I agree. Bodybuilding faded after Ronnie and Jay retired and we got these fucking lames like ",BIG RAMY" who fucking SUCKED, Phil heath sucked, kai greene sucked, it became a blur to me. All the excitement and interest just died for me. It used to be about hardcore training and hard dieting, then overnight it was SYNTHOL EVERYWHERE. no one trains hard now. They're a bunch of pussies and it's obvious and I/we cannot fake interest anymore.
Everyone is entitles to their opinion, as are you, but I think it's hard for a bodybuilding aficionado, a purist, to argue that Phil Heath sucked as compared to for example Jay Cutler. Phil was narrow but amazing in other ways. I think Kai had amazing muscularity. Obviously Ronnie was incredible... but that gut was next level. Different generations of fans and bodybuilders themselves always thought the next one sucked ass.
As far as Synthol goes, it was at its worst in circa mid-90s. Rulhl, Nasser, just ridiculous. It's done better today.
Bodybuilders taking it comparatively easy have always existed. Arnold. What you saw in Pumping Iron was a joke compared to what many pros do today as far as training "intensity."
"If I had to do this every day, I'd opt for a hernia, go back to Austria, and be a ski instructor."- Arnold describing Casey Viator's training
"I miss when it was still about symmetry"
