Why today's Bodybuilders are not as popular?

[Iceman1981]

It's because most bodybuilders today look like garbage. It's as simple as that.

[SomeKindofMonster]

It's because most bodybuilders today look like garbage. It's as simple as that.

This and before the freaks of the 90's someone with good genetics
could reasonably assume that they could get close to that. The biggest guy was Haney
at 248. You had Gaspari and Mike Quinn around 210, ect.

When the big guys hit the scene you knew it would take not only great genetics
but a boatload of roids, HGH, food and then finally Slin; not to mention site injections.
It just became something most people didn't want to look like and definitely didn't
want to do the drugs and enormous amounts of food.

This is why the Golden Age guys are on the covers. These are the guys most
would want to look like.
Even the biggest guy of his era Still looks athletic in a shirt.

[pellius]

It seems that bbing is more popular than ever before. Compare the Mr. Olympia crowd in 1975 to the the one in 2015. Seems there are more shows than ever before. Much bigger audience. More money for everybody. What did Arnold get in for winning the O during the 70s? Wasn't it something like $1,000?

BBing has become big business.

[hipolito mejia]

This and before the freaks of the 90's someone with good genetics
could reasonably assume that they could get close to that. The biggest guy was Haney
at 248. You had Gaspari and Mike Quinn around 210, ect.

When the big guys hit the scene you knew it would take not only great genetics
but a boatload of roids, HGH, food and then finally Slin; not to mention site injections.
It just became something most people didn't want to look like and definitely didn't
want to do the drugs and enormous amounts of food.

This is why the Golden Age guys are on the covers. These are the guys most
would want to look like.
Even the biggest guy of his era Still looks athletic in a shirt.

X2.

That's the ideal physique... Sadly, that physique quality is long gone.

 

[Grape Ape]

X2.

That's the ideal physique... Sadly, that physique quality is long gone.

 

Yup.

And you started that 4,345th thread about it.

[hipolito mejia]

Yup.

And you started that 4,345th thread about it.

LMAO and there's more to come,  we really need to save bodybuilding

Trying to figure out why today's bodybuilders are not as popular might help the industry more than you think 

[Azure]

It seems that bbing is more popular than ever before. Compare the Mr. Olympia crowd in 1975 to the the one in 2015. Seems there are more shows than ever before. Much bigger audience. More money for everybody. What did Arnold get in for winning the O during the 70s? Wasn't it something like $1,000?

BBing has become big business.

No television exposure
Zero mainstream appeal

There are more shows than ever but many of those are centered around men's physique and bikini. Especially the amateurs .

Prize money is also pretty sorry

[Grape Ape]

LMAO and there's more to come,  we really need to save bodybuilding

Trying to figure out why today's bodybuilders are not as popular might help the industry more than you think 

There's nothing to figure out.  It's a niche and always has been.

But how do you know it's not as popular - what data are you basing it on - I'm sure Phil Heath, Kai are more known than Haney/Yates ever were, due to social media......

[Alfurinn]

It doesn't matter how much you want to force bodybuilding on the media, people don't see bodybuilding as a sport  because it isn't. People, especially heterosexual men, naturally are not interested in watching nearly naked men hit suggestive poses. Many people find them disgusting, too.
 
People tend to have a negative opinion on bodybuilders and the bodybuilding subcultutre ranging from narcissism to validation of negative personality traits such as sexism and aggression.

If anything, bodybuilding is seen more like a display of muscularity with clear erotic connotations which relegates bodybuilding to the level of activities such as stripping. Most of the time bodybuilding is on TV it is usually more because of its erotic nature.

See?

[Dr Dutch]

No television exposure
Zero mainstream appeal

There are more shows than ever but many of those are centered around men's physique and bikini. Especially the amateurs .

Prize money is also pretty sorry

No way.....too much exposure is the reason, not the mr O contest maybe, but BB/muscularity in general.
The mystery is gone.....

[residue]

There's nothing to figure out.  It's a niche and always has been.

But how do you know it's not as popular - what data are you basing it on - I'm sure Phil Heath, Kai are more known than Haney/Yates ever were, due to social media......

Right, but they were always a niche market. It’s just a bigger niche market.
While Yates and Haney were popular, the American gladiators were popular and Hogan was infinitely more popular. While Kai and Phil are popular the Rock or Cena are infinitely more popular, infinitely more charismatic\marketable and fill the same with hollywood

[The Scott]

No way.....too much exposure is the reason, not the mr O contest maybe, but BB/muscularity in general.
The mystery is gone.....

Pretty much everyone knows that these guys are druggies.  No mystery there, eh? 

[Azure]

No way.....too much exposure is the reason, not the mr O contest maybe, but BB/muscularity in general.
The mystery is gone.....

That's true. People know it's not mass gainer 2000 that got those biceps and delts

[SomeKindofMonster]

What I mean by poular is not prize money or FB followers
but the number of young talent that wants to be a pro.
Look what ZYZZ did with his 190 pound aesthetic physique.
He inspired tons of young guys to want to lift.
This is one reason you had the influx of talent coming out of the 80's
into the 90's.
Now, the Paul Dillet's Flex Wheelers, Shawn Ray's may say I think I'll
pass if that is what it takes to be a pro.
The quality coming out of the amateurs has definitely declined for quite some time now
with few exceptions.

Two good examples are Cedric and Sergio Jr.
Cedric has not done chemically what he needs too, to put
on that 10-15 pounds that would make him a top Olympia guy.
He's been pretty close the same as when he turned pro in 2009.
Sergio Jr. has been around a long time and just now is starting to do what is necessary.

You can tell a guy like Compton is going to do whatever it takes to make it to
the top.

[NelsonMuntz]

Bodybuilders are not popular for a number of reasons.

Bodybuilders are not popular because for most people, big muscles and veins all over the body is a repulsive picture.

Bodybuilders are not popular because they spend too much time trying to look good. That sends the message that they are shallow or more shallow than the average person, someone you cannot form solid friendship or eventual love relationship with. Also, most perceive bodybuilders as insecure because of this obsession with muscularity.

Bodybuilders are not popular because for most people bodybuilding is more related to striptease than it is to sports. In fact, one just have to watch one single clip of bodybuilders competing to realise how erotically charged bodybuilding is. If anything, people see bodybuilders are sex objects rather than sportsmen. I'm sure most don't complain about it though. Obviously, your average heterosexual man is not interested in watching nearly naked men, if anything they would watch Miss Universe contests.

Bodybuilders are not popular because they, as a collective, are perceived as aggressive, sexists, misogynists, homophobes. Most of the time bodybuilding is related to these negative qualities which make people not find something to admire in bodybuilders. People adimre heros; not villains

Take out the words "Bodybuilder" and "Bodybuilding" out of what you just said and you just described the average person with an IPhone or equivalent

[pellius]

No television exposure
Zero mainstream appeal

There are more shows than ever but many of those are centered around men's physique and bikini. Especially the amateurs .

Prize money is also pretty sorry

BBing never had main stream appeal. Prize money is better than it has ever been before. Again, to repeat, Arnold received $1,000 for the first four of his Olympia wins. Won $2,500 in 1975. Top and middling bbers still get lucrative contract making much more than they did in the glorified era of the 80s and 90s. The industry as a whole has grow and has made a lot of people rich including the competitors.

[pellius]

What I mean by poular is not prize money or FB followers
but the number of young talent that wants to be a pro.
Look what ZYZZ did with his 190 pound aesthetic physique.
He inspired tons of young guys to want to lift.
This is one reason you had the influx of talent coming out of the 80's
into the 90's.
Now, the Paul Dillet's Flex Wheelers, Shawn Ray's may say I think I'll
pass if that is what it takes to be a pro.
The quality coming out of the amateurs has definitely declined for quite some time now
with few exceptions.

Two good examples are Cedric and Sergio Jr.
Cedric has not done chemically what he needs too, to put
on that 10-15 pounds that would make him a top Olympia guy.
He's been pretty close the same as when he turned pro in 2009.
Sergio Jr. has been around a long time and just now is starting to do what is necessary.

You can tell a guy like Compton is going to do whatever it takes to make it to
the top.

I'm not sure I'm following. There are more people competing and aspire to be a pro than ever before. Too many it seems. The fan base is greater by far than it has ever been before due to social media. You can argue that the quality among competitors isn't what you think it should be but that doesn't seem to discourage more and more people taking up bbing/weight training and following the sport.

[CalvinH]

Gay's have found other interests.

[MORTALCOIL]

This inspired me to go to the gym. Now, 8 month pregnant, synthol-fueled behemoths......I'd rather stay home, scratching my balls, watching the Price is Right.

[WOOO]

This inspired me to go to the gym. Now, 8 month pregnant, synthol-fueled behemoths......I'd rather stay home, scratching my balls, watching the Price is Right.

Drew Carey fucked that show up. I miss bob.

[Azure]

BBing never had main stream appeal. Prize money is better than it has ever been before. Again, to repeat, Arnold received $1,000 for the first four of his Olympia wins. Won $2,500 in 1975. Top and middling bbers still get lucrative contract making much more than they did in the glorified era of the 80s and 90s. The industry as a whole has grow and has made a lot of people rich including the competitors.

Relatively speaking 300K or 400K this year for the top person in a sport isn't very much. I suppose it's better than what happens to most amateur athletes who go to the Olympics and barely make anything

When people are talking about there are more people than before you aren't talking about bodybuilding. At the amateur level it's mostly physique and bikini people. They have a ton of those pros but yet those pros aren't enough to have a stand alone show nor do those people make much prize money and those people aren't mainstream either

[Thin Lizzy]

IMO, MMA has also contributed as people get to see what a functional athlete looks like. It doesn't look like a bloated, overinflated bodybuilder.

It looks like this:

[pellius]

Relatively speaking 300K or 400K this year for the top person in a sport isn't very much. I suppose it's better than what happens to most amateur athletes who go to the Olympics and barely make anything

When people are talking about there are more people than before you aren't talking about bodybuilding. At the amateur level it's mostly physique and bikini people. They have a ton of those pros but yet those pros aren't enough to have a stand alone show nor do those people make much prize money and those people aren't mainstream either

I'm not talking about relatively speaking.You can't compare bbing with other sports. A pro bowler makes more than bbers. I'm talking about bbing now versus previous years. They make much more now than ever before including endorsements and sponsors.

I don't follow physique or bikini so I wasn't aware that people go to the shows to see those events rather than bodybuilding. Can anyone else here confirm that?

And I'm sure lower level pros don't make much. But they certainly have more opportunity to compete and advance than ever before. Besides most people who compete in bbing know they will probably never be a top pro and compete because that's what they like to do and even pay out of their own pocket to compete.

It doesn't matter anyway. People can say the sport is dying but there will always be people aspiring to be on stage,more than ever before, and there will always be an audience for them. But it will always be a cult.

It's no coincidence that this board, like so many others, bash modern bbing and saying it's dying but they're still on bbing boards, follow all the top competitors and attend or follow the shows. 

[Azure]

I didn't say the people go to shows to see physique and bikini. I said the entrants are what's driving up the numbers in shows and why there are so many shows becuase there's over saturation of pros but it's not popular enough to stand on its own. It's always held in conjunction with an NPC show which has an abundance of bikini and physique contestants who bring family and friends

Bodybuilding is at a crossroads. The old guard is hanging it up and you've got the new guys coming up along with this classic physique division. If it was more professionally run I think they could have more interest and get back on tv

[hipolito mejia]

It's because most bodybuilders today look like garbage. It's as simple as that.

What about their personalities? this generation doesn't seem to look up to Phil Heath,Kai  etc although they're dominating the "sport" for the past 5 years .