 With new names leading the way and fresh faces hitting the stage - the 2005 Ironman kicked off this years IFBB pro season. Since Chris Cormier and Dexter Jackson waited to take the stage at the 2005 Arnold, this year's Ironman title was up for grabs and a great battle was about to be underway - even though leading into the Ironman the hype was based around Gustavo Badell coming off his 3 rd place finish at the 2004 Mr. Olympia.
With new names leading the way and fresh faces hitting the stage - the 2005 Ironman kicked off this years IFBB pro season. Since Chris Cormier and Dexter Jackson waited to take the stage at the 2005 Arnold, this year's Ironman title was up for grabs and a great battle was about to be underway - even though leading into the Ironman the hype was based around Gustavo Badell coming off his 3rd place finish at the 2004 Mr. Olympia.
I must say that it was interesting to see the athletes in person after seeing pre contest photos on the internet. If we were to run the contest from that point, the photos of Lee Priest had him as the odds on winner. Though his physique appeared expanded with new muscle since his recent 3rd place finish at the 2004 Mr. Olympia, pre contest photos surfacing on the net of Gustavo Badell left me less than impressed in the conditioning department. As well, I was working with and had photos of Melvin Anthony - and knew Melvin's structure, muscularity and conditioning combined was a fantastic overall package and as long as he could maintain his conditioning throughout the pre-judging, he would be very hard to beat.
On Saturday morning, the first look I had of the athletes that day was down in the pump up room which was basically a basement under the venue - and when I say basement it was a smaller room with about 120 people (athletes, press, expediters, etc.) - basements are damp and it had been raining all week. So, I think you can see where I am heading with this - when you cram that many people into a small basement type of room you are going to have a very humid situation and for most, it would wreak havoc on their conditioning. I knew from the start this show would be a test of who could sustain their conditioning throughout the pre-judging. What was funny was Gustavo Badell had chosen NOT to prepare in the pump up room with everyone else and had opted to go upstairs and be in a room by himself. I would say that decision, alone, was probably the smartest decision of the day and is probably what gave him the edge over his fellow competitors, with regard to consistency, on this particular day.
As well as giving you my physique assessments, I'd like to try something a little different this time and in addition let you know how the athletes held ground, faded or gained ground throughout the event. This year's Ironman had only one overall winner - but I felt it was interesting that there were several leaders at different times throughout the show - which made it a very close and exciting battle. As well, I think this will help to demonstrate how any little variance in the physique could help or hurt an athlete in their overall placement. Here's a play by play of how things went down:
When the athletes first walked out on stage and everyone was side by side, my initial thought was this was the best I had ever seen Lee Priest. Lee was hard, with deeply separated quads and ridged out glutes and I had originally thought he was going to be hard to beat. Secondly, on first appearances I thought Melvin was right on the money! His glutes weren't quite as tight as we had hoped, but his hamstrings were greatly separated and the rest of his physique was spot on.
Gustavo was in good shape - I would say though about 15-20% off from his '04 Olympia showing, but yet displaying a much fuller package - his muscle had a much expanded look to it. In addition to his added size, however, I also noticed a wider, thicker waist and trouble controlling his midsection, which normally isn't a problem for him - though overall he had great muscularity and conditioning. I would like to see him work on his midsection as when he released his breath it was very badly distended. One main difference I noticed in Gustavo from his '04 Olympia showing was a new found confidence in his stage presence. He was so confident that in every pose he grunted and screamed at the top of his lungs - I found this annoying and it also took me back to the time that Arnold told his fellow competitors to do this because it would help with their scores and help to psyche out fellow competitors, when all it did was make them look like fools. However, on this day, Gustavo wasn't the only athlete to add vocals to his mandatory shots - it seems sound effects are now a growing, but obnoxious trend with some of the males.
Upon first glances, I thought the initial callout would be Lee Priest, Gustavo Badell and Melvin Anthony, and I was exactly right - these three were the first called out - there was a slight hesitation, then Troy Alves was called out to join them. Troy's conditioning was good - though he was not spot on, but as the first round went on, Troy began to tighten up and his muscle retained a harder look, but still wasn't quite where he needed to be.
Through the first callout, Lee held his conditioning well, Gustavo is big, full and hard - but having trouble holding in his midsection - Melvin is right on the money at this point - and so far this appears to be the top three.
The next callout included Craig Titus, King Kamali, Mike Morris and David Henry. I thought this was a good callout, but also thought Mark Dugdale could have made this initial callout. King was nice and full with good conditioning, though he still needed to be a little dryer. I would have gauged him at 90%, but he was holding his fullness very well throughout the callout.
Craig Titus came in very full to the show. I like him to be on stage with a big, full look - but I just felt he was about 10 pounds too heavy (a little too full) and not enough conditioning to make the impact needed for a qualifying spot. I still think Craig needs to find that combination of the size and fullness he possessed at this show with a much dryer look. If he could ever put this type of combination together, look out - but if he chooses between the ultra full look and coming in ripped to the bone, I'd rather see him sacrifice the fullness and show up in shredded condition.
I'm extremely impressed with David Henry. He displays a very complete physique with incredible back detail and he has added a tremendous amount of muscle during the past year and I give him much credit for that. David has added a good amount of thickness to his back while still retaining shredded conditioning. I would say his downfall at this point is that he still lacks great leg thickness and quad sweep, however, if he continues to make solid, gradual progress, he will get there and it will be put on in the right way. The thing I like about David's progress is that he has opted for quality over quantity with regard to making gains - which are greatly helping him to retain a pleasing, aesthetic look, as well as a hard and grainy conditioned look. I think more pros should take a cue from David with regard to this aspect. Everyone wants the muscle right now or not at all, and I think if many more athletes could adopt a more patient attitude we could get back to seeing more aesthetic athletes. I look for David to continue to move up the ladder.
When Mike Morris entered the callout, his quads were extremely impressive, as usual sporting cross striations from top to bottom. His upper body seemed fuller than in past showings, but still in decent conditioning. My first impression when Mike stepped onto the stage was that his upper body conditioning still does not match that of his legs and his legs are so grainy and hard from top to bottom that it almost makes his upper body look out of shape even though it is in good shape. I think he must first improve his upper body a little bit, and secondly come in dryer - his legs will always be strength, but the dryer he gets, the more intricate detail will show within his upper body bringing his upper and lower half closer in comparison. Although his back was better than I have seen it in the past, I would still like to see added improvements in this area.
My thinking, initially in this callout, was that King would be a solid 5th place with a tight battle among Craig, Mike and David Henry. I still feel that Mark Dugdale could have easily been added to this callout, but was left out until the third round of callouts.
The third callout brought back David Henry, added Mark Dugdale, Idrise Ward El and Patrick Lynn. Mark Dugdale has an amazing physique with deeply cross striated quads and tear drops. Basically the overall conditioning and "polished" look that Mark Dugdale possesses is one that we haven't seen in a "rookie" for quite some time. Being his pro debut, I was extremely impressed with his professionalism not only in his physique, but in his stage presence. In pre-Ironman buzz, many felt being a newcomer to the pro ranks, Mark would be buried in this lineup because they felt he would lack size in comparison to the rest of the seasoned lineup. That couldn't have been any further from the truth. Mark has great size, incredible thickness and fantastic conditioning which enabled him to truly hold his own on stage. Many felt that lack of arm size would hold him back. Though he could possibly add a little more overall size in that department, I don't feel that is holding him back. I feel at this point the downfall Mark will be fighting in the pro ranks is that on stage, against his fellow competitors, he appears to be a little narrow looking. I would like to see him add more delt - especially medial - and more lat width, which will come with time and experience. Being a shorter athlete, he has a look of a narrower clavicle area - I think this is what he really needs to focus on during his career. Adding size and width to the lats and delt area is definitely crucial for Mark. Overall, however, this was a fantastic showing for Mark.
Idrise has a great overall build, but has not yet reached his potential or even matched or duplicated the conditioning that turned him pro. In the callout, he appeared flat and the muscle just didn't jump off the bone and when hitting his shots, nothing really popped. It also seems that he has suffered some type of severe injury to the right quad, just above the knee - and it is very noticeable and my attention was drawn to this area of the leg. Overall his conditioning wasn't where it needed to be and as I mentioned earlier, he appeared very flat.
Patrick Lynn was in decent shape, but almost appeared over depleted. Although his overall conditioning was good, it was almost too depleted as he seemed to struggle to hold the shot once hitting it - almost seemed tired and his poses shook a little.
At this point in the first round it was apparent that the battle to this point was between Lee Priest and Melvin Anthony with Gustavo in a solid third. Troy Alves was a solid 4th, King Kamali had a hold on 5th and at this point the battle was for 6th among Mark Dugdale, Mike Morris and Craig Titus. They were all very close displaying both strengths and weaknesses that could flip-flop them any way.
The final callout of the first round brought back to the stage Gustavo Badell, Lee Priest and Melvin Anthony. With Lee Priest in the center, it was evident at this point in time he would win the round and lead the rest of the pack into round 2. Through the first round, the humidity didn't seem to trouble anyone's conditioning. However, it was during the individual compulsory poses between the symmetry and muscularity round where things began to get dicey.
Hitting a peak is hard enough - under perfect circumstances - however I have seen shows won and lost by tiny deviations in climate, how long the athlete has to wait from pump up to hitting the stage - etc. During the individual compulsories, the physique changes began. As soon as I saw Lee Priest, during this round, I noticed him fading - from the center of his quad all the way around to the hamstring up to the glutes was fading and I would say he had, at that point, was 15% less conditioned than in round 1. What I felt was very interesting is Melvin Anthony (who I prepared) faded in the exact same place that Lee did - middle of the quad, wrapping around to the glute and hamstring area. Although they are two different physiques, they both have the same problem areas and when they fade, the quad/glute/hamstring areas are affected first.
However, Gustavo Badell was maintaining his conditioning pretty much the same as round one. Troy Alves on the other hand hadn't quite hit his peak in round 1 was now sharper during his compulsories and going into round 2, which began to bump him up the ladder. Troy's conditioning was much dryer, harder and he appeared to even be fuller now. This could have been a situation where Troy had been holding a bit of water and by posing under the lights he was starting to excrete the fluid or maybe in round one he was not completely pumped up. Whatever the case, Troy was definitely harder and beginning to threaten the initial placements of round 1.
At this point in the individual compulsories, Craig Titus is beginning to fade. I could see that he had spilled over and his conditioning had begun to diminish. King Kamali had started to come to life at this point and seemed to have dried out a little more during the compulsories, which now brings us to an interesting round two.
Here were the point standings directly after round 1:
*1st Lee Priest - 8 points
*2nd (A Tie) Melvin Anthony & Gustavo Badell - 11 points each
*4th Troy Alves - 20 points
*5th (A Tie) King Kamali & Craig Titus - 28 points
Although these were the standings, the changes taking place within everyone's physique during the mandatory compulsories brought on a changing of the guard during round 2 with Gustavo Badell being brought out first, followed by Troy Alves and Lee Priest. With this in mind, the judges took note to what I had noticed going on between rounds which was Gustavo holding his conditioning, Troy coming on strong with his conditioning and Lee and Melvin slightly fading.
With this initial callout, I was thinking to myself that Troy Alves is possibly going to win the round. With regard to structure, Troy was better than Gustavo and at this point in time, Troy was in better conditioning than both Lee and Gustavo.
The next callout of the round had Lee staying out on stage, Craig Titus, Melvin Anthony and King Kamali. Although Melvin had faded slightly - it wasn't enough to push him down too far in the muscularity round as he was still in great shape - just a little softer through the front of the thigh and hamstring. At this point, I'm thinking that Melvin is a solid fourth place in the muscularity round and the battle for fifth in the round once again was coming down to Craig and King. They were pretty comparable with regard to size and muscularity, though I probably had King with a slight edge over Craig due to the conditioning factor. As I had mentioned earlier, Titus had started to fade and it carried through to the second round callouts.
I was surprised that David Henry and Mark Dugdale were not brought out into this group of athletes as they were both in fantastic condition, however, they did both make it into the next callout which was: Mark Dugdale, David Henry and Mike Morris. All three were comparable as they all had great conditioning, yet I still thought these three were comparable enough to have been interchangeable with a few of the other guys in the previous callout without any complaints from the audience.
The final callout of the muscularity round brought back Gustavo Badell, Troy Alves and Lee Priest. Troy was called center stage, so my thinking at this point in time was that Troy was definitely ahead in the muscularity round, however, this is where one can begin to understand just how delicate and touchy the physique can be. It had probably been about 20 minutes since Troy, Gustavo and Lee were first called out in the muscularity round and unfortunately during that 20 minute time frame, Troy had flattened back out and was unable to hold the degree of hardness and fullness that had him leading the muscularity round to that point. By now, the loss of Troy's fullness was apparent within the sweep of his quads - they now appeared straight up and down and flat. It took the judges only two poses into this round to realize just how much Troy had faded.
With this sudden change of events, Gustavo was then put into the center of the callout for comparison and I feel from that point on, he had won the muscularity round, and Troy was relegated to second in the round with Lee following in third and Melvin in fourth. The fact that Gustavo was able to keep his muscle full and expanded as well as hold his conditioning throughout the entire pre-judging enabled him to climb up the ladder and take the lead. In the long run this ability to hold his fullness and conditioning is what lead to his win of the Ironman.
The battle for 5th and 6th place in the muscularity round was close, once again. On this given day, there were many flip flopped situations and I could very easily have seen David Henry and Mark Dugdale ending up 5th & 6th due to their conditioning alone - however it was a matter of does one choose the size and overall muscularity of King and Craig, or does one go for conditioning? On this day size and muscularity prevailed. I must reiterate that it was a very close race among placements 5th - 8th and that these four placements could have been interchanged without much complaint from the audience. However, King and Craig both sport impressive size and muscularity in this lineup and this is the muscularity round.
I've noticed that since their personal conflict back in 2001, King and Craig seem to be grouped side by side in whatever show they enter. As well, I have noticed that this usually benefits one and hurts the other - if one is in shape and the other is off - the one in shape may be pulled down lower in placement because they are grouped together and vice versa. This pairing may be an unfortunate event that follows them around the rest of their career. I must say though, on this day, King and Craig were pretty comparable and it was a really good battle between the two.
Where the placements of the symmetry round were closer with regard to points, the muscularity round was considered more cut and dry as evidenced by the placements below:
Placements of round 2 - Muscularity:
*1st Gustavo Badell - 5 points
*2nd Troy Alves - 10 points
*3rd Lee Priest - 15 points
*4th Melvin Anthony - 20 points
*5th King Kamali - 27 points
*6th Craig Titus - 30 points
The posing round still puzzles many to this day. What many people don't understand, however, is this round is judged as an overall presentation of the physique. Melvin Anthony won the posing award at this show, but placed third in this round while Lee Priest and Gustavo Badell place first and second in the round respectively. Although Lee isn't the performer that Melvin is in the posing round, Lee was able to present the poses that displayed his muscularity and conditioning the best - and this is what the judges are looking for in the posing round. The posing round finished off with Troy Alves in fourth, King Kamali 5th, Mark Dugdale 6th, David Henry 7th, Craig Titus in 8th and Mike Morris 9th.
Some of the highlights of the posing round were as I mentioned, Melvin Anthony winning the best poser award and a bonus $1,000.00. Frank Roberson who is known for his high energy on stage tried to make a battle between himself and Melvin with regard to the posing award. Though he did have an entertaining quality to his routine and he did maintain a great energy level throughout, after a few minutes, his routine had a tendency to drag on, became repetitive and he started to lose the audience. King Kamali, who in the past has been criticized for maybe putting a little too much emphasis on dance and not enough emphasis on posing actually presented a posing routine chock full of poses with very little dance. Now, the opposite was said - I heard from many that maybe King needed to add back a little more dance into his routines and I think he's entering into a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
Without knowing the actual scores of the posing round, or how the posedown would be scored, my initial feeling based on what I had witnessed during the pre-judging and posing rounds was that the battle for first place would be extremely close between Lee Priest and Gustavo Badell. As well, a second battle for the third was brewing between Melvin Anthony and Troy Alves with King Kamali a solid 5th. Craig Titus, David Henry and Mark Dugdale would keep the battle going for 6th - 8th place.
As I have been trying to explain and show to you throughout this piece, a contest isn't always cut and dry and it isn't always apparent who should win. In the first round, Lee and Melvin were the two standouts, however, as they faded, Gustavo maintained while Troy Alves hardened up and this upped their stock dramatically. We saw how a fourth place finish in round 1 for Troy Alves turned into a second place finish in round 2 and actually if Troy could have held his conditioning just a little longer, he could have pushed ahead of Gustavo in the muscularity round.
More and more, body building is not only becoming a contest of muscularity and conditioning, but a contest of consistency. It's not just about first appearances anymore, but more or less how one can maintain his appearance throughout the course of the day. Here is how the final placements ended up:
1st Gustavo Badell - 31 points
2nd Lee Priest - 43 points
3rd Troy Alves - 60 points
4th Melvin Anthony - 65 points
5th King Kamali - 106 points
This year's Ironman was very exciting especially with a changing of the guard during virtually every round. It left the crowd in anticipation and question of who exactly would win the show and I think that makes for a great battle and competition. Within the next two weeks, it will be very interesting to see how this top five fairs in the 2005 Arnold Classic lineup. When you add Chris Cormier and Dexter Jackson into the mix and another two weeks to maintain, harden up, or lose conditioning once again it's going to be a game of consistency and persistence.
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