There are bodybuilding stars, then there are icons. Lee Haney falls under the latter as the first eight-time Mr.Olympia, which at the time broke Arnold Schwarzenegger’s record of seven. So, when Haney speaks, those around him should listen because it could help them down the road.
Dennis James, Chris Cormier, and Milos Sarcev had their ears wide open for Haney as he joined the latest roundtable of The Menace Podcast. Aside from answering questions about his own career, Haney shared his thoughts about some of the superstars of today. One man that Haney is impressed by is Andrew Jacked, who recently won the Texas Pro and Arnold Classic UK contests.
“Beautiful physique, great separation,” Haney said about Jacked. He was also excited to talk about 2022 Olympia People’s Champion, Hadi Choopan, who finished third in the Mr. Olympia behind Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay and Brandon Curry.
“Hadi had the best muscle maturity onstage that day, period. I would put (Jacked) up close next to that.”
While playing fantasy bodybuilding is fun, Haney reminds the panel that what matters most is what happens on contest day.
“You don’t know until you see these guys standing side-by-side. It’s hard to tell until you see them onstage together.”
When those athletes get onstage together, there is something that he would like to see less of – motioning for the fans to get louder during their posing routines.
“If you’re going to do your posing routine, do it, but once the routine is over, okay. Then, you can walk across the stage and say ‘ok, clap for me,’ but I say give the people something to clap for,” Haney advised. “Then, you don’t have to do that (hand motions).”
The panel covered a lot of ground on this episode, including the controversial 1980 Mr. Olympia, his relationship with Joe Weider, and more about Haney’s historic career. Subscribe to the Muscle & Fitness YouTube channel to see this as well as other roundtable episodes of TMP, and don’t forget to follow @themenacepodcast on Instagram.
