Proof that bodybuilding is not an accepted sport

[Ivan]

Well I am now watching the ESPY's and it is pretty apparent that bodybuilding is not accepted as a mainstream sport, much less a sport it seems. It is sad but true. The Espy awards are for athletic acheivment, and for appreciation for sports. Too bad huh? Will Bbing EVER get it's due respect?

 

[Lifenatty]

Nope

Unfortunately, we will NEVER get our due respect from society as a whole. Athletic circles embrace us (for the most part), but lay persons do not and will not.

ESPN would rather show poker championships than championship bodybuilding.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Bodybuilding will never be a mainstream sport

The main reason unfortunatly due to steroids use (abuse), and dishonesty. When Ronnie Coleman at 285 ripped tells everyone that he is "all natural" the general public is not that stupid. Dishonesty, discredits anyone who competes. Its a catch 22, your dammned if you, and dammned if you are honest. Most people view bodybuilding as a drug culture than a sport. This sucks for all of us, but its true. The general public does not know (or cares to know) how much work and sacrifice it takes to look like a bodybuilder, or even a weight or power lifter. I say fuckem. You could not look like me, or PHIL, BigA, Xcel, MikeS, Dieselman or anyone else who is a bodybuilder with all the juice in the world. Jealousy and envy are what drives the public to frown on us all. There just worried that there ladies will wanna leave them, and bounce up/down on me!

 

[RIV]

awesome post johnny bravo

lets just think about it, how many times has someone been praised for taking AS? ( exclude lifting buddies ) but thats not gonna change my mind about AS use. "they" can say everyone who takes AS has fake muscles and is taking the easy way out, but we know whats up.

quoteing johnny bravo "i say fuckem"

Riv

 

[drgoodbody]

True, too true...

Sad, but at best BB is like pro wrestling -- it's treated by the press as sports entertainment, not a real sport.

And yes, it is the AAS use/abuse that will never allow it to be accepted, plus the freaky physiques that "gross out" the majority of the general public.

Oh, and a last point, even my wife, who knows how hard I work in the gym, that I eat shit that would make a billy goat puke, how much effort and time has gone into developing my body still on occassion says "yeah, but you couldn't look that way without steroids"....

They will never understand.

DrG

 

[xcelbeyond]

So very well stated

The general public (and even "some" bb'ers that take roids) think that if you take a pill it does IT ALL. We have a headache, take a pill, headache goes away. We have an infection, take an antibiotic, infection goes away. Have limp dick, take a pill, johnny comes home. We want to get HUGE, take a pill, get huge - yea right!

xcel

 

[Chuck999]

It is an interesting phenomena. Same with me - my significant other who works out herself (not really a BB'r but pretty hard core at those "pump classes" and occasional weight room work) has an attitude kind of like that. She KNOWS how much I bust my ass, and the trouble, sacrifice and effort it takes to eat right,and sometimes I still get the "well you wouldn't be so big if it weren't for those steriods you take. Oh well, what the hell.

 

[inclines500]

Praised for taking AS?

awesome post johnny bravo

lets just think about it, how many times has someone been praised for taking AS? ( exclude lifting buddies ) but thats not gonna change my mind about AS use. "they" can say everyone who takes AS has fake muscles and is taking the easy way out, but we know whats up.

quoteing johnny bravo "i say fuckem"

Riv

I see it quite alot in Baseball, football, even tennis. I know a couple of NFL football players locally who use and are praised every Sunday on TV.

Fuckem anyway is what I say as well.

 

[MikeS]

Alot of it is jealousy, derived by the notion that all it took was a vial of juice and voila!-we are huge. The general public doesnt want to admit to the fact that they are lazy and unwilling to do what it takes, dedicationwise, to get to where we are. So they pass it off with off-color comments about how we are all a product of drug use. Making us look bad, they feel, takes the focus off the fact that most of them are lazy lard ass slobs. How many times have you heard some pencil neck kid tell his girlfriend
'that guy is all pumped up on steroids' when a guy with a nice muscular body passes them. Its his insecurity speaking, and his gf
is likely saying to herself that she wished he looked like we do!

BTW-thanks for the comp, John!

 

[MikeS]

Im thinking of the other side also now. You must admit, as often as you hear someone smirking or whispering behind your back about how you got big-there is another person who is will to approach you and say 'DAMN how hard and long did you work to look like that?' It happens all the time to all of us, Im sure-I get it all the time and I know Im not the only one. Young kids and teens(male and female) women of all ages , men (mostly older 40+).
So there is some respect there, and as much as we hear it way many more are thinking it but dont say anything. So in reality it evens out with the bad comments-its just we tend to get more pissed at those words.

Do you guys agree?

 

[stackdizzy]

Yea mike I agree with you totally! I think there is alot of jelousy out there and then there are people who can appreciate the hard work and dedication that you put into the gym and srespect it! Its funny though becuase I dance and I bartend an I see lots of men who come in with there wives and when a guys woman is a little to interested in myself I always get the "do you use steriods" question so they can dismiss me as a drug addict! Plus I give the old you know Supplement technology has made steriods obsolete so steriods really aren't nessasary and more! I think it makes people more angry or jelous! I also think people who bash juice in the media must have wives that look at juice balls like gimme gimme gimme so they won't rest until they are all behind bars! Just my 2 cents

 

[Dad]

Bodybuilding really isn't a "sport" in the sense that others are. This is because there are no objective performance measures, but rather subjective asthetic standards by which competitiors are judged.

I don't think this is a bad thing at all! So what is bodybuilding?
It's Performance Art! This puts it a class with things like figure skating. Arnold, Shawn Ray, John Brown and others have talked at length about being artists - in fact, there was an exhibit in the 70's at the Whitney Museum of Art in NY with Arnold, arranged by the authors of the book Pumping Iron.

There may be a sport aspect to the training, but training is not what bodybuilders are judged for. Their physiques and posing are what competitors are judged for. Try winning a show with poor acthetics or lousy posing - it won't work no matter how much of an animal you are in the gym!

 

[LATS]

well, technically, bodybuilding is not a sport. we perform no athletic movements on stage. sure, we train harder, in my opinion , then most sports. bodybuilding is a 24 hour a day endevor (food, rest. training ect) we are nothing more than a beauty pagent...think about it. we get up on stage and say to the judges "look at me..i am the best one up here. arent i pretty " lol but, i love the training part of the endevor more than anything...the contest is just the validation of all the hard training and dieting. bodybuilding is a cult "sport". and it should stay that way..many sports have been ruined by going mainstream..i personally do not care what the general public thinks...GIVE ME THE FREAKS. IF BODYBUILDING GOES MAINSTREAM, WE WILL ALL LOOK LIKE MEN'S HEALTH COVER MODELS... i would rather die a thousand deaths lol...

 

[mike man]

Soooo MikeS

You DO admit to being huge! YOu said so in your statement above. I knew it had to be true! lol j/k
I agree with you on the respect from the older (above 50) or the really younger (Below 16).
Other than that, everyone thinks that if they trained for a year or two on juice they would be at least as big as me.
Maybe they could, I'm jut a little guy!

 

[Ivan]

It is ridiculous

I was being accused of AAS use in HS. Nobody could seem to grasp that my hard work paid off....nevermind that every lunch break, I went straight to the gym in the school, worked out hard, then as the bell rung, went to class....where I sneakily sat in the back downing a small protein shake and eating tuna sandwiches.

We do have to give AAS some credit. Otherwise why the hell take it? MY physique does have a different look while on, and off. So I know AAS gives me some aid....that is it though...the rest is busting my ass, eating till I puke, and sleeping for hours on end. So it is just like another supplement.

 

[mr.clean101]

my 02cents worth

Steroids are nothing more that synthetic male hormones. These male hormones occur in all humans in varying levels. Unlike cocaine, pot, alcohol you get the point. We are not putting anything into our bodys that is not already in everybodys body. So Why do we praise athletes that use rec drugs that do not naturally occur in humans. I dont know. So the point being, the entire human race is nothing but a bunch of steroid freaks or choose option two: Steroid users are really natural athletes. We just add to our natural state. Our body is whatever percent water and are we no longer a natural person because we drink flavored water. I dont think so. It all comes down to jealousy and that is the bottom line. As far as steroids being illegal that is just a bunch a government mumbo jumbo so the can try to supress us so we dont overtake them and run this country the way it should be. I believe this to be a fact. Bodybuilders look better and are much smarter than the average joker. Just rambling but it drives me insane that people can sit in a restraurant and blow there cancer stick in my families face but I am not suppose to have 2000mgs of test pulsing through my veins.

 

[Ivan]

Re: my 02cents worth

Steroids are nothing more that synthetic male hormones. These male hormones occur in all humans in varying levels. Unlike cocaine, pot, alcohol you get the point. We are not putting anything into our bodys that is not already in everybodys body. So Why do we praise athletes that use rec drugs that do not naturally occur in humans. I dont know. So the point being, the entire human race is nothing but a bunch of steroid freaks or choose option two: Steroid users are really natural athletes. We just add to our natural state. Our body is whatever percent water and are we no longer a natural person because we drink flavored water. I dont think so. It all comes down to jealousy and that is the bottom line. As far as steroids being illegal that is just a bunch a government mumbo jumbo so the can try to supress us so we dont overtake them and run this country the way it should be. I believe this to be a fact. Bodybuilders look better and are much smarter than the average joker. Just rambling but it drives me insane that people can sit in a restraurant and blow there cancer stick in my families face but I am not suppose to have 2000mgs of test pulsing through my veins.

THIS IS A GREAT POST. All I can say is I AGREE 110 % !!!!!

 

[RicPhoenix]

Hi everyone,

This is an interesting thread however, is it possible to see a thread that lists all the POSITIVE things that have happened to those of us who bodybuild? We know that some dont respect bodybuilding and they will continue to disrespect it until it brings home a wage (unfortunately).

I am not talking about ....winning a trophy or losing bodyfat, I am talking about improved career opportunities, love life, family....because for all the ESPN shows that ignore bodybuilding there are NUMEROUS bodybuilders who have made interesting careers out of the sport..uh hobby...uh art.

Think of all the supplement companies, magazines, gyms, clothing companies, artists (of various types), scientist who have a bodybuilding background. The health industry is GROWING and regardless of recognition from ESPN, all of you have knowledge that lay people seek. They do want to look like you or a version of you.

So if you are a communications major in university....how do you plan to make your bodybuilding work for you? if you are an engineer or scientist, how will you make it work for you? If you are a performing artist, musician, graphic designer etc......The sky is the limit...all we have to do is be creative.

Hope I am not too off topic but what do you all think?




New Jack Hustla

 

[Ivan]

Bodybuilding/pumping iron/athletics

HAS been my savior in life... I lifted as a young kid ('cuz I am still a 24 yr old kid ) to be different, to improve my athletic prowess, and mostly to relieve the stresses I endured as a youth. It gave me direction and a sense of accomplishment. It taught me perserverence, discipline, hard work, and dedication to yourself.

As a 7 and 8th grader I was an ok athlete, but I had a hothead (mostly because I was picked on A LOT) and a bit of an accent, and my mom dressed me WEIRD. As I grew from my training and sports, I commanded respect from others. Soon, the nerdy kid in the corner got the girls, kicked ass, and his life turned interesting.

Hey, I had a BLAST in my last year of High School. I have to thank the weights for teaching me so much about myself, life, others, and of course, the lesson of putting my mind to goals and accomplishing them.

 

[RIV]

Re: Bodybuilding/pumping iron/athletics

HAS been my savior in life... I lifted as a young kid ('cuz I am still a 24 yr old kid ) to be different, to improve my athletic prowess, and mostly to relieve the stresses I endured as a youth. It gave me direction and a sense of accomplishment. It taught me perserverence, discipline, hard work, and dedication to yourself.

As a 7 and 8th grader I was an ok athlete, but I had a hothead (mostly because I was picked on A LOT) and a bit of an accent, and my mom dressed me WEIRD. As I grew from my training and sports, I commanded respect from others. Soon, the nerdy kid in the corner got the girls, kicked ass, and his life turned interesting.

Hey, I had a BLAST in my last year of High School. I have to thank the weights for teaching me so much about myself, life, others, and of course, the lesson of putting my mind to goals and accomplishing them.

this sounds alot like me actually, i'm sure theres many of us, if not all, that would say BB or wieght training has changed us. i dont know what kind of person i would be if i didnt start training, prolly be the skinny kid bussing tables at the outback steakhouse still