The ‘bubble gut’ might be one of the most controversial symbols in bodybuilding.

In recent years, it has plagued the Olympia stage, among many others, and is a glaring example of the seeming transition from bodybuilding as an aesthetic enterprise to a celebration of sheer ‘mass monsters.’

This direction in the sport has received resistance from many, perhaps none more notable than Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. A video taken at an Arnold interview in 2015 has resurfaced, and in it, the icon calls for immediate change.

Arnold puts forward some interesting points concerning bodybuilding judging. First of all – he supplies that the overwhelming criterium for judging should be :

“What body would I want to have? That’s what it comes down to. And unless we change the judging procedure, and unless we do something about when they chose the guy with the thickest neck and thickest muscle but not the most pleasing. Because look at the old days when Steve Reeves won. When Steve Reeves won and you saw him at the beach, you think to yourself ‘I would love to have this guy’s body. Wow! Look at how beautiful this man looks!’ But that’s not what you can say about those guys today that win those competitions.”

This seems like a fair and natural standard at first. But it’s deeply problematic. Of course bodybuilding judging will always be subjective, but the goal of a fair and consistent competition is to have a tight and well-defined set of criteria that the athletes can aspire to. Not to say that current judging standard are excellent, but “What body would I want to have?” judging in a completely subjective realm, as opposed to subjective interpretations of objective criteria (like symmetry, for example).

In a viral Facebook post, Phil heath noted that Arnold “had no legs.” And this is harsh but fairly accurate when Arnold is compared to Heath. So if we have a competition based on criteria like proper proportionality, nobody could honestly say that Arnold had as proportional an upper-body to lower-body muscle ratio as Phil Heath does.

If, however, the criteria is “Who’s body do I want more?” On judge could say honestly say Phil Heath, one judge could honestly say Arnold Schwarzenegger, and one could honestly say Justin Bieber, and nobody could cry foul. Under this method, athletes have no objective standards to aspire towards. It becomes a sport of judging, rather than of bodybuilding.

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