Hey don’t leave out the real monsters like Levrone, Gaspari and Nasser. They were the ones that started the real mess
Steroids were bad enough, but when they let zombies start competing, things really went to hell.
Zombies on steroids!
ETA: Damn you!
Top level bodybuilding is a business. They wont win money or get sponsorship striving for “ideals” that make you happy. There were plenty of people who thought Arnold was too big in his days. It’s all a matter of perspective… and business. Heck even Dave Draper was pushing it and that was before Arnold.
To address the OP directly yes, it’s over regarding the golden age ideals. The sport has moved on to a new ideal. As mentioned above folks like Dorian Yates started the beginning of the end. For me personally Zane '77 was the high point. It was never the same after that.
Got to this discussion late… I too love what I would consider the golden age of bodybuilding (Arnold… Franco… Zane… Mentzer) and I would point to the reign of Dorian Yates into Ronnie Coleman as to when sheer mass wins out. I respect Kai Greene and Branch Warren… but I wouldn’t want to look or aspire to either of them. Dexter Jackson is the only person competing today that I can stand to really look at and study. While the use of chemicals still require a great deal of work and planning… I think when Joe Weider passes on perhaps the art will come back to something more proportional. I remember when everyone was clamoring about Tom Platz… and I thought he looked ridiculous… Good note on Ken Waller…
I think Greg Valentino said in an interview once that his motivation for pumping his arms to ridiculous size was similar to the motivations of those who get tattooed from head to toe or get a couple hundred piercings in their face. I suppose the circus freak aspect is somewhat interesting, but aesthetics are just as important to bodybuilding as growing your muscles to their absolute limit.
There were mass monsters in the early days, although they didn’t have the ‘muscle bound’ look of Ruhl, Coleman or Cutler. The second Mr. Olympia,Sergio “The Myth” Oliva was enormous for his time, as was Bill Pearl. Although Pearl claimed that he only once tried anabolic steroids and didn’t like the way they made him feel, and his last year of competition he was a vegetarian. There’s no doubt that professional bodybuilders of the Pumping Iron era used steroids, and back then people complained that they didn’t like the look of modern bodybuilders, preferring the earlier look of Steve Reeves, Mickey Hargitay, Clancy Ross, John Grimek. Just as Arnold, Zane, Nubret, Columbo and Draper were one-upping the heroes they grew up with, today’s professional bodybuilders are trying to outdo yesterday’s genetic freaks (Pearl, Oliva, Arnold, Mentzer, etc.) and end up with career-ending injuries, like Dorian Yates tearing his biceps.
I don’t think that pro BB will ever come back from the mass monsters. Even with mandatory pre-competition steroid testing they’ll still juice during training and only stop long enough to pee clean for a show.
How does this thread have 27 posts and 25,300 views? Is this the winner for biggest view-to-response ratio in all time?