Is Stature a Factor in Winning Bodybuilding Shows?
If you need advice on how to succeed in a bodybuilding show, you can look no further than IFBB Pro League judge Terrick El Guindy, bodybuilding legend Chris Cormier, and athlete/host Tim Wilkins. Together, they are the hosts of Prime Time Muscle, and they focus on “just the facts.” That principle applied when they broke down whether the stature of an athlete can influence their placings in shows.
Wilkins started the discussion by talking about various competitors’ heights such as Andrew Jacked compared to Shaun Clarida as well as four-time Classic Physique Olympia champ Chris Bumstead against a few of his onstage rivals. He then asked Cormier how he feels about height possibly playing a role in how competitors are judged.
“I think it’s going to matter based on how your proportions are,” said The Real Deal, and he used Jacked as an example of his theory against another mass monster from Cormier’s era, Paul Dillett.
“We used to call him Tall Paul. He was gigantic, but his proportions were still thickly, administered everywhere.”
El Guindy is an Olympia judge as well as a promoter, and he shared his first-hand experience to offer a blunt rebuttal to the “stature” factor.
El Guindy said, “this thing about stature and how tall (someone is) is highly, highly, overrated.” He also had a more recent example in the form of two of our current Mr. Olympia champions.
“Look at Hadi Choopan. He’s one of the shortest guys out there, and he’s Mr. Olympia. Shaun Clarida may be one of the shortest 212 guys we have, and he’s Mr. Olympia (212).”
