Over the years, bodybuilding has been classified into various eras based on the type of aesthetic favored. Although it started with the classic golden era, where icons like Frank Zane set the blueprint, it soon evolved into something extreme. Mass monsters brought in the size and freak factor, along with conditioning that influenced an entire generation (the mass monster era). Hence, bodybuilding icons like Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates still inspire many.
Elite bodybuilders Dennis James, Milos Sarcev, Chris Cormier, and Dexter Jackson recently came together on The Menace Podcast to mull over this. The icons put the two champions—Coleman and Yates, head-to-head to judge who was the overall best. While Yates’s claim to fame was his demon back and a humongous physique, it was no secret that Coleman won the Mr. Olympia title for eight consecutive years for a reason. However, things went downhill over disagreements.
While James, Jackson, and Sarcev seemed to agree on Ronnie Coleman being superior, Cormier took the path less traveled. The three members began debating when Cormier exclaimed,
“I wasn’t a fan of either one in their stomach area and Ronnie’s, especially. Not a fan.”
This triggered a series of disapproving remarks from the rest of the members. Jackson even asked him to explain his stance.
“You wasn’t a fan of Ronnie’s stomach later in his career! Ronnie had a flat stomach, bro! Early in his career!”
The bodybuilding experts had varying opinions about Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates
The debate continued to the point where James stepped in and decided to analyze both bodybuilding icons in detail. He asked the members one by one if they preferred Yates over Coleman in terms of arms, legs, chest, etc. While all favored the latter, Cormier still stood his ground:
“Ronnie was my friend too! I met in 1990, both of them, okay? I used to go Ronnie’s house, spend a night at Ronnie’s and all that… but what I’m saying is there were no striations in Ronnie’s quads; calves had no definition.”
In the end, the other members agreed to disagree on Chris Cormier’s hot take amidst a lot of banter. Both Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates are some of the most iconic bodybuilders in the industry, with USPs of their own.
