Chad Nicholls answers: What’s wrong with bodybuilding today?
KING’S WORLD – is a digital series starring King Kamali providing the honest truth on all things bodybuilding. Combining King Kamali’s patented blunt opinions with some tried and true informative facts, King’s World aims to expand your mind outside of the usual “rules” behind bodybuilding. Honest opinions, valuable facts, bodybuilding tips and a whole new way to look at bodybuilding. This week, King Kamali begins his 3 part interview with legendary trainer Chad Nicholls. New episodes air every Tuesday.
Last week on King’s World, Chad Nicholls explained how he revolutionized bodybuilding diets to help create mass monster legends such as Ronnie Coleman and Nasser El Sonbaty. This came in the wake of Shawn Ray throwing shade at Chad for being a dangerous trainer that has caused deaths of bodybuilders.
This week, King Kamali and Chad Nicholls focus less on the past and more on the present. Namely, what does Chad think is wrong with bodybuilding today? In the wake of legends such as Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman criticizing the current Mr. Olympia Brandon Curry – is it true that the bodybuilders of today are of less quality than previous generations?
While Chad Nicholls hesitates to say that there is anything “wrong” with bodybuilding today – he does point out a few factors that he believes are causing issues for the quality of the sport. He admits that, in his opinion, bodybuilders today are not working as hard as bodybuilders of yesteryear. But the cause for that can come from many different variables.
He thinks that the evolution of supplement and drug science has led to people thinking that they can find shortcuts – but to Chad’s own estimates he believes the tier of importance in bodybuilding falls into diet first, training second, drugs third, and supplements last. Bodybuilders of today, especially younger aspiring bodybuilders, are not seeing the these factors in the same order. Many ask at a very young age – “what is the right drug I should be taking now to become a mass monster?” Both King Kamali and Chad Nicholls agree this is the wrong mentality to have.
Chad also talks about the evolution of technology and how it affects the mindset of bodybuilders today. Competitive bodybuilders can be extremely sensitive about their progress and physique – one wrong thought can send them in a spiral that negatively affects their physique. With the internet and social media, bodybuilders are getting instant feedback, which creates more frequent opportunities for them to get their mindset bent out of shape.
Chad also discusses the lack of endorsement contracts compared to the earlier years. Back in the day, a Weider contract would cover your entire expenses so you can focus on bodybuilding alone. Today, those kind of contracts don’t exist unless you become a sponsor or build up your social media account to earn revenue. But these outlets require more attention on a yearly basis to maintain the income – thus there is less time to solely focus on bodybuilding.
The entire interview is an interesting watch as King Kamali and Chad Nicholls really dive deep into the pros and cons of bodybuilding in the current generation. You can check it out for yourself in Part 2 of our 3 part interview on King’s World above.
