Top 5 greatest bodybuilders of all time

Bodybuilders do more than lift weights. They are athletes who turn muscles and physiques into works of art. The best ones go from competitors to icons.

The sport of bodybuilding goes back about a century and is rich with tradition, rivalries and dynasties. All this history turned a niche sport into a pop culture phenomenon thanks to some bigger-than-life characters.

These are the greatest bodybuilders of all time:

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Obviously Arnold Schwarzenegger comes in at number one, as nearly everyone considers him to be the best bodybuilder of all-time, even by todays standards. Arnold defined the Golden Era of bodybuilding and really helped the sport grow in popularity. He possessed a well developed and symmetrical physique that was also absolutely massive. Given his large 6’2″ frame, he is also taller than most bodybuilders, which made him even more imposing. He’s won seven Mr. Olympia titles over the years which is very impressive. While there are guys bigger or more cut than Arnold, he’s still one of the greatest of all-times. But Arnold is more than just a bodybuilder, his life story is just filled with inspiration and success as he sought out and conquered his goals. Arnold is a champion in ever sense of the world, and will always remain to be one of the best, if not the best bodybuilder of all-time inspiring countless to get involved with the sport.

Schwarzenegger's goal was to become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, which meant becoming Mr. Olympia. His first attempt was in 1969, when he lost to three-time champion Sergio Oliva. However, Schwarzenegger came back in 1970 and won the competition, making him the youngest ever Mr. Olympia at the age of 23, a record he still holds to this day.

He continued his winning streak in the 1971–1974 competitions. In 1975, Schwarzenegger was once again in top form, and won the title for the sixth consecutive time, beating Franco Columbu. After the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement from professional bodybuilding.

Months before the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, filmmakers George Butler and Robert Fiore persuaded Schwarzenegger to compete and film his training in the bodybuilding documentary called Pumping Iron. Schwarzenegger had only three months to prepare for the competition, after losing significant weight to appear in the film Stay Hungry. Although significantly taller and heavier, Lou Ferrigno proved not to be a threat, and a lighter-than-usual Schwarzenegger convincingly won the 1975 Mr. Olympia.

Schwarzenegger came out of retirement, however, to compete in the 1980 Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger was training for his role in Conan, and he got into such good shape because of the running, horseback riding and sword training, that he decided he wanted to win the Mr. Olympia contest one last time. He kept this plan a secret in the event that a training accident would prevent his entry and cause him to lose face. Schwarzenegger had been hired to provide color commentary for network television when he announced at the eleventh hour that, while he was there, "Why not compete?" Schwarzenegger ended up winning the event with only seven weeks of preparation. Having been declared Mr. Olympia for a seventh time, Schwarzenegger then officially retired from competition. This victory was highly controversial, though, as fellow competitors and many observers felt that his lack of muscle mass (especially in his thighs) and subpar conditioning should not have allowed him to win against a very competitive lineup that year.

2. Ronnie Coleman

Ronnie Dean Coleman (born May 13, 1964) is an American retired professional bodybuilder. The winner of the Mr. Olympia title for eight consecutive years, he is widely regarded as either 'the greatest' or one of the two greatest bodybuilders of all time along-with Arnold Schwarzenegger and as the most dominant bodybuilding physique ever to grace the stage. Winner of 26 IFBB professional titles, he is also renowned for his combination of size and conditioning, dominant body-parts and extremely heavy workouts, making him the strongest bodybuilder and Mr. Olympia of all time.

Ronnie Coleman shocked the bodybuilding world after winning his first Mr. Olympia title in 1998 when 6X Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates retired and Paul Dillett collapsed on stage. Coleman emphatically stole the Olympia from Shawn Ray, Nasser El Sonbaty, and Kevin Levrone who were all jockeying for first place for years. Ronnie came in huge AND ripped. Dorian was probably happy he retired at the time because Ronnie’s size and conditioning up to that point was unmatched.

Ronnie Coleman had it all in the beginning stages of his career, including mass and detail, but nothing was more impressive than his back. Even Phil Heath, cannot match the size of the muscle bellies and the symmetry that Ronnie displayed in his back.

However, Ronnie Coleman took the mass thing way too far and we could see how his midsection blew out of control towards his latter years. It’s a shocker he won the Olympia so many times with dozens of bodybuilders in the mix who displayed massive size but better cuts.

3. Frank Zane

Frank Zane is an American bodybuilder who came to prominence during the “Golden Era” of bodybuilding during the 1970’s alongside guys like Arnold and Franco. Zane initially started out as a mathematics and chemistry teacher, but would eventually move towards bodybuilding. He’s personally my favorite bodybuilder, and is probably a favorite among many. The reason that Zane is so important as a bodybuilder is he essentially started the “aesthetics” movement in bodybuilding, a movement that placed emphasis on beauty, proportions, and balance. While guys at the time and especially now, focused on imposing, massive physiques, Zane focused on balance, shape, and perfection. Rather than being the largest guy in the gym, Zane was like a living Greek statue that was carved from marble. He had wide shoulders, a small waist, and a large back that gave him a terrific physique. He would go on to win three consecutive Mr. Olympia titles from 1977 to 1979. While the bodybuilders of today are just so massive, Zane is a bodybuilder that you aspire to look like.

When referring to leanness, we use the term “Zanelike” in bodybuilding. As such, anyone who has a name that is synonymous with bodybuilding deserves to crack the top 5 of this list. If there is one person that gym-goers would choose to look like, it would be Frank Zane. At only 190 pounds, he was as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as you can get and didn’t look like a grotesque bulky bodybuilder that much of the sport has reckoned with in today’s times due to heavy drugs and a reliance on mass to win bodybuilding titles.

Frank Zane had such an incredible physique that he even beat Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1968 IFBB Mr. Universe at a deficit of some 60 pounds. Zane concentrated on stellar lines and attention to detail to beat jaw-dropping mass and was one of the few to ever pull it off. He garnered three straight Olympia titles by out-conditioning the competition and changed the bodybuilding sport forever, being able to win at only 185 pounds with 18″ arms but an unprecedented 29″ waist. If there was ever a guy who had a V-Taper, it was Frank Zane.

4. Lee Haney

The eight-time Mr. Olympia (1984-1991) represents the transitional phase between bodybuilding’s golden age and the modern day era where mass is king. Haney’s physique was the best of both worlds: dominating size and equal dose of symmetry.

Lee Haney rose to prominence as a bodybuilder during the early 1980’s and would go on to secure his first Olympia win in 1984. He would continue wining the Olympia until 1991, as is revered as one of the best. Prior to the Haney-era, bodybuilders who were small, defined, and proportional were among the favorites. However what they made up in definition came at the expensive of size. Then Haney came into the scene and changed bodybuilding forever, bring about the era of mass, proving that you now had to be not only aesthetic, lean, and proportional, but big as well. And at 5’11” with a competition weight of 248 lbs, Haney was quite big.

5. Phil Heath

Phillip Jerrod Heath (born December 18, 1979) is an American IFBB professional bodybuilder. He is a seven-time Mr. Olympia winner, having won the competition every year from 2011 to 2017. His latest victory tied him with Arnold Schwarzenegger for the joint-second number of all-time Mr. Olympia wins, behind Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney, who are joint-first with eight wins each. His physique is considered one of the best and well balanced bodybuilding physiques of all time.

Phil Heath started bodybuilding in 2002 when he was 23 years old. He won his first competition in 2003, a year later, and went on to compete in a wide range of competitions; including the NPC, IFBB, and Mr. Olympia contests. His most dominant win was in 2013 when the judges had him go back in line during prejudging to determine second place. He would face numerous challenges over the years, including opponents like Kai Greene, Jackson, Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay, and Shawn Rhoden — who would defeat him in 2018, after Heath suffered a hernia injury before the competition.

Heath has been able to avoid injury throughout his professional career by training intelligently. He has been criticised in the past for not training with as heavy poundage as say the legendary, Ronnie Coleman, but it would be a mistake to fault Heath’s work ethic.

06.09.2022