Such a sports and demonstrative discipline as bodybuilding, in the understanding of most ordinary people, is a standard entrance on the stage of the Palace of Culture or the theater of barely dressed young people and girls, playing with outstanding muscles and posing in front of the panel of judges. But hardly all sports lovers know for sure that bodybuilding is divided into several types, one of which was the classic that appeared not so long ago. He is Olympic.
Forward to the past
In the first years of its existence, bodybuilding, or as it was called in the USSR, bodybuilding, looked rather like a theatrical action, a stage display of beautiful bodies. But over time, these bodies, especially the legs, began to actively grow muscles, turning their owners into a kind of "Mountain Man" or even a semi-fantastic cyborg. Barely moving under the weight of their own weight on the stage, living "cyborgs" literally reveled in hypertrophied muscles that were completely abnormal for an ordinary person, meeting with understanding and approval only in their specific environment.
In the end, it came to the point that the obvious excess of primarily the calf muscles and a certain grotesqueness of their athletes were recognized as a serious problem even by the leaders of the IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness). Realizing perfectly well that it would not be possible to reduce too prominent "bumps" of active athletes even in an administrative manner, they decided to create a new type of bodybuilding. In which not “supermuscles” would appear on the stage, but rather proportionally folded people with a V-shaped body, wide shoulders, thin waist and beautiful legs. A view that many veterans remember with almost nostalgic warmth.
More precisely, it was decided to recreate the original BB, which was much more pleasing to fans of aesthetics, as bodybuilders call their sport. The decision to appear in the official classification of a species that returns athletes to the original bodybuilding, to its classic canons from the 60s and 80s of the last century and the times of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergio Oliva and Steve Reeves, was made by the IFBB in 2005. Without further ado, it was called so - classic.
Weight does not fall far from height
The main difference between classic bodybuilding and a more familiar professional one is the creation of sports categories rigidly fixed in terms of growth in the first. Their compliance is strictly monitored by the judges, on the eve of the competition, carefully measuring the height, fixing the weight and muscle mass of the participants in the competition. There is also a special formula: the maximum weight should be equal to the height minus 100. In addition, there are small weight deviations permissible upward.
There are seven height categories in the rules of classic bodybuilding:
- up to 168 cm, deviations are not allowed;
- up to 171 cm, a deviation of up to 2 kg is allowed (an athlete's weight can reach 73 kg);
- up to 175 cm, 4 kg (79);
- up to 180 cm, 6 kg (86);
- up to 190 cm, 8 kg (98);
- up to 198 cm, 9 kg (107);
- over 198 cm, 10 kg (over 108).
Olympic prospects BB
Probably all professional athletes live with a dream to compete in the Olympic Games. But only a few of the total number of potential contenders for medals of the Games are implementing it. Bodybuilders are no exception to the rule. In many ways, it was the desire to see your sport in the Olympics program that prompted the leadership of the International Federation not only to separate the classical form from the BB and create, following the example of wrestling, boxing and weightlifting categories, but also to later rename it to Olympic bodybuilding.
For this, and another step towards the Olympic movement, almost two hundred participants of the IFBB Congress, which considered the development of their sport in the world, voted not so long ago. The debut of the "classics" on the world sports arena will take place at the 2014 Asian Beach Games in Thailand (Phuket) and the First European Olympics 2015 in Azerbaijan (Baku).
