BY GILES^
“TIGER”^
THOMAS22 MD musculardevelopment.com July 2019Bob Chick Tells ALL
on ‘Global Muscle Radio’
If you keep up with my epic bodybuilding podcast,
“MD Global Muscle Radio” (with my Norwegian/
Jamaican giant friend and co-host AJ), you’ll have
seen in episode 19 that we had the voice of pro
bodybuilding— and 2006 Masters World (was the
Masters Mr. Olympia) champ, Bob Cicherillo, on the
show. I’ll be completely honest here. I did not expect
him to be so open— and so honest. But man, he gave
us gold. Firstly he commented on Shawn Rhoden’s
now-infamous Pitt sburgh guest-posing appearance
where Shawn was, let’s say, “less” than guest-posing
ready. Bob said, “I’ll tell you now, right now, I am in
bett er shape than Shawn, and I haven’t been onstage
in 10 years, guys.” Brutal. Bob then gave us his take
on the supposed Kai Greene 2019 Olympia special
invite: “To clear up any confusion, Kai was absolutely
not, and I repeat not, given a special invite for this
Olympia,” claiming it was clickbait from other less-
informed media sources. Check the episode out; it’s
on musculardevelopment.com, MD’s YouTube channel
and as an audio downloadable on iTunes, Player FM,
Pandora and SoundCloud. Possibly one of our best
yet, I think.
Well hello there, bodybuilding fans ... what a few weeks it has been for the bodybuilding world. The Mr. Olympia hype is building
and building— who’s doing it, who isn’t? What about this guy? He’s my favorite, oh no, so-and-so is injured! The drama rumbles on,
but you know what? It’s always been the same if you actually look back. You just don’t have a crazy, rain man memory like me— the
crazy Brit who can remember who placed where, and when, in 1980, whatever. Still, I’ve put this mostly useless knowledge to good
use. I think. I hope.
RAMY – Is He In, or Is He Out?
As of time of writing, he is IN. But, it’s been a kind of weird year for Ramy. Aft er the
2018 Olympia, he left Oxygen Gym in Kuwait to move back to Egypt. Then he moved
to Dubai. He also took on the services of top prep coach Neil Hill. Now they aren’t
working together anymore. What on earth is going on? Rumors of shoulder injuries
forcing him to pull out of the fi nal Olympia qualify ing shows (Tampa Pro), then videos
on Instagram of him saying the shoulder issue was nothing but a peanut and that he
was back in the mix. Now we’ve been hearing other crazy rumors of health issues. But
you know what? In this industry with clickbait more oft en than not ruling all— and so
many overly eager to say they are “in the know” — the simple fact of the matt er is,
we don’t know. Still, it
all creates a dramatic
storyline for Ramy as
it all unfolds. Ramy
was runner-up at the
Olympia to Phil Heath
in 2017, and then he
beat William Bonac at
the 2017 Arnold Europe
(that myself and Rosie
Rascal Harte covered
for MD in Barcelona).
But then Ramy
tumbled down to sixth
at the 2018 Olympia.
Personally, I’m not
the biggest fan of
Ramy’s physique, but
I am most certainly
in the minority. Why?
Everyone loves a mass
monster, my friends. I
remember the boos at
the 2001 and 2002 Mr.
Olympias I att ended
when Markus Rühl
wasn’t (they felt)
given the placing he
deserved. Like Ramy,
he was a freak of
nature, delts as big
as each of their own
heads, but when it comes down to it, when he’s in front of those judges, will they
overlook his fl aws, his imperfections? “No” is my answer, but it all depends on who he
stands next to and how they will be looking as well. Will Shawn Rhoden look as great
as when he won last year, or will Brandon Curry rise even further aft er his Arnold
Classic win back in March? Or will Roelly Winklaar return with an almighty vengeance
and make a Thor-like entrance (as in the new Avengers movie) with lightning and all
kinds of crazy shit popping out of his eyeballs? I for one am eagerly awaiting this.
Will Ramy be truly worthy and do a Hulk smash in Las Vegas in September? Or will
Rhoden simply snap his fi ngers and will the huge Egyptian just turn to ash, just like
that? (Yes, I did see “Avengers Endgame” again last night.)