Muscle on TV

[Ogrebear]

Can anyone help me- I am trying to find out when any bodybuilding shows are on TV!

I should add I am in the UK.

Sky seems to have loads of football on, the odd bit of cricket, and motor sports- but little in the way of muscle events.

Can anyone point me at a good source of bodybuilding shows?!?

Thanks!

[SithSpawn]

The only times I've seen bodybuilding on tv in England it was either on Sky Sports 3 or Eurosport. Not sure when the next one's likely to be but keep a lookout on the personal planner and also look out for "musclenight" as they sometimes put it on under that name.

I think it might be worth seeing when the shows are and then checking the listings around the dates of the events, but don't expect them to be live or anything.

[CelticMuscle]

Originally Posted by Ogrebear

Can anyone help me- I am trying to find out when any bodybuilding shows are on TV!

I should add I am in the UK.

Sky seems to have loads of football on, the odd bit of cricket, and motor sports- but little in the way of muscle events.

Can anyone point me at a good source of bodybuilding shows?!?

Thanks!

In a nutshell, it's an absolute non starter.

I got Sky Digital's Family Pack in September 2002 and for the first month got everything (movies, films the works). During that month (and afterwards) I have been searching for bodybuilding on Sky Digital and have come up a complete blank.

The first reply is indeed correct that Eurosport used to have bodybuilding on it's schedules and occasionally shows the odd Strongman event, the only drawback is that you can't believe the EPG listings either. I switched to Eurosport 2 at 4.00pm this afternoon expecting a Strongman contest from Sweden and got live tennis from Florida!

[UKBeefy]

Yeh finding run of the mill bodybuilding "as a sport" features or references thereto on UK TV is next to impossible - often there is no rhyme or reason to it.

What is noticeable is that bodybuilding is not represented as a sport with people talking about who is on the up, who is new etc. Instead it is perrenially in the "weird" documentary slot - people trying to fathom why people want to get built. I've seen quite a few of the various documentaries all trying to take a different slant on it. I remember a number taking a line of "guys in working class areas turning to bodybuilding because they've been emasculated/unable to compete in the workplace..." slants (eg the Hard Men documentary from somewhere in Scotland I think like Paisley or Hamilton). All these are variations on the "Full Monty" type view of men in old industrial areas (all they have left to earn a living is to strip or get into something "hyper masculine" eg bodybuilding).

In the US it appears from excerpts that I have seen online that there are actual muscle shows/segments which do treat bodybuilding as a sport ? How do they work? Are they popular? How frank are people eg talking about what you really need to get big?

[CelticMuscle]

Body Spectular (Discovery Health) where twenty wannabe bodybuilders were whittled down to three to be trained professionally for a figure / bodybuilding comp and Bollybuilding (Vectone Bolly) which is a phone in show hosted by a supposed "Mr. India" now living in the UK.

[glammaman2000]

..except for the Arnold Classic&the Olympia,(both PPV)there is no bodybuilding on TV.

[CelticMuscle]

Originally Posted by drew

For that matter, will we EVER get bodybuilding back on TV in the states? We used to have Musclesport USA on FoxSports. Then there was American Muscle Magazine, which although long ago selling out to the "fitness" crowd, was still a decent show, but I think it's gone too. The only thing I've seen in the listings for a couple of years was the Arnold Classic, and Musclemania -- both o Payperview, and both for like $30. Does anybody have any idea where to find a listing or anything?

thanks, --drew

I would suggest YAHOO's Television site but to try it out, asked to search on the keyword "Muscle" for the next 14 days. It came up with the following match:

"Vanishing Point (1997) rated NR. An expectant father speeds a muscle car across four states, guided by an Indian spiritualist. Being shown on HBO on May 11th 2005 at 4.15am Eastern"

Next step, keyword "contest" which produced 43 matches, none of them relating to bodybuilding, so entered "bodybuilding" as a keyword and drew a blank!

What I find amazing is, considering that there are dedicated channels here in the UK, that show nothing bar 24/7 motorsport, horse racing, extreme sports and even for goodness sakes poker, I find it amazing that no one has decided to launch a 24/7 bodybuilding channel perhaps along the folllowing lines

(all times London)

0000 - 0600 Classic Muscle Showcase (which could focus on a past celebrity bodybuilder showing past contests, movies and documentatries)
0600 - 0800 The Morning Pump (Latest bodybuilding news and pumped up music videos)
0800 - 1200 Live from the Gym (Live reports from bodybuilding gyms with interviews, reports and contest reports)
1200 - 1600 Muscle News UK (Up to the minute news from Britain)
1600 - 2000 Muscle News US (Up to the minute news from the US)
2000 - 0000 Muscle Night (Either a muscle themed movie / archive contest or on special occasions live coverage of premier contests)

To misquote the Conservatives in our election campaign:

I mean, it's not rocket science? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

[UKBeefy]

nice thought Celtic but somehow I am not crossing my fingers.


I think the perrenial problem is outsiders viewing the "sport" as a freakshow. It is still something that seems "in the closet" as a sport, unwilling or unable to present a sensible face to the outside world even on a local stage. I even wonder if people in the sport want it to be a well known sport? I've been going to contests in the UK for about 15 yrs and I would say the attendance if anything is worse than before. You never see local press or local TV in attendance or anything that shows the event is getting publicity. If you look at the audience about 85% of them are connected with the competitors eg at the same gym, relatives, work buddies etc. The actual "normal" audience is miniscule.

I do think there is alot that could be done to try and make the sport more mainstream eg promoters trying to get local TV coverage/mentions, maybe the sport making a bigger play to talk to schools and stuff. That is what other sports do to get interest going. I think most members of the public have no idea what is involved in the sport and what even a bodybuilder "does" to win a contest - ie what they are doing on stage. I think for alot of people the idea that you sweat blood and tears just to "stand and pose" in a darkened auditorium seems, well, a bit odd. Yes there are plenty of other things that are odd, as Arnold said once getting in dragster and trying to do a quarter mile quicker than someone else is pretty odd. But I bet you that the sport of dragster racing is doing more to encourage families to visit, get kids interested, produce memorabilia, get airtime etc. If the sport did more to explain what is going on then perhaps parents and friends would be more supportive and wonder less what is going on when their kid has a poster on the wall of a muscled bloke in a tiny poser.

I think the whole sport needs a huge shake up. There are some places where there is some glimmer of hope - the FIBO event in Germany plays much more to the crowd as does the whole weeklong Olympia event in Vegas but there needs to be more done at a grass roots level to make the whole thing cohesive and more open.

[CelticMuscle]

nice thought Celtic but somehow I am not crossing my fingers

We can hope I presume?

I do think there is alot that could be done to try and make the sport more mainstream eg promoters trying to get local TV coverage/mentions, maybe the sport making a bigger play to talk to schools and stuff.

There was the time that CNN reported on a contest in London once, but it was only a four minute report and I never understood what the purpose of the report was.

Well, as to publicity as I know a couple (of hundred) bodybuilders from all over the world, may I be permitted to contact them and ask if they would be prepared to go into schools and the like to put forward the positive side of bodybuilding (and as there are three special elections due in the UK within the next three months should I also see what the rules and regulations are for setting up a party to contest those elections with regard to promoting bodybuilding!). After all if Arnie can go into politics, why not anyone?

[flexicon1]

Here's a few ideas this thread made me think:

For me, bodybuilding is pretty much porn. I know it's a sport in which serious athletes train, diet, condition, and practice. The people dedicated to the sport are all over the map, i.e. professionals, working class, prisoners, models, governators. But when I see a muscle get flexxed, I get a boner and I want to jerk off.

I know the original muscle beach in Santa Monica was closed down (in the 50s? Anyone?) over some sex scandal. Clearly it was just a few people involved, but I think the public will tend to connect things in their consciousness. Allow me:

Bodybuilders remind some people of:

Sex (spontaneous arousal. I know it's a fetish for me, but it has an effect on other people too. It's freaking apriory archetypal!)

Drugs (steroids. crystal party boys. maryjane. coke. steroids.)

Envy ("I wish I looked like that. I hate them.")

Disgust (used to mask lust?)

Lust (dang, that boner again!)

Laziness ("Sure, I could look like that if I took 'roids. / Damn, I'm never gonna look like that.")

Violence ('Roid rage. Rambo. Conan/Terminator/etc, etc. Pro-Wrestling.)

Stupidity (Muscleheads)

Vanity ("Why would someone spend so much time making themself look like that?")

I have also noticed an almost sinister lack of promotion for contests in my area. The shows I make it to have no shortage of attendees - Evening shows regularly sell out, but if they promoted and went to bigger venues, mightn't they be more successful? Offer larger prizes? Not rely so heavily on the sponsors? Is there something else going on here?

Then I also wonder if the well-publicized contests would bring out more of the culture's hidden fetishist population with bad boundaries and cause the bodybuilders to realize one of the reasons they work out: Their preferred bodytype is someone else's fantasy! Horny guys with bad manners can really ruin a family's night out. I wonder if this has anything to do with contests' low-profiles.

I guess it's time to fight these generalized, negative, aculturated associations with MUSCLETV!

The goal would be to spread the positive associations with the image:

Strong, healthy bodies!

Good nutrition!

Discipline!

Hard work!

Inner peace!

Confidence!

Courage!

Will!

Muscle is unique in the universe. It's the only substance we can directly observe affected by our will. "I think, therefore it moves." Wow! As a result of this magikal formula, all of civilization's experience and technology exists!

You take it where you want to go: lean and mean, natural athelete, buff jock, drug-free bodybuilder, chemically-enhanced musclefreak!

There's room for every body!

Muscle: the good stuff.

Anybody out there want to start a network? I'm happy to consult:

Training shows. Muscle culture. Documentaries. Contest coverage. Profiles. Recipes / Muscle cooking shows! (Iron Chef!) Movies. Self-Design. Product evaluation. Human Powered Technologies. Skill / Strength showcase.

PEACE!

[LittleArm]

A Muscle Network? Bad idea. Some of us would never leave home again!

[UKBeefy]

Iinteresting what you said Flexicon. Chimes very much with my thinking.

One of the inherent challenges in the "sport" of bodybuilding is how to reconcile the urge among promoters and local officials in federations to present events as sober professional events and the known crowd value of playing up the exhibitionist/fetishised/freakshow/performance side.

I've been to competitions that are run so stiffly with lots of men and women officials walking around in jackets and ties as if it is an old cricket or rugby club and alot of stress on strict procedures and the event becomes about as interesting as watching paint dry. At the other end of the spectrum I have been to the FIBO event in Germany (going on this weekend actually) which is not a competition at all but is effectively a fitness/muscle/bodybuilding exhibitionist show supposedly based around the fitness industry (lots of stands with supplements, training gear etc) but really panders to the fetishised element (at last year's event there were alot of men of a certain age crowded round taking very "in your face" pics of women bodybuilders) with alot of freaky guys posing on exhibition stands, being happy to be photographed very close up and a much more uptempo atmosphere - alot of looking around and comparing going on and quite a polysexual environment.

The difficulty is somehow marrying the two opposing camps together to make the sport more interesting within the boundaries of appealing to the widest range of audiences. That was the attempt of the WBF? thing in the late 80s/90s wasn't it?

I just wish the sport did alot more to present some kind of face to the outside world and to encourage more mainstream acceptance. I do wonder whether the powers that be are too afraid of dealing with the big drugs issue - basically 90% of the sport is dependent on steroid use and also don't see any need to upset the apple cart of the huge profits from supplement sales.

I would also like to know what drives straight men in getting into the sport, being in the audience etc. Is it purely "I admire what that guy has achieved, the dedication etc" and that gets them really keen to be seeing other guys pumped and practically naked on stage? I have no idea myself as I know what motivates me to go to shows and it is much more the sexual attraction of a muscled body and the freaky nature of it.

[ushersdick]

This might have some muscle in it:

Two men enter, one man leaves. It's the sport that's captured the attention of the sporting world, and Cage Rage is the programme that brings it to British television with a uniquely British flavour.

In just over a decade, 'mixed martial arts fighting' has gone from a novelty spectacle to a world-wide sport. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) made its debut in the USA in 1993.

Now over in the UK and bolstered by some heavy financial backing and unprecedented television coverage, the UK's version of UFC - Cage Rage has had sell out events at the huge Wembley conference centre with a card that included five UFC veterans (more than some UFCs!) and some of the biggest international names side by side with the cream of UK talent. No Holds Barred (NHB), Cage Fighting or Ultimate Fighting as it is now more commonly known, is a general term used to describe the convergence of boxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, kickboxing and judo into one form.

There are so many ways in which to win - but just one mistake and you can lose. The best protection you can have is to be better than the next man.

Each programme will include in-depth interviews with the fighters and their trainers, a glimpse at their training sessions and their weigh-ins.

WEDNESDAYS 22:00
FRIDAYS 22:00
Men & Motors
(Broadcasting in the United Kingdom on Freeview 38, SKY Digital, NTL: & TeleWest)

[LittleArm]

I think bodybuilding contest audiences are somewhat unique in that a large majority of the people actually participate in the sport. For example, lots of people attend boxing matches and Nascar events, but how many actually box or race cars? Even with larger sports, how many fans truly play baseball, football, basketball?

Bodybuilding audiences are different. When I go to a contest and see all the stretched sleeves out there, I know that a large percentage of the people there make a daily trip to the gym. Promoters do very little to advertise events to the non-gym-going public, and maybe that's what is preventing it from becoming more mainstream.

[glammaman2000]

...to try to turn bodybuilding into something it's not.It's not pro-wrestling.They're not interesting personalities.Most sports are about judging an activity.Bodybuilding is about judging the SIDE-EFFECT of an activity.(which is why it will never be in the Olympics)Weighting posing for more points might help.(It's the only activity that takes place DURING the competition)It might help if amateur competitions were organized in a rational fashion(local,state,regional,national,etc).Many sports only"pump up"when there is a charismatic figure attached to them(basketball has suffered without Michael Jordan,no Tyson<ick>in boxing,men's tennis is down,etc.)Going for a"mainstream"audience may mean losing your"core".&let's face it,in most people's minds;bodybuilding=steroids=cheating.Clearly,some people are better at it than others,so it CAN be competitive.But it may never be broadly popular.