The Battle For The Olympia 1996

In Swole I continue to document my commitment to an intensive and transformative gym and diet regimen, as well as the communities that form around such activities, sustaining themselves through texting and sharing videos and photos on social media. I learn the vocabulary of my new community.

Amateur and professional bodybuilders prepare for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests as five-time champion Arnold Schwarzenegger defends his Mr. Olympia title against Serge Nubret and the shy young Lou Ferrigno.

After an absence of five years, six times Mr Olympia winner Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a comeback and attempts to take the World Body Building Championship for the 7th time.

Bodybuilding is the pure narcissism. While the runner struggles against time and the weightlifter struggles with the weights, the bodybuilder only has his mirror. Exercise programs, diets and hours and hours in a training room are only the outside of an extreme discipline and eternal struggle for the ideal body. An ideal body that, to most people, seems absurd, but nonetheless has a fascinating power. Not least because most people in the western world even know about the hunt for the perfect body.

Basically, 'Herakles' is an omnium-gatherum of film clips depicting images of machismo. Some of those images are explicitly macho: we see various body-builders flexing their biceps and triceps. Other images seen here are not macho in the literal sense, but are indirectly related to testosterone or cojones on some level: we see military aircraft making bombing raids, and footage of car crashes.

Michael Ward learns about bodybuilding from Britian's top muscle men and olympians.

Richard Fontaine and Bob Miser started the current exploration of the male nude in film and photography. The two shared ideas props and models and reinvented some of the sexual icons that we all still recognise today. The gladiator the sailor, the cowboy… Starting with posing-straps and graduating to nudes their "art studies" enlisted the talents of up-and-coming actors and bodybuilders. This film recalls that era.

IFFB professional Jay Cutler invites you to join him on his journey to the 2008 Mr. Olympia. After dethroning the legendary Ronnie Coleman in 2006, he won the title again in a controversial battle against Victor Martinez the following year. Now, reigning champion Jay Cutler works harder than ever before to create the best physique to defend his title! With time running out, he must eat, sleep and train around the clock, monitoring his progress along the way. But will his goals and destiny cross paths once more? Follow the Massachusetts native into his Las Vegas home and discover how to live like a champion. Join him in the original Gold's Gym in Venice, "Muscle Beach," California and experience a mind-blowing workout regime alongside the sport's greatest ambassador

Shot in Australia over 3 days in October 2005 with 3 cameras, just 5 days after his historic 8th Olympia victory. Ronnie is hard and ripped - you've never seen him like this for a full body workout shoot. Between sets, Ronnie explains how and why he does each exercise - Mr. Olympia reveals his secrets. Witness the insanely heavy weights used, this isn't performed for the camera, it's real.

How far are you willing to go to enhance your body and your life? Testing a diverse cocktail of illegal performance enhancing drugs throughout his life - bodybuilder an entrepreneur Tony Hughes, also known as Dr. Tony Huge, aims to prove that steroids are the next logical step to further human evolution. Chronicling a civil and criminal case against his controversial supplement company Enhanced Athlete, Enhanced is a documentary that explores the immense psychological depths of a man who believes that the government has a conspiracy against him and other like-minded individuals. Individuals who are fighting to prove that steroids are not only healthy, but essential if used correctly, and should be legal in the United States to improve our quality of life.

Hear it straight from the Legends themselves about their stories of success and heartbreak. EVOLUTION OF BODYBUILDING offers a close look at what it takes to compete in the "Mr. Olympia" and how the industry has changes over the past 50 years.