In a body building competition, the bodybuilders display their bodies to a panel of judges who award them points.

The muscles are defined by tanning methods, oils, fat loss and certain kinds of lighting that is designed to highlight the definition of each of the muscle groups.

A Potted History of Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding first appeared in the late 19th century when a man named Eugen Sandow helped make it popular. Sandow organized the first bodybuilding competition, which took place on September 14, 1901 and was judged by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Charles Lawes and Sandow himself.

The winner was a man from Nottingham England named William L. Murray.

The Golden Age of bodybuilding refers to the years from 1940 to 1970 when the ideal changed from the Grecian ideal to one that involved more muscle definition, more mass and muscle symmetry.

This age was made popular by the bodybuilders at Muscle Beach which is in Venice California (and is still a very popular place for bodybuilding!) in 1950 the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association started a Mr. Universe competition in the United Kingdom.

In 1965 one of the other major bodybuilding contests called Mr. Olympia was started. Mr. Olympia is currently the biggest title to achieve in bodybuilding.

Bodybuilding In The Modern Era

Arnold Schwarzenegger helped to keep bodybuilding popular through the 1970s and was aided by the film Pumping Iron in 1977.

In 1981, the National Physique Committee was formed by Jim Manion. The National Physique Committee is the most successful bodybuilding organization in the United States to date.

The 1980s are when bodybuilders started using anabolic steroids (along with a large number of other athletes) and it is also when the International Federation of Bodybuilders started doping tests in an effort co fight the ever growing use of steroids and other harmful substances.

The World Bodybuilding Federation - A Marketing Disaster

In the 1990s, Vince McMahon (a wrestling promoter) tried to combine World Wrestling Federation style exhibition with bodybuilding and formed the World Bodybuilding Federation.

He signed competitors with long term contracts and because those contracts were so lucrative many bodybuilders left the International Federation of Bodybuilders and were then banned by the IFBB.

Vince McMahon started drug testing his athletes in 1992 because he was suspected of steroid trafficking. The WBF was dissolved later that same year.

Since the millennium there has been a push for Bodybuilding to be deemed an Olympic sport, which looks unlikely, not just because of Bodybuilding's cloudy history with steroid use but also because it's still being debated as to whether or not Bodybuilding is actually a sport (the craft involves no real athletic effort).