>soft 4 pack
>thick waist
>arm to leg ratio not in classic Greek proportions
>right bicep much bigger than the left
Is Arnold the most overrated physique in bodybuilding?
Soft 4 pack
Easton Flores
Ayden Richardson
yes
Nathaniel Wright
no he's not
Daniel Gomez
no
I think his 'imperfections' such as 4 pack and thick waist as well as his height make him one of the most aesthetic bodybuilders ever
washboard abs aren't my favourite tbqhwu
Ryan Thompson
His contemporaries Frank Zane, Mike Mentzer, Sergio Oliva and Tom Platz all looked better than him. Arnold was the Stan Lee of bodybuilding and used his connections to game the system.
Brandon Rogers
This again proves that height>everything else
Dominic Sanchez
God Platz was amazing.
Lucas Cook
He should have got at least second at the 81 olympia.
I think the bicep tear he suffered ended his career but I can't much to read about it.
>tfw no old man Tom Platz screaming at you while you squat
Andrew Collins
It depends on what you mean by "overrated".
On one hand, he had the biggest splash on the fitness industry of arguably anybody, ever. On those grounds alone it's hard to call him 'underrrated'.
On the more technical level, as others have rightly stated he does have some patently undeserved titles and the like, especially given some of his contemporaries. But even among people into bodybuilding he's often considered one of the greats regardless of titles and other achievements, based on his look alone. So it's actually an interesting and complex question, good job OP.
Personally, I can't say he's overrated. His physique was unique and pretty fucking awesome. I prefer the look of pic related but can't deny the power of either.
Cooper Wright
big arms, pecs and capped shoulders is all one needs to look great
lmao at the retards complicating everything
Evan Ortiz
>thick waist
>soft 4 pack
Have you ever seen a Greek statue? Those waists are huge.
Dominic Young
Despite his zeal, Tom Platz is a perfect example why even pros need to be careful with overtraining because had he not hurt himself, the Golden Eagle would've dominated the Mr. Olympia in the 80s. He was completely robbed in 81, Franco Columbo looked like shit and Dickerson was good but couldn't compare to Tommy's aesthetics. The results of the event were so bad that due to all the booing in the crowd, that they didn't air that Mr. Olympia on TV that year despite the public's interest in the sport after Pumping Iron.
Kayden Hall
This is what an ancient Greek statue looks like.
Nicholas Wright
It depends on how autistic you like to get about the details. Arnold's physique has a presence and a striking quality that I can't quite put my finger on. In his prime, his physique was very imposing, it commands your attention, despite the flaws.
Jace Myers
Zane lacked the size, he blew up one year but just couldn't get the conditioning down, it just wasn't for him.
Sebastian Rogers
thin waist is fucking gay guys don't go for it unless you want to get fucked by other men......
Julian Taylor
I'm fucking sick of all these roid bodies
Dylan Carter
Same with Zyzz. plenty of guys bigger than him, plenty more shredded, plenty with better proportions, and yet no one comes close to looking half as aesthetic
Nicholas Butler
Arnold knew these weaknesses and hid them during posing, his poses comprised mostly of chest and bicep shots, his twisted back shot hit has abs pretty well, dude also was in bed with Weider, literally Weiders show pony.
pic unrelated, mike mentzer
Cooper Jackson
this
Robert Cooper
Arnold was Numero Uno
Gabriel Young
B&R Mentzer and Platz were done so dirty it makes me sick, I’m a huge Arnold fan too but the shit that went on was fuckin horrific. Mentzer won in 1979&1980 then Platz won in 91
Levi Barnes
Platz won in 81*
David Hughes
They do not
Andrew Hill
Arnold didn't have the best bicep insertion in this right arm, but gave him an awesome peak. Still aesthetic. I think Frank Zane has on of the most visually appealing physiques
Gavin Adams
Exactly.
>dude also was in bed with Weider, literally Weiders show pony.
Its unfortunate that this is how the industry works.
Brody Baker
Exactly, and that statue is one of the closest to modern body building physiques. Most Greek statues didn't look anything like the guys in this thread.
Laocoon is pretty big for an ancient statue but he does not look like a Mr. Olympia contestant.
Tyler Mitchell
it looks very fluid. It looks big but not bulky
Brayden Richardson
daddy
Nicholas Butler
>t. Powershitter
Jayden Myers
No they don’t
Sebastian Johnson
mom said its my turn to be mister olympia
Charles Baker
Exactly, when you analyze his physique holistically, its excellent.
Jayden Reed
Its literally not. They were all carved with thick ss fuck waists and cores.
Jaxon Reed
this is what they looked like
Liam Adams
>Zane lacked the size
You're the problem with bodybuilding faggot
Anthony Bailey
No, because Arnold had a unique body. His height and mass alone dwarfed everyone not named Lou Ferigno. How do you expect Frank Zane to compete with someone twice his size? And his massive chest and arms coupled with his slimmer legs (which was a conscious choice on his part) gave him an aesthetic, yet powerful appearance that the mass monster manlets of today with their over-sized quads just don't have.
Xavier Roberts
Go watch Physique then. That's clearly more your thing. Not him btw.
Isaiah Robinson
Physique is for pencil legged nobodies
Thomas Carter
It's also the most popular category these days.
Andrew Nelson
arnie looks way better than that discoloured ninja turtle
Charles Thomas
He looks better than most of this board
Kayden Collins
Good thread OP. This is the stuff that should be discussed on this dumbass board.
To answer your question - no, not really, to the general population at least.
Incredibly wide chest/shoulders, tall, and while his waist may have been on the thicker side, he hid it incredibly well with his posing. His lats look huge in front poses.
To the average eye, Arnold looks incredible only due to his structure. There is just something about a tall man with wide shoulders and chest that DEMANDS your attention.
Another modern example of this - Chris Bumstead. Tall, huge, wide chest & shoulders. Has a huge fanbase and looks incredible to the average eye. Casuals fucking LOVE him. All same as Arnold.
But now lets look at him with a more critical eye - literally no fucking biceps, no back thickness, legs are nothing special when compared to the competition, and his abs are nothing special either, which is why he's constantly pulling a vacuum. A lot of flaws, just like Arnold had.
Meanwhile, pic related is Breon who's Classic Physique Mr.O for 2 years in a row (will be 3 this year, for sure). Incredibly dominating champion, you are hard pressed to find a flaw. But he's only NOW starting to gather a bigger fanbase, because he's engaging more on social media and is also doing videos. His physique just doesn't demand the attention of the average fan the way Chris does, because Breon is shorter and narrower. Fortunately, bodybuilding is no longer judged as it was during Arnold's time, and Breon is being rewarded righteously.
Caleb White
Exactly my point.
Robert Scott
Bodybuilding was about lines back then, and arnold knew how to show his body on the most aesthetic angles.
Phil heath is a disgrace to aesthetics
Luis Thomas
They need to can all the judges. The fact that they let Ronnie and Phil win so many many Olympia’s with giant guts has turned bodybuilding into a fucking joke. It used to be if you mentioned a bodybuilder people thought Arnold or Lee Haney, now if you mention bodybuilding people think of these goofy ass motherfuckers like Craig Golias
Jackson Murphy
The major problem is that while the general scoring system is made public (best scores on the 11 poses) we aren't told how they determine what constitutes a higher score. We now know that after Steve Reeves's Hollywood success that Weider wanted the Olympia Organization to concentrate on making Mr. Olympia a platform to Hollywood success (which really only happened with Arnold and Lou Ferrigno to an extent)... then they gave up on it and the Olympia Organization concentrated on promoting guys who would make people say "what the fuck?!" and to "promote rivalries in visually distinct physiques" all in order to sell bodybuilding magazines.
The problem is that Mr. Olympia feels they ARE bodybuilding instead of just being the most prestigious title. Still no good reason why they unceremoniously cut off female bodybuilding only because they didn't sell magazines. They should listen to the feedback of the fans instead of acting like they're the NBA, NFL, etc that have a monopoly in how that sport is played (at least in the US) and scored.
Carson Barnes
Instagram is eating Mr. Olympia's lunch.
Lucas Gomez
Platz looked even better in 86.
Liam Young
Classic Physique is a huge step in the right direction. Having a weight limit based on height really forces for different types of physiques to come along. The competition is much more interesting just because every competitor is so different.
The problem I see with it is that not enough attention is being paid to posing. Shaking, awkward transitions, and other mistakes during posing should be punished. There's no need to pretend that bodybuilding is anything more than a beauty pageant, in fact, it's better to embrace it fully.
Zachary Brooks
The aura probably comes from The fact Arnold was(and still is) like half a foot taller than every Olympia competitor except Feriggno
Sebastian Lewis
Ideally, I think the primary category switching to Classic Physique would be the ideal, while fixing any rules issue. Let the freak monsters be a sideshow to the more aesthetic, and more importantly, more marketable category. No one thinks that having a body so big you don't even look human anymore is something they want to aspire to (I mean "no one" in the larger cultural sense, not literally no one. I know plenty of people on here would kill to be as huge as a modern Mr Olympia) or even is particularly pleasant to look at. But someone like Arnold? That's a different story. And a much more marketable story. You could NEVER, as a human being, ever in a million years look like prime Ronnie Coleman without taking so many drugs your body is going to explode. You couldn't even get anywhere close, it's impossible. But if you work really hard, eat really well, could you at least get somewhere approaching Arnold? That seems a lot more realistic, and a lot less discouraging for the majority of people.
Anthony Smith
His posing routine from 1986 is fuckin legendary, he was robbed
Andrew Hall
b&r
I'm hoping some of this stuff happens naturally but there's a lot of inertia in the fitness "industry" so it may take a while. I really hope classic physique is eventually viewed as the top title in bodybuilding. It's utterly based compared to the freak show, which I respect 100%, but think costs the sport a lot of potential interest.
Isaiah Butler
"Best bicep insertion" doesn't mean the muscle belly goes all the way down to the elbow to the point where there's just no fucking tendon gap whatsoever, you fucking black-and-white thinking amateur. If that were the sole criteria for good looking bi's then guys like Levrone and Sergio Olivia would just win by default in categories like that because they don't have distal bicep tendons.
But no, things aren't that simple. Good looking biceps are...GOOD LOOKING BICEPS. Look at Lee Priest - guy has a good 1-2 finger gap between his bi's and his forearms yet his biceps are lauded as some of the best of all time because they LOOK GOOD. Bicep length is just one component of good looking bi's.
Jayden Reyes
Here's going to be the biggest hurdle, though. In order for classic physique to get big, it's going to need a breakout star. Arnold did more for the popularity of bodybuilding than bodybuilding did for his own popularity. He had the charisma to be popular outside of the bodybuilding world and into the mainstream. Now, of course the Olympia wins were likely what got him the attention of Hollywood to begin with, that much is for sure. But then he took the ball and ran with it. The current form of bodybuilding has had a few stars, but nobody who has gone super mainstream. The closest is MAYBE Ronnie, but even that's just taking the form of people memeing about him for the most part. He definitely never became mainstream, not even close.
Classic physique needs someone to push as a star and get eyes on it. It can be done nowadays without the need for Hollywood to get involved due to the internet, but there is a shitload of competition for attention on there. It would have to be someone who has something unique about him, and has the charisma to catch the attention of people who maybe wouldn't care otherwise.
Jace Wood
Why does he carry his urine around in a jug?
Luis Stewart
why is his stomach brown lmao
Josiah Stewart
>not drinking your own shit and piss for maximum gains
You'll never reach Jason Genova-mode with that mentality.
Christopher Bennett
Callum von mogger is the only one that comes close, and even so he falls short in that regard.
Bodybuilding is full of autists.