Bodybuilding Mount Rushmore

Growing up I was always self conscious about my body, I've always been a pretty skinny and short guy. I had also always been a part of sports in some fashion both during school and after school. However, my body just never wants to grow and hold onto muscle mass. Anyways, that got me obsessed with bodybuilding when I was barely a teenager. Hoping one day with enough hard work I could come even relatively close to these guys. I spent years studying the sport and learning about bodybuilding. Absorbing all I could about these men, praying I could look like them. That part of my life is now over, but I still have great admiration for what these men have put their bodies through, let's pay our respects and take a look at my bodybuilding Mount Rushmore.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Was this ever a question? Arnold is the GOAT no questions asked, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even though realistically you don't go into bodybuilding for the money, you're not going to get contracts that rival Lebron James. If it wasn't for him bodybuilding would not be anywhere near as popular as it is now nor will it ever realistically have ever been popular in the general public at all if it wasn't for Arnold. Arnold took bodybuilding out of the basement and on to the big screen, literally. Now in terms of his body, we all know that Arnold's strongest feature was his chest and his biceps. When you think of the term, barrel chested, you think of Arnold. He didn't win 7 Mr. Olympia titles by mistake.

Frank Zane

The only ever Mr. Olympia while being under 200lbs, and not just once but 3 times. How that was ever possible while going up against the literal Hulk himself Lou Ferrigno is still astonishing to this day. But it's easy to see why he won as many times as he did. When you think of aesthetics, you think of Frank Zane. I do have a little but of bias towards Zane because he is my favorite bodybuilder of all time and boy if I could ever come anywhere close to him in his prime, I'd feel so accomplished with my Physique. And I wasn't alone, plenty of people for decades have said they would love to achieve Frank's physique and he's just sheer perfection. Then of course at a time in bodybuilding where posing was at its highest, Frank stepped up as the absolute gold standard in posing. His physique truly was a work of art in the purest sense.

Lee Haney

8 straight Mr. Olympia titles. One of the last Mr. Olympias to be just absolutely massive while having a minuscule waist. As Arnold says "growing up we wanted that "V-shaped body". I seriously can't think of a weak-point in Lee's physique, even his bone structure was perfect for bodybuilding. An absolute genetic freak. Now what I still absolutely love about Lee vs some just pure mass monsters especially in today's bodybuilding world, Lee came from an era where posing was still incredibly important. So you have mass, insane genetics, great conditioning, and superb posing. It just wasn't fair for his competitors during his heyday.

Ronnie Coleman

Speaking of 8 straight Mr. Olympia title wins, Ronnie was the only other person to achieve this feat. When other professional bodybuilders describe you as a silverback gorilla because you're that massive, clearly you're doing something right. Ronnie was seriously like no other, just ridiculously massive while still coming in with amazing conditioning. Even towards his later years, it took Jay Cutler 4 straight years of coming in 2nd to finally beat Ronnie and Jay had to be on his absolute A-game: literally flawless if he wanted to beat Ronnie which he did. Unfortunately it's sad to see the crazy toll bodybuilding took on Ronnie's body and the immense pain he has to face every single day, but I'm so inspired to see he's still the same old Ronnie despite the pain and has never used it as an excuse to be rude to his fans that wish to take his picture. Ronnie's personality and people skills also helped break the stereotype that bodybuilders are just angry "roid rage" monsters 24/7. The only critique that I have for ronnie, especially during his later years was his distended gut but that was it. That was the one flaw he had.

Honorable Mentions

1. Larry Scott
2. Phil Heath
3. Dorian Yates
4. Jay Cutler
5. Lee Priest
6. Lou Ferrigno

Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoyed what you have read today. I have plenty of different articles on many different topics. Feel free to give those other articles a read or two. Also if you'd be so kind, I'd greatly appreciate a heart and if you really feel so inclined tips are always appreciated but by no means required.