by Geoff Roberts
In the world of sports, few topics are as exciting or interesting to discuss and dissect as hypothetical what-if scenarios. concerns such as “What if Bo Jackson never got injured?” or “What if Michael Jordan played with today’s crop of guys?” come to mind. Bodybuilding, because of the general nature of the sport, just so occurs to have a almost unlimited number of excellent hypothetical what-ifs. two of the biggest what-ifs from the past include the two many renowned bodybuilders of all time, hands down, Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. These two what-if scenarios being, what if Arnold was born in 1985 and was contending today at 30 years old, and what if Lou Ferrigno chose not to take The amazing Hulk role, and instead continued chasing the Mr. Olympia title.
Lou Ferrigno completed third location in the 1975 Mr. Olympia at only 24 years old, bested by both Serge Nubret and Arnold Schwarzenegger. While Lou was not in top condition at this show, which is what ended up relegating him to third place, his prospective was extremely apparent Camiseta Manchester City and had he been in appropriate condition, he would have easily put higher than third. It should also be comprehended that Lou was not originally going to do this show, which cut his available time to prepare for the show down significantly. after this show, Lou would stop bodybuilding at a competitive level in purchase to accept a major function in the ultra prominent television program, The amazing Hulk. However, Lou did make a semi successful comeback to bodybuilding and the Mr. Olympia in 1992 and 1993. much more on that later. Ironically, Arnold also chose to forgo competitive bodybuilding after that 1975 Mr. Olympia in purchase to focus on Hollywood, which left the Mr. Olympia title up for grabs, enabling a sub two hundred pound Franco Columbu to win the show the complying with year.
Based on the method that Lou Ferrigno looked in 1975, at only 24 years old and after not having adequate time to prepare for the show, many bodybuilding insiders would agree that with just one much more year of appropriate training, Lou would be extremely difficult to beat at that time. extreme politics aside, Franco would have had no chance against Lou Ferrigno in 1976. From 1976 to 1983, the Olympia title passed hands between Franco, Frank Zane, Arnold, Chris Dickerson, and Samir Bannout. It is difficult to make a case for any of these athletes defeating Lou, especially Arnold in 1980 and Franco in 1981, based on the inevitable enhancements he would have made over those six years. Although it is extremely unlikely that any of these guy would have bested Lou, you always have the potentially of Lou coming in off his finest and a man like Frank Zane or Samir slipping past him. That said, I feel that Lou would have won at least five of those six Olympias. This implies not only would Lou have five Sandows by 1983, he much more than likely would have cut Arnold’s Olympia win count down from seven to six, as there is no method on earth that Arnold would have defeated Lou in 1980.
In 1984 the bodybuilding world saw the emergence of the excellent Lee Haney. This is where the hypothetical Lou Ferrigno what-if situation becomes especially interesting. If you ask people who were around Lou in the early 90’s when he was making his comeback, Lou was an absolute freak. John Romano declares that Lou was bigger than big Ramy and difficult as nails. Chris Aceto made a similar comment about Lou, specifying that in 1991 Lou was the most significant bodybuilder he had ever laid eyes on, which is stating a great deal coming from probably the most popular bodybuilding guru in history. John and Chris both claim that had Lou not lost so much weight in the last few weeks of his diet, he would have completed much higher in those early 90’s Olympias than the 12th and 10th he actually received. With these strong statements in mind, if Lou was able to blow the minds of men like John and Chris in his forties, exactly how would he have looked in his mid thirties had he never provided up on winning the Olympia? believe of exactly how the forty year old Jay Cutler looked in comparison to the thirty five year old Jay Cutler, for example. The reason this hypothetical mid thirties Lou is of importance, is because it is the body that would have had to go toe to toe with Lee Haney from 1984 to 1989. Personally, I feel that Lou would have won the majority of those years over Lee Haney, when again, based on the personal testimonies of John and Chris in regards to Lou’s body in his early forties. If we provide Lou four of those six years (1984 to 1989) over Lee Haney, not only does Lou become the winning-est Mr. Olympia of all time, but he also eliminates the name Lee Haney from any discussion of who the biggest bodybuilder of all time is entirely. based on all of this hypothetical information, it is extremely likely that Lou Ferrigno would have gone down in history as the undisputed biggest bodybuilder of all time with nine Mr. Olympia victories. Not only that, but it is also not absolutely impossible that Lou could have won every single Olympia from 1976 to 1989. For all the math challenged visitors out there, that would be fourteen Olympia victories.
What would Arnold’s body look like on stage in these contemporary times? would Arnold have better arms than Roelly? would he appear bigger than big Ramy? let me break it down with a combination of statistics, observation and viewpoint to find up with a rough, and rather frankly frightening (to other bodybuilders who would have had the misfortune of standing next to this hypothetical 2015 rendition of the Austrian oak) estimate. When Arnold was dominating the Mr Olympia in the 70’s, he was beating guy by the names of Sergio Oliva, Frank Zane, Franco Columbu, Lou Ferrigno, and Serge Nubret. looking back at these lineups, the average body weight was approximately 210 pounds. Doing the exact same with today’s Olympia lineup which includes monsters such as Camiseta Selección de fútbol de Túnez Phil, Kai, Ramy, Dennis, Dexter, Shawn and Compton, you get a weight average of at least 255 pounds. Mathematically speaking, this implies the competitors today are 1.2 times heavier on average. Arnold at his finest was in the high 230’s. Judging based entirely on body weight, Arnold would be coming into this year’s Olympia at approximately 6’1″ and approximately 290 pounds. Now, certainly Arnold did not have the conditioning in the Camiseta Wolverhampton Wanderers 70’s at 237 pounds that competitors currently display onstage. So it is only fair to take a few pounds off Arnold’s weight to hypothetically “allow” him to achieve similar condition. This still puts Arnold in the low 280’s onstage, making him the heaviest competitor in the Olympia, with the exception of big Ramy.
The finest comparison to Arnold in today’s field, in terms of a single physique, in my mind would be Cedric McMillan. presuming Cedric is in any type of shape, it is risk-free to state that your attention would be pulled towards his body in any lineup because of his height, width, lack of distention, and roundness. These are all characteristics Arnold also possessed in strides in his prime. As imposing a figure Cedric may be on stage, thoughts of a contemporary day Arnold provides imposing a whole new implying with his Looney tune arms, pecs that each look like 72 oz steaks, and cannonball delts. The classic vacuum present is disappearing as quick as our rain forests today, and nobody hit a vacuum like Arnold. even when he weighed over 240 pounds, from the side his midsection appeared to be only a few inches thick. This said, I completely believe with the best precautions Arnold would still have his nutty vacuum present at over 280 pounds, which would be astounding. In comparing this “modern Arnold” to Cedric, it is risk-free to state that Arnold would out do Cedric in all of these shared characteristics and take every present outside of the rear lat spread.
On a contemporary stage, presuming the top men were all on their game, Arnold may not only be the tallest and heaviest competitor, but also the only one with the ability to hit a genuine vacuum pose. It is difficult to state whether or not Arnold’s weaknesses would still be weaknesses with contemporary understanding and technology, nevertheless it is only fair to assume they would be. With this in mind, Arnold would be susceptible from the back, especially the back lat spread, which is why discovering a photo of Arnold hitting a back lat spread is similar to winning the lottery. This is only one present however, and I personally feel his monster arms and delts would keep him above water in the rear double bi. As far as the front shots are concerned, it is difficult for me to envision the show being anything but “lights out” for any competitor onstage not named Arnold. In Arnold’s many muscular at a grainy 282 pounds, his delts, arms, and chest would be really mind boggling. discover a picture of Arnold’s 1974 front double bicep and attempt to envision him with contemporary day grainy conditioning, in addition to 40+ pounds of extra muscle mass evenly distributed over his physique. If the picture this produces in your head does not evoke considerable chills down your spine and destroy any doubt that a contemporary day Arnold would in fact be Mr. Olympia, you may want to have your head examined.