Derek Lunsford proves that THIS is the BEST era of bodybuilding. Is Yates wrong?

 

Is this a "bad era" for bodybuilding, as Dorian Yates says? I say no: it's one of the most competitive and exciting in history.

Of course, for Derek Lunsford, this is the best moment in bodybuilding. Because it's "his moment." Because today Lunsford is riding the crest of the wave. Because today Lunsford has definitively stepped up his game in bodybuilding. 2025 was his year, and he dominated not with one, but with three professional victories: the Olympia, the Arnold Classic, and the Pittsburgh Pro. Something historic in the modern era.

He's no longer just the bodybuilder who won a Mr. Olympia in 2023, dethroning Hadi Choopan and Samson Dauda. Now he's a two time Mr. Olympia champion, with his second title conquered in 2025, taking the crown from Samson Dauda (whom he had already beaten at the Arnold months earlier) and leaving behind Choopan and Andrew Jacked. He broke a nearly decade long streak where no Mr. Olympia had managed to win the title twice, and he matched Jay Cutler as one of only two bodybuilders who have lost the title and regained it.

Of course, the era that Lunsford has had to live through hasn't been easy at all. It's been impossible for the most recent Sandow winners to hold onto their title for more than a year. The total domination that bodybuilders like Arnold, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, or Phil Heath had is a thing of the past.

I believe that bodybuilders like Yates or Coleman could stand out among today's athletes. But Lunsford, Choopan, or Andrew Jacked, who finished third at this year's Mr. Olympia and could be considered "the next big thing", could also perform well in the '90s.

Yates has thrown down the gauntlet, arguing that the current era is a bad one for bodybuilding. Yates is my idol, words fail me to describe the admiration I feel for his career as a bodybuilder, but perhaps the marijuana he smokes daily these days has clouded his mind a bit. Yates now talks about the lack of aesthetics in current competitors, but aesthetics was one of the main criticisms against Yates, the mass monster of the '90s. In his era, Yates didn't conform to the aesthetics of Chris Dickerson, Samir Bannout, or Lee Haney. Yates created his own aesthetics. Yates was a pure block of granite.

Yes, Yates had the most developed back up to that point, incredibly wide shoulders, and long, muscular legs. But the point for which he was always criticized was the weakness in his arms and his wide waist. Abdominal distension, many critics and rivals claimed. If we listen to the main criticisms of Lunsford, they'll be very similar: weakness in his arms and wide waist. An aesthetic similar to Franco Columbu's, I'd say.

Certainly, Lunsford doesn't have Yates' height, but he's also not Lee Priest, another very famous bodybuilder whom height never prevented from beating taller bodybuilders.

Yates forgets that there are two types of physiques in bodybuilding: those resembling the statue of David and those resembling the statue of Hercules. Yates and his mentor Mike Mentzer were closer to a Hercules sculpture (just like Columbu). Shawn Ray, Flex Wheeler, Frank Zane, and Serge Nubret were similar to a David sculpture.

Samson Dauda, Mr. Olympia 2024, still doesn't know which path to take. When Ronnie Coleman decided to look more like Hercules than David, everything changed and no one could stop him, he became invincible. Yates' case was the same. Dauda lost this year because he's still thinking about being the statue of David, and that has him lost and in free fall.

Lunsford found the way to come back and reclaim the title when he understood he couldn't be the statue of David. Choopan has become one of the most consistent bodybuilders in recent years, and his physique clearly echoes a Hercules sculpture.

Yates may look like a normal person today. However, he shouldn't forget that at one point he too was a "refrigerator," the widest there was in the '90s, and the best. Is nostalgia clouding Yates' vision? Is he worried about Lunsford redefining the Hercules type in this decade? Has Yates forgotten when he was the feared mass monster?

Is a David type or Hercules type physique what bodybuilding needs today?