Rich Gaspari agrees with Dorian Yates & Ronnie Coleman’s criticism of Brandon Curry, believes Hadi Choopan had superior conditioning.
Brandon Curry’s Olympia win in 2019 opened the doors to a bigger conversation about the quality of physiques in today’s era of the sport versus previous generations. Bodybuilding legends such as Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman have spoken out, stating that Curry could never have been an Olympia champion had he faced the top athletes from their time. This has less to do with Brandon Curry specifically and more to do with the overall quality of his competition as well. In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Rich Gaspari shares his thoughts on the recent criticism of Brandon Curry and today’s bodybuilders.
Rich Gaspari is an old school bodybuilder through and through. He was the first ever Arnold Classic bodybuilding champion and has been dedicated to the sport of bodybuilding his entire life. His Gaspari Nutrition brand promotes the Arnold Classic Amateur competitions every year. He also stays involved with each new crop of top level competitors that compete in the Mr. Olympia each year. So what did he think of the recent comments made by Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman about not only Brandon Curry but the quality of today’s athletes?
Much like many of the old school legendary bodybuilders, Rich Gaspari tends to agree with the comments made by Dorian and Ronnie. While he seems slightly wary of completely agreeing, he can’t help but notice that the physiques on display don’t seem to show the same level of hard work he remembers seeing in past eras.
Gaspari goes on to say that of course there are some athletes that work hard and starts to discuss the rising trend of bodybuilding gurus and the kinds of substances that they recommend. He brings up the use of diacritics as well – thinking that an over-reliance on them might be leading to filmier less conditioned physiques.
Rich Gaspari details how Ronnie Coleman was one of the first major bodybuilders to have a “guru.” Now almost every major bodybuilder has one. He wonders what kind of affect that’s having on the physiques of bodybuilders today. He also goes into more detail about his opinion of gurus in our previous GI Exclusive segment – which you can check out here.
When asked if he thinks that Brandon Curry was still the best in 2019 and deserved the victory, Rich Gaspari held back completely from agreeing. He mentions that Hadi Choopan had the best conditioning in the whole top six – but his size and aesthetic couldn’t keep up with someone like Brandon. So in that context, it comes down to what the judges prefer in what to reward. As we’ve seen in the past decade, size often trumps all when it comes to earning a first place trophy.
You can watch Rich Gaspari’s full reaction to the Brandon Curry criticism in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above!
