NPC Junior USA Championships proof bodybuilding is on the decline
The NPC Junior USA championships is taking place this weekend in South Carolina. Unfortunately, this competition is showing some shocking numbers in the bodybuilding division.
The sport of bodybuilding has been suffering in the past couple of years, due to the number of high profile deaths, and as well the exposure of the dark side of the sport thanks to social media.
It cannot be denied, that the high profile deaths of some of the best bodybuilders in the world in the last couple of years, has affected the sport negatively. The deaths of Dallas McCarver, Shawn Rhoden, Cedric McMillan and many others have affected the sport heavily.
Bodybuilding is what Evolutionofbodybuilding.net is built around, and witnessing such a sharp decline in the number of competitors registering for competitions is worrying.
Focusing on younger athletes, they are more educated, thanks to all the information that is available on the internet and social media.
Focusing on bodybuilding, the young athlete has enough information to help him or her decide if they want to continue participating in this sport.
Evolutionofbodybuilding.net has just arrived back from the 2022 IFBB European Championships, that took place in Santa Susanna, Barcelona.
A healthy number of athletes registered for the bodybuilding events in various categories. The difference between Europe and the USA is that the athletes are more conscious of aesthetics rather than just size in Europe. This might be one of the reasons that encourage more athletes to compete within Europe.
The NPC USA Junior Championships is one of the most prestigious events in the NPC calendar and it would be expected that they have high numbers in athlete registrations.
This site is focusing on the younger generation of athletes registering to compete, the NPC National Championships, continued to have a healthy number of athletes registering to compete throughout the years.
Evolutionofbodybuilding.net compared the number of athletes that registered to compete in the bodybuilding division from 2011 – 2022. The result is shocking and gives a grim picture for the future of bodybuilding as a sport, especially in the USA.
The number of registered bodybuilding competitors at the NPC Junior USA Championships from 2011-2022
2011 – 62 competitors
2012 – 56 competitors
2013 – 44 competitors
2014 – 56 competitors
2015 – 59 competitors
2016 – 44 competitors
2017 – 31 competitors
2018 – 21 competitors
2019 – 12 competitors
2020 – 20 competitors
2021 – 14 competitors
2022 – 12 competitors
* It must be taken in consideration the pandemic that affected the sport negatively from January 2020 till the end of 2021.
The number of competitors have declined vastly from 2011 to 2022. Having only 12 competitors in the bodybuilding division at the 2022 NPC Junior USA Championships, is very worrying.
This Junior USA Championships is seen as a springboard for the young athletes, before they either compete at the NPC Junior National or National Championships. The overall winners earn their Pro Card and might decide to jump in the deep end and compete on the pro circuit.
The same can be said for the NPC Junior National Championships. In 2011, 84 athletes registered to compete in the bodybuilding division, while in 2021, only 25 athletes registered to compete in the bodybuilding division.
The low numbers in the junior events will have a negative effect in the future, especially in the pro division. If numbers are already low in the junior national events, the numbers will eventually be low in the pro division, especially athletes representing the USA.
In regards to the Men’s Physique division, the number of competitors registering to compete is very healthy, dominating the bodybuilding division.
What can be done?
A lot can and must be done to help bodybuilding get back on its feet.
The bodybuilding personalities with popular YouTube podcasts and social media channels, must use their popularity to help the sport.
Instead of promoting the use of certain PED’s, they must educate the viewer. Some of the people that watch these podcasts believe that if they do what their bodybuilding or social media hero is doing, they will have the same success.
Just sharing a complex cycle of PED’s on YouTube or social media, can be very dangerous. The person sharing their protocol, does not always reveal the negative effects and how sometimes they were close to death.
The popular bodybuilding personalities must use their popularity to promote the sport in a responsible and healthy manner. They have the resources and they can give back to the sport in a positive way.
More information must be shared about healthy diets and training techniques. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, the emphasis was on diet and training, rarely would a PED cycle be shared out in the open.
The people that run the sport, must be responsible and guide their young athletes. They must organize more seminars with qualified athletes to teach the correct and healthy way to build a physique.
Obviously, the use of PED’s will be mentioned, and there is nothing wrong with this, but they must be informed about the positive and negative effects from using PED’s.
Aesthetics before size
The race to be the biggest on stage, especially at the Mr. Olympia is one of the main problems in bodybuilding today.
Maintaining a weight close to 300lbs is not healthy at all, and if bodybuilders continue to do this, unfortunately, this will have negative effects on their health.
The judges can give an idea of what they are looking for, and if they continue to award size over aesthetics, the athletes will continue to cross the line into dangerous territory.
The judges must award the bodybuilder for aesthetics, condition and symmetry. Size is a major part of bodybuilding, but it cannot be the template for success.
Lee Labrada, Frank Zane, Bob Paris, Francis Benfatto, Berry DeMey and many others, were not the biggest bodybuilders, but they were fan favorites and featured on hundreds of magazine covers. They represented a generation of bodybuilders that displayed physiques that every man dreamed of replicating. Till today, these bodybuilders are still celebrated on social media.
Bodybuilders such as Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates and others all displayed much more aesthetic and symmetrical physiques at the beginning of their careers. As they continued to grow to challenge for the top titles, such as the Mr. Olympia, they have unfortunately continued to add mass, that in return, destroyed their physiques.
Bodybuilding can also be seen as an art, and the bodybuilder sculptures his or her own physique. If the artists continues to add clay to an already beautiful sculpture, it will be destroyed. The same can be said for a bodybuilder.
This is the reason, Classic Physique is gaining much more popularity compared to Open Bodybuilding. The athletes competing in the Classic Physique division are representing the golden age of bodybuilding, an era that bodybuilding fans truly loved.
Back in the day, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Haney, Samir Bannout and other legends, displayed great size, but they paid special attention to their symmetry and aesthetics. Bodybuilders such as Samir Bannout, is very vocal till today about the problems related to these facts and how the sport of bodybuilding must change.
