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Bodybuilding A Sub-Culture

Quadsweep

Top 5 Jr. USA Lt/hvy weight
Chairman Member
I posted this on another board and everyone there enjoyed it. I thought you all may as well.

Jeff

Bodybuilding: A sub-culture

I have been a bodybuilder for 3 decades now. ¾ of my life on the planet I have lived under the iron. I have never really thought about quitting. I think it’s not really a part of my genetic make up. I do not think quitting is a part of any long term bodybuilders genetic make up. The sport is a marathon not a sprint regardless if one is natural or enhanced and by that I mean steroids. We will get to that later on.

Bodybuilders are some very strange folks! I mean the sport in and of itself is strange…a beauty pageant with muscle. I think the general public finds it interesting but very strange and foreign. They look at us as freaks and that’s okay because, well we are. As a national level heavyweight bodybuilder I can tell you I get plenty of crazy looks in the summer when I am not wearing a lot! And it is even worse if Rita my female over 55 masters nationals champion bodybuilder wife and I are together! Most times I do not notice but sometimes I just smile and nod. I do try to look pleasant most times because people expect me to be mean. I have had people say after a short time conversing with me “Oh! Your really nice!” I was like well what did you think I would be like? They say “mean or aggressive!” It’s the steroid thing I think….more on that later!!! Most bodybuilders I have met are very nice down to earth people that could be your neighbor. They just have a lot more muscle than most.

As bodybuilders at least at the competitive level, food is of paramount importance. Meal timing especially during contest prep is critical. This is often hard for bodybuilders in a world that all social activity centers on food…. that we cannot eat…. not even a little mom! People cannot wrap their minds around eating maybe 10 foods for 20 weeks but to us it’s just what one does. The problem is this upsets our family’s and makes us outcasts somewhat and they all worry we are hurting ourselves. While they eat cakes and pies and drink beer and wine and liquor! Funny really! I am not saying bodybuilding is healthy at a competitive and especially at a national level but neither is mainstream America largely! I will take my unhealthy to theirs! At least I look good!

Okaaaayy, STEROIDS! There I said that dirty, dirty word! In today’s world it would seem that steroids are the most dangerous drugs to be found. We have people dying everyday from heroin, meth, coke and even tobacco and alcohol, yet steroids make front page and lead story with so many news organizations one would think the government had all these other drug problems wrapped up! Wrestler Chris Benoit kills himself and murders his family and it is immediately blamed on steroids…. not the benzos or the anti-depressants or the alcohol…no it was “roid rage!” absurd really! And nothing was said about the fact he was off cycle at the time of the incident.

A crazy aspect to consider when it comes to steroids as a cosmetic drug is this. A man wanting to become a woman can go to his doctor and get estrogen. A woman wishing to become a man can get testosterone injections. However, a man wishing to become more of what god already made him is a criminal according to the powers that be. Does this seem illogical to you? I can get calf, pectoral and butt implants all with great risk of complication and infection but I cannot take a drug to give me more real muscle…really!? Steroid users cut their grass, pay their taxes, go to work, feed their kids. The entire things main street Americans do…we just do it bigger!

Congress spent nearly $50 million dollars on the Mitchell report looking into steroids in baseball Sen. Henry Waxman proposed the investigation and in the documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster he made a fool out of himself obviously being completely uneducated about the subject he was holding a witch hunt on! I was yelling at the TV!

The funniest part to me about congress being so down on steroids is they are the ones who made the problem what it is today! In 1990 when they enacted the Anabolic Steroid control act they single handedly took a drug that was difficult to get and made it a new underground black market drug! You have to remember this is about the time the Internet was taking off and when you take away supply of a drug and do nothing about demand this is what happens. Can you say Al Capone! So congress with their esteemed short sightedness perpetuated the whole thing into the monster billion-dollar drug trade it is today…maybe we should actually thank them! It was much more difficult and WAAAAY more expensive prior to all this taking place so they made it easier and cheaper to obtain!

With all the bad publicity that steroids have gotten and the fact that steroids and bodybuilding are synonymous in most peoples minds. We as bodybuilders need to not perpetuate the stereotype that we are arrogant assholes. Try to be pleasant, Hold doors for people going into / out of stores. Don’t be jerks to people who already think you are one based off media hype. I am not saying walk around like some grinning idiot! That would be bad as well! People will think your crazy! But being kind and pleasant is a good rule to follow for everyone. I think it is up to bodybuilders themselves to shed the stereotypes people have of us. Bitching and moaning about how we are portrayed does nothing but makes us look like whiners.

So, the general public looks us as bodybuilders at differently. Even though the only real difference for the most part is we have more lean mass and we eat differently and maintain a regimented workout schedule. Bodybuilding will always be a sub culture I think but we can do things to better market the sport to the public at large and acting like a respectable human being is a great place to start!
 
Damn! Quad that was deep-Thanks for posting,excuse the lack of replies its that time of year again...neewbies making dumb posts.


I think everyone who is dedicated to the iron should read this.

Good to see you old friend.
RADAR
 
Damn! Quad that was deep-Thanks for posting,excuse the lack of replies its that time of year again...neewbies making dumb posts.


I think everyone who is dedicated to the iron should read this.

Good to see you old friend.
RADAR
Ohh not a big deal...been around here a long long time...I know da flow!

J.
 
Great read... Totally agree with the misconceptions of roid rage.. I just don't think that public image is ever going to change
 
I totally agree quad. that was good, thanks. Thing that gets me is when people start with the "man that stuff is bad news, it will kill you, make u mean, blah blah blah....I ask them to share with me what they know about steroids & they look at me with that "deer in the headlights" look lol. They have no education on the subject in the slightest but yet they have a strong opinion on it, when in reality they cant even spell steroids. Guess they heard it on tv....HA! If you are going to voice an opinion on something, be it good or bad, you owe it to yourself to at least know what the hell you're talking about.
 
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