by Christian Duque
For starters, let me just state the obvious. I know that Bob can be a little bit much at times and I don’t always agree with him. In fact, a lot of the time I think that he is just looking for any excuse to ruffle people’s feathers. But every once in a while what he says is something I support 100%. Now even though Regan Grimes is one of these bodybuilders with really thin skin and has me blocked for God knows what, because I honestly don’t know why he has me blocked, I will say that I agree with Bob and his assessment regarding this particular athlete’s physique and his chances of doing well at the Olympia.
I have nothing personal against Grimes. I met him years ago at the BPI booth because my friend Chris MacKenzie runs the company. He ran it then and he runs it today. He’s a hard worker and he loves what he does. That being said, Regan was there, Jay Cutler was there and there might have been another few people. I met Regan but I didn’t think much of him. Not that I didn’t think he was a nice guy but I didn’t think he had much to say. He was just another muscular guy at the show. So in reality it wasn’t that we had a personality difference, he just wasn’t somebody that I was drawn to talking to you. I was there to hang out with Chris and that’s what I did. But at the same time that’s where I also met Jay Cutler and we actually would talk at upcoming shows. I wanted to put that out there because I don’t want there to be any biases against Regan. I wanted to be perfectly clear that my article here today is about Regan’s physique, not Regan the person. I also think that Bob’s assessment is about Regan’s physique, not Regan the person. There is nothing personal in my article and I don’t think there was anything personal in Bob’s assessment of Canada’s top current bodybuilder. So what are we talking about?
What we’re talking about is Regan, but also Sasan Heirati, another bodybuilder that kind of falls into this category. The category I’m talking about are guys that would normally be in the third call outs at the Olympia. They are not going to do anything when it comes to the top six and they will definitely never be even in the conversation for top three. This is not an attack on them as people. They are both professional bodybuilders and they are both bodybuilders that have strong social media presidences.
Regan has a strong presence because he’s been at this for a while. Sasan has a strong presence because he has earned his stripes as a proverbial workhorse. I mean the guy has competed half a dozen times just this year alone in hopes of getting an Olympia qualification and he finally got one in Toronto. He’s now competing at the Empro Classic in Spain against an army of no names. Again nothing against Sasan but he’s not really going to be able to do anything at the Olympia. I think it’s great he’s going, but so what?
With regard to Regan though, it’s even more different because there’s so much hype behind him and it’s becoming somewhat of a snowball effect. People are really excited and they are going to the Olympia to see this guy potentially break into the top six. I would be absolutely shocked if he made Top 10.
Grimes is not a bad bodybuilder in the sense that he could potentially be very competitive at some point, but that point is not in 2025. He’s a guy that’s bounced back and forth between classic physique and men’s open bodybuilding. And the reason that he’s done that is because he’s had a hard time finding his niche. He has made a lot of mistakes but they have only made him a more rounded competitor. He even went to Oxygen Gym at one point in time and ballooned out. I don’t know what he was running or what he was pinning, but he literally gained 30 or 40%. It wasn’t the kind of growth that a bodybuilder wants. He lost a lot of his lines and proportions and simply just looked puffy and big. That’s not the look for bodybuilding. It might be the look if you want to be the next Marshmallow Man or the next Michelin Man but it’s not the look that’s going to win you the big titles like the New York Pro, the Arnold Classic, or the Mr Olympia. I think that Reagan has tried his hand at a variety of different methodologies and approaches just because he wants to see if anything will work. Unfortunately he has come up short every single time. He has won some shows and I give him props for that, but winning a show like the Cali Pro and taking second in Toronto doesn’t exactly bode very well for an athlete looking to then go and compete at the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding.
The Cali is a crap show and the Toronto show isn’t necessarily much better. In fact, the Toronto Super Show should change its name. There wasn’t anything super about it. The livecast kept failing and the stage looked like it had an orange glow. If you’re going to call a contest a super show, everything should be on point. And unfortunately that was just not the case in Toronto. I’m not looking to crap on small shows. I just want to make the point that just because a competitor wins one of them does not mean they are suddenly in the category of the big three. The big three being the New York Pro, the Arnold Classic, and Mr Olympia. To me it’s a pretty straightforward way of thinking. But because Bob made a comment on a podcast with Shawn Ray, it has essentially created a rift between him and Regan Grimes. Regan is taking tremendous offense that Bob would say that the best he can do at the Olympia would be 12th place. But what’s the best he has done historically? This is a guy that I would consider to be in that top 15 or maybe not place at all. And again, I know that sounds awfully personal and it sounds hostile, but I assure you I am simply handicapping a bodybuilder based on his prior performance and what his physique looks like today.
And that’s the problem with a lot of top bodybuilders. I wouldn’t call Regan a top bodybuilder but he is a pro bodybuilder and we all know his name so he does have a certain level of clout in the sport. But guys like Regan Grimes or Nick Walker can’t process any type of criticism. What they will do is block you and then they will pretend like you don’t exist. It’s not exactly the most proactive approach for an ambassador for bodybuilding.
I tend to disagree with the powers that be because I don’t believe that only Mr Olympia is an ambassador for bodybuilding. I believe all pro bodybuilders are ambassadors for the sport. When ambassadors block critics – it’s a bad look.
At no point in time did Bob insult Regan or say he wasn’t a good person or say that he could never be a great bodybuilder; he just said he is not going to be anything more than 12th Place at the Olympia – right now. Meaning right now in 2025. He’s not talking about 2026, 2027, or the future beyond that. He’s just saying that right now he doesn’t see what Regan is going to be able to do with the big boys at the most prestigious contest in the world. Not only do I think there’s nothing wrong with that, I think that Bob is doing Regan a solid. I think he’s looking out for him. Now of course Regan is not going to look at it that way because he perhaps has low self esteem to begin with, but he should not be angry with Bob. And of course Grimes claps back calling Bob’s Olympia placing it into question and implying that Bob is not relevant. And that is sort of a tried and true comeback for a lot of guys that Bob seems to annoy.
Bodybuilders need to develop thicker skin. It’s really getting kind of ridiculous. You have a guy that’s 250 lbs, shredded, looking like an absolute cartoon character but yet you say one constructive critique about their physique or where they’re going to place and it’s like you stole their bicycle or something. They take it extremely personally and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are guys that have such an inability to process criticism that not only will they block the person that criticizes them but they will go on the warpath against them. It’s like they will swear out of a vendetta on them or something. I hope that we can evolve as a sport. But maybe it won’t. Maybe bodybuilding is not supposed to be bigger than what it is. Maybe it will forever be a niche sport and that’s fine as well. I just think that it is a bad look when competitors, especially professional athletes, cannot take even the slightest constructive criticism. And that’s exactly what I think Bob was doing this one time. Is he a heckler in other situations? Absolutely. Bob can heckle better than the best trolls on the message boards, but he can also make strong points that are factually-based with little to no bias. When pundits can no longer handicap bodybuilders because they’re ‘re scared of hurting their feelings, we have a problem.
So what say you? Where do you think Regan will place at the Olympia? What’s the highest you think he could place? And do you think Bob’s comments warrant Regan’s response? As always, thank you for reading my article, here, at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Be sure to copy and paste a link of this article on all your social media feeds. I guarantee you it will generate lively conversation.
