Why Are So Many Bodybuilders Stuck in the 70s?

[Will Brink]

If there’s on group of strength athletes that seems to be stuck in the late 60s -70s when it comes to their training approach, it’s bodybuilders. Some might argue bodybuilders are physique athletes versus strength athletes per se, but I’m defining strength athlete as anyone who lifts progressively heavier weights in an attempt to get stronger and or larger as their primary focus. Whether they do that to be able to diet down and show that work on a stage or to hit a new PR at a competition is irrelevant to me. So from here on out, I’m placing bodybuilders in the category of strength athletes along with power lifters, strong men competitors, Olympic lifters, etc.

If you spend time in a serious power lifting gym, you’ll find modern power lifters following what’s the most effective and efficient training methods for them to move forward in their sport. Obviously they apply their own approaches and methods, but understanding and utilizing concepts such as periodization, planned progression, de-loading, and so forth, is the common approach by successful modern powerlifters. You’ll find the same for O lifters, strong men, and others as the common theme. What about bodybuilders?

Cont:

http://www.brinkzone.com/articles/why-are-bodybuilders-stuck-in-the-70s/

 

[Vince Carter]

Links to the app are broken

 

[Will Brink]

Links to the app are broken

Fixed. Thanx for the heads up.

 

[smashed25]

Nice article Will. Especially the part about mobility work and injury prevention. I'm 24 and think most people think only older guys need it until it's too late and like you said they disappear. But since starting foam rolling and mobility work for shoulders as well as small supplemental exercises for the main lifts, I've made a lot of progress and felt better and i'm not using anywhere near the weight some of these guys do.

 

[Will Brink]

Nice article Will. Especially the part about mobility work and injury prevention. I'm 24 and think most people think only older guys need it until it's too late and like you said they disappear. But since starting foam rolling and mobility work for shoulders as well as small supplemental exercises for the main lifts, I've made a lot of progress and felt better and i'm not using anywhere near the weight some of these guys do.

Yup, by the time most find the benefits of mobility work, pre hab, etc, it's too late. They'd also reduce likelyhood of injuries while improving responses to hard work in the gym by following modern programming principles.

 

[JPB]

You can argue if the training has changed much or not, but bodybuilders still pack on the most muscle, with a lower incidence of training injuries. And there have been changes. Since Mike Mentzer ushered in the "heavy duty" style which led to guys like Dorian and Ronnie, nowadays more top guys are training lighter and keying more on injury prevention. And there is periodization in a sense based on contest schedules and off-season vs in-season regimens. Bodybuilding is more about the mind-muscle connection as opposed to a strength concept.

 

[Will Brink]

You can argue if the training has changed much or not, but bodybuilders still pack on the most muscle, with a lower incidence of training injuries.

Do you have a source for that claim? Bbers I know have torn all manner of muscles and or suffer chronic joint pain.

And there have been changes. Since Mike Mentzer ushered in the "heavy duty" style which led to guys like Dorian and Ronnie,

Using two the most genetically gifted human beings who ever lived is exactly why their terrible examples of anything. Two, simply not correct.

Mentzer ushered in nothing and took from Jones who was a con man. Dorian did not follow HIT per Mentzer but did due less volume than most of his contemporaries, but never followed anything from Mentzer per se but Mentzer tried to claim he did. Dorian being Dorian didn't say anything at the time but has said such in later interviews and told that to my face at tittie bar.

He also tore a variety muscles and was exactly the type referred to in this article, genetically gifted person who would have grown anything. Not a single successful pro bber followed Mentzer's HIT. Ronnie followed lower volume than typical bbing routine in terms of sets/volume but being strong as train, could use some massive weights, but it was not HIT via Mentzer. He's also had multiple back operations and double hip replacement. He's a mess.

nowadays more top guys are training lighter and keying more on injury prevention. And there is periodization in a sense based on contest schedules and off-season vs in-season regimens. Bodybuilding is more about the mind-muscle connection as opposed to a strength concept.

Most train quite similar to how Arnold trained and the rest with some obvious variations, with very few changes made since the 60s, 70s. I have done the pre contest prep, etc. for IFBB pros, etc. Going from off season to pre contest in the manner they typically do is not periodization as it's applied to modern applications and of course not everyone who lifts and wants to make progress competes, so a moot issue. mind-muscle connection is again, some 70s bro science stuff.

Finally, what people with genetics 0.01% of the population has and on PEDs does is irrelevant what what us mere mortals should do if they want to make ongoing progress and reduce rates of injuries.

 

[JPB]

Do you have a source for that claim? Bbers I know have torn all manner of muscles and or suffer chronic joint pain.

I never said bodybuilders don't get injuries. It's just my observation, over 40+ years in both BB and power lifting gyms. The power lifters are subject to more catastrophic issues, and tend to have shorter careers. Based on my observation. But that's not meant to be universal. I referred to Ronnie and Dorian as example of two prominent guys who did have issues likely from extreme training methods. No point debating the origins of heavy duty, I know that history. With Casey Viator and Jones.

While top-level bodybuilding has had examples of catastrophic injuries or disabilities likely due to training methods, there have been also many examples of guys who were able to compete at a high level into the upper 40s or 50s.

So do you have any source for the claim, that these scientific methods, would help a high-level bodybuilder accomplish better results? It seems your assertion with this thread is that if bodybuilders trained more scientifically (in terms of periodization, etc) well then of course, they could really start getting better results. ... So I doubt if that is the case. And the training methods are not unsophisticated. The results speak. They already pack on more muscle per inch than power lifters, while generally sustaining fewer injuries.

But anytime you talk the top 1% of competitors, injuries can and will occur.

 

[JPB]

I think you misunderstood my reference to Ronnie and Dorian. I meant they are examples of bodybuilders who paid the price for extremes in heavy training. Be it so called heavy duty or whatever. Dorian seems to have fared better long-term since he got out sooner. Nowadays I see fewer bodybuilders trying crazy stuff. There seems to be a higher recognition of injury risks.

Powerlifters are very sophisticated and scientific. I'm not arguing that. But bodybuilding is a different endeavor in every way.

 

[JPB]

You also say bodybuilders are strength athletes. That's not really the case at all. But they are strong.

 

[Will Brink]

And you're missing the point. Did you read the entire thing or just what's posted here? The topic is not about how high level elite bbers train per se, though it has changed very little in decades. They will make excellent progress regardless of how they train as a rule. They'd likely make even be better progress if they followed some of the more modern approache, but that's not the point.

The point of the discussion is that Joe average genetics, the 95% toiling away in the gyms, should not follow what the 0.1% do who are also on PEDs, etc, but catch up to 2017 and use what other strength athletes are benefiting from as they would too: periodization, planned progression, de-loading, approaches that would greatly improve their progress while reducing their chances of injuries. Prehab work, mobility work, and other useful modalities that improve recoup from tough workouts and reduce the risk of injury, also foreign concepts by and large in the bodybuilding community.

That's pretty much all I'll have to say on the matter unless you feel there's really something to add not covered on the topic.

 

[Bevaro]

I definitely have just keeping the same routine over and over throughout the years definitely has kept me at a plateu

 

[Everydaystruggle]

Do what works for you. Get that pump and blood flowing!

 

[Davet]

Great article Will...spot on for us older trainers...train smarter, not harder...its a long old road if you want to travel the whole length, dt

 

[Will Brink]

Great article Will...spot on for us older trainers...train smarter, not harder...its a long old road if you want to travel the whole length, dt

Thanx, glad you enjoyed it.

 

[mrhat75]

I highly recommend Greg Nuckol's work. Very cutting edge and he gets into the science behind everything which is great for our nerdy community lol. You should be able to find him with a quick Google search.

 

[FOX1]

I train strictly to my bible; I have two bibles


1; Beef it - upping the muscle mass; Robert Kennedy

2; Basic Routines for massive muscles; Robert Kennedy.


.

 

[Will Brink]

I train strictly to my bible; I have two bibles


1; Beef it - upping the muscle mass; Robert Kennedy

2; Basic Routines for massive muscles; Robert Kennedy.

.

Beef It was the first bbing book I read decades ago and I followed the programs in it. It was a good overall beginners book for the time but there's far better info today. The app mentioned in the article above would be very useful or check out recent books from people like Brad Schoenfeld:

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Development-Muscle-Hypertrophy-Schoenfeld/dp/149251960X/

Here's a pic of me an Bob Kennedy (RIP) from back in the day:

http://www.brinkzone.com/general-brinkzone-stuff/bob-kennedy-1938-2012-the-end-of-an-era/

 

[FOX1]

Beef It was the first bbing book I read decades ago and I followed the programs in it. It was a good overall beginners book for the time but there's far better info today. The app mentioned in the article above would be very useful or check out recent books from people like Brad Schoenfeld:

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Development-Muscle-Hypertrophy-Schoenfeld/dp/149251960X/

Here's a pic of me an Bob Kennedy (RIP) from back in the day:

http://www.brinkzone.com/general-brinkzone-stuff/bob-kennedy-1938-2012-the-end-of-an-era/

Thanks for the links, it may be worth a read, although I am content with the exercises within the two books I stated.