Bobservations: this month: where have all the young pros gone?

Flex, July, 2009 by Bob Cicherillo

Is it me, or have newly minted pros suddenly gotten cold feet when it comes to testing the IFBB Pro League waters? I mean, as of this writing (late March '09), I have yet to see Brandon Curry (eight months), Evan Centopani (16 months) or Stan McQuay (I can't count that high) step on a pro stage. For Ed Nunn and Michael Liberatore, it's only been four months thus far, so I'll give them a pass. But I'd better see them doing the IFBB Pro League proud by midyear, or I'm gonna have to Bobservation them, too.

Not for nothing, but back in the day (you may have noticed, I like to refer to that day a lot), you couldn't wait to hit the pro stage as soon as you got the card allowing you to compete with the big boys. I was in the '01 Toronto Pro after winning the 2000 USA. Chris Cormier took the '93 USA, and then was second in the '94 Ironman. Flex Wheeler won the '92 USA, then went ahead and won the '93 Ironman. And the list goes on.

I don't know what to attribute this phenomenon to. I mean, you compete all these years in the hopes of one day turning pro, and then as soon as you finally get there, what do you do? You wait. And then you wait some more. Maybe it was a little different for me, since I was trying to win my pro card for 13 years and was antsy to mix it up in the pro ranks. But still ...

The thing of it is--as near as I can tell--some guys (and I'm not necessarily talking about the guys I listed) think that they suddenly have to change their game plan once they hit the IFBB Pro League. They think that what got them to the top of the amateurs isn't going to cut it in the pros. Big mistake.

To protect the innocent, I won't name names here, but I can think of a bunch of guys who achieved their best combination of size, cuts and shape on the day they earned pro status.

But then something strange happens, and they start worrying more about the scale than the mirror. All of a sudden, it's about adding another 20 or 30 pounds--playing the size game. The fact is, the judges don't get up onstage and weigh you at the Olympia. They use their eyes, just like they do in the NPC, so why the sudden change?

Call me crazy, but I'd like to see a rule in the IFBB Pro League where a guy--in order to keep the pro card he's just won--has to compete in one IFBB Pro League show within the next year, or else he loses his card and has to requalify for it. If he does that one show, he keeps it for good. With this rule, suddenly you get an influx of young talent hitting the pro stages every single year, instead of going months and months without any new faces.

Come on, people! Compete. Let's keep professional bodybuilding alive!