Sadik Hadzovic is an American bodybuilder…wait what, American?
Sadik and his family originally moved from Bosnia & Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia) after the war.
Since moving to the states he’s become a 4 time men’s physique champion: winning 4 IFBB events, including one at the Arnold festival in 2015.
Mens Physique
However, Sadik may be more well-known for his appearances in the men’s physique category at the Mr Olympia, where he’s placed 2nd on two occasions, losing out to nemesis Jeremy Buendia both times.
Men’s physique is a class for guys who are repping the aesthetic look – Jeff Seid style.
These guys are muscular whilst displaying a v-taper and tiny waist. Although they’re not as developed as elite bodybuilders, they’re still pretty jacked to mere mortals.
Surprisingly these guys don’t weigh very much compared to how muscular they appear, with champion Jeremy Buendia weighing just 164lbs on stage. This just proves that if you have a tiny waist and small joints, your muscles don’t have to be huge to LOOK huge.
Classic Physique
Since losing out to Buendia, Sadik has switched divisions to Classic Physique, where more mass is required. However this transition hasn’t yet helped him secure his much coveted first Olympia title (as of yet), placing 3rd.
Hadzovic is also sponsored by supplement company GAT, alongside Big Ramy.
Sadik’s stats:
Height: 5 ft 11 (1)
Weight (on stage): 190lbs/86kg
Off Season: 210lbs/95kg (2)
Sadik certainly looks like a greek-god…but has he juiced to look like this?
As Big as Frank Zane
Frank Zane’s stats:
Height: 5 ft 9
Weight (on stage): 185lbs/84kg
Off Season: 200lbs/91kg.
Sadik is 5lbs heavier than Frank Zane on stage, but is also 2 inches taller than the ex-Mr Olympia champion, making them almost identical in size and proportions.
It’s well-known that Frank Zane aka ‘The Chemist’ took steroids.
So, some say Sadik has GOT to be on steroids because he’s the same size as the Olympia great…
But this way of thinking isn’t credible when proving if someone’s on steroids. In Zane’s era there were only a small amount of people who took bodybuilding seriously.
Since Pumping Iron was released this number soared. Now, there are millions more people who are obsessed with bodybuilding and as a result the sport has ‘genetically evolved’.
Simply put, because more people are lifting weights, we’re finding more genetic freaks who can build muscle easier than past generations.
Genetics
Before Sadik turned to Men’s physique he was a model.
Here’s a picture of what he looked like back then:
He was BIG even years before he stepped on stage…and he’s more or less the same size now.
This isn’t a guy who said ‘I want to compete’, then blew up and gained 50lbs of muscle. He had the genetics of Hercules from the start.
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The Controversial Before/After Picture
Sadik received quite a bit of hate on a before/after picture he uploaded on social media recently. People were calling him out saying he’s juicing because it’s unrealistic to gain that much size in just a few years…
Here’s the pic:
He does appear to be a lot bigger in the 2016 picture.
However, it’s easy to make yourself look bigger by flexing your arms and getting a huge-ass pump in the gym.
Just a few weeks after he posted this after picture, he uploaded a selfie of him in a front relaxed posiiton.
Lets see how that pic compares to what he looked like in 2012…
Now he’s in the same position, you can see Sadik hasn’t actually gained much size in 4 years (if any), which is normal for an experienced natty lifter.
It was the pose/angle in the previous picture, creating the illusion of huge gains.
The only noticeable difference is the fact Sadik’s not retaining as much water in 2016 and his conditioning is better, with enhanced muscle definition, especially in his delts.
Verdict
We don’t have enough evidence to say Sadik has taken steroids.
But one thing we do know for sure is – Sadik has crazy genetics.
He doesn’t have gyno, balding or anything else that indicates he’s taking steroids.
Big guys who are natty make 90% of their gains very early on in their bodybuilding career. From there they don’t really grow much bigger.
We can see that this is what’s happened with Sadik.
References:
(1) http://www.simplyshredded.com/sadik.html
(2) https://sadikhadzovic.com/about/
I don’t need a degree or even proof to know that this guy is on or has taken steroids. Just looking at the muscle mass tells me he is a heavy user. Anyways, “More plates for more dates” would put this to rest.
No genetics, just roids, lol
โThis guy is an IFBB pro and placed second in the Olympia twice. But maybe he hasnโt taken steroids.โ Seriously, how stupid is this article? I feel about 15 IQ points lower after having read it.
Ernst Peibst is at best incredibly incompetent and lack understanding of the sport and PED use, at worst is consciously misleading people who don’t know any better. This article is a travesty, I wonder how any serious website would let this be published.