A Question for EVERYONE! Here
This question that I am posing, is a new twist on the old question about Olympians. The old question, posed to many world class athlete back in the day was. "If I could give you a pill, that would guarantee you a gold medal in all your events, but would kill you a week later. Would you take it?" I can’t remember the exact statistics but I remember the amount of people who said yes, was above or at least at 50%, who said they would, just for one gold medal. So my question is not whether you personally would take a pill or an injection for guaranteed success but rather what is your opinion of the person who does decide to take that injection, and the pills and all the illegal and profoundly dangerous steps to ensure their place in this crazy world of bodybuilding. I want you people to think on another side of this. I know people who do this naturally are supposedly respected more. But think about this. These guys who are steroiding know full well the health problems that lie ahead of them. Think about the amount of dedication it take to know that in order to reach the top it means your premature death. They will not enjoy a long fore filling life like us natural lifters. They have on average 50 years tops to live, and in those final years you have organ failures, testosterone and hormonal imbalances. They pay the ultimate price for being on the top of this industry. It’s almost compared to the original Marlboro man. Yes he made his money and enjoyed his temporary fame, but paid for it by a life with cancer. It’s like being a good person and making a deal with the devil. Because if you don’t there is no other way to reach the top. In my honest opinion I kind of pitty and feel a rock in my stomach for what these guys are willing to do to achieve immortality by comparison of the absolutely ridiculous bodies they create. I want to know who the body building community feel when they consider this side of the ugliness of our sport?
July 18, 2008 at 12:42 pm
My thoughts are, that this ties into the much larger picture - people are driven to push the limits of everything from natural imperative. Far more people would be alive today if no one had every bothered to climb Mt Everest, but yet they have. People will take it to extremes in everything, because the question - "Can it be done?" - drives all of us on some level. For most, that question is reigned in by obligation, responsibility, morality, self preservation, etc. Others may have different views.
As long as the question exists - "Can it be done?" - someone will try. I don’t think this idea can be subjected to criticism as much as understood and accepted.
July 18, 2008 at 12:49 pm
That wasn’t my question, I’m asking when you think about instead of looking down upon people who take unnatural products and illegal injectable to grow to unhuman like proportions, that can never ever be accomplished through anyone’s natural genetics, can you sympathize and take a second to look at what they are sacrificing for they’re glory. Instead of saying he take steroids because he can’t do it naturally realize he might want to be Mr. Olympia and the price of that goal means death at a much younger age. Climbing Mt Everest and what I’m talking about are kind of off topic, thats like doing extreme sports, you could do that reach your goal and never do it again and it doesn’t mean you have to die young.
July 18, 2008 at 12:56 pm
to suceed at the highest levels of any sport these days it seems you must sacrifice some lifespan. you must because you compition is willing if you are not. to be a champion is to live forever and at least they get in the books. but what about us the "recreational" participants. if were serious i’m sure some of us give up some lifespan for our sport. we are the true warriors for we improve our bodies to our highest ability just for the right to say "because we can"
July 18, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Fair enough, I didn’t directly answer your question.
Personally, I think one of the hardest things to do in life is to live contently. No one can ever be completely content, and that works in our benefit - we want to change things, and change leads to growth.
When this mechanism reaches a large imbalance, people will take larger and larger measures to ‘correct’ it; people will grab a hold of something and focus on it. Sometimes this can reach extremes - such as steroid use to become very big body builders. As such, it is difficult for me to ‘appreciate’ their sacrifice at accomplishing such a goal because I do not think their mindset behind their decisions is the best one. Life is short enough as it is, and there are far too many things to experience out there to risk limiting your time here.
July 18, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Thats the kind of response I was looking for thank you, but back to Brash, what I will say to that is I do not consider myself a recreational participant. Please don’t take offense personally to what I’m about to write. To be called a recreational participant pisses me off. recreational to me is people who do it for fun and don’t engulf their lives around their sport. Thats recreational, the guys and women who come in 3 times a week not because thats all their time allows but because they are not dedicated to this sport, the just want to stay in modest shape and live their live fairly healthy. But I’ll be damned if those people will ever try to stand on the same level as me because their is only about a 4 or 7% of people out there who are all natural pounding their bodies 5 to 6 and not necessary 7 times a week. And it doesn’t stop at the gym, it’s when you get home and the rest of your day revolves around your diet. I can not stand recreational lifter who try to act like they are hardcore and bitch about small gains. Thats why your recreational. I’m talking about what Mitch said we are Warriors and those of us who stay natural its like honoring an old code, or simply abiding by the law. But there is a deep brother hood when your successful and natural, its not well my income was higher so I got the better anabolic and injectable HGH. But DO NOT EVER confuse me with a recreational lifter.
July 18, 2008 at 1:17 pm
will all respect in this case i am using the term recreational lifter broadly. like you i do not consider myself recreational. but in the context of the sacrifises made by the champions of our sport what do you call us? we live our life according to the standards necessary to reach our goals BUT when held to the standards of the pros i think most of us fall short. so call youself what you will, dedicated,hardcore, bad ass mother,all natural king of the world, unless your on the olympia stage there is always one more step to be taken.
July 18, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Bodybuilding contest are just beauty contest pure and simple. It really isn’t a sport. They pose, just like the Miss America. It’s not like powerlifters that actually compete the day of the event. They tan and oil up to pose, thats a brauty contest, while powerlifting is the real sport.
July 18, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Bodybuilding isn’t a sport. your kidding right?
July 18, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I never thought of it like that, but I guess youre right. Bodybuilding is just a glorified beauty contest. And not worth risking your life for. It’s suppose to be fitness, how fit and healthy is it to use anabolic steroids. Destroying your liver for looks, sounds stupid to me. But I disagree that everyone that uses are fit for the stage. You have to be extremely gifted genetically to attain the bodies of the guys that hit the stage, a guy would be a fool to think that using a couple of cycles would give him the same look.
July 18, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Ok we are getting off topic on my blog, but to comment on the sport of bodybuilding compared to a beauty contest, here it goes, and you’ll change your mind. In order for a beauty pageant contestant to be at her best she has to be born with a beautiful face, symmetrical body and give sometime air head opinions to please people they dont all do it but some make you wonder. To stay in shape their is alot of negativity involved saying they starve themselves. They back stab each other and take diuretics to be in top physical shape, some women even has plastic surgery because they are not considered beautiful enough, or they’re boobs arent big enough. Now I will make a comparison to this beauty pageant and our sport Mr Olympia in the sense that these top people get there because they have the money to spend and good genetics. But here is where you can not state that natural bodybuilding is just the same as a pageant. With body building, you can start at anytime but you must develop healthy eating habits, and extreme dedication. With natural bodybulding you can not buy your muscles, and it doesn’t really matter how ugly your face is. Seeing someone transform from a tooth pick to a all natural body building champion takes every much dedication and determination that it takes a power lifter to prepare and preform on the day of the competition. I’ve spoken with and lift with a guy at my gym, he has twice same in second in the nation, at his age level for power lifting, and me and him day in and day out pour out just as much sweat. Further more a model without cosmetics surgery can not change her smile , a crooked tooth, a big nose, or small boobs. But through dedication and commitment, a bodybuilder works for years to perfect their chest to match their wide lats, or their calves to match their thighs. A beauty pageant is called that for a reason and the SPORT of bodybuilding is called that also for that reason. I also believe in ancient Rome or Greece bodybuilding use to be an event, or they referred to the man as a Hercules of sorts. All keep in mind also In talking about natural bodybuilding. Natural builder can enjoy a long life with good health.
July 18, 2008 at 2:29 pm
And if you think posing in bodybuilding is easy, why don’t you try constricting all your muscles for an expended amount of time, perfecting it and straining yourself and see how fast you tire out. You’ll find that true posing can be a workout all by itself, and when your competing and you have to have your water retention low and your partially dehydrated then talk to me and say we don’t compete.
July 19, 2008 at 7:48 am
So back to my blog, anyone else care to shed some light in this aspect of my question?
July 23, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I see some new faces, any thoughts on my blog?
July 23, 2008 at 10:54 pm
So no new insight to my blog question then??