Weight for it

Flex, July, 2008 by Peter McGough

When a top pro recently visited the Weider head-quarters in Woodland Hills, California, I asked him what he weighed. He said X pounds. I invited him to step on a scale, but he declined. Bodybuilders are notorious for invok-ing poetic license when citing mea-surements, lifts, etc. Thus, a 22" arm becomes 23", a 415-pound bench press becomes 450, and 230 pounds shredded is relayed as 240 pounds supershredded. In bodybuilding--like the current economy--inflation is rampant.

The incident evoked memories of the 1988 Mr. Olympia contest, staged at the Universal Amphitheater in Burbank, California, at which com-petitors for the first time since 1979 were obliged to weigh in. This took place at the press conference 48 hours prior to the contest. The weigh-in was not overly popular with athletes used to keeping themselves under wraps until the last minute. Many argued that they would be flat due to being in a state of depletion and that observ-ers could get the wrong impression.

Clad in Everlast boxing robes, the contenders presented a full assort-ment of shapes and sizes: at 6'8", Ralf Moeller's shiny knees were fully exposed, while Lee Labrada's robe kept his ankles warm.

All year, we'd heard a clutch of contenders state that they'd come in at 240ish--heavy for those days. The weights of some of the guys we expected to be 240ish were somewhat surprising. The chart shows how they tipped the scales.

Most tried to make the weight-in as short as possible. One exception was Berry DeMey who--once sans robe--appeared fully oiled and pumped, and hit his best shots in an interlude that galvanized those attending. Two days later, in his best-ever shape, he finished third. One absentee from the weigh-in was Mohamed Benaziza, who did not arrive from his home in France until the next day. Making his professional debut, he weighed in at 188 pounds.

When reviewing the bodyweights of the 1988 lineup, only Lee Haney and the vastly underrated Peter Hen-sel came in as promised. Those two and Ralf Moeller were the only com-petitors out of 20 who weighed more than 240 pounds. Fast-forward to the 2007 Olympia, and 15 out of the 24 athletes broke 240. Of course, the weights of the 2007 squad came from them verbally, so...hmm?

COMPETITOR               WEIGHT

Rich Gaspari             209 1/2
Lee Haney                243 1/4
Al Beckles                   200
Ralf Moeller                 288
Shawn Ray                201 1/2
Peter Hensel             240 1/2
Mike Ashley              189 1/2
Gary Strydom (with hat)      229
Phil Hill                222 1/2
Ron Love                 222 1/2
Luiz Freitas             219 1/2
Bob Paris                    226
Mike Quinn                   204
Berry DeMey                  227
Brian Buchanan               210
Lee Labrada                  176
Robby Robinson           216 1/2
Ed Kawak                     215
Samir Bannout                205

By Peter McGough

GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR