Eating Chocolates With No Guilt!

Off Topic
1

You may remember that i posted something called do i want it should i bother???, Basically i was in a conundrum with everything, life, training diet etc. last year i got near to what i called my natural genetic potential. But could then not justify it because to do it was crazy.

Super strict diet for weeks and weeks, training, cardio, being grumpy, not socialising (fear lack of sleep is detrimental for muscle mass/ cortisol), doing a shit day of work every day because of tiredness etc etc.’

I never thought i could achieve such a condition and afterwards i said never again. but summer is coming and i found my nature taking over. Get on a diet and be better than last year. but one of the problems is i just don’t want to.

And, after 15 years or so, i don’t rewally enjoy being in gyms anymore. Here in england you have two choices - commercial shit where blokes constantly adjust thier hair and do curls and pressing or drug dens.

There is no in between anymore like when i started. the drugs were around, but not available to any one who wanted them at any time. It was much more secretive. My gym was great. old timer dumbells, lots of benches, bars and plates, squat rack decent leg press and no bullshit cybex upper peck cable traction isolating 1kg increment machines. And no pussy’s either. Honest blokes in old clothes, chalk, no mobiles, no hair gel etc etc. It was fab.

But now i’ve come to this conclusion. The best era was probably the 70s and 80’s, along with a few bits here and there into the 90’s. 2000’s and Bodybuilding is dead and buried. No one
can really aspire to be like jay or ronnie its just ridiculous. Dont fool yourself if you think you can. They dont work, have no REAL life, Eat all day, Have 10000000 - 1 genetics and drugs. You’ll never get there. On the other hand, Frank Zane, Bob Paris, Lee Labrada etc etc all had incredible physiques, beyond most normal people but still far more real and near attainable.

Bodybuilding now has to many drugs even in grass roots level. Anyone can get them in any gym. In most commercial gyms No one trains hard, but i know alot of these pretty boys are doping.

Bodybuilding now is just to scientific. Information overload. Its the worst thing for eveyone. If everyone stuck to basics first, reletively clean diet and good rest things would be better.

Ther is very little camaraderie now. I-Pods has killed that.

So i’ve decided to pull out of this ‘sport’. I will still train at home deadlifting, pressing, chin ups and ride my bike around. My cardio is called manual work, not skive at work and save energy for fat burnining cardio. eat clean all week at work. Tinned salmon, nuts, veg, fibre, meat etc. Use only post work out shake as supplement.

But like now its friday night and i’ve just eaten 12 chocolate from a box and i dont care anymore. There is so much more to life than achieving perfection. I see so many people with nothing else to accomplish in life. What about being happy. Yes, lose excess fat and stay strong, but 4,5,6% bf?, there is no point. Only a bodybuilder really notices. everybody else thinks its crazyness. Stay at around 10% minimum. Its lean enough.

i will run out of all supplements soon and that will be it (although HOT-ROX and Spike are great). My membership ends soon.(Thank god i’ll leave that overcrowed cross between a fashion parade and a circus). Sorry this is negative but its true.

I expect a bad reaction but i dont care anymore. This post is another way of rubber stamping my exit. Ya know, like saying ‘just started a ridiculous diet-heres my blog to keep me going cos its public now so i have to’ type thing.

Just like to say thank you www.Testosterone.net. You’ve helped me alot but also confused me beyond belief!!

Im gonna have ice cream tomorrow in town and a bbq on sunday with turkish desserts. But I will deadlift, chin, row and shrug with farmers walks. Thanks bodybuilding…

2

“Super strict diet for weeks and weeks, training, cardio, being grumpy, not socialising (fear lack of sleep is detrimental for muscle mass/ cortisol), doing a shit day of work every day because of tiredness etc etc.'”

But pretty soon you won’t even be lifting at all? 12 chocolates at a time? No supplements period?

It sounds like you are jumping to the other extreme (although maybe not completely?). Try some moderation.

That being said, if you can do whatever you want and stay around 10% bf and you really hate everything else then do it. I love lifting and will never stop, but if you really hate it, then by all means…

A word of advice though; don’t underestimate the value of looking and feeling healthy. It can be life changing

3

If you want mediocracy go for it!

I want bodybuilding to be my entire life. It sounds like you did this for something to do but it never turned into a passion.

A lot of the negatives you described I am lucky enough to have as a positive. I have a mock club called “Gym Hoodlums” with close friends who are all dedicated to bodybuilding. You can still have a life and bodybuild as long as you have your priorities straight. It’s your life and only you can decide what makes you happy.

You sound like you are mad at training/gyms/and bodybuilders? Did someone or something disappoint you?

I’d also repeat what the pretender said “A word of advice though; don’t underestimate the value of looking and feeling healthy. It can be life changing.”

Gerdy

4

GET THE FUCK OUT.

To everyone bitching about the new T-Cell.

This is why we need once.

5

wow someone had a PMS meltdown

okay… well… see yah… uhm… gosh so sorry to see you go… but go now

6

On my positive note. When I did start taking things seriously within a few months I was given a promotion and a raise.

I think my refocus on priorities, my improved confidence and also my better health and attitude contributed to my gains.

You will see what you are missing later.

Make your opportunities, change is hard, achievement is immeasurable.

7

Save the drama for your mama.

8

I ate a half a cup of peanut butter with chocolate chips mixed in today. It was delicious.

9

[quote]Dirty_Bulk wrote:
I ate a half a cup of peanut butter with chocolate chips mixed in today. It was delicious.[/quote]

This thread it’s a cup of dookie, lol!

10

I’m usually pretty much a lurker…but puh…f’n…lease get a life. If you’re leaving then just go without all the whining

11

A classic mistake in thinking. This guy made the mistake thinking that he had to take the bad with the good. Bullshit. If a person sees something in the gym that’s good, hardcore, and motivating, they should remember that and discard and ignore the hair gel and cell phones.

You don’t have to wear hair gel to workout just because that’s the thing at your gym.

That’s like saying “I wanted to be rich, but Donald Trump is an ass, and I didn’t want to be like him, so I no longer want to be rich.”

Pick and choose the good aspects, or the attributes you want to copy, and model that in your own life. Throw away the bad attributes and DON’T model those.

Maybe I want to be rich like Donald Trump, but instead be a philanthropist and have a body like Brad Pitt and be socially conscious like Ted Turner. Pick and choose.

If you do want to improve your body, you model the bodybuilders where it makes sense, and discard any attribute you don’t agree with. This guy seems to have found a lot of attributes he doesn’t like, but he can’t separate them in his mind from the good stuff.

(I’m sure somebody will flame me on this. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t agree with to reach your goals. The trick is choosing what’s right for you and still works.)

Also, if you decide you don’t want something you don’t have to do the opposite to symbolically reject it. Rejecting a bodybuilding life does not require adopting a body destruction life. Rejecting a strict diet does not mean you have to adopt a 100% crap diet.

Choose what’s right for you and ignore the rest.

12

I knew that was coming oh well.

To reply to some points made.(By the way, I’ve just had small amount of whey/ BCAAs and gonna go for early morning stroll before brekkie. So don’t get me wrong. Bodybuilding has impacted my life in many different ways, some good, alot bad though.

I don’t think i’ll ever stop lifting completely,I dont think I could ever do that. I would love to have a set of friends like my original training pals in early 90’s. Over here though, 99% of gyms are commercial pap. No one knows who franco columbo or lee labrada are. But they sure know about ephedrine. As for making new trainining mates, Very difficult to talk to someone on an ipod. I am really not trying to sound nostalgic but this is true. Daily i see membership advisors signing up newbies some even at school still who have no idea, then they come in overcrowd the place, admire their 12 inch guns, take up all the gym (along with posh people doing 100reps with 2kg) and stare at every female possible while preening themselves.

Now i know this is the companies fault. These guy dont know what they’re doing and as long as the standing order is being paid the gym doesn’t care what they do. I see guys who cant do one chin up, or one press up or bodyweight squat trying to train theyre pythons. I would love to give them this painful advice to go workout at home/ park, rather than paying these bastards. But whats the point, they’ve now signed a contract to pay for a year!

I never set foot in my original gym til 16/17. No contract. No indution. Pay when i went.
Just a quick session with they guy who worked there who looked like he trained, rather than a boy band member selling services. Then watch and learn. Peolple would freely spot you and offer without asking and give solid advice.

I cant do that now as camaraderie doesn’t exist, and everybody here knows it. Anybody remember pumping iron? If not your who i’m talking about, and if you do thats what bodybuilding should be like. Not the freak circus it has become.

13

I’ve just had a look at the ‘Rate my physique’ forum. And one thing really shouts out to me. For all the so called fantastic training advice, super supplements, super gyms , etc. Hardly anyone looks like they could lift a wheel barrow with a heavy load in it! (NOT ALL, BUT MOST)

Its all youngsters with hardly any development, over exagerating lifts saying what do I need to improve? And alot of the replies are things like ‘good chest, can see you train with weights’ etc etc. Most of these lads would do better doing chin ups, dips, press up, sprints, and Deadlift/ Squat.

They come on here and get overwhelmed by info, advice from faceless experts and follow routines and diets they don’t need. C’mon T-Nation be more responsible and tell these young newbies the truth. If they struggle to chin up, then no fancy lat width routine with different tempos etc is gonna work. Here is REAL ADVICE.

GO TO PARK. PULL UP ON BAR TIL IT HURTS…ALOT. IF YOU CANT DO IT, JUMP UP AND LOWER YOURSELF. GO HOME EAT WELL. REST. REPEAT FEW DAYS LATER. BACK, ARMS WILL GROW. CANCEL GYM MEMBERSHIP TO USE CRAP BODY ALIGNMENT LAT PULLEY CABLE WHATEVER. SAVE MONEY. BUY MORE FOOD

14

You just mean Back to basics… that i agree with to an extent. It IS an information overload, and to most, it is absolutely confusing and it does hamper their gains… but i personally thing T-Nation isnt for EVERYONE. It is for people who have a clue already, and know not to do the latest thing each and every week, they know that they need to do what has been proven TO THEM to work, and adjust ever so slightly.

You seem to be disillusioned with it all, and i dont blame you. I am only 28 and joined a gym after working out at home for a few years at around 20-21. So i know little different, even though i joined what can only be called a spit and sawdust gym, it isnt one compared to the ones you know in the 70’s.
So if i DID know better, then i probably could have gotten disillusioned with it all over the past 30-40 years. I am sure many have.

Keep working out at home, keep attaining that 10% fat, keep the discipline that you learned, or it will have all been for nothing.

TBH, you are probably at an age where you are much MUCH less involved in the aesthetic of your body or others bodies, and this is the source for your angst. I suspect this is totally natural, and will happen to most of us here whether we admit it or not, come 50 - 60 the most dedicated of us will start to phase out.
If that is the case, then so be it, and keep your body at a level you deem acceptable for a man of your age and fitness/health level.

Happiness is what it is all about. If shit dont make you happy- then change the shit.

Joe

15

I think disillusioned is one of the main reasons for dis content now. Unfortunatley I have to train in a commercial gym and it is pants. But on the other hand I no longer want to be within 10metres of a spit and saw dust gym anymore as they are drug infested places where doorman talk about fighting, how hard so and so is and what gear they’re on. Its f~@;ing boring. It used to be talk about bodybuilding, training, women, food etc. Now its about fights in the club, drugs or whatever. The image of bodybuilders on the beach having fun is dead(What i first imagined) Now over here anyway it thugs gangsters, bouncers that are also bodybuilders. So you go to a commercial gym and cant train properly for the circus around you is so distracting.

16

I think you should get yourself tested for the ghey.

Go eat your chocolate or whatever and let the rest of us get on with not being mediocre. This is the BODYBUILDING forum, not the excess estrogen forum.

17

[quote]Makavali wrote:
I think you should get yourself tested for the ghey.

Go eat your chocolate or whatever and let the rest of us get on with not being mediocre. This is the BODYBUILDING forum, not the excess estrogen forum.[/quote]

Smart comment. Bodybuilding properly should not be drug infested and associated with hardness or violence. Tough guy. The way bodybuilding is going it IS destroying itself. I am giving real advice, not stupid comments. I am trying to tell everyone that a fuelled obsession with Bodybuilding is unhealthy. It is also pointless unless you are paid to do it. Having an awesome physique does not bring you your dreams of happiness, success or whatever. To try and be awsome today generally means stupidly low bf%, in turn an unhealthy diet that compromises health and normal funtioning in life. Countless hours wearing everybit of your body down. Some will turn to drugs to help but 10000’s still never reach elysium. Thats because it not there.

18

[quote]azza30 wrote:
Makavali wrote:
I think you should get yourself tested for the ghey.

Go eat your chocolate or whatever and let the rest of us get on with not being mediocre. This is the BODYBUILDING forum, not the excess estrogen forum.

Smart comment. Bodybuilding properly should not be drug infested and associated with hardness or violence. Tough guy. The way bodybuilding is going it IS destroying itself. I am giving real advice, not stupid comments. I am trying to tell everyone that a fuelled obsession with Bodybuilding is unhealthy. It is also pointless unless you are paid to do it. Having an awesome physique does not bring you your dreams of happiness, success or whatever. To try and be awsome today generally means stupidly low bf%, in turn an unhealthy diet that compromises health and normal funtioning in life. Countless hours wearing everybit of your body down. Some will turn to drugs to help but 10000’s still never reach elysium. Thats because it not there.[/quote]

You’ve made 14 posts here. How bout you leave and don’t whine to us about how you “don’t have the genetics” or whatever. This seems more like trolling and not some pseudo-bodybuilder having an epiphany.

Instead of bitching about how todays standards are ridiculous, how about you hold yourself to your supposed standard of the Golden Age BB scene? Trust me, not everyone on this site wants to look like Ronnie Coleman.

19

[quote]azza30 wrote:
To try and be awsome today generally means stupidly low bf%, in turn an unhealthy diet that compromises health and normal funtioning in life. Countless hours wearing everybit of your body down. Some will turn to drugs to help but 10000’s still never reach elysium. Thats because it not there.[/quote]

No.
It’s not there for you, because you possess neither the will, nor fortitude it takes to persist, and filter out the good from the bad; you lack the capacity to find it.

Begone with you, minion of Mediocrity.

20

OP, you need to get out of bodybuilding.

I hear Mariusz Pudzianowski’s breakfast consists mostly of large quantities of candy and bacon. I’m not kidding. He’s staying pretty lean and is doing pretty well in Strongman competitions.

Svend Karlsen and Magnus Ver Magusson weren’t very lean when they won the World’s Strongest man. In fact, Pudzianowski is the only strongman I can think of whose got a six-pack.

If you’ve bought a pair of farmers walk handles, I think you know you left bodybuilding a while ago. Let’s get real. Not many compeditive bodybuilders use the farmers walk to jack up their forearms.

You need to find some guys who like to throw up Atlas Stones, Press Logs, and Flip Tires. Go train with them. Maybe they’ll all be on the juice and maybe they won’t. But you all will have common goals and some sense of comradery. And if you can find these guys to train with, they won’t just be taking a bunch of drugs and doing easy, slow reps to get a ‘pump.’ They’ll be working hard in order to become stronger.