The good, the bad and The Posing!

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Category: Articles
Written by Ivan Almonte

Along the many years I have been a fan of bodybuilding I have enjoyed as a front row witness the incredible transition of our sport. As I became aware of the sport when I started working out back in 1992 I grew spoiled with such a great line up of incredible bodybuilders and their influence into the discipline we enjoy today. After entering a few shows without the results I expected I decided to dedicate my time to the other side of the sport coaching and training and eventually in 1997 received my IFBB judging card and with it the benefit of spending almost 2 decades enjoying The Good, enduring The Bad and Admiring the Posing.

 

The Good Has been clear since the beginning way back when Eugene Sandow became a poster child the idea of the “strong man” In 1894, Sandow was featured in a short film by the Edison Studios back when the Lumiere brothers were making history with what we know today the Film Industry.  The short film was of only part of the show and features him flexing his muscles for scientific purposes rather than performing any feats of physical strength. As he would create the Institute of Physical Culture, an early gymnasium for body builders in 1897 giving birth to our sport; The Weider brothers came along (Ben and Joe) and with them the true visual nature of our sport became of mass production ( we would need to dedicate an entire library to talk about them). Then that guy! Yes the guy from Austria with big Chest, big Arms and a big Mouth bringing to the sport the dimensions of celebrity and success as the most influential cross-over figure bodybuilding has seen.

But the era in question is the 90s with the retirement of Lee Haney as the 8th time Mr. Olympia and all the figures emerging to make the sport a worldwide phenomenon  from Lee Labrada and Rich Gaspary to some of the freaks of the era like Vick Richards and Mike Matarazzo, to the loss of some of the most prolific like Muhammed Benaziza and Andreas Muntzer , the dominance of Dorian Yates and the epic battles with Vince Taylor, Shawn Ray, Flex Wheeler and Kevin Levrone and the very debatable subject that any of the of the four previously mentioned could have taking the Sandow out of Yates’s hands. As we move along to the Cartoon-like competitors of the new millennium (taken out of the pages of “Max Rep”) with Ronnie and Cuttler leading the way with Dexter sprinkled in the middle as we admire today the mutation in perfect harmony of symmetry, muscle density, size, cuts, separation and freakiness enhanced by a charm, grace, personality, style and an impeccable presentation on and off the stage… that “thing” called Phill Heat... That is the good! Was that clear?

Now the Bad…

We all know it, it has always been there, the egos and the domestic approach of some of the leaders of our sport, the terrible examples of bodybuilders and figures who crossed the point of no return with the law and whom have also disregarded the laws of our biological limitations, the self proclaimed chemist  and gurus keepers of the secrets, the hungry business men bringing to the bodybuilding lingo terms like “breakthrough” “experimental” “engineered” “Proprietary blend” and “clinical study” as we get blamed by the irresponsible bureaucracy of Mayor League Baseball, The WWE, the IOC with their well documented inability to control the doping aspect of their sports and business, constantly falling back to portrait bodybuilding  as the “root of all evil” ignoring the fact that some of the smartest athletes at any time in history in the last 50 years are bodybuilders, considering the grueling preparation leading to each show and the emotional “thick skin” developed by enduring the analysis of the social microscope. The bad my friends is not about to just go away!

And then there is The Posing!

Oh my friends the posing! The beautiful display or art thru the development of a balanced human body.  The art that Eugene Sandow showcased to the world over 100 years ago and all the figures we can remember like Ed Courney with his epic display of drama and Frank Zane with his timeless statue-like figure and the Iconic “one pose” of Larry Scott, Sergio Oliva, Franco Colombo, Arnold and Lee Haney along with the dark and mysterious presence of Serge Nubret . We can vividly picture in our minds Larry Scott and his arm pose, Sergio with his wings exteded over his head, Arnold on a side chest, Franco popping a most muscular and “Serge being Serge” just standing there. As we moved on to witness some of the most artistic and creative displays of posing with the influence of the Ultra-Classic style of Lee Labrada and the creativity of Vince Taylor, in my opinion the greatest example of showmanship and entertainment we’ve ever seen on stage eventually used by all of the greats of the subsequent generations like Shawn Ray, Kevin Levrone and Flex Wheeler.

Unfortunately not all great champions have been great poser but they have also created iconic moments with their signature poses delineating their dominance in the sport despite the lack of beauty they displayed when posing. Nevertheless, we have to continue to endure the painful display of bad posing that sometimes makes you cramp and makes you laugh waiting for the posing messiah who will deliver us from all the pain that as lovers of our sport we suffer in every show!