24 MD musculardevelopment.com July 2019
My Thoughts on the Olympia ...
Can you feel it? Can you feel the Olympia buildup? I can. Depending on how you
look at it, this Olympia will be a litt le more open this year. At the time of writing, we
are still unsure if Phil Heath is coming back to take what he feels is rightfully his.
Shawn Rhoden has proven to be a litt le relaxed with his off -season now that he is
Mr. Olympia. An approach that has, and does still clearly work for him— but can he
now put his foot on the gas enough to retain the Olympia title and take his second
Sandow at age 44? I honestly don’t know.
We have Brandon Curry hungry as hell, aft er
winning the Arnold Classic and busy making
the improvements to his physique (legs, back
detail mainly) in Oxygen Gym in Kuwait that
he absolutely needs to make if he wants to
have any hope of jumping up from the fi ft h
he took last year in Vegas, to fi rst. I actually
think the main one to keep an eye on is
Roelly. Just as lightning never strikes twice,
neither does his injured pride aft er his two
relatively bad showings at the Arnold Classic
in Columbus (fourth) and Arnold Australia
(third) back in March. I’ve known Roelly since
2010; he’s a maniac in the gym, fearless, powerful, scary even with his training
intensity and overall approach. He is going to be eager to regain his standing in the
IFBB Pro League aft er his sensational third at the 2018 Olympia. I was watching the
2018 Arnold Australia the other day at one of the gyms where I train, and when I got
home I went over the 2018 EVLS Prague shots. Roelly won both those shows, beating
the BIGGEST names. In that shape, or even bett er, he is absolutely a threat for the
2019 Mr. Olympia title.
In the fi nal callout I can see Rhoden, Roelly and Curry being left as the top three.
With William Bonac, Nathan De asha and Josh Lenartowicz rounding out the top
six. The biggest wild card as it stands for me is Cedric McMillan. He was seventh
in 2016, 10th in 2017 and ninth in 2018; this is clearly no indication of his potential
to actually jump up into that top three. Rhoden, I remember last year, no one really
saw coming. Taking fi ft h in 2017, Shawn I had eighth that year; I thought he was
now on the slide. But BAM, he came back in 2018 and won the Mr. Olympia. Truly
amazing. But a few years ago on the MD forums, I stated many, many times that
the two I felt had the potential to have the knockout punch to WIN the Olympia
were indeed Shawn Rhoden and Cedric McMillan. Cedric pulled it out of the bag
for the 2017 Arnold Classic, winning that in Ohio— and he recently shocked us all
with a revamped Cedric taking a very close second to William Bonac at this year’s
Arnold Australia (I had him winning, based upon photos and video). So, the question
remains, can he duplicate that look? If he does, then I see Cedric jumping up
potentially ALL the way up to gett ing his hands on that Sandow. There, I said it.
How Is This Even Possible?
23 years old, that’s how old this young Canadian
Quinton Eriya is. Making his pro debut in classic
physique at the Toronto Pro in June, I fi rst saw shots of
him posing next to his friend Antoine Vaillant on social
media. And I said there and then to myself, “How is this
even possible?” This level of muscularity , 250 pounds,
tiny waist, god-given genetics, insane shoulder-to-waist
taper, all on a guy that in the U.K. might even still be
eligible for the juniors? Come onnnn, I demand to see
his birth certifi cate ... and I also want to know which lab
he was created in please. Somewhere in Canada it’ll be.TIGER’S TAKE ...
- שּׂ m Budesheim from Germany. Heard of him? Probably
not. I have. I fi rst saw שּׂ m win the fi rst Arnold Europe
amateur in Madrid back in the juniors in 2011. He dominated
that one, easy win, dwarfed everyone else. Then in 2017,
he appeared on my radar again. I was covering the San
Marino Pro in Italy for MD. On the
fi rst day, שּׂ m won the Amateur
Olympia and got his pro card.
The next day he was stepping
onstage with the other pros. But
pros such as Cedric McMillan
(fi rst), Hadi Choopan (second)
and Brandon Curry (third). שּׂ m
took fourth! Maybe even could
have snagged third over Curry.
Yes, he is that good. At the time
of writing, שּׂ m is heading over to
the USA to compete in the New
York pro. He’s 20 pounds heavier— and more importantly,
he actually looks like he is too. Few people have his detail
and overall density and top-to-toe conditioning. No one will
see this guy coming, but they will ALL know his name aft er
that show. Trust in שּׂ ger on this. - I was so pleased that my
co-host AJ for “Global Muscle”
talked me into asking pro female
bodybuilder Margie V. Marvelous
onto the show (episode 19).
Since female bodybuilding had
been removed from the Olympia
I’ll be honest, I lost touch with
the goings on in the world of
female muscle. Being engaged
to a Women’s Physique pro
(Rosie Rascal), my att entions
turned more to the WPD class,
understandably. But, boy was I
happy we had Margie on. What
an athlete, what a physique—
what a woman! Check out her Instagram; this is what
female bodybuilding is all about— muscle, femininity and
real mass with class. I have to admit, however, I was taken
aback on the show when she stood up and showed us her
glutes! Crikey. One was not expecting that. Still, all good,
wholesome fun from one of the world’s very BEST female
bodybuilders. - Did a live seminar for Global Muscle’s producers,
Pumped Media, with Zack “King” Khan recently. He’s gone
to ground a litt le of late. Hadn’t competed for a couple of
years, banned from Instagram (true story) and rumors
of him even beginning a porn career (also actually true,
lol). So, it was great to host this two-hour live-streamed
seminar, also with studio audience. Is he coming back to
the stage? There’s a strong possibility he might, yes. I think
I just need to start hassling him again to get back up there.
Just like the good old days. Sigh.