I attended a relatively large show in South Florida a couple of weekends ago and was eagerly awaiting the open bodybuilding classes to see what the competitors looked like. I hadn’t been to a show in a while, and I had actually targeted this show to compete (myself), but for reasons I won’t get into here, that just didn’t happen.
I was taken aback and quite disappointed when I saw that the light-heavy and heavyweight classes had only five and four competitors respectively. Now it wasn’t that the competitors were “bad”—they had worked their asses off and deserved to stand on stage—but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that even with the smaller turnout, the level of physiques on stage just wasn’t as good as I had thought they would be at a show of this caliber. It wasn’t another 30 minutes when I realized what the reason for this was.
The classic division came out on stage, and each classic division had more than 25 competitors. Yes, some looked as though they didn’t belong (like in every show), but the large majority were in very good condition, and it was obvious that there were quite a few who could have been in the bodybuilding divisions but had decided to compete in the classic one instead.
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It was at this time that I realized that classic bodybuilding has slowly been slitting the wrist of open bodybuilding. However, unlike most of the people whining on social media about this very thing, I don’t think it is bad at all. Bodybuilding isn’t “dying” as much as OPEN bodybuilding is dying at the hands of the classic division. You will have your supporters and your naysayers as with everything in this world, but I am in complete support of this shift in the paradigm. Why?
Open bodybuilding has turned ugly. I understand that there are those who support and love the idea of taking the physique to the limit and seeing how far it can be taken. Bitch is, those people are in the very small minority despite those who gather together on social media to slam the current shift in the sport. It might appear that the supporters of the freak show that is open bodybuilding come in large numbers, but that would be the same situation as a redneck, racist white guy finding a Ku Klux Klan forum and thinking that because he is surrounded by like-minded people his group represents a large majority of the population.
The truth is that a large majority of people no longer find the current look of the open bodybuilding divisions appealing. Don’t believe me? Explain the exodus to classic bodybuilding then. The simple fact that the classic division is growing as fast as the open bodybuilding divisions are shrinking is the most obvious and inarguable sign. And just because one show might have a huge turnout of bodybuilders doesn’t represent the rest of the shows in the country that are consistently seeing less and less of a turnout for bodybuilding, as well as a significant increase in classic competitors.
The main reasons for this change are obvious and simple:
Smaller waists make for a more pleasing physique—a physique that most people, whether bodybuilders or regular people in the mainstream public, find more appealing. People are now picking up weights and working out not because they want to look like the big-waisted and ballooned-up freaks of bodybuilding but rather because they want to look like the guy with the huge chest and arms yet a small waist.
The other reason the classic division is more appealing is because even a dipshit can logically deduce that a classic physique would likely take far fewer drugs than the alien-looking “thing” that wins top bodybuilding shows (their words, not mine). The truth is, people aren’t as motivated to look huge anymore; steroid abuse isn’t anywhere near as appealing as it was in the days of Drago and Rocky slugging it out.
Sure, there is also the added benefit that more pro cards are being handed out, and it could be argued that a card is easier to get with the added divisions. I don’t personally think this motivates most people to go the classic route, though. I think most people simply prefer the classic look over the no-restriction look of the open bodybuilding class.
Will open bodybuilding survive the new classic division? No.
Will bodybuilding itself survive? Yes, it most definitely will.
And it will survive BECAUSE of the classic division. In fact, I would go so far as to say that although classic is slitting the wrist of open bodybuilding, it is SAVING bodybuilding at the same time. Classic bodybuilding should be lauded for this shift, but instead, it is being blamed and ridiculed. If we want the sport of bodybuilding to grow, it needs more mainstream exposure, and when physiques look more appealing, there will be more exposure and participation. More exposure means people get paid more money to be sponsored. I see no downside to this, and I anticipate that over the next handful of years, bodybuilding will reach even more of the mainstream, and we will only have classic to thank for saving the sport.
Also, do you think more active types of competition like powerlifting and crossfit have had something to do with shrinking numbers?
If muscularity is someone's pursuit, I don't see Crossfit as a draw, though. The people who have migrated to Crossfit, I believe are looking more for a "fit" body type than they are muscularity. Yes, the top-end competitive Crossfitters are muscular but at that level, a lot of them have been training more like bodybuilders in the past. It is not common for someone who is untrained to go into Crossfit and get incredibly muscular; most barely look like they workout.
Powerlifting is a different animal, I think. They care more about weight moved than muscularity, though muscularity is an obvious by-product of powerlifting. In my opinion, people who want to be muscular will incorporate some type of powerlifting into their programming but the majority of their programming is still bodybuilding based - basically, a bodybuilder doing some powerlifting, occasionally.
You sir, are correct! Powerlifters are more concerned with strength, but these days we are also more in tuned with being healthy and having a flat stomach! The old days of beer belly Powerlifters has faded. Being super strong isn't worth it if you feel like complete shit all of the time! You'll notice most Raw lifters (both tested & untested) are rather jacked. You can label it however you'd like, but the bottom line is across all strength sports, people want to look good whether the goal is extreme muscle, extreme conditioning or extreme strength.