Modern bodybuilders are about 50-80 lbs heavier than their ancestors from the era of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Many say that the advancements in the field of sports nutrition and training are behind the growth, but this is simply not true. The main reasons why today’s bodybuilders are bigger than Arnold and his friends are the larger doses of steroids as well as the introduction of growth hormone and insulin.
Back in the day of Arnold, insulin was basically absent from the muscle building stack whereas growth hormone was in experimental stages. The bodybuilders from the Golden Era relied primarily on anabolic steroids which at the time were widely available and of superior quality compared to the garbage sold online today. Ultimately, the quality of the drugs and the moderate use kept the old-school bodybuilders aesthetic. There were no competitors with growth hormone guts.
Ironically, the modern guys do not look better despite their larger size. Most people still prefer the bodybuilders from the Golden Age.
In the photos below, you can see some of the most aesthetic bodybuilders from the past – Danny Padilla, Frank Zane, and Mohamed Makkawy. None of those guys had the mass of the competitors today, and yet they all looked better.
In comparison, today we can enjoy physiques similar to the one below.
Similar anti-development is not unexpected given the fact that humans think in numbers and quantity instead of quality. The bigger, the better? Not really. At the end of the day, quality always wins over quantity.
Wonderful article that should be highlighted everywhere so that the stupid arrogant bodybuilders of today realize that essentially they are pulling the sport backwards and can never be idolized due to their ugly shapes
They’re not even bodybuilders. They’re PIGS – big, out of shape, honking hogs, ready for slaughter. The whole thing is overly homo-centric too – very, very gay-“ish”! They look like insecure sissies. What’s with the queer faces modern “bodybuilders” make? Compare to Arnold’s day, when the men looked athletic and serious. Today they look like begging clowns “please choose me, please, please, look, I’ll make queer faces, is that good? Please choose me!”
Today’s Bodyuilders are not nice to look at as they are way to big, in the 1970’s 80’s Mr Olympia, you had from Zane, Columbo, Dickerson, Oliva, Arnold,Platz, Haney, De Mey, Fox, Bannout, Haney etc all different shapes & sizes were as of today they are all freaky mass monsters, i’m losing interest in the sport !!!
It’s bodybuilding. It’s about big muscles. Nobody that I know wants to watch fitness men compete. Well maybe women. And if you do your looking at bodybuilding for a different reason. Everyone wants to see chemically grown muscle just like every sport it’s pushed to the limit that’s what brings in the money. The reason everyone liked Arnold and Lou is because they were the biggest of their day. A little skinny everyday gym dude is not going to bring in money. That’s not bodybuilding.
It’s called bodybuilding not body destroying and that’s what these guys are doing today destroying their bodies
John, say what you like but today’s bodybuilder’s look fucking stupid period. No healthy child would aspire to grow up and look like these guys, not inspiring in the slightest unlike yesteryear. Not to mention the serious health issues these guys will have in their near future.
Modern bodybuilders get their incredible size by stuffing their face with streaks and chicken breasts with rice and potatoes 10 times a day. Unfortunately, their guts increase in size as well.
Bodybuilders in the 70’s ate 5-6 small meals a day, enough to gain chests and arms comparable to modern bodybuilders, without the stomach distention from overeating. Granted, modern bodybuilders have superior leg development, but their freaky delts and traps may be attributed to tiny doses of synthol. Let’s not forget the HGH and insulin that 70’s bodybuilders didn’t have access to.
“steaks”