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The false choice of bodybuilding and bodybuilding excess

Glycomann

Get outta my yard
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I have been watching probably hundreds of individuals on these forums and a nearly equal number in real life use AAS and other aids to reach higher, run faster, become stronger and look better for many years. When I did the bulk of my experimentation it was pretty much legal or at least these drugs were not scheduled. Things were different in the 80s and earlier. The 90s took a new turn and the 2000s and now the 2010s the whole paradigm has continued to shift.

Three decades ago the accent was still on health and performance. AAS was still more of a dirty little secret and used more sparingly. Most of the guys that I still know from back then are OK health wise. Some that abused, and there are always those addictive personalities, are not so well be it from years of AAS or other drugs of abuse.

Where I am going with this is? There is a way to go about use of these things, or at least some of them, without jeopardizing health, well being and personal growth. What do I mean by personal growth? Answer: there should be enough focus and energy in your life to achieve success in other areas of life outside of the gym, sport arena, BBing stage or mirror.

An example here might suffice. Take a look at our BBing icon Arnold Schwarzenegger. Going strait back to the early days Arnold had goals outside of BBing. He new enough not to bank on a fledgling orphan sport for success in life. He had a construction business he used to generate capital to then buy into the CA real estate market. The rest is his ongoing history. He was able to divide his focus and become the best is his sport and one of the best in Hollywood, public service, and I am certain, what ever he chooses next. There is a man to idolize if there is one.

Now let's take a more common and more modern case. Take your pick. Look over the boards and you can find any number of individuals that have completely immersed themselves into the present bodybuilding lifestyle. There is one individual I have in mind that post regularly on a popular board run by a certain former amateur BBer. This person has no real job outside of likely some illegal activity and maybe a part ownership in a local gym. He injects himself all day long with AAS, insulin, GH, peptides and takes many ancillaries to counterbalance, or so he thinks, side effects of the massive doses of growth factors and steroid hormones. This guy can barely write or speak English intelligibly. He is 255-260 off season at about 5'8" with a huge GH gut and puffs and wheezes after a semi-heavy set of dumbbell curls. Outside of the gym he is a spectacle in life. He, through attitude, physical appearance and a warped sense of success, has placed himself on a path toward a dead end where he will have a series of also ran trophies maybe a small supplement company sponsorship failure and a dead end. At 40 he will be completely burned out with nothing to show for his efforts but a drug ravaged body riddled with arthritis and likely other ailments. What will he do at 41? Probably he will bounce at clubs or work crap jobs, live in a walk-up flat and be surrounded in later life by other losers.

So there you have the two extremes. Both chose BBing as a path. Both had/have focus and determination. Both use/used ergogenic. One had exceptional genetics for the sport but directed his focus and determination towards success in life outside of the gym. The other was not as blessed but bought into the myth that drugs conquer all and placed all of his faith, drive and determination in the unlikelihood of success in BBing as a life goal.

It becomes easy to place one's faith in a life style that presents evidence of success in the mirror over weeks or months. It is more difficult to devote the energy it takes for true success in life that requires mountains of effort and years in time in earned degrees and/or building of a business. The less tangible requires more foresight, more determination, more self confidence and far more effort. One also has to have the stomach for failure and the intestinal fortitude to get back up and run head long into ones goals again and again.

There is no rule that one can not have a level of success in more than one area of life. One can certainly carry a fine physique through effort and become a successful business person, quality engineer, scientist, accountant, etc.. ect... One does not have to sign once's life away to the new religion of bloated GH guts and tunnel vision toward an unattainable lean sustainable 245 lbs at 5'7". That is not success in life by any stretch or measure. That is self delusion and a recipe for a walk up flat by 45 and arthritic knees for the stairs on the way up to the old warped mattress that lies just beyond the crooked door.

Where do you choose to place your efforts?
 
That's his choice to make. Who are you to tell this guy or anybody else that their dreams are stupid?

That's like telling a professional football player that all those injuries he is having reoccur is all for nothing and that he is just going to end up crippled in the long run, which happens to a lot of athletes. As long as they are happy, then good on them.
 
I see what your saying and although it is his choice to make. I understand your story.

people like evan centopani who has a full time job and went to school and even ronnie coleman was a police officer but also studied tax accounting.

I think it is important no matter what your goal in life is to have a finger in a few pies incase one slows down and no money flow.
 
I understand what you are saying my brother, but not everybody is born blessed with a brilliant mind to be able to excell. There are always going to be users and there will always be abusers. Plenty of CEOs and executives have alcohol and substance abuse problems the same as BBs. This fact is relative in all walks of life. Everybody knows the risks. It's a choice everybody should make on their own whether to use as a tool or to abuse.

Also while you are admiring Arnold and all of his accomplishments you forget that he was an adulterer. Success dosent make you immune to morals. IMHO
 
Good thread by the way. Should catch plenty of opinions on the subject.
 
I see what your saying and although it is his choice to make. I understand your story.

people like evan centopani who has a full time job and went to school and even ronnie coleman was a police officer but also studied tax accounting.

I think it is important no matter what your goal in life is to have a finger in a few pies incase one slows down and no money flow.

You got my point. I thought some would take it personally. Basically I've seen it all from beginning to end. This is just a heads up. I gave two examples. I'm posing the question. Towards which extreme do you wish to align.
 
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That's his choice to make. Who are you to tell this guy or anybody else that their dreams are stupid?

That's like telling a professional football player that all those injuries he is having reoccur is all for nothing and that he is just going to end up crippled in the long run, which happens to a lot of athletes. As long as they are happy, then good on them.

Who am I? I am someone that has seen 3 decades of this. Who are you?
 
I understand what you are saying my brother, but not everybody is born blessed with a brilliant mind to be able to excell. There are always going to be users and there will always be abusers. Plenty of CEOs and executives have alcohol and substance abuse problems the same as BBs. This fact is relative in all walks of life. Everybody knows the risks. It's a choice everybody should make on their own whether to use as a tool or to abuse.

Also while you are admiring Arnold and all of his accomplishments you forget that he was an adulterer. Success dosent make you immune to morals. IMHO

I don't buy it. I think most people can achieve more than they realize. I don't think a man has to be Jesus Christ to be a model.
 
I'm just trying to provoke a little thought in the young guys that have no plans other than to get jerked and turn pro.
 
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Things were different in the 80s and earlier. The 90s took a new turn and the 2000s and now the 2010s the whole paradigm has continued to shift.....AAS was still more of a dirty little secret and used more sparingly.

Definitely a thought provoking post. You make some good points and examples aside, one that I'd like to expand on is the use, or overuse of these drugs that is common.

Often I see people (although less nowadays) encouraging others including first timers to use what I consider high doses of chemicals when the sides are just not worth the few extra pounds that, unless your an elite bber, can be had with a little patience. There is no reason a first timer should use a gram or more of androgens, or even half a gram of testosterone a week IMHO. Thyroid hormone and especially insulin are not needed for 99.99% For those interested in cosmetic use (99% of us), we can absolutely have an amazing physique through effort and a conservative AAS usage if you so choose. 400 mgs of androgens a week is more than enough for drastic changes in body composition for any AAS virgin.

I cringe when I see a post like " hi, my first cycle is 500 mgs test and 400 mgs deca with 50 mgs dbol." I started off doing something quite like this and now 10 years later I wish i hadn't. IMHO I truly believe doses like these should take a number of go-arounds to reach over a period of time, and that is speaking from experience.

Granted everyone's tolerance level is different after a few runs so moderation is relative, but moderation is the key to using safely without permanently harming yourself (like losing all your hair in your teens which I have personally seen).
 
Yup I got you bro.

I just workout to be healthy and I wont lie to look good also.

But its not something I want to do for a job like go pro. Even if I did I would still have my hand in a few incomes like I do now.
 
I agree 100%. I get that some people want to be professional bodybuilders. But there comes a point where you can't turn back. For me, I will never aspire to be on TV or even the possibility of being on a stage. I do this for myself to see what I can do with my body.

Bodybuilding is a lifestyle. You have to live it if you want to reap the rewards. But you don't have to get consumed in it. My life goals revolve nothing around bodybuilding but around building myself to be a smarter, more professional human being.
 
I agree 100%. I get that some people want to be professional bodybuilders. But there comes a point where you can't turn back. For me, I will never aspire to be on TV or even the possibility of being on a stage. I do this for myself to see what I can do with my body.

Bodybuilding is a lifestyle. You have to live it if you want to reap the rewards. But you don't have to get consumed in it. My life goals revolve nothing around bodybuilding but around building myself to be a smarter, more professional human being.

Nice post! That's a big part of what I like about bodybuilding. It all hearkens back to a Greek philosophy of life where improvement in body and mind is a life long goal.
 
I agree 100%. I get that some people want to be professional bodybuilders. But there comes a point where you can't turn back. For me, I will never aspire to be on TV or even the possibility of being on a stage. I do this for myself to see what I can do with my body.

Bodybuilding is a lifestyle. You have to live it if you want to reap the rewards. But you don't have to get consumed in it. My life goals revolve nothing around bodybuilding but around building myself to be a smarter, more professional human being.

I agree for the most part, but the lifestyle takes a lot of commitment (different degrees for different people). I have no desire to compete at all... I'll be 41 in a couple of weeks, yet I still plan my days around me getting to the gym, always making sure I have plenty of protein powders & other supps and cook a weeks worth of food on Sunday for the upcoming week. It's crazy... My ol' lady was just b!tch! at me about this and I don't consider my self serious... I can't imagine how much of the Pro's lives are taken up 'living the lifestyle'.
 
A lot of people make so many sacrifices to achieve a deluded dream which no one understands but them selfs.
This guy being an example but if its what he truly wants who is to stop him ?
 
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Bodybuilding takes a commitment like no other. I believe that all the hard work it takes to transforms a physique into a work of art can also be applied to other areas of your life. A bodybuilder who takes that work ethic into life can basically accomplish anything he chooses to do. Bodybuilding has given me the discipline to achieve goals I never would have had the ability to do unless I was a bodybuilder.
 
Bodybuilding takes a commitment like no other. I believe that all the hard work it takes to transforms a physique into a work of art can also be applied to other areas of your life. A bodybuilder who takes that work ethic into life can basically accomplish anything he chooses to do. Bodybuilding has given me the discipline to achieve goals I never would have had the ability to do unless I was a bodybuilder.

This is a good point. My article is not a condemnation of bodybuilding. I want that to be clear.
 
This is a good point. My article is not a condemnation of bodybuilding. I want that to be clear.

Of course, I didn't see your post that way at all. Let's face it many of us will not be professional bodybuilders, yet living the bodybuilding lifestyle can be a stepping stone for many of our goals and dreams in life.
 
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