Where do all the bodybuilder's hide?

[MR. BMJ]

I'm too off/on to be considered a "bodybuilder" these days. That said, I'm exactly like everybody else. I wouldn't call it anti-social because I can talk to anybody and treat people with respect, but I don't always like being out in public. It may be because I don't look near like I used to many years back, so it's maybe a mind-fuckkk thing these days, but I had it even when I was bigger and looked the part. That said, I don't let it bother me going out and doing things, I mean for Christ's sake, I went to the NPC SF show the year that BigMike won it to support a few other people I knew who were in the show, and I looked the worse I ever had (hadn't even been in the gym for 19+ months at the time, in the middle of my dietetic internship, stressed to hell, etc). That guy looked amazing, a true freak, but I mustered up the courage to go say hi and wish him good luck. Talk about feeling like a turd, lol. When I'm in the gym, I almost always wear a sweater too. These days, I make sure we still go out as to make the GF and kids happy, the last thing I want to do is suppress them for my own retardedness. This is just me, but the other part is that there is a true amount of rejects out in the community where we live too, and I just do not feel like being around that crap. I have a hard time turning the other cheek when somebody is rude to me, so I try to avoid the situations altogether.

Also, there are some guys I know who are so into BB'ing, that they miss out on real-life experiences. Some of these guys (and I've been there myself when I first started when younger), all they do is train, eat, sleep. It's pretty sad to be honest. A lot of them get burned out 20 years later and realize how much in life they wasted and missed. Then you have the guys who don't do anything because they spend all their money on drugs, food, and sup's.

Another factor that was already mentioned is that more people are into the beach body, model/metrosexual, and cross fit look.

 

[thethinker48]

I'm so humble that I stay fatter in the off season on purpose so I don't give off the bodybuilder look [emoji41]

Too much attention [emoji6]

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[Jammin]

I'm so humble that I stay fatter in the off season on purpose so I don't give off the bodybuilder look [emoji41]

Too much attention [emoji6]

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Lol reverse psychology, you're fatter for them, not for you[emoji12]

 

[Marvin Martian]

the thing is.....I work with people....800 people....and it is no big deal..
they are use to it....

work is really the only place I feel normal....because they all accept me...

I give respect, (that they don't expect)....and I get it in return....

its out in public where people are just fucking DISRESPECTFUL.....
just recently, out at a large chain store.....I was standing in line and a woman
came up to me....flipped her phone out, and took a selfie with me before I
even knew WTF was going on....then she looked at me and said.."im sorry
honey....I had to"....

little did she know my amazon wifey (6' 170lbs) was in another line and
never saw it....lolol...trust me....this would have been a VERY bad day
for EVERBODY if she would have seen that....I told her what happen
later and she just looked at me for a sec.....and smiled a devilish grin....
she probably would have been locked up that day....

Tenny - I have a tall wife too. Its awesome cause she can grab things from the top shelf for me and sometimes if I cant reach high enough she gives me a lil "boost"
I have to say - I have always been fortunate to have a beautiful woman - but never fully appreciated just how hot tall chicks are. LEGS - HEP ME!!!
She's a good one too - I just have to be careful not to cross her or she gives me a kick with those HEP ME thighs!!!

 

[tenny]

Tenny - I have a tall wife too. Its awesome cause she can grab things from the top shelf for me and sometimes if I cant reach high enough she gives me a lil "boost"
I have to say - I have always been fortunate to have a beautiful woman - but never fully appreciated just how hot tall chicks are. LEGS - HEP ME!!!
She's a good one too - I just have to be careful not to cross her or she gives me a kick with those HEP ME thighs!!!

Oh yea....mines a beast....power cleans 185 for reps..
With 3 foot femurs...

 

[tenny]

Marv.....trade pics bro???

LMAOO

 

[maldorf]

So for example, I live in the UK and maybe 15-20 years ago would have seen many reasonably sized guys floating around somewhere: nightclub/shopping centre, wherever - just going about everyday business, but now seems a scarce commodity
What about in the US? When I Travel there, again am surprised I don't see many bigger guys in general population.

I agree. I live in the US Midwest and it was the same here. In the 80s and 90s there seemed to be a lot more big muscular guys around. Now all I see are fat guys all walking around with their shirts untucked and their trousers all hanging down to their ass.

 

[alfresco]

There was time when all one had to do is go to Los Angeles, Venice Beach, in the summer
especially, and you would see all the bodybuilders your eye balls could stand. The original
Gold’s Gym (and its second iteration in Santa Monica . . . I think it’s back now in Venice
Beach, last time I checked), World Gym in Venice Beach and Vince’s Gym. Bodybuilders would
come from all over the world to train there and be among the best. Now I think, they are spread
out across the land, with no single place as an ‘attraction.’ I was very fortunate visit those
places at their peak excepting Vince’s . . . Larry Scott and Don Howorth were long gone,
but I did get to meet and talk with Vince. Saw and met many of the greats of that era, many
of which I have talked about here so I won’t bore everybody again. It was a different time in
the history of bodybuilding. Lots of comradery and openness. It appeared to be one happy
family . . . long standing feuds excepting. There were so many of them in one place that
they barely turned heads like they do today. A very excepting environment and I dare say,
some people were proud to say they lived in a community of bodybuilders. Kinda bragging
rights I suppose.

Now . . . what I don’t get are the folks that make every attempt to be freakishly big, usually
in an attempt to garner attention and then complain about the very attention they are seeking.
Am not saying this is everybody but if I were a betting man, it is a very large percentage in
my humble opinion.

Granted pro size and stature are hard to ignore or cover up for that matter. No can do and
not look like a homeless person . . . you know . . . big baggie (gym) clothing, adverts all over
the place . . . hat, jacket, pants, you name it, for some that is. And that is in the winter.
In the summer it’s tank tops galore and long pants to cover the skinny legs. It spells I work
out as if your build, even when well disguised is utterly obvious and just about impossible
to miss. I think most people mistake them for football players . . . I can see how the average
person can make that observation but it could be irritating if you want to be known as a body-
builder . . . but I really don’t know because I have never had that ‘problem’ and I never will.

But to be utterly transparent, I did wear my share of tank tops back in the day. Perhaps its
a rite of passage so to speak. Looking back, it just spelled self-doubt until somebody whose
opinion I respected said to knock it off . . . and I did. And then I went too far in the other
direction . . . wearing ridiculously oversized shirts I had zero business inhabiting but I did
because I wanted to have people think I was bigger than I was. So either way, I was an
insecure shrimp, going off, all alone, to the deep end in both directions, with no middle
ground to be found. Oh well.

I’m rambling again I know . . . have wandered so far off the track, the original topic left
behind in a cloud of selfish opinions and observations. All I can say is that bodybuilders are
were you find them . . . in plain sight . . . and probably in no special singular place like back
in the Golden Era. But one thing is for sure . . . when you find a real one, you will know it,
so be nice.

 

[chinaboy]

In my life I have seen a handful of people I would call a "bodybuilder" in public. Most of these people were in a gym. I think that is the whole draw to bodybuilding is to be that 1%.

I don't get being upset by people respectfully admiring yourself in public. If they are dicks then thats another story. I remember watching a video of Lee Priest saying he "was thinking of starting to workout but didn't want to get too big" when someone had said he was huge. You have to have fun with it.

 

[thethinker48]

A lot of what people call "negative perception" is also the kind of attitude a lot of bodybuilders walk around with. If you smile, are friendly with a sense of humor and can hold a normal conversatiom, I cant imagine people giving you shit.

A lot of people in bodybuilding take life way too seriously..."that guy was looking at me weird...pshh probably hating".

Like relax tough guy, you've got a finite amount of time on this floating piece of rock, Learn to laugh at yourself and the world around you.

Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think - Moliere

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[concreter]

I love a good crowd!
The More the Merrier...
I am very Social and when out just about anywhere, the center of attention.
Have Fun with It, you earned it! But again I do this as A hobby! to take advantage of my God given genetics.
Not to live in a bubble, measuring food, eating just right and sleeping as much as possible so I can lift 1 day earlier and maybe win a plastic trophy 1 day...
Although I would like one of those swords...lol

 

[little slice]

A lot of what people call "negative perception" is also the kind of attitude a lot of bodybuilders walk around with. If you smile, are friendly with a sense of humor and can hold a normal conversatiom, I cant imagine people giving you shit.

A lot of people in bodybuilding take life way too seriously..."that guy was looking at me weird...pshh probably hating".

Like relax tough guy, you've got a finite amount of time on this floating piece of rock, Learn to laugh at yourself and the world around you.

Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think - Moliere

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I feel like bodybuilders would be a lot more chill if they were actually getting paid anything


all the IFBB bodybuilders ive met were chill af

met one NPC guy, he was cool too

 

[thethinker48]

I feel like bodybuilders would be a lot more chill if they were actually getting paid anything


all the IFBB bodybuilders ive met were chill af

met one NPC guy, he was cool too

Or if they weren't insecure little pussies (this includes me shh...)...

But that's the kinda people that are attracted to this shit.

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[thethinker48]

I love a good crowd!
The More the Merrier...
I am very Social and when out just about anywhere, the center of attention.
Have Fun with It, you earned it! But again I do this as A hobby! to take advantage of my God given genetics.
Not to live in a bubble, measuring food, eating just right and sleeping as much as possible so I can lift 1 day earlier and maybe win a plastic trophy 1 day...
Although I would like one of those swords...lol

And I bet tons of those people love being around you too.

People who own who they are, and don't down play others are very well liked.

Virtue is being a monster but not acting on that monstrosity. Virtue is not harmlessness. - Jordan. B. Peterson.

P.S- I need to sleep and stop dropping quotes [emoji20]

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[little slice]

Virtue is being a monster but not acting on that monstrosity. Virtue is not harmlessness. - Jordan. B. Peterson.

im a huge fan of Dr. Peterson

 

[thethinker48]

im a huge fan of Dr. Peterson

He drops the pill with a hefty dose of logic

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[little slice]

He drops the pill with a hefty dose of logic

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definitely




he's just SO INTERESTING

 

[Phidias]

Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think - Moliere

P.S- I need to sleep and stop dropping quotes [emoji20]

I actually like that one supposedly from Moliere... so very true.

But I say "supposedly", for recent consensus among many Historians is that Moliere was actually a fraud, all of his masterpieces being in reality the work of Jean RACINE, who used Moliere to publish satyrs of the high society he couldn't issue under his own name.

Of course you'll always have Moliere's advocates who will forever refute this thesis no matter what...

Sorry for the digression.

 

[Phidias]

I love a good crowd!
The More the Merrier...
I am very Social and when out just about anywhere, the center of attention.
Have Fun with It, you earned it! But again I do this as A hobby! to take advantage of my God given genetics.

We should create an award of the most humble member... not many could actually compete with you, Concreter... ever... that's one of those plastic trophies you'd easily win...

But truth is in the end you're right... still much better to be proud of who you are (DAMN PROUD in your case ) than feeling insecure.

 

[Jammin]

So as part of the bodybuilding journey, do we see...
- start training, build size/strength, build confidence
- appreciate the 'different look' and thrive off the attention
- settle into life knowing you are different, but that's ok, it's what you've become
- this 'different look' now becomes weighing on you and you start to shun the attention it brings
- remove yourself from social friction, start to make choices to not get into the millionth discussion of 'why you look so different'

Massive generalisations that don't apply to many, but from some of the response, maybe it's not too far off?