The 7 Greatest Bodybuilders Of Our Generation

Everybody knows the old farts like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronnie Coleman were legendary body builders, but their success is too far removed from the present to inspire today’s young men. Instead, here are the seven greatest for our generation…

7. Alexey Lesukov

Russian bodybuilder Alexey Lesukov is easily one of the biggest 23 year old’s on Earth. No sane man would want to get on the wrong side of this Russian bear.

6. Frank Yang

Youtube sensation Frank Yang has been making waves among young people for his humor filled videos. He is an inspiration to bookish young Asian men in particular to shred away their skinniness. While he looks lean in his photos,  check out any of his videos and you’ll see why he is the most prominent young Asian body builder today.

5. Lee Priest

Although relatively obscure, Lee Priest is a 40 year old Australian bodybuilder, best known for doing the bodywork for The Hulk movie, on top of being a champion race car driver and now actor. He won the  IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilders) Mr. Australia competitions when he was 17, 18 and 19.

4. Kai Greene

37-year-old Brooklyn native Kai Greene rose out of childhood poverty and foster homes to become the runner up in the Mr. Olympia competition in 2012 and winner of the 2011 New York Pro, a rare rags-to-riches bodybuilding tale.

3. Phil Heath

33-year-old two times Mr. Olympia Phil Heath is in a word: legendary. Every aspiring body builder today has seen the picture of him below and thought to himself “I did not know getting that big was even possible” and then asked “Do I even want to get that big?”

2. Jay Cutler

Onto the big leagues, 39-year-old Jay Cutler is an inspiration to young men not just because of his size, but because he has won the Mr. Olympia competition four times, and was runner up in 2011. He is only the third Mr. Olympia to win the title in non-consecutive years, joining the ranks of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu.

1. Aziz “Zyzz” Shavershian

The Son of  Zeus’s death spearheaded a bodybuilding revolution among young people, and has put more young men in the gym than any other body-builder this century. As such, one cannot deny that he is the greatest and most influential body builder of our generation.

Don’t Miss: Is Zyzz A Role Model Or A Bad Influence?

97 thoughts on “The 7 Greatest Bodybuilders Of Our Generation”

  1. Another homage article about this steroid-filled, one neurone guy with duck face and betty boop hairstyle?

  2. What in the fuck is up with that dude’s lats in number 7? That is some serious physical deformity going on right there.
    And putting Zyzz at number 1? Not sure about that…

      1. They are a little over worked.
        He might turn slightly one way to go through a door way and have trouble sleeping on his side.
        That gets old.

  3. Hrh, funny. The way it feels is that all ROK-readers work out. (Otherwise there wouldn’t be as many articles about bodybuilding I suppose.) In the end all former PUAs with weird ideas and funny clothes will turn into bodybuilders with a good mindset.

    1. Nonsense. PUA advice is filled with suggestions of looking good and hitting the gym.
      Likewise, guys hitting the gym and interested in looking good (partly for the fringe benefits of doing better with women) tend to be open to pickup advice.

  4. I don’t know about that zyzz fool. All these guys are/were on roids with maybe the exception of the Asian guy.
    Perhaps influential, but not in a healthy and positive way.

  5. I think some of these pics are what women are talking about when they say they don’t like men who are too ripped… The “my lats look like a freakshow” look isn’t popular. Still, optimal muscle size for pickup is only slightly less than some of these guys.. Strange Zyzz (and young) looks like the only one who may not be on steroids…

  6. You guys are fools. Do you know how these men pay for all those drugs?
    Look for Kai Greene’s gay porn. That’s how he affords 50K in gear per year.
    [Don’t post gay porn links here – S]

  7. Ronnie Coleman doesn’t make the list, and the greatest bodybuilder of our generation is some faggot that nobody outside of a tiny section of the internet has ever heard of?

  8. dude arent thses guys on roids even zyzz juiced
    how bout some natural bodybuilders
    espically from the ectomorph community 🙂

  9. This article is a joke right?
    Or so I though to myself as I scrolled down the page.
    Only I wasn’t laughing by the time I saw number 1.
    You gotta be fucking kidding me.
    Number 1 isn’t even a bodybuilder. He’s a guy that supposedly trained with weights and took steroids en masse. He never competed, so he can’t call himself a bodybuilder.

  10. Wow, you all finally went full on homo. Congrats! It’s nice to see that you have accepted that you all never got laid when you were younger not because you didn’t know game but because you are closet cases and found girls to be icky.

  11. dude, you have to be kidding me with that list…Lee Priest?? What has he won??? What has Kai Greene won??? And I’m never heard of any other guy on that list…
    Sorry, you guy’s lost your mind on this one.
    Lee Priest?? lolol Didn’t he quit bodybuilding after getting a lot of 5 and 6 place awards, and now he drives race cars?
    Who’s your football team of the decade? The Jets?

  12. Ok,listen to a medic here
    Obviously,none of them is steroid clean.
    Now you cant’even f*cking imagine what sort of damage does steroid abuse (and other stuff these morrons consume,like Tth and shot of this type) bring to you-not only hormonal,but also diabetes,cardiomyopathy and so on.
    All of these fuckhead are not alphas-no no.They are pretty much patients of a care home in a some years.
    If you want to see a healthy,athletic men-check any olympic rowing team.
    ps: this article should not been even allowed to be posted here.Some idiots might truly believe that it is somehow good to be a deformed homo sapines like these guys.

    1. No-one is listening to a medic who can’t spell sapien, Zoidberg. Or moron, for that matter.
      The average medical degree eduction when it comes to either nutrition or steroid abuse is shockingly low. Saying ‘listen to a medic’ makes me think ‘Endocrinology specialty training or GTFO’. Sorry.

  13. This has to be the dumbest article I’ve seen ROK.
    Zyzz and Frank Yang?
    Leskov? The fuck has he done competition wise?

  14. Nothing wrong with this article. If anyone was actually willing to check their facts before hating I garuntee they would agree that Zyzz is the most influential bodybuilder on this list-no question about it.

      1. yeah this was quite a big slip up article wise.
        zyzz was influential, but a total fucking dork who’s brother had to give him butt injections all day. classic beta turned alpha exterior, but still painfully naive and insecure

    1. Arnold was greater and more influential than that Zyzz kid (who I never even heard of until I stumbled on the raging boners the manosphere has for him). My buddies and I didn’t troll 4chan to get pumped up in college, we watched “Pumping Iron.”

  15. This article sucks.
    First of all, don’t ever do a bodybuilder article without mentioned hormones. Ever.
    Second, Dennis Wolf and Toney Freeman have the best physiques.
    Thirdly, Hormones = Bodybuild. No other way around it. Unless you want to talk gear, don’t even bother talking bodybuild.

    1. Since this is a game blog, and not a competitive bodybuilding one, people should know that like all else in existence, there are diminishing returns to bigger muscles. Even disregarding the probable fact that most women don’t particularly fancy 250+ lb muscle monsters, you’ll get 80% of the benefits from muscles that these guys get, by having muscles 20% as big. Then compound that by another 80/20 diminishing returns rule regarding how much work is required to gain muscle, and there is little reason for people not otherwise involved in some athletic endeavor to not do a bit of “bodybuilding” themselves.

  16. The death of Shavershian – and yes he and his brother were apparently on the juice – was quickly set upon by the Australian media only for the roids precedence. In fact among the young Internet crowd he was quit influential in Australia but in the feminised, metrosexualised Australian mainstream media he was all but unknown for his exploits to my knowledge. For that alone I see his rating in this story a bit of a stretch although he was certainly better known outside the pros than Lee Priest.
    But as someone who works out daily in a southern Australian hardcore gym there is no doubt that he had some influence. He was seen as counter-metrosexual in an increasing sissified country and unlike other amateur bodybuilders and indeed pro bodybuilders his physique was seen as far more desirable than, say, Alexey Lesukov. Hence he certainly has credibility as being influential. With his more natural athletic build, Hollywood looks and darkish European appearance he had a far greater female following than all the Australian bodybuilders put together, or, even Melbourne-born actor Chris Hemsworth of Thor fame.
    Another indication may be the ethnic breakdown of the some 97 percent male gym I use (most other decently equipped, higher priced gyms locally have too much general equipment in the women’s only section): about 40 percent Eastern/Western European-Australian, 20 percent Asian-Australian, 20 percent Arab-Australian, and 20 percent white/other/Pacific Islander (mostly bikie gang). Interesting to note too that due to a common goal, no alcohol/drugs, or hot women, the gym’s general camaradeire and etiquette is pretty good.
    Another partial influence of Shavershian is the amount of males sporting similar tattoos vis-á-vis to the proliferation of young Australian women “scaring” their bodies to look like their heroine Pink, the US singer, thus explaining partly why more Aussie men, buffed or not, are refusing to marry; or, why so many Australian mothers are seeing potential daughters-in-law more like Janine Lindemulder than Sarah Palin.
    All women subconsciously desire real men; mothers definitely desire real son-in-laws. It’s great too to see this site embracing all things in the Manisphere.
    P.S.: 49ers 24 Ravens 16.

  17. zyzz number 1? LOL sorry but that’s fucking retarded, he has a cult following of fanboys but that’s it.

  18. I’d say this site has a majority American readership, Zyzz (Aussie) is nothing to them… and I don’t think he’s earned international acclaim.

  19. Remember when you claimed that “All girls like muscular guys even if they say they don’t?” Well, all of these guys except for maybe # 6 and #1 are probably what those girls are thinking of.
    Seriously (unless the girl has a muscle fetish), SOME muscle = okay. Arms, legs, and man-breasts that look like balloon = grotesque.

  20. Powerlifting is far more interesting. Functional strength plus far more dense and better looking muscles.

    1. IF your goal with your lifting regimen is aesthetic, you are by definition practicing bodybuilding. By accepting that, you will be much closer to realize that regardless of which look you prefer, there are generally quicker ways to get there than by following a regimen optimized for something other than aesthetics.
      I, and many others, personally feel that the most impressively athletic looking male physique ever, was that of Anatoly Pisarenko, the Soviet super heavy Oly lifter from the 80s:
      http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thetraininggeek.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/anatoly20pisarenko20back20squat.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thetraininggeek.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/why-squat/&h=791&w=897&sz=633&tbnid=of-vGlJ9ws6fVM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=106&zoom=1&usg=__JSjJ3esYfvb_oglbWe1i2GDjC0w=&docid=Tkk-bqEE4ekxyM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6yUGUZ-qJKbjiwLFhoHwBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQ9QEwAA&dur=6020

      That guy simply looks like he eats puffed up bodybuilders for breakfast, before kicking the shit out of the incredible Hulk for being such a wimp….
      And he got that way by Oly lifting. But, if his goal was purely aesthetic, he could surely have gotten 98% of the way by more aesthetically focused training (and, ahem, “supplementing”), aka bodybuilding.

  21. germans are the hardest working bodybuilders
    markus ruhl (mega beast)
    andreas munzer (lean freak)
    achim albrech (in wwf)
    ralf moller (arnold lookalike)

  22. Zyzz might have got a few young Aussies into the gym, but the Australian gym culture itself has taken a turn for the worst in my eyes. Gym selfies + instagramming meals you’ve made + Stereosonic = Australian gym culture.

  23. I think Zyzz deserves this spot at #1
    Why?
    Look at just about everyone else – they are mostly “professional” bodybuilders. By that alone – very few people can relate to them and their lifestyles.
    Now look at Zyzz. He was just a skinny kid that wanted to transform himself to get more (and free) attention from girls. Let’s be real – 90% of guys that start working out do it for Aesthetics and Aesthetics alone, and when they can’t achieve Aesthetics, they usually change their tune and start talking about that it was for “functional strength” all along.
    He was also on the internet a lot – 4chan, etc, which made him way more relatable to the lost male 4chan generation than anyone else on that list. And when he showed off his results, he showed him off in a way that all of us would if we were to suddenly wake up with the body of our dreams – with no humility, because society beat down the 4chan male generation with no humility.
    And lastly – his tragic death made him almost a saint for every nerdy kid that was tired of being nerdy and just wanted to slay bitches and have fun with their life.
    Very few guys go to the gym hoping to look like Kai Greene, but a LOT of guys go to the gym hoping to look like Zyzz. He took the fitness Red Pill, and he helped many more take it too

  24. While these guys are interesting examples of how far a body can be pushed in the direction of muscle, they are all imbeciles. Little boys in gorilla suits, crippling their long-term health to look like gross caricatures of masculinity
    If you want to be tough, learn to fight. If you want to be healthy, get healthy. If you want to be confident, achieve something useful. This roid-fest is seriously unhealthy to mind and body.
    Men who have the discipline and work ethic to look like that really out to channel it in a better direction.

  25. Most of these dudes are way too big. Its not natural. I say if it couldn’t have been achieved in say, Roman times, then it is too big. The Asian guy and number 1 aren’t too big though.

  26. Did somebody watched the youtube vid linked in the Frank Yan paragraph?
    ROK now started to think being ironic is a good way to pass a message. Thats right there the last time I will visit this site.

    1. completely agree Rollo. Nor Layne Norton who has done WAY more for bodybuilding than Zyzz.
      And to one of the above posters, i am Aussie; i don’t say this because i don’t know the (mainly poor) influence Zyzz has had on Aussie gym culture. Not his fault, it’s the stupid wannabe’s running around; at least Zyzz got to the physique he wanted.

  27. They’re all (ab)using or have used. Each and every single one of them. Not that it matters anyway, hypergamy doesn’t care.

    1. I hate guys like you.
      When I was younger, I worked my ass off to get huge and dickheads like you automatically wet their pants and invalidated my HARD WORK with bullshit steroid accusations.
      Not everyone in the damn gym shoots fuckin drugs and pops pills so thanks for that, dick.

  28. You guys all sound like bunch of bitches. As the old saying goes – opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one.

  29. hatas gonna hate.
    lettuce be cereal, you all are just mad jelly at zyzz’s aesthetics. even if he juiced, so the fuark what? brah got the sloots like non other.
    Lettuce say our prayer:
    Our Father, thou art in protein
    Hallowed be thy gainz.
    Your Zyzzdom come, your squatz be done,
    To parallel as it is in heaven.
    Give us this day our oats and whey,
    And forgive us our cheat days,
    As we forgive those who curl in the squat rack.
    Lead us not into hamplanet mode
    But deliver us from Snap City
    For thine is the Shiggy, Nattyness and Aesthetics
    Amen
    forever mirin’, brah.

  30. Soo no one ever heard about mr aesthetics himself the greatest ever Steve Reeves?
    You really can’t talk about being alpha,aesthetics or about bodybuilding and not mention Steve Reeves himself.

  31. Wow, you listed the last two Mr. Olympias and a few Youtube amateurs. Apparently you aren’t old enough to remember anyone earlier. Ever heard of Arnold Schwartzenegger?

    1. Sorry, but thats the players for this generation, apparently.
      The author said ‘this’ generation and specifically by name ruled out Arnold.
      This is just seven dudes that this author knows about and anyone who is missed is always noted in the comments.
      Ziz is ridiculous, but its not our fault he is ‘famous’, so there’s that.

  32. This article is so shitty I want to cry/laugh/throw up all over my screen.
    How this stuff is passing as content on a site that’s supposed to be taking itself seriously is beyond me. This is worse than most time-consuming forum posts on Reddit.

  33. notsureifsrs with this list phaggot.
    brb IFBB pros mixed with youtube sensations
    forever mirin zyzz though
    OP is a phaggot

  34. I do agree that Zyzz deserves to be here even though hes on roids. He has created a whole guido yet aesthetic life style that the younger generation models off of. It may seem like douschebagery, but you miss the main points of his behavior. His Aesthetics, is alot like Arnolds personality in Pumping Iron. The cockyness and confidence that you bring where normal shyt doesn’t get in your way. in that movie, theres a scene where lou feruigno and his father bring arnold for breakfast to sort of psyche him out, (lou’s fathers idea) but Arnold isn’t fazed by it. Theres alot more to bodybuilding than body, its the mindset, and Zyzz has accomplished teaching this compared to other guys who make gay porn that are on this list.
    Another thing, if you need more bodybuilders, YOU HAVE MISSED OUT ON ONE OF THE BIGGEST!!!!!!! TONY HORTON!!!!!! Though his is a method of fitness, hes done way more for ppl than Frank Wang at the comfort of your own home!!

  35. Okay everybody please just shut up and stop hating on zyzz. Unless you personally met him and spent time with him, you do not know him. It’s highly disrespectful to talk about the recenty deceased disparagingly, as if you knew them personally.
    Anyway you don’t need to have won a stupid rigged competition funded by supplement companies to be called influential. As an Australian I have seen the enormous influence zyzz had on young Aussie men. I also knew him personally and he was alpha. So just stfu about him unless you agree that he was a sick cunt

    1. You don’t need to have met Zyzz to know that he was a self-absorbed maniac, who’s narcissism over his body led to his abuse of steroids and ultimately, his death. Some guy uploads a bunch of videos of himself doing random things on the internet, because yearns for validation and attention, and after his death people start claiming he’s an inspiraion to young men. Ridiculous! If anything, he created a generation of mindless, self-absorbed douche bags. If he was so alpha, he would have been a fighter or at least been involved in some type of sport involving physical contact.
      R.I.P., thank goodness you’re dead, otherwise who knows what kind of dumb sh1t who would have “inspired” young men to do.

  36. lol @ people who express outrage that some other bodybuilder didn’t make the cut. It’s a typical “Top X Something” list that you usually see online. It’s not some authoritative, scientifically scrutinized, peer-reviewed piece of work. This is more of an opinion of one or more individuals. Granted, makes for a good read, but not worth getting all hot and bothered over 🙂 .

  37. Aziz “Zyzz” Shavershian IS NOT an influential body builder of our generation. Go to gym you will see every young buck on steriods looking like smfh. This fool just died of taking heavy dosage of steriods smfh.

  38. Some of you people are totally disrespectful, bagging out Zyzz, while not even doing any research, or knowing him. Saying that he took roids, he does not deserve to be here.
    Zyzz has evidently inspired ALOT of people in this generation, remember this is a list of great bodybuilders of OUR generation. Please take your hate elsewhere cancerous human beings.

  39. LOL another faggot who dickrides on Zyzz. Yeah he put people in the gym, but for the wrong reasons. To turn out to be an egotistical, arrogant, faggot like him.

    1. never heard of him – and seeing the guy with makeup on his eyes – ha, that’s gay

    2. I also never heard about that Aziz as well. I would include Ulisses Jr in the list instead.

  40. Are you guys serious in calling Zyzz a bodybuilder?!?! Are you joking?!?! The best he was was as a fitness model. Him and that Frank Yang (whom I’ve never heard of at all) I’ve never heard of up until recently so I’m not sure where you guys get the idea that they are bodybuilders?!? Besides being thin and defined doesn’t make you a bodybuilder especially a pro one. I would venture to say that Terry Crews, Sylvester Stallone or Dwayne Johnson had more influence on getting people back into the gym than these guys. If Zyzz was an influence in Australia that’s great but he really was never classified as a bodybuilder. This Russian guy really shouldn’t be on the list either. When the statement was made “the-7-greatest-bodybuilders-of-our-generation” you really should qualify that with actual bodybuilders, not no-name individuals that look impressive but have not won anything. To consider these guys in the same class as a Kai or Phil is truly an insult and obviously the author of the article does not follow the sport.

  41. wtfm the man who has posted this is the biggest foool living on the earth he does’nt even know who is a bodybuilder man zyzz is a fashion icon he does not deserve to be called a bodybuilder the bodybuilders are like arnold,ronnie coleman , jaycutler etc

  42. This is a goofy article, ROK. Does this mean I can submit anything and it’ll be posted? I thought articles had to, “pass some form of muster” no?
    Am I missing something, guys? Pardon me for my ignorance but I’ve only been on this site for about 6 months, I’m a noob.

  43. Aziz Shavershian’s claim to fame is dying of a heart attack at age 22 from steroid abuse. If I didn’t google him just now I’d have no idea who he was. I doubt I’ll remember who he is a few hours from now.

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