Are we sure the phrases ‘Sportsmanship’ and ‘Bodybuilding’ even belong in the same sentence? Let’s face it, the sport of bodybuilding, whether it be of amateur or professional ranks, is nothing more than a glorified beauty contest. Men spend an entire year devoting their diet, training, sleeping, and posing to become the single best individual specimen of muscle possible. Sure, they have their support staff, their nutritionists and gurus, and gym training buddies – but in the end it all comes down to them standing alone onstage, nearly naked, posing down against other bodybuilders.

However, even in what is often described as the catty world of fashion modeling, there is still a high level of companionship and camaraderie between the competitors. After all, nobody except your fellow competitors can know what all you go through, right? The same rules apply when it comes to bodybuilding. It takes a whole lot of work to deprive oneself of the foods you love best for 16 weeks. Getting up every morning for 16 weeks to complete cardio on an empty stomach requires a madness most don’t understand. Finally, stepping onstage wearing a pair of posing trunks to have your physique judged by the world requires a great deal of confidence and dedication to bodybuilding – something that only your peers can understand.

We’ve all seen examples of poor sports in bodybuilding. Sure, it’s not always easy to deal with the results of a show. Of course, you probably always feel you should have finished higher than you actually did. It’s part of the sport, being such a subjective sport, that there are no absolutes. In a 100 meter dash, the 4th place competitor has nobody but himself to blame for finishing behind three other competitors. He didn’t run fast enough to catch the three men who placed above him. He doesn’t blame the track, the judges, the starter gun or the clock. There’s not a lot of room for whining in running. In bodybuilding, it’s a different story. Men often melt down at their placing. This is seen much less in the amateur ranks. However, in professional bodybuilding where placing 4th instead of 2nd can result in a loss of tens of thousands of dollars in income, there is more often seen the frustration and poor sportsmanship that follows. Don’t fall into this trap. Accept your placing, and move on.

Off stage, you would be best served by not talking trash about the other competitors. The field of bodybuilding is a small one, and what goes around certainly does come around later. Backstage, you don’t have to give the other competitors posing tips or point out their obvious mistakes which could cost them in the final placing. You don’t have to offer them oil (unless they’re doing the same for you), but you do have to show them common courtesy. You all endure the same obstacles to compete, so you probably have a great deal in common. Why not try to learn from one another, so that you can all be better competitors for your next outing?

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