When fans of bodybuilding discuss traits that make some bodybuilders more “Marketable” than others, they are usually referring to the level of mainstream appeal that they possess and potential to crossover into the eyes of the general public. It seems we are on a never ending hunt for the next big star who will carry the entire industry on their backs and climb into the spotlight of the masses, as if lack of exposure is the only thing preventing competitive bodybuilding from achieving NFL levels of success. In this future mainstream paradise, fans will sit around sports bars and discuss Kai Greene’s lat insertions in the same conversation as Super Bowl touchdowns. Sports Illustrated will feature articles on how Dexter Jackson defies conventional age restrictions and is the Iron Man of muscle sport. ESPN will recount the Arnold Classic the same way it would a semi-final NBA playoff game. A bicep peak will be as coveted as a record sprint time and people will host Olympia parties.
What most people fail to realize however, is every single human being in any developed country knows what bodybuilding is. They might not know what a bodybuilding competition is, but they understand the process of lifting weights and building muscle. Almost all of them have some image in their head of what they perceive a bodybuilder to look like, usually pasted in their brain during a trip to the grocery store where they accidentally glanced at a Flex magazine. Of course, the photo is of a top bodybuilder the day after a show, photoshopped to look even sillier and more comically vascular, and usually doing the mind-numbingly ridiculous open mouth “Roar” face in which it appears they are just aggressively shouting “YEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!” for an extended period of time. And guess what? 95% of the people think it’s either A) Disgusting B) Bizarre. They look at it the same way as they would look at the women with M cup boobs on Jerry Springer. It seems that we have already tainted any extension we have had into the general public by painting an overly absurd picture of ourselves. It’s as though bodybuilding by itself wasn’t already a questionable enough pursuit that even the most relatable representatives have trouble properly justifying to the untrained eye, and the media has to further handicap the entire sub culture by perpetuating every stereotype and littering the few media outlets with propaganda.
*There is no need for more bodybuilding “Awareness”, anyone who has any interest in it already knows what it is. They might not know what an IFBB competition is, but if they start training and building muscle, it is only a matter of time before they are enlightened to the sport in some capacity.*
Now let’s look back to a time when bodybuilding was arguably more “popular” (Overall numbers are definitely higher now, but it seems to be held in a higher regard in previous eras). Going back as far as Arnold’s day, seeing a bodybuilder in public was like seeing a unicorn. No one knew how or why someone could look like that, but it was captivating. We have all heard the stories of future bodybuilder stars seeing one of the greats of their childhood in a movie or in an advertisement, and then becoming so intrigued they become obsessed with the mysterious world of muscle and start hording Weider mags. Not only was access to bodybuilders themselves borderline non-existent, but some people would travel to the next town over just to find a magazine about bodybuilding! Think about that for a second. Most boys grow up wanting to be big and strong, and it is built into us from birth. Building muscle is not an abstract concept of made up rules like most professional sports, it is a simple pursuit using tools we are all born with and aware of. If anything, it should have an advantage in its ability to attract audiences being that we all HAVE a body that can be built.
Fast forward to the 1990′s, and everyone is living the California dream. Bodybuilding has been elevated to part of our culture, with the big contests being broadcast on TV and shows like American Muscle having teenage boys set their VCR timers just to witness the singlet clad glory. Supplement contracts take bodybuilders from local steroid dealers to six figure athletes, and basically the dream was alive and well. If you were to tell someone in the late 90′s how many entries we see in local competitions in 2014, they would assume bodybuilding had finally “made it”. If you could show them the finances and profits of the big supplement companies and how many were making huge sales numbers, they would have probably started sharing their GH with their kids right then and they’re hoping their children would be a huge bodybuilding star and making those millions that were soon to be floating around.
Well, they couldn’t have been more wrong. While the supplement industry has blown up in ways that aren’t even fathomable, contracts for athletes haven’t been affected by this growth and we actually see a lot of contracts offering nothing more than free products. The entry lists for shows have increased exponentially, but this is almost strictly due to new fluff divisions, and bodybuilding itself has actually seen numbers drop in some high level amateur shows. So what the hell is going on? Exposure is at an all-time high, but bodybuilding is still floating around in obscurity (and even dwindling).
And that is simply because the same 95% of people think it’s
A) Disgusting
B) Bizarre.
Bodybuilding reached its saturation point long ago. The people who feel drawn to bodybuilding don’t need to see it on ESPN to trigger the obsession, they feel it the very second they first see a picture of a bodybuilder. So what we see today is the result of dipping a bigger net into the ocean of the fitness industry, there will never be an increase in bodybuilding fans so we now just have all the extra crap that was floating around to go along with it. While supplement contracts used to be reserved for 260 lb monsters, we now have armies of Instagram physique models who will market themselves and the products they “represent” for pennies, just so they can put their sponsor in their profile and impress other obnoxious selfie queens (I am referring to men and women when I say queens). If anything, this increase in “popularity” has hurt bodybuilders and taken potential income out of their pockets, and only benefited the promoters and companies involved. It has devalued the competitors themselves. And you can’t blame the companies, why would they pay someone who the general public views as a walking steroid, thousands of dollars just to use their picture, when they could give some frosted tip beach boy a t-shirt and jug of aminos to pimp their products to their 10,000+ followers on social media and essentially be a full-time unpaid employee? It’s a brilliant business model from their end.
Most bodybuilders aren’t interesting to most people anyway. We have seen what happens when people pretend they are, just watch Generation Iron. It was a painful display in over-dramatization and trying to squeeze a story out of dry lemons. We need to accept that bodybuilding is a sport for bodybuilders, and not ruin all authenticity in a futile attempt to market it for non-bodybuilders. We just found out that the 50th Mr. Olympia contest will be broadcast on an NBC sports channel the month after it happens. While I am excited for this and very curious to see how it pans out, there is an element of fear I have while anticipating the date. The world is full of enough bitter couch critics, and in a way it was comforting to be behind a protective layer of absence from the eyes of the (usually ignorant) masses. We are on the verge of another chance to walk out in the spotlight; although in a much different world than the last one we poked our head out at. One could assume it is a more “muscle friendly” society due to the fact such phrases as “Do you even lift?” and “she squats, bro” have reached pop culture familiarity, but we must also remember all the things that have changed since the Mr.Olympia was on network TV; BALCO, Barry Bonds, dead professional wrestlers, and pretty much the complete eradication of muscle in the world of movies that used to be home of ripped arms and huge chests. For every fan who clicks “like” on Big Ramy’s picture on facebook, there are 50 people who’s name I cannot pronounce typing “roids” or “gross” in the comments box.
I think sometimes we are brainwashed into thinking we want the sport to grow by the ones who will truly reap the rewards. Personally, I am okay with my friends not knowing who Kai Greene is and strangers at the grocery store asking if I played football.
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