IronKitten

I think it's due to a couple of reasons...

The types (and possibly amounts) of gear that most use today are different. Doing different things to the physique.

Also, the sheer size of BB'ers today is WAY different. "Back in the day" a lot of pros were showing just over 200 pounds. Whereas now, a majority of them are around 300. Increasing in size that much is bound to give them a larger waist/midsection.

Ross86

I agree, but the proportions are still different. Which I think negates the issue of different gear. Tell me if I'm wrong though. It just struck me that the poses are different also. Bigger people with bigger body types would be thicker. But look at Arnold. He was similar in size to a lot of these guys, right? (skeletal structure/size)

IronKitten

Arnie is/was actually a lot smaller than most people think. Skeletally, he's somewhat similar to today's pros. But he also carried less size overall.

Plus, he was somewhat thick waisted himself. If you notice, in almost all of his front double bi poses, he's twisted his hips and waist to give the illusion of a smaller waist. That was more of a norm in that pose back then, but he almost ALWAYS did it.

Ross86

Yeah, I noticed that he pretty much always twisted in the double bi poses. It's interesting how the norms for aesthetics change over time. He would definitely look out of place on the stage today, but he is still a big guy. It's funny seeing the group poses because he looked so much bigger than everyone else. Could you imagine Victor Martinez doing a routine on stage similar to what was done 40 years ago? I think all of the judges would be confused. I suppose that's probably what the biggest difference is, like you said.

Thanks for the response IK

IronKitten

wow... quick google image search and this came up right away. Not sure what years each of them are at, but it's interesting to see the differences....



You know, not only are the sizes and proportions (like the midsections) really different now, but the leanness has really changed.

Arnie bragged about how he only dieted for something ridiculous like 4 weeks for his 'comeback' O one year. Well, if you look at the leanness of the guys at that time, especially compared to now, they're not near as cut as people nowadays expect.

It's all about bigger, harder, and 'better' as time goes on.

IronKitten

Arnie's twist pose:



And front on:



He may not have been 'wide waisted' per se, but he was narrow hipped making him look blocky, and highly unbalanced IMO

ETA - don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to knock Arnie here. He's a great BB'er. He just doesn't fit the (my) 'traditional' standpoint of a highly balanced/symmetrical "Adonis" BB'er.

Ross86

I'm trying to think what looks so funny...I don't know whether it's his legs or if I'm just thrown off by looking at Ronnie. But maybe he would look more proportional if he was wider down low...his lat spread is similar to Ronnie's. Just out of curiosity, are narrow hips not good? I thought that was a good trait to have for a body builder.

A lot of people thought he shouldn't have won on his comeback year. He had the size, but even he admitted to being out of shape and not as lean as he should have been.

IronKitten

lol, that's not the best condition Ronnie's been in there.

Arnie's main fault (IMO) lies in his lack of leg size. He had a WIDE back. Shoulders could have used some more size/cap to balance that though. He had those sloping shoulders, over dominating traps to shoulder cap. But his legs had little size in comparison, giving him the inverted triangle physique.

Narrow hips in BB CAN be a good thing. But that also depends on waist size and leg size. A narrow waist and fairly narrow hips, with good size to the outer quad sweep, can really accentuate the V taper and hourglass (symmetry). Being that men have such large lats, that decreases the look of of the length of the waist (even more so if they have low lat insertions). Narrow hips can sometimes help give them the look of a longer waist (think front view, the length of the 'waist' generally means how long up and down the narrowest part of the physique is). BUT being TOO long waisted, such as high lat insertions, long torso, and too narrow of hips, can also make the physique look 'off.'