I stand by what I said and if it hurts your feelings or makes you think I have “issues,” tough shit.
[/quote]
Hurt my feelings? You’re the one who has written three ridiculously long posts on the subject yet my feelings are the ones that are hurt?
I have never had to state out loud or defend how I approach my training for no reason. Other people do it for me. If someone is going to ask me if I am a “bodybuilder”, I am going to say, “yes” and go on about my business. Considering the fact that it does come up in general conversation just like that, I have never had a reason to exclaim to someone WHY I feel I am a bodybuilder…because they already assume it, either that or I’m a bouncer or a football player. I would imagine most guys who have actually built enough size experience the same thing or similar. The ONLY time I have made a statement like that in reference to myself without being asked is on an internet forum where looking at me directly isn’t a possibility. I truly doubt that if you were face to face with a big guy who clearly worked out regularly and was much larger than average that you would sit there and argue over whether he has competed or not if he says, “yes, I am a bodybuilder”.
If you don’t really care, why so much emotion about it?
I stand by what I said and if it hurts your feelings or makes you think I have “issues,” tough shit.
Hurt my feelings? You’re the one who has written three ridiculously long posts on the subject yet my feelings are the ones that are hurt?
I have never had to state out loud or defend how I approach my training for no reason. Other people do it for me. If someone is going to ask me if I am a “bodybuilder”, I am going to say, “yes” and go on about my business. Considering the fact that it does come up in general conversation just like that, I have never had a reason to exclaim to someone WHY I feel I am a bodybuilder…because they already assume it, either that or I’m a bouncer or a football player. I would imagine most guys who have actually built enough size experience the same thing or similar. The ONLY time I have made a statement like that in reference to myself without being asked is on an internet forum where looking at me directly isn’t a possibility. I truly doubt that if you were face to face with a big guy who clearly worked out regularly and was much larger than average that you would sit there and argue over whether he has competed or not if he says, “yes, I am a bodybuilder”.
If you don’t really care, why so much emotion about it?[/quote]
I’m just having a little fun. If you extrapolate that as me putting a lot of emotion into it, so be it.
I come to this site for three reasons.
Help people who want to get started powerlifting or who want some input.
Read stuff from the contributing editors.
Bust balls.
That’s it. I am not taking any of this very seriously. I’m just entertaining myself in between the normal course of my day.
I stand by what I said and if it hurts your feelings or makes you think I have “issues,” tough shit.
Hurt my feelings? You’re the one who has written three ridiculously long posts on the subject yet my feelings are the ones that are hurt?
I have never had to state out loud or defend how I approach my training for no reason. Other people do it for me. If someone is going to ask me if I am a “bodybuilder”, I am going to say, “yes” and go on about my business. Considering the fact that it does come up in general conversation just like that, I have never had a reason to exclaim to someone WHY I feel I am a bodybuilder…because they already assume it, either that or I’m a bouncer or a football player. I would imagine most guys who have actually built enough size experience the same thing or similar. The ONLY time I have made a statement like that in reference to myself without being asked is on an internet forum where looking at me directly isn’t a possibility. I truly doubt that if you were face to face with a big guy who clearly worked out regularly and was much larger than average that you would sit there and argue over whether he has competed or not if he says, “yes, I am a bodybuilder”.
If you don’t really care, why so much emotion about it?[/quote]
I’ve yet to meet another weightlifter in any of the 3-5 gyms around the country that I have trained at.
I’ve heard a lot about weightlifters going to various gyms but nearly all of them don’t do any of the lifts that makes them a weightlifter.
Somehow I find myself replying to yet another, “Why do I feel picked on?” thread.
You feel picked on because you suck!
Period.
My younger brothers are bodybuilders and I give them shit and they take it in stride. They know I’m not all super-lean, tan, and shaven… I know they aren’t training to be as strong as I am…
Who cares? Decide what your goal is and be proud of it. Accept the fact that what you train for will be what you are good at… and some people will perceive that idea.
If you train for size, someone will always be able to say “You train for size, and therefore you are not as strong as someone who trains for strength.” Given all other factors are equal, it is a true statement.
If you train for explosive strength, your endurance is going to suck… etc. The choices are endless.
So, Why do I give BB’ers a hard time?
The progenitors of their sport were homosexual. Eugen Sandow was estranged from his wife regarding his lengthy stays and intimate relationship with another man.
Homoerotic photography has been a part of the culture from Sandow until Arnold (possibly longer but I am not a BB historian.)
They are weaker and less athletically capable than other strength athletes. Train for what you want…
They are notoriously thin-skinned and narcissistic. This makes them easy to pick on. (great fun at parties)/Anecdotal/
They shave and use other depilatory products. A milieu of women.(Traditionally, of course.)
/Extreme personal bias/ I believe that bodybuilding is philosophically bereft of any value. I believe, with some evidence, that it is a venue of the purely subjective requiring the subjugation of true self to the collective self of the performance stage, or perceived goals of the lifestyle. Hence, one could even call it a cult.
To me, bodybuilding should go back to it’s roots and become a sort of performance art. Think ballet with extremely muscular danseurs and ballerinas.
However, since I do not participate in that sport, I don’t offer my opinion unless a forum presents itself for the argument to be vetted.
[quote]greekdawg wrote:
Koing wrote:
fedorable wrote:
D.) Steroids (used by all athletes, but bodybuilding is like a steroid billboard.
Such a stupid comment. I was tested once in January and once 3 weeks ago.
Koing
I thought this was a stupid comment as well.
Steroids are widely used in all competitive sports including all strength sports, powerlifting, etc. but you want to single out bodybuilders?
If thats the case then dont know much about anything. Powerlifters are on just as much shit as bodybuilders. But yet you want to call them out?[/quote]
I think fedorable was responding the OP as to why bodybuilders get dogged. It is a valid point that until most recently (with the MLB investigations going on) anytime you said steroid, the image of a large oily man posing on stage popped into the ‘average persons’ head. It all leads back to the same old stereotype of ALL bodybuilders are nothing but vain, raging roid monkeys. WE HERE all know this is simply not the case.
RANT - Now, add in the factor of being a woman lifting with ‘boy’ weights instead of the government issued, neoprene covered ‘Barbie-bell’ set, and I will tell you about being dogged.
[quote]greekdawg wrote:
Koing wrote:
fedorable wrote:
D.) Steroids (used by all athletes, but bodybuilding is like a steroid billboard.
Such a stupid comment. I was tested once in January and once 3 weeks ago.
Koing
I thought this was a stupid comment as well.
Steroids are widely used in all competitive sports including all strength sports, powerlifting, etc. but you want to single out bodybuilders?
If thats the case then dont know much about anything. Powerlifters are on just as much shit as bodybuilders. But yet you want to call them out?[/quote]
Err…your not refering to my comment but the person I quoted right?
Yes people use steriods but it is a stupid comment to say ‘everyone’ does it. I still like to have faith in clean athletes.
[quote]Err…your not refering to my comment but the person I quoted right?
Yes people use steriods but it is a stupid comment to say ‘everyone’ does it. I still like to have faith in clean athletes. [/quote]
Correct, I was quoting whomever typed that list of A-D.
Agreed, it is a VERY stupid thing to think about EVERYONE, but again that is an old stereotype that uninformed people always fall back on along with the others in that list.
Someone posted earlier about people dogging others because it shines a light on what they have not been able to accomplish themselves. I agree with this also.
[quote]fightingtiger wrote:
I think the negative connotation of the word “bodybuilder” comes from the enormous amount of 17 year old dickweeds who shoot their mouths off on forums about how “swole” they are when they weigh 155 and a couple of highschool girls have told them that theyre “almost too big”. You know, the kids who swear that they eat a ton and who bench press and curl 3 times per week.
[quote]Bantam wrote:
They are athletes that train for looks. Sure, they are strong, but they don’t get sweaty to win.[/quote]
I’ll disagree here. Contest posing is not easy. Many think all you have to do is walk out on stage,hit a few poses and pick up your trophy. Posing starts from the ground up, flexing the calves and hamstrings while pressing the quads outward in opposite directions to help show the separation.
When you’re doing this, you should be flexing your abs, flaring your lats, rolling your shoulders back to prevent a slumped over appearance and flexing the pecs and arms, depending on the pose. You have to hold these poses while the judges compare your physique to the others in the lineup, without shaking like you’re in an earthquake and relaxing your face so as not to look like you’re having a difficult bowel movement. Try doing all that along with putting your body on display for hundreds of people to critique and see if you don’t break a sweat.
I don’t think you have to compete to call yourself a bodybuilder but you should at least have a balanced look. As someone already said, benchpresses and curls don’t count. My personal favorites are the guys who watch too much Spike TV, roll around with their buddies on the fitness mats at the gym and presto, they’re now “mixed martial artists”. I also agree that you aren’t a “powerlifter” unless you’ve competed in a 3 lift meet. I know national and world record holders in the benchpress and respect their accomplishments but I’m certain my benchpress would be much higher if I specialized in that lift and didn’t train squats and deads.
I don’t consider bodybuilding to be gay even though it does emphasize the male physique. I think it just depends on how you choose to view it. I view pictures of bodybuilders because I respect what they’ve accomplished and for inspiration, not because I want to “get with 'em”. I always got more looks and compliments from women when I was tanned, shaved and in contest shape. What’s gay about that?
[quote]TornadoTommy wrote:
I always got more looks and compliments from women when I was tanned, shaved and in contest shape. What’s gay about that? [/quote]
Nothing except that it pisses off the guys that don’t get the same attention.
Good post, by the way. I really don’t get those who see “gay” everywhere they look. Being that focused on someone’s sexuality has got to say something about the person throwing out the judgement. I view a picture of Sergio Oliva as inspiration that helps me push through a workout. If you can’t see the same without thinking of “sex”, who is really the one having issues in that department?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
TornadoTommy wrote:
I always got more looks and compliments from women when I was tanned, shaved and in contest shape. What’s gay about that?
Nothing except that it pisses off the guys that don’t get the same attention.
Good post, by the way. I really don’t get those who see “gay” everywhere they look. Being that focused on someone’s sexuality has got to say something about the person throwing out the judgement. I view a picture of Sergio Oliva as inspiration that helps me push through a workout. If you can’t see the same without thinking of “sex”, who is really the one having issues in that department?[/quote]
I see Serigo Oliva, i see strength, power and class, what i aspire to in my training and personal life.
You don’t seem too bright, but anyway I was referring to bodybuilders as being “billboards” because they are easily seen. When people think of steroids, people think of bodybuilders (and baseball players now, good post whoever referred to them also.)
I never said that every bodybuilder does them, but I think the elite ones definately do.
To the guy who got tested a few times, doesn’t that go with my argument? If people didn’t think you (or the competitors in general) had a high probability to use them, would you have even been tested? Clean or not.
In the strictest etymological sense anybody who makes gains by any means and for any reason, who, in other words builds their body, is a bodybuilder.
When you say “bodybuilding/bodybuilders” out loud amongst the general public they usually think of the mastodons they see in the media.
There is somebody, somewhere who holds every possible variation in between.
Who’s right?
Who cares?
I am much more muscular today than I was this time last year. I would tend to call that bodybuilding. Call it whatever you want. I’ll keep training.[/quote]
So true. The average Joe doesn’t give a crap about weight sports. All they know is that there is Olympic lifting and seem to like those guys that lift big rocks. Most lay people I know think that’s neat. Powerlifting is confused with Olympic lifting and bodybuilding is thought of as gay or weird.
I constantly here about those weird looking guys with veins and stuff. People seem to like a well built guy, but not to much in contest condition. They think all powerlifters and strongmen are fat. they have no concept of any of these activities.
You want to swoon over bodybuilding, go ahead. You love powerlifting, go ahead and enjoy. Strongman is your thing, whatever.
They will never be Nascar, College or NFL football, or even soccer in this country. Like them if you will, but it’s like 3 fat chicks arguing over who is hotter.
They will never be Nascar, College or NFL football, or even soccer in this country. Like them if you will, but it’s like 3 fat chicks arguing over who is hotter.
[/quote]
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, holy crap, that is hilarious! And so true! I have never heard the state of strength sports described so succinctly yet accurately!
No matter what background they have - those that would like to look like bodybuilders, but don’t, dog because they’re jealous.
Those that don’t lift at all probably dog it because they don’t understand it. If it’s not mainstream, there must be something wrong with it.
Strength athletes dogging bodybuilding is a way of being elitist.
Bodybuilding competitions really are a little strange. With all due respect for the accomplishment of getting into contest shape, the competitions are only entertaining for a very small audience. The only exceptions might be the big ones like the olympia, when the real monsters come out.
When I was a freshman in high school, I was walking down the stairs in between classes. I had my hand gliding along the railing as I walked down. I got to the bottom couple of steps and slipped. When I slipped my arm that was on the railing slipped in between the railing and the wall and got stuck. I pulled and yanked but couldn’t get my arm out and just ended up scraping and cutting the side of my upper arm. I was stuck there until the janitor came and removed the railing from the wall. I was pretty embarrassed.
[quote]fedorable wrote:
You don’t seem too bright, but anyway I was referring to bodybuilders as being “billboards” because they are easily seen. When people think of steroids, people think of bodybuilders (and baseball players now, good post whoever referred to them also.)
I never said that every bodybuilder does them, but I think the elite ones definately do.
To the guy who got tested a few times, doesn’t that go with my argument? If people didn’t think you (or the competitors in general) had a high probability to use them, would you have even been tested? Clean or not.[/quote]
It isn’t the high probability of me using them for me to be tested. But weightlifting is a drugs tested sport so people get tested.