Bodybuilders, Feel Misunderstood?

Off Topic
61

[quote]semifreddie wrote:
IL Cazzo wrote:
semifreddie wrote:
Just read this shit you clowns are writing. One word: HOMOEROTIC.

You’re hung up on what people think and say about you. Boo hoo hoo! Now if that’s not true girly-girly-girly-man shit, I don’t know what is!

Put on a fucking dress. You can’t be no T-MAN.

Aren’t you the same douche who was yelling at people in the Liger thread because they called them cats? Fuckin lame.

No, asshole. Because they called them a species. Reading comprehension really isn’t your thing, apparently.

Now THAT’S lame.

[/quote]

My money is on IL.

First off there is definately nothing homoerotic on this thread. Maybe a tad gay that someone is so easily offended, but…not homoerotic.

Second-your post is lame.

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[quote]semifreddie wrote:
Just read this shit you clowns are writing. One word: HOMOEROTIC.
[/quote]

You found this thread erotic? Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

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[quote]IronGame08 wrote:

For instance, my university has a large “emo” population, and to be honest, a lot of these kids sport hair that is absurd, to say the least. One of these kids was kickin it at my buddies place the other day (they were working on a school project) while I was over there. Now, I could have made some jackass comment about his hair, but I kept my mouth shut. Why? Because its not my place to say shit about how he choses to look. If thats how he wants to appear, then I support his right to do so, AND I WOULD NEVER THINK ABOUT COMMENTING ON IT, especially since I don’t really know him.
[/quote]

But what if this guy was holding an economy 1 gallon jug of hair gell in his hands? You are telling me you wouldn’t say “heh heh, thats a big jug of gell you got there…”

I know I would. Tomato, toh-mah-toe.

64

[quote]sic wrote:
Classy_Cojones wrote:
People don’t usually say anything derogatory to me because I am smug, and it shows. The last time someone did though, I verbally made him feel like suicide is the only option left.

Classy you are not.[/quote]

I agree with sic and sasquatch. Classy my ass. Just because you bodybuild doesn’t mean you are better than anyone else. If it wasn’t for scientists and farmers and a slew of different hobbyists you wouldn’t even have the materials(food, weights, machines, etc) to reach your goal.

Furthermore, there are other things to be good at. Bodybuilding isn’t the end all pursuit of life. Do you think professional badminton players think that badmintonless people are morons? no! The badminton elite have true class.

65

[quote]Chickenmcnug wrote:
sic wrote:
Classy_Cojones wrote:
People don’t usually say anything derogatory to me because I am smug, and it shows. The last time someone did though, I verbally made him feel like suicide is the only option left.

Classy you are not.

I agree with sic and sasquatch. Classy my ass. Just because you bodybuild doesn’t mean you are better than anyone else. If it wasn’t for scientists and farmers and a slew of different hobbyists you wouldn’t even have the materials(food, weights, machines, etc) to reach your goal.

Furthermore, there are other things to be good at. Bodybuilding isn’t the end all pursuit of life. Do you think professional badminton players think that badmintonless people are morons? no! The badminton elite have true class.[/quote]

Stop picking on my nickname. It’s getting silly. Plus, as you should have noticed, my nickname isn’t exactly a testimonial to how classy I am; on the contrary.

Farmers and scientists of the past and presend are in my prayers every night. If I see one on the street, I am sure to grab the nearest good-looking woman and throw her at him in an attempt to show my gratitude. But humble I will not be.

I like it how you boys have been calling me an internet tough guy, when all I’ve been doing here was to try and explain the notion of social pressure.

Nobody’s humble these days, and it seems people with a nice physique (or a big jug of water…which is ridiculous, but nevermind) are getting the ass of it.

Now, just to give you an example off the top of my head. If someone were to ask me, with an obvious condescendent agenda in mind, how many hours a day do I train, my answer could be this:

“I train 50 minutes a day, which isn’t all that much. And I also do a bit of sports, about an hour a day. Really, I have time for lots of other stuff.”

Which, being a really nice fella who has nothing to do with his life, I could continue with:

“Hey, you look like an interesting man. You seem to have a lot of fun stories about, you know, drinking and eating chips, and you must have read a book long ago, how about we go grab a beer and become friends, because that’s exactly what I need, a friend like you.”

Marvelous, init?

Or, I could just prepare to go on with my life and tell him the truth:

“I guess it takes me a lot less to look like this than it takes you to look like that. For you it’s a day-long chocolate-grazing commitment, and it includes parties with thousands of calories worth of beer and tequila and what not, but absolutely no sex. And when you do get laid, it’s with a woman that would make my stomach churn. But hey, have a nice life, and if you manage to focus your diabetic eyesight on one point for long enough, you’ll be able to watch me lift some heavy-ass weights”

It beats the hell out of the stories of 400 pound men making fun of people on this site because they work out too much.

66

Whenever people question me, like anything else in life, I cry about it on the internet. It’s not like we’re humans and just curious creatures, it’s that they are wrong and I need the attention! Why doesn’t anyone like me? I’m going to cut myself while listening Evanecance.

67

Hey man they are just BORED, especially in the middle of a class, you’re giving them something funny (or at least, unusual) to appease the boredom.

You don’t have to say anything, just smile (like you mean it - really mean it) or laugh. You don’t always know they are trying to be mean to you.

You shouldn’t take it personally. If anything you should take it well and set an example of a big, easy going guy. Maybe you’ll make some new friends. If you’re shy of attention then maybe bodybuilding isn’t for you.

It is pretty weird behaviour though having people come up to you saying this stuff. It’s not as if bodybuilding is a really unknown activity?

68

[quote]Chickenmcnug wrote:

Just because you bodybuild doesn’t mean you are better than anyone else. If it wasn’t for scientists and farmers and a slew of different hobbyists you wouldn’t even have the materials(food, weights, machines, etc) to reach your goal.

Furthermore, there are other things to be good at. Bodybuilding isn’t the end all pursuit of life. Do you think professional badminton players think that badmintonless people are morons? no! The badminton elite have true class.[/quote]

Agreed - why do so many bodybuilders come off as nursing such massive inferiority complexes?

You bodybuild. Great. Other people don’t, and look at you funny. Fanstastic. Who cares? Why the need for such desperate self-validation?

I had a strength coach once remark of bodybuilders: “the bigger the muscles, the more fragile the ego”. All too often, the truth.

69

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
Chickenmcnug wrote:

Just because you bodybuild doesn’t mean you are better than anyone else. If it wasn’t for scientists and farmers and a slew of different hobbyists you wouldn’t even have the materials(food, weights, machines, etc) to reach your goal.

Furthermore, there are other things to be good at. Bodybuilding isn’t the end all pursuit of life. Do you think professional badminton players think that badmintonless people are morons? no! The badminton elite have true class.

Agreed - why do so many bodybuilders come off as nursing such massive inferiority complexes?

You bodybuild. Great. Other people don’t, and look at you funny. Fanstastic. Who cares? Why the need for such desperate self-validation?

I had a strength coach once remark of bodybuilders: “the bigger the muscles, the more fragile the ego”. All too often, the truth.[/quote]

…but not always, and that is severely misunderstood. Stereotypes.

70

[quote]IronGame08 wrote:
As a bodybuilder, not a day goes by that I don’t encounter a situation where my lifestyle is either completely misunderstood or openly derided. I don’t expect people to know a damn thing about bodybuilding, but I expect them to not make a joke out of it, as if I eat five meals a day because I’m “just a goofy guy.” I have no idea how to repsond to assinine questions, and I don’t feel like I should have to.

For instance, I’m currently bulking, and when I’m out and about on campus I carry around a gallon jug of water. People stare at me when I take a big pull from it in the middle of class, or someone sitting next to me will jokingly remark “Thats a lot of water…” with a dumbass smile on their face, like its a fuckin joke. What the fuck do I say to this?

Also, I still eat in the dorm cafeterias because it allows me to eat mass amounts of food. The other day at dinner I went back for my fourth or fifth helping, and the girl working got an exasperated look on her face and said in a pissy tone “Haven’t you been here like a hundred times tonight?”

I was out on a date a while back, and the girl got a sense that I live a really structured, routine life. She finally said, albeit jokingly, “aw, you’re no fun…” I don’t usually do this, but I came clean and explained to her that I’m a bodybuilder, and the nature of this lifestyle requires some sacrifices in my life. I told her that I usually don’t explain that to people because they take it the wrong way. She responded with “Yeah, its kind of intimidating.” WTF?

This shit is getting old. The examples I listed are just a few among MANY. I could go on and on. I don’t ever question other people’s lifestyles, and I don’t understand why they have to question mine.

Does this shit happen to anyone else?
[/quote]

Don’t sweat it guy… you’d be surprised how much of it is secret envy. You’ll get used to it just like I did… just reply with the truth, “I like looking good.”

It only bothers you if you let it… nothing can touch you if you don’t let it.

71

[quote]Professor X wrote:

I had a strength coach once remark of bodybuilders: “the bigger the muscles, the more fragile the ego”. All too often, the truth.

…but not always, and that is severely misunderstood. Stereotypes.[/quote]

Yes, and that is what “all too often” means: not always, but enough for it to be troubling.

72

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
Professor X wrote:

I had a strength coach once remark of bodybuilders: “the bigger the muscles, the more fragile the ego”. All too often, the truth.

…but not always, and that is severely misunderstood. Stereotypes.

Yes, and that is what “all too often” means: not always, but enough for it to be troubling.

[/quote]

I think the entire culture lends itself to those much of society would call “obsessed”. I make my meals every night for the next day. I lift weight six days a week unless there is a true reason not to. I am sure many would look at me and some might say I am “too developed”. However, to mark these traits down as some pathology at work is also a mistake. I like structure in my life. I like to be able to control as many factors as possible in spite of variables. Whether these traits are faults favorable abilities depends on the perspective.

73

[quote]Professor X wrote:

I think the entire culture lends itself to those much of society would call “obsessed”. I make my meals every night for the next day. I lift weight six days a week unless there is a true reason not to. I am sure many would look at me and some might say I am “too developed”. However, to mark these traits down as some pathology at work is also a mistake. I like structure in my life. I like to be able to control as many factors as possible in spite of variables. Whether these traits are faults favorable abilities depends on the perspective.
[/quote]

Nothing wrong with structure, etc. - I never suggested such an attitude was a pathology. If there is a pathology at all, I am suggesting it is this whiney inferiority complex that lots of bodybuilders have. They mask it as self-confidence to the point of arrogance - “everyone clearly envies me!” - but they are hyper-sensitive to what other people think of them and how they look. That has nothing to do with a desire for structure, it has to do with a painfully fragile ego.

74

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
Professor X wrote:

I think the entire culture lends itself to those much of society would call “obsessed”. I make my meals every night for the next day. I lift weight six days a week unless there is a true reason not to. I am sure many would look at me and some might say I am “too developed”. However, to mark these traits down as some pathology at work is also a mistake. I like structure in my life. I like to be able to control as many factors as possible in spite of variables. Whether these traits are faults favorable abilities depends on the perspective.

Nothing wrong with structure, etc. - I never suggested such an attitude was a pathology. If there is a pathology at all, I am suggesting it is this whiney inferiority complex that lots of bodybuilders have. They mask it as self-confidence to the point of arrogance - “everyone clearly envies me!” - but they are hyper-sensitive to what other people think of them and how they look. That has nothing to do with a desire for structure, it has to do with a painfully fragile ego.[/quote]

Tell me, Thunderbolt, have you ever experienced someone making an issue of your development? I am just wondering because many of your posts come across as someone who has never even experienced it. Would most people consider you “built”?

75

[quote]Professor X wrote:

Tell me, Thunderbolt, have you ever experienced someone making an issue of your development?[/quote]

Not that I can recall. So what? This isn’t about whether people make issues over your ‘development’, it’s whether you have the emotional strength to not worry about it.

Yes.

76

Irongame, from reading some of your other posts, you come across as maybe having a bit of a confidence problem. Most people are not into the same lifestyle as you, and most do not know anything about it. Most of the comments you described sound fairly benign, and would certainly not bother me at all. Try not to let it get to you bro. You are simply into something they don’t understand.

Also, I agree with the fact that there are a lot of bodybuilders out there with confidence issues, that may be the reason some of them get into it in the fist place. Some of the behaviors I have seen in other body builders (one here at work in particular) are simply to put it in everyone else’s face, just to make sure others know they are body builders. These are the same guys that have a skin tight underarmour shirt for every occasion.

I am an airplane nerd, and was reading a forum for other airplane nerds the other day, and after an incident at an airport, they are blasting the media because the ‘idiot’ reporter refereed to a plane being ‘pulled back’ instead of ‘pushed back’. My point is this, just because they are into something, and have a lot of knowledge about something, does not mean most people do.

Try to relax a little, you are at a major state university, and you are into a healthy lifestyle. Overall you sound fairly well rounded, so don’t sweat the small stuff.

77

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
Professor X wrote:

Tell me, Thunderbolt, have you ever experienced someone making an issue of your development?

Not that I can recall. So what? This isn’t about whether people make issues over your ‘development’, it’s whether you have the emotional strength to not worry about it.

I am just wondering because many of your posts come across as someone who has never even experienced it. Would most people consider you “built”?

Yes.[/quote]

As I responded, I think the original poster cares too much what others think. I also feel that if you don’t want anyone looking at you strangely, than perhaps you shouldn’t build your arms to 20"+. I actually only wrote what I did to you based on your comments in other threads that led me to that conclusion.

I may write about weird circumstances based on the way someone responded to me. If I did, would someone like you judge that as being “emotionally weak”? I am making the distinction between acknowledging strange occurances and the belief that acknowledging them shows weakness. There is a difference. One shows that you are emotionally affected by it. the other does not.

78

[quote]Professor X wrote:

As I responded, I think the original poster cares too much what others think. I also feel that if you don’t want anyone looking at you strangely, than perhaps you shouldn’t build your arms to 20"+. I actually only wrote what I did to you based on your comments in other threads that led me to that conclusion.[/quote]

What conclusion? I didn’t see you come to a conclusion.

Fantastic. My original post was an observation that far too many bodybuilders care entirely too much, evidencing a pattern of fragile egos. Does merely bringing up that someone might look at you funny make you emotionally weak? Nope, I don’t think so. But that was not what I was referring to.

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[quote]Classy_Cojones wrote:
Cthulhu wrote:
I totally understand.I could care less if some little blondy college slut says I’m no fun because I drink til my liver explodes.

I hear these attention whores bitch about every single thing.My girl friend always goes on and on about me.I go to the gym to workout with my friends and her and her 400 sack of shit lard ass friend are downing tubs of candy and are making fun of me saying all I do is exercise.Yeah,4 times a week sure is a lot.What a load of crap.

I never thought I’d see the day where you’re called a freak for caring about your health and putting on mass,but lard asses downing hundreds of sodas and candy bars don’t get looked at that way anymore.It’s sad.

I’m sitting here laughing. I could comment something on each and every one of these posts, but it would take too damn much of my time.

If a blondy slut tells you you’re no fun, bust on her. Make fun of her. Jesuuus.

What do you mean 400 pound lard-asses are making fun of you? What do you mean your girlfriend makes fun of you and reproaches you things?

You need to track down your balls and reattach them.

You don’t get called a “freak” because you care about your health. You’re getting called a freak because they are jealous. You know what the answer to that is? Destroy them.

People don’t usually say anything derogatory to me because I am smug, and it shows. The last time someone did though, I verbally made him feel like suicide is the only option left.

Basically, if you let fat candy-eating monstruously pasty beings make fun of you, you’re a pussy. [/quote]

You’re missing my point.I could care less what they say.What I’m saying is that they think it’s wierd because you care about yourself and your health these days,but no one really thinks that same about fat people anymore because it’s become so common.And it’s true.But I hear some of the crap people say on these posts like their girlfriends making fun of them because they don’t drink too much or crap.If your girl friend doesn’t like you because you drink much,then screw her.Relationships aren’t about how much you drink.

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From the day you commit to this lifestyle, you have to not only accept the peculiarities of this pursuit, but must wholeheartedly embrace them as well.

There are people out there committed to their health. There are people out there who are active. There are people out there who are concerned with their appearance. They all take steps to try and improve some aspect of their lives. But to make a lifestyle out of it is a completely foreign and novel concept to 99% of the population.

Use your “weirdness” as a conversation point. Individuals tend to chastize what they don’t understand. Don’t sit there and belabor them with all the technicalities of your life, but don’t downplay it either - people can sense when you’re ashamed of something. Be confident in your lifestyle choices - remember, no one is making you do this! You can stop following this lifestyle the very second after you read this sentence.

Girls are flabbergasted when they learn most of my time is spent writing music, learning languages, practicing martial arts, or working out. It’s such a unique gift that it becomes an instant point of conversation that will very quickly shift a group’s attention on to you - so use it!

The great individuals of our society and history - noted scholars, athletes, and other iconoclasts - had to take steps far beyond the norm, and expose themself to innumerble criticisms before they were ever accepted and understood as being truly exceptional.