Bodybuilding – From Michelangelo's David-of-six-packs to Dieux Du Stade

Every year a leading design studio in France brings out a calendar titled Dieux Du Stade (The Gods of the Stadium) known for it brazen celebration of the near-nude male form of some of the well known, admirably muscled sportsmen from around the world, just like what Pirelli and Sports Illustrated does to create oglers and pop-eyes out of men. It is a sure fact that it is not only the women who hang it up their walls but the men too; and why not? A well muscled and shapely body is what every man dreams to own someday though only a few get anywhere close to owning one. Not very many centuries ago, Michelangelo's disrobed his David and showed the world what the perfectly chiseled human form should look like, creating a niche for him-self with the cliché ‘the chiseled look.’

We, the unashamed ordinary mortals of 21st Century, who got nothing to flaunt other than flaccid biceps and bulging bellies grow gawky-enviously when the local Arnold-likes strut around town showing off their meat. Though we’d sometimes feel the urge to barter all that we got to get into that pillar-sized biceps, the armor-plated pectorals and the 6-pack abs which the local Davids’ display, most often it is easier said than done. The simple fact to be understood is that hardcore body-building is not for all and I’d like to re-stress that, ‘not for all.’ Hardcore bodybuilding is for hardcore enthusiasts who are determined to make it to the professional level of competition or already in that league.

To one who is a health-conscious, job-holding, weekend partying, average-middleclass-Joe, bulbous thick veined muscles mass is most of the time beyond the bulge of the wallet, above the level of tolerance and is not at all a health need. But a good physique and a good muscle tone is equally well respected and is always within reach when the right kind of effort goes into it. And thank God for that. Do you intend to eat eight small meals of boiled meats and vegetables everyday, take steroids that would damage your liver and kidney, and spend half your life in the gym and the rest in the hospital ward with a cynical old nurse for company?

Though bodybuilding has its place as a entertainment/sport(?) in the modern world, it sure has not enjoyed the following that the Miss World or Miss Universe and similar beauty pageants generate. But once in a while attention is all it gets when somebody high profile like bodybuilder turned film actor and governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger helps promote the sport. After having been pushed to the status of a low-profile sport by other sports that occupy more viewer-ship and airtime, the art of bodybuilding is at the crossroads and is entering one of the best stages of its evolution as a sport with it debuting in Asian Games 2010 at Pusan.

One serious threat faced by the every sport is doping and bodybuilding is a sport where this phenomenon is so wide spread that almost 90% + have prohibited chemicals and substances in their blood and urine. It was only after blood and urine samples of some world record breaking athletes showing signs of drug abuse that the International Olympic Association and other sports bodies have unified to strangle this new evil in sport.