Mr. Olympia 2011 and the Current State of "Bodybuilding"

Before and after. Bodybuilding can give us power to transform our bodies.

Below is an article that appeared in the news recently. The transformation is amazing and I have to admit that this power to transform oneself is what has kept me lifting for close to 50 years now. I have an ambivalent attitude towards bodybuilding. Like many of my generation, it was Steve Reeves in a Hercules movie and a picture of Arnold S. on a magazine cover that first stimulated my curiosity and eventually lead to the empowering realization that I could make my body into whatever I wanted. I was naive enough to believe that bodybuilding was about great health and improving performance. Indeed it was, for awhile. The entrants in the physique contests were also great lifters and often all-around athletes. Tommy Kono and John Grimek for example were world class lifters who showed off their hard earned physical develpment now and then. Even Sergio Oliva was a lifter for the Cuban national team and Arnold also lifted on the Austrian team. The "sport" of Bodybuilding today is a caricature of athletics. Image has replaced performance. Bodybuilders only have to stand before judges and have the "look". Attaining that "look" is no longer about health, in fact it is extremely unhealthy. It requires extreme dieting, chemicals beyond what the body produces (drugs), and an extremely unbalanced and self-centered lifestyle. Ironically the popular magazines market bodybuilding (and supplements, clothing, and equipment...etc.) as the epitomy of health and vigor. The current competitive bodybuilders are grotesque. They look bloated and even fat in street clothes. In competitive condition they sport fake tans and diaretic induced dehydration. Here in the U.S.A. the general public thinks of bodybuilding whenever weights are mentioned as it drives the market. I am all for building a strong and healthy body. I think the "sport" of bodybuilding has become a travesty. At he bottom is a clip of an interview with John Grimek and some footage of him doing his "posing" which included a lot of muscle control. Unfortunately it is somewhat blocked out by the word graphics, but is still impressive and represents what real body building can accomplish. It was my privilege to meet and speak with John Grimek several times. He was over 60 years old when I first met him, but very physically impressive, a testimony to a lifetime of building the body in the context of a balanced and healthy lifestyle. At the time of this interview he was in his 80's. Below that is a short clip of him performing outdoors, perhaps at the annual York Barbell picnic, I'm not sure where this is, but it is great footage.His physique is (dare I say it?) functional.

Most college basketball players never make it to the NBA, but that doesn't mean they can't make it in the world of sports.
Phil Heath, a guard for the University of Denver men's basketball team from 1998 to 2002, was known as a defensive specialist, which is a polite way of saying he didn't have much of a jump shot. Heath averaged 1.3 points per game and shot just 33 percent from the floor in his four years with the Pioneers.
The 5-11 guard gave up basketball after playing 66 games in college to focus on the professional sport of bodybuilding.
To say Heath, who weighed 180 pounds in college, made the right choice would be an understatement. The 31-year-old from Seattle beat out four-time winner Jay Cutler (not the Bears QB) to win the 2011 Mr. Olympia contest in Las Vegas over the weekend.
"I feel awesome," Heath told the bodybuilding site flexonline.com. "Words cannot describe how I feel right now. I'm so happy I was able to do it and able to have fun while doing it.
Heath, nicknamed "The Gift," became only the 13th different winner since the iron-pumping event began back in 1965, according to CBS 4 Denver.
Competing in only his his fourth Mr. Olympia contest, the former baller joins iconic muscle legends Lee Haney and Arnold Schwarzenegger as kings of bodybuilding.
As the 2011 Mr. Olympia, Heath picked up a sweet trophy and a nice check for $200,000. Of course that's still less than the minimum salary in the NBA,