Why People Hate Bodybuilding

“Bodybuilding is a subculture of hyperbole. In its headlong rush to

accrue flesh, everything about this subculture exploits grandiosity and
excess." Alan M. Klein in Little Big Men

The sport of bodybuilding could be described as a contest that combines

modeling, body sculpting and dieting. Whoever presents the most muscular,
symmetrical, attractive looking body is the winner of the contest. “Women’s
Figure” is another type of competition, which is more about modeling the
perfect “women’s figure” and less about muscularity. Most people do not
respect the sport of bodybuilding because of the widespread drug use
associated with it. Many narcissistic, steroid using, protein shake guzzling,
competitive bodybuilders and recreational weight lifters make this even
worse by actively perpetuating the stereotype.

The oldest, largest and most popular bodybuilding organization is the

IFBB, which has become synonymous with grotesquely huge and freakish
muscle-bound competitors. Muscle magazines like Muscle & Fitness, Flex,
and Muscular Development portray these steroid and HGH using athletes to
market an endless onslaught of protein powders, creatine and other highly
processed chemical fitness supplements. The female models and competitors
are frequently using drugs and or surgery as well to attain their phenomenal
physiques and most of the credit is, of course, given to the “wonderful”
supplements that they are all endorsing. Most people wrongly believe that
lifting weights will make them big, bulky and inflexible. People have this
wrong idea because everyone holds in mind the image of the gigantic IFBB
“steroid users” which has been so heavily marketed in these magazines.
Most people do not even know or care that drug free, polygraph tested
competitive bodybuilding even exists. So is natural competitive
bodybuilding the answer? No. I would compare it to light cigarettes. It is
less harmful than regular bodybuilding but it is still harmful. The truth is
Natural Bodybuilding has very little integrity either and is also all about
marketing supplements through “Natural Bodybuilding” magazines that are
owned or affiliated with the organizations. As usual, it’s all about the money
instead of people’s health.
How Vince McMahon and the WWF Ruined
Bodybuilding in 1990

“Professional” wrestling (fake wrestling), which is called a sport but

is really just mindless entertainment for the ignorant is the other cause of
most intelligent peoples dislike and misconceptions of weight lifting and
strength training. “Hulk Hogan” and “The Rock” are examples of American
superstars who built their fame as entertainers or wrestlers. These
entertainers have to be larger than life with personas like superheroes or
villains. Steroid and HGH use is the norm to build the massive, freakish
bodies that fans have come to expect. Vince McMahon is the evil
mastermind behind the WWF, the organization that now dominates this
entertainment industry. The US congress passed the Anabolic Steroid
Control Act of 1990 making the use of anabolic steroids illegal. Around the
same time McMahon was secretly plotting his formation of the WBF (World
Bodybuilding Federation) to rival the long established IFBB owned by Joe
and Ben Weider.

The Weider brothers at the helm of the powerful IFBB had hopes of
turning Competitive Bodybuilding into an Olympic Sport. This would mean
bigger profits for everyone involved by legitimizing the sport. Doping tests
for steroids and other banned substances were started in the late 1980s in
preparation of getting the IFBB into the Olympics. Unfortunately, the
Weider brothers were foiled in 1990 when McMahon stole all their best
competitors by offering them lucrative contracts to sign up for his new WBF
organization. McMahon wanted to turn competitive bodybuilding into the
same type of circus freak show that his WWF wrestling was by turning the
competitors into personas of heroes and villains and calling them
“Bodystars”. McMahon’s new organization, obviously, did not test for
steroids because his goal was to create “Freak Show Entertainment” just like
his WWF wrestling. Perhaps we cannot really blame the Vince McMahons
of the world, they are just the exploiters and promoters of what people really
want. People want an entertaining story, a drama, a soap opera, a “Reality
Show”. They want to gawk at the giant freaks and imbeciles. The popularity
of “Reality Shows” is further proof of what our culture finds entertaining.
The makers of “Reality Shows” take a combination of fact and fiction and
blend it into a compelling and entertaining story. The truth is usually too
boring to be considered entertainment. One of the first “Reality Show”
successes was the well-known documentary Pumping Iron from the late
1970s, which brought the bodybuilding subculture into the spotlight and
propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger into stardom. The filmmakers realized
that the documentary was going to be too boring to entertain people so they
made up a back-story of heroes and villains to sell the movie. It worked.

The Weider brothers put their Olympic hopes on the back burner in
response to their new cunning adversary McMahon, and the IFBB quietly
stopped drug testing their competitions. In 1992 McMahon and the WBF
came under federal investigation for alleged steroid trafficking and he
dissolved the WBF in a storm of negative media coverage and the failure of
the organization to profit probably from the high price he had to pay to steal
the IFBB competitors. The bodybuilders returned to the IFBB and McMahon
went on with the WWF as usual but the damage was done. Drug testing was
never reintroduced into the IFBB. People would forever associate
bodybuilders with freak show entertainment. In the 2000s the Weider
brothers attempted unsuccessfully to have bodybuilding added to the
Olympics. The Olympic Committee and the public at large had lost all
respect for bodybuilding and will probably never consider it a real sport.

Eugene Sandow the Vaudeville Strongman

Eugene Sandow is credited with being the father of modern

bodybuilding even though there were other guys who had better physiques.
In the early 1900s he traveled around performing his “Strongman Show” and
posing routine. The secret to his success was he was an expert at self-
promotion. He was an entertainer, a showman, and a performer. He knew
what McMahon knows. People want to be entertained and amused more than
they want the truth. There were many bodybuilders and muscle men in the
early 1900s but back then they were called “Strongmen” and would perform
circus type feats of strength to impress their audiences. It has always been
about showmanship and entertainment even from the early days. It had to be
in order to sell it to the public. The only difference was they did not have
anabolic steroids, which arrived in the 1970s.

Modern Bodybuilding Contests

Modern bodybuilding contests evolved from Sandow and the early

strongmen. The strongest Strongmen or powerlifters were and are actually
enormous fat guys and do not have lean, muscular physiques with
washboard abs and sculpted muscle definition. With a lean, sculpted
physique strength is not the goal so much as low body fat and symmetry. An
actual bodybuilding competition is very boring and the judging is actually
decided in the morning before the crowd shows up at the night show. This is
called the pre-judging and the contest results are mostly decided at this time.
This judging of physiques could be compared to a sculpture contest, beauty
pageant or dog show. The results are rarely decided fairly and have more to
do with the subjective whims or agenda of the panel of judges. In the 1970s
anabolic steroids arrived on the scene and have become an accepted part of
bodybuilding and many other competitive sports. The Russians allegedly
first used them in the late 1960s to get an edge in the Olympics. In order to
keep up with the Russians the USA developed their own.

There is an excellent new documentary film called Bigger, Stronger,

Faster that explains how steroid use has become an accepted part of our
culture here in America and is not even considered cheating because
“everyone’s doing it”. Consider the common metaphor “Like ( ) on
steroids!” which is used today to describe something that is stronger, faster
or better. Can you see how this actually portrays anabolic steroids in a
positive way?

I really should not pick on anabolic steroids because the truth is that I
detest all synthetic drugs and most natural ones because they damage our
bodies and minds. Drugs keep us from enjoying the physical health and clear
unaltered minds that we need to enjoy a happy and free life. True happiness
comes from the inside, from self-love and acceptance of ourselves.
Happiness and freedom are the result of self-esteem from using a clear,
drug-free rational mind to live a life of love, honesty and creative purpose.
 Bodybuilding and Bodysculpting is essentially the same thing. But
you can use the term Bodysculpting without raising a negative prejudice in
people. Everyone wants Bodysculpting but as soon as you use the word
Bodybuilding most people have an immediate prejudice and negative image
that is aroused for historical reasons. So call it whatever you want because it
is all the same thing. Whether you call it bodybuilding, bodysculpting,
strength training, resistance training or weight lifting doesn’t matter. What
matters is that you realize it is the secret to permanent fat loss and having the
body of your dreams.