Mr. Olympia Big Ramy Launches Red Rex Supplement Brand
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By Roger Lockridge
The two-time defending Mr. Olympia is entering the supplement business. Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay formally launched his company, known as Big Ramy Labs, and a part of that company is his new supplement line, Red Rex. The big reveal took place on October 28th at the Dubai Muscle Show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
This is quite a big move for the defending world champion of bodybuilding, who is scheduled to defend his title in less than two months at the 2022 Mr. Olympia contest in Las Vegas, Nevada on the weekend of December 16th through 18th. However, it isn’t the first time that a reigning Mr. Olympia has started his own supplement company. It’s actually happened twice before.
In 2014, the 13th Mr. Olympia winner, Phil Heath joined with business partners to launch GIfted Nutrition. The news spread throughout the industry, and Heath was the subject of a lot of mainstream attention, including Bloomberg Network, who had Heath on to talk bodybuilding and business.
Gifted Nutrition would eventually change hands in ownership, and Heath went on to launch Phil Heath Labs later in the decade. However, that brand is no longer active as well. Heath still has thrived in business in other capacities, but he’s no longer active in the supplement industry as far as we know.
Brandon Curry won the Mr. Olympia title in 2019, and in recognition of him becoming the 15th Mr. Olympia, Curry and his wife, Brandy, joined forces with Marc Lobliner to launch O15 Nutrition. Some of that brand’s best-known products may have been their Big-O protein bars and their Exalt pre-workout.
The O15 crew appeared to be seeing success with their brand, but the plug was pulled in 2022 after Curry concluded it was best to focus on his competitive career and the success of the gym chain “Carbon Culture,” which he has ownership stake in. Curry is currently reunited with Scitec Nutrition, who he was involved with before he ventured into the supplement game as an entrepreneur.
Other Mr. Olympia winners have jumped into the supplement world, but not as a reigning champion. The two most famous brands may be Ronnie Coleman Signature Series and Cutler Nutrition, owned by Jay Cutler. Both of those brands have been successful thus far, but it may be because their respective leaders can concentrate on business.
Other former titleholders that are making their break into the industry include 2008 Mr. Olympia Dexter Jackson, who is launching his Dexter Jackson Signature Series line at the Dubai show as well, and Lee Haney, who runs Lee Haney Nutrition.
As for Elssbiay, we know there is a new line, but we haven’t seen any product reveals as of yet. Containers that appear to promote a whey isolate protein and a weight gainer can be seen on some of the images that the Red Rex Instagram account shared, but no details were shared with the public. There is no word on when those will officially be released.
The other question that comes to mind is how will the business venture affect the champion’s prep and title defense. Heath managed to keep the title until 2017. Curry finished second the last two years while running his company, but that pressure is no longer on his shoulders, which is something that many experts are not considering when making Olympia predictions.
The only way that those questions will be answered is when Elssbiay takes the stage to defend his title. We may also learn more about Red Rex and its products should Elssbiay have a booth at the Olympia Expo. Muscle Insider will keep track of the developments and share them as we get closer to the big weekend in Las Vegas.
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