The transcript below is from the video “Could Jean Claude Van Damme have been a bodybuilder?” by Nick’s Strength and Power.
Nick’s Strength and Power:
Alright! What’s going on you, guys? Nick’s Strength and Power.
So, I’m going to make a video about Jean-Claude Van Damme, because a lot of people make a request for me to do a video on; could he have been a bodybuilder? So, the answer to that question is; yes!
He actually was a bodybuilder, prior to his acting career now. Obviously, people are asking that question because in most of the movies; he’s pretty jacked and pretty ripped. That’s really what he’s known for. His kind of his calling card as being; this ripped guy, this ripped martial artist in these movies.
He’s in movies like blood-sport, kickboxer, and Double Impact, Universal Soldier, Last Action Hero with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Street Fighter… in countless other movies throughout the past couple of decades here from those.
In 79, he started his acting career than 80-90-2000 and to the present in 2010s and then more recently, he had the 2016 kickboxer vengeance movie. Another 2017 kickboxer retaliation movie.
Nick’s Strength and Power:
So, back to the question of; could he have been a bodybuilder? So, he definitely was a bodybuilder based on the photos and the information that I found. But I did find some conflicting information.
So, the most prominent theory out there; it’s not really a theory, but the information that’s put out there. I’m pretty much; every website where you read a bio on Jean-Claude Van Damme, is that he was in fact, the winner of the Mr. Belgium competition.
But if you google search the Mr. Belgium competition, there’s not a whole lot of information that comes up other than sites; that are referencing Jean-Claude Van Damme as winning that competition.
So, obviously either it wasn’t that big of a show because there’s really no information out there on it; when you google it. And it doesn’t talk about any of the other past winners except for Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Nick’s Strength and Power:
Or be it could have just been a made-up competition to kind of beef up his bio; which is kind of one of the running internet conspiracy theories that I’ve seen on some different threads about Jean-Claude Van Damme. But we do know; he did compete.
So, we do know his physique looked like when he competed. We know what his physique has looked like in these movies. So, the question of; could he have been a bodybuilder? We can apply that to this. We can assume that he didn’t win the Mr. Belgium.
Even if he did actually win it, we’re just going to assume that just for, just a humor me in this video, just for the sake of the video. So, if he didn’t win the Mr. Belgium. The question of; could he have been a competitive bodybuilder? really applies to; could he have done well as an amateur? Could he have possibly turned pro? Could he have made money as a bodybuilder?
Nick’s Strength and Power:
So, the main things that we have to consider our won the era that he was competing in bodybuilding. So, according to some sources the Mr. Belgium that he supposedly won was in 1978. And because his first movie was in 1979, I would assume his bodybuilding career as an amateur bodybuilder was prior to his movie career.
So, it’s probably some point in the 70s; where he was competing in bodybuilding. So, we got to think about that era of bodybuilding and what the standards were back then in. We take into consideration the question; could he have been successful?
So, I think overall from looking at the pictures that we have of him from the bodybuilding competitions that he did do. He definitely had a pretty good physique. It’s kind of hard to tell because you can’t see all of the mandatory poses.
Nick’s Strength and Power:
But from the physique that I’ve seen in the movies that he’s been in. You can definitely tell what it looked like and what it probably looked like in some of those poses.
So, in my opinion, I think you probably actually could have been a pretty good competitive bodybuilder because number one, one of the main, you know, standards back then; was really good conditioning and not really so much being a mass monster big guy with a ton of muscle.
If you look at these photos of Jean-Claude Van Damme, the first thing that probably sticks out to you; is he doesn’t have you know a hundred pounds of muscle like these guys that we see today; that are just you know stacked and covered in muscle on the Olympia stage.
Nick’s Strength and Power:
But for a bodybuilder in the 70s, the physique that I’m seeing of Jean-Claude Van Damme on stage there, I think that’s a pretty damn good physique for a 70s bodybuilder. I think he probably could have been pretty successful.
Now, of course, since we don’t have all the mandatory poses, it’s kind of hard to tell, you know, what his symmetry looked like? What his lines really looked like? But you can create, you can get a pretty good idea; that his conditioning looks pretty good. And overall, he brought a pretty good physique to that stage.
So, there’s another a theory out there; that he actually competed in the WABBA organization, which is the organization started by 1975 Mr. Olympia runner-up, Serge Nubret. But I couldn’t find any information backing up that claim other than just, you know, bodybuilding.com forums and stuff like that; nothing reputable really backs up to the WABBA claim.
Nick’s Strength and Power:
But it is a possibility and for your reference; in 1978, where he supposedly competed in bodybuilding, I mean one that Mr. Belgium show; that was here that Frank Zane won the Mr. Olympia.
Frank Zane won that Olympia weighing a 187 pounds at 5 foot 9 and Jean-Claude Van Damme was 5 foot 8 and claims to have been 185 pounds shredded at that bodybuilding show. So, he’s pretty comparable in size to the Mr. Olympia at that time.
So, overall, I think you probably could have been a pretty good competitive bodybuilder for the 1970s. But obviously, he probably made the best career choice possible; by going into acting and now he’s a multi-millionaire probably a hundred times over.
Nick’s Strength and Power:
So, thank you guys for watching! Let me know of what you guys think in the comments section below.
If you have any more information about his bodybuilding career, please go ahead and comment that. I think it’d be interesting to learn a little bit more about it, because really, I searched for a while and there’s not a whole lot that I could find.
So, thank you guys for watching! Please, give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.
Nick’s Strength and Power, signing out!
