19: Trends In The Bodybuilding And Fitness Industry

What’s up guys and welcome back to the show!

Today I’m going to talk about the changes in the bodybuilding industry that I’ve noticed over the past 10 years with the increased presence of fitness and bodybuilding all over social media.

I’m going to cover many different areas that I’ve seen change from attitude, influence, trends, and I’ll even touch on the evolution of haters and trolls for fun too.

Let me know what resonates with you in our Facebook group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!”

Additional Resources:

-NEW! Want to learn how to pose effectively for your category from the start? Come to a Learn To Pose™ LIVE Virtual Clinic! www.posingpractice.com 

-Want to WIN your next competition? I can help! Learn more at: www.posingwinsshows.com

 -FREE posing tutorials for Figure, Bikini, and Men's Physique competitors at www.learntopose.com 

-FREE ebook “5 Things Every Bodybuilding and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show” at www.eeinbb.com

-Grab your “My Own Motivation” tank top at shop.killitwithdrive.com 

Key Takeaways:

*How the look of a figure competitor has changed over the years (3:33)
*How the look of men’s classic physique has changed (4:16)
*How bikini and women’s physique has changed (5:21)
*How open bodybuilding, men’s physique and women’s wellness has changed (6:35)
*Trends in OCB, WNBF, Fitness Universe, and The WBFF (8:51)
*Health trends (10:38)
*The trend of the youth and the desire to be a fitness influencer (11:25)
*No one knows what a “natural” physique looks like anymore (12:32)
*2 unexpected things I uncovered about the industry from teaching my signature program (15:06)
*What I’m doing about the abundance of surface level education in our industry (18:18)

—-TRANSCRIPT—
What’s up guys and welcome back to the show. Today I’m going to talk about the changes in the bodybuilding industry that I’ve noticed over the past 10 years with the increased presence of fitness and bodybuilding all over social media. I’m going to cover many different areas that I’ve seen change from attitude, influence, trends, and I’ll even touch on the evolution of haters and trolls for fun too.

For the past year and a half to two years I’ve become more active on social media as I come out of my creative cave after spending years making various products for the bodybuilding industry. The last time I was heavily present on social media was about 10 years ago while I was preparing for shows.  It sure has been an eye opener to see the evolution.

While preparing for shows, I documented the whole journey on my Facebook page and posted my checkin photos every week with my no glam, pasty white skin, and wild hair to showcase the process in a real and raw way.  I had a tremendous amount of support and even had a line of tank tops made with mottos and anthems I used as motivation leading up to my shows. One was called, “eat lean train clean” and the other was called “kill it with drive.”  On show day, my supporters from countries all over the world would wear the tank tops and tag me in them on social media to show their support.  It was such an incredibly supportive environment.

The changes to social media from the last time I was heavily active has been an eye opener to say the least. My observations and experience with today’s social media is what sparked my thoughts for today’s episode. 

For one, the look of a bodybuilder has changed quite a bit over the years. The new standards of size, and the level of conditioning, or leanness, is mind blowing.  

I’ll use 4x Figure Olympia champion Nicole Wilkins as my first example. Google Nicole in the Olympia 2009 when she first won the Olympia and look at her side by side from the 2014 Olympia when she won for her 4th and final time. The amount of separation in her muscles, the caps on her delts, the detail in her legs, and increase in overall size is dramatic. Now compare Nicole in 2014 to the top Figure Olympians of today, such as Cydney Gillon who hasn’t been beat since she first won in 2017, and you will see that the level of detail that Cydney displays on stage is even more dramatic than Nicole in 2014.

Let’s now look at the men’s classic physique division.  Look at the first winner of this category ever - Danny Hester in 2016. Now look at Chris Bumstead, current champion, and compare the level of detail he brings to the stage. Now let’s talk about the weight limits of this class. This class requires the athletes to remain below a certain weight to try and keep the integrity of the style and build of physiques that this division is meant to embody, which is from what is called the golden years of bodybuilding from 1965-1985. For example, In 2016 the weight limit for men who were over 6 foot and up to 6’1” was up to and including 225lbs.  This class has since increased the weight limit from 225lbs to what is now 230lbs. So the allowable amount of size these guys are allowed to have in order to still qualify to compete has increased by 5lbs.  So it’s not just detail that has increased over the years, so has the size.

More examples. Bikini and Women’s Physique.  Let’s Look at Sonia Gonzalez, the first bikini Olympia champion in 2010. Besides the obvious changes in the posing of this division, look at the amount of muscle she has and the level of leanness of her physique. Now look at today’s bikini competitors and check out how much leaner and more muscular they are.  The bikini girls today look more like the early days of figure. The IFBB has done a good job keeping the size of bikini down in comparison to the figure division of today. I can’t say I agree they have kept the size of the competitors in the women’s physique division down though. The physique division from the Dana Linn Bailey days is barely recognizable. I remember when I first heard of physique and saw Dana Linn Bailey win and thought I could do this division. My background is as a bodybuilder and I always loved the posing of bodybuilding. But today if you look at the reining Olympia champion Sarah Villejos and the striations she has across her glutes, there is no way I would want to compete in this division anymore because of the risks it would have to my health to get that lean. 

It goes without saying that the men’s open bodybuilding division has evolved into 300lbs of solid muscle. Not much else to say about this except WOW. 

Last examples, Men’s Physique and women’s wellness. Men’s Physique competitor Mark Anthony Wingson won the first Olympia for this category in 2013.  Check him out. He had a very fit and athletic physique but not overly lean.  Now look at Brandon Hendrickson from 2021. Significantly bigger and significant leaner. 

And what’s crazy is Women’s wellness category just had its first Olympia in 2021 when Francielle from Brazil won. Over the past year the division has kept growing and there are a lot more competitors.  And in just one year, it’s crazy to see, how much of of an increase in size there has been with the women who are winning shows. In just one year.  For example, look at Dr. Sunny Andrews when she first won her Wellness Pro card and qualified for the Olympia (which by the way was at a show labeled “natural” because it was drug tested) and compare to how much more muscular, vascular, and hard her physique is now. And the time in between wasn’t that long.

Are you noticing a trend here?  

Not only has the size and conditioning of athletes exponentially increased since 2015/2016, the increases over the past couple of years alone is becoming even greater. In my opinion the ability to win in professional divisions of the IFBB like women’s Physique and men’s classic physique without the use of PEDs to obtain the level of size, conditioning, and hardness displayed by the athletes is very small. Open men and women’s bodybuilding, 1 in a billion.  I’ll even go as far as to say the figure, wellness, and men’s physique divisions are very small too since the look of these divisions has only gotten harder and bigger too. I already know that there are competitors in the bikini division using PEDs but I believe the look of this division is still something that is obtainable with diligence.  

Of course if you are competing in drug tested competitions like OCB, WNBF, and fitness universe, the look of these federations hasn’t changed dramatically and every division is meant to be achievable without PEDs. 

The WBFF federation doesn’t drug test but their scoring isn’t as much on the physique as it is on your marketability so in itself this has kept this federation from evolving into a super extreme look. What has become extreme are the costumes in this federation though. The amount of glam and glitz that people put int their costumes, suits, and bikinis is over the top.  I’ve heard of people spending $6,000 just on a costume. 

So really it’s the NPC and IFBB where I’ve seen massive changes in physique size, conditioning, and overall hardness. I’m also seeing an exponential rise in number of competitors in this federation too with the addition of more divisions.  

As an athlete myself first I can see how people would be discouraged hearing all of this. I do plan to compete again someday but I am not really discouraged since there are still divisions I can do well in as someone who isn’t into doing PEDs. This sport is me against me anyways. Besides, as someone who doesn’t do PEDs how cool would it be to hold my own on stage with others that are using PEDs. To hold my own and look and feel like a champion would be the greatest win.  The only way to do this is with time though.  Muscle requires time to build. The leanness is another issue since having paper thin skin as a women isn’t healthy.  I will only go as lean as my body will let me without causing harm. 

But this idea of health isn’t really pushed in the industry.  This is another trend I’ve been seeing.  I sent a newsletter out to my subscribers last week talking about the different competition prep protocols and someone hit me back and said that she has been told by multiple people in the industry that she will not be competitive if she doesn’t use PEDs in her protocol. So people in the Industry of influence are pushing this narrative of PED use and encouraging it.  No one is really talking about the side effects and safer use (not safe, I said safer) except maybe Jamie Pinder who was on my show in episode 7.  It’s a great episode if you haven’t’ heard it. It’s also on my YouTube channel as a video too.

Another trend that is probably the most frustrating is the trend of the youth and their desire to be fitness influencers for attention and money on social media and YouTube. Especially young men.  These young men are using PEDs in their TEENs. I said TEENs guys, Young men, who at that time in their life have the highest amount of testosterone raging through their veins are taking PEDs to grow their physiques faster so they can look like people such as Chris Bumstead. What’s crazy about the youth is you can be young and hot and make a ridiculous amount of money as a fitness influencer. 10 years ago that wasn’t the case.  10 years ago people still grabbed magazines from newsstands for fitness guidance.  Now the hot chick on TikTok hiking her shorts up to accentuate her crotch or the hot guy YouTuber with his pants around his ankles flexing his quads will show you the way. Not the people with Master’s degrees and PHds though.  Oh no. Not hot enough to know enough. 

Speaking of PEDs, The PED use is so rampant, I’m noticing an even more interesting trend in our industry.  The lack of knowledge of what a “natural” physique even looks like anymore.  Now a-days if someone posts a picture or a video showing any muscle at all, the trolls come swarming, flying around waving their keyboards like swords, and accusing people of PED use. This discussion is also a common narrative on Youtube with some YouTube bloggers regularly calling out people in episodes titled “Natty or Not.”  Some episodes are actually quite fun to listen to.  

I’ve been in the industry long enough that I can see common traits in people and often tell they are using PEDs. I’m not an expert by any means, but there are sure signs.  Facial changes in both men and women, voice changes in women, bulging red face in men, huge increases in muscle size over a short period of time to name a few.  But not everyone with muscle is on PEDs. Muscle growth is totally achievable. Even the industry experts on PEDs suggest you build a base of muscle first, tap out your genetic potential, before considering PEDs.

This issue of no one knows what a natural physique looks like is so bonkers to me. Dr. Layne Norton, he is a very vocal person on social media. I appreciate his blunt honestly and willingness to call out the b.s. in people. He had a moment last year where he did this regarding his wife, Holly Baxter, and the hate she was getting as she was preparing for the fitness model category in the WBFF world championships last year.  Layne got so ticked he posted a close up picture of Holly’s face and said, something like, look at her face, and goes on to say that it would not look like this if she was on PEDs.  Many people don’t really know what is achievable without PEDs.  So many people just assume people with muscle are on PEDs since their use is so common.  I’ve been told something crazy like 90-95% of people that are using PEDs are actually NOT even competitors.  The biggest market of users are not competitors.  They just want to look buff. This is a huge trend that is very concerning. 

And it’s not just the kids. There are idiot parents that ask what they should give their kids to help them perform better so they can get a scholarship. Isn’t that crazy?  

Everything seems to have evolved into being highly superficial.  Less regard for health, science, and more regard for one’s appearance. Solid education often gets buried in the nonsense. 

Over the past year I’ve been talking to you guys about my signature program Posing Wins Shows which was originally designed for veteran competitors that wanted to level up their game and go from "Meh" to awesome. 

But a couple of unexpected things happened. 

First, most of the people that joined my program weren’t seasoned competitors. It was the opposite. Most of the people that joined were new people who out the gate wanted to NEVER be mediocre. My kind of people.  I share the same mindset.  So when people joined, I had them post their posing videos in our private group for feedback and ongoing instruction. If they were new to competing, I had them watch the online posing tutorials as their starting place.  But here’s the thing… when they posted their posing videos….they looked nothing like the posing tutorials. Like nothing. So I had to pivot my program to add additional instruction because I wasn’t going to let these people who trusted me with my signature program be less than awesome. 

And then the second eye opening happened.  I also hold weekly group classes for these people in my signature program and, among other things, I educate on various topics in these classes. Over months of teaching, I noticed another trend…another unexpected trend. So one day I decided to quiz everyone to see if my suspicions were right. I went person to person, from new competitor to seasoned competitor, to male competitor, to female competitor, and asked everyone….what do you think you are being judged on?  

After going from person to person I realized…. They really didn’t know.  The information they have obtained up until this point is all ….surface level.  Just like I said before, things have evolved into being surface level.  

I’m a very process driven person.  I went to a 4 year college and finished in 3 years with an accounting degree and was working for, at the time was a big 5 accounting firm, doing corporate taxes for large companies at the age of 20. A few years later I tested a different type of accounting firm that was more about portfolios than taxes.  When I got there I was sort of given instructions on what exactly my job was. The job had daily tasks, monthly tasks, quarterly tasks, and annual tasks. Over a couple months I had it all down and was good to go but wondered why I had to learn these processed over months. Why couldn’t someone have just given me a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual list of instructions. Then one day, a new person was hired and I noticed she was lost on the job, just like I was on day 1 without a mentor. I couldn’t understand why procedures were never in place, so I made them and gave them to her. She was up to speed in weeks and management ended up using my procedures for future hires. 

My brain is constantly problem solving.  And how it solves problems is by breaking things down into minute details and then putting things back together, new and improved, in sequence, and in stages. 

So when I had this epiphany moment realizing just how surface level people are receiving information on how to pose, and how disorganized the information as a whole is, I decided to do something about it. 

I realized people don’t understand the fundamentals of posing.

They don’t understand what they were being judged on so they can be more competitive.

And, worse, they lack confidence on stage due to lack of preparedness.

I realize that it’s not that people WANT surface level education, I realize that surface level education is all that there is out there.  Like at that accounting firm - it’s not that no one wanted a process that helped new hires get up to speed in weeks and not months, it was that there just wasn’t a process created to provide this fast track to success. 

So just like I did as an accountant, I am doing it now for bodybuilders. After over two decades in the sport of bodybuilding, and 10 years of teaching and judging shows, I know how easily all of these things can be avoided with the proper education.  And that’s exactly what I’ve created with my LIVE Learn To Pose Virtual Clinics for every category in bodybuilding. Go to posingpractice.com to find out more on how to pose effectively from the start. 

At these clinics I’m teaching the specifics on what you are being judged on in your category (ALL federations are covered!).

I’m teaching how to build a proper posing foundation (where you will follow along as I break down the proper execution of every pose in your category into specific steps).

And you will practice all the new posing skills you just learned and let me guide you through them like you will be required to do on stage! (as a head judge of bodybuilding shows, I will give you a taste of what your experience will be like on stage!).

Again go to posingpractice.com for more info on how to learn to pose effectively from the start.  

Let’s bring awareness to foundational education and not surface level education. And I’ll continue to do this on my podcast for all other topics as I bring in more experts on the show to shed light on topics that are often full of misinformation.

It’s really eye opening to see just how much our industry of fitness and bodybuilding has changed. During Covid everyone was an at home workout expert. Bands were the new booty builder. And people became even more connected with their phones as the only way to socialize outside of the home. As if social media wasn’t big enough, it’s even bigger now. I don’t see these trends I’ve talked about in this episode getting any less extreme in the near future. I started just posting on YouTube for the first Time in many years and I have to laugh at the amount of negative comments I get. Everyone is an expert there in case you didn’t know. It’s definitely not the super supportive environment I remember from 10 years ago. I hope if anything this episode gets some people to think a little deeper about decisions and where they are getting their information and their influence from. It’s not easy to weed through the nonsense and appearances can be very deceiving. 

Ok guys, I’ve got some really cool topics coming up and an extra special interview in a few weeks that I think you are going to love. As always, if you like this podcast and want to see it continue, tell the podcast people it’s cool by leaving a review and sharing it in fitness groups on social media for others to hear about and tune into too. More to come!