yes that was exactly what i tried to tell.
lets assume you traded your 10 years on earth with a title and you have a total of 70 years to live.
you won the title at age 35 and your health went to shit at age 55.
i really find it hard to believe that he would spend his remaining 15 years without regrets.
like you said, its very easy to speak when you are healthy.
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In modern day life, most adults are obligated to drive cars to carry out other obligations of an ordinary life. I donāt see how this compares.
Itās also very easy to say achieving something is not worth it if youāve never achieved it.
*Note: I donāt give a ratās ass about competing and titles so Iām not making any argument for that.
I am just saying heās a grown man, not some confused kid doing things on a whim. His priorities and values arenāt the same as yourās, nor even mine. But itās his life. The only one who should be nagging at him should be his wife.
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Obviously not everyone is going to value the same things in life, but I certainly donāt think this discussion is sour grapes or even anyone acting holier than thouā¦ Itās simply people with their own responsibilities and, to varying degrees, a love and dedication to the iron looking at someone else and wondering at what point itās not worth it.
I know that my own priorities shifted when I became a Father. The prospect of completely needing all sorts of hardware holding my shoulders in place, just so I could still feel like a competitive bodybuilder (I was pretty realistic with myself that I wasnāt going to win the Wnbf Worlds title -lol), but also risk not being able to throw a baseball with my son just wasnāt worth it. I also realize how much time and stress a contest prep puts on someone, not to mention their loved ones. I feel guilty now spending more than an hour at the gym, and will wake up at 6 am on weekends so Iām back home before my boy gets up so we can make pancakes together (Protein Pancakes of course!) The point being that my family trumps my love of competing, and Iād never intentionally take time from them for my love of it.
Now letās be completely honest here,ā¦ the āextrasā an IFBB or high level NPC competitor engages in can add dramatically (physically!) to the stress of a prep. Couple that with competing in multiple shows (mental stresses, AND consider the effects of PEDs, Rx diuretics, and what not can have weekend after weekend), only to always fall at the bottom of the class,ā¦ well, I think itās safe to say that onlookers (and this is non-competitors AND other competitors!) are going to wonder what the driving force is after a while.
Itās not a bash fest, itās simply human nature to watch and wonder, always viewing through oneās own eyes (priorities and responsibilities).
S
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Oh boy, a debate on existentialism! Iām on team nihilist myself, but I feel like the hedonists may have the upperhand on this forum.
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And also, whoās talking about trading health for titles and trophies?
Isnāt the point of this thread that all this stress comes, ostensibly, without those rewards?
Letās say you traded 10 years on Earth, wound up with a couple participation ribbons, and your health went to shit at 55. I find it hard to believe that most people wouldnāt trade those in for a few more years of being able to run around with their grand kids.
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This is why Crom will never let you into Valhallah.
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I agree with you here, but what Iām saying is John is also a mature and very likely intelligent individual who has probably gone through a similarly complex thought process to come to his own decisions. And his decisions arenāt what I would make myself because I do not perceive the potential rewards to be worth it. But if he does, then it really isnāt my place to tell him what to do because heās not a dumb kid that I would not hesitate to flame in the steroid forum lol.
How does Pascalās wager work when one god says no killing and the other god says the only way to get to Valhalla is through a LOT of killing?
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Pascalās not getting into Valhallah either. Valor pleases Crom. The desired and seemingly inevitable answer that normally comes as a result of his wager shows a distinct lack of it.
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In my example, I did not include the tradeoff of 15 years of suffering to go along with the 10 year life cut-off. I donāt know why this was arbitrarily factored in.
Aside from this, if weāre talking about Meadowsā case specifically, his million dollar brand, which he has created in a a field he loves, would not exist if he wasnāt the āhardcoreā bodybuilder he is. I feel like there are many people who would not trade some level of health for participation ribbons, but would for a million dollars. I mean, whoās to say that the stress and assumedly lack of passion for the career of a VP banker life with Chase is worse for his health and quality of life than bodybuilding and pursuing a career heās clearly more passionate about? Iāll use Arnold as an example, and admit before I even dive into this that thereās no way for me to know this is true, just a hunchā¦ I would be willing to be that Arnoldās career in politics, along with the fact that he kept a secret life from his family for a decade +, has had more to do with his heart problems than bodybuilding has. I think many, many careers are worse for overall health than what Meadows does. But we donāt tend to talk about those careers, or bemoan the life choices of a lawyer who works 80 hours a week, skipping meals, not sleeping enough, living under a mountain of stress. We see them as great providers, working tirelessly to give their families the world. Do we really believe those guys arenāt also shaving years off their lives doing what they do?
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Meadows is more likely to die driving to the gym, not to say that what he is doing is the most healthy thing. I think as far as bodybuilders go heās at a pretty low risk. Undoubtedly more people juicing without the knowledge and dedication to health than Meadows.
Ohā¦
I think people are forgetting or are unaware of the bodybuilders who have died or have or had serious health problems recently. And those are only the ones weāve heard about.
Also, millions upon millions of people drive cars on a daily basis while hardly anyone is using bodybuilding drugs.
And Of course, anyoneās dim view of what John Meadows does is inconsequential.
Some people think wrecking their bodies for a passion is fine. Whatās also fine is others thinking theyāre irresponsible.
Judging how much Meadows has competed, I donāt know why he continues to do so for a brand image. But thatās up to him. Chris Aceto, Hany Rimbod, Oscar Arden, and others have dealt with even higher ranking people gave up competing long ago.
There are also people here expressing some irreverent views on John who have pushed as hard as he has in regards to competing. Have they pushed as hard professionally, I donāt know.
Well, without enough information to give him an actual brand audit, the only reasonable conclusion we can come to is that he knows what heās doing is best for him.
From a business perspective IMO, unlike the others, his brand has actual scalability along with a broader audience so it will be interesting to see where he takes it in the future.
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Alright, hereāe Kevin Levrone as an example. When he made his ācomebackā, people were going, āheās playing with his health just to prove something.ā, āheās just going to embarrass himself because of his ego.ā etc.
Nope, that was not his main goal.
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Just because I want to see this driving analogy played out fully;
A lot of adults drive because itās a requirement to live life. We accept that driving is probably the most dangerous thing we do everyday, with a very high liklihood of killing or maiming us.
However; how many drivers speed? Donāt come to full stops at stop signs/lights? Donāt use their turn signals for lane changes? Text or talk on the phone while driving? Listen to the radio? Talk with their passengers? Drive after consumnig medication that explicitly states ādo not operate heavy machinery?ā etc.
And are we going to say that THESE incredibly risky decisions are necessary for one to earn a living? Or is it just another example of people willfully taking incredibly risky actions as a result of them not considering the real consequences contained within? And yet we are ok with these really risky actions but not with others.
People take REALLY stupid risks with their lives pretty much every day. Itās a miracle weāve made it this far, because itās a terrifying world out there.
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Iāll say driving what is considered safely is necessary for many to earn a living or meet life requirements (e.g., purchase food, drive a family member to and from work) but I wonāt say speeding or disobeying stop signs or texting while driving are necessary.
This is my point as well. However, my question wasnāt if it was necessary; it was how MANY people do it. Can anyone levying concerns about Mr. Meadows health say in all honesty they have never engaged in such reckless, dangerous and selfish behavior? Especially when we factor the risks of killing others when we drive vs only ourselves with lifestyle?
I am not without sin here. I have no right to throw stones.
I canāt considering Iāve behaved in ways in the past that were, what I now consider, irresponsible, immature, selfish, and lazy! But I also think itās right for others to have judged me for those behaviors, totally justified.
All adults have at one time acted in an undignified manner, but these same people are going to judge me til the day I die. Iāll take that.