Why do bodybuilders get so much respect for their muscles despite many other failures in their life?

[Curt James]

Mark Dugdale is an excellent example of hardworking people in bodybuilding..


I understand it is their life, so they can be fuck ups if they want to.. but they are the people who are keeping bodybuilding from ever becoming mainstream. Just think if we had 20 Jay Cutlers and Phil Heaths(I know impossible) walking around promoting the sport then I truly believe bodybuilding will grow big time. I don't think he will ever be on the level of any of the major sports, but I think there is more than enough room for growth back into the days of ESPN 2 lol.


I think the main problem is two things. People aren't directly punished for their actions as pros, like in EVERY OTHER PRO SPORT pros are fined and suspended for conduct off the field or whatever. But probably the biggest one is the type of people competitive bodybuilding attracts.. I think for every smart bodybuilder I really enjoy talking to and can hold a conversation about something outside of meathead things, there are 4-5 that are the complete opposite. Bodybuilding often attracts a lot of people with certain mental issues, myself included, that other sports may not necessarily bring ni.

Bodybuilding will never be mainstream with the stigma of AAS and other chemical use or what many in the general population deem abuse.

[Matt Meinrod]

They could do a base salary with escalators based on years pro:

Rookie Pro: $40k
3rd year Pro: $50k
6th year Pro: $60k
10th year Pro: $80K

Must be active to receive salary. 2 years of inactivity and you lose your annual base.

Limit 4 Pro Cards Per Year (in the USA): Team U, North American, Nationals, and USA -- Overall Champs Only

[Curt James]

The sport could grow if they had a Bodybuilders Association, like every other sport in America worth a damn (minus UFC - where their fighters get screwed due to Monopoly Laws).

The bodybuilders could be paid enough to not have to resort to unsavory ethics and morals (aside from drug use needed to compete) if their sponsors actually paid them well. Example: Dallas McCarver turns pro at North Americans and just recently signs a contract with MD. I think it's in the neighborhood of $1500-$2000 a month for a year. You double or triple that amount and all of the sudden he's not hard up financially and bad thoughts won't enter his mind.

Ronnie Coleman in his "hey day" was making about 300k a year from BSN. A company that makes 8 to 10 figures in annaul gross revenue, I think they could manage to pay Ronnie a cool Mill back then per year.

Jay Cutler is the king of sponsorships, though. Talk about multiple revenue streams!

[Matt Meinrod]

Jay is....Phil is...Branch is...there's probably 8-10 guys who have their shit together and another 50+ pro's who don't.

Just the fact a pro has to pay an annual fee to keep his/her IFBB "pro card" up to date is a complete joke. Tom Brady, Jeff Gordon, Sydney Crosby, and LeBron James don't have to pay anything to be in their pro leagues.

And isn't it up to the promotors of the contests to come up with the prize money? Blasphemous! Their shouldn't be promotors, it should be run by the IFBB PRO LEAGUE

[hifrommike65]

1. Changes in American criminal law in 1990 altered the status of bodybuilders who use. Basically, high-level bodybuilding was criminalized by the steroid laws. While it might have been frowned upon to some degree, Arnold was able to talk openly about steroid use in the '70s & not harm his reputation or his status in pro bodybuilding.

2. The Internet altered the ability of bodybuilders to keep their sub rosa activities private. There is no privacy anymore. Things that some bodybuilders got away with in the '70s & '80s cannot be hidden. It's all over the 'net, including YT. I've noticed that some BBs who are considered "decent guys" get a pass for these things, while those not as well liked don't.

3. No one before or after him had the charisma & disarming charm of Arnold. Bodybuilding got a major bump in the '70s because of him, but no one replaced him & perhaps no one ever will. It is no surprise that the only annual issue of all reputable BB mags is the Arnold issue.

4. Just about every male competitor in the pro IFBB league (except Dave Goodin) uses. So no one from the list of "virtuous" BBs listed above can be excluded from list of "vices" used to separate the "good" from the "bad." Some may use more than others, but they all use in violation of state & federal law. Some may be able to swing HRT, but I expect most of them also use beyond that. So I don't buy the notion that some pro BBs are more virtuous than others. Virtue is relative in the bodybuilding world, & frankly always has been.

[sassy69]

Couldn't you say this about anyone who excels in any given area?

Actors?
Musicians? (Michael Jackson & Whitney Houston come to mind)
Athletes?
etc.

[hifrommike65]

Completely correct, sassy69. Highly driven individuals are respected according to how much the average person admires what they're doing & wants to imagine being able to do the same thing. High level pro baseball players get a lot of respect & status because many fans would like to excel the way they do. High level atomic bomb makers not only get no respect--no one even knows who they are. Who wants to imagine being instrumental in the potential killing of millions?

The average person has no interest whatsoever in bodybuilders, & a lot of people who work out at gyms don't have any interest in them either. They can't picture themselves winning a bodybuilding competition, & wouldn't even want to attempt to do so. Bodybuilding is pretty much a nitch industry & interest. Yes, it blurs a bit at the edges (hence the recent return of beefed-out movie heroes in the Expendables, etc.), but if you compare bodybuilding to, say NASCAR, where just about every pro driver is sponsored for the equivalent of a full year's salary, there is no comparison. No wonder the NPC has started handing out pro qualifications like they're going out of style. It's the only way to stimulate enough people to compete.

[HTW]

Everyone in life has their problems, Skeletons, etc ... What a person does for his money is none of my business .. Very few of us know these Bodybuilders on a very personal level to which we know their personal habits ... It comes down to how these guys or gals were raised, how morals ( which everyone has differences in what they believe is moral) were brought into their lives ... If your a dirtbag with a good physique when your younger, guess what ?? Your probably not gonna change to much as you reach adulthood .. Pro Football players every weekend are doing their own thing .. Maybe not your thing or my thing,, Mike Vick is loved in many house holds, but HATED in many others .. Dog fighting isnt and wasnt in my culture , but it was in his ... He might not be a bad guy ... Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles were junkies, but loved .. If a BB wants to do g4p, i dont care one bit.. If a FBB wants to do some porn or nude pics, who cares,( keep doing them please ) .. Its their life not yours .. I understand where your coming from .. But I got other stresses in life to worry about, dont have time or room to worry about someone elses life ..

[Matt Knappick]

There are quite a few guys who are overall awesome guys with families, have legitimate jobs or investments outside of a sponsorship, and are good representative for the sport.. i.e. Branch, Jay, Phil, John Meadows, Cedric McMillan, Jason Theobald, Aaron Singerman (I know not a bodybuilder but he is probably one of the top 3 most relevant people in the industry who don't compete)etc. etc.. That I have A TON of respect for because they work hard in every aspect in life, inside and outside of bodybuilding and are something to be admired..

HOWEVER, you have guys who are "respected" that are:
Drug dealers
Gay for pay prostitutes
Federal informants
Scammers
Rec drug addicts
Broke as all hell and would rather inject themselves full of drugs than pay their mortgage and lose their house.. costing the bank and stakeholders of the bank to eat the cost


Why is this OK?? It has been proven by all the guys I listed above YOU CAN BE A GREAT BODYBUILDER WHILE DOING THINGS RIGHT. It is disgusting to see some of these people defended on the boards and so admired because they eat a bunch of food, take a bunch of drugs, lift a bunch of weight, and have great genetics.. you can teach an animal this crap. That shouldn't be admired. It is what you do outside of bodybuilding that should be looked up to. Almost nowhere outside of this industry would any of this be acceptable.


/rant

Exellent rant

[asdf]

HOWEVER, you have guys who are "respected" that are:

Drug dealers - you hate drug dealers but you do drugs...
Gay for pay prostitutes - it would be cool if they banged girls?
Federal informants - agree
Scammers - agree
Rec drug addicts - steroid addict fine.. pot addict bad?
Broke as all hell and would rather inject themselves full of drugs than pay their mortgage and lose their house.. costing the bank and stakeholders of the bank to eat the - lol clueless to the banking system I see

Great rant from a hypocritical homophobe

[MattyH7688]

HOWEVER, you have guys who are "respected" that are:

Drug dealers - you hate drug dealers but you do drugs...
Gay for pay prostitutes - it would be cool if they banged girls?
Federal informants - agree
Scammers - agree
Rec drug addicts - steroid addict fine.. pot addict bad?
Broke as all hell and would rather inject themselves full of drugs than pay their mortgage and lose their house.. costing the bank and stakeholders of the bank to eat the - lol clueless to the banking system I see

Great rant from a hypocritical homophobe

Comparing steroids to other drugs is pretty much a joke. There are plenty of other people on here who have been addicted to rec drugs(NOT WEED) that can vouch for that. And really.. so when Jose Raymond have a $400,000 loan out and the bank could only recoup half of that... Who took the hit??? The bank didnt?????


I could give two fucking shits about people and what they do. What I do have a problem with is pro bodybuilders talked about how awesome they are and how hard working and all types of bullshit about how great of a person they are and so forth and being someone people are looking up to them when they are extremely poor representatives of bodybuilding. Ok I get it, bodybuilders take anabolic steroids, so what? However, many of their actions does nothing but put bodybuilding in an extremely poor light. Having sex with grapefruits isn't going to help bodybuilding grow in anyway or make bodybuilders get rid of the horrible stigma placed upon them.

If bodybuilders were mostly like the guys I listed above, the reputation of pro bodybuilders and the image presented to the public would be MUCH more in a positive light.. not a bunch of broke, lazy addicts, selling shit and performing gay acts just to get by because they refuse to work a real job. People say oh, why the fuck do you care.. When I am a bodybuilder and am viewed as one by many people, I do not want an automatic negative stigma placed upon me because of some of the top guys doing some very stupid shit.

In the 1990s bodybuilding was on national tv and people loved it because the top guys, for the most part, all did a great job representing bodybuilding..I don't know if it will ever get back there, since all the steroid scandals, but it can certainly become much bigger... but there are guys who will always hold it back, because they represent to the fullest the stereotypical meathead.

[asdf]

But what you seem to not understand is that its not the cast of characters that keeps bodybulding non mainstream. Its the fact the the general public thinks its a freak show. Look at the nfl. Guys accused of taking steroids all the time,rapists, killing animals, drug users, domestic violence, fathering 20+ kids out of wed lock, attempted murder and a whole host of other sketchy things but its the most watched sporting event.

[Aditya]

Why do bodybuilders get so much respect for their muscles despite many other failures in their life?

because in bodybuilding we don't judge anything but their muscles.
hell...bodybuilding doesn't even judge anything above the neck.
we only appreciate their physique and development.

what they do at home doesn't go on the score card.

[MikeS]

Couldn't you say this about anyone who excels in any given area?

Actors?
Musicians? (Michael Jackson & Whitney Houston come to mind)
Athletes?
etc.

This!

Everyone has issues and you can bet your ass anyone who is admired, respected or held up as an image of hope/perfection/achievement/whatever completely suck in other parts of their lives. We're all human after all. Sometimes I think being brilliant at one thing almost dictates the rest of your life must be lacking somehow because of the time/effort involved in being really good at most things.

[s2h]

Jay is....Phil is...Branch is...there's probably 8-10 guys who have their shit together and another 50+ pro's who don't.

Just the fact a pro has to pay an annual fee to keep his/her IFBB "pro card" up to date is a complete joke. Tom Brady, Jeff Gordon, Sydney Crosby, and LeBron James don't have to pay anything to be in their pro leagues.

And isn't it up to the promotors of the contests to come up with the prize money? Blasphemous! Their shouldn't be promotors, it should be run by the IFBB PRO LEAGUE

Actually pro athletes in the nba...nfl...mlb...nhl all pay dues....they pay the union and they pay them a.fair amount....these players have.no.choice either...you cant play if you sont sign and agree to the cba....so maybe bb needs a union?..not sure thats the answer...