Several legends, including Ronnie Coleman and Arnold Schwarzenegger, have mentioned bodybuilding as a sport, with the latter also calling it the greatest. But the 4x Natural Mr. Universe, Mike O'Hearn, recently rejected the narrative, viewing bodybuilding in a different light.

On May 9, Arnold Sports Festival posted a video on their social media accounts that displayed one of Schwarzenegger's candid interviews from 1977. It featured the 7x Mr. Olympia explaining why he considers bodybuilding the greatest sport of all. However, an Instagram update from West Coast Creative Studio on June 6 showed O'Hearn debunking the widely accepted idea of bodybuilding being a sport.

He said, "I don't believe bodybuilding is a sport. I think it's an art show. And I think it's just a person's personal choice, [that] 'Do you wanna look like this, or this [different hand signals].'"

Subsequently, O'Hearn described how his approach to bodybuilding differs from that of the other top-tier bodybuilders competing in coveted contests like Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic.

While the Men's Open division in these contests usually features contestants with massive muscle mass and size, O'Hearn stated that he always preferred a visibly "pleasing" and athletic physique instead of one that looks unbelievably big and jacked.

The 57-year-old said, "I wanted to look something like Steve Reeves. I wanted to look muscular, but I also wanted to look athletic and pleasing to the masses. I'm already a big guy; I didn't want to become a monster. I just didn't find it appealing, and so my structure is Mr. Universe. It was pleasing, it was complete, it was big, but it wasn't ridiculous."

But while O'Hearn chose to talk about the differences between mass monster bodybuilders and himself, a noted face in the community supported his views about bodybuilding being an art.

Jay Cutler views bodybuilding in the same light as Mike O'Hearn

The 4x Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, is undoubtedly one of the most prominent figures in the history of bodybuilding. Hailing from the Mass Monster era, Cutler's incredible muscle mass and size set examples that inspire bodybuilding aspirants to this day.

Apparently, Cutler's approach to building his physique was completely different from O'Hearn's strategy, as the former chased size and the latter, a muscular-yet-athletic build.

But despite their differences in this regard, Cuter and O'Hearn hold a similar opinion about bodybuilding being an "art." While O'Hearn just mentioned his opinion in the aforementioned Instagram post, Cutler elaborated on the reason behind his views during his appearance on a YouTube video from Generation Iron Fitness & Bodybuilding Network on May 16, 2017.

Cutler said, "We work to increase our arm size or leg size, whatever it may be, and that allows us to be able to create that art form, and ideally, we're trying to put a physique together that's complete."

He continued, "All those things to build a perfect sculpture, and that's what I see bodybuilding has. I call it a sport, I call it a hobby, I call it a career, but I think of us as artists, [that] is probably the best term."

So, after listening to the remarks of both Cutler and O'Hearn, are you convinced enough to accept bodybuilding as a form of art?

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Written by

Souvik Roy

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil