Aaron Clark abandons 212-division, moves into open

[Loctus]

Coming off of his less-than stellar showing at the Olympia this year, Aaron Clark announced today that he is moving on to the open division.

[NaturalLoco]

I think this is a bad decision.. he really is a true 212 guy.. although he didn't have the best season.. with more size added to that frame his waist will be compromised.. bigger is not better!

[TropicalSunset]

I think this is a bad decision.. he really is a true 212 guy.. although he didn't have the best season.. with more size added to that frame his waist will be compromised.. bigger is not better!

Exactly what I think. He already had issues with his midsection. Getting bigger is NOT an answer for him and he definitely doesn't seem like he will look better with more weight. Good luck to him, but a bad move I think.

[endurancell]

Terrible decision indeed. I hope it wasn't influenced by the Boca crew PJ and Aaron

Edit: just noticed Aaron had his foot on the scale when it was at ~239, his leg moved, and it shot down to 232 before he pulled it out of the shot. Why u always lyin??

[Larfleeze]

Can't see this going well.

[BartPimpson]

Obviously he won't do well, but being a failure in the open is debatably better than being a moderate success in the 212.

[yzrider400f]

Terrible decision indeed. I hope it wasn't influenced by the Boca crew PJ and Aaron

Edit: just noticed Aaron had his foot on the scale when it was at ~239, his leg moved, and it shot down to 232 before he pulled it out of the shot. Why u always lyin??

hmmm the scale was definitely moving up and down quite a bit before it dropped down to the 232 as well. what a hilarious and pathetic possibility this is........

[flangmasterj]

Edit: just noticed Aaron had his foot on the scale when it was at ~239, his leg moved, and it shot down to 232 before he pulled it out of the shot. Why u always lyin??

Bahaha it was blatantly obvious too.

Exactly, why do they have to lie about everything in this sport/hobby/business?

[Fittler]

Doesn't have the frame to hang with the guys in the open. No disrespect to the guy but I often wonder what goes through the head of mediocre bodybuilders who have no chance of making an impact at the olympia. They bust their ass in the gym, trash their body with drugs and go through hell dieting all to no avail

[Milone79]

Blackstone labs= pure scumbags in an industry full of nefarious people.....would not associate with those shady fawks for all the money in the world....

[brendanh32]

Blackstone labs= pure scumbags in an industry full of nefarious people.....would not associate with those shady fawks for all the money in the world....

Jason15

[Agentdark45]

Terrible decision, he's too narrow and his waist / gut is already too big. I can't see him placing well in the open division.

[Canuck77]

hmmm the scale was definitely moving up and down quite a bit before it dropped down to the 232 as well. what a hilarious and pathetic possibility this is........

Only Pajamas and Aaron would be capable of such sad possibilities...lol...

[jaredmus]

I think a lot the 212 guys really suffer and lose muscle to make 212. If they made it 220 I feel you would see a super freak ,flex lewis, correa and I bet aaron clark would look better too

[littlearm]

I think a lot the 212 guys really suffer and lose muscle to make 212. If they made it 220 I feel you would see a super freak ,flex lewis, correa and I bet aaron clark would look better too

I think that would be a bad idea. This division started out as the 202 class. Then they bumped it to 212. And if they made it 220, why not 225? No matter what cut-off you choose, there will always be guys who struggle to make it or who might look better with just a few extra pounds of muscle. But the higher the weight, the more this class loses its identity.

[NVious]

I think a lot the 212 guys really suffer and lose muscle to make 212. If they made it 220 I feel you would see a super freak ,flex lewis, correa and I bet aaron clark would look better too

Lol these guys aren't struggling, he's 232 and without the clothes/shoes probably 227, even if he gets up to 235 is 20lbs really THAT ridiculous for an IFBB pro to drop over 12-16 weeks?

If he goes to the open I doubt he even makes the O and even if he does, how feasible is top 10 for him?

[Canuck77]

Despite what Simgerman said, he looks pretty off season at 232 IMO so even if he gains another 10 pounds and goes up to 242 in offseason, he will likely come in at 220 for contest. An extra 8 pounds on Aaron isn't going to blow anyone's mind and he already seems to have some early bubble-gut issues.p that need to be addressed.

I guess some of these guys in the 212 look at Branch 5'6 and Dex 230 contest weight and feel it is plausible to make some noise in the Open so give it a shot.

Time will tell but I think Aaron would do a lot better in 212 he kept at it.

[Razor44]

Agreed. I always saw this guy as a complete 212 guy. Should be interesting to see how it goes for him. Wish him the best.

[ResovoirDog]

terrible idea. His frame is tiny i can't see this ending well

[Gorky88]

Aaron s mid section has never looked good. He will look funky with his frame. I dont think his quads will have a great sweep either. Just a bad decision overall. He can eventually look better but he wont make a better name for himself necessarily or be more competitive in the open.

[LimitBreak]

Just imagine him standing next to cedric, shawn rhoden, and big ramy !!

They should just change the 212 to the 220, and anyone below 200 can do the classic !! They also need to increase the classic weight limit.

[Kulutues]

Terrible decision indeed. I hope it wasn't influenced by the Boca crew PJ and Aaron

Edit: just noticed Aaron had his foot on the scale when it was at ~239, his leg moved, and it shot down to 232 before he pulled it out of the shot. Why u always lyin??

Not only that but look at how much Aaron is carrying in his pants pockets....both pockets loaded out with cellphones, wallets, keys, slin stims, 5lb weights, etc. Very odd physique on Aaron very small mass wise with no pop or separation and a large watermelon belly. Not going well

[deathmetal1992]

Don't know if it's a good thing or a bad things. Unless you're Flex Lewis, you're being paid peanuts in the 212. You depend on things like advertising, photoshoots to make a living. In the open if you're in the top 6 you can make a decent amount of money from contests alone. On the other hand, if you've been dealt a bad hand height-wise you're always going to look small next to the typical 5'9"-5'10" guy. Honestly, I don't see him winning any sort of pro show in the open class. Top 6 at a 3rd tier show is the best he can hope for. Hope I'm wrong. Good luck to him.

[deathmetal1992]

Just imagine him standing next to cedric, shawn rhoden, and big ramy !!

They should just change the 212 to the 220, and anyone below 200 can do the classic !! They also need to increase the classic weight limit.

Don't know if I agree with that. Allowing the 212 guys to reach 220 would be a mistake. Physiques would become distorted and conditioning would suffer. Only a few guys would be able to pull that off. Not everyone is Flex Lewis. As for 200 lb being the limit for classic physique, lol. What happens if the competitor is 5'5"? They would essentially look like one of the 212 guys. Meanwhile you have a tall guy in the 6'2"-6'3" range who would have to compete 100% natural to be in the high 190s. It would be a disaster, a bmi range of 28-32 is probably very reasonable. Apparently a good rule of thumb to go by: a stage ready natural's bmi can only be as high as 26, a creatine user's about 32, someone on creatine and other supplements about 40. The 32 limit would be really good as this would discourage a lot of exotic substance use, and just rely on the basic old school bodybuilder helpers.

[alex070707]

Don't know if I agree with that. Allowing the 212 guys to reach 220 would be a mistake. Physiques would become distorted and conditioning would suffer. Only a few guys would be able to pull that off. Not everyone is Flex Lewis. As for 200 lb being the limit for classic physique, lol. What happens if the competitor is 5'5"? They would essentially look like one of the 212 guys. Meanwhile you have a tall guy in the 6'2"-6'3" range who would have to compete 100% natural to be in the high 190s. It would be a disaster, a bmi range of 28-32 is probably very reasonable. Apparently a good rule of thumb to go by: a stage ready natural's bmi can only be as high as 26, a creatine user's about 32, someone on creatine and other supplements about 40. The 32 limit would be really good as this would discourage a lot of exotic substance use, and just rely on the basic old school bodybuilder helpers.

Just look up classic bodybuilding...that is what weight classes should be.

[BartPimpson]

Don't know if I agree with that. Allowing the 212 guys to reach 220 would be a mistake.

That's only like a 3% difference. If you compared a 212lb pro to a 220 clone of himself I don't know that you could reliably tell the difference.

And remember that they make weight only: Kevin English was in the mid 230s on stage according to Hany Rambod. So it's probably doable.

The whole idea of a weight-based limit is kind of goofy. Like Davis Forman once said, it's having a soccer league where players have a max speed they can run at. Why cap muscular development instead of capping something like height?

[LeanGains1989]

i seem to only remember this guy because of how terribly hes aged
That gut is bad, but i suppose if you cant be aesthetic may aswell be as freaky and big as possible. Open class may be good for maximizing his potential

[BigStew]

VERY BAD MOVE HERE

234....and not in shape at all...Minus the water he would easily be down to mid 220s and holding plenty of Fat compared to guys like Flex, DH and Jose Raymond

I had high hopes for Aaron but I can not forsee this being a good move but who knows he might be able to put on some serious MASS but he will have to be strategic with his shows....

[brendanh32]

Terrible idea.

[KiwiRob]

Doesn't have the frame to hang with the guys in the open. No disrespect to the guy but I often wonder what goes through the head of mediocre bodybuilders who have no chance of making an impact at the olympia. They bust their ass in the gym, trash their body with drugs and go through hell dieting all to no avail

Look who the current Mr O is and I think that makes it pretty obvious why guys are having a go.