Aside from his duties as a bodybuilding judge, Terrick El Guindy enjoys the sport as a historian, often looking back at the best talents to emerge in the IFBB Pro League. In his latest effort, El Guindy listed six of the greatest bodybuilding mass monsters that have enjoyed successful careers.
We can’t talk about mass monsters without mentioning the name Dorian Yates. He ushered in a new era of freaky muscularity and size, having dominated atop the Mr. Olympia mountain, earning a total of six Sandow trophies. Soon after his reign, ‘The King’ Ronnie Coleman took his spot as the best bodybuilder in the world.
Coleman displayed unparalleled mass and size en route to building his legacy. Eventually, the fullness and conditioning of Jay Cutler caught up to him in 2006. Since then, fans of the sport have watched other freaky bodybuilders make their way through the ranks, like former two-time Mr. Olympia Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay. Let’s dive into who El Guindy believes earned a spot on his list of the greatest mass monsters to ever compete.
Mass Monster Criteria
Below, El Guindy lays out his mass monster criteria:
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- Must Be Huge
- Must Have Had Successful Bodybuilding Career
“My critiera to be a mass monster is two things, first, you got to be freaking massive, okay? No disrespect but Lee Labrada was not a mass monster, Frank Zane, not a mass monster, Samir Bannout, who’s a mass monster? Huge freaking bodybuilders.”
“The second criteria is, you got to be successful as a bodybuilder. Craig Kovacs from Canada, good reference from Chris Cormier, he was a huge bodybuilder but he wasn’t a successful bodybuilder. I believe that in the 90s the two bodybuilders that really distinguished themselves was Markus Ruhl who won the night of champions, looked incredibly freaky.”
Terrick El Guindy’s List of All-Time Best Mass Monsters
- Markus Ruhl
- Paul Dillett
- Dorian Yates
- Ronnie Coleman
- Jay Cutler
- Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay
In addition to naming Markus Ruhl, El Guindy highlighted Paul Dillett, who was easily one of the biggest bodybuilders of his generation.
“The other mass monster who also won Pro shows and was successful was Paul Dillett,” adds El Guindy. “These two guys I just mentioned, they actually made an impact in bodybuilding.”
He acknowledged that Yates was the first mass monster, but also credited Jay Cutler, Ronnie Coleman, and Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay for their remarkable size.
“When we talk about Dorian Yates… he was not only a mass monster, he’s one of the most successful bodybuilders of all times.
You can say that he’s the first mass monster. And, after him, we’ve seen other mass monsters win Mr. Olympias such as Jay Cutler, such as Ronnie Coleman, and Big Ramy.”
Although Yates lacked the lines and symmetry of names like Flex Wheeler and Chris Cormier, he made up for it with jaw-dropping size and dry conditioning.
“Dorian Yates set the tone for what would happen in the future. Now, you guys are going to start accepting the massive physique. Did Dorian have the lines of Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier, or Shawn Ray? No, he didn’t. He’d be the first one to say that. But he presented tremendous size, impeccable conditioning, and he changed the game.”
El Guindy also gave props to Jay Cutler for the physique he brought to the 2009 Mr. Olympia.
“Jay Cutler is a mass monster,” said El Guindy. If you look at his 2009 victory, which I believe was one of the most dominant Mr. Olympia performances, he out-massed Dexter Jackson, Branch Warren, Phil Heath, Kai Greene, an incredible lineup and he looked like a mega-giant.”
“Look at him and Ronnie, for the longest time, they are battling and everyone around was just smaller than them.”
Lastly, El Guindy included Big Ramy in his list.
“Big Ramy 2013 goes to the New York Pro, it was just written on every board in America that Victor Martinez was going to win that show. All of us saw this Egyptian bull comes on stage with a physique that we hadn’t seen in years. He took down Victor Martinez. He won the New York Pro twice. Again, we talk about the successful mass monsters,” said Terrick El Guindy.
Based on his criteria, El Guindy revealed that Coleman was the most successful mass monster the sport has seen.
“Ronnie Coleman is the most successful one and I think his 2003 performance is the epitome of mass monster.”
Bodybuilding veteran Chris Cormier has also discussed some of his favorite mass monsters of the current bodybuilding era. He named retired IFBB Pro Iain Valliere, Nick Walker, and Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay as his go-to picks.
In the sport of bodybuilding, size is king. For El Guindy, he can’t deny Coleman’s place in history as one of the biggest and most successful mass monsters to come out of the Men’s Open division.
RELATED: WATCH: The 5 Mass Monsters in Bodybuilding – Then and Now
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