PATKER, MAZRIM .... Thanks for both your intelligent responses which I agree with almost completely
MAZRIM, you said ....."Those guys "look" a ton better then most ifbb pros."
But how do you think that they would place against the likes of Kai and Cutler and others at their best within an IFBB sanctioned contest?
My unprofessional opinion is that IFBB judges do NOT judge a contender on how he "looks" ... but solely on the amount of compact muscle a contender can pack on to his skeletal frame.
So therefore it is appropriately called a "Bodybuilding Event"..... and aesthetics apparently has nothing to do with it.
The competitive events that appear to be most suitable for the likes of Panda, Ulisses, and Constance should be more properly called "Aesthetic Physique" contests in an effort to differentiate one event from the other.
But that ain't gonna happen one day soon.
PARKER, you said .... "It proves something, that bodybuilding, if not taken to the extreme, can be mainstream."
And I agree with you just about 99.9% ..... but "bodybuilding not taken to the extreme" is why Physique events are being sanctioned by the NPC/IFBB and every other similar sanctioning body throughout the world.
Physique is today's "bodybuilding not taken to the extreme".
And I would not be too surprised if bodybuilding and physique eventually melded into one and the same.
Just give it ten more years so.
Always good to read intelligent responses ... Pro or Con.
Thanks.