by Christian Duque
There is simply nothing better in a bodybuilding show than a nail-biter show. When there are two guys that the judges cannot make their minds over, that is what you want. This makes for a competition where the judges have to call for multiple comparisons and when you’re dealing with athletes that are in tip top shape you couldn’t ask for more. There are situations where additional comparisons draw sighs and grimaces from the competitors, but not here. This is often the case when they are exhausted, dehydrated, or simply have not done their due diligence over the course of a prep practicing in front of the mirror sufficient hours.
A lot of fans forget that bodybuilding isn’t just about lifting weights in the gym or eating a ton of meals a day, but it is also posing. There are many facets that must be explored when preparing for the stage. We mustn’t forget that this is a sport not intended to play out over the course of many minutes or hours on stage. For example a bodybuilding show cannot be compared to a football game or to a basketball game. The athletes are not up there that long. If anything they may be up there for 5 or 10 minutes, or they may be up there for 15 or 20 minutes. The bottom line is that if it’s an open and shut competition it shouldn’t take but one round of mandatory poses for the judges to figure out who’s who. But there are situations like at this particular contest where the judges may want a second or third round of mandatory poses.
It’s a breath of fresh air when you’re dealing with competitors that are not cramping up and not complaining. In fact Nathan was all about more comparisons. He was enjoying it. He was working the crowd as well as giving the judges what they wanted. In the end Behrooz would win the competition but it could have gone either way. As you guys know I am a Nathan fan and I would have given the win to him, but it’s more than just being a fan. In my article I hope to present to you a case why I think Nathan should have won, but unlike New York this was not a robbery. Even though my guy didn’t win, I wasn’t salty that the other man did. At the end of the day bodybuilding shows like this one are what’s going to grow the sport. There’s just no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
So let me talk a little bit about Behrooz. I’m not all that familiar with this bodybuilder. In fact last week in my article about the Empro Classic I wrote about this particular competitor. I said that I would be a hypocrite if I said I had followed his journey for very long. I could have Googled him and I could have pretended like I have been following him all along, but I think that’s disingenuous. I’m a very honest writer almost to the point of looking a little bit unprepared. I think that’s important for journalistic integrity. If my readers can’t take me seriously then I have no business writing articles. It’s one thing to know all of the Top 10 bodybuilders in the world at the Olympia and Arnold but there are really countless other professional athletes who have pro cards and whose names we have never heard of. Some of these guys will finish dead last, others won’t even make it to stages in the United States or Western Europe.
It’s not to say that they’re not phenomenal athletes, it’s just that we are not familiar with them. And that’s okay to say because at the end of the day bodybuilding is still a niche sport and if we’re talking about other countries who’s to say we don’t know every single top-tier competitor. Behrooz is most definitely a top-tier guy but I would not have known it unless he stood next to William. And now he stands next to Nathan, another very very accomplished bodybuilder with well over a dozen wins. That being said he brought tremendous condition and he did not lose his peak from last week or the week prior so he was a deserving winner. We can’t say to the contrary.
Now the consensus across the sport was that Behrooz won on symmetry and condition. There are certainly some poses that I would have given to Behrooz. I think that he had a very impressive upper body and I think this translated to him either winning or edging out Nathan in some of the poses that were more top-dominant. When it came to legs, I think that the consensus with Behrooz was that his upper body overpowered his lower body. This is not to say that he does not have good legs it’s just to say that his legs are not on par with his upper body. Now that being the case I find it very troublesome that so many people gave him the win based on symmetry.
There have been situations where a competitor gets knocked for symmetry because one bicep is not quite the same size or proportion as the other. That may be splitting hairs but at the end of the day symmetry is about balance. The right side to the left side, the top to the bottom, the back to the front. It’s all about everything sort of flowing and having a certain level of equilibrium. So when pretty much everybody with a microphone and an internet connection is saying that Behrooz has an upper body that doesn’t match his lower body I’m left scratching my head wondering what the hell are they talking about when they say that he won on symmetry in the same breath. How can you beat somebody on the caliber of Nathan on symmetry when you don’t have any?
Again that may be a bit of a loaded statement but the reality of the matter is that you cannot have symmetry if what’s above your waist overpowers what’s below it. I mean that’s just basic common sense. Now that being said there’s more to winning a bodybuilding show than symmetry, there’s also muscularity, and there’s also posing.
With regards to muscularity I think Nathan and Behrooz were pretty much neck and neck. Many people have said that Nathan beat Behrooz in terms of leg development, particularly in the quadriceps and teardrops. And I would have to agree. Nobody is saying that Nathan’s lower body overpowers his upper body but they are saying that his lower body overpowers Behrooz’s. In my opinion, legs are critical to many poses and if we are going to tally up who wins more poses, then I would say Nathan clearly beats Behrooz. With the exception of the front double and the rear double I don’t really see Behrooz winning against Nathan. Every other pose requires leg development and I would give it to Nathan.
Now what about posing?
In the posing department I would have to give it to Nathan as well. When you look at how these competitors interacted with the audience and how they interacted with the judges and the media, it doesn’t really make for much of a debate as to who should have gotten the nod. Nathan kept it interesting even when he was asked to do more comparisons. A lot of guys would give a grimace or a sigh. not him. Now to be fair Behrooz wasn’t dragging his feet either but he wasn’t working the audience. Maybe that’s because of cultural differences or maybe it’s because he was 100% focused on winning the competition and not letting a veteran like Nathan overpower him.
Because again we have to think about what each guy was thinking. I would think that Nathan had a lot of self-confidence given the fact that he has won well over a dozen titles and this is almost second nature to him. On the flip side I would say that Behrooz was probably perhaps a little threatened by Nathan’s experience and at the same time also knew that whatever he had done, he was doing something right because once again he was in the Top 2. Perhaps some of the lessons that he learned battling with William carried over to battling with Nathan. And again William is a guy who arguably could have won an Olympia title and has two Arnold Classic titles to his name. So when it comes to competitiveness battling William probably prepared Behrooz to battle a guy like Nathan better than anything else could have.
In the end there was no robbery. Both guys battled hard and no one can say the judges did not scrutinize their physiques. They were able to see pretty much everything, at every angle, and arrived at a decision that I think everyone should respect. I don’t think politics played a factor here and I also don’t think that either guy could have done anything more to have secured the victory. I think both guys gave absolutely everything they had and if it were me I would have given it to Nathan, but again I cannot complain about Behrooz walking away with the win.
That being said I am happy to have watched Nathan’s recap on his Instagram where he talks about battling for another day. This gives me great peace of mind to know that The Prophecy will in fact try to qualify again for the 2024 Mr. Olympia. A lot of competitors in his position would try once and if they didn’t succeed that would be the last we’d see of them for that year. It brings me great joy as a fan and as a writer in the media to see and hear that one of my favorite bodybuilders is not giving up on the 2024 Olympia and will be back in no time.
Even though he didn’t win the contest, I love Nathan’s mindset. He is happy to go back home and be with friends and family. He’s extremely grateful of his coach and everyone at Oxygen Gym in Kuwait. He gave it his all and as the great Bob Cicherillo often says, bodybuilding is a sport of apples and oranges. Who knows if the physique Nathan brought to the Flex Pro would have won him the show with another panel of judges. Who’s to say he won’t win the next show he competes in? In any event I have to say this was one hell of a great bodybuilding show! I feel like the fans really got their money’s worth and those of us in the media certainly have something to write about that doesn’t involve whining about robberies or politics. This was just a nail biter, a razor-thin show between two guys that were involved in a dead heat. Something had to break that tie. Congratulations to everyone who competed at this world-class event!
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading my article here at Iron Magazine and hope that you will copy and paste a link to this article on your social media feeds. It is guaranteed to generate lively conversation. Bet on it!
