Pro bodybuilding peaked in 1996

[Royalty]

Ive seen enough pics... Read enough threads.. And feel pretty comfortable saying that the NPC stopped producing exceptional, top level, high quality physiques by 1996. Its been a slow decline since then.

...hence the IFBB's pool of talent has been dwindling ever since then. So fans have slowly been repelled by the sport ever since then...

So much so that you may flip through a muscle magazine at the store; but you feel zero desire to read a
single article about today's pro's.

 

[DK II]

Today's pros are characterless idiots without any profile.

Boring as fuck.

[Arthur Nus]

oh boy you just unleashed  the wrath of smurfmorph78

[Parker]

I hink 98 or 99, because Dex and Melvin got their pro cards around that time, and the NPc was still producing quality. Ronnie, Flex, Shawn, Chris, Kev, were last of the old guard and still in top form...by 2003-2004, it was the last of the Cretaceous Period--and Ronnie Coleman was King Rex (T Rex, but meant in a dominant awe inspiring way)....
The NPC has lost it's quality control and opted for dollar signs, thus leading to piss poor quality Pros. Sure there have been some moments of good quality Pros like Phil Heath and Richard Jones, but most of the guys getting their Pro Cards today would have been relegated to the lower rungs of the NPC back in 1996-99.

[JasonH]

Ive seen enough pics... Read enough threads.. And feel pretty comfortable saying that the NPC stopped producing exceptional, top level, high quality physiques by 1996. Its been a slow decline since then.

...hence the IFBB's pool of talent has been dwindling ever since then. So fans have slowly been repelled by the sport ever since then...

So much so that you may flip through a muscle magazine at the store; but you feel zero desire to read a
single article about today's pro's.

 

Sounds about right - the era when guys like Newman, Titus, Francois, and DeMayo were all competing against one another were the best years for the NPC.

Even Palumbo looked half decent back then.

[closeline]

Today's pros are characterless idiots without any profile.

Boring as fuck.

x2 that s the problem

[powerpack]

Ive seen enough pics... Read enough threads.. And feel pretty comfortable saying that the NPC stopped producing exceptional, top level, high quality physiques by 1996. Its been a slow decline since then.

...hence the IFBB's pool of talent has been dwindling ever since then. So fans have slowly been repelled by the sport ever since then...

So much so that you may flip through a muscle magazine at the store; but you feel zero desire to read a
single article about today's pro's.

 

Best builds in the mid to late 80s IMO
The sport had the most respect in the 90s as far as prize money and coverage.
At the moment body building shows are up there with Bondage and Star wars conventions, interesting oddities no more

[jon cole]

For me golden era stopped while watching 2001 battle for the olympia.

Too much smith machine, too much un-inspired training, too much guy with no charisma.

Watching bbing video and magazine from 90's is my only motivation.

Same thing in the gym, disparition of old school huge and thick bodybuilder, disparition of hardcore gym, with brotherhood athmosphere, too many juiced teen with no fondation speaking about supp and functionnal "mma" training...

[OptimusPrime1980]

Best builds in the mid to late 80s IMO
The sport had the most respect in the 90s as far as prize money and coverage.
At the moment body building shows are up there with Bondage and Star wars conventions, interesting oddities no more

x1000
i am dutch, in the 80's we had berry de mey...
woman wanted him, men wanted to be him...
funny guy, charisma and could actually engage in conversation!
today most of these guys seem to have down syndrom....
sad sad sad!

[Anglo]

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjUzMTE5NTI=.html


p.i.p

[Dr Dutch]

x1000
i am dutch, in the 80's we had berry de mey...
woman wanted him, men wanted to be him...
funny guy, charisma and could actually engage in conversation!
today most of these guys seem to have down syndrom....
sad sad sad!

Berry was top of the bill..

[timfogarty]

1996, just about the time they started adding insulin to the gh.

[Hulkster]

in 99 it was still good, as you can see from the olympia lineup that year.

although nasser sucked..

[Cableguy]

Ive seen enough pics... Read enough threads.. And feel pretty comfortable saying that the NPC stopped producing exceptional, top level, high quality physiques by 1996. Its been a slow decline since then.

...hence the IFBB's pool of talent has been dwindling ever since then. So fans have slowly been repelled by the sport ever since then...

So much so that you may flip through a muscle magazine at the store; but you feel zero desire to read a
single article about today's pro's.

 

Can't say I disagree with you one bit...

[bike nut]

Best builds in the mid to late 80s IMO
The sport had the most respect in the 90s as far as prize money and coverage.
At the moment body building shows are up there with Bondage and Star wars conventions, interesting oddities no more

Agreed. Some of the mid to late '80's guys that fought for years just to get a pro card were incredible.

Oh well, that progression I guess.

[Largerthanlife]

gh and insulin has screwed bodybuilding over, if it was just aas, no gh, no slin, no peptides it would be fine.

[Halcyon]

good analysis. maybe for physiques, but as an industry, it peaked around 2001-2002.

[nufc0101]

I hink 98 or 99, because Dex and Melvin got their pro cards around that time, and the NPc was still producing quality. Ronnie, Flex, Shawn, Chris, Kev, were last of the old guard and still in top form...by 2003-2004, it was the last of the Cretaceous Period--and Ronnie Coleman was King Rex (T Rex, but meant in a dominant awe inspiring way)....
The NPC has lost it's quality control and opted for dollar signs, thus leading to piss poor quality Pros. Sure there have been some moments of good quality Pros like Phil Heath and Richard Jones, but most of the guys getting their Pro Cards today would have been relegated to the lower rungs of the NPC back in 1996-99.

fail.

[The_Iron_Disciple]

Ive seen enough pics... Read enough threads.. And feel pretty comfortable saying that the NPC stopped producing exceptional, top level, high quality physiques by 1996. Its been a slow decline since then.

...hence the IFBB's pool of talent has been dwindling ever since then. So fans have slowly been repelled by the sport ever since then...

So much so that you may flip through a muscle magazine at the store; but you feel zero desire to read a
single article about today's pro's.

 

Great post ! I'm in total agreement here ! GH15 spoke on this once, actually ( several times, in fact ). He mentioned how the gear back then was much better which, in turn, produced better physiques. It was more " pharmaceutical-grade " type stuff. That and one word said three times : Insulin, insulin, insulin. I loved the look of the mid-90's myself. Would give just about anything to look like Francois when he won his first few pro shows !

[Grape Ape]

1996, just about the time they started adding insulin to the gh.

Was that the time?   I always thought it time Yates transformed his physique between '92-'93.   Maybe I'm mis-remembering.

[Parker]

fail.

Like it or not, Phil Hearh is one of the better Pros, his 2006 form of 215, looks good...he wasn't gifted his pro card in 2005...

[cephissus]

The fact is people know more about steroids now.  Professional bodybuilding (ie getting up on a stage for shows) is and always has been about the illusion.  The illusion has been shattered, and only the retards remain.  The only people still in it are guys who got a taste of muscle-gain heroin and couldn't pull themselves away, knowing full well the train wreck they've got waiting for them in the years ahead.

What kid in his right mind wakes up today and says "holy shit i want everyone to cringe everytime they think about how many syringes i've jammed into my ass"?

The illusion remains strong with our sterling "natural" athletes, however.

[njflex]

there were still some good bbers in the usa and nationals into 2000's esp light heavies usa's jone's ,heath,dugdale in a row.superheavies haven't produced the total size,shape,condition top guy yet.lightheavy and heavyweights make best pro's only david henry as a small middle busted some serious size to become a very good pro.

[suckmymuscle]

Great post ! I'm in total agreement here ! GH15 spoke on this once, actually ( several times, in fact ). He mentioned how the gear back then was much better which, in turn, produced better physiques. It was more " pharmaceutical-grade " type stuff. That and one word said three times : Insulin, insulin, insulin. I loved the look of the mid-90's myself. Would give just about anything to look like Francois when he won his first few pro shows !

  Oh, geez, you can't possibly believe that the reason why physiques were better in the 1990s is because steroids were more "pharmaceutical grade". A molecule is a molecule is a molecule. A molecule of trenbolone from French Parabolan is the same molecule as the one found in finaject from China for veterinarian applications.

  The reason why bodybuilders from the 1990s were better is because they had better genetics and they didn't use insulin or used it very little. Insulin has given modern bodybuilders 50 extra pounds, but too bad that 30 of those go to the gut, and insulin causes water retention that even diuretics can't dry, so it blurrs out muscular definition. Hence, the quality of physiques has declined with bodybuilders having biggers guts and less muscular definition than they did in the 1990s.

SUCKMYMUSCLE

[The_Iron_Disciple]

  Oh, geez, you can't possibly believe that the reason why physiques were better in the 1990s is because steroids were more "pharmaceutical grade". A molecule is a molecule is a molecule. A molecule of trenbolone from French Parabolan is the same molecule as the one found in finaject from China for veterinarian applications.

  The reason why bodybuilders from the 1990s were better is because they had better genetics and they didn't use insulin or used it very little. Insulin has given modern bodybuilders 50 extra pounds, but too bad that 30 of those go to the gut, and insulin causes water retention that even diuretics can't dry, so it blurrs out muscular definition. Hence, the quality of physiques has declined with bodybuilders having biggers guts and less muscular definition than they did in the 1990s.

SUCKMYMUSCLE

Didn't say I believed it. Re-read my post, " lieutenant ".