So Pro Bodybuilding is in trouble...

[Whatmate]

Watch this vid from 43 min. to 57 min. Both Palumbo, Aceto, and Rhoden discuss the lack of supp contracts, the magazines are dead, profit is down for supp companies, and the mainstream desires fitness and figure models to promote things. Palumbo calls bodybuilders "the freaks" and talks about how the crowds desire the fitness look now. plz discuss.

it's died from within, supp companies are popping up in the hundreds and they are riding a wave of hype in the fitness industry. Sooner or later people are just going to get bored and move on.

[BartPimpson]

i would much rather watch a bikini contest than a bunch of juiced up dudes but then again i'm not gay.

Sir, the highest level of not-gay is not caring whether or not you look gay.

[Botika]

I think the demographic of a customer has changed. Social media and the rise of the fitness lifestyle, particularly with women, means that bikini models are popular. This is the reason women's bb has also been dropped in favour of less muscular divisions. The fact is less muscular physiques are more popular with the masses... and that's where the money is because you are going to sell more.

[jmiddleton96]

Hmm depends

Guys like Rhoden and McMillan could really bring the sport back to the older days




I mean that looks amazing. Sculpted. Perfect. No homo

[DNClay]

The NPC and IFBB sure isn't hurting. The competitive athletes making real money off this sport are the Phil Heath, Kai Green, Jeremy Buendia and Steve Cook. The other money makers are the Shedz g4p f%ckboys, the instagram and youtube athletes--anyone with enough followers that's willing to whore themselves out. Men's physique division is filled with respectable looking bodies, but the whole show is an Abercrombie smile contest and looks gay as phuck.

A lot of pros make their money prepping other athletes. The billion dollar supplement industry isn't paying the athletes.

[RobberBaron13]

Too bad thats not a mandatory pose....there he doesnt touch Phil or Kai

[Guardian]

There has been a subtle shift among the population of younger generation away from mass and toward being lean.

[EFJK]

There has been a subtle shift among the population of younger generation away from mass and toward being lean.

Agreed. Very subtle, but it's present. Case and point Shawn Rhoden.

It's clearly about much more than mass at this point (Ramy is not winning Sandows and probably won't in my mind). There's still the aesthetic flow to a physique that when achieved catches the eyes of both the audience and judges and competitors are rewarded for it. But, it obviously can't be a sudden switch or adjustment in judging criteria when the top bodybuilders are training and supplementing for a specific look that was made clear the year prior at the Olympia. It's something that will slowly change year to year and in my eyes it's progressing towards a more aesthetic look as the ideal physique.

[StrengthHealth]

Bb has always been about mass. Haney was the biggest in them 1980s, arnold and Sergio in the 70s and 60s...

Sergio was the Babe Ruth of bodybuilding. Synthol, which is soo fake looking, is THE only way anyone can appear to have arms that much larger than they're head. Lee Preist & Flex Wheeler were close though.

[StrengthHealth]

Men's physique division is filled with respectable looking bodies, but the whole show is an Abercrombie smile contest and looks gay as phuck. The billion dollar supplement industry isn't paying the athletes.

I wouldn't do ^ that crap for anything. At the rate the industry is going they'll soon have a thong division.

[mike8190]

Hmm depends

Guys like Rhoden and McMillan could really bring the sport back to the older days




I mean that looks amazing. Sculpted. Perfect. No homo

Yes! If cedric could reach his potential, along with jason huh and lionel, there's plenty of other guys with very nice shape and aesthetics, with the mass to boot! Idk what some of you guys are talking about it being too much about mass and that catching up to bodybuilding's appeal. If anything, in the past several years it's become downsized somewhat. Look at the current mr olympia, he's not the biggest. Ever since ronnie was dethroned, the man people were chasing and trying to catch up to in terms of size and thickness, bodybuilding has downsized.

There has been a subtle shift among the population of younger generation away from mass and toward being lean.

are you talking about what bodybuilding fans want or supplement consumers? As far as I could tell, and this goes back to since I started lifting/following bodybuilding when i was in high school, the general population of young men NEVER wanted to look like a bodybuilder. Very few young males want that look. Most of the people who buy supplements don't give a rats ass about bodybuilding. You'd find it difficult to find anyone outside our niche who knows who mr olympia is. No one knows **** about bodybuilding. Ronnie and jay are prob the most popular names, and both of them are retired.

[Guardian]

Yes! If cedric could reach his potential, along with jason huh and lionel, there's plenty of other guys with very nice shape and aesthetics, with the mass to boot! Idk what some of you guys are talking about it being too much about mass and that catching up to bodybuilding's appeal. If anything, in the past several years it's become downsized somewhat. Look at the current mr olympia, he's not the biggest. Ever since ronnie was dethroned, the man people were chasing and trying to catch up to in terms of size and thickness, bodybuilding has downsized.



are you talking about what bodybuilding fans want or supplement consumers? As far as I could tell, and this goes back to since I started lifting/following bodybuilding when i was in high school, the general population of young men NEVER wanted to look like a bodybuilder. Very few young males want that look. Most of the people who buy supplements don't give a rats ass about bodybuilding. You'd find it difficult to find anyone outside our niche who knows who mr olympia is. No one knows **** about bodybuilding. Ronnie and jay are prob the most popular names, and both of them are retired.

That is exactly the point. At one time alot of younger guys around my age new of Ron and Jay and while we may not of wanted to look exactly like them we did want to attain that massive and also lean look. Now a days that is not the case any more, people seem to care less and less about mass.

Mass is what sold supplements because there is an inherent belief that to attain that much mass you need alot of help.

[RobberBaron13]

Sergio was the Babe Ruth of bodybuilding. Synthol, which is soo fake looking, is THE only way anyone can appear to have arms that much larger than they're head. Lee Preist & Flex Wheeler were close though.

Sergio was a one off genetic freak we will never see again.
There are guys who had arms roughly same size as their heads. Ronnie , Priest, Dillett.
I have to say arms THAT big make a bb look super-heroic .

[jrhodez]

Dead? Wasn't kai just on ESPN for a Super Bowl add

[Whatmate]

Dead? Wasn't kai just on ESPN for a Super Bowl add

the whole bloody Olympia was supposed to go on ESPN, what happened there huh??!!

[LimitBreak]

Dead? Wasn't kai just on ESPN for a Super Bowl add

Just his voice, how does that contribute to bodybuilding ?

[dvsness]

Judging by how they did the ladies; ****ty pay offs, little to no media coverage, no sponsorship love....damn near drove ladies into the willing, sticky hands of schmoetographers, which added more of a stigmatization of FBB, and how MBB are being treated with less and less regard, I would not doubt a similar outcome for them.

I could do without the mainstream acceptance of Bodybuilding altogether; the days of underground camaraderie are sadly long gone.

[BartPimpson]

^ "schmoetographers" is a good one.

[x-trainer ben]

Great comments from all! I went to Barnes and N over the holiday to look at the mags( been a while) and only could find mens health /fitness mags. It seems Dave P is right! In all fairness many of the BB mags were just giant ads for supps, but it was enjoyable to read some of the routines over the decades. The crossfit/ mens physique areas are in fact the growth areas based simply on magazine face time.

Only time will tell, since the dollar rules the day.

[nightsoiler]

Bodybuilding has been about mass while maintaining the symmetry and artistic proportions. Not just seeing how much mass you can slop on, it's an art form bro the past few years it has went away from that. Like I said not knocking bodybuilders because I have friends that do. Just stating my opinion on the subject.

I will take the powder and work my member until peonies rises.

[zrage]

unattainable physiques, competitions filled with politics that piss off the tiny group of fans it has, none pleasing examples to the general public(99.9% of people) , bodybuilding synonymous for steroids, frowned upon by anyone who isn't a juicer.

crossfit offers people a "possible" ideal physique supposedly without steroids, functional muscle, clear competition winners based on events that allow for a clear winner. physiques desired by most. thus causing the money to go to those guys and gals. cant blame companies they will pay whoever renders sales.

only the few remain, only the few. it always has and always will be an underground sport, followed by those who truly love it. during the physical exercise enlighten period of 2000-2010 it gained a lot of momentum but it has stalled due to a more appealable competitor (crossfit, physique pageant)

HELL u cant even buy a dam neutral color pair of sneakers because they are all psychedelic color aimed towards the cross fit wardrobe movement,

[PrimeBeef]

Judging by how they did the ladies; ****ty pay offs, little to no media coverage, no sponsorship love....damn near drove ladies into the willing, sticky hands of schmoetographers, which added more of a stigmatization of FBB, and how MBB are being treated with less and less regard, I would not doubt a similar outcome for them.

I could do without the mainstream acceptance of Bodybuilding altogether; the days of underground camaraderie are sadly long gone.

Agree. I could also do without the mainstream acceptance.

I used to enjoy the underground camaraderie. Once everyone got involved, the "sport" felt it necessary to keep distancing itself from the mainstream...more drugs, more extreme methods of diet and exercise and began to produce a physique that the majority of the population could care less about as it became less and less appealing to the masses. The mags were filled with lies about how the next great routine could turn you into a champion and how taking this or that powder or pill from GNC could give you a pro physique. Once people realized it was a mirage, that it was and is about the pharma, they lost respect and turned to something else. That is where things are today. The industry has destroyed the "sport" itself and it is no surprise.

[shroomed]

do you want to know why that is? because you can only lie to the general public for so long and eventually it does wise up. after all the years of the empty promises of various supplements people have started to realize that you can't go buy anything over the counter that will make you look like a pro bodybuilder, it takes lots of hard training, lots of food and yes lots of chemical assistance of the non-OTC variety.

of course supp company profits are down, the stuff they make and sell is garbage, it doesn't work as advertised, it's misleading, couple that with the economic downturn we had in this country and people aren't going to spend the ridiculous amounts of money the supp companies charge for their crap.

all print media is dead, which is what the supp companies used for years to promote their products, they sold a magazine which was essentially one giant commercial, each month the same article written a different way with different pictures, i mean come one, how many different articles on how to build a big chest does one really want to read and pro bodybuilders are not that aesthetically pleasing, they look burned from the suntanning and bronzers and oils they rub on their bodies, they look ridiculously freaky and quite frankly the idea of some juice head making millions by promoting sh!t he doesn't use is offensive.

fuk the whole industry, i hope all the supplement companies go out of business and i hope all the "pro" bodybuilders just deflate back to normal sizes with weird looking sagging skin.

This.

[TortureMaster]

Supplement industry is better than ever. It has grown 10 times in the last 20 years and it is still growing. Maybe profits are down only in Palumbos company. Old brands are dying, new ones take over. Industry is evolving.
There are more expos in the world and there are more and more people attending them. If you want to book a booth at some of them to advertise your products you have to wait 2-3 years and still get crappy spot.
Internet is killing all magazines, not just BB. Mostly old people buy papers today. I bought my last M&F in 2002.
I find the idea that we can get more people interested in BB if we change judging a far fetched one. This plot to get the general public interested by choosing winner differently. reappears every few years. It will not happen. You can take a big group of people representing more or less general public, show them pics of Branch and pics of Frank Zane and yes, prefer Zane, but 8 out of 10 would not want to look like him, 9 out of 10 would not get interested in following BB.
It is a niche sport and it always be, because it depends on freak factor. Arnold was much more of a freak compared to other athletes from his time, than current BB compare to some professional boxers and football players.
I am personally more interested in guys pushing the envelope further and further. I like Ronnie and Marcus. I like Rammy. Would rather see people like them wining.

[WizardsOfAus]

The thing with art, is that you can pretty much define anything you want as being artistic. I for one have no issue in defining these physiques as "artistic":

One thing is clearly obvious, its much more than mass...much much more.

Of course you can post a few images of well-timed photos and call it art, but lets face the facts; most pro bodybuilders of today are not true artists like bodybuilders of the past such as corney, paris, clairmonte, levrone etc. Those guys actually presented their physiques in a very artistic fashion during their individual posing routines. Bodybuilders of today generally don't do that, they tend to just prance around the stage trying to pump up the crowd and hitting the same poses over and over again. That's why the general public today is more inclined to perceive bodybuilders as just a bunch of juiced-up meatheads rather than artists.