1950s, 1960s, and 1970s onwards Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding became more popular in the 1950s and 1960s with the emergence of strength and gymnastics champions joining the sport, and the simultaneous popularization of muscle training, most of all by Charles Atlas, whose advertising in comic books and other other publications encouraged many young men to undertake weight training to improve their physiques to resemble the comic books' muscular superheroes. Of notable athletes, US national and gymnastics champion and US Olympic weightlifting team competitor John Grimek and British strength athlete Reg Park as winners of newly-created bodybuilding titles such as the Mr. Universe and Mr. America competitions paved the way for others. Magazines such as Strength & Health and Muscular Development were accompanied by the public notoriety of Muscle Beach. The casting of some bodybuilders in movies was another major vehicle for the sport's popularization. Of bodybuilder-actors perhaps the most famous were Steve Reeves and Reg Park, who were featured in roles portraying Hercules, Samson and other legendary heroes. Dave Draper gained public fame through appearances in Muscle Beach Party, part of the "beach party" series of films featuring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon that began with Beach Blanket Bingo, and also in cameo appearances in television series such as the Beverly Hillbillies. Other rising stars in this period were Larry Scott, Serge Nubret, and Sergio Oliva. The gym equipment and training supplement industry founded by the Joe Weider were complemented by the growth of the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) by his brother Ben, which eventually displaced the Amateur Athletic Union's Mr. Universe titles and also that of NABBA, the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association as the most important and notable contests.
New organizations
In the 1970s, bodybuilding had major publicity thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger and the 1977 film Pumpin Iron. By this time the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) dominated the sport and the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) took a back seat.
The National Physique Committee (NPC) was formed in 1981 by Jim Manion, who had just stepped down as chairman of the AAU Physique Committee. The NPC has gone on to become the most successful bodybuilding organization in the U.S., and is the amateur division of the IFBB in the United States. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the decline of AAU sponsored bodybuilding contests. In 1999, the AAU voted to discontinue its bodybuilding events.
Rise of anabolic steroids
This period also saw the rise of anabolic steroids used both in bodybuilding and many other sports. In bodybuilding lore, this is partly attributed to the rise of "mass monsters", beginning with Arnold Schwarzenegger but including Mike Mentzer, Franco Columbu, Lou Ferrigno, Dorian Yates, Lee Haney, and Paul DeMayo and also the emergence of athletes such as Rich Gaspari and Andreas Munzer, who defied their natural genetics to attain size and hardness previously unimagined. To combat this, and in the hopes of becoming a member of the IOC, the IFBB introduced doping tests for both steroids and other banned substances. Although doping tests occurred, the majority of professional bodybuilders still used anabolic steroids for competition. During the 1970s the use of anabolic steroids was openly discussed partly due to the fact they were legal. However the U.S Congress in the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990 placed anabolic steroids into Schedule III of the Controlled substance act (CSA). Similarly in Canada, in the wake of the Ben Johnson scandal, steroids were added to the Criminal Code of Canada as a Class IV controlled substance (that class was created expressly for steroids).
World Bodybuilding Federation
In 1990, wrestling promoter Vince McMahon announced he was forming a new bodybuilding organization, the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF). McMahon wanted to bring WWF-style showmanship and bigger prize money to the sport of bodybuilding. A number of IFBB stars were recruited but the roster was never very large, with the same athletes competing; the most notable winner and first WBF champion was Gary Strydom. McMahon formally dissolved the WBF in July 1992. Reasons for this probably included lack of income from the pay-per-view broadcasts of the WBF contests, slow sales of the WBF's magazine Bodybuilding Lifestyles (which later became WBF Magazine), and the expense of paying multiple 6-figure contracts as well as producing two TV shows and a monthly magazine.
Olympic sport discussion
In the early 2000s, the IFBB was attempting to make bodybuilding an Olympic sport. It obtained full IOC membership in 2000 and was attempting to get approved as a demonstration event at the Olympics which would hopefully lead to it being added as a full contest. This did not happen. Olympic recognition for bodybuilding remains controversial since many argue that bodybuilding is not a sport.
Recent developments
In 2003, Joe Weider sold Weider Publications to AMI, which owns The National Enquirer. The position of president of the IFBB is vacant following the death of Ben Weider in October 2008. In 2004, contest promoter Wayne DeMilia broke ranks with the IFBB and AMI took over the promotion of the Mr. Olympia contest. Other profesional contests emerged in this period, most notably the Arnold Classic and Night of the Champions but also the European Grand Prix of Bodybuilding. Also with the growth of consumer lifestyles in Europe and especially in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union saw whole new populations of bodybuilders emerge from those areas, and also from the Middle East and Asia.