TBI-089 Special Series 4: Vice.com Officially Declares Bodybuilding To Be Mainstream

The Big Inside

Christian (aka XN) and Scott discuss ideas behind a recent Vice.com piece by writer Victoria Chan which explored the influence of social media on bodybuilding’s popular appeal.

The short article described how a profound wave of social media popularity should encourage us consider whether bodybuilding could now be seen as a “mainstream” pursuit.

The piece discusses a phenomena that anyone within yelling distance of a hammerstrength machine has witnessed for the past 5 to 7 years now: the rise of the social media physique idol, like IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Renaldo Gairy who the article featured. The piece uses Gairy to explore how companies have begun farming their marketing out to these social media darlings to turn big profits, with sometimes unfulfilled promises of fame and money for the athletes themselves.

Scott and XN use the article as a jumping point to discuss whether or not bodybuilding truly has become more mainstream, as well as the ramifications of social media on the sport, and how social media's influence on bodybuilding's image may be more nuanced than the piece describes.

IFBB Pro bodybuilder Renaldo Gairy was featured in the Vice.com article which was the basis of this show's discussion.