6 Reasons Why Bodybuilding Fails as A Sport
What is it about the sport of bodybuilding that we all love that just can’t seem to make it mainstream? Why aren’t more people engaged in the bodybuilding scene? Is there something the sport is missing that is creating this disconnect from every other sport that’s out there? Actually, I think there is. And below are my 6 reasons I feel there’s a complete disconnect and why bodybuilding fails as a sport.
1.) Drugs
Do we really need to even go over this one? This is what I would consider the most obvious of the bodybuilding fails. Of course, there are many professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, MLB, MMA, NHL, etc. (heck, look at the PGA and Tiger Woods) who use performance enhancing drugs—yet most people consider bodybuilding the most abusive. While they may be correct, if you look at the overall number of professional athletes using drugs (at least those who get caught), in the grand scheme of things, the total number of bodybuilders is low compared to athletes in other professional organizations as there are way more of them out there. The number of bodybuilders competing doesn’t even compare to the number of football, baseball, or basketball players.
Bodybuilders might be using more specialized drugs that deal with testosterone and muscle growth, but again, other athletes are still using steroids and other drugs to help improve their recovery. It’s literally all the same since a drug is a drug and is treated as such. People just perceive bodybuilders to be worse since you can see a drastic difference in musculature when compared to mainstream athletes we are used to seeing on television.
2.) Subjectivity
The second of the bodybuilding fails is subjectivity. Most sports these days are very objective. There are point systems in place that you can see at any point during the game or match to understand who is winning and who is losing. In bodybuilding, you don’t see the scorecards until after the show, and even then, you need to do some digging online to find them. When judging years ago, it was fairly easy to tell who was top five based on where they position the competitors on stage. Generally, the person who they feel has the best look and the person they believe is the winner is generally in the middle with the second and third place competitors on either side of him.
However, now, the head judge if they already know who the winner is can put the person they think will win off to the side of the competitors or tell him to step back out of the line. They even move people around several times which makes you wonder where people are going to fall at the end of the show.
The judges also have to compare everyone’s physique and give them a score. Different judges might see different things about a competitor’s physique and score them drastically different. That sometimes causes controversy at the end of a show. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be a judge. With so many competitors up on stage, I’m not sure how you can eyeball them all and figure out who places where in the small amount of time they have to look at everyone’s physique.
3.) Niche industry
Let’s face it, our industry is not mainstream at all. It’s one of the biggest bodybuilding fails ever. Even though health and fitness is something very mainstream, the bodybuilding world is extreme in the eyes of the general public and not one that many people find pleasing to the eyeballs. Not many women outside the industry find bodybuilders attractive and consider them panty droppers. Bodybuilding is a pretty extreme lifestyle to say the least.
Also, when you think about it, there are way fewer competitors jumping on stage when compared to football, basketball, baseball, and soccer players that are professionals and those looking to hopefully one day turn pro. Even college and high school athletics has a bigger fan-base than bodybuilding. Most spectators would rather watch teams going at it than guys in tiny trunks lathered up in oil under some bright lights. It’s not for everyone.
While I sometimes ask myself why I like the sport, it comes back to the appreciate and dedication to the craft of bodybuilding. Not many people truly understand the things these competitors go through in order to look like that on stage. I believe for that reason alone they are disinterested. It’s hard to be interested in something if you yourself can’t relate on some level.
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