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Before Pumping Iron, bodybuilding wasn\u2019t on the map. History and reality don\u2019t always go hand in hand. I\u2019m not going to beat around the bush. That\u2019s never been my style. If I was the kind of writer who wanted to win awards, I could paint a series of nice pictures. I could gradually bring you into the fold, but we don\u2019t have time for that. That last line is all you get. This is IronMag. So, let\u2019s dive right in and let\u2019s be real from start to finish. Before Pumping Iron, Joe Weider was printing magazines and there were some great shows. Both things are true; however, you can see the 1975 Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia in Pumping Iron and you can compare it to the 1977, 78, and future Olympias. Pumping Iron transformed bodybuilding by giving the bodybuilders their own fanbases. Pumping Iron was a film seen by the mainstream public. If you think bodybuilding is a niche sport today, imagine back then. Muscle magazines weren\u2019t in most bookstores or news kiosks. There was no cable television, no internet, no social media. It was all word of mouth, limited print, and practically no mainstream exposure. If you were to have held a focus group in the 60\u2019s or early 70\u2019s and polled everyday people about bodybuilding, I\u2019d opinions would vary vastly. In the spirit of political correctness, I don\u2019t want to elaborate, but I\u2019m sure you can imagine. The sport needed something to make it more interesting to the everyday viewer. One of the men behind Pumping Iron, was the one and only Charles Gaines. This great write has unfortunately passed at 84 years of age.<\/p>\n
Many times, the most creative people work in pairs. Charles Gaines was a phenomenal writer, but when he linked up with filmmaker George Butler, things really went to the next level. The two began researching the sport of bodybuilding, going to contests, and filming the battles. Not only did they like the subculture, but they wanted to see it grow. There was no way bodybuilding would be on tv or radio then. That was reserved for hoops, football, and baseball. I don\u2019t even know if hockey was seen in warmer states. I\u2019d think most people south of the Mason Dixon Line would have a greater likelihood of seeing boxing on tv than hockey. In any event, bodybuilding was not going to be on the tube. It was a far different time. Some closed-minded people even thought bodybuilding was a sport for gay guys. Although the presence of gay people in the sport has been a reality since day 1, the idea that bodybuilding is a sport for gay people is not only preposterous, but incredibly offensive to the LGBT community, to bodybuilders, and to everyone associated with it. Others thought it was porn. The negative stereotypes were endless. It was also a sport that put men in little to no clothes. You must remember that conservative values were still very prevalent. So, I\u2019m sure that Charles Gaines and George Butler were privy to the limitations that lay ahead. Nonetheless, they pressed forward.<\/p>\n
The first step in presenting their findings came in 1974 with the book The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding<\/em>. This book presented the subculture as a sport. The response was powerful, but it took three long years until Pumping Iron was released as a film. The book was the first step, the movie was the second step, but the staying power of the storyline is what was the undeniable third step. We\u2019re living in step 3 \u2013 as much today in 2026 and as in yesteryear in 1977. This is because Pumping Iron created something for everyone. The IFBB Pro League has ten divisions of competition today \u2013 Pumping Iron presented a bodybuilder for each way of thinking. You had the guys who gravitated to the top guy \u2013 Arnold. No offense to Oak fans, but to me, most of them are of your bandwagon pedigree. It\u2019s the same kind of person that loved Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls or rooted with Shaq with The Lakers. By the time of the 1975 Olympia, Arnold had won 5 Olympia titles. He was vying for his 6th. There was no mystery about the Austrian bodybuilder with the inflated ego. It was all but a fact he was going to win again. But then there were fans for other competitors.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n