OCD in bodybuilding

[Ironraider]

your missing dante's point. pick a training and nutritional program, work it, be consistant but not obsessive, and give it enough time to work before jumping on the nex trend to come your way. if you work with phil, train dc style, 5x5 or any other method NONE of it will work if you dont let it. think in months and days at the same time. keep your mind in the present to reach your goals in the coming months. do you think that if you miss one meal today and only got 4250cals and 462 grams of protien instead of 500 it is going to matter over the course of months of training. NO! its the overall consistancy of what you do that matters. enjoy the rest of your life. enjoy your work, time with your family, wife, girlfriend, out with the guys. this sport should encompass no more than 2 hours of thought a day. you need to eat when your suposed to and train for about an hour...thats it. obsess in the gym about weight and reps. but once you leave, leave it in there with the dumbells.

Excellent post...

 

[kid1dakota]

Doggcrap said"if you eat in a successful way and train in a progressive way its going to take you this amount of TIME to get to where you want to be".....

Bingo D.C.!! I wish it didn't take me so much "time" to realize this!

 

[Athlete]

I used to be very OCD'ish. And of course, I didn't get anywhere.
Now I just go in, do my thing, eat my meals and go about my day. And get results..... WHEN I train.

'cause that's my problem right now... the TIME part. I live where it gets really cold in the winter time, and lately I just haven't had the drive to go workout when it's freezing outside.
I really, really, despise cold weather. And I don't have a car.

I'm thinking about buying some equipment to train at home though, so I at least don't lose mass during the cold snaps.
'cause otherwise it's 2 steps forward, 1 step back (sometimes 3 if it gets really bad).

I guess my lack of motivation is just a side effect of getting a life outside of bodybuilding though, which I'm not complaining about at all.

 

[bizwebb]

I read through muscle message boards and see these guys whose best friends are the mirror, whose sense of being is if someone said they looked big today, whose definition of themselves is whether they feel ok about themselves as a bodybuilder at this moment, who are just nitpicking and analyzing every facet of things until it drives them freaking bonkers.

This was me up until the time I decided to walk away from bodybuilding. It was an unhealthy obsession and I ended up hating the sport. It didn't start that way, but the culture of bodybuilding can definitely create and/or foster OCD. A big part of it for me was reading my scorecard comments and/or listening to spectators and fellow competitors who said, "If you just do this different, or work on this area more, you will win!" Always loved it when a show promoter would say, "Work on this and next year you will have your pro card!" Of course he wanted me back next year to pay entry fees and so forth. I started trying all kinds of stupid ass diets, salt restriction techniques, diuretics, even drinking distilled water! I was also convinced there was some training technique I didn't know about that everyone who was beating me did. Hell, I have my Bachelors and Masters in Exercise Physiology but was certain Flex magazine would offer me some new clue to limitless muscle growth. I knew the truth, I just didn't want to face it: I did not have the genetics to be a pro and I did not have the "At all costs" attitude it would take to even get close. I love training now that I am doing it for me and not a judge. Funny thing is I am bigger and stronger now than ever before, and it has a lot to do with the fact that I don't care. Thanks Dante for that post. It was therapeutic...

 

[617ricky]

I'm thinking about buying some equipment to train at home though, so I at least don't lose mass during the cold snaps.
'cause otherwise it's 2 steps forward, 1 step back (sometimes 3 if it gets really bad).

Just a bench, barbell, DB collars, and some weights is enough to hit pretty much all body parts.. All I do for legs is front squats but it's better than nothing.. I was looking on craigslist at equipment, and I was surprised at how cheap some people were selling similar setups for - sometimes as cheap as $20-30.. You just gotta go pick it up.