We are massive fans of 4 time Mr Olympia Phil Heath here at Discount Supplements, having met him at the head office he was humble, eloquent and personable.
He is in my opinion, one of the all-time greats because he isn’t freakishly large in IFBB terms weighing in at around 110kg competition weight, and standing at a modest 5’9”. Compare this to the new kid on the block, Mamdouh Elssbiay aka ‘Big Ramy’, who is rumoured to now weigh around the 160kg mark (off-season) and standing at just 5’9” too! Since the days of Frank Zane who was widely regarded as the most aesthetic bodybuilder of all time, holding his own (and winning) against men with more than 20-30kg on him, it has all steered in favour of mutant-like proportions.
Well, Big Ramy certainly fits that bill, he stood out at the last Olympia in Vegas (which I was fortunate enough to attend) for his sheer size, mainly in his legs which measure at an incredible 35.5 inches, and his monstrous arms which measure a massive, yet aesthetic 24 inches round. He was no match for the close to perfect symmetry of Phil Heath and Kai Greene, and Big Ramy’s calves are a weak area that, like the legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, are being trained heavily to make him the package for the 2015 Olympia. It was extremely unfortunate for him this past 2014 Olympia in the sense that he suffered a major blow just weeks before the competition with a very badly torn hamstring. This drastically affected his taper down to the Olympia competition as he was unable to perform any last-minute shedding etc. However, I think it is fair to say that this wasn’t going to affect the outcome in any way shape or form.
With dimensions such as Big Ramy’s I think it is fair to say that he will feature heavily in the 2015 Mr Olympia competition, not that I’m an expert, but I’d say if he can get the weaker areas up to speed (calves, pose routine, dry look being the main ones), and deliver it all safely packaged, then I’d say there is a lot for this guy to look forward to in 2015. Whether or not he has what it takes to meet Kai Greene’s mutant-like bulk, or Heath’s diamond-cut lines is yet to be seen, heck he’s got to deal with the likes of big Dennis Wolf, Shaun ‘Flexatron’ Rhoden and Branch Warren first! His 7th place finish was a great achievement considering he is still only 29 AND had a significant injury to contend with, time will tell how he gets on in future comps, but we wish him all the best.
Source
FlexOnline, (2015). Big Ramy Turns 29 years old today. Retrieved 23rd January 2015, from http://www.flexonline.com/general-news/big-ramy-turns-29-years-old-today
Salazar, Mike. "2014 Olympia Weekend Dates". Flex. From Wikipedia, 2014 Mr. Olympia. Retrieved 23rd, January 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Mr._Olympia