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.  

Born: Aug. 19, 1967 (Palm Springs, California)

Height: 5-foot-10

Career highlights: Four-time Ironman Pro Invitational champion (1999-2002), two-time San Francisco Pro Invitational champion (2001, 2003), three-time Grand Prix Australia champion (2001-03)

Chris Cormier was a former high school wrestler who became one of the greatest bodybuilders in the world beginning in the early 1990s. But his career still remains a study in close-but-not-quite more than anything else. 

Cormier never won a Mr. Olympia title. He finished in the top 10 at the event nine times from 1994 to 2004, with his best showings a pair of third-place finishes in 1999 and 2002. 

Born: Jan, 21, 1926 (Glasgow, Montana)

Died: May 1, 2000, 74 years old (Escondido, California)

Height: 6-foot-1

Career highlights: Mr. America champion (1947), Mr. World champion (1948), Mr. Universe champion (1950) 

Steve Reeves was the prototype for the bodybuilder making moves in Hollywood. He became the world’s biggest box-office draw with the films “Hercules” and “Hercules Unchained” in the late 1950s. 

Reeves, who won every major bodybuilding award in the years before Mr. Olympia was incorporated, ended up with 18 different starring film roles before retiring from acting and bodybuilding in the 1970s.

Reeves died of a blood clot following surgery in 2000.