Unless you trained in Southern California , the 1960's and 70's were NOT the golden age of bodybuilding.
In my humble opinion, for most people, the greatest era in bodybuilding was 1985-1995.
Before the mid 1980's , decent gyms were few and far between. Oh sure, if you were training with Arnold and the boys at Gold's on Venice Beach, you experienced the "golden age" of bodybuilding in 1965-1975. The rest of the world wasn't so fortunate and it would be another 10 yrs before the rest of us had the great era of bodybuilding.
By 1985,most bodybuilding contests were held in auditoriums. Before the 1980's , most contests were held in basketball gyms with no music and a spot light hung to pose under. By the mid 80's bodybuilders posed on an actual stage with quality sound and lights.
The NPC had risen to become the biggest amateur organization . Unlike the old AAU ( Mr/Ms America), the NPC was dedicated to just bodybuilding. Real gyms shot up and the Gold's gym franchise exploded in number during this time. Before this time, if your city had a gym is was a "health club". Most health clubs had a token amount of real weight lifting equipment and featured small chrome DB's , saunas, pools and belts that shook your belly and butt LOL.
During this period ('85-95) , bodybuilding contests were 100% bodybuilding. It wasn't until the mid 1990's that the female fitness division began which later produced figure and bikini. You went to a contest and it was all bodybuilding. I remember hearing the NC state chair inform us that we were entered in a BODYBUILING contest. At an NPC competitors briefing he said; "The NPC wanted muscle mass ,shape and balance along with cuts as the winning standard." During most of this era, Lee Haney was king and his kind of physique was the gold standard.He would be defeated by Yates who raise the bar of size and conditioning before this era ended.
Your thoughts?
