Milos Sarcev reflects on Roelly Winklaar’s struggles in 2021 and what he needs to do to dominate on the bodybuilding stage once again.
Roelly Winklaar is a beloved pro bodybuilder and often called the people’s champ by many fans. This is due to Winklaar’s enormous mass monster size that nearly shakes the earth whenever he steps on stage. Though he’s gotten close, the competitor has never earned a Mr. Olympia title. However, he has often been a top 5 competitor that many hoped would rise up to win one day. These hopes were somewhat dashed in 2021, with Roelly Winklaar placing lower than expected and also dropping out of select shows. In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Milos Sarcev breaks down Roelly Winklaar’s 2021 physique and explains what needs to improve for success in 2022.
Many fans were shocked when Roelly Winklaar placed 11th at the 2021 Mr. Olympia. It was a large drop down for the elite competitor – who placed 5th in 2019 and 3rd in 2018 at the Mr. Olympia. However, the moment Winklaar stepped on stage last year, it was clear something was off. It wasn’t the people’s champ mass monster physique fans were used to.
That’s why we turned to bodybuilding coach and guru Milos Sarcev to give his thoughts on Roelly Winklaar’s 2021 physique. He pinpointed the two biggest weaknesses Winklaar is facing – and how he needs to improve them to become a dominant force on the stage once again. Milos believes it’s possible and even spoke briefly with Winklaar sharing his advice.
Roelly Winlaar’s biggest weaknesses
Milos Sarcev starts off by stating one big weakness that Roelly Winklaar has always suffered from – his conditioning. Much like Big Ramy, Winklaar is one of the biggest mass monster in the Men’s Open division. And also like Big Ramy, Winklaar often suffers from controlling his stomach and maintaining dry shredded conditioning. This was still evident in 2021, perhaps even slightly worse than in previous years. That lack of conditioning – in combination with another weak lagging body part – was the key element to his lower placing.
So what was that second weakness? Milos Sarcev believes that Roelly Winklaar’s legs were lacking. Of course, bringing up legs is always the hardest body part for most pro Men’s Open competitors. But when you are competing on the elite stage and battling the top five in the world – lacking in the leg department will knock you out of the top 5 or even top 10 at Mr. Olympia. That’s what seemed to happen here.
Milos Sarcev reveals during our interview that Roelly Winklaar spoke to him after his low placing at the Chicago Pro. According to Sarcev, Winklaar was actually worried that his size had gotten too small which is why he was placing low. Sarcev admitted that Winklaar had downsized slightly – but this was not in fact his weakness.
“He asked me what is my opinion and he thought he was much smaller. I said like, yeah. As smaller as he was he was still big enough. That wasn’t the problem. But he needed conditioning and he needed legs. So in other shows that he entered he tried to put size back on and by Prague he was humongous… but still the conditioning was not there.”
– Milos Sarcev
Milos Sarcev went on to say that Roelly Winklaar putting back on more size might have actually hurt him for the rest of his competitive season that year. Sarcev explains that for him to put on so much size so quickly – he lost even more control of his midsection.
Roelly Winklaar may have had a tough year – but we wouldn’t count him out just yet. Yes, he has been competing for quite some time and comes from an older era of the sport. But athletes like Dexter Jackson have proved that age is just a number. And while Big Ramy is somewhat younger – it did take him nearly a decade to become the Mr. Olympia champion. Winklaar is an experienced competitor with a passion for the sport. We are excited to see what he brings to the stage in 2022.
You can watch Milos Sarcev’s full comments on Roelly Winklaar (and some talk abotu Chris Bumstead’s dominance as well) in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above.
