New Rant is up at MuscleMag.com: Times Have Changed

[Ken Skip Hill]

http://www.musclemag.com/blog/times-sure-have-changed-for-bodybuilders/#.UXF8d7WG2Tk

Skip

[homonunculus]

Ah, the young whipper snappers....

I've been pretty baffled, too, given that I train at LA Fitness (on a week by week membership I got when they just opened, expecting to cancel it after the gym filled up), so I see a lot of interesting things.

I think some of the training "variation" is a matter of exposure online and in the magazines, and to cross-fit in particular.

The new style of training has opened up a whole new arena of different training articles, meaning less rehashing of the same old BB'ing stuff that's been doing on for decades. Kids see this in pictures or watch the cross-fit games, etc. and then try to take it to a regular big box gym in hopes of looking like a world class crossfitter.

This missing ingredient is TRAINING EFFORT. I see guys doing all the same kind of stuff, but only maybe 10-20% of them (max) actually go after it. One guy even brings in his laptop (one day someone is gonna step on that thing, I think), but I never see him doing much.

Weights are light, sets aren't taken into a fatiguing zone, much less toward failure, and a lot of them skip the compound exercises like deads, squats (and oly lifts, which is probably good).

I kind of see it as the same phenomenon as kids who take a high volume chest and biceps training routine of IFBB Pro "X," do that twice a week (with maybe some extra sets in there for even more hugeness), but do drinkin' on Friday and Saturday night. It's selecting parts (the easy ones that are instantly gratifying) of what could be a pretty decent approach if employed 100% (effortful training, big lifts, etc.).

Great article, man.

-S

[Ken Skip Hill]

Thank you, Scott.

I can see what you are saying. Still, they don't seem to want to LOOK like a bodybuilder like we used to. They want to look athletic or like a crossfit athlete, like you mention.

Skip

[46er]

Yeah, I opened a bunch of those giant soup cans,too.

I have been scratching my head lately, as to why most guys in my gym carry very little muscle. Most of them aren't even that toned.

Skinny jeans, maybe?

[keith_h]

I hear all the time from guys my age (mid-late 20's) that they want the "MMA fighter look" with Georges St-Pierre seeming to be the ideal. So about 170 lbs at 5'10'' and lean.

[bbjeff86]

The one nice thing is it makes me look bigger lol.

I have had countless people (mostly kids under 22, but a few older guys) come in to my club and when signing up tell me they don't want to get big like me or anything, just want to tone up.

Keep in mind I hover between 198-200lbs at 15% bf, and 5'9", so not big at all...

[homonunculus]

Thank you, Scott.

I can see what you are saying. Still, they don't seem to want to LOOK like a bodybuilder like we used to. They want to look athletic or like a crossfit athlete, like you mention.

Skip

Yep, I agree. I can't say why, but indeed, times they are a-changin'.

As far as the underlying motivation, if it's to attract women, then I think it's definitely a more savvy approach to go with the lean and smaller look.

(A couple years ago, a woman actually came into the yoga room where I'd been posing before shows for literally the past decade. I was there alone, shirt off, shorts hiked up, wearing shoes, maybe about 6 weeks out condition, running through mandatories. She rushed in, wearing a tight jog bra and spandexy type pants, and started doing push-ups or crunches.

She looked over at me after a few seconds, got up with a grimace and said as she walked away (quite loudly), "Oh, my God, that's disgusting..."

I finished up and we had a interesting discussion.)

-S

[theroymccoy]

Don't leave us hanging Scott! By 'had an interesting discussion' did you mean coitus?

Great article, Skip!

With the introduction of men's physique this will be the natural evolution of bodybuilding. The new/young guys see this as much more attainable and aesthetic. They pile in the gyms, drowning out even the biggest of guys.

I think it's also because masculinity is no longer defined by hugeness. As you mentioned, movies like the Terminator and Rambo showed what bad-ass guys do, and as a corollary, what bad-ass guys look like.

Now, with the advent of sports like MMA, masculinity is seen differently. What's more masculine than beating someone's ass? You have highly visible guys who are sub-180 lbs. beating up real people, not actors in a movie.

Because of the media and the internet, there is a stigma with steroids. Illegal and the infamous "They'll make your balls/dick smaller!". Small balls and a small dick is not masculine. People think "big guy = steroids = small genitals."

With the pervasiveness of the internet, almost everyone can voice their opinion on any subject. The general consensus seems to be that women like the smaller, leaner, more athletic look, and you bet your ass that these young guys take note...whatever it takes to get into some panties.

[homonunculus]

Don't leave us hanging Scott! By 'had an interesting discussion' did you mean coitus?

Close. Actually it was fellatio in the squat rack while I rotated through my front double-bi, most muscular and front lat spread.



I didn't want to hog up the thread...

Actually, I just asked her if she'd ever been to a swimming pool were folks sometimes wear even less that I was wearing. I also pointed out she was wearing less fabric than me, and asked her if she'd ever noticed the super-sized paintings of the world champion bodybuilders (male and female, like Arnold, Lou F, Cory E, et al.) on the walls all around the gym.

I also requested that if she wanted to voice her opinion about how I look, that I'd prefer she say it to my face rather than muttering it for me to hear as she scampers away.

I was pretty matter of fact and just left it at that.

I think most folks would find it pretty rude to simply say to anyone, out of the blue that they are "disgusting," but it was even bizarre b/c we were in Gold's gym (the one that some of Dave H's videos have been filmed in). It's not like I was doing this on the street corner to make a spectacle.

BACK ON TOPIC:
Interesting how someone might think it's OK to say that to a bodybuilder minding his own business, but I suspect she'd not have said that to an obese person or someone with a physical deformity of some sort. That was the clearest example I've experienced of what may be running though the minds of the general public when they see bodybuilders. She was also fairly fit, so this was not a case of someone who had never been in a gym. It seemed like a pretty deep-seated case of simple intolerance: That how I looked, what I had "done to myself" or something about me was so abject that she viewed me almost as a non-human monstrosity ("that's digusting"), not even worthy of simple consideration, politeness, not to mention kindness or compassion (e.g., "poor guy with the distorted body image" or what have you).

So, I suspect she was not the happiest camper internally, but nonetheless, pretty interesting for me. (I actually felt bad for her a bit after that. I wouldn't be surprised if there there is a lot she's "disgusted" by in this world...)

-S

[Kidrok (Hop)]

"Do you remember a time when it was cool to be big, gyms were the place to be and action stars all looked like Sly? Neither do we. But Skip Hill sure does!"

I think they just called you old, Skip!!! lol

[dice77]

Great article!

I find guys using the "I just want to be cut" excuse because they aren't willing to put in the time it takes to get big. It is just too much hard work. If there was an easy way, they would want to be bigger. Lazy f*ckers. Its easier to do some curls, get a vein, and buy a shirt that is too small than it is to train hard.

Chicks still dig big muscles. Every super big guy I know has a super hot chick. Fatties are just insecure haters.

[Sammich]

Chicks still dig big muscles.

True, but the definition of "big" is now athletic, crossfitty guys. Our definition of "big" is tantamount to "disgusting" to the overwhelming majority of women nowadays.

[dice77]

True, but the definition of "big" is now athletic, crossfitty guys.

NOOOOOOO..........

I will live in denial if that's the case.

BTW you squeezing into those powerlifting suits is its own brand of sexy...

[Syndicate]

"Do you remember a time when it was cool to be big, gyms were the place to be and action stars all looked like Sly? Neither do we. But Skip Hill sure does!"

I think they just called you old, Skip!!! lol

LOL thinking the same thing! I wish that was the current climate, however EMO / skinny jeans are.

[v1hyp]

Nice read,, brought back memories!!