Bodybuilding in the 90s My Reflection

The year was 1990 I had just graduated High School in 89 and now I was in the working world. Yea college was never for me so while I was figuring out my life pumping gas at a place where I worked all through High School. Then going into the local book store to get a paper I saw this issue of Muscle & Fitness on the cover was Corey Everson.

So I opened it up and well I saw all these big and powerful men and women, and all I know is that I wanted to look like that. Now at the time, I was already learning Kickboxing/Boxing with a little kung fu so I had people telling me that I do not need all that muscle but I really wanted to look like that ya know.

So I eventually quit the gas station and got a job at the local NAPA while working nights at Newark Airport loading airplanes. After saving enough money I joined a gym and team no sleep was started, NAPA by day gym or sparring depending on the day a little bit of sleep then work at night get out to sleep in my car till Napa opened then repeat.

Weekends were just sleeping all day Saturday then maybe a little me time on Sunday. I was working out at the famous Diamond Gym in Irvington New Jersey. I saw all the greats from Dorian Yates to Kevin Levrone and many many many others. Not to mention the pro wrestlers that walked in and out. I was in heaven the bodybuilding culture was everywhere from 1990 to 1994.

I went to my first Bodybuilding show in 1990 at the NPC Nationals and I was just taken in and blown away by the men and women on that stage. There were hundreds of people just like me who loved to work out get that pump and see our gains and to hopefully get bigger and stronger that was the mentality that we had Bigger Faster Stronger that’s it.

You had the Joe Weider IFBB then well Vince Mcmahon got into it by starting the WBF (World Bodybuilding Federation) in my opinion he just should have stayed out of it lol the first show was just horrible…

From the clothing style of the oversized Gorilla Wear shirts to the big Zubaz pants later dubbed the MC Hammer pants because he started wearing them. You even had overweight people who were never in the gym dressing like us lol. Oh, and how could I forget the Asics wrestling sneakers too.

Bodybuilders besides the great Arnold were getting film roles and even a super awesome show The American Gladiators which I watched religiously. Bodybuilders were even going on talk shows.

Then in 1994, I moved to South Florida to further my fighting career, but I still loved bodybuilding. And now I was at 225 pounds a far cry from my starting weight of 176 back in 1990. You name the supplement I tried it from Cybergenics to Hott Stuff, if it said it could make me bigger and stronger I took it or drank it then I hit a harsh reality.

Unless I was on the Juice there was no way I was going to get the size and strength I needed and in South Florida Steroids were everywhere. I was getting it from IFBB pros and some local individuals from 1995 to 2001 My weight went from 225 to a weight of 235 in Boxing and 255 in kickboxing mind you I am only 5’6. Sadly it was and is the only sure way to get that kind of size and power. Would I do it now? Hellll no it’s a different game now and you never know what you are going to get and well there are those pesky legal reasons.

I wanna say around 1996 1997 it started dying out the last show I attended I wanna say was 1997 very low attendance from the previous years. I never competed I just didn’t have the nerve to go on stage Kickboxing was easier for me because I wasn’t staring into the crowd.. Many of the pros were getting out of it many of the pros I knew were making more money as personal trainers and health advisors.

Many people believed there was money in Bodybuilding, there is but there is not I can tell many stories on what some did to get extra cash just to make ends meet. But that is not me if you are looking for gossip then you are in the wrong place. I know of many that lived in their cars trying to make it big, to make money in Bodybuilding it is not easy as one thinks. But a few did like Ronnie Coleman and Rich Gaspari and a few others but many either got really bad drug addictions, committed suicide, or just died from Heart attacks to organ failure. Let’s face it bodybuilders have a really short lifespan you cannot do all those drugs for years and nothing happens to your body. Not to mention many have injured their body due to years of intense workouts lifting heavy very heavy weights for years.

I wanna say at least 10 bodybuilders I looked up to male and female are dead now.

1990 was 30 years ago the world and society were just different, everything changes nothing stays the same. Call it evolution take for instance Fitness Competitions and Men’s Physique division where they wear boardshorts. All those years of heavy squatting and leg press to get my quads big lol.

Is bodybuilding still around? Yes, there are many many many amazing looking people and they just look fantastic. To me, it’s just as big as ever because you have social media and millions of people show off their workouts or their progress. but in the 90s there was an aura to it maybe it’s just me. Sure Bodybuilding has been around for decades but the 90s just seemed like it was the breakout for it.

Oh hell, I dunno but I will never forget working at the gas station being 18 years old reading about Dorian Yates in the latest issue of Flex or Muscle and Fitness, and can’t wait to hit the gym for my next workout.

Ahhh Those were the days…