Actually #1 is a female body builder who is very active on body builder forums, that picture is from years ago when she hadn’t been doing it for very long. Since she’s not a celebrity I did not want to give anything too personally identifying out about her, but I thought it was worth showing because not all bodybuilders look like the end product…it takes time to get there and depending on how seriously someone takes it, they may never progress to the point where they would be very successful in competition.
:rolleyes: Why the assumption that most of us have never seen the inside of a gym?
At my gym there is a collection of gym-rat type guys who are excessively muscly, although none of them are so big that I would suspect steroid use. I see them coming and going from the gym in normal street clothes - they’re not usually tanned or oily or anything either. I can definitely easily identify them when they are just walking through the mall (gym is inside a mall), so I disagree with your assessment that most bodybuilders just look like normal, fit people when they’re walking around. In any case, in ordinary clothes or in the gym, I still think they look overly bulky and unattractive. I know there are guys who lift weights who don’t look like that, but the typical ‘bodybuilder’ appearance is not at all appealing to me.
Still, I wouldn’t call her physique a bodybuilder. In that photo she’s barely showing any muscle, although she’s got a trim body. As said upthread, she looks nice, but no one seeing that shot would call her a bodybuilder.
Bodybuilder bodies are just so hard looking. I like a smooshy teddy bear hug. I’ve hugged men who worked out to the point where they were just rock hard. My SO had arms that were rock hard, but the rest of him was soft enough that I could still get my daily dose of smooshies.
What do you mean his face could use some work?
The so-called golden age of bodybuilding, the 1970s, in which Ferrigno was at his peak, was very different from today’s bodybuilding. The ideal physique was totally different. Anyone who’s seen Pumping Iron will understand. They went for aesthetic proportions back then, and while they were definitely huge compared to the average built male, they were nowhere near as massive as today’s bodybuilders. Anabolic steroids - taken orally - were sometimes used in the 1970s, but nowhere near the scale today, and the guys today also take Human Growth Hormone, insulin, and sometimes even inject an oil called synthol directly into their muscles. We live in the age of the “mass monster.” It’s gotten totally out of hand, and the competitive guys today really look vile.
Arnold, Serge Nubret, Ken Waller, Frank Zane and Ed Corney, versus…
Jay Cutler, Branch Warren, Ronnie Coleman, Markus Ruhl…the guys today are just sheer mass. The proportions are totally out of whack.
Straight female here. I think male bodybuilders look gross. The huge, veiny, inflated look with the little bitty head is just…gross.
I love the look of slim, built, cut-looking guys, but when they get giant and veiny, eww.
As an example, I think most of the guys on the cover of *Men’s Health *look great, and the guys (and women) on the cover of *Muscle and Fitness *look gross.
I think female muscley-and-veiny bodybuilders look gross too, though lean women with muscle definition look good (as long as they don’t have huge boobs. I think women’s bodies look the best when they’re fit and proportional.)
I don’t think the point of modern bodybuilding is to be a paradigm of attractiveness. Maybe in Arnold’s day they were going for the “ideal human” look, but now it’s definitely about something else. I’m sure that very few people find modern bodybuilders attractive, and the ones that do are probably attracted to the personality type that leads to that kind of dedication to their craft, not necessarily the body type itself.
Ugh, oh my God. I nearly heaved when I saw the giant snake veins on his arms (especially on his left arm).
But seriously, for these guys, I just can’t imagine them going about their day-to-day activities, getting in cars, laying down in beds, sitting on couches watching television, eating out at restaurants.
Depends on the bodybuilder, obviously. Took photos at a bodybuilding competition a few weeks ago that a couple of the female members of my squadron were competing in (they both won in their respective categories, because my squadron is awesome like that). They were definitely attractive, but then again they weren’t exactly the “All muscle and no curves” stereotype that I’ve seen in some places for female bodybuilders.
There’s nothing physically attractive to me about over-muscled bodies. And when they go to extremes, they’re more cartoon than human.
Huge difference between being in shape and being a freak.
Exactly! There’s nothing sexier than a carpenter’s arms, or the torso of a man who works hard in his physical occupation.
The former group is marginally less disgusting, but both sets are totally repugnant. EWWWW!
Gay male. Hate that physique: it’s somewhere between a cartoon character and a gorilla to me.
Yes, but the question in the OP was about competition bodybuilders, not about “people who lift weights at the gym as part of their sports routine”.
It’s like the difference between “are you generally attracted to guys who are taller than you?” and “do you find 7’-tall guys attractive?”
Just crunched the numbers by gender and found it interesting, though not surprising that the male voters were slightly more likely to find competitive bodybuilders attractive than the females. I’m actually surprised by the lopsidedness of the results so far.
Male votes
117 votes
Attracted - 11 / 9%
Turned Off - 99 / 85%
Neutral - 7/ 6%
Female votes
105 votes
Attracted - 2/ 2%
Turned Off - 96/ 91%
Neutral - 7/ 7%
Can anyone say “Firefighter Calendar?” 
Mega-muscles and 0% body fat with visible veins is repellent to me - bordering on scary. It’s one of the images I use when I need to lose an erection in a hurry.
Right…but I guess the point I’m trying to make is there are a lot more people who are into the “non-competition” body building scene, who lift a lot and eat very clean who are just in it for fitness and a decent build. I think those types are a lot more common than your competition body builders, I mean competition body builders are a super small portion of body builders, sort of like how PGA golfers are a very small portion of golfers in the world.
The guys I’ve known who are just into body building but who have never competed have never had trouble with the ladies, and in my experience have had far more success than guys I know who are out of shape.
I know some really fat guys who have been very successful in dating (at one point I was obese and actually it didn’t negatively impact my dating life, btw), but I do think there is a very high correlation between the type of person who lets themselves become disgustingly obese and the type of people who don’t have the right type of personality to be successful at attracting people.
I’m not an expert but I would guess the reason I was able to still attract women when I was fat is the fact that I can be pretty charming in person (less so on a message board), and just speaking as a man I know I have “preferences” but there is a big difference between “I prefer a woman who looks like xx” and “I wouldn’t go out with a woman that looks like xx.” I don’t generally like heavy set women, but I’ve gone out with them before, in life you don’t get perfection most of the time.
I guess all I’m saying is I’ve never seen the body builders I know have any problem getting dates, but a lot of my obese friends haven’t touched a woman in over a decade.
The problem with female bodybuilders is that their gozangas tend to disappear into the background.
Something like this(Aaron Carter, former teenybopper idol) I find somewhat attractive. A little overly sinewy, but overall I think he’d look quite nice when he isn’t “flexing.” That sort of bodybuilding-type physique I like, but that’s about as extreme as I go for.
