Big Ramy - the Wild Wild Card | How He Wins the Mr. Olympia 2015
Big Ramy: The Wild Wild Card!
How He Wins the 2015 Mr. Olympia
POLL
Where will Big Ramy finish at the 2015 Mr. Olympia contest?
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Now we know that repetition is the mainstay of all things bodybuilding, but as we look forward to preview the enigmatic Big Ramy’s chances at the 2015 Olympia being staged in Las Vegas on September 18 and 19th, there’s a “Been-there, done-that” mood about such thoughts. In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” It’s like being in the middle of the movie Groundhog Day, like listening to a politician’s same-old, same-old speech.
This will mark the third time that Big Ramy’s Olympia participation is marked by the cumulative thought, “Will he finally jump forward and unleash the potential of a physique that first stunned us when in his pro debut he won the 2013 New York Pro?”
Well, like my surgeon said after my ill-fated attempt at a full splits, it’s crystal ball time. Here’s what might play out in Vegas in just over a week.
FAST FORWARD
Throughout the athlete’s meeting of Wednesday, September 16, 2015, as Big Ramy sat in the front row of the four assigned for Olympian cheeks, George Farah sat at the back, from time to time glancing across at me smiling and slowly shaking his head. It smacked of elements of a tsunami warning as in, “You guys just don’t know what’s about to hit you?”
I asked him about his smiling countenance and he replied quietly and simply, “Wait and see; wait and see.” You didn’t have to be Albert Einstein to realize George was as confident as Randy Couture facing a UFC challenge from Richard Simmons.
What has to be said is that George’s Sphinx like, “I’m saying nothing” persona (which was as in character for him as Donald Trump taking a vow of humility) was picked up by the other competitors and they too wondered if the former Olympian was just indulging in an epic psyche-out strategy, or he really knew that Big Ramy was about to deliver the 290 pound goods. Whatever, they, 48 hours prior to prejudging, were already thinking about the massive Egyptian: first round to the Ramy camp.
Forty-eight hours later when Big Ramy stripped for action backstage just prior to the prejudging, Stevie Wonder could have told you he had nailed it. He walked out in front of the 10,000 gathered in the Orleans Arena and they executed such a collective intake of breath that oxygen masks fell from the ceiling. Then recovering themselves they went nuts. Ramy was 290 pounds but sharper than Steven Hawkins IQ. He was as wide as a bantamweight posedown, and his tiny waist, accentuated even further by the mighty dimensions of his upper and lower body, made his head-to-toe shape look like a study in 3-D photo shopping. Those flared thighs were full and as cut as the Pope’s copy of 50 Shades of Grey, his hams and calves has suddenly sprouted and his back looked newly reinforced with armor plating. He was, as we say in the UK when conveying the supreme accolade to someone, “The dog’s bollocks.”
After all the competitors completed their mandatories they all rumbled onstage to await the first comparison. The nasal New York tone of head judge Steve Weinberger barked out only two names, “Phil Heath and next to him ….. Big Ramy!”
And so we witnessed …………
MEANWHILE BACK ON PLANET EARTH
Okay, there we have a Nostradamus type jump forward, maybe a leap of faith. Will that scenario actually play out on September 18 in the gambling capital of the world? My thoughts are that Big Ramy will be more detailed and more refined than we have so far seen. I see him unveiling a package that will carry him into the top five, maybe, maybe top three at this year’s Olympia (his previous Big O record is 2013: 8th; 2014: 7th.) But I think he will have to carve in even more detail and deeper separation to really take on a 100% Phil Heath.
But let it not be forgotten – as if? – that this freak has been training for less than five years. So his current journey has been much shorter than that of his peers. The logic is that he is much further away from tapping out on his full potential than those he is competing against, who have either already done so, or are just about there. In short it would seem he has more unused potential than any other current pro. They have maxed out on muscular development while he has still some way to go. What stage of his individual journey he has reached will become clear at the 51st Mr. Olympia contest, which kicks off on September 18th at the Orleans Arena, Las Vegas. Watch this space … a space Big Ramy seems, sometime, somewhere, destined to fill.
Okay so take our poll and tell us where you expect Big Ramy to finish at this year’s Olympia.
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