In today society, a lot less people have started bodybuilding, and more people have started fitness model programs. Not a lot of people want to be huge with massive biceps and big chest anymore. Instead, they would rather want to have a lean, ripped physique of a cover shoot model. How has bodybuilding popularity declined in the last twenty years? I’ll show you how and why people shun bodybuilding and how you can make a difference.

Back in the “Golden Age” of bodybuilding, people were fascinated at how men can develop their muscles in way that makes people want to start bodybuilding themselves. Take a look at Eugen Sandow, the “father” of bodybuilding. He had a lean, muscular, ripped physique with insane ab muscles. Then came along other bodybuilding icons, like Steve Reeves, Reg Park, and many other famous athletes. But the real bodybuilding craze began with Arnold Schwarzenegger, after appearing in the bodybuilding movie “Pumping Iron”. Widely considered to be the greatest bodybuilder ever, he made bodybuilding and himself a household name. From that point on, people opened many gyms everywhere to start bodybuilding, whether it’s to go professional or just to build muscle. Movie directors recruited bodybuilders like Arnold to star in their movies. For a long time, the bodybuilding era was spreading all over the world.

But what went wrong? How did this era slowly dwindle away? Simple. People started getting “too big, too muscular”, which made people think that it looks impulsive, overbearing, and to add it all up, disgusting. Today, bodybuilders want to be bigger and muscular than their opponents. Bodybuilders like Jay Cutler and Ronnie Coleman are perfect examples of people are “overdone” their muscle growth and development. What really put a stop to this era was the movie “Fight Club” with Brad Pitt, where the lean, muscular body was introduced, and people realized that you don’t have to big, you just have to get lean. My opinion is that men have become “feminized”, meaning they want a body that will look more attractive to a woman and people start modeling like women, which is easy to understand why men today wear pink t-shirts or shirts that say “Real men wear pink”. This is absurd!

Let’s talk about Arnold for a moment. Why do you think he was considered the best bodybuilder? Was it because he had the biggest muscles? Or than he had a confident presence when he went on the bodybuilding stage? Maybe it could be that he gave the best advice on building muscle? It was any one of these three reasons. In the movie “Pumping Iron”, Arnold talked about having the perfect physique. He said, “You have to get you proportions right. If you look in the mirror and say “Okay, I need a little bit more deltoids. So you would go to the gym and put those deltoids on. Where as an artist would just slap his brush on a picture there it’s done. We have to do it the hard way because we building the human body. Now some people will look at you funny like you’re doing something strange, but it’s not really something a lot of people know about. And once you find out about it, you understand so much about bodybuilding that you haven’t realized before”.

You see? Arnold had the perfect proportional body, and bodybuilding enthusiasts knew that. He differs a lot compared to today’s bodybuilders, who build their bodies out of proportion. So how can you make a difference in building muscle? Get you proportions right. Let every muscle be just right, not smaller or bigger than it needs to be. Hope you enjoyed this article and will properly make the best in building muscle.