2016 Mr Olympia: Can Anyone Beat Phil Heath?

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We are quickly approaching the 2016 Mr Olympia contest, the 52nd contest in this great competition.

As you probably know:

It is the highest accolade in professional bodybuilding.

Past winners include the likes of Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates and the iconic Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Phil Heath is currently the reigning and defending champion with five titles to his haul already. He is most peoples favourite to claim a sixth title come September 18th.

However:

Here at Protein Hunter, as much as we love Phil, he has some stiff competition in the field this year.

2016 Mr Olympia: Can Anyone Beat Phil Heath?

So we have taken a look at what we believe to be our top five competitors of this years Mr Olympia and how they got there.

But you’re probably wondering:

Can anyone at the 2016 Mr Olympia beat Phil Heath?

So let’s begin…

#1 Current Mr Olympia: Phil Heath 

The fact is…

There is no better way to start our top five than with the reigning and defending Mr Olympia champion Phil Heath, but…

Truth be told:

Phil’s dreams didn’t start out with being the #1 bodybuilder on the planet.

That came later.

Believe it or not: Phil Heath’s first love was basketball.

Born December 18th, 1979 in Seattle, Washington, Phil fell in love with basketball at a young age.

Eventually, weighing around 185lbs and much smaller than his Olympia weight, he played shooting guard for Denver’s Division I basketball team.

Once he began to take bodybuilding seriously he quickly grew to 215 lbs, with 6% body fat. This was a dramatic transformation.

Ultimately, at a rock solid 192lbs Phil competed in his first competition in 2003 The Rocky Mountain NPC (National Physique Committee) USA Championship “Northern” where he walked away with the overall title.

Phil Heath - University of Denver (2008)
Here is Phil in his ‘early basketball days’. You can see the ‘gifted’ genetics in this early picture.

Phil’s Mr Olympia history has been pretty phenomenal to say the least!

He qualified to enter the 2007 Mr Olympia contest but did not choose to as he felt he needed to improve his physique.

However in 2008 he made his Mr Olympia debut and placed an unbelievable 3rd, he was the only novice to claim a top three spot since Flex Wheeler did in 1993.

One of Phil’s low points in the Olympia was in 2009 where he unfortunately came down with a stomach virus and he came in on the first day having lost 6 lbs of weight.

Despite being the favourite for the title, this hindered his performance, but Phil still managed to take 5th spot.

2010 was again another big year when people was expecting Phil’s time to come, however Jay Cutler, Phil’s hero and friend took the first spot with Phil finishing first runner up.

This would be Jay’s last title, therefore was this a sign that the doors were open for Phil to run riot?

You guessed it!! It sure was….

In 2011 Phil claimed his first Mr Olympia crown, defeating Jay Cutler and since then has managed to rack up five Mr Olympia Sandows!

Since Jay Cutler has retired, despite making a brief comeback in 2013, Phil has made a new rival in Kai Greene.

Kai and Phil have had some heated exchanges both on the stage and off throughout the last few years.

Never the less they appear to have settled their differences for now and respect each others work ethic and physiques.

It seems a shame that we will not be seeing Kai Greene for a second year running at the Mr Olympia 2016.

However below are some tough competitors where Phil will have to bring his A Game should he walk away with a 6th Sandow!

Phil’s Mr Olympia Contest History 

  • 2008 Mr Olympia, 3rd
  • 2009 Mr Olympia, 5th
  • 2010 Mr Olympia, 2nd
  • 2011 Mr Olympia, 1st
  • 2012 Mr Olympia, 1st
  • 2013 Mr Olympia, 1st
  • 2014 Mr Olympia, 1st
  • 2015 Mr. Olympia, 1st

“Being Mr. Olympia is a great responsibility not only on stage, but more importantly off-stage. I am reminded daily that my likeness and hard work can enable others to achieve greatness in their endeavors, which in turn makes me feel awesome! I live by these words daily, ‘Train Hard, Train Smart and Have Fun!’ and always make sure you’re challenging yourself with new goals and enjoying the journey no matter how wild it gets.

Phil Heath

With an estimated net worth of around 5 million dollars, Phil Heath is certainly at the top of the game right now and it looks like only an off-day or a super human appearance from one of the 4 below will see him lose his title at the Mr Olympia 2016.

#2 Dexter Jackson 

Dexter “The Blade” Jackson was born November 25th, 1969 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Here at Protein Hunter all we can say about Dexter Jackson is that ‘he can’t be human’.

So hang on whilst we explain that crazy statement…

Dexter has been an active IFBB professional bodybuilder since 1993.

He holds twenty-five professional bodybuilding titles as of 2016, which is only one behind the great Ronnie Coleman.

AND…

As of last years Mr Olympia, Dexter has made a record breaking 16 Mr Olympia appearances, his best finish being the winner in 2008 and his worst being in both 1999 and 2000 finishing 9th.

Dexter is one of only three bodybuilders to have won the Arnold Classic and the Mr Olympia titles.

He has also won a record five Arnold Classic titles.

It seems this phenomenon of a man does not understand the word retirement, and why should he?!

When your only placing 2nd to Phil Heath last year, it certainly isn’t time to put those weights down!

Dexter has even competed in the Masters Olympia in 2012 (yes he qualifies for this too!) and guess what?

He won that too!!

Himself and Chris Dickerson are the only two guys to win both the Mr Olympia and Masters Olympia titles.

Like we said before…

Maybe this guy is not human.

It seems that Dexter maybe has gotten better with age for sure.

From looking at his Mr Olympia contest history below, we feel here at Protein Hunter that Dexter is the definition of consistency.

He always seems to be there or thereabouts, so how can you not include him in your top five 2016 Mr Olympia contestants.

Our opinion here is due to his consistency and the level he still produces at his age, its got to be argued he is one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time.

Don’t you agree?

Let’s take a look at his contest history…

Dexter’s Mr Olympia Contest History

  • 1999 Mr Olympia, 9th
  • 2000 Mr Olympia, 9th
  • 2001 Mr Olympia, 8th
  • 2002 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2003 Mr Olympia, 3rd
  • 2004 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2005 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2007 Mr Olympia, 3rd
  • 2008 Mr Olympia, 1st
  • 2009 Mr Olympia, 3rd
  • 2011 Mr Olympia, 6th
  • 2012 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2013 Mr Olympia, 5th
  • 2014 Mr Olympia, 5th
  • 2015 Mr Olympia, 2nd

Dexter has great symmetry, you would not believe this man is approaching 50 years of age!

We feel that if he brings the same package to the Mr Olympia 2016 that he brought in 2015, he’ll be challenging for those top 3 positions for sure.

#3 Shawn Rhoden

Third on our list is Shawn Rhoden.

A relative newcomer to the Mr Olympia Stage, Shawn “Flexatron” Rhoden was born on April 2nd, 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica.

Shawn enjoyed playing soccer as a young man until he turned to bodybuilding in 1992.

He came through some tough times  on his way to the Mr Olympia stage, so it has not all been plain sailing for Shawn.

We feel his achievements are something of courage and determination, things which make Shawn the fantastic bodybuilder he is today.

Shawn injured nine tendons in his hand and was told he would never write, use a hammer, play the piano and the big one NOT lift weights again!!

He overcame this and has rose through the bodybuilding ranks through inspiration from former Mr Universe Yohnnie Shambourger until he achieved his IFBB pro card in 2010.

Shawn entered his first Mr Olympia contest in 2011 placing 11th.

He had some guidance and signed for a short while with the great Ronnie Coleman’s company.

Since then Shawn has left Ronnie’s enterprise but has kept at least a solid top 4 finish in the Mr Olympia’s from 2012 to present day.

Like many other top bodybuilders, Shawn has developed a little rivalry, and this appears to be with Dennis Wolf…

Together they seem to be sharing the 3rd and 4th spot at the Mr Olympia in recent times as well as the top 2 in the Arnold Classic.

Will Shawn be able to live up to his hype at the 2016 Mr Olympia?

Let us know in the comments what you think.

Shawn’s Mr Olympia Contest History

  • 2011 Mr Olympia, 11th
  • 2012 Mr Olympia, 3rd
  • 2013 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2014 Mr Olympia, 3rd
  • 2015 Mr Olympia, 3rd

Shawn has a fantastic mid section for such a big guy.

#4 Cedric McMillan

Fourth on our list is Cedric McMillan.

Cedric McMillan was born 17th August 1977 in Maplewood, NY.

Cedric was always a fan of muscles and bodybuilding as far back as he could remember.

He once said that he used to draw comic books as a kid and refer to Flex and Muscle and Fitness magazines for inspiration.

It always seemed destined that Cedric was going to make it to the elite of bodybuilding!

Cedric works full-time on active duty in the US Army, based in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Cedric is a leadership instructor.

He turned pro in 2009 and has competed in only one Mr Olympia so far in his career.

Cedric has somewhat of a classic era physique.

Which to may fans is fantastic, it has been said he has an Arnold-esque V-taper, however his great flowing muscular physique does not reflect his positioning in competitions.

This is a lot down to his conditioning.

The modern era of bodybuilding demands striations at every angle, which in all fairness is great to see.

However Cedric brings another package, he has the appearance of the classic era of Arnie and Franco Columbo, yet he still packs incredible mass onto his frame.

His posing routines are very ‘old school’ they don’t consist of stomping around with rap music playing the background. It is more of elegance and precision.

Cedric has been compared to Ed Corney a classic era bodybuilder with poses being held for several seconds and showing off the big important parts of a physique.

His one and only appearance at the Mr Olympia was in 2013 where he placed a disappointing 12th.

Cedric in recent times has not been ignored and his performances at the Arnold Classic competitions have given him new found attention.

Lets see how Cedric gets on at this years Mr Olympia, we love Cedric here at Protein Hunter and we wish him well.

Cedric here showing us all his ‘classic era’, well proportioned muscular physique.

Cedric’s Mr Olympia Contest History

  •  Mr Olympia 2013 , 12th

#5 Mamdouh Elssbiay (Big Ramy)

Big Ramy is the youngest of our Top 5 here at Protein Hunter, but definitely one of, if not the biggest!

Mamdouh Elssbiay was born 16th September 1984 in Cairo, Egypt.

His rise to the Mr Olympia stage has been meteoric! He has only been weight training for approximately 7 years.

He rose to greatness in such a short space of time, Ramy in 2011 was 200lbs and lean, his objective was to enter the 2012 Amatuer Olympia, which he did and won!

He had only gone from 200lbs to 286lbs in this short space of time!! WOW!!

We had the chance to meet him at the 2016 Bodypower Expo in England and the guy really is that huge!

The transformation as you see here in only around 7 years is quite immense!!

Ramy won his pro card in 2012 and from that day everybody had him down to take the Mr Olympia title, the new kid on the block was going to take all in his sights was quoted a lot during this time.

However….

Although Ramy has made a great impact in such a short space of time, putting him on stage against the worlds elite bodybuilders at the Mr Olympia contest has brought out some flaws.

At the end of the day it is not all about size what wins you the elite title in bodybuilding, although it does help to some degree!

It has been said he carried too much mass on his legs in proportion to his upper body.

Along with his muscle detail compared to the likes of Phil Heath, needs to improve if he is to push for a top 3 or even win the 2016 Mr Olympia.

Also his conditioning comes in question at times but again this all can be worked on, being only 31 years of age, he has many more years to develop and take over the bodybuilding world!!

Big Ramy has held his own no doubt, he placed 5th at the Mr Olympia 2015, only under a combination of 6 Olympia titles, 13 Arnold Classics victories, and 35 Olympia appearances whilst still as a relative rookie.

Just being on stage at Mr Olympia means you’ve been taken seriously all over the world, and we sure do take Big Ramy seriously here at Protein Hunter!!

Big Ramy’s Mr Olympia Contest History

  • 2013 Mr Olympia,  8th
  • 2014 Mr Olympia, 7th
  • 2015 Mr Olympia , 5th

Despite being so huge, Big Ramy still keeps a tight waist, and has incredible leg mass!!

So there we have it.

Our Top 5 contestants for the 2016 Mr Olympia.

Check back here on September 18th for details about this years winner!

In case you were wondering:

We did have Dennis ‘The Big Bad’ Wolf in our top 5!

Unfortunatley due to injury it is looking likely he will have to withdraw from this years Mr Olympia.

However never fear Protein Hunter has not left Dennis out…

Check out Dennis’s Mr Olympia journey below:

Dennis Wolf 

Unfortunately it looks like Dennis won’t be making the 2016 Mr Olympia stage…

Earlier this year, Dennis was having problems for several weeks and recently learned the problems lied with his spine, specifically C4 through C7 after doing several MRIs.

His doctor said that recovery will be fast, and whilst Dennis hasn’t completely ruled out competing, we’re very sure it’s not going to happen this year.

He should be back for the 2017 Mr Olympia contest, and the break might even allow him to come in bigger and better than before.

We’re sure he will be disappointed though.

Although he won’t be competing this year, let’s take a look at how he got to be one of the more recognised names on the Mr Olympia stage anyway.

So:

Dennis ‘The Big Bad’ Wolf  was born on October 30th, 1978, in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan, Russia.

Dennis moved to Germany in 1992 and had an early desire for martial arts.

And it was through practicing martial arts that led him into the gym, weight training and competitive bodybuilding.

Dennis’s road to the Mr Olympia took real speed when he turned pro in 2005 when he won the overalls and heavyweight German National Title.

Come 2006 he was ready for the big stage, the Mr Olympia stage!

However:

Dennis has had quite a fluctuating time in the Mr Olympia, it has only been in recent years that he has began establishing himself as a top 4 competitor.

There have been many reports in the past that Dennis has had to work super hard on his conditioning.

He has said himself sometimes in years gone by, a few days before the show he is capable of winning the Mr Olympia, but come show time he has peaked too early and ended up being a little off point with his condition and has subsequently been made to suffer with his placings.

Dennis is quite tall in bodybuilding terms being 180cm in height, this means he carries a lot of weight, in the off season he can peak at over 300lbs!

Come showtime he is still around an impressive 260lbs!

He is known for his small waist which in turn portrays a great quad sweep.

Dennis Wolf’s Mr Olympia Contest History

  • 2015 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2014 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2013 Mr Olympia, 3rd
  • 2012 Mr Olympia, 6th
  • 2011 Mr Olympia, 5th
  • 2010 Mr Olympia, 5th
  • 2009 Mr Olympia, 16th
  • 2008 Mr Olympia, 4th
  • 2007 Mr Olympia, 5th
  • 2006 Mr Olympia, 16th

As mentioned above, you can clearly see here the fantastic quad sweep Dennis possesses.

One area Dennis Wolf gets slated for though is his calves. We’re not sure he will ever be able to build calves that compare to the rest.


Comments

1 response to “2016 Mr Olympia: Can Anyone Beat Phil Heath?”

  1. […] for information on the 2016 Mr Olympia competition? Check out our dedicated post […]

  2. I think Shawn Rhoden could really push for a sandow in the future if he takes his conditioning to the next level. But I have a sneaky feeling Phil might beat the record and get 9 titles.

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