Jerry Brainum believes that the peak of bodybuilding has passed and been on a downslide ever since – breaks his evidence down in a latest video.
Modern bodybuilding has been under scrutiny in many ways for the past decade or so. First due to the distended stomachs and “unpleasant” look of bloated mass monster physiques. And now more recently due to the many tragic untimely deaths of relatively young bodybuilders. That’s why this week Jerry Brainum is going to look at the recent past to try and predict the future of bodybuilding – particularly Men’s Open. Is it doomed towards more of a health and popularity decline? Or will there be a shock to the system to change the trajectory of the sport? In our latest episode of Straight Facts, Jerry Brainum predicts the future of bodybuilding using today’s evidence.
Distended stomachs, untimely deaths, and heavier bodybuilders each generation are all pointing to one thing. Modern bodybuilding is focused on drug use and abuse at a level unseen in previous eras. In looking at the past and present to predict the future trajectory of the sport – Jerry Brainum sees many evolving factors that change the industry. But one thing that has changed the most far more than any other factor is the amount of drug use.
Jerry Brainum believes that if the sport continues down this course – that young bodybuilding deaths will continue. In fact, he believes that the young bodybuilders today will have an increased risk of dying by their early 50s. Brainum’s biggest question when lookin towards the future is – what is the limit? Both in terms of mass monster size and drug use doses. Is today’s port on the precipice of a fundamental change? Or will it continue to push boundaries for decades to come?
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Tracing the evolution of mass monster mentality and drug use in bodybuilding
Jerry Brainum starts off this episode with a brief overview on how the sport has gotten to where we are today. He starts by pinpointing one of the most historical culture shifting moment in the sport. When Dorian Yates debuted his mass monster physique – he showed a new bar that bodies can achieve. Brainum believes this was the single most defining moment of modern bodybuilding history. It changed everything.
Shortly after that – drug use continued to push boundaries. The evolution and information about these drugs became more known in the sport. By the early 1990s, insulin was introduced into the sport. Instead of being used as medicine for those with diabetes, it was used in combination with steroids to push bodybuilding size even further.
With the advent and eventual ubiquity of the internet – access to illegal and banned substances became even easier. Drug use increased even faster. Limits and doses increased. Which brings us to where we are today.
Predicting the future of competitive bodybuilding
So how does this course show us what the future holds? Jerry Brainum believes that many of today’s bodybuilders are taking such high doses of PEDs that medical professionals can’t even accurately know what kind of health effect it will have.
Brainum fears popular drugs like Trenbolone will have a devastating impact on the health of athletes as they age. Not only in terms of untimely deaths – but also early onset Alzheimers disease. Brainum states that studies have shown Trenbolone can trigger early onset Alzheimers. Despite no longer being legally produced – it’s widely popular among bodybuilders who compete.
Jerry Brainum believes that the only thing that can change the course of bodybuilding, mass monster sizes, and drug use – is to hit an absolute limit to what is possible. At some point, bodybuilders simply won’t be able to get bigger. Or perhaps at some point, the deaths will be so devastating that young athletes will change mindset on drug use and physique desires.
The question is, are we reaching that point currently or is that still far out from now? Jerry Brainum believes that the true peak of bodybuilding ran between the Golden Era of the 70s through to the early 90s. Ever since then, Brainum believes that bodybuilding has been on a decline in both popularity, quality of physiques, and health of the athletes. Will the 2020s be the rock bottom? Or will it take longer?
Brainum believes that the true peak of bodybuilding ran between the Golden Era of the 70s through to the early 90s.
How genetic therapy might change the game for bodybuilding
Jerry Brainum also predicts that gene therapy will one day completely transform bodybuilding and physiques. It’s still a very long way off from being an option – but Brainum thinks that gene therapy will one day replace traditional PED use. If the very genes can be manipulated to increase muscle size and become readily available to athletes – it will be used in droves.
However, Jerry Brainum also thinks this will lead to a brand new series of health related issues. Early gene therapy has already shown its dark side – with subjects growing tumors, being diagnosed with cancer and even dying. Who knows what kind of health ramifications can happen down the road if gene therapy (and even black market illegal gene therapy) becomes available to athletes.
Will Classic Physique become the new normal?
Jerry Brainum also touches upon the invention of the Classic Physique division and whether or not that will change the course of bodybuilding’s future. Brainum believes that, based on how fast the division has grown, Classic Physique will one day become the most popular division and highlight of the sport. Chris Bumstead’s immense popularity is early proof of this.
Jerry Brainum does not, however, believe it will kill Men’s Open bodybuilding. The freak factor is just too exciting to disappear. Instead, he thinks there will simply be less athletes interested in doing Men’s Open – which will lead it to becoming an exciting, but smaller division.
Wrap Up
Ultimately, Jerry Brainum paints a grim picture of the future of bodybuilding. His assessment almost seems like a stock market going into a bear market. While it will hurt many people, the sport simply needs to crash in order to reset and grow again. And much like the stock market – it’s hard to predict when the real deal crash will arrive.
You can watch Jerry Brainum go into full detail in our latest episode of Straight Facts above. Make sure to also stop by the Generation Iron Fitness Network every Wednesday for new episodes each week.