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“Men’s Phsyique is bodybuilding light”. It’s just one of the ways some bodybuilders express their disdain for the class. Where does this disdain come from and to what extent is it justified?
A beach boy and a bodybuilder walk onto the beach…
if a men’s physique competitor and a bodybuilder walk onto the beach, the former will probably score more phone numbers while the latter will mostly be asked for photos. Even when they both wear the same swimsuit, by the way.
I think that summarizes the public opinion about a men’s physique shape vs a bodybuilder. One is an idealized image, the other an attraction in a show.
I can imagine that the attention a bodybuilder can get in that way can be addictive. At the same time, I would always wonder to what extent that ‘show’ in which I am the attraction is seen as a freak show. Women who want to take photos with you as tourists do with an elephant. Men who want to take photos with you as if they’re meeting a hero from an old children’s series. Someone who demonstrates a level they never expect to achieve themselves.
The physique of men in the men’s physique class evokes very different reactions. Women are more likely to look in admiration than in astonishment. Men look and compare more with their own physique and in many cases wonder if they should exercise more themselves. Instead of open appreciation, you can expect more envious looks from them.
That may also explain some of the resentment some bodybuilders feel towards men’s physique. Like a lion who is the alpha in the gym and doesn’t understand what all those lionesses see in those little cubs.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
“Bodybuilding light”
The men’s physique class has been subject to disdain from some bodybuilders since its inception. As recently discussed again in Generation Iron 3. This part is also recommended (and available on Netflix). I appreciate the series of documentaries because of the diversity in characters and opinions that are presented. Something I recently mentioned missing in some Dutch documentaries about fitness and bodybuilding.
In G.I.3, we heard C.T. Fletcher talk about the men’s physique class. “Bodybuilding light” is what he called it. Such statements can be heard more often among bodybuilders.
There are two main reasons for this:
- According to the guidelines in the class, a smaller degree of muscle mass is to be pursued
- The legs are covered by shorts
Bigger is not always better
In the various classes called “bodybuilding,” the principle generally applies that more muscle mass is always better. Of course, there must be a balance. That muscle mass must be evenly distributed, and the percentage of fat must be low enough to highlight those muscles well.
However, when two bodybuilders show the same balance and proportions, the one with the most muscle mass usually wins (apart from posing). As long as they meet any requirements of the class such as a certain weight.
In the men’s physique class, however, there is such a thing as too much muscle mass. Moreover, participants are not allowed to tense their muscles with poses designed for this purpose like bodybuilders during competitions. This creates a kind of natural contradiction within the old philosophy of bodybuilding. Like ‘sprinters’ who are not allowed to run too fast within a certain class and have to jog instead of sprint.
Then it’s not sprinting anymore. Isn’t “bigger is better” one of the fundamental characteristics of bodybuilding? Shouldn’t we then not see men’s physique as bodybuilding? That’s difficult considering they stand on the same stage and the path there has so many similarities.
Smaller is easier
Every men’s physique competitor will tell you that the right adjustment of the diet can be complex and challenging. However, the fact remains that for more muscle mass, you have to eat more.
Top bodybuilders can eat around 8,000 calories or more per day to get enough nutrients to stimulate and maintain that enormous mass. If you simply have to eat three times as much, this also costs more time, effort, money, and energy.
Moreover, the road to the body of a bodybuilder is much longer. If you want to build a large building, it simply requires more material and man-hours.
Always skip leg day?
The other requirement is wearing shorts instead of the posing briefs in bodybuilding.
There is enough to do with those posing briefs in bodybuilding. In any case, there are enough people for whom having to wear such briefs is one major obstacle to stepping on stage as a bodybuilder. But those posing briefs are intended to hide as little as possible of your hard work on buttocks and legs. Exactly the opposite of the garment in men’s physique.
The (upper) legs are not judged or shown in men’s physique. Of course, this can run counter to one of bodybuilding’s main credos:
Never skip
leg day!
That the legs are not judged and shown does not automatically mean that they are not trained. For me personally, the men’s physique class would be the most feasible. Not because I don’t train my legs, but because they simply respond less to training than the rest. The fact that the legs are not judged could therefore mean that people who would otherwise never dare to step on stage because of lesser legs, now dare to give it
a try.
No predisposition or no attention for legs?
On the other hand, I also know men’s physique competitors who give less attention to their legs due to the criteria to fully focus on the upper body.
In the case of people with less genetic predisposition for legs, I can imagine that bodybuilders will say, “Too bad.” Or one of the many cliché fitness quotes will be pulled out of the hat, all of which come down to the fact that you just have to work harder.
In the case of consciously reduced focus on the legs, I can imagine that bodybuilders see this as a disgrace to the original ideal of bodybuilding.
However, it must be said that there are also many men’s physique competitors who give the same amount of attention to their legs as to other muscle groups and see the same results. However, their overall physique may still prove to be more successful in the men’s physique class. Men who don’t carry a lot of muscle mass, but have a very narrow waist.
Men’s physique as a stepping stone to bodybuilding?
I must admit that I have seen participants in a bodybuilding class on stage whom I thought, “Brave!”
I wouldn’t have gone on stage with such a shape myself. That can say as much about my cowardice as about the shape of the person on stage.
The point here is that we associate ‘bodybuilder’ with ‘big’. However, building such mass is a process of years, and why should you have to wait for the end result to gain your first experience on stage?
Men in the men’s physique class don’t do bodybuilding poses. No poses that essentially say, “Look how big I am.” That suits men who are also not conspicuously big, but rely on aesthetics.
Men’s physique the salvation of bodybuilding?
By the way, I think many bodybuilders, whether secretly or not, are very happy with the advent of the men’s physique class. Just like the bikini fitness class for women, this class has made the sport of bodybuilding much more accessible to the masses. Not only because participants can present themselves more quickly on stage, but also because the ideal image in the class more closely resembles the ideal image of the masses.
I have often drawn attention to the fact that the mass monsters in bodybuilding are becoming further and further removed from what most people consider beautiful. I am not alone in this. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed the same criticism.
This means that it is increasingly moving away from the original goal of bodybuilding. That problem is inherent in a sport where ‘bigger’ has been linked to ‘better’ for decades.
The men’s physique class may better meet the ideal image of the masses, thereby producing role models in the sport of bodybuilding instead of mere spectacles.
“There is no Men’s physique”
Finally, it must be emphasized that there is not one men’s physique. The criteria for the ideal figure in this class can change depending on the organization, location, the field of participants, and the individual preferences of judges.
On an international level, for example, we see that men and women in the men’s physique and bikini fitness classes have much more muscle mass than at a local or national level in the Netherlands. Multiple Mr. Olympia in the men’s physique class, Jeremy Buendia, for example, could be very successful in bodybuilding classes at a national level.
All the photos here were taken during the William Bonac Classic late last year. An international competition where participants could earn their pro license. So, high level.
To each their own
So, I understand the condescending remarks of bodybuilders about the men’s physique class, but I also believe that those same bodybuilders should be happy with the class. Especially at the local level, bodybuilders now also get a larger audience in the hall at competitions thanks to the popularity of the ‘lighter class’.
After all, how cool is it to be a big fish in a small pond?
