With bodybuilding competitions on hold, Bob Cicherillo explains how this will affect the sport long term.
With the world in crisis and many countries in lockdown, the bodybuilding industry has felt the effects of this massive shift. Jim Manion announced that all United States NPC and IFBB pro competitions will be shut down until May. While some will be postponed to a later date, others have been cancelled until next year. But what kind of long term ramifications will this have on the sport? What will the 2020 season of bodybuilding look like if there is no where to compete for one third of the year? In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Bob Cicherillo lays out exactly how big of an impact the bodybuilding shutdown will have in 2020 and beyond.
Bob Cicherillo is known as the voice of bodybuilding and has been the announcer for many major events for decades. He has a close relationship with the IFBB and NPC leagues and a deep passion and understanding on how the whole system works. That’s why when we sat down with Cicherillo for a Skype interview, we wanted to pick his brain about how the temporary shutdown of bodybuilding shows will affect not only the 2020 season but the future of the sport as a whole.
Bob Cicherillo is quick to point out that it’s more than just the shows being put on hold, it’s the gyms as well. Athletes not be able to qualify in the normal amount of time before big competitions like the Olympia. But they also won’t really be able to train at full capacity. Majority of gyms are closed until latest May – so athletes are losing valuable time to prepare their physiques.
It was recently announced that the qualification deadline for the Olympia 2020 has been pushed back to August. Yes, this gives more time for the athletes to make it into the show – but what will their physiques look like? Will we have yet another Olympia competition with an asterisk next to its name?
On an even bigger scale, how will this long term shutdown affect the bodybuilding industry as various business perhaps shut down forever? We might be looking at a brand new bodybuilding landscape in 2021.
You can watch Bob Cicherillo break it all down in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above.
