Known for some of the most meticulous and graceful posing routines, Shawn Ray continues to watch over the Men’s Open class he dominated in the 1990s. In a recent Voice of Bodybuilding podcast shared on July 16, 2025, Ray posited that site enhancement oils are ruining striations and watering down the quality of physiques in today’s era.
Before he became an Olympia commentator and voice of reason in bodybuilding, Ray was a top-tier Men’s Open Pro who came incredibly close to toppling six-time Olympia champ Dorian Yates at the height of his powers. Ray, while often outlandish in his takes, always delves into intriguing dialogue with his growing fan base.
With fans and bodybuilders noticing less striations, particularly in the biceps, Ray argues that this can simply come down to their use of site enhancement oils like synthol. To elaborate on some of the challenges the Open class faces, Ray joined Bob Cicherillo to discuss the current state and long-term viability of the Men’s Open division.
Shawn Ray Questions Men’s Open Future, Says Site Enhancements Make Competitors Look Like ‘Balloon Animals’
In the YouTube discussion with Cicherillo and Ray, they discovered that striations, especially in the arms, seem to be fading away.
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“Where have the striations gone? They were talking about the Olympia, the top Olympian guys and their question was, Jay’s question was, I’m not seeing any biceps striations. When is the last time you saw somebody with a split bicep? He says I had it, Ronnie had it, he went down the list.”
Out of the top contenders headed to the 2025 Mr. Olympia, Cicherillo and Ray named Nick Walker and possibly Hadi Choopan for having striations in the biceps.
“Then they went down the list of top Olympians. They only came up with a name or two. Hadi, they were on the fence. They think he had some. Samson no. Derek no. This one no. That one no. Nick, I think he got good credit, he’s got great arms. There was only a couple of guys.”
Ray is concerned that athletes are ‘loading up’ site enhancements in individual body parts, which is making them look like balloon animals.
“These guys are loading up on individual body parts, which really wasn’t done back in the day. I think that contributes more. These guys are starting to look like balloon animals.”
“Yeah, there are a lot of site injections that are taking place. I remember Nasser took it to a different degree,” adds Ray.
In addition, Ray criticized judges who lack transparency when it comes to marking people down at shows. He wants a stop to site injections and suspicious shoulders.
“We’re living in a time where the judges need more transparency as to why they are knocking people down. They should tell them why they are knocking them down, so zero tolerance. The site injections, the suspicious shoulders… listen, if Stevie Wonder can see it, you know the judges have a better seat.”
“I shouldn’t have to point these things out after the fact, but if the judges aren’t going to start calling these guys out for what the commentators are witnessing, don’t be surprised when the commentators tell you what we’re seeing and we’re not being filtered because we don’t want to tolerate it.”
According to Shawn Ray, the Men’s Open class has nowhere left to go. Could the death of the Men’s Open class be coming soon? Ray certainly thinks it’s a possibility:
“We have nowhere to go. Either Men’s Bodybuilding is going to strive and survive, or it’s going to go the way of the eight-track, the way of the cassette tape, the way of the pay phone. There are not going to be a lot of people left. If you leave the bodybuilders to their own devices to cannibalize the sport, we can’t ill afford one of our champions to go down for the count.”
He specified that there has been a substantial uptick in injuries, illnesses, and sicknesses among bodybuilders since the year 2000:
“Right now, for a lot of athletes, we’re seeing the roosters come home to roost. A lot of latent injuries, a lot of latent illnesses, a lot of latent sicknesses from bodybuilders that were putting themselves at risk.
I don’t want to see anybody that’s presently competing fall or succumb to anything. From 2000 to now, man, there’s been a whole lot of tragedy in the sport of bodybuilding.”
Site enhancement oils come with their fair share of danger; even some of the most knowledgeable bodybuilders run into issues with them. Bodybuilding star Milo Sarcev admits pumping his biceps with synthol was the greatest regret of his successful career. Open great, Flex Wheeler had some unfortunate run-ins with Synthol use as well.
Shawn Ray and Bob Cicherillo are bodybuilding purists and would love to see the sport evolve with more emphasis on health preservation. They believe today’s athletes would benefit less from site enhancements and more from learning from their predecessors.
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Somebody needs to tell Shawn Ray to shut the hell up. He never one much of nothing and is a spoiled brat. As for Derek. He don’t have the size to win Mr. O Just like silver spoon Mr Ray. You guys make me sick and give bodybuilding a bad name.