The classic era of bodybuilding is coming back. Broad shoulders, narrow waists, razor-sharp abs, and impressive shoulder-to-waist ratios are making a noise again. The golden era of bodybuilding, popularized or made mainstream by Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the day has arrived again. It is pretty much similar to any other industry in the world. There are trends which come and go and the bodybuilding fans are jumping with happiness that the golden era is coming back to life. Another thing about modern-day bodybuilding is that it has become all the more competitive. The introduction of the physique category has pulled in more general audiences' interest that the mass monsters era took away.   

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Last year, a guy came out of nowhere and made waves in the industry. That guy was Chris Bumstead, a 23-year old Canadian, who made his first professional Olympia appearance at the very young age of 22 years and took 2nd place in the Classic Physique category.  

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He won the classic physique division of the Pittsburgh Pro last year and a few months later made his Olympia debut. Neither did he look like a debutant and nor did he look like an inexperienced contender even at such a young age. He came on the stage, dominated and almost won the division. He was placed second by a meager margin of 3 points. His appearance made it clear that he's the future of classic bodybuilding in the coming future. Bumstead, better known as CBum on Instagram, hardly looked like a newbie when he dominated the stage with his polished posing skills including a vacuum pose that even Frank Zane would have been proud of.

You can check it out here:

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The vacuum pose brought back memories of the golden era and shows a lot of promise for the new classic division which is just two years old now. And Bumstead, though young, is a perfect example of a bodybuilder who says that success comes down to hard work and being consistent at the end of the year. At the 2018, Bumstead once again cut through the crowd and grabbed second spot in his division. Though it was a letdown for a lot of his fans, this win again makes it very clear that Bumstead will be a force to be reckoned with.

Author bio:

Pratik Thakkar is the co-founder and director of GetSetGo Fitness, an online fitness company. He is regarded as someone who will make it easy for you to understand the process by putting things in the right context and providing science-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding. You can reach out to him at pratik@getsetgo.fitness and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.