Mike O’Hearn agrees with Ronnie Coleman that the best bodybuilders in any given era are only as good as their competition.
Is modern bodybuilding under attack? Not quite but there are some serious criticisms getting through around these past few months. Ever since the Olympia 2019, many top class and legendary bodybuilders have remarked that the quality of physiques are not up to par with past generations – especially the 1990s. In our latest GI Exclusive interview, we took the opportunity to ask Mike O’Hearn about these criticism and he thinks that legends like Ronnie Coleman might have a point.
First it was Dorian Yates who criticized Brandon Curry as Olympia champion 2019. Then Ronnie Coleman followed up agreeing that not only Brandon – but most of the Men’s Open competitors can’t stand up to the bodybuilders of the 90s. This created a firestorm on social media. Since then we’ve been asking notable figures in the bodybuilding industry to share their opinions on the matter. Are Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates right in their assertions? Or are they out of touch with what most of the bodybuilding community believe for this modern era of the sport?
While we were sitting down with Mike O’Hearn – we wanted to get his opinion on the matter as well. Not being directly connected to the sport as a competitor, he was able to give more of an objective opinion about the current state of pro bodybuilding. Or at least, a slightly different viewpoint on the subject.
While O’Hearn was hesitant to pile on criticisms against the accomplishments of today’s champion athletes, he couldn’t help but think Ronnie Coleman had a point. Specifically, he agrees with Ronnie that an athlete can only be as good as his competition. If the competition only reaches a certain bar of greatness, the greatest bodybuilder in the group will only need to top that. It’s the competition between each athlete that drives the quality up and up.
Mike O’Hearn can’t help but think back to the earlier years of bodybuilding in the 1990’s. Every single top competitor was an absolute mass monster beast. They were all trying to be on the level of Ronnie Coleman. And that’s what pushed Ronnie to continue to get bigger and bigger. O’Hearn doesn’t see that same level of mass monster size across the board in today’s era bodybuilding. He wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the reason the best in the league currently don’t hit the same levels as Dorian or Ronnie. Not because it’s not possible but because there isn’t enough competition as a collective whole to push it up to that level.
Check out Mike O’Hearn explain his thoughts on the subject in more detail by watching our latest GI Exclusive segment above!
