All eyes are shifting to November’s 2023 Mr. Olympia competition. With that in mind, former Mr. Olympia Samir Bannout took a closer look at Regan Grimes and Michal Krizo’s chances at bodybuilding’s biggest show of the year.
Canada’s Regan Grimes quickly developed a following in the IFBB Pro League. His combination of mass and aesthetics immediately caught the eye of judges. Trained by bodybuilding guru Milos Sarcev, Grimes’ last season saw him pick up a pair of seventh-place finishes at the 2022 Arnold Classic and Boston Pro. In favor of making significant improvements to his physique, Grimes took the rest of the season off last year.
In the meantime, a massive Open threat from Slovakia emerged in the form of Michal Krizo. His freaky muscularity, balanced proportions, and size instantly put him on the map. In the span of several months, Krizo switched to the NPC, earned his pro card, won a pro show, and proved himself in 12th at his first Olympia contest.
In his latest endeavor, Samir Bannout appeared on an Old School Labs podcast where he discussed the Mr. Olympia-winning potential of Regan Grimes and Michal Krizo. In addition, he revealed collaboration plans with former Men’s Physique Olympia Jeremy Buendia and Logan Franklin.
Samir Bannout: ‘Dangerous’ Regan Grimes and ‘Godzilla’ Michal Krizo Potential Frontrunners for 2023 Mr. Olympia
“I don’t know, he’s doing something not right Nick. He’s not getting hard. His muscles are staying soft and he has the best potential,” added Bannout. “[Samson Dauda] is not like Dorian-hard.”
“In six months from now – in my eyes – from my perspective… I see him becoming a Mr. Olympia. The guy is dangerous,” Bannout shared. “Regan Grimes, look at the traps, the chest, the guy is a beautiful body. He’s automatically a frontrunner, Bannout explained.
“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.”
“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.”“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.”
Bannout Encourages Bodybuilders to Work with Professionals, Talks Colab with Jeremy Buendia, Logan Franklin
Samir Bannout urged athletes to learn from bodybuilding veterans like himself and said he recently set up a training camp with Classic Physique’s Logan Franklin and Jeremy Buendia.
“For you guys out there, the pros, do yourself a favor, work with a professional. Your nutritional coach is not capable enough. Face it. Don’t fuc**ng think that you know it all,” said Bannout. “The thing is the truth must be told and Nick was saying it, everybody was hunching down and monkey see monkey do. It’s counterproductive what they’re doing, they’re shooting themselves in the foot.”
“You know what I’m doing, listen to this: I talked to Logan [Franklin] and Jeremy Buendia and I’m making a plan right now. We’re going to check into a nice Air B&B here and do training camps just for us. We don’t want to talk to nobody. We’re just going to eat, train, and pose. I really recommend that anybody that really wants to improve, you need to be with someone who is driven, motivated that you enjoy. You need to bring the passion into this.”
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