We all remember the John Petrucci of yesteryear (or century): skinny, maybe downright scrawny. I was just watching the Live at Budokan Blu-ray last night and it appeared his biceps had just begun growing in size. Since that time, he's gotten downright massive.
However, John is by all accounts a humble man, and he doesn't seem to enjoy showing off his physique. One of the early DVDs, I forget which, features a skinny shirtless Petrucci, but I'm not aware of him going shirtless post-transformation/apotheosis. This has left questions in the minds of many, and I'd like to see what the community here suspects is beneath the hood. Maybe someone even knows of more recent pictures that would provide us with incontrovertible evidence of the build of the man. If so, please share them.
Now for the question posed in the subject:
What kind of physique do you think Petrucci is packing?
Do you suspect he's a strongman, or more of a bodybuilder type? Do you think he trains primarily for strength and doesn't mind if he has a little extra fat around the waist, or do you think he looks like a muscle magazine model underneath with body fat in the single digits?
The case for the strongman:
-He doesn't care to show off his body
-He's stated in the past that he just wanted to get stronger
-He doesn't shy away from eating junk food, as evidenced by the gigantic hunk of red meat between two buns that he devoured with Trivium frontman Matt Heafy in a restaurant in Texas
-He leaves his body hair in tact
-His face carries a healthy amount of fat
The case for the bodybuilder:
-He wouldn't care to show off his body anyway because he just isn't that type of dude (see
Kane Roberts for that type of dude)
-When John Petrucci gets into something, he goes all out
-Tight shirts
-Can't think of anymore
Personally, I think the evidence favors a strongman physique, but I bring the question before you so that we can hopefully reach a community consensus.
So what is it? Big-bellied bear who could still rip you to shreds without breaking a sweat, or lean liger who could leap circles around you before laying a claw into your protein-rich flesh?