There’s an old adage of straying away from talking about politics or religion because those conversations typically end with fights, name calling, and both parties walking away with hurt feelings. But bodybuilders, and bodybuilding fans by extension, have a natural tendency not to be rule followers, which essentially means that no topic, or conversation, is off limits.
This might be hard to fathom for bodybuilding fans under 30 years old but, back in the 1980’s, there was a huge spike in the popularity of Women’s Bodybuilding. In fact, the female muscle revolution grew so quickly that by the end of the decade four-time Ms. Olympia champion, Cory Everson, was being featured on the ESPN series Bodyshaping, which ultimately landed her more than a dozen TV and film roles throughout the late 80’s and mid 90’s. Everson, and other Women’s Bodybuilding stars from that era often competed in front of packed crowds and carried a diehard fanbase that rivaled, or in some cases surpassed, their male counterparts.
However, the popularity and momentum Women’s Bodybuilding gained during the 80’s and 90’s ultimately began to trail off by the time we entered the early to mid-2000’s while both the Men’s and Women’s divisions were at the height of the Ronnie Coleman and Iris Kyle era’s – both of whom are widely considered to be the greatest male and female bodybuilders of all-time. Interestingly, while the Coleman era seemed to be a catalyst for exponential growth for Men’s Bodybuilding– in both the size of the competitors and bodybuilding’s global fanbase – the direct inverse seems to have occurred for the Women’s. For me, that raises two obvious questions. How did a division that was surging in popularity manage to reverse course so suddenly? And, what needs to happen to right the ship?
Was it the dramatic change in what represented the ideal physique in Women’s Bodybuilding? Perhaps.
It doesn’t take more than a casual observer to see the stark difference between Cory Everson and Iris Kyle. There’s no debate as to whether Kyle’s effect as a ten-time Ms. Olympia winner changed the entire landscape of the sport from the top down. However, the notion that a shift toward the extreme, and smashing the standard of what constituted the pinnacle of female muscle, as the sole cause for Women’s Bodybuilding seems, at best, overly simplistic. At her peak, Kyle’s physique wasn’t anymore unattainable for the average woman starting their pursuit of a career in bodybuilding than Ronnie Coleman’s was for the average man.
So then, if the steady decline in popularity of Women’s Bodybuilding can’t be solely attributed to the shifting standard of what represents the ideal physique, what could the other ancillary causes be?
Does it have something to do with the wild explosion in popularity of the other women’s divisions? Again, I don’t believe the answer is a resounding yes here either. During this same time period, the physique standards for Fitness and Figure have both trended toward bigger, more muscular, female competitors – and we saw a corollary growth in the number of new, aspiring athletes flooding into both divisions at the amateur level which, created some of the stars we see today on the pro stage.
There’s also a possibility that the new growth in Fitness and Figure, coupled with the inception of Women’s Physique and Bikini, simply syphoned away, what would have been, some of the future talent pool for Women’s Bodybuilding; which also has the downstream effect of diluting their perspective fanbase. In and of itself, the Bikini division may have more IFBB card carrying members than any other division. By default, a professional roster of that size will be able to attract more attention, and inspire more future competitors, with their presence on social media.
Regardless of the current state of Women’s Bodybuilding’s popularity is the result all, one, or none of the causes mentioned above; simply identifying the problem doesn’t do anything to fix it. So, what’s the solution?
Earlier I mentioned that it was usually bad practice to talk about religion or politics because those conversations tend to devolve into chaos. However, I do believe there’s something the IFBB can learn from the current state of the American political landscape – specifically Democratic Presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.
Irrespective of what an individual’s feelings are about her as a candidate, there’s no denying that the rebranding effort behind her candidacy is one of the most remarkable things we’ve seen in any presidential race during my lifetime. In June 2023 an NBC News poll found that only 49% of registered voters had a favorable view of Harris, and that her net negative rating of -17 was the lowest ever recorded for a Vice President in the history of the poll. At the time, the notion of her having a realistic shot at winning the 2024 election would have been completely unfathomable, even to some of her greatest supporters.
However, through a confluence of factors, in less than ninety days during this calendar year, she’s managed to completely shed the negative anchors that pulled down her aforementioned polling numbers and emerge with parabolic boosts in support, popularity, and acceptance as what the new standard bearer for the party should look like.
For all intents and purposes, Harris is ostensibly the same person now that she was in June of 2023 when those ABC Poll numbers were published; the only thing that’s changed is the branding or, more accurately, rebranding effort behind her.
The sport of bodybuilding might, at times, be political, but it’s also a far cry from the world of politics. However, that doesn't mean there aren’t things the IFBB can learn, or lessons that can be applied, from some of the tactics employed by the folks in Washington D.C.
Clever strategic planning can do wonders when it comes to shifting a narrative, irrespective of how unpopular or unfavorable someone, or something, might be. And for the sport of Women’s Bodybuilding, it may be time for the IFBB t
