Why OldSchool Bodybuilders Were Smaller And Better...
by Rusi
First of all I'm not a bodybuilder but I do like the sport. However I think that today bodybuilding has gone too far - too much steroid usage, synthol and all kind of crap. Yes, today's competitors might be bigger but they are not better than the old school crowd like: Arnold, Sergio Oliva, Franco, Frank Zane, Dave Draper, John Grimek, Tom Platz and many more. Did those use steroid as well? There's no doubt about that. I don't think that the presence or absence of steroids makes bodybuilding good or bad - it's the performance. The "retro" bodybuilders were just better athletes. Actually Bill Starr wrote in one of his articles that during the old days the bodybuilders had to compete in at least one sport and since they were already doing the Olympic lifts they were participating in different weightlifting meets. Also some of them were powerlifters - Franco, Arnold, even Platz has started competing as a powerlifter. In other words they DID care how big they were but they also lifted some heavy stuff and they were pretty damn strong.
Did you know that Sergio Oliva was a highly ranked Olympic weightlifter before he switched to bodybuilding?
Franco was looking like a mountain of muscle and he was also setting deadlifts records.
Today the image is not so good. The bodybuilders are bigger BUT they are not better. One of the reasons is that they care only about looks and not strength or other athletic qualities. It's all about how big you are, what supplements to buy and how to get a real good pump. All of this certainly has a part in your bodybuilding plan but if you look strong and can't back it up with some real numbers you are a joke.
I remember when I first joined a gym not so long ago. At that point I was deadlifting 40kg. There was one big guy - not that big to be a professional bodybuilder but much bigger than me. He was deadlifting around 140kg - this seemed to be a ton of weight. Over the course of 6 months I've got my deadlift to 180kg x 2. After that I got injured and had to reduce the intensity but still I've added 140kg to my deadlift. When I met the guy he was still a lot bigger than me but he was also deadlifting 140kg for 8-10 reps. In other words the dude did not try to add even 10kgs to his deadlift during the last 6 months. So, according to my experience you can get a muscular looking body using anabolics and lifting light weights. However does this set a good example to the young boys who start using steroids and all kind of crap while the supplement companies are making tons of money? That just ain't right.
I would love to see some of today's pro do 23 squats with 227.5kg while going all the way down. Not very likely to happen since "Going all the way down hurts my knees and makes my butt big." Yeah right.
