PHYSIQUE: Bodybuilding vs. Male Aestetics - Whats correct? Whats Attainable

I am asked all the time by both clients, co-workers and the man on the street: "...hey man, I'm not gay or anything followed by, "...you've got a kick-ass body ... what do you eat?" Or, "you know ... Marky Mark [ see photo right ] has a kick ass body ... how do you get like that?"

When I was the skinny kid growing up, I would see a guy with a fantastic, well built physique that looked awesome but didnt know how to approach him. I eventually overcame that problem one day when I walked straight up to a huge bodybuilder outside the Gerlands store in Sugar Land, Texas (where I grew up) and asked him point blank: "Pardon me sir ... your physique is awesome, what do you eat and drink?" This titanic mass looked at me and smiled and then picked up a carton of eggs, "These!" and then lifted a 12-pack carton of Miller Lite still smiling, "and I drink this!" The ice broken and laughter aside, he spoke to me for about twenty minutes about diet and nutrition, exercise and weight-lifting. But he then made a very interesting comment: "I don't think the question is how do you get to look like me, but what would be the proper physique for you. Or better yet, whats attainable for your body type?"

I later realized this was a brilliant statement. All men want to know how to have a great body, but the real question is: with the body type that you have, what can you attain?

When I was growing up I read the Joe Weider mags and was glued to the commercial with the Soloflex guy, the former college gymnast Mitch Gaylord. Little did I realize that the commercialization of the male physique was central to big business in supplements, protein powders, ab crunchers, ab exercizers; money. Mitch Gaylord wasnt a weight-lifter, but a gymnast; his super physique was chiseled after a decade on the high bar, pommel horse and rings not from bodybuilding in the gym. The Soloflex advertising wasn't really misleading, for the issue with most men is not the physique, but the requirements and sacrifices necessary to acquire the cut, defined physique.

It's not about bodybuilding, weightlifting or gymnastics. Its about your body type: ectomorph (the super thin / Brad Pitt, Seth Green, Edward Norton); the endomorph (round and soft / Roseanne, John Goodman, Jack Black) and the mesomorph (well defined muscles and large bones / Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzennegger).

So the proper question is: Bodybuilding vs. Male Aesthetics - what is attainable?
I am of the beleif that the lean, cut, defined look of Vietnamese actor Hy Nyugen [ photo left ] is more attainable rather than the traditional bodybuilding physique (or look) of Rory Leidelmeyer [ photo right ].

Both physiques are fantastic, but Nguyen's physique is more attainable (short term) versus the beautiful (but long term) size of Leidelmeyer. [ NOTE: I consider Rory Leidelmeyer the greatest bodybuilder in the modern era, due to his incredible physique, definition and size. The grotesque look of todays lifters are simply that: completely out of porportion to the traditional, accepted, Roman-style, male physique. Although he never won Mr. Olympia or Mr. Universe because of the politics, money and corruption inherint in the IFBB structure, Leidelmeyer displays the finest male porportions of any bodybuilder, then or now. If pressed for someone "close" to him - the only other bodybuilder who could match Rory's sheer asthetics was his one-time follower and student, Bob Paris. Paris' attributes and genetic structure mirrors that of Leidelmeyer. It's no wonder that Leidelmeyer trained Paris and instituted in him, the training technique of lifting heavy. Bob's books on bodybuilding and weightlifting are replete with emphasis on heavy weights and his favorite exercise, the squat. But this is from a bygone era.... -MWS ].

So ... we are back at the question: What Male Physique is attainable for you?

To answer that question, I divided bodybuilding / weightlifting into three (3) era's:

The Roman Era. I see the male asthetic as something more akin to the concept of the male body in the Roman era. The Romans (and the Greeks before them) patterened the concept of the lean, cut, defined form in the Roman nude. This standing nude is a superb example of the incredible form of the Roman male during this time. The exigencies of the Roman lifestyle, adherance to hard work and the emphasis on supreme physical fitness is well expressed in the statues and releifs of the period.

The Pre-Modern Bodybuilding Era. Eugene Sandow (1867-1925) was considered the father of the bodybuilding / physique movement. This era, centered in England and Germany started with men like the Canadian Louis Cyr, in Vaudeville shows, P. T. Barnum's Circus' with advertising like, "The Strongest Man in the World". It was from the physique and aesthetic form of Sandow though that came men with superb, cut physiques like Edward Aston ("who could bend a horseshoe with his bare hands!"), the near perfect symetry of Staff Sergeant Alfred Moss, and the incredible striation of Alan C. Mead (who lost a leg in World War One). The Germans were well represented with Adolf G. Pitz, Anton Mytysek and Karl Busch. Even the American silent film star, Rudolf Valentino was an iron addict. Many were early enthusiasts, film stars, nutritional specialists or military veterans; most were staunch Victorians; the body was seen as natural, undefiled, developed, wonderful. These men (real men some would say) built their physiques entirely on old fashioned principles of hard work, rest and nutrition ... without the insanity of today's emphasis on mass suplementation and steroids.

The Current, Modern Bodybuilding / Weightlifting Era. You will not find any of the modern post 1990 bodybuilders here! Instead, I think the photos I've found on the internet provide a much closer example of "Modern Male Physique" as opposed to the grotesque, drugged monsters you see in the competitions today.

Early pre-WWII bodybuilding superstars like Vince Gironda (the "Iron Guru"), Bill Pearl, and Steve Reeves were well known as well as the unknowns of the "Classic Bodybuilders of the Golden Era" (1900-1965) like filmstar Ed Fury, Mickey Hargitay, Don Peters, and Eddie Weller.

However, many pics I've found on the internet from the non-bodybuilding world include these I found from a google search using the words, "male physique" which show proper attainable porportion:

...a cover model from Amazon.com.

...a male prostitute.

...a cover model from a book on male nudes selling on ebay.

...this guy, Dylan Rosser, who has his own website about his body!

... an early pic of Mitch Gaylord the gymnast-cum-Soloflex icon.

...a black and white nude taken in Belgium.

...page from a ladies calendar dedicated to the French Rugby Team.

...here's a pic I found of Dennis Rodman!

...a member of the Michigan Wolverines football team.

...a pic from an NYPD Firefighter calendar.

...a pic from Houston's Firefighter calendar.

...and finally some pics off the Vegan Bodybuilding Website.

Finally, find your bodytype, establish your goals to reach it and do it!