“The Only Problem Was…”: Despite Carrying Humongous Size, This Is Why Serbian Bodybuilding Legend Still Felt Small During 1999 British Grand Prix

Serbian bodybuilding icon Milos Sarcev came to America and immediately stood out for his incredibly aesthetic physique. Over the years, Sarcev put on more muscle and in the twilight of his career achieved a mix of aesthetics and muscle mass. The renowned bodybuilding coach recounted how he had achieved his biggest physique in 1999 at the British Grand Prix.

However, Milos Sarcev felt his confidence in his size draining away while posing beside the biggest mass monsters. The 60-year-old legend never reached the 300 lbs mass monster status and gave fans a glimpse of how he felt on stage in Manchester, England. Sarcev shared an image of himself posing beside Markus Ruhl and Nasser El Sonbaty.

A line-up of bodybuilding icons

At 5’10, Milos Sarcev wasn’t the tallest bodybuilder ever, and aspects like symmetry and proportions had always been his strong suit. Yet, he had put on considerable size compared to his early days. “Once in my lifetime – I actually felt big on stage…1999 British Grand Prix,” wrote the Arnold Classic-winning coach.

“The only problem was – I was on the stage with Ronnie (Coleman), Flex (Wheeler), Kevin (Levrone), Markus (Ruhl), Nasser (El Sonbaty)…” he wrote. In the photograph, the three bodybuilders showed off their side chests, and just as Sarcev described it, the others indeed looked bigger.

However, Sarcev rivaled them in conditioning and muscle fullness. Battling with mass monsters forced Sarcev to put on more muscle. In fact, the pursuit to get bigger arms led the former Mr. Universe to inject his biceps with synthol. Unfortunately, the practice landed him in front of death’s door. In 2000, a misplaced injection sent synthol to his heart, causing heart failure.

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Sarcev was lucky to escape with his life. However, the 1999 British Grand Prix also proved that muscle mass wasn’t the be-all and end-all of 90s bodybuilding.

The aesthetic edge

Among all the 90s bodybuilding icons that participated in the 1999 British Grand Prix, Ruhl, and El Sonbaty were among the biggest on stage. In fact, one could argue that Ruhl was the biggest purely in terms of size. However, the final results were surprisingly in favor of Sarcev.

Hardcore Aussie Muscle described Sarcev as “happy” when he placed fifth behind Dexter Jackson. Meanwhile, Markus Ruhl placed seventh, and the 1999 Arnold Classic winner settled for sixth place. So, while size was the focus in the 90s, conditioning played an equal role. Despite not feeling big enough, Sarcev’s aesthetics might’ve also given him the edge.

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