Bodybuilders keep getting larger. But is this a good thing?
Every couple of years a new bodybuilder shows up on the stage that truly wows the audience. A bodybuilder who has attained such a massive size, such monumental muscles, that the world has their collective mind blown. A size that no one had thought was possible… until the next gigantic guy comes along.
Throughout the history of bodybuilding this has happened. The passing of the torch often involves a bigger model of the one who came before. Think of Lee Haney, then Dorian Yates, then Ronnie Coleman. Constantly growing. Bigger and bigger. There’s a definite wow factor to this – also known as the freak factor.
One thing is for certain, people eat it up. The bigger the bodybuilders get, the more excited the fans become. And the judges seem to agree – as the top winners in bodybuilding always seem to favor size over physique. It’s gotten to the point where if Arnold Schwarzenegger was in his prime and competed today – he very well might not win. Take his history and his iconic name away and he might not stack up to the likes of Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, or Phil Heath.
This brings up two questions: why do people seem to favor size over general physique? And is it a good or bad thing that bodybuilding has moved in this direction?
The first question is actually pretty simple to answer. It is in our human nature to see limits be broken. We want to be surprised, wowed, and even proven wrong when it comes to what is possible in the world. It’s the reason we eventually developed the technology to fly, build computers, and go into outer space. Tell someone they can’t do something – and they’ll want it even more.
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Just think of it this way. When you were young and saw sci-fi movies that depicted portable phones that flipped open – did you think it was possible? Surely not. It’s science fiction. It’s fantasy. But now we all hold that technology in our hands and pockets. When this first came into existence – it was mind blowing. It was exciting. It was new.
That’s what we want, something that is new. When a bodybuilder comes into the new year with a muscular size that has never been seen before – that’s new. And new will always draw attention. It will invigorate. It will inspire younger competitors to try and beat that.
So that leaves us with the second question, is this a good or bad thing? It’s one thing for the audience to get turned on by bigger and larger muscles – but should the judges adapt their scoring to this mentality as well? This all depends on who you ask. At its core, bodybuilding is supposed to be a competition of the most perfectly sculpted muscles from top to bottom. Size does indeed play a role in this – but theoretically a smaller competitor can beat a larger one if his entire body is more toned and perfected than his larger counterpart.
Has this happened? Certainly. Is this the norm? Certainly not. But honestly, there’s probably nothing wrong with that. You will always have purists who proclaim the golden age of bodybuilding is behind us but facts are facts – as technology grows and more information is uncovered about fitness – bodybuilders will get larger. You may not personally love the swollen stomachs and wide frames- but everyone at the top level carries those sizes.
To use another analogy, it’s like when the television first came out. The older generation went into panic, proclaiming the death of movies and outside activities. Yet everything turned out fine. Same thing with the internet. People proclaimed it would be the destruction of society – but now it’s the norm.
So let’s get back to the main title of this article, is bigger better? No, it’s not necessarily better. But it’s definitely the new norm. Bodybuilders will continue to grow larger, people will continue to go nuts over it, the world will keep turning.
Do you think that certain “smaller” bodybuilders deserve more credit? Let us know in the comments section and on our official Facebook and Twitter pages. Until next time, stay pumped.
