This year’s Mr. Olympia was perhaps the most difficult show in the career of reigning champ Phil Heath. After dominating the stage for 6 years in a row, it was thought that Phil Heath would absolutely dominate the competition for years to come. But this year we saw the champion struggle against the competition, in particular, Big Ramy. When it was reported that Phil Heath was suffering from a hernia before the event, things started to make a bit more sense.
Now that Phil Heath has undergone a successful hernia surgery, he is already getting right back at it as he stepped on stage for the first time since the 2017 Olympia at the Darcy Beckles Classic in Barbados. Phil Heath showed off his legendary musculature. While it appears that he’s still recovering from surgery, it’s good to see the champion back on stage.
The 7x Mr. Olympia champion Phil Heath who turns 38 next month told NationNews Barbados he thinks a tenth Sandow title would make him the greatest ever.
“I think ten will definitely do it. That’s my goal, it is always interesting when you are asked a question on how many do you want to win, and when I said ten a few years ago, people thought I was crazy. They felt I was cocky, arrogant – he is this and that, and I said, ‘Please don’t limit me for my goals and my dreams,'”
The champ said:
“If you want to be a champion of anything, whether it is in school or on your job, go for it. So for me, I would not be satisfied unless I got ten; that’s my goal. I have got seven – just three more to go,”
Heath said the recent double hernia surgery will not hold him back.
“It is going to affect me in every way for the positive. Anytime you have intestinal strangulation with two hernias, you are cutting off the bloodline to the body, so I was beating these guys with that problem for the last seven years. Now that it is healing, I am going to be a dangerous dude come 2018.
I am more excited than ever knowing that all I have to do is put that behind me. If you are winning anything in the world seven times with an injury and you didn’t know it, now that it is gone, it is like a weight being lifted off your shoulders.”
Heath also talked about his competition, said he has kept way ahead of everybody because he has been able to make improvements almost every year.
“For Big Ramy and all the other guys, they are going to make steady improvements, but I will as well. What has been enabling me to [beat] these great champions on stage is that every year I have come different.
“I have always listened to the judging and anytime they have said to me, hey Phil, I need you to do this and do that, I have been able to that and that’s what you call bodybuilding.
“It is not always coming out with the same physique and being a bigger version of it. It is about looking at those weak points, not the strong points, sharpening up those edges and making a quality physique.
“I know that these guys are very hungry for 2018. They are hungry and I am starving for greatness. There is a big, big, difference. I am starving to be the best ever and that is what is going to make me win each and every time.”
What do you think can Phil Heath win Ten Olympias? Let us know in the comments below!
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