bodybuilding

That flash in the sky, what could it be? A comet? A meteor? No, it’s the meteoric rise of the career of pro physique champion Rachel Daniels! Some excellent muscle contest competitors need to pay a lot of dues, taking many years to earn their pro cards. Not so for Rachel. I went online looking...

Kamal Elgargni hasn’t been in the 212 bodybuilding scene for too long, but he’s already managed to make quite an impact on the division. At his 212 pro debut at the 2018 Arnold Classic, he managed to topple a roster of impressive competitors and took home first prize. At that year’s Olympia, he...

With the Olympia fast approaching, athletes around the world are preparing to hit the stage for bodybuilding’s biggest show. And come December, it’ll be time to show off the hard work they’ve put in. IFBB Pro League bikini competitor Lexus Redmond is one of them, and the 2020 Olympia will be her...

When you are at an elite bodybuilding competition where the competitors are all in outstanding shape, they typically all look wonderful when they are first introduced individually on stage. But as soon as you start comparing them, seeing them standing side by side, subtle differences become more...

Nowadays, we’re used to seeing Bob Cicherillo announcing on stage at major bodybuilding events like the Olympia Weekend. He has a big voice, and he’s got a big physique to match. In fact, Bob spent years as a competitive bodybuilder, beginning at the 1981 Natural America, where he placed 4th in...

The prevalence of bodybuilding-style weight training in virtually all sports has shown us a lot of things. We’ve seen that stronger athletes perform better almost across the board, including in baseball and golf, which used to be thought of as sports that depend more on “skill” than high-level...

When Chief Olympia Officer Dan Solomon announced that basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal would be the 2020 Honorary Olympia Ambassador, many people were excited. “For the most part everyone was amped up to have one of the biggest stars in the world with us this year as part of our whole Olympia...

The progress that women, especially in western culture, have made since the latter half of the 19th century is amazing. This is especially evident when you look at parts of the world that have not gone through this evolutionary change. For example, where they are denied an education, freedom of...

Derek Lunsford placed second at the 212 Olympia in both 2018 and 2019 after an impressive fifth-place debut in 2017. The first time he was runner-up, Lunsford was up against the virtually unbeatable Flex Lewis, who retired from the 212 division that year after seven consecutive wins. In 2019...

Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills region of South Dakota celebrates four revered American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Their 60-foot granite faces are carved into the Mount. If we had an Olympia version, entitled Mount Oympus, confined...

Phil Heath, the seven-time Mr. Olympia, hasn’t set foot on a bodybuilding stage since his shocking loss at the 2018 Mr. Olympia. Many have wondered when he would return to competition, and some questioned if he would ever do so again. The wait for an answer is now over: Heath confirmed in an...

On May 7, 2020, the bodybuilding community lost a rising star with the passing of open bodybuilding competitor Luke Sandoe. Following a big year of shows, including a third-place finish at the 2019 Arnold Classic and an 11th-place finish at his first Olympia in 2019, his death was unexpected and...

The purpose of the bodybuilding diet is to achieve two contradictory goals — maximize muscle mass and minimize body fat. Either of these goals can be difficult to reach, so doing both at the same time would almost impossible if generations of bodybuilders hadn’t figured out, on the basis of...

I had the privilege of working closely with Joe Weider for decades, and one of the things I observed that made his magazines so successful was his insistence on publishing first-rate photos by really excellent photographers. At various times, Joe hired several Hollywood celebrity photographers...

Bodybuilding is about building aesthetic muscle, so bigger physiques have always been admired so long as they conformed to certain aesthetic standards. But as the late Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, once pointed out, back in his era the majority of bodybuilding competitors did not have the...

Phil Heath will always be a bodybuilder — it’s something that’s ingrained in his very being. “Bodybuilding is in my DNA,” the seven-time Mr. Olympia told Muscle & Fitness. “That has not changed one bit. I’ll always have that in my blood.” But in recent years, Heath has tried to become much...

Amateur bodybuilding competition is conducted using weight divisions for same reason sports like boxing, wrestling and weight lifting are: Body size is an important factor. And bigger competitors usually have an advantage over smaller competitors, all else being equal. While competing as...

Female bodybuilding is one of the toughest sports out there. It requires years of hard, consistent workouts and extreme diets. Not only is this physically demanding, often resulting in physical injury, but it can take a serious psychological toll as well. There are multiple champion female...

Arnold Schwarzenegger burst onto the bodybuilding scene in the late 1960’s in Europe, and made the transition from Munich to Venice, CA in 1968. He entered his first Mr. Olympia contest, at 22 years old, on Sept. 13, 1969, fully confident he could defeat defending champion Sergio Oliva, Sr. —...

When I saw Iris Kyle win the 1996 Orange County Muscle Classic, she was ripped and in great shape, but she did not have the muscle mass that would later allow her to win 10 Ms. Olympia titles. Obviously, she put on a lot more size fairly quickly. But being in great shape on the contest stage...