"He’s automatically a frontrunner" - Former Mr. Olympia Samir Bannout believes Regan Grimes can win the Olympia

Samir Bannout is a former Mr. Olympia who is often credited as one of the most-important international ambassadors for the sport. The Lebanese bodybuilder created history by becoming the first athlete of Middle-Eastern heritage to win the Olympia.

Since retirement, Bannout has become a unique and refreshing voice surrounding the sport of bodybuilding. He is famous for his takes on drug-use within the sport and advocacy for old-school ways of building muscle.

Sticking to his critical analysis of bodybuilders, Bannout gave his honest opinion on Regan Grimes' potential on a recent episode of the Muscle Maturity podcast:

"I don’t know, he’s doing something not right ... He’s not getting hard. His muscles are staying soft and he has the best potential ... In six months from now – in my eyes – from my perspective… I see him becoming a Mr. Olympia. The guy is dangerous."

While Bannout believes Grimes does not have the hardness yet, he still admires Grimes' physique and added that it qualifies him as a front runner to win the Olympia. He stated:

"Regan Grimes, look at the traps, the chest, the guy is a beautiful body. He’s automatically a front runner."

Bannout added that given six months to work with Grimes, he can transform Grimes into a dangerous contender with top-notch conditioning:

"When it comes to Regan Grimes I really think the guy needs to be with someone extremely passionate and he has to do it the old-school way, and I guarantee you, if I took Regan for six months… and I swear, if he doesn’t have my conditioning from ’83, I’d be the biggest fool on the planet. You need to be with someone who has been there done that."

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"The guy is awesome" - Samir Bannout on Michal Krizo's potential

Slovakian bodybuilder Michal Krizo finished 12th in his Olympia debut last year. His physique on stage looked absolutely monstrous but Bannout believes he needs to make improvements in terms of hardness and posing.

He said:

"I haven’t changed my mind about his capability. The guy is awesome. He needs some masterful coaching, masterful. I mean, if he gets gnarly if he gets that Dorian Yates’ hardness and he can pose like a master, which is something he didn’t do, in fact, Nick, when he went on stage he looked like Casper the friendly ghost, he was white and pale."

Bannout thoroghly admires Krizo's physique but genuinely believes he needs to seriously get into the Olympia mindset and pose like Mr. Olympia. Samir stated:

"Look at this guy. He’s Godzilla. Look at his arms, they are bigger than his head, his delts – look at how huge. Dude, let me tell you, this guy can be Mr. Olympia okay, I need his mind to be a Mr. Olympia mind. I want his posing to be like a Mr. Olympia. He sucks in that area. He does. I’m not going to tell him what he wants to hear."

Samir believes that the only way a professional bodybuilder can improve is by working with other professionals who have done it before them. Speaking about this, he said:

"For you guys out there, the pros, do yourself a favor, work with a professional. Your nutritional coach is not capable enough."