Serious? Bodybuilding is dead? Please explain because the open men’s section doesn’t reflect what YOU want? Oh, because, let me guess, the 90s bodybuilders were better. Let me tell you something: the same idiots have been saying bodybuilding is dead since the early 2000s. So, what, it’s been dead for 25 years? Then why does it grow? Dead things don’t grow. This longing for the ’90s bodybuilder is like a cancer. With one stone’s throw you are not only vilifying today’s best open men, but also humiliating the guys who actually embrace the norms of the 90’s – in Classic and the 212. But nooooo… the open has to work too, otherwise it’s dead. Why can’t we have a freak show in peace?
You have to remember something: bodybuilding – men’s bodybuilding and to some extent women’s bodybuilding – before the other nine divisions we have today were always a different kind of freak show. Always. It may not seem like it now because of what’s on Earth today, but the bodybuilders of the ’70s and ’80s were true freaks of their time. When Sergio Oliva first took the stage, do you think anyone had ever seen anything like it? A total freak at the time, who couldn’t win Nationals today. But open bodybuilding remained the core element of the range of body sports we have today.
All the other ten divisions we have today spun off from men’s open bodybuilding – the thing that reportedly has one quad in the grave. This splitting process defines the parameters of each division. The best example is Classic Physique for men. Amid the clamor for the return of the ’90s bodybuilder, no one seems to notice that you could have put Chris Bumstead between a ’90s Flex Wheeler and Kevin Leverone, and you can’t possibly say that C-Bum was a mismatch. Today’s classic physique is ’90s bodybuilding, in terms of conditioning, presentation and quality. You could say the ’90s guys were bigger. To some extent that is true. But they had no limitations. Lift or extend the height/weight thing and see what happens. It will be the nineties again.
The 212 boys are there now. They are only short. What you want is for Mr. Olympia today looks like Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Dennis Wolf, Chris Cormier, Flex Wheeler, Kevin Leverone, Paul Dillett, Lee Priest, Nasser, Gunter….. yada yada yada – giant guys with clear skin. Good. I’m sorry, but you won’t get what you want. And I’ll tell you why…
About halfway through Phil Heath’s government we reached a turning point. It was like 2013, 14, 15… the nerve was starting to get out of hand. Boys tried to beat each other. In 2014 we saw not only Phil, but also Kai, Dennis Wolf, Big Ramy and even Dexter Jackson, all pushing the boundaries. As far as circumstances go, the 2014 lineup would have been crushed by the 2004 lineup. The symmetrical norms of the 1990s were now lost.
The howl got loud enough for the IFBB to offer Classic Physique (won that year by Danny Hester) in 2016, specifically to pass the torch of the ’90s era – a continuation of the golden age of bodybuilding. This meant that the Open boys could be the mass monsters they wanted to be (or thought they had to be) and push the boundaries of the format, while the Classic boys could compete in the golden era and maintain something of beauty, protected with strict height and weight limits to preserve the ideal.
And you know what? For ten years that is EXACTLY what happened. Yet we still have fools crying about how bodybuilding is dead and how much they miss the 90’s!!
You can’t make things like this up…
#Bodybuilding #Isnt #Dead #Truth #Modern #Mass #Monsters #90s #Era #Muscle #Fitness