The 'Art and Sport' of...er...Bodybuilding

There was an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm last season--the one where Larry and Cherl decide to break up--in which Larry sits down to dinner with a group of friends.  One of them says,

Well, Cheryl is a great, great girl.  We love Cheryl.  A truly amazing, beautiful, generous woman.  But we never would have met Cheryl if not for Larry.  So throughout this breakup, we're sticking with Larry. 

That's sort of how I feel about what was once called, by George Butler, one of its most notable chroniclers, the "art and sport" of bodybuilding.  In his book and film, Pumping Iron, Butler sought to redeem bodybuilding, rescuing it from circus freakshowdom and endow it with a degree of something like nobility.  Certainly in the proud, sinuous movements  of Ed Corney, the joshing hyper-Americanism of Arnold Schwarzenegger, even the blue-collar, Oedipal aspiriations of Lou Ferrigno, Butler found--and partially invented-- something touchingly human and even borderline mythic. 

But it ain't so today.  The Arnold Classic, one of the largest bodybuilding shows around, is such a freakshow that T-Nation probably has the right idea by covering the swag floor and product booths and giving not one pixel to the show itself (although, truth be told, there was some remarkable athleticism on display, as this set of videos demonstrates). 

The promoters of the event are probably wise to downplay what was once the sole contest of the weekend, because bodybuilding has lost serious ground to things like strongman competition and--especially--mixed-martial arts.  So these other contests are foregrounded and plugged, the formerly-proud main event itself buried amongst championships in things like cheerleading and table-tennis. 

Still:  like Larry David's friends, I maintain a certain affection for bodybuilding.  Muscle and Fitness, Flex, and bodybuilding stars of the 80's and 90's like Lee Haney, Lee Labrada, Gary Strydom and Rich Gaspari inspired me when I was young, and, in part, set me on a path I'm still--inexplicably--treading.  Joe Weider's platitudes did give my life some weird structure and discipline, even if I recognized them as platitudes even then.  

It's as if bodybuilding were an old high-school pal who used to be a lot of fun but who has fallen on hard times, a couple of DUI convictions, and the wrong end of too many needles.  You feel bad for the guy, and you have some good memories of fun times together, but you just don't feel like hanging out with him that much any more.

Anyway, with a nod to my old obsession, here's this year's winner, a monster named Kai Greene. 

Respect to Mr. Greene's efforts, but can I get a show of hands for how many people really see this physique as the apotheosis of fitness?  Or aspire to this level of development?  And then can I see a show of hands as to who feels the same way about Ed Corney's physique, circa 1975?

(Apologies for small photos.  Technical issues, but I hope you get the idea...)

Bodybuilding as such is way too far gone to pull it back from the brink at this point.  But maybe there's some smart, scrappy, first-generation immigrant like Weider and Schwarzenegger back in the 70's who's got an idea about how to make it vital again.  Here's hopin.'