Ronnie Coleman - legacy and status

[RobberBaron13]

Ronnie Coleman is widely considered the best bodybuilder in the history of IFBB competitions, my question is why so many view it this way ?

[WifeSlayer]

Because of his enourmous gut lol. He is the GOAT of gut developement alongside Dave Palumbo and Big Lenny and paved the way for modern day bloated mass monsters when he came in soft and bloated first in 2000 at 264 lbs, then with the famously overrated 2003 version at 287 lbs with 40+ inch gut, 36 inch thights 19 inch calves and a soft and watery back. It's rather obvious why he is the GOAT, no bodybuilder before could get away with 5 Olympia titles on mass alone with poor balance and average conditioning. I might sound like and hater but Ronnie Coleman is overrated that's the reality. He isn't bad by any means but he is very flawed mutch more than what people like to admit.

[RobberBaron13]

Ronnie was a sight to behold in his prime.
I do agree his condition in general was very average and his 03 version has to rank rank among the most overrated phisiques in history.Huge yes but not in great condition, not balanced .His best phisique was either 2001 AC or 98 Olympia.
As for the midsection, even in 99 you could see glimpses of gut.Thats means he had that issue in 7/8 wins..and it ruined many of his poses
Take his FLS for example.
nowhere near Dorian Yates FLS

[WifeSlayer]

Ronnie was a sight to behold in his prime.
I do agree his condition in general was very average and his 03 version has to rank among the most overrated phisiques in history.Huge yes but not in great condition, not balanced .His best phisique was either 2001 AC or 98 Olympia.
As for the midsection, even in 99 you could see glimpses of gut.Thats means he had that issue in 7/8 wins..and it ruined many of his poses
Take his FLS for example.
nowhere near Dorian Yates FLS

He was very impressive obviously, but his "impressiveness" most of the time came at the cost of balance. He had enourmous biceps quads, triceps sweep, delts chest and back. All important bodyparts but they look badly assembled. His structure isn't meant to support 255+ lbs of muscle. His strong bodyparts grew too mutch and his gut too.

[RobberBaron13]

He was very impressive obviously, but his "impressiveness" most of the time came at the cost of balance. He had enourmous biceps quads, triceps sweep, delts chest and back. All important bodyparts but they look badly assembled. His structure isn't meant to support 255+ lbs of muscle. His strong bodyparts grew too mutch and his gut too.

Its very hard to have balance when you're a collection of freaky body parts, his FLS is a prime example .He just doesnt nail that pose despite having so many strengths..
True about his structure , it wasnt as big as say Cutler or Dorian.He looked and was his best at 245-50 lb. Any heavier and he was rather watery soft and with a distended midsection.
If you look at 98 and compare it to 03, the bulk of the growth was concentrated in his quads/hams.glutes and midsection. His back got thicker but not alot wider and it lost a ton of detail, telling sign was holding body fat and water.

[WifeSlayer]

Yep that's true. The man got bigger but at the expense of conditioning. Toy can't be the GOAT if your legacy is size for the sake of size. Think about it. All Mr Olympias before him brought something new and never seen before. Sergio was the first moder day bodybuilder. Arnold brought another level of size. Zane the aesthetics. Lee Hainey the size and back. Dorian the size and conditioning we expect from modern day bodybuilders. What did Ronnie bring? More size? Nasser had been 285 lbs in 1996. The conditioning? As it had been said before it was average. Freaky bodyparts? There have been tons since and before. Ronnie's reign only pushed Bodybuilding back a few years in terms of the conditioning standards. He also GOATed his way to gut developement. If you like that.

[RobberBaron13]

Thats why I started this thread, because I dont understand why people rave about him. I just have to laugh at anyone thinking he was unbeatable.There is NO WAY he would take out a prime Dorian Yates for example.Yates would beat him in more mandatories and would expose him.If you have issues with Jay Cutler, whose condition, detail, structure and back development are nowhere near Yates,well what does that tell us?
Dorian Yates 93/95 would have prime Ronnies number any day.Slightly bigger and better conditioned and balanced and with better presentation( posing was scored back then so yes I will mention it).
Yates would take the front lat spread, rear lat spread, side triceps and abs thigh compulsories, and its darn close on the back double bi and even side chest.Ronnie only flat out wins front double bi and most muscular, a pose that wasnt even official compulsory until 2004...
Yes you nailed it with the size, Ronnie took size to a new level but he got worse with every year doing so.Its easy to be heavy as a truck when you arent bone dry .
Ronnie never matched Dorians conditioning, and condition KILLS as Weinberger said recently.
Chief editors in magazines back in the day say the same
Jim Schmaltz:"Dorian is the thickest, densest and most annealed bodybuilder in history. No one, not even the current Mr.O, is a match for him, in hardness and dryness."(2004)
Peter McGough:"No one ever got as dry, for a contest, as the man who won six Sandows. Dorian's conditioning, in contests, remains the gold-standard of bodybuilding, even seven years after his retirement."(2005)

And even with all the size he was a vulnerable champion. He should have lost 2001, 2002 and even 05 was mighty close( and he was off being time 2000 and 2004 also but those years everybody was off also).Scorecards dont lie.
On the other hand Yates won 5/6 titles with straight firsts, in a tougher era.And they were both judged by the same panels..Ppl on these boards and other places need to wake up and smell the coffee.