Disenfranchised with bodybuilding

[Rulk]

Excuse my rant... I'd say for about the last year or so, i've had a gnawing feeling, festering in my gut. I would say that for the past 12 years or so, I have been a fan of bodybuilding, but now I feel like i'm drifting away from it.

Here are some of the things I have come to find out and accept in the sport/hobby of bodybuilding:

-Supplements do not work.
-Prohormones work, but not like the real thing.
-Steroids are for competing, and the better and further you want to go, the more you have to use.
-Genetics play a big role in how far you go in BB.
-99.9% of us will never step on a pro stage. And those of us attempting to go there, God bless you and all the luck to you.

Probably since 2000, when I started working as a bouncer in nightclubs, I started to read all the bodybuilding magazines, and there were 2 that I did not miss a month of- Flex and Muscular Development. I put on a lot more size and added more strength, thanks to the information and motivation found in those magazines. I dabbled in prohormones and brought things up another level around 2004 and so on. After finding a good job and leaving the nightclub industry behind me, I still wanted to keep pursuing an ideal physique. I got back into supplements and started to go online and join the forums.

So here I am, still reading MD and Flex, but I find myself not wanting to buy them anymore. I dont want to follow bb competitors and the shows they compete in any longer. Why? I look back to the 70's and 80's of bodybuilding and I think, that was when bb was the best, imo. My favorite Mr.O's are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lee Haney, and guys like Sergio, Surge, Lou, were awesome. I have to admit, the 90's produced some friggen rock stars in Shawn Ray, Kevin Levrone, Paul Dillet, Vince Taylor and so on.

Today though, it seems like it's all about the cocktail going into competitiors body's these days. From site injecting, to research peptides, and gobs of gh and test, and other agents like dnp, clen and so on. Today's bodybuilder seems more like a plump, cooked, turkey than a well trained athlete. Their health is very well in question, and the long term health is a larger mystery. My friend has said BB is a joke now days, and i'm starting to agree with him. Okay, rant is pretty much over.

[burlyman30]

The sport is a long way from where it began. It started in small hole-in-the-wall, dungeon-like facilities in the basements of YMCAs or in someone's garage. It found it's way to mainstream popularity in what I would say was the mid-80s to early 90s (my competitive years). Weight classes used to be chocked full of competitors. I never competed against fewer than 15, and usually closer to 25. Today, those numbers have dwindled. I watched the Mr. Oregon this year, and saw that it's venue had gone from a posh venue in the 80s and 90s to a high school auditorium with 1/4 of the spectators that used to attend. The weight classes had anywhere from 1-5 competitors, and the top 5 got trophies.

Bodybuilding is a dying sport, in part because of it's never-ending quest to pile on more and more mass for the sake of sacrificing aesthetics and beauty. There is no denying that there is an awesome quality to the size of today's competitors, but now it has become more of a side show than a competition. The general public sees the sport as "gross" and "disgusting" because the competitors are nearly cartoon-like in their proportions.

The only way to save the sport, in my estimation, is to change the judging standards and stop rewarding the overblown mass and begin to reward aesthetics again. The ridiculous endorsements for MetRx or Weider Anabolic Mega Paks are just lies and after trying products and getting no results, people get discouraged and quit. Disenfranchised, as you put it.

I haven't read a muscle magazine in years because of all the lies they promote. The routines that the guys put in the magazines cannot be followed unless you are on gear to recover from it. But they don't tell you that.

In it's purest form, bodybuilding is a personal quest, not even a sport. It is a quest to transform and create with your mind and body, something that exceeds where you started. In the words of Arnold, "It's like a sculptor who adds a little clay in one area and cuts away some excess in another area". Bodybuilding is artistry. We create a new form as we see changes needed.

The sport side of it all is so subjective. After all, how could we have both Frank Zane and Jay Cutler as Mr. Olympias? Those are two opposite types of physiques. The subjectivity of judges and the ever-changing priorities in how they reward competitors has moved this sport into a never-ending search for mass at all costs.

I left the iron game entirely for several years, only to come back with a different perspective. A perspective that relied on personal improvement and never took into account any comparison to another person. As a non-competitor this time around, I had the luxury of creating the new me on my own time schedule and with the knowledge that I would be the only judge of my progress.

The sport of bodybuilding as it is today may not be what you love, but seek out the parts of the lifestyle that do stimulate your mind and creativity, whether it be leaning out, getting stronger, etc. The sport itself won't miss you if you drift away from it, but your body and mind may miss the activities that are a part of you creatively changing your body. You dont have to be a slave to the sport. Just build your body the way you want it--on your terms. This is the purest intent of the art of bodybuilding.

[Rulk]

Well said Burly. I can't totaly abandon bb, as I will take what I need from it, in my next endeavor. I just see it as i'm growing up and letting go of that idea of being "Jacked up" and a "Beast". I'm 5'10 and will never be a mass monster, nor should I be. For the long term, I should start taking my weight down further and further and looking at things in terms of a marathon.

I think in terms of "competing", I still have a fire inside to do just that, but like you were saying, on my own terms. I do plan on competing in some local grappling tournaments and taking my journey in brazilian jiujitsu where it may. For the record, I never had any real aspirations to be a bodybuilder, a competing one at least, but rather be a "Hobbyist" at best.

[Eden]

I hear you guys, NOA, and Burly. It is sad that most of the competition is who can survive the highest amount of drugs. But at the same time there still is a lot of competition mentally about who can lift harder and such. I would like to see a return back to aesthetics, I am excited to see what happens with the 212lbs olympia, I think it should help return us a little back to the aesthetics region. I do think some things on body builders have gone too far, I think most bbers traps are too big and just look odd. I hope I didn't ramble too badly.

[DJM]

curious as to where this thread goes and what others might have to say, then ill prob comment

[Rulk]

curious as to where this thread goes and what others might have to say, then ill prob comment

When I was over at PP, I gathered that the community was not so much into "bodybuilding the sport", following athletes and the shows. Don't get me wrong, there are a bunch of meatheads there and here, that want to get bigger and stronger, but it's different... I just don't see this being a super polarizing subject here, but I could be wrong.

[Rulk]

I hear you guys, NOA, and Burly. It is sad that most of the competition is who can survive the highest amount of drugs. But at the same time there still is a lot of competition mentally about who can lift harder and such. I would like to see a return back to aesthetics, I am excited to see what happens with the 212lbs olympia, I think it should help return us a little back to the aesthetics region. I do think some things on body builders have gone too far, I think most bbers traps are too big and just look odd. I hope I didn't ramble too badly.

Thanks for your input Eden. I remember for years hearing my friend saying, "It's all about drugs". He'd then go on and cite examples of guys who were built okay before ( people that we personaly knew ), and then when they got a hold of certain drugs, they'd blow up. And then when they went on the total drug program, they took it to a whole other level. I started to see what he was saying, and I'd counter with, but the eating to get that big, the workouts, you can't get there without those 2 either.

We'd discuss gurus and how they had the magic touch, and it seems to me that all the gurus say is to use even more. When it comes to contest time, this is where they make their money, depleting, loading and all that.

We could go on and on about what's wrong with bb now days. Each topic potentially pretty volatile, such as Judging. I'm just fed up with it all and i'm leaning more towards performance based sports, rather than pagent type events.

[Eden]

I hear you man, but even when you do factor in the extra drugs, these guys really do BRUTALIZE their bodies in their workouts. I mean a dude in the gym could load up on drugs and do an average workout and will never get anywhere near where top guys are. I'm not saying that the drugs aren't a huge factor, but it's all the sum of the parts you know?

I am sad to see that we've moved toward just straight mass monsters. I know they say Phil is aesthetic but I mean come on, he still looks almost inhuman, I mean Dorian in the off season seriously looks more like cattle than a human it's intense. I respect mass monsters, but I can still appreciate aesthetics. I just hope that we move back to that with the new weight classes. But we would probably need height and weight categories to keep it inside the beauty category.

[DJM]

I hear you man, but even when you do factor in the extra drugs, these guys really do BRUTALIZE their bodies in their workouts. I mean a dude in the gym could load up on drugs and do an average workout and will never get anywhere near where top guys are. I'm not saying that the drugs aren't a huge factor, but it's all the sum of the parts you know?

totally agree, same as any elite level athlete.....armstrong juiced, but so did most all of them and he still won 7 times, he was pretty fkn good before he took to put him over the top......these pros were winning shows at 18 and looking like we will never regardless what we took......to discredit their work and dedication is pretty shit......i am by no means an aspiring competitor, its a hobby to me, but ill give credit where its due

-Supplements do not work.
-Prohormones work, but not like the real thing.
-Steroids are for competing, and the better and further you want to go, the more you have to use.
-Genetics play a big role in how far you go in BB.
-99.9% of us will never step on a pro stage. And those of us attempting to go there, God bless you and all the luck to you.

did you want to compete? did you push as far as you could without gear? were you in great shape and put yourself in a position to choose? genetics to go far yes, but to get in amazing shape ill say no...........people play a ton of sports knowing they wont be pros....just sounds like self reflection leading to sour grapes.....please flame me for that by all means

supps wise, yeah pretty much....but you still buy the stuff? do you not.....stop dude, just eat, you are 270+, you obviously eat a ton and dont need any supps

[xxiv]

I'll chime in here, i have never bought a mag or watched an olympia, i just never cared to. My traditional reference material has been the arnold encyclopedia and the joe weider ultimate bodybuilding. I don't know and don't care who's big now... kinda like old timers that think that the beatles and elvis are the only bands that are worth listening to and disregard everything else i think guys like frank, sergio and arnold are the only guys worth looking at.

let me quote every ones favorite transvestite by saying "if you want something visual that's not too abysmal. We could take in an old Steve Reeves movie"

I like the classics.

My journey is no biggie, I'm doing it for fun. I'll take what i take and hit a few bumps in the road. Some years will get wasted some months I'll make leaps and bounds. I would like to be big and strong but i don't have to be the biggest or strongest.