The Greatest Outdoor Bodybuilding Show on Earth

There’s only one Muscle Beach. Tourists crowd around the platform in Venice, watching the rock-hard tanned bodies flex under the golden California sun. Behind all the flexing, the applause, and TV cameras, there’s a quieter story – one of devotion and everlasting love – the story of Joe and Christine Wheatley.

From Santa Monica to Venice Beach

Muscle Beach began in 1934, not in Venice, but in Santa Monica, where pioneers like Jack LaLanne, Sarah Clark, and Glen Sundby helped turn a rug patch of sand into the birthplace of modern fitness culture. Athletes moved like gymnasts – tumbling, lifting, and posing in human pyramids against a backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. When the original Santa Monica site closed in the late 1950s, the energy migrated south to Venice where it eventually found new life.

By the late 1990s, Venice competitions were struggling, with only a small handful of athletes signing up to compete. That’s when Joe Wheatley stepped in. At the time, he’d been managing a gym in North Hollywood and had been helping out with the shows when the previous promoter fell ill. Then, fate – and a little local gossip – intervened. 

“One day, a girl ran up and said, ‘Congrats, they gave you Muscle Beach,’” Joe recalled. Not long after, The Argonaut – a Santa Monica paper – printed that he would be taking over. The funny part? No one had actually told him yet. “I saw the article, then got a call from Parks and Rec,” Joe laughed. “Of course, I accepted. And it’s been twenty-five years this year.”

The year was 1999. Joe went home and told Christine. Was it crazy? Could they pull it off? Christine didn’t flinch. Together, Christine with a clipboard in hand and with Joe as the MC and promoter, they launched their first show with barely a dozen athletes.

“She didn’t have a lot of experience at first. After a tutorial explaining how to run [the show], she immediately took over registration,” Wheatley recalled. Christine organized the sign-ups, built a staff that became family, and kept the flow of the show exactly how she envisioned it. “She actually ran the show,” Joe admitted. “Other than the mic — that was me.”

During the events, Christine also served as a buffer, fielding requests and deflecting distractions so Joe could stay focused on the athletes. “She had a good read on people,” he says. “She always watched my back.”

Turning Muscle Beach into the Crown Jewel of Outdoor Bodybuilding

For 25 years, the Wheatleys transformed a struggling event into the crown jewel of outdoor bodybuilding. When they began, maybe a dozen athletes showed up. Today, more than 150 competitors travel from around the world for a chance to step onto the Venice Beach stage. The Wheatleys expanded the contests to include categories from ‘Bikini’ to ‘Classic Physique’ and ‘Vintage Swimsuit,’ and in 2001 they launched the Muscle Beach Hall of Fame. They even started a holiday Toy Drive that’s now in its 18th year.

Joe and Christine worked together to make Muscle Beach a living monument, etching the names of legends onto bronze plaques along the Santa Monica Sand. In Venice, they gave the shows roots and the athletes a home.

A bodybuilder’s life is not easy, and neither are the lives the Wheatleys experienced as Muscle Beach promoters. Preparing for competitions means cutting calories, training four to five days a week, and staying on a strict regimen for twelve to sixteen weeks at a time. “That, too, is not for the faint of heart,” Joe said.

The Wheatleys also knew a few things about adversity. During the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, all competitions were shut down. Even in 2021, the Memorial Day and July 4th shows were canceled; it wasn’t until Labor Day that year that Muscle Beach returned. “I remember a tearful moment when Channel 11 had me on TV,” Joe said. “It felt like the end of the world, like we’d never get back to normal. But eventually the shows came back.”

Obstacles didn’t only come from the pandemic. “One of the biggest challenges my wife and I faced was people trying to take the shows from us,” Joe recalled. “It’s a lot easier to do something when someone else has already done the work. Fortunately, Parks and Rec saw what we had built. We had a good relationship with them, and in the end, people understood – Joe’s not going anywhere.”

Honoring the Heart of Muscle Beach

For years, Joe and Christine stood strong through every setback, side by side. However, in the spring of this year, Joe faced the one challenge he couldn’t overcome: losing his wife Christine. “I miss her every day. Together, married thirty-four years. Briefly, I thought about not doing it anymore, but it’s not what she would want.” Joe knew Christine would want him to keep going.

On Memorial Day 2025 – a show they had always worked together – Joe stepped onto the stage without her for the first time. “Memorial Day was very hard for all of us because she was our family,” Joe said. Yet, the event ran like clockwork. “Most of the staff have been with me for 20 years. That morning on Memorial Day, they knew exactly what to do. To her credit, it ran like she was there. I’m very blessed to have had her in my life.”

Each show, each toy drive, each plaque added to the Walk of Fame is part of her legacy. Christine Wheatley may not have been on stage, but she was the foundation under it, the reason Venice Muscle Beach isn’t just a spectacle but a community, a family.

“Muscle Beach is truly a family. Once you compete at Muscle Beach, you feel it,” Joe said. “People always compliment the staff, how open they are to answering questions, especially with first-time competitors. You can tell who; they’re like a deer in the headlights at the very beginning.”

At Muscle Beach, the spotlight has always belonged to the athletes, but this season, it’s worth pausing to honor the woman who quietly held it all together.

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