by Christian Duque
Okay before anybody calls for my execution, I want to state that I am not taking a knock at Michael Krizo. I think that Krizo has done a great thing with posting as much of his Road to Pittsburgh as he has on social media, particularly Instagram. I feel that it’s very important for a professional athlete to give the fans as much content as possible. Now that last note is very important for the athlete and it really comes down to an athlete by athlete basis. Some competitors like to keep the fans in the dark about everything. It’s that old 1980s mentality of wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt to the gym. You don’t show off the arms, you don’t show off the wheels, you don’t show off anything.
Everything is top secret. Everything is on a need-to know-basis. However that mentality will only go so far in the digital media age. Fans are glued to their phones and sometimes don’t even look at televisions for days on end. There’s nothing on television they want to see. Everything they want is on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and then maybe some of the movie services like Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime Video. Their entire lives are on their phones. They get updates from various platforms when it comes to following their favorite bodybuilders and other fitness stars. So the reality of the matter is, if somebody has that ’80s mentality of being hunkered-down and showing nothing, they are going to have the smallest fan bases of any athlete on that stage. So as I said, I give kudos to Krizo for posting as much as possible, but do think he needs to be careful.
I have to say that Michael’s content is pretty good. He looks bigger than a house while at the same time has onion-thin-skin and vascularity for days. He looks like a walking science experiment. And the fact that he is so pale doesn’t really help things, but it also gives it a certain authenticity. He’s not getting into makeup or tanning himself just to give you a training video. He’s not doing the goon lights, either. In reality, what he’s doing is he’s showing you a day in his life. There are no bells and whistles. He’s basically doing what Sam Sulek did on his YouTube rise to fame. And I think that there’s a certain value in that. Because bodybuilding fans are hungry for the truth. They want to see what the fans aren’t supposed to see. Whether that includes cooking meals, the moments in between training sets, or driving around town. They want to see their favorite bodybuilders going to the chiropractor, sitting on the couch, or simply questioning the whole process before their very eyes.
This is why cardio confessionals used to do so well on social media. Fans want to feel like friends. They want to see what fans normally don’t see. But at the end of the day, what they want most is content. Fans today need a steady stream of content otherwise they become bored. That is why the magazines died out. Who the hell from today is going to want to read yesterday’s news? Or last week’s news? Or even worse, read about shows that happened a month ago. That’s not that kind of world we have today. and so someone like Krizo posting non-stop is going to do very well when it comes to garnering a following.
And even though followings don’t determine shows, they do determine how much money a show can make. If Krizo has a lion’s share of the fans and Krizo is going to do a show, that promoter is going to be laughing all the way to the bank because based on that one competitor they’re going to make their money. Promoters that don’t make money don’t have shows. The sport of bodybuilding needs to make money and needs to see profits, otherwise, it also will not grow. So the fact that Krizo is throwing his hat into Pittsburgh and is posting every single day, you would be an absolute fool if you didn’t think that would translate to more ticket sales and more pay-per-view purchases if that particular show decides to sell pay-per-view. that being said it also creates some limitations for the athlete and we’ll get into those in a second as well.
The first limitation it creates is that the athlete now is starting to get noticed by all the fans which in turn will get him noticed by the media. So far, so good right? Well yes and no. When you start to develop viral videos now it’s like you’re under the microscope. Now instead of sort of coasting into a show, maybe even under the radar, everybody is looking at you. And everybody is expecting you to live up to the hype. And even though Krizo isn’t really talking a lot – like others, Nick Walker and Derek – by showing himself so much online, he is forcing himself into the conversation. Now is when the gurus and the pundits might start analyzing the flaws in Krizo’s physique or start talking about why he isn’t going to win the show. That’s not the kind of press coverage you want leading into a contest, especially when you’re drawing a lot of fanfare. But again, at the end of the day, I think that what he’s doing is great. And while I think that he may be adding more stress on to himself than he really should, that’s subjective. Anybody that knows anything about bodybuilding, knows that stress can be very counterproductive during a prep. It can also actually ruin a prep. So again, is it really necessary to put all this extra added stress on his shoulders? I guess it really depends on what his prerogative is. That would be my answer.
But in addition to the stress that it causes, it also begs a very important question, how is Krizo going to pose against other top tier competitors? Because when you appear as much as Krizo has appeared on Instagram, it starts to raise questions about what you can do next to other competitors? When you’re posing by yourself, of course you can look impressive because there’s no one else there to compare you to. If you’re lifting by yourself, you could look all sorts of huge, when in reality your body is depleted. I’m just saying that while social media can be very powerful, it can also be very detrimental if that is all you have. I just don’t want to see Krizo go crazy on Instagram only to come up short on stage. And we have seen that happen over the years. I don’t think that Krizo is an Instagram Champion, but he is definitely somebody using Instagram far too much. For the fans, it’s great. With regards to his road to the winner’s circle, I’m not so sure that any extreme is a good thing.
At the end of the day though, I do applaud Krizo for posting as transparently as he’s been doing. That’s not easy. Most competitors don’t do it. Now the question is, can Michael Krizo live up to the hype at the Pittsburgh Pro? And how will that best look against guys like Nick Walker, Martin Fitzwater, and Derek Lunsford? As always, I hope you enjoyed reading my article, here, at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to share a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It is going to definitely generate some lively conversation.