"He had that 24-carat quality" - Samir Bannout on why Arnold Schwarzenegger is the GOAT

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a pioneer in the sport of bodybuilding. He is often credited with taking the sport to a global level through his fame.

Schwarzenegger has won seven Mr. Olympia titles throughout his career. This number is only bested by two other bodybuilders who share the top spot - Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman.

While Schwarzenegger is undoubtedly the most famous name in the sport, there are some serious debates on whether he is the best bodybuilder to ever play.

Former Mr. Olympia, Samir Bannout still believes that Schwarzenegger is the greatest bodybuilder of all time. In a recent episode of The Muscle Maturity Podcast, Bannout voiced his opinions on the GOAT debate.

"The reason why Arnold is good, all-round champion, he had that 24-carat quality. He had that pretty skin. Every pose Arnold did was meticulous. Every move he did was done meticulously," Bannout said.

Bannout added that while Ronnie Coleman was definitely the most-muscular man in the history of the sport, he lacked the same qualities that Arnold Schwarzenegger possessed. According to Bannout, Coleman is a close second:

"I can’t say the same about Ron Coleman. Although Ron Coleman is probably the most muscular man in the history, and I would say Ron Coleman is a close second but you have to go with Arnold when it comes to the beauty and art of bodybuilding."

Schwarzenegger competed in the golden era of the sport before the use of performance-enhancing drugs became mainstream.

Samir Bannout, the co-founder of 'Old School Labs', has been an avid critic of drug use in the sport. The reason why Arnold Schwarzenegger is the best, according to the Lebanese bodybuilder, is because he represented the peak before the introduction of growth hormones.

"Remember, Ronnie Coleman, who was unbelievable, probably the most muscular man pound for pound in history without a doubt and I saw him as the best quality overall," he continued. "I was shocked when I saw Ronnie, I was in a state of shock. But you have to realize that Arnold did it before the GH era. Arnold did it before the excessive harsh whatever we have done."

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Arnold Schwarzenegger "did it with hard work," says Samir Bannout weighing in on the GOAT debate in bodybuilding

Over the years, Samir Bannout has been an advocate for reverting back to the old days of the sport when drug use was heavily controlled. Continuing his conversation on the podcast, he added that Arnold Schwarzenegger had built a respectable physique before IGF-1 and other drugs.

According to Bannout, this was the peak of hard work:

"And the muscles he grew pre GH, pre IGF-1, pre Insulin — he did it with hard work. Our guys today, they are taking different kinds of gear. So, yeah, they got bigger than Arnold. If Arnold took that same gear, oh my Lord, Arnold competing at 300 pounds? I don’t think he’d be as pretty as the Arnold we know."

After stating his reasons, Bannout confidently cast his vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the GOAT debate:

"Based on that alone to me, Arnold is numero uno. Come on, I’m an old schooler. Muscle-wise, no one was more muscular and freaky than Ron Coleman. Same thing goes for Lee Haney. Lee Haney didn’t use anything. He just used the average stuff that we took early on right. Anyway, my vote goes to Arnold."