Though it was necessary to not get washed out by the lighting, I liked that aspect the least of all contest prep. I got as much natural tan as I could before the fake tanning effort.
It wasn’t uncommon for a “rookie” to have the tan running down his chest and belly, into his trunks, and there were the splotches, where some tan stuck and other places it didn’t.
I remember just before prejudging the promoter picked a contestant he knew from the field and “attempted” to adjust the lighting.
Surely the technology is there to adjust light intensity to the individual contestant by now.
I’m glad this post is here, because regarding sexual fetishists, I was going to suggest that society is broadly more accepting of homosexuals now and they don’t have to hide in bodybuilding or similar audiences anymore.
I’m willing to bet a much greater than realized portion of the fan base was always closet homosexuals.
Feats of strength in a competitive scenario like strongman or CrossFit will draw an audience actually engaged in the competition itself.
A sport literally centered around judging the aesthetics of a male body draws, well….
More were out of the closet than I felt comfortable. (At least if you were aware it was around, and looking for it.) But once it became apparent that you were straight with no willingness to venture, you were left alone.
But it did seem that the shows had a good balance of women to men in attendance.
Back in the early 90s, there were several men’s fitness magazines that were a little… odd. (I think one of them was called Cuts or Reps or something like that.) All the fitness models seemed to be in their underwear and there was a lot of emphasis on one-arm rows and stiff-leg deadlifts. All the models seemed to be giving the reader the “come hither” look.
Later, I read an interview with an editor or publisher and he came right out and said this was spank material for gay men who were either closeted or just didn’t want to be buying gay porno mags. (This was pre-wide-spread internet.)
But the fetishists surrounding competitive bodybuilding weren’t just gay men. There were a lot of dudes into “wrestling” with the top female pros. Lots of carrying/lifting and man-baby fetishes, too. The book Chemical Pink gets into this. Although the book is fictional, it’s based on a lot of real characters in bodybuilding that were around at the time. They’re not that hard to recognize if you know your late 90s early 2000s bodybuilding culture.
It’s all pretty fascinating in a creepy-deepy kinda way.
I was always more drawn to bodybuilding than powerlifting. I really didn’t know anything about powerlifting until the last 10 years or so.
Most of my appreciation for bodybuilding grew during COVID when I started training out of my garage and began listening to podcasts and YT videos with guys like Fouad, Dusty Hanshaw, and the late John Meadows. I still listen to Fouad and Hanshaw on a regular basis. I enjoy listening to the training talk - probably more than the actual bodybuilding shows!
It could be a late night documentary for sure. And there were always allegations of Joe Weider being gay, Harvey Weinstein style, which makes you wonder about some icons.
I think “gay” itself aside, fetishes in general are largely accepted now. Or at least ignored instead of persecuted. Same motivations to attend bodybuilding shows at one point, and a lack of need now.
I would be curious to see how a guy like Arthur Jones would view bodybuilding now, especially with sports like Strongman and CrossFit games in the picture. He seemed legitimately in the “peak human performance” camp, and I wonder if training to pose would still be the preferred outlet, or if it would be showcased athleticism. I feel like his camp has moved on from bodybuilding, gays and fetishists have plentiful outlets and a relatively small audience who appreciates BBing for what it is remains.
My guess in the end is that the lasting fan base will be relegated to competitors themselves and aspiring competitors who understand and appreciate the discipline and dedication more so than glute striations themselves.
I’ve heard that, but who knows? I don’t really care about who’s gay and who isn’t, but the Harvey Weinstein stuff is terrible… for men and women.
There have been lots of abuses, plenty of “gay for pay,” and I’ve heard quite a few stories about how the winners are sometimes chosen (bodybuilding, bikini, figure, etc). I mean, when the top 5 people are basically identical, the “winner” is often the one who’s open to doing certain favors…
Yeah, the gay for pay is what I’m getting at with the Weider/Weinstein comment. And ultimately I think it feeds back in to the lack of need to be discreet these days, so a likely larger than realized portion of the audience is dwindling. People can just look at gay porn on their cellphones instead of buying bent over row themed magazines. Or go to gay bars, or even bdsm clubs in most cities for the fetishists.
Variety of outlets for many of the early reasons behind a BBing fan base are now spreading the base thinner, basically. Including new weight training based sports.
Netflix has a documentary called “Killer Sally” about a BBer couple, and the wife (Sally) kills the abusive husband. She made most of her money by doing private wrestling sessions with guys into the muscle lady thing.
Watched the first two episodes. Kinda got the gist after that. I think most multi-part documentaries should be made into one GOOD 90-minute episode. They get so repetitive and slow. Maybe that’s just the editor in me.
I think nowadays folks are more interested in the struggle being documented by these guys before the shows than the actual shows themselves. Just look at some of these guys crazy youtube channels and how much attention they draw. Cbum has 3 million subscribers to his channel. I think if anything there are probably more fanboys to the sport of bodybuilding because of this. Also watching a lot of these sports are still pretty hard…even with there being so many avenues to do so now. World’s Strongest Man has always been weird and CrossFit coverage is kind of all over the place. I’m not sure where besides the interwebs you can follow the Olympia or the Arnold’s BB competitions.
A few years back, Dani and I attended to CrossFit Games. It was spread over a few venues at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI., but most of the action was at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Just over 10,000 person capacity and it was packed full.
Think about it: 10,000+ watching people lift weights, ride stationary bikes, and climb ropes IN PERSON. And a lot more on the internet and TV. That’s how good they are at gamification.
Bodybuilding, weightlifting, and powerlifting really doesn’t lend itself to gamification, I suppose. (Maybe strongman.) But CrossFit maximized what they had. It was crazy, at one point all of the athletes were just on stationary bikes (part of a longer event) and the capacity crowd was on its feet cheering. For people on bicyles… that weren’t going anywhere.
Grew up watching WSM with my father so I’m totally biased. Strongman and CrossFit from a “game” standpoint do have a lot in common. I don’t personally like CrossFit, but I understand how people might like it. I just prefer strength competition.
He was an announcer at the time but I can still hear my father say “Kaaaaaaaaz.”
