Big Is Inside

It was INEVITABLE that eventually I would end up writing a SEQUEL to one of my own blogs . . .

So, here it is.  A follow up to the whole "natty" blog I posted a few months back.  

But before you here me go off again, you might want to brush up on the ORIGINAL blog post:

http://blog.bodybuilding.com/The_Real_XN/2007/03/21/the-sport-of-natty-bobing-or-when-did-i-beco
me-natty/

(Go read that post befoe continuing, or this one won’t make ANY sense!)

Well, recently, someone had speculated about the origins of the term.  They had this to tell me:

"[The term "natty"] comes partially from the widespread usage of the word "natty" for peanut butter…"

Okay . . . wait a sec — WHAT?!

NOW THIS IS NEWS.

So, to summarize what I am being told:

Apparently there was some random social consciousness held at some point.  A meeting of the minds, as it were, focused on bringing  — a-hem — PEANUT BUTTER into the realm of uber-cool, suburban-white-boy, post-marketing neo-gangsta-rap lingo!

AND THEN THIS NEW TERM SOMEHOW BECAME CROSS-POLINATED WITH THOSE SKIPPY-LOVIN’ BODYBUILDERS?!

Well, this REALLY IS crucial news for a "regular guy" like me to learn.

See, I had NO IDEA that SUCH an image deterioration problem was occuring among us bodybuilders!  After all, aren’t we usually known to be the epitomies of self-security and confidence?  And yet, in spite of this image, here we are thrown into fits of insecurity by the mere monikers for sandwich spreads!

Wow, I must look REALLY out of it.

And this explains a LOT about how people react to me.  I mean, Ican only imagine how much my popularity has been negatively affected because I dare to use the full word — gasp! - "MAYONNAISE"!

Meanwhile, I am NOT sure which part is MORE disturbing:

The fact that there were actually guys who felt their coolness was LESSENED based on what they called peanut butter . . .

OR

The implication that I may now be classified under the same heirarchy which includes "creamy" and "chunky".  (Or are the terms now reduced simply to "cree" and "n-kay"?!)

Sigh . . . and they wonder why I so often fear the future . . .

Ever want to find out what’s on the mind of these NPC judges?

Most of the time it’s a pretty obvious guess.  But recently, while coaching a Team of competitors at a local NPC event, I had the good luck to pick the brain (what there was of a brain anyway) of the head judge.  

Of course, I didn’t get my chance until the END of the contest.  Not until I took the trip — the WHOLE trip — offered up by this one, oddball show clunked down in Derry, New Hampshire.  It was rough waters as usual.  (But not surprisingly so, as such seas is typical of every other NPC event I have attended…)

But, I got on the boat all the same.  It was the way all these showboats for the NPC are: big and sprawling events, and as it so often is, grossly under-attended.  I really didn’t want to GO on this cruise . . . I was only there to make sure a few of the passengers makwe it to their destinations safely . . .  call it fatal curiosity, but even though I HATE getting on board with these things, I just can’t help myself: I ALWAYS WANT TO SEE WHERE THE FLOATING SUPER VESSELS OF THE NPC FLEET ARE HEADING.

I hung back from the fanfare and confetti as we leave the dock; the morning meeting and check-ins and weigh-ins,etc.  Then we headed out at full tilt from our moorings; soon no real land is in sight, just a bunch of bodybuilders floating along at the fate of the mighty ocean.

Eventually, I look down at the side of this ship and FREAK OUT:

"U.S.S. TITANIC."

Oh crap.  We’re ALL sunk.

This particular voyage was the recent NPC New Hampshire, aka, the "MaggieFit" show.  (I nearly HAD a MaggieFit after what I learned.)

After the ship had already sank, and after so many worthwhile athletes had been taken under by that freezing ocean called bodybuiding competition a few of us pulled aside the head judge.  The boat had sank, the captain had gone down with the ship . . . but the head judge?  Yeah — he’s more like the NAVIGATOR.  In other words, it’s the head judge who should have spotted that damn iceburg while it was still miles away!

How could we RESIST not picking his brain.  (What there was of a brain, anyway.)

In the end, I got an impromptu interview with this guy.  He claimed to have been a judge for over 15 years, and is more or less the head judge for all the New England area shows.  I have seen him judge shows MANY times, and have been frustrated by his judging MANY times.

But now I am REALLY coloring this guy prior to revealing what went down.  SO, without further adieu, here is a sampling of what I asked, and the responses I got.

He mentioned that every athlete HE’S ever judged NEEDS to come back bigger.  EVERY YEAR, bigger.  In his OWN words: "To be a success, ALL of you guys –" (yes he was telling us DIRECTLY, now) "– must come back at least 20 to 30 pounds HEAVIER every year."

TWENTY TO THIRTY POUNDS HEAVIER.

EVERY YEAR.

And cut.

"Even the Bantam guy?"

"ESPECIALLY the bantam guy," he told us.  Then in  SHOCKINGLY unprofessional move he added: "After all, who wants to see BANTAMWEIGHTS?  I mean, who wants to be a bantam — or even a lightweight — for the rest of their life."

So, now, this guy is talking to seven competitive bodybuyilders.  SEVEN.  And chucks out there the most disparaging comment he possibly could. Not only is this HORRENDOUSLY bad marketing, it is just unprofessional.  Here hje is, carelessly running the risk of LOSING athletes from the sport . . . and they wonder why ticket sales continue to decline . . .

Anyway, after we collected ourselves from the initial blow of this I added, sarcastically:

"Yes, I see.  Hopefully we can eliminate that damn undesirable bantam weight problem once and for all.  It’s so frustrating how those little guys just ruin it for everyone."

He laughed.  Nearly in agreement.  But now the genie was out of the bottle.   We smelled an agenda.  So I asked him — point blank:

"Do you ncessarily see steroids as inseperable from the sport of bodybuilding?  As a judge, do you think the two MUST be linked?"

His answer?  Although not a direct, flat "yes," was clear nonetheless:

"I think that in order to ‘make it’ a bodybuilder has to be willing to do whatever it takes.  And he needs to be wiling to do what the other guy is doing, only better and more intensely."

So, yes, he HONESTLY means 20 to 30 pounds.  No bantams.

"After all," he says, spitting out one of the most rickety myths on bodybuilding.  "That’s what the crowds want to see.  People want to pay their ticket and see a freak show.  So that is how we judge."

So I chase him:

"So, are you saying that judges just obey what the ticket holder tell you to do?"

"No," he tells me. "I want to see big freaks too.  And that is the standard being upheld by all the judges in the NPC."

"So — wait a sec," I ask him.  "So who is REALLY controlling this agenda?  Is it that the audiences want to see freaks, and you guys are obeying in order to turn a buck, and just MAKING it seem like a judged event?  Or is it that you judges truly ARE in control of the outcome, and the reason we keep seeing freaks has NOTHING TO DO with the audience?  Is the audience just your ‘cover story’ for pushing your steroid agenda?"

His answer was fuzzy.  But not a denial:

"Guys need to come back 20 to 30 pounds heavier every year to advance."  He repeated.

Then went ON and ON about how this is the way it is, and this is how they judge . . . and more or less ANY head judge in the NPC sees it this way . . .

Which does NOT deny the fact that there is an agenda here.

Meanwhie, he also threw out some statistics that were tedious and WAY incorrect.  For example, how Jay Cutler is 6′ tall and weighed 305 pounds the week before at the NPC New Englands.  (Umm, I personally WORKED alongside Mr. Cutler at that contest . . . and although he may be not a petite flower, he sure wasn’t no 6′, 300 pounder that day!)

After a while of his pablum I got impatient and asked him plainly:

"Look — have you EVER been INDEPENDANTLY CERTIFIED?  Have you ever been INDEPENDENTLY trained, educated and peer reviewed by an organization SEPERATE from the NPC?"

No.  He was trained by the NPC.  (This company hires and trains it’s own judges.  And there’s no agenda?  Whose interests would the judges serve first?  The athletes?  Or the NPC who trained and hired them?)

But I give him a fai shot at redemption . . . maybe he knows something he rest of us don’t:

"Okay, you’ve been at this over 15 years," I reiterate back to him.  "Now, in that WHOLE time has anyone EVER shown you a BOOK OF STANDARDS for judging/  HAve you ever seen or come across ANY document that is universally recognized?  A peer-revoewed, basic rules and procedures for the sport you are supposedly judging?  In short; DO WE EVEN HAVE A RULE BOOK TO CHECK A JUDGE’S DECISION?!"

He said he had never seen one.  He was taught the criteria for the NPC.

"But even THOSE criteria have huge vague points," I said.  "Not to mention they are a little elusive to find in totality.  Likewise, the NPC never seems to provide any academic background or research for their criteria.  They just toss them outt here as arbtirary and vaguely-formed law . . . IF YOU CAN EVEN FIND THEM.  So, again, where’s the rule book?"

He just smiled and smugly said:

"There is none.  But I CAN tell you this . . ."

We know, we know.

Come back 20 to 30 pounds heavier next year.

And cut.

And no bantamweights.

He closed the conversation informing us to contact a gentleman who could "guarantee" that we put that kind of weight on in a year — or more.  

Yes, our head judge was playing connection to the dealer.  He was a glorified mule to the kingpin.

Pathetic.

No wonder the ship had sank.

No one could figure out the best way to steer the damn thing.

Maybe this bodybuilding thing wouldn’t be sinking so fast if we LOST 20 to 30 pounds per year for a change . . .

Bon voyage.

Dear NPC/IFBB,

It has become a point of consternation among many athletes that bodybuilding is held down under a "glass ceiling" in relation to other recognized sports.  We are not seen as "legitimate" in every sense of the word.  Much of this has centered on the controversy of the excessive and profound use of drugging in the NPC and IFBB.

One of the biggest problems has been that there has been no way to check for drugs, and yet still attain the athletes whom you deem "marketable.  We understand and are compassionate to the fact that you are businesses, and businesses MUST first and foremost maintain a financial bottom line.  You have been very generous in showing that this bottom line is based on the men whose drug use is excessive.  Therefore, to check for drugs seems to be cutting into your very survival.  Quite a problem.

So how can we move past this glass ceiling, and gain legitimacy when the current state of drug testing would cut off the source of funding?

Well, I think I have your solution.  I have found a way to check for durgs in EVERY PRO ATHLETE, and yet STILL ENSURE THAT THEY CAN COMPETE.

The procedure is simple.  First, gather all competitors for a contest in any private area.  You will need an administrator and a tabulatory.

Now you can begin checking EVERY athlete for drug use.  The procedure follows:

ADMINISTRATOR: "Hey buddy, you use drugs?"

COMPETITOR #1: "Yeah."

ADMINISTRATOR: "Good.  This guy checks out."  

[move to next competitor]

ADMINISTRATOR: "Hey buddy, you use drugs?"

COMPETITOR #2: "Yup."

ADMINISTRATOR: "Good.  This guy checks out."  

And so on down through every athlete.

With THIS new method you can at last publicly show those nay-sayers that, yes indeed, EVERY athlete is authentically checked for drug use in the NPC or IFBB!  Let them try to dispute THIS!  There’ll be no ignoring bodybuilding’s brilliance NOW!

At last we can be free of the controversy and prove without a doubt that all our athletes are indeed checked for drugs! Feel free to contact me, as I am available to conduct paid seminars on conducting this innovative new test.

I know this new test is up to the same stringent standard you have heretofore been diligently trying to uphold.  I am excited that we can at last publicly acknowledge the legitimacy that every athelte checks out for drug use.  I look forward to the new era of prosperity this will undoubtedly bring.

Sincerely,
-XN

"Things overheard at various bodybuilding contests over the years." = "What most often is really being said."

Now, let the euphemisms begin . . .

"I figured I’d concentrate on the light-heavyweights this year." = "I still don’t train my legs."

"I have one dude helping me who really knows his shit." = "I finally got a dealer who is SERIOUSLY hooked up."

"I compete for me, and for no one else." = "Still trying to hit that elusive first place . . . "

"The only hard part was the diet." = "I’m secretly a total alcoholic but want to blame the lack of calories."

"I think some of these women are a little too "muscular" to be figure competitors." = "I thought all I had to do was look like f**k-bait to win first place.  DAMN IT!"

"I’m NPC all the way from now on." = "I used to compete and even place well in the so-called "natural" contests, but now I have switched to using steroids."

"Money’s tight this season." = "I can’t afford the cycle I want to do."

"I injured myself, so have to wait to compete again." = "I psyched myself out too much and then sank into a crazy, suicidal depression after my last contest."

"I injured myself, so have to wait to compete again." (runner-up version) = "I JUST BOUGHT MY FIRST CYCLE OF GROWTH!  HOORAY!  Now leave me alone."

"I figured I’d take a year or two to bulk up some more, then cut down." = "I have no CLUE how to manage a diet."

"I hate having to a do a routine at the evening show." = "I’m a frustrated powerlifter too weak and whiney to compete in the sport where I belong."

"Good luck, and don’t go broke." = "Hey buddy, don’t blow all your money on gear while obsessively (and pathetically) trying to become the next Mr. O."

"You must be psyched [for how well you placed]." = "You’re a dirt-bag who seriously has nothing else going for you.  Enjoy your plastic trophy."

"The weigh-in scale is off." = "I perpetually lie about my TRUE weight."

"It’s like Jay says in his book . . . " = "I’d rather be watching pro wrestling and drinking beer. . . "

"I’m gonna start concentrating on ultimate fighting after this." = "My contest prep was designed by a one-armed, blind marmot in a coma."

"How do you like the sequin design on my suit?" = "I am DESPERATE to have men drool over my tits because I have NO CLUE what true love is all about."

"I can’t WAIT to eat a whole box of Oreos after this." (women’s version) = "Hi!  I’m a closet bulimic!"

"I can’t WAIT to eat a whole pizza after this." (men’s version) = "Hi!  I’ve never eaten a whole pizza in my life!"

"My boyfriend got me into competing." = "I just KNOW that violent, abusive bastard is also cheating on me, but I am too self-loathing to dump him but too weak to set him straight, so instead I am pathetically deteriorating my sense of pride by trying to be somehow become MORE appealing to him . . . "

"I think my shape came in awesome." = "I was shocked to learn I weighed into the bantamweight class."

"hey wait a sec – didn’t I see you compete in the [insert name of any natural contest] a couple weeks ago?" = "You lying, douche-bag piece of shit."

"This isn’t really my show." = "I have all the intelligence of that one-armed, blind marmot in a coma who put that other guy’s program together."

"All I think about all day and all night is bodybuilding." = "I never quite made it out of the closet."

"This is my off season." = "I bought my first kit that includes groth."

"I think my shape is WAY better for figure than bodybuilding." = "My abusive, controlling boyfriend just shucked out the $4,000 to get me a new boob job."

"My trainer told me to…" = "Shine a bright light in my eyes and I will go into paralysis like a racoon crossing a street at night."

"That guy who came in first is a tool." (non-steroid version) = "That guy has bigger gyno tits than Pamela Anderson."

"That guy who came in first is a tool." (steroid version) = "I’ve never felt so strangely sexually attracted to a man before."

"EVERY CANDIDATE will be drug tested today." = "People have been slipping by our testing for years."

"That guy over there has sick proportions." = "I wish my arms didn’t look so damn small."

"His posing is WICKED funny." = "He looks like he’s having a seizure."

"His posing is a little stiff." = "He looks like a stick figure out there."

"His posing is very . . . ARTISTIC." = "I think that dude might be gay."

"That guy’s unstoppable." = "That guy is this league’s latest darling poster-boy."

"Wow, look at her WALK!" = "I know that there is technically no such thing as ASKING to be raped, but . . . "

"I needed to take a break for a few years before getting back into it." = "My wife/husband divorced me HARD."

"I do it mainly to look good." = "Hi.  I’m a chronic masturbator."

"I only jumped in because my buddies told me I should." = "Usually you find me cracked out and rolling my tits off at 4:00am in some Long Island Guido style nightclub, then stumbling home smelling like bad cologne and a bathroom floor."

"Figure girls." (versus "Figure women.") = "All women secretly scare me."

"How’d I look out there?" = "Look at my cool new contest-day haircut I got!"

"I swear they only scored me poorly because I have tattoos." = "This tribal-design, meaningless, peer-pressure piece of crap is going to look like shit in about 5 years, but I just can’t bring myself to admit that I’m a total tool."

"Maybe I screwed up my water." = "Maybe i am just too pussy to admit I’m a fat ass block tard who can’t run a diet to save my life."

"I’m doing this for my son/daughter." = "I’m that pinhead who got his girlfriend pregnant three years ago, but still haven’t discovered the joy of fatherhood."

"The judges are blind." = "I am the only TRULY natural guy in the line up.  Too bad I’m a prick with a shitty attitude."

"Make sure you put color everywhere." = "Secretly, my favorite part of competition is having another man rub my body all over.

"I’m here to win." = "All my life people have never really, well, LIKED me, let alone LOVED . . . "

"I need to bring up my calves." = "I train arms twice per week."

"How was my lat spread?" = "Just don’t talk about my legs.  I’m top heavy."

"I can’t wait for this to be over." = "I can’t wait for this to be over."

"This was awesome." = "This was awesome."

"Anyone will tell you I’m a down-to-earth guy/gal." = "If I had to actually TELL you that I am a down to earth guy/gal, then it probably ain’t true."

"What did he/she mean when they said . . . ?" = "I wish we could all just TALK to one another.  Can’t we just pose with our bodies instead of always posing with our words?"

Recenetly, I wasted a LOT of work time responding to a post in the forums.  I did so much work on it, that I thought I would repost it here.  (Might as well get double the bang for my buck, right?)

It was originally in response to a post by a guy who’s handle is "/\/\icheal".  

He wrote:

"As you may have seen, ancient greeks (at least their statues) had thick waists AND 6 pack abs. How is that possible? If they had 6 packs, that means they had low bodyfat. And I thought the lower body fat you have, the smaller your waist becomes. So is there any other way to make your waist smaller besides losing fat?"

Now anyone who has followed my blog (god bless you if you have — and here’s hoping you find therapy now!), you know that this sort of topic is WAY up my alley.

I will most likely write more on diofferent aspects of this stuff in the future.  But for now, here is what I decided to extrapolate upon.  It was a LONG forum post – hence it’s graduation into a Big Is Inside blog post.

In short: interesting topic.

Now, first off, /\/\icheal, ignore the folks who dissed it.  Yes, at first it seems silly, but in fact there is a lot of cool content when you look at this topic.

A lot of people [in the forum] touched on responses already, so forgive me if I repeat a few things already mentioned in other posts.  

The first thing I have to say is how frustrating it is that so many people found this post frivolous.  It’s evidence of how today’s bodybuilders are so very disconnected with what brought them here.  

It is amazing to me how many people say they are avid fans or followers of bodybuilding, yet know so little of what makes up this sport.  Everyone is so focused on the science of bodybuilding that people forget that a solid half of the sport is based in the humanities.  People know so little of the humanities and so much of the sciences, that they are walking around half-informed, yet often claiming they have a solid grasp on thsi sport.  

Quite frankly, it would be like saying knowing how to build a house makes you an architect, or that the simple ability to measure out a football field makes you ready for the gridiron.  Bodybuilding is a truly rounded pursuit – with one part based in the sciences and one part in the humanities.  And a question which hearkens back 2,500 years is just as valid as the latest HST training split.

All to say that your question, /\/\icheal, is VERY relevant indeed, and not hardly frivolous.

You nailed it on the head when you looked at the statues and asked your self a question about waist size.  The aesthetics we still use today are, indeed, very much related to those ancient proportions – more directly than most guys want to think.  Whenever I ask a dude how old he thinks this sport is, I get answers like 30 years, 50 years, 100 years, and sometimes a clever dude might say 150 years.  In reality, there is CLEAR artifactual evidence to prove that bodybuilding was very much alive and kicking even way back then.

Our sport is thousands of years old.

As such, many concepts about the male and female physiques take cues from proportions realized in ancient times.  Yet, many dudes don’t realize this; it’s as if the contemporary bodybuilding aesthetic was something brand new in history.  As if it was thought up in the past 50 years or so.

Everyone knows of the Olympic Games in ancient times.  Yet most people do not realize that, among the games, was often held a final contest.  All the winners from the various sports were lined up, and posed, and judged, and that athlete who had the most superior physique was announced the OVERALL WINNER of many games.  It was not enough that you just mastered your sport.  You had to also have mastered how that sport affects your body.  The winners in ancient times were the bodybuilders.  Indeed, our sport could even be considered, in some respects, the ULTIMATE contest of those games.

My how far we have let ourselves tumble.

And these atheltes were often where the statues took their cues.  People would look towards the MOST heroic of physiques for reference.  Indeed, there were the typical exaggerations.  But in fact, these statues were generally rather accurate to the "best physiques" of the day.

But the principal then was you had to do more than just LOOK like a great athlete.  It was not enough to merely be diesel and shredded.  You had to be WORTHY of physique to be considered great.  Notice how today is so much different.  Today anybody who wants to LOOK the part can BE the part.  One need not have any true deeper calling, only the greedy, burning desire to look jacked and lean.  Not saying that is unto itself bad, but just a very strange side-turn the sport hgas made.  Thousands of years of succesful pursuit and today we have a bunch of imposters.  

These statues tell us that the only "new" thing about bodybuilding is the degree to which it can be "faked."  You need not even BE of an athletic nature to be considered a bodybuilder.  For the past 50 to 70 years, bodybuilding has become — for the first time in it’s austere history — PRIMARILY a cosmetic pursuit, as opposed to secondarily.

And don’t these to which you point statues just remind us of this idea.

But often people try to negate that which they have not integrated.  Because some guys don’t KNOW their bodybuilding inside and out, they want to negate the parts to which they are naive or ignorant.  And laugh at the question.

Look, even as far back as 5,000 years old there were concepts of the "overmuscled physique".  The Egyptians, ever concerned that royalty exceeded the common man, had statues that over time expressed progressively more "jacked physiques".

In other words, the pursuit of the over-muscled, lean and proportioned physique is a phenomena of Western Culture, not just of the contemporary IFBB boys.  Even thousands of years ago they had ideals that were, well, disproportionately huge.

However, we must keep in mind that although the dream of the diesel physique was thousands of years old, influencing us to this day, we have in recent decades a new influence: steroids.

Ancillary bodybuilding practices have created shapes and concepts of the physique that were never predicted in these ancient histories.  Steroids have created a look that in some ways expands the imagination, but in other ways marrs our perception.  Good or bad, it has undoubtedly altered the percepetion of the contemporary viewer.

So, those thick hips you were talking about?  Well, that is acxtually a coincidence rather than a norm.  The Greeks – as well as the Romans – were just like us today.  As I’ve researched it (and by no means am i claiming that I am here the last word) it seems that the Greeks heralded THREE types of ideal male form.  For lack of accurate terms, I will here label them “the Youth”, “the Warrior Athlete”, and “the Herculean Athlete”

I can describe each by comparisons today, for these three ideals still sit with us in our contemporary perceptions:

As far as the Youth ideal, here is where you think of the small waist, and the lean, tone muscles.  Imagin the Abercrombie ideal, or Hollister.  it is the young, hip, tight and toned yet not too shredded ideal.  MANY MANY Greek statues concerned themselves with this male aesthetic, praising the tiny waist and the lean physique.

Next, you have the Warrior Athlete.  Here, you can think of the physiques you see in Men’s Health.  Think of the Brad Pitt or Micheal Jordan ideal, or perhaps the most recent rendition of Hollywood’s Superman.  Better yet, look at the cast of the film 300.  This aesthetic was concerned with the leanness and the visibility of muscle.  Yes, it prized mass, but here was more impressed with WATCHING the musculature.  SOME of these depictions had thin waists, some more chunky.  Yet ALL had admirably visible muscularture — depicting a more mature version of the male aesthetic.

Lastly, you have the Herculean physiques. These statues most often had the chunky waistline that you mentioned.  Here, the Greeks took cues from the most diesel men around.  This form seemed to represent the stabilized and solid adult male aesthetic — accomplished and powerful.  As it was about exaggerated physique, the waistline was likewise shown as powerful, as would have happeened among the most muscular men of the day.  The exercise and military regimes of these people were based profoundly on power and physique stability.  This emphasis is absolutely what builds the midsection’s power.  But the counterpart to this body in today’s reflection is the bodybuilder aesthetic. Now not only shape and visibility, but also DENSITY was key.  The eleganmt lines of the Youth aesthetic were gone, and the sleek sophistication of the Warrior Athlete were likely advanced to create physiques that were, in a word, shockingly developed.

All these shapes are captured in Greek art and statutuary.  Remember, the Judeo-Christians were NOT the originators of "god in man’s image." The Greeks presumed that our own beauty and aesthetic descended DIRECTLY from that of their gods.  Therefore, how we looked at our best was, in their minds, more or less how the Gods looked all the time. This is what we see in those statues.

So, your looking to the Greek ideal aesthetics for information is very accurate. Yet do more research before drawing conclusions.  Not every male aesthetic was thick waisted.  Just as with today, there were  a variety of ways to build a body, and a variety of ways to represent that body.

But at the very least, your question shows a savvy towards the sport that many athletes have either neglected or ignored.  

In short: Smart topic.

I am turning my back on "natural bodybuilding."  Once and for all.

Yes, it is official.  I will no longer ever be a "natural bodybuilder."

Now, before you dealer-boys get all amped up to make another sale, let me also make another press-release style steatement:

I am likewise turning my back on steroid enhanced bodybuilding.  

That too is official.

[Let’s now pause to let the meatheads do the math.]

"Huh?"

How can I NEITHER be natural NOR be going on the sauce?  How is this possible?

Let me back up a little.  I have recently gone to coach at a few contests up here in the northeast.  The leagues were the OCB, the MuscleMania and the BLNPA.  

Now, what i saw was, as usual, some astounding physiques.  And these guys all used the term "natural" to describe what they were doing.

Maybe they all were.  Maybe some weren’t.  The only thing I know for certain is that they all passed whatever screening was being doled out by each individual league.  I could write essays and rants on flaws in the screening processes of BOTH urinalysis AND polygraph screening.  But I won’t.  Thank god.  How much MORE boring would this blog THEN be, right?

Meanwhile, to my regular readers (what is it – up to 3.7 of you now?) I will most certainly one day blog on some ideas for the solution to the screening process . . . but that is certainly for another time.

But now, back to what I saw (and always see) at the contests:

Instead, what I noticed was how the competitors reacted . . . in the pumproom, at the backdoor, in corners and nooks and back rows . . . there was a LOT of suspicion.

A LOT.

Anyone who has engaged with the natural sport knows that at ervery natural contest mini ethical debates pop up on the sidelines.  All day folks are muttering about who "has got to be on this" or who "has totally used that."  The athletes get caught up in the skepticism, and go at the issue of "natural versus steroids" like it was the national debate on the U.S. entry into Darfur.  

I ultimately love these conversations happening in the aisles and back walls of the contests.  I think discussion and debate is HUGELY healthy.  Especially among competitors.  But there is another element to it all . . .

The athletes are derisive, suspicious and paranoid.  Everyone is leery of one another.  The folks deemed "suspect" are TOO suspicious to embrace, and yet the folks doing the "suspecting" are too righteous to console.  It becomes a simmering hate-fest.

And in the process, a LOT of athletes get turned off.

A LOT.

And it’s ugly.

Now, look, I am personally not against steroids.  I am against stupidity.  That has ALWAYS been my stance: I am NOT anti-steroid, I am anti-stupidity.  

And for the sake of this position I personally define stupidity "under-thinking."  Or at least as the refusal to use one’s full capacity of thought and reason.  Stupidity – as I see it - is simply  the refusal, denial or unwillingness to incorporate the widest possible range of thought, idea and fact into the production of a conclusion – even if the stuff you include is unpleasant to look at.

In this respect, there are a LOT (perhaps the majority?) of guys who use gear whom I think just aren’t looking deeply enough at things.  My opinion.  But to not look DEEPLY at an issue is, in a word, stupid.  Hey, if they are intelligent to be able to manage complex chemical administrations, they are certainly smart enough to weather a little bit psychological insight . . . to not "go there" ALL THE WAY is not only a half-ass approach, it’s acting a little more stupid than they actually are.

But that is not to say that those who do NOT use the juice are any smarter.  In the case of the so-called "naturals", they are typically ethical morons.  If the guys on steroids have muddied the ethical waters with clever rationalizations, well, the naturals have certainly screwed up the bigger issue by WAY too much moralizing.

Does morality come into play with the choice to use or not use?  In my opinion, most certainly.  However, is it ETHICALLY SMART to attempt to uphold a morality by telling someone whose morals are different than your own that they are WRONG?  I think not.  How stupid of naturals to morally ostracize those who hop on the gear.  To push them out and cast them aside not only strengthens the conviction to use more, but also makes naturals look, well, in a word: stupid.

So, I am anti-stupidity in ALL cases.  The guys on the juice are very often not thinking things through on ALL levels.  And the guys NOT on the juice are very often thinking only with the intent to be in the right.

And I want nothing to do with either of them.

So, I use different terms.

I am not a "natural athlete."  I am an "INTEGRAL" athlete.

And guys who use steroids (or andro, or folks with cosmetic implants for that matter), I term as "ANCILLARY" athletes.

Integral and Ancillary.

Boy that sounds cold.  Those terms seem stoic, sterile and without much heart or passion, don’t they?

Yes.  And I am PROUD OF IT.

These terms HAVE NO MORALITY SLANT ATTACHED TO THEM.  You can not say one is "right" and one is "wrong."  You can not claim one is "better" and one is "worse" as far as the human experience goes.

THESE WORDS PRODUCE NO ENEMIES.

In other words, these words unite us.  Or at least ATTEMPT to unite us.

These words only describe our PROCESSES.  They do not attempt to describe our MORALITY or ETHICAL NATURE.

My definition of an "integral" approach to bodybuilding is simple: anything that is INTEGRAL to my most common human abilities.  In other words, any food I can ingest, any exercise I could conduct, and any state of being I could induce via MY OWN PERSONAL ABILITIES, and WITHOUT THE HELP OF AN OUTSIDE (ANCILLARY) PARTY.

As an example, imagine I was marooned on the perfect "island of survival."  (Now, I know a LOT of you really are hoping I WOULD be marooned, but this is ONLY an example.)  Now this imaginary island has on it EVERY possible food source – fruits, vegetables, cattle, fowl, fish, grain – all growing all over it.  It’s a miracle island.  And I am all alone on it.  No gym, no people, just me, and EVERY POSSIBLE RAW FOOD I CAN IMAGINE.  

Now here I am, basking on the beach, waiting to be rescued, and realize that it might be a LONG TIME.  And, in my boredom, i decide to start bodybuilding.

The question is this:

COULD I BUILD A BODYBUILDER PHYSIQUE ALL BY MYSELF ON THIS ISLAND?  Given that I have all the food available to me, and all the time (hey - I’m MAROONED, after all), COULD I BUILD MUSCLE?

Anyone with half a wit would know that, yes indeed, I could grow muscle.  I could lift stones, do cardio, and with all that food around, get high quality protein and carbs.  Heck, I would even be getting my creatine, glutamine, EFA’s, vitamins, etc., etc. . . . I could even ingest all the "basic supplements" that i would otherwise buy back in civilization.

In other words, i could bodybuild based on my INTEGRAL ABILITIES>

And THIS is what I call INTEGRAL bodybuilding.

Now, on this island I could NOT (obviously) manufacture steroids.  I could not inject insulin or growth hormone.  I could not insert implants (or at leeast not insert them and SURVIVE!).   I could not even ingest any andro’s.  

ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE ANCILLARY to my abilities.

INTEGRAL implies methods of bodybuilding that are within my human capacity (or at least those methods that DIRECTLY duplicate those abilities – like ingesting vitamin C versus eating an orange).

ANCILLARY implies any rocess for which I ABSOLUTELY NEED an outside source to accomplish.

No morals.  No anger. No suspicion.

Most importantly: NO STUPIDITY.

I wonder if we began removing the morality from the sport and began using these terms, what might happen.

Now, the "natural" bodybuilder need not lord over his status.  he is one among many, as opposed to the righteous implied by labelling other athletes as somehow "unnatura" human beings.  I wonder how the agenda of that now-called "natural" might be advanced if he were to not alienate those who use steroids?

Meanwhile, now the guy on steroids need not hide.  Ancillary can mean ANY NUMBER of ancillary actions – many of which are legal.  No longer would these guys have to describe themselves in shadowed terms.  Ancillary could mean implants, or use of "legal steroids."  Now they could CLAIM THEIR STATUS WITHOUT LEGAL OR SOCIAL CONSEQUENCE.  

And without as severe a social stigma, it might even mean they could be encouraged over time to be able to be less covert at contests.  Contests could allow "ancillary" or "integral only" or both.  By removing the peer stigma, there may be less need to cheat . . .

Now that is utopian and ideal, I know.  However, it is at least a remote possibility.

And WAY more of a possibility than the current terms we use: "natural", "non-natural", "enhanced", "juiced", etc.  These old terms are getting us NOWHERE.  It is these old terms that created such a sense of derisiveness at the recent shows I attended.  And will contiunue to do so until we as a sport smarten up.

To change people’s minds, first change your language.  It really is that simple.  

So, from now on, call me an "integral bodybuilder".

Please please PLEASE do not call me a "natural bodybuilder."

That would be just stupid.