big mofo, was Nasser (okay yeah, and Dorian and Cutler). Has this changed recently, not counting the recent Mr. O?
I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t followed competitive bodybuilding in quite a while, so forgive my overuse of late-90’s names. If it helps, I did attend the '98 Olympia to see Ronnie win his first Sandow.[/quote]
Schlierkamp was too light for his height and structure (as crazy as that sounds). His weight just sounded impressive. At least he’s a cool guy, though. Would have made a good Mr. O/embassador of the sport imo (with extra size and some weaknesses brought up, that is).
Dillet was a superfreak as far as genetics go… Lifting real light and sloppy etc… And he got huge anyway. Actually looked flat out stupid, at least in the off-season. There was one pretty cool pic of him in Arnold’s improved Encyclopedia… Here’s one pro who’s training philosophy you really shouldn’t follow…
Kovacs is/was huge but looked like an assortment of mismatched bodyparts…
Rühl’s 2 big issues imo: His triceps (Schlierkamp’s also sucked, but not as much), crappy genetics in that case… And his back just wasn’t up to snuff. But if those areas would have been improved…
Imo he didn’t really get a fair deal in most Olympias he competed in.
Terribly nice and helpful guy, btw.
Bob Chic, hmm. Never really noticed him much, can’t really comment.
Erm, you did forget Ronnie. Though his competition weight was all over the place over the course of his olympia career…
Also, Arnold and Oliva were mass-monsters of their respective era(s)… And placed rather well
There were others, but no real reason to get into those…
Interesting that yates, who had pretty crappy genetics for everything except calves (his back sucked quite a bit at first, too… Until he manned up and started lifting some heavy slag-iron), managed to stay on top for so long… If you look at the current crop of olympians, almost everyone in the top-10 has uber-genetics for shape/symmetry etc… Dex, Freeman and Heath are the best examples… Wolf is more taper than lines, but he’s quite the exception…
And Jay is pretty much the last mass-monster (and not nearly the best of the mass-monster type imo) competing in the O (anybody know if he wants to go at it again next year? Would be pointless, of course…
Kovacs and co managed to gain size easily, but just flat out sucked as far as balance between muscle groups etc goes (Kovac’s arms were too small for the rest of him, etc. Though you would never think that standing next to him in his prime, mind you).
Simple genetic problem, not actually due to their mass.