I believe that every photo linked to a male bodybuilder has been a link to a Mr. Olympia. This means that the man was judged to be the top bodybuilder in the entire world at the time that the photo was taken. The photos aren’t even an accurate depiction of what a competitive bodybuilder looks like. It’s like posting a picture of Serena Williams and saying all competitive tennis players have that much muscle.
Extreme bodybuilders are freakish, to say the least. I think in some cases I’d even consider it a type of self-mutilation.
Just a note:
There have been a number of threads on here and in publications which clearly demonstrated that the majority of women are attracted to fit, toned guys.
There were threads with pictures of guys linked, and the fit/toned or even slightly understated bodies won out… easily.
But there were takers for even little bellies on guys, some bear shaped guys and such. I don’t think anyone picked the type of body found on elite bodybuilders.
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I can definitely get behind the concept that Mr. Olympia types are not attractive (male or female form.) I think what they do takes a lot of work and extreme dedication (and sadly a lot of substances like HGH and anabolic steroids), but I do respect the dedication. I’m not sure those people are doing it to be attractive, either, it’s a totally different drive.
I don’t really know where one draws the line between “body builder” “power lifter” “weight lifter” and etc, most people I know that consider themselves any of those things never or almost never compete. I have a friend who has competed very seldom in both body building and power lifting competitions (generally there isn’t a huge crossover between those two worlds, but I think for normal people the definitions are very fluid.)
The way things read on the SDMB the impression I’m getting is that the only ideal male forms are those of Kevin James (fat as hell), or DJ Qualls (google it, but super skinny.) Again, we’re working anecdotally here but the extremely malnourished looking scrawny guys and the fat guys are not the people, in my personal life, who have had great success with women. Nor are these the people who I see getting rated by women’s magazines as highly attractive, guys like Jude Law and Brad Pitt are winning those surveys, and they are neither scrawny or bulky or “soft”, they are “toned” without being scrawny but without being bulky, and I do think that is probably an ideal since it’s very close to a natural healthy look.
Aside for the time when I first retired and got way overweight I’ve mostly had a body type I’d refer to as “Tom Selleckesque” basically I’m tall but not lanky, but not what I would call overly built either, and I’ve mostly gotten compliments from women throughout my life (note I’m not saying I’m equivalent in attractiveness to Tom Selleck from the Magnum P.I. days, a lot of women all over the country had the hots for him back then, I’m just saying I have a similar build.) I honestly resent the idea that a guy like Will Farrell who has a gut and looks freaking horrible with a shirt off would be considered more attractive than me or Tom Selleck, and I think outside the SDMB he wouldn’t be.
You gotta understand a few things. First of all, the people on this board are really not a representative sample of the population at large, at all. Most of the women on this board, for instance, seem to take a certain pride in declaring their preference for geeky guys. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I don’t think it’s typical of women. Second of all, people often say they prefer one thing but in reality are open to different things. Most people have only seen bodybuilders in photos in magazines or on a computer screen. It’s really easy to look at a picture of something and say it turns you off, but human beings are three-dimensional, and seeing a real bodybuilder in the flesh might elicit a completely different response. Thirdly, women tend to be attracted more to abstract qualities like confidence, humor, charisma, and social status, than tangible physical attributes like a guy’s physique. If there are women who find Will Ferrell to be sexier than Tom Selleck - and I don’t doubt that there are - it isn’t because of his body, it’s because of his personality.
Are you reading the same thread that most of the rest of us are?
Based on what I’m reading in this thread, the majority view seems to be:
- People who are muscular / toned / fit are generally seen as attractive
- Ultra-ripped, super-huge modern-day professional body-builders (not fitness competitors, but specifically body-building competitors, and particularly in the photos which have been shown here, which were taken during competitions) are generally seen as too extreme, and unattractive.
Definitely not for me. I like my women to look like women, thanks.
Bodybuilders are just as appealing as anorexics to me. I like skinny women, that doesn’t mean you should weight 40 lbs. I like women with some muscle tone, that doesn’t mean you should look like she hulk.
I actually do have life experiences outside of this here computer machine, and I can say confidently body-builder types are not attractive in any way. Beyond simply lacking attractiveness to me, they’re actively unattractive.
Some muscle tone is a very good thing, but cool it at the gym, Guido. You look like an ass.
My wife’s sister likes the pro-bodybuilder look, or so she said one evening.
I don’t particularly find female professional bodybuilders appealing. I have seen a few female powerlifters who were pretty easy on the eyes.
This made me think of Carrot Top.
My guess would be that no one finds him attractive - whether before he met the gym or after.
I’m kind of curious though if dopers find him slightly better looking prior to his 'roid addled gym obsession or after…
LOL, I would wager large sums that, in a gym, you couldn’t pick the bodybuilders from the other in shape, toned trainers. Bodybuilders are only dieted down and oiled up and hairless on stage. For the rest of the year, the look surprisingly similar to everyone else.
I think that entirely depends on the weight class of the bodybuilder. The superheavy weight body builders tend to go on extreme bulks. I’m thinking Lee Priest, who is something like 5’4 and if I remember correctly he balloons up past 300 in the off season.
My memory is hazy, but I could also swear that people like Culter and Coleman get nearer to 350. There was also a 6’5 bodybuilder from 8 years (or so ago) named Greg something (I think) who got close to 400lbs during his bulks, IIRC.
Here’s an article on bulking with ‘off season’ pictures of Lee Priest and Ronnie Coleman. These people do not look similar to everyone else the rest of the year (again, in fairness to you, both of these people compete in the heavy weight class)…
Greg Kovacs…yet another “mass monster” and a truly hideous one. God, look at his stomach in this shot. No bodybuilder should ever look like that…yet with these “mass monsters,” the judges reward guys for sheer mass and no attention to the proportions.
Ok yes, I should have made the clarification “natural” bodybuilders. All the ones you mention here are professional bodybuilders. These few, elite, drug-assisted bodybuilders are not indicative of bodybuilding as a whole.
He frightens me, in a, “There is something seriously wrong with this guy” way.
This guys looks just fine to me. He looks like he got his muscles from working, not just lifting weights. He actually looks useful. 
As a few others mentioned, I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about bodybuilding. One of the primary ones is that most or all bodybuilders maintain the ultra-ripped, dehydrated, 2% body-fat look all the time. First of all, only the top weight class are really the mass monsters, and even those mass monsters only maintain that look for short periods around competitions and photo-shoots. Obviously, the mass monsters are still generally really big guys during the off-season, but certainly not anywhere near that level. Many of the smaller guys will just look to be generally in good shape or whatever in the off-season.
Moreso, there’s been a recent resurgence in other types of competition where overall physique, proportion, symmetry and all of that are considered much more strongly than sheer size and we’re starting to see 6’ 215 lbs guys or 5’6 125 lbs women competing and winning in those divisions rather than the 5’10 315 types.
So, if the OP is referencing the mass monster types, then it’s no surprise that people find them unattractive. But the new divisions, like the physique and beach body competitions, have some people with some absolutely amazing bodies that I think really bring body building back to the idea of emphasizing the beauty of the human form rather than just freakish proportions. That latter type are absolutely among some of the most beautiful people in the world.
I’d post links to some of the rising stars of these other divisions, but I’m at work so I can’t, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find them.
Sure. Not exclusively, of course. I like a lot of different looks and body types. But I’d probably count it as a positive. Though I would have to wonder if we had compatible lifestyles, what with the whole ‘me being a chunky geek’ and all. And I suppose I’d have to invest in some higher-quality restraints.
Even if bodybuilding implied vanity, which I’m not sure it does . . . what of it? As long as it’s not taken overboard, vanity is not a vice that I concern myself with when evaluating potential romantic partners. It’s part of the package deal for too many interesting women.
There are also practical considerations. The Halloween costume potential is staggering, and if a jerk on the beach kicks sand in your face, she could punch him out.
At one of my old jobs, one of the regular UPS drivers was a very pretty bodybuilder. Always made deliveries a pleasant experience. So was a former boss at another job, now that I think of it, whom I quite liked.
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A quick scan of google images does, suggest, however, that professional bodybuilding is designed to make women look as un-attractive as it is possible to be while nearly naked and covered in oil. The poses look awkward and strange, and the super heavy makeup would make anyone look like a matron of the 50’s. Adding translucent plastic stripper pumps does not help. But then, it never does.
I also suspect that for most of us, who are only tangentially aware of bodybuilding (if at all), are only aware of the super-huge folks (and that includes the women), since that seems to be what gets what little coverage the sport gets in the general press (as well as most of the links that have been shared in this thread).
I think this is very true and probably explains why so many find bodybuilding so “gross and icky”.