Bodybuilding.com started as a teenager’s response to overpriced creatine and became the definitive hub for internet fitness. The early foundation was less about commerce and more about culture — a single site for supplements, information, community, and progress. Ryan Deluca built the kind of brand he wanted to see as a lifter, and it influenced a whole generation of gym goers and supplement enthusiasts, Stack3d included.
YouTuber Josh Brett recently put together a documentary titled “The Rise And Fall Of Bodybuilding.com”, and it’s an incredibly interesting watch, especially for those who know and grew up with the company. As per the title, it goes through the highs and lows of the once dominant supplement store, from its early days with Ryan Deluca selling creatine and the iconic forums, to its later years with paywall content and the loss of the forums.
Josh Brett does a great job of going through all of the stages of Bodybuilding.com as it exploded into a half-billion-dollar powerhouse. The team here at Stack3d utilized the platform a fair amount back at the beginning, around the 2010s, buying, learning, and reviewing supplements. The retailer has definitely changed a lot throughout the years, and the documentary is a great retelling of where it’s come from and how it’s evolved.
