ReFLEXions

By Flex Wheeler

TRIED AND TRUE  vs. HYPE AND HYSTERIA

The Experts Weigh in on Ronnie Coleman and Weider-Wonderboy Alex Federov

            All right, so you cats know the story about how this Russian monster manchild, Alexander Federov, received a special Olympia invite to come and execute Big Country at the '04 O, right? Of course, Flex magazine promoted this nonsense for ages. The only problem is Alex didn't bother to show up! And when the two finally got it on in Russia, Ronnie whooped him something awful.           Now, I have no problem with Alex. He's a young kid and probably is gonna do some damage if everything goes his way. What I don't respect is other industry "entities" playin' my good friend, Ronnie Coleman, as a paper champion who can be dethroned without notice. It just ain't right! So, now that we all know the true outcome of a particular magazine's foul prediction, I hooked up with the only other cat walkin' da earth who knows Big Country better than me: MD's own Chad Nicholls! 

            Enough talk. Let's break this hyped-up feud and reflex into an unbiased, uncensored reality. You want it? You got it.

            Flex Wheeler: I'm here with Chad Nicholls for an in-your-face, don't- hold-nothing-back discussion on the Russian beast Alexander Federov.  Chad, I gotta drop the headlines on this new cat. I'm so annoyed. No disrespect intended, but why is he even being compared to Ronnie? I've seen the pictures and yes, he's a big boy, but let's get real here. Ronnie's laid waste to the entire field and this rookie who hasn't made a squeak is his rival? What do you think of that?

            Chad Nicholls: That's an interesting take on it. I've been bombarded with this same question from people online. Obviously, someone's backing this kid big time. I think the reason it's being hyped is because there is no competition for Ronnie. He's destroyed all challengers. There's no one left to step up to the plate. We thought Jay was gonna push him, but he hasn't come close since 2001 when Ronnie was way off. Ronnie's taken it to another level since then.  They even tried to make it close with the Challenge Round, but anybody with common sense knows that if a guy comes out of prejudging with a perfect score, it means he's already knocked everyone out. It becomes redundant. 

Federov gets thrown into the mix by virtue of being an unknown entity.  He's the X factor. He's the one guy with certain body parts that still look like soccer-sized monstrosities when standing next to Ronnie. Take his legs for example. They are humongous. Are they as big as Ronnie's? I don't know about that. They're very close. So the powers that be see a guy who can stir the pot and whip up some controversy and excitement. They want people to start thinking, "Wow, could this guy dethrone Ronnie?" And the more they beat it into the public's head, the more real it becomes. You know the public mentality.  Soon enough, people will start to think this guy has a legitimate chance at challenging the champ. That will sell tickets. And in the end, I think it's just a ploy to put people in the seats. Anybody who knows the sport of bodybuilding wouldn't bet on Federov to beat Ronnie.   

            FW:      What do you know about this cat? He's shrouded in mystery.

            CN:       I've heard he's actually a really nice guy. By all accounts, he's very down to earth. That's the opposite of the way he's being portrayed in the press.  They're trying to paint him up as a brutal Russian beast, like in Rocky V. You know, some mutant in a lab hooked up to machines, coming to conquer the USA. They want him to be the mysterious, unknown force. But Ronnie's already put him in his place twice. The first time, Federov was in pretty good shape, but it wasn't even a battle. He got third behind Jay. Then, last year, he looked horrible. They gave him second, but he shouldn't have even been in the top five.  They had to keep him in there to fuel the hype. The 2005 Olympia will probably be billed as Ronnie versus Federov.

            FW:      So when they started all this, the guy was an amateur? He wasn't even a pro?

            CN:       I think he turned pro by placing third at the Russian Grand Prix. I don't know for sure, but he was given a special invite to the Olympia in 2004.  He turned it down. The guy is good, though. I can definitely see him placing in the top six at the Olympia. 

            FW:      He's a youngster, 25 years old, right?

            CN:       Right, 25 or 26.

            FW:      Assess this cat's physique. Give it the Chad-over.  

            CN:       I've seen tons of stuff on him. Overall, he's good. Not great, but pretty good. He's top-six material for sure. He may even creep up a little higher once he gets accustomed to competing in the pro division. His strong point is his overall size. He's got one of the best side triceps shots I've ever seen. Just everything in that pose is terrific. His legs are gigantic from every angle. He's very impressive.

On the downside, he has an enormous weak point in his chest. It's his biggest flaw.  Obviously, you can't hide a weak chest. It's noticeable right off the bat. It's as bad as his other body parts are good. It's one of the worst body parts within the sport of pro bodybuilding. It's accentuated by the fact that he carries some of the best body parts in the sport, too. So, you're going from one end of the spectrum to the other.

We're gonna need to see him in shape because he has a lobby look to him. He's been in decent shape, but not great shape. If he continues to go for more size, he could go overboard and lose his appeal. You know those guys when you first see them, you're like "Omigod! This guy is gonna be the next big thing." And then they're never able to improve on their first big showing.   

            FW:      Do you see a Mr. Olympia in his future?

            CN:       Alexander has the potential to be very good. As far as being a Mr. Olympia goes, that's a far-fetched cry. I don't see him dethroning Ronnie. That would be a slap in the face to Ronnie. I mean, you're talking about him surpassing Jay and Dexter, who are phenomenal, superlative athletes who are complete across the board. Look at their track records. They've paid their dues.  To say he would come in and wipe them out is a bit disrespectful to those athletes. 

            FW:      Having said that, the fact is that Flex magazine gave him a cover shot. How do you feel about that?

            CN:       Well, it was an honor for him and an absolute dishonor to Ronnie!  To throw him right up there against Ronnie, especially in light of what Ronnie has done, is plain rude.

            FW:      Even more so, what about people like Jay, Dexter, Chris, or even newcomers like Victor Martinez, whom we know have great potential ahead of them? I understand the business and wanting to cause a stir, but haven't these cats proven their game?          

CN:       I think they have. But you can look at it both ways. Personally, I view it more from the athlete's vantage point. The ones who have paid their dues and made the sport what it is are the ones who should be catapulted into the limelight. Now, granted, you're always looking for the next best thing. At this moment, until Federov jumps into the Olympia and proves himself, he is the next best thing. It's a mystery as to what he can actually do. No one knows.  Can he beat Ronnie? Can he beat Jay? We don't know. It's pretty damn unlikely he'll beat these guys in his first Olympia. But you're always going to have people look at him and wonder, what if?

With the current guys, we already know their track record. Ronnie has taken out everybody without question. He's taken it up 10 levels. Jay has beaten this group of guys and Dexter has beaten that group of guys. That's where they're trying to launch Federov. And we're gonna see that up until the day he steps on stage. Once he cements his competitiveness in stone, then it will be a whole different ballgame. Then the search for the new, next best thing starts. Or, you go back to one of the other guys. That's one of the things I find most disappointing about the magazines. They don't promote the top of the game.  They play favoritism here and there. It's always the same guys on the covers.  Guys that have paid their dues aren't getting their just desserts. 

            FW:      What do you think about this guy's injuries? I've heard he's had some horrendous, major car-wreck-type injuries.

            CN:       Yeah, there's the pec injury. Without looking at his medical records, I'm kinda shooting in the dark. It looks like he literally tore his pec in two. I've heard it's very serious. They basically had to put it back together. It looks like a muscle tear, as opposed to a tendon tear. So, now the muscle will grow back together, but it's connected by scar tissue. The entire muscle will be connected by scar tissue. That's something he's never gonna be able to improve. His chest will always remain weak.

                FW:      And it's already a major weak body part.

            CN:       Exactly. I hate to keep blasting his chest, but it is going to hurt him.  It'll haunt him till the end of his career. It's gonna be the one thing that holds him back. It's such a prominent muscle. Still, I believe he'll beat some of the guys, but no way against Ronnie, Jay and Dexter. 

            FW:      I also hear there's some type of atrophy going on with his back.  What's up there?

            CN:       It's hard to pinpoint.

            FW:      Do you believe it's an actual atrophy or is it possible that he doesn't have the muscle-mind control to open it all the way?

            CN:       It's probably a couple of different things. It may be a type of injury, or it could be a genetic thing where the muscle groups are attached in a strange fashion. Everybody's left side to right side attaches differently. For example, the right pec attaches a little lower than the left, etc. His just might be exaggerated, particularly in his back. He could have had a minor tear and because of the scar tissue, he's not able to open up that side of his lats.

            It's hard to nail down because he looks really good in some pictures.  Standing relaxed, his back is friggin huge. He's got a ton of muscle on his back. It's thick and wide. And then in certain shots, you can tell something's a little off. So, it could be a genetic thing, coupled with an injury and a lack of mind-muscle control. He's not a seasoned veteran, so it may be that he hasn't made that connection yet.  

            FW:      One thing that's obvious to a lot of people is his distended gut.  People say it looks like he's carrying a bun in the oven! They're saying the cat looks like he's six or seven months pregnant. 

            CN:       Yes, he's quite distended for his age. He's got a thick waist, anyway. I'm not going to judge the guy or whatever, but it is kind of shocking that he's 25 years old and in that place already.

            FW:      Do you think it's irreversible or something that he can work on?

            CN:       It depends on what it is. When Ronnie got it, a lot of it was my fault. We brought him down in weight and then tried to carb him back up. We bloated him up and couldn't get rid of it. So we switched all that and you saw a complete difference from the way he looked the past two years compared to previous years.

            FW:      Let me free your hand, here. I'm not looking to make this a negative or positive rap on this cat. We're not here to hate on him. I just want the facts and opinions of one of the best people in the market, which is you.  It's a tremendous honor for him that we've devoted this entire column to him and his supposed rivalry with Ronnie. It's clear we both have mad respect for the athletes. So, to let it all loose, I want to know what you feel to be the major cause of the situation with his gut.

            CN:       It's going to be a combination of two things. Obviously, the enhancement side of the sport is a contributor. However, in most cases it's an inability to control the stomach. A lot of guys just relax their stomachs and allow it to get further and further out of whack. So, first you have something going against you from the get-go, then you compound it by not controlling it. Can it be reversed? Yes, probably. He's not that far out, yet. At such a young age though, he's obviously done serious damage to his body.  At the same time, he's managed to get so damn big, too. It's remarkable.

            FW:      Now, I'll put myself on the chopping block here. I know what I've done on both sides of the table with sports technology drugs and eating. I can honestly say both contributed tremendously. I know at a younger time in my career, I never had a problem with the stomach whatsoever. I noticed toward the middle to end of my career, because of my more aggressive utilization of sports technology drugs, I had to definitely control my diaphragm. Even when I was an amateur, I was always aware of breathing out of my diaphragm. I even trained myself to do it while I was driving, sitting down, walking around, whatever. I would lock my stomach and hold it in to concentrate on breathing through my diaphragm. So, it was second nature to me. I never let it hang out, even when I was sitting in the car. A lot of cats don't have that type of control over their stomachs. 

On the flip side, in addition to sports technology drugs, I also ate like an elephant to get bigger. I'd be so full that it made breathing through my diaphragm more difficult. So I feel the two different elements going on with him. There's an old-school trick we used back in the day that I reopened toward the end of my career. We'd take Exlax or anything that would cause tremendous amounts of BMs. That would drain the stomach and flatten it out. You're still full though, because the food's still in your system, just not in your stomach. It would also pull all the water out. It was the water from the inside, so it would force your body to purge all the water out through the diarrhea. That's what I was remembering on when you said it might be handled. 

            CN:       To an extent, yes. His stomach isn't a huge issue right now, even though everybody's noticed it and it's getting its fair share of the spotlight. I've heard tons of comments about Jay's stomach being bloated this year. It may have been slightly bloated. The same with Dexter. I mean, that's nitpicking. Any human being who takes a deep breath is gonna have a bloated look to his stomach.

A lot of photographers are taking their shots when the guys take a breath or lean back. Even if it pokes out a fraction, they'll snap the shot. They've been very critical with Ronnie. In fact, they've been overly critical with everybody this year. They're trying to stir up some controversy. Because of the Internet, one picture can spread around the world in a day or two. Then you have people going on message boards to talk it to death. It plays right into the hands of the magazines.

            FW:      How about Fedrov's track record? He hasn't competed a whole lot. I mean, he doesn't even know what it's like to fly to a whole different continent and contend.

            CN:       He has a long road ahead of him. He's gonna be under the microscope. Every single thing he does will be magnified and dissected. The more he's built up, the more certain people are gonna want to tear him down.  It'll be a hard nine months leading up to the Olympia. Depending on what three or four other guys look like, he could be as high as fourth, fifth or sixth. But he's not even a remote threat to Ronnie. Unless Jay shows up like he did for the Arnold, he doesn't pose a threat to Jay either. He won't cause any problems for Dexter or Chris if they're on.

TURNING THE TABLES: TEAM NICHOLLS JOINS FEDEROV

            FW:      The hype is definitely a double-edged sword. It's a lot of pressure when you're held as high as this young man. Look at Richard Jones. He got two covers and billing as the next Mr. Olympia! That all turned sour when he wasn't able to fill the shoes they forced him to stand in. Since we're playing the "if" game, what if you worked with this guy? I mean, after Ronnie ends his dynasty, of course. What could you do with this guy?

            CN:       He has astronomical potential. The sky's the limit. Whoever helps him could probably take him pretty close to the top.

            FW:      But what could you do? Not to put you on the spot, but what would you have him do?

            CN:       If he was one of my athletes, obviously conditioning would be a huge issue. He has yet to step onstage in shape. He needs overall polish, too.  He needs to bail on the Dream Tan and all that crap. He's got streak marks and it's sitting in the crevices and creases of all his muscles. Stomach control is another issue that needs to be addressed. Again, I've got to come back to his chest. It may be impossible to rectify. I understand something is in there to literally hold the muscle together. Supposedly, he can't even rep with 135 pounds. It's likely he'll never be able to, either. It's a touchy situation and I feel for him. Then there's the asymmetry of his back. We'd have to insure that left to right and top to bottom are a lot more symmetrical. Maybe get deep tissue massage and kind of open the back up a little bit.

Given these areas, there's no doubt this kid could be a top-tier athlete. It also depends on what a few of the other guys do. There are guys who are just as big, but more complete, like Jay, for instance. Then there's Dexter. He doesn't hold anywhere near the same amount of muscle and that's because he doesn't have to. His structure is so little that pound for pound, he's right up there with the big boys. It's the same with Chris and you. People are overwhelmed by the size Federov carries, but I think he'd have a tough enough time trying to beat a Dexter Jackson or a Chris Cormier. 

            FW:      I was looking at a picture of this cat's legs. Are those real?

            CN:       His legs are unbelievable.

            FW:      I'll quote Tom Prince from an online interview. He said the guy had the "biggest legs" he had ever seen. The biggest hamstrings he had ever seen, including his own. And we know Tom Prince has some of the sickest hamstrings in history, along with Phil Hill. I think Hill still holds the record, but anyway, how do you think Federov stacks up?

            CN:       They are inhuman. They're his strongest body part, for sure. His legs carried him into all the hype. His biceps are good and his triceps are exceptional. Yet, overall, his arms are not freaking out. His delts are good, but again, not freaky. His back is thick, thick, thick and very, very wide. But there's the asymmetry. Now his legs; from top to bottom they define the word freaky. I have to say it again- they're unbelievable. 

            FW:      Would you say his legs could be the biggest of all time that you've ever seen?

            CN:       Ronnie's legs are maybe the biggest I've ever seen. And I think Ronnie's legs from the front are bigger than Federov's. But from every angle, Federov's legs may be the biggest out there. They are not going to overpower Ronnie's, though. I don't think anybody could overpower Ronnie's legs from the front. His legs are just terrifying.

            FW:      How big do you estimate Ronnie's legs to be?

            CN:       Me and Kim were just talking about that. We were saying that they were like Earl Campbell's legs. That's freaking monstrous!

            FW:      Earl Campbell comes to mind. So does Phil Hill. Hill was shorter than me, so it takes away sheer girth size. Tom Prince had wheels from hell.  My own legs never made it past 33-1/2 at their biggest. I'm thinking this cat's legs are 38 or 39 inches. And I'm trying to be realistic here.

            CN:       I would guess Ronnie's legs and Federov's legs would be almost identical in circumference.  Ronnie carries much more of an outer quad sweep and heavy ass, as in meat hanging down muscle by his knee. So from the front, he's untouchable. Federov is close. He has more hamstrings. 

            FW:      Plus, Ronnie has a smaller waist.

            CN:       Exactly.  Ronnie has a much smaller waist, so he's going to appear that much bigger. And Ronnie's legs have improved. I think Ronnie's legs are more mind boggling due to the improved leg separation over the last couple of years. I will say that out of all the new guys that have come out, Federov is the most impressive. He's a high-impact player. I've been very vocal about that.

            FW:      Do you think it might be a good idea to slow up on the legs a little bit? Some cats who don't have the overall package are encouraged to let a body part go hog wild. It's the only way they can be recognized. Some guys are delt monsters, some are gun monsters and others are leg monsters. You know, like Paul "Quadzilla" DeMayo. Without those MVP body parts, they wouldn't get noticed. But that one body part propels them into the ranks even if the rest of the body parts ain't up to speed. Do you think his legs could potentially hinder or help him? Would it be an attribute he could use as a weapon of mass destruction?

            CN:       I think it could be his strong point. Like you said, it's something that will catch your eye because they're so outstanding. It's not like there's no upper body and then there's legs. His upper body is big enough and because he's got a weak chest and some minor problems, he needs to bring something extra special to the table. For him to battle with guys like Ronnie and Jay, he's gonna have to be an absolute monster. The legs will benefit him tremendously in that respect. Plus, his side triceps shot- it may be the best out there. You see all the huge body parts; big triceps, big delts, big quads and big hams. It's just boom, boom, boom. So, I say keep pounding them.

                FW:      I've been to Russia and overall, they don't have the best equipment and training techniques. I'd say that the U.S. is the best in the world as far as training and equipment go. It's a tremendous accomplishment for this kid to carry such muscle. It shows this cat's desire and work ethic. 

            CN:       Absolutely. I think there's no doubt that he's a genetic freak. He can definitely back up the hype. The fans will buy it because they want someone who can deliver. The whole industry is waiting to see if he can, in fact, deliver as promised. Like you said, Richard Jones couldn't live up to his star billing. He's a phenomenal athlete, but it was too much too soon. The same thing with Chris Cook; they piled all this pressure on him to do great things and he wasn't able to fulfill them. 

            FW:      It sets you up for failure.

            CN:       It absolutely does. You hear all these expectations and when it doesn't quite pan out, the athlete starts blaming himself. That's not fair because it's nobody's fault. If Federov makes top six in his first Olympia, that's a hell of an accomplishment. He's knocked off some big boys! He'll be a legitimate contender in a group of superb athletes. That's why I like my job so much. I can look at someone and see possibilities. A lot of people don't see that. They just try to do whatever they can. Dexter's been so amazing in that respect. I saw him turn pro at the North America. He was 180 and change. I thought he had good structure and lines, but I never thought he'd be a top-two athlete. Seeing the journey he's made from then to now is mind blowing. And then there's Ronnie. Ronnie is clearly crazy. He's like a new species.

Federov is still a kid and there's no telling exactly what he can accomplish in the coming years. It comes down to working on the shortcomings I mentioned previously, while improving on his stronger attributes. One look at the size he's built attests to his mental fortitude, so he's got a strong base to work with. We'll wait to see what he unveils at the Olympia this year. That will answer all the questions. Then it's a matter of time to see what he can do with the gifts and weaknesses he's been allotted.

            FW:      Chad Nicholls, always on the real. Thanks for your expertise and candor. We'll holla at ya later!

            CN:       You're welcome, Ken. See you guys at the Arnold Classic!

Chad Nicholls can be reached via his scandalous, militant online web forum, Muscle Mayhem, and soon-to-be-live e-Store at musclemayhem.com.