6 replies to this topic

[ajdos]

As bodybuilders its oftentimes we find ourselves misunderstood by the everyday average person who does not engage in fitness related excercising.
It seems the general public has a almost hateful disdain for what we do, and I ask myself every once in a while 'why am I doing this?'. Its not as if it makes my life easier, or I make some extra amount of income from it...no in fact it has complicated my life tremendously and it is more like having a job that you pay to do.
So why?
Why get up early every day and do cardio on an empty stomach? Why eat copious amounts of food and subject ourselves to dietary extremes that often times require a spartan pallet?
Why sacrifice the other things in life for this singular drive and desire?

A fellow bodybuilder and training artner of mine once stated to me after an excruciating leg work out "only a select few have the genetics to do what we just did" he didnt mean that we were genetic freaks in the sense of muscularity; he meant that only a few people have the genetic make up mentally to force themselves to punish their body and push it beyond its physical and mental boundaries.
How true.
Look around in your gym once in a while and look at the hundreds of people floundering around and acting as if they are honest to god pushing themselves....not that they are weaker or stronger than you but the pure lack of effort that they put into what they are doing....there's no passion no desire,no fire.
Thats what we have that they dont. Thats the genetics my friend was refferring too.
Especially those of us with average genetics, most of us will never be pros, nor top level amateurs but we never let something like that even enter our minds, and for most of us it has nothing to do with competitive success or failure. Its an intangible feeling that makes us get up off the deck and get back into the fight again and again.
People have told me Im stubborn and confrontational-maybe so, but its those 2 qualities that have kept me hammering myself into oblivion day in and day out pushing closer and closer to where I want my physique to be. Despite any genetic shortcomings we keep fighting the fight, never admitting to ourselves we may never win. Thats another mental, genetic aspect to those who labor with the weigh pile, never allowing yourself to let the genetic shortcomings you have be an excuse- you can always be better and anyone who does this with their heart in it knows it to be true....thats why we shovel in the food when we are not hungry, thats why we take our shot when we are tired and just want to go to bed, thats why we drink the shakes and by the supplements.
Because from the moment we embarked on this endeavor it was a quest, a journey, a battle to see who can outlast the other, our mind or our bodies.
Next time you are tired, and beat down and you tell yourself you cant or ask yourself why in the hell am I doing this, stop and remember this is what sets you apart from the sedentary pleebs who prod through life eating, sleeping, shitting, working and repeating the process. If thats the cycle of life to live before I die, then bodybuilding and all its toils are well worth my effort- I may end up being a nobody when its all said and done but by god Im not going to be just any nobody.

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[slicwilly2000]

Nice post.

Slic.

[bgptbull81]

as always bro awesome post bro

[OldPLer]

Good post, deep thoughts.
I have gone through days when i ask myself why, what difference does it make but I am always back for the next workout, doing it all over again.

[IronpumpedLady]

Wait why do we do it again? LOL~ Just kidding AJ, nice article!! I agree it takes a unique breed of people to be able punish our body's like we do sometimes. Although I tell you sometimes I wonder if perhaps we are the norm and those who don't are the abnormal ones~! LOL I can't imagine life without living the BBing life style. Not just the training, but everything that goes hand in hand with living it day in and day out. To me it is the norm, to not would, well I can't even imagine it.

Hmmm. what would life be like not waking up after a kick butt Leg work out and not being able to feel it, or even have an awesome case of D.O.M.S.??




Stay Strong~~!!!
IPL

[marx]

I love that through knowledge applied by force of will I can change my physical reality- our bodies are our instruments to interact with the world; the majority don't even have a sense of this because a sedentary life has squelched their fire, their life force. Add in what a crappy diet does multiplied by a lack of physical consciousness and what you have is a mass of folks living in their heads whose bodies are just lame ass apendages.

I agree IPL, I FEEL my living body each day, hurting and growing and aching for more.

GLORIOUSLY.

Can't imagine being one of the disembodied. Seems hellish. Folks watching fake lives on teevee cuz they are not out living their actual life.

I FEEL the gift. Well put AJ! My physical genetics, so/so- my corporeal/spiritual genetics are top shelf...

[TheChosen1]

Kick ass post, bro.

At my age, I often look at myself in the mirror in between sets and wonder that very thought. WHY AM I HERE HITTING THE WEIGHTS? I've even had family members and coworkers asking me that. And then it dawns on me......

I do it because I love it and I love to see the results that I gets from it. Not to mention that I do it because I have IRON flowing through my veins.