{"id":15714,"date":"2026-03-12T16:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=15714"},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:17:13","slug":"muscle-beach-bodybuilding-legend-big-craig-monson-dies-at-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=15714","title":{"rendered":"Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Legend &#8216;Big&#8217; Craig Monson Dies at 75"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cBig\u201d Craig Monson, a 1980\u2019s era bodybuilding icon who regularly turned heads with his enormous arms and incredible strength, has passed away at the age of 75.<\/p>\n<p>The news comes as a blow to bodybuilding fans, as Monson was well known for being a regular at Muscle Beach in the \u201980s, and for contributing to the popular biography\/training book titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Craig-Monson-OG-Bodybuilding-Legend\/dp\/B098VLNP7Z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cCraig Monson: OG Bodybuilding Legend.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCraig Monson passed away, he was one of my best friends,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DVoohEGmbr4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote Hollywood actor Danny Trejo<\/a> in a touching Instagram tribute on March 8, 2026. \u201cHe was an O.G. of the street, a legend, Mr. World. Going to miss you Big Craig Monson.\u201d The cause of death was not immediately released.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"3f7meAenE-8\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Strong Was Craig Monson Really?\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3f7meAenE-8?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<h2>From Arkansas to Muscle Beach: Monson\u2019s Bodybuilding Journey<\/h2>\n<p>James Craig Monson was born on December 6, 1950 in Arkansas, before his family moved to Los Angeles and he became fascinated with the larger-than-life physiques he read about in bodybuilding magazines. Monson began lifting at 12 years old using the school gym and later setting up a makeshift bench press in his mom\u2019s backyard to build muscle. At the age of 16, he began training at Muscle Beach, but tragedy struck when a fight with a burglar resulted in Monson being incarcerated for involuntary manslaughter.<\/p>\n<p>After being released in 1975, Monson became even more serious about bodybuilding and trained at Bill Pearl\u2019s Gym before joining Gold\u2019s Gym on Venice Beach. He entered the amateur division of the Mr World contest in 1984, where he came fifth and was awarded the People\u2019s Choice award in Switzerland. By the mid \u201980s, Monson\u2019s biceps were said to measure 23 inches with an off-season weight of 310 pounds, making him one of the largest competitive bodybuilders of the era.<\/p>\n<h2>Overcoming Addiction and Returning to the Iron Game<\/h2>\n<p>Fans would flock to Muscle Beach to see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100057266688869\/posts\/mass-monster-craig-munson-does-225-pound-barbell-curls\/2345648882421582\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monson\u2019s incredible feats of strength<\/a> including 225-pound barbell curls and seemingly bionic bench presses where his one rep max was thought to be well over 600 pounds. Monson guest posed all around the world and won multiple state and national competitions, but with fame came negative temptations, including the abuse of cocaine and a resulting state of depression. Many observers feel that if addiction hadn\u2019t struck, Monson would have become an IFBB Pro and been a serious Mr. Olympia contender. Thankfully, the big man checked himself into rehab and beat his addiction, returning to regular training in the mid-90s. And, although he went public with the physical side effects that he attributed to the use of Human Growth Hormone, he kicked that habit too, focusing on his book, and a short film titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt32197235\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Black Hercules.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>News of the bodybuilding legend\u2019s death has led to a flood of tributed on social media. \u201cA South-Central legend,\u201d wrote one fan. \u201cRest in Iron,\u201d added another. From all at <em>Muscle &amp; Fitness<\/em>, rest in peace \u201cBig\u201d Craig Monson.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/flexonline\/flex-news\/muscle-beach-bodybuilding-legend-big-craig-monson-dies-at-75\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBig\u201d Craig Monson, a 1980\u2019s era bodybuilding icon who regularly turned heads with his enormous arms and incredible strength, has passed away at the age of 75. The news comes as a blow to bodybuilding fans, as Monson was well known for being a regular at Muscle Beach in the \u201980s, and for contributing to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":15715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Legend &#039;Big&#039; Craig Monson Dies at 75 - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=15714\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Legend &#039;Big&#039; Craig Monson Dies at 75 - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cBig\u201d Craig Monson, a 1980\u2019s era bodybuilding icon who regularly turned heads with his enormous arms and incredible strength, has passed away at the age of 75. 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