The golden era of bodybuilding

How Bodybuilding Has Changed

Bodybuilding has changed--drastically! In fact, just about everything in bodybuilding has changed; from training, to diet, to supplementation, the sport that was once defined by beauty and aesthetics, is now defined by drugs and deformity.

So let's talk about what BODYBUILDING actually is. Is it an art? Is it a science? Is it a lifestyle? Is it a sport? Yes, it's actually all us these things, and much, much, more. Bodybuilding can be defined as the deliberate and methodical reconstruction of cells and tissues in the human body, in an attempt to maximize lean muscle mass while minimizing body fat levels. This is not an easy task at all, and requires an intimate and extensive understanding of biology, chemistry, and human physiology.

I've seen Pumping Iron many times - it's been a great inspiration to me in my own life, as I am sure it has been for many other young men who are interested in developing their bodies. Every time I watch it I am in awe of not only the great bodybuilder's physiques but also their intense dedication to their art, and the incredible amount of positive energy they seem to be filled with. The thing that I like most about all of them is that their bodies are so well-proportioned. They all seem to have been dedicated to the ideal of the "natural" human form - trying to achieve what man is "supposed" to look like, just on a larger scale. None of their muscle groups look grotesquely large because they are all in proportion to each other. Some of them had some flaws, like Katz whose chest was too big for his arms and slightly too "wide" overall (this is probably simple genetics - he has a great build for a football guard, but not necessarily an exceptional bodybuilder.) But even Katz looked better than some of the guys who are at the top levels of bodybuilding now and for the past 10 or 15 years.

I see these guys now and I'm genuinely bothered by the way they look. There is no proportion to them anymore, not really. I guess you could say they are proportional for the "new" standard of bodybuilding that has been created by the overuse of steroids, but they are not proportional in any NATURAL sense of what a man's body is supposed to look like. I see guys now with gigantic bloated stomachs - they have six packs or even eight-packs, but the stomach protrudes like that of a pregnant woman. I see men with quads so ridiculously huge that their calves look like twigs, and guys with biceps and triceps so insanely swollen that their forearms are completely out of proportion. And these gigantic trapezius muscles that make their heads look tiny. This is getting totally out of hand.

I fully realize that steroids are not just "instant muscles" and that it takes an incredible amount of work to make the steroids enhance your muscle growth effectively. But what has been created by this overuse of steroids, is a culture of bodybuilding where sheer size is favored over proportion. All you need to do is take a look at any current contestants in the major bodybuilding competitions to see how mutated the sport has become since the days of Pumping Iron.

It bothers me very much. When I see the old photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Serge Nubret, and Ed Corney and other classic BB-ers, they look to me like Greek statues or paintings by Renaissance artists. They had such incredible proportion - and when you see pictures of them (in the book version of Pumping Iron) with regular clothes on, they don't even look that different from an average guy at first because the proportions are so perfect. When you take a minute and think about it, you realize that they are HUGE compared to the average man, but it's a matter of SCALE. Despite their huge muscular size they retained the proportions of the natural male physique. I fully realize that these guys took steroids, but they did not do it at anywhere near the level of the bodybuilders now, who use not only synthetic testosterone but also human growth hormone and "synthol" (which is essentially just oil which is injected straight into the muscles to puff up their size.)

But of course, today, it's all over. The big corporate sponsored bodybuilding events continue to award the prizes to whoever has the hugest, most steroid pumped body, and no longer care about proportion. Why does it go on? Why did the Weider brothers allow the physiques to get bloated with steroids? Why do the judges - many of whom are former BBers from the old eras - keep giving the prizes to these guys with unnatural physiques, these "mass monsters?" Instead of awarding them to the most proportional man?

Is anyone ever going to step in and blow the whistle and just yell, STOP! This is insane! Look at Pumping Iron! Look at those guys! That's the standard that we need to be aiming for here! There's no proportion anymore, and too much steroid abuse! Can someone be the "savior" of modern bodybuilding and "turn it around" so it goes back to the old days?

Or is it lost and completely unsalvageable?

The fundamentals of nutrition will always remain static, the human body is not going to change. Any basic textbook will thoroughly explain the roles of fats, carbohydrates, and protein in metabolism. That's how the Golden Age bodybuilders such as Arnold and Franco knew how to BULK and CUT PROPERLY, because they relied on the most BASIC and FUNDAMENTAL nutritional information. They kept it simple! There was no Ketosis diets, they never eliminated Carbohydrates, and they knew that 45 minutes of training was not sufficient for maximum muscle growth!

So this brings us to TRAINING. Once again, knowing more is knowing LESS! Modern bodybuilders, on average, train for 45-60 minutes, performing around 12-15 sets per muscle! This is what the AVERAGE person should be doing! Did you know that most PRO's don't even work their ABS in the offseason?! The Golden Age bodybuilders were training for 2-3 hours per session, sometimes TWICE PER DAY! Not to mention, they did this all with MINIMUM drug use! The reason that modern pro bodybuilders train for such short durations of time is because they are completely misunderstanding or misinterpreting the scientific data available! They truly believe(because SOMEONE TOLD THEM!) that anything more than 45-60 minutes is over-training and counterproductive, which is completely false, especially if you are using significant amounts of anabolic steroids, peptide hormones, and other bodybuilding drugs! Like I said, there is such limited data on bodybuilding methodology, that ANY data based on a natural, non-enhanced male is entirely irrelevant. Ronnie trained for HOURS, SET AFTER SET OF HEAVY WEIGHT, just like the Golden Age guys. Jay trains the same during the off-season when trying to add muscle, and that's why these two guys are still the two biggest freaks in the world, and probably will remain so for a long time.

Look at these pictures of Dorian Yates. Most people say he perfected the use of insulin for bodybuilding purposes after learning from Tim Belknap how to use it basicly. Tim was a diabetic just as Dorian is now. Dorian changed from a classic, aesthetic bodybuilder with a small waist to a bloated mass-monster in 10 year but his face seemed to age much more then only ten years.

The utter reliance on DRUGS has been the final strike to bodybuilding as it once was. Not only are there dozens of new anabolic steroids that are far stronger, there are also entirely new classes of drugs like Human Growth Hormones and various other Peptide hormones. Even worse, modern bodybuilders even use INSULIN now, which is extremely dangerous. All of these drugs have lead to the production of massively disproportionate and imbalanced physiques, because many of these new drugs don't just cause MUSCLE GROWTH, they cause EVERYTHING IN THE HUMAN BODY TO GROW! ALL CELLS AND TISSUES, including organs, bones, and even potentially cancerous tissues! That is ESSENTIALLY WHY the modern bodybuilders look like MUTANTS with GIANT DISTENDED BELLIES, and the old school bodybuilders looked like the epitome of masculinity. It's insane to think that Arnold competed at 220lbs at 6"2 and now we have guys that are 5"5-5"7 and weight that much. Old School bodybuilders did not have access to these drugs that create the type of massive and disproportionate physiques that we see today. Although let's be honest, if Arnie had access to human growth hormone - somatropin - I am sure he would have jumped right on!

It has been the OVEREMPHASIS on muscle mass and the subsequent abuse of drugs that has ultimately led to the downfall of Bodybuilding.