Ray’s BodyBlog

STEALING THE SPOTLIGHT FROM THOSE WITH REAL PROGRESS?

I have the luxury of being able to be signed in to BodyBuilding.com all day when I am at work. That doesn’t necessarily mean I am surfing it all day, but I can frequently check to see the “NEWEST” progress shots. I’ve received a lot of positive peer praise from this site, and when I see someone who deserves it, I appreciate the opportunity to do my part to motivate and encourage them. For me, that peer recognition has helped me greatly the last 5 weeks.

By being able to frequently check-in, I have noticed that MOST of the time there are photos posted as MOST RECENT PROGRESS PHOTOS which are really OLD PHOTOS, or at best, photos that have been re-posted several times. My assumption is that the number of hits one gets to their website is a status symbol. Perhaps in the same way a positive comment boosts our ego. And, in one case, I believe the member is promoting his business, not his progress.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the ability to change my profile photo to suit my mood or whatever, I just don’t necessarilly think the entire membership needs to know I did it, unless it’s actually a new photo.

Regardless of the motivation for re-posting photos or changing your profile photo 15 times a day, what we are really doing is robbing those who are really making progress from their 15 minutes of fame on the home page, and isn’t THAT what this site is all about?  Giving support to those who are making progress!

I thought it would be funny to post the photo above as a progress shot. I was surprised by the number of members who have shared my view and appreciated the humor. On the other hand, I have had a FEW members who have really been pissed. However, I think the ones who are pissed are also the ones who are guilty. I’ve been told to mind my own business, get a life, bother someone else, and “I’m done with you man,” claiming THEY are taking the higher road!

My understanding is that ADVERTISING is not allowed on this site. I hope that we as members will respect the rules and respect those who deserve our praise for building a better body. It’s all about being better today than you were yesterday, and being better in the future than we are today.

As always, this is just my opinion, but I say we HELP each other, not fuel our own ego or pocket! -Ray

Just for fun, I thought I’d start compiling a list of all the words that are good descriptors of what we do. Words that represent peer praise for our accomplishments – words we like to hear when people talk about our shape and progress. This list is by no means complete, and you are welcome to add to it, as I will from time to time.

Here we go:

Amazing
Awesome
Beautiful
Big
Built
Chiseled
Cut
Great
Hard
Hot
Incredible
Inspirational
Insane
Jacked
Massive
Motivating
Peaked
Pumped
Ripped
Shredded
Stacked

Strong
Thick
Vascular
Wicked
Wide
Won

Feel free to add to the list!

And, just so you know, I’m comfortable with where I am in life, so this is really not a big deal, but the phrase I strive to hear less is this:
“for you age!” Lofty goal for me!

Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting one of my fellow BodyBuilding.com members in person for lunch. We had chatted and e-mailed for a while on here and decided to meet and talk more in person. It was refreshing to meet someone you could be so immediately comfortable with out in the open and talk about bodybuilding without having someone think you are a freak.

Have you ever been in a group of friends talking about what you like to do in your spare time (as if we have any)? You’d never hear any of my friends say they are into BODYBUILDING. And if I said it (out loud) they would look at me with less than approving eyes like I had said a cuss word.

I’m sure its just from lack of understanding, but people in general do not look at bodybuilding or body builders favorably and that’s truly unfortunate, and truly their loss, because bodybuilders are just people, they are around you everyday, they have lives outside the gym, they have jobs, they have the same aches and pains, they have the same financial and family issues, they have the same high gas prices, as we all do – they have just chosen to give the physical development of their body priority in life. Some people push their vocal cords to the limit or practice piano for hours on end. Bodybuilders are just expressing themselves through the pursuit of physical perfection.

Because they don’t understand, and because they have not experienced it, the average person does not view bodybuilding as a healthy sport. They believe you are just vain and pushing your body to unhealthy extremes. They don’t think supplements are healthy, they think whey protein is a steroid, and glutamine is something we snort a line of while we work out – and, if you married, your partner probably thinks you’ve lost interest and you’re on the prowl for a new model. I guess it isn’t their fault, they just don’t know, they don’t understand, and don’t seem to care to find out. They apply some stereotype extreme to all of us. (I just laughed out loud – I said “US” referring to “bodybuilders” – I used to tell people “Yeah, I work out, but no one would mistake me for a bodybuilder.” – I guess my opinion of myself is changing.)

The whole point of all this is that we, as members of Bodybuilding.com – and as bodybuilders, can provide enormous support and motivation for our peers, but we can also be an outlet for discussion and empathy because we have all experienced that lack of understanding inherent in non-lifters. In addition to sharing diet and training advice, it’s really nice to get to talk to someone who knows the difference in whey and multi-species protein, why BCAA’s give you such a great pump, and rather than wondering what they must think of me for being interested in building the best body I can – I get their honest feedback and support.

So, if you know someone who’s Mom or girlfriend thinks they are silly for lifting, or credits their desire for a ripped and shredded physique to vanity – if you know someone who wants to step on stage and compete, but can’t even tell his family – stop for a minute and give them a chance to talk, give them some motivation, some acceptance and some support. I just bet you’ll come away with more than you gave.

I literally stumbled across BodyBuilding.com just a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I’d seen their t-shirts and logo at some shows I’ve attended in the past, but I really didn’t know about the website until a young friend from my gym told me he wanted to compete next year. To record his progress he set up a BodySpace profile and posted some progress photos.

When I signed on, I made a profile and posted a photo just so I could comment on his great work and encourage him as he begins his contest preparation. WOW, was I surprised by what started happening. Not only was I able to comment on Greg’s progress, I started seeing all these great inspiring profiles from people in all walks of life – real people of all ages with lives outside the gym. I also started getting compliments myself – not something I ever expected.

Don’t get me wrong – I love to hang with younger guys and get my ego stroked as much as the next person, but hey, I’m 58! I didn’t even start lifting till I was 45; I don’t feel comfortable when I go places where the majority of the people there are half my age. I don’t go around shirtless or flexing, and I usually walk pretty far behind the rest of the pack, just trying to keep up. Receiving recognition for my achievement was not my motivation for posting photos. Well, at least not at first.

What I found was, yeah – there are people my age out there that still lift, and there are people out there who never thought someone my age could do it. I guess some people think there is a time when you have to stop; however, I haven’t figured out what that time is, yet, and hope I never do. So, in short, I’ve sort of been both humbled and blown away by all the positive, encouraging comments I’ve revieved. I’ve also been able to give compliments and encouragement to others who by simply saying ‘Thank You’ have helped my day.

Comments from anyone are great, but a comment from your peers is excellent motivation to get you ass in the gym to make a little more progress. It builds confidence, it creates support and encouragement, it fosters acceptance, and it gives us an outlet to discuss our goals, techniques, fears, deficiencies, and needs.

I have long known that not everyone shares our drive to build muscle. And if you don’t have that drive, you often don’t understand it in others, and cannot give support to one who wants to build a better body. The average person does not perceive bodybuilding as living healthy; they perceive it as an abnormal, egotistical ego boost. So the support we give each other on BodyBuilding.com actually fills a void some of us have in our personal lives.

For all of this, the support, the encouragement, the compliments, the friendship, the acceptance, and the motivation, I want to say THANK YOU! I want to say it to all of you, but I’d also like to say it to the people who set up this site and allow all of us to use it, FREE! Where else can you get a deal like this? Not many places today.

How do we say THANK YOU? I’m not sure – I hope this blog entry is one way, perhaps buying supplements through the site is another – if you have other suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

This place is awesome! Such a wealth of like-minded individuals who all share a fairly common goal – building a better body! It’s kind of like helping the world be a prettier place – one body at a time (LOL)!

Again, this is just my perspective, but if you got this far, thanks for reading! -Ray

About 15 years ago, after a lifetime of procrastination, I made a commitment to improve my body. I was skinny everywhere except my waist and embarrassed to take my shirt off in public. Being too self-conscious to join a gym, I bought a rowing machine and started working out in the basement. Not a lot of fun, but I did it.

Within 3 weeks of starting, I went skiing with a group of young people from my church, as a chaperone. I’ve always liked hanging out with younger people and didn’t want to be lift behind so I followed them down the hills, with little knowledge of what I was doing. Before I went, I was told to just call from the hospital when I got back . . . well, that’s exactly what I did. My skies went up, my body went down and I broke my right clavicle.

That stopped everything. Healing took some time and was not what I expected. The bones healed but they did not fuse back together. My clavicle was now in two pieces.

After a couple more years of procrastinating, my nephew showed up on our doorstep on night. He told me he was going to be in a bodybuilding competition the next day and wanted to know if he could spend the night and if I would go with him the next day and take some photos. I was happy to do that, but I had never even seen my nephew with his shirt off. I knew he had wrestled in high school, but I had no idea he had such an awesome physique hiding under his clothes.

I went to the competition and was blown away. I had only seen bodybuilders on TV, never in person, and, I admit, I sort of believed there was a mystique about bodybuilding that I would probably never understand. I later realized this was not true; bodybuilders are as normal as anyone else. Training and sculpting their body is just the talent they have chosen to achieve, much like a concert pianist, actor or sports star.

Being at my first live competition made me feel so puny and intimidated. Everyone there had arms as big as my legs and I wanted to look like them, not the way I looked now. My nephew introduced me to a lot of really great people. I met the promoter of the show who introduced me to the promoters of another show in Kentucky that would be held later in the year. Those people were not only promoters, they also owned a supplement company and helped people with training, diet and supplement advice. I was HOOKED!

Through a developing friendship I learned they had a need for some desktop publishing (page design/layout) expertise. I had that expertise and found I could trade it for their support with my bodybuilding goals. I was 45 at the time and was sort of experiment to prove it’s never too late to start. I had a great mentor who was knowledgably and a national level competitor. I also had the luxury of getting high quality supplements and being able to monitor my progress constantly and make changes as necessary.

With his help, a written workout plan in hand, a long sleeve shirt and long sweat pants, I joined a gym! I didn’t have good support from those close to me, so I was sort of a closet bodybuilder for a while. Progress came quick. I was evaluated regularly for strength gains, weight, and bodyfat. I was naturally lean but the problem area was my waist – too big!

I got a good solid start. I learned proper form for every exercise I did, and I learned it was best to stick with basic compound movements until I had built a good muscular foundation which I could further shape with other exercises later.

After the initial gains in strength and size, progress slowed down, but was steady, except for weight. My body rebelled at my goal of weighing 180.

After several years, I starting putting my bodybuilding goals ahead of the thoughts of others and renewed my commitment to having a better body. Over the years I’ve been through a couple of gym closings and a couple of training partners, but the last 4 years have been the best for me.

That’s a little insight into how and why I got started and why I can see no reason to stop! -Ray