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Why did you quit competing?

SWOLNUTZ

Active member
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Jan 29, 2012
Messages
240
For those of ya'll (us) who have competed at least once, but no longer do, why did you quit?

My friend and fellow competitor at the time had a promising career ahead of him. After just coming off a 2nd place win overall at the teen nationals, he came in to the gym about a week later. He worked out for a few days and then one day he just walked in, looked around and said "I'm through". And he was done competing just like that.

That was slightly before we went into Iraq so with that heating up he went Airborne and got deployed and then fought in/around Fallujah. He came back a completely different guy.

My story wasn't as dramatic. I only ever wanted to compete once, just for the experience. But my problem also came in after the competition. Since I wasn't training for the goal anymore, I felt a bit lost. We get big to compete, but when we don't compete why do we get big? Where does it end and what's the end goal? Honestly, every year or so I'd try to go back to the gym and I'd lift for a few weeks, maybe even a month. I'd start getting big again and I'd think, "What are you doing man?" And I'd drop off again.

It's been around 6 years since I last trained. But this time something is different. Now I've been at it since March. I'm doing a little cycle but not going overboard. I don't have many sides. I won't compete again but I'm glad I at least feel good about training again. The long break I took, and this struggle to regain control of myself, has been good. It's as fun as it all was when you first start seeing gains in the gym.

I am pleased to see that this new "classic" bodybuilding is coming into popularity. I spoke to a guy at my gym about it. Apparently there are now set weight:height max ratios? I think that's exactly what the sport needs. I'm tired of seeing folks die young, and prior to that looking obviously very unhealthy in size and very poor in aesthetics.

I guess to sum up, I quit because to be the best in the sport (at that time) was to be something I didn't want to be, it seemed to represent too much of an extreme. Maybe if this classic bodybuilding makes a comeback, more folks will reengage in the sport, compete for years instead of dropping dead young. If so I think that will be a great thing.
 
What holds me back lately is the cost and how it has gone up so much. You need to buy an NPC card, pay for each class you compete in, pay for the spray on tan. It’s around $1,000.
 
I think they could make the sport more accessible to a wider range of competitors if they better understood how to market this process of competing. I mean, each competitor's story is an interesting one. The highs and lows of the process would make for good television but the problem is that when the competition has swung so far to this sort of wink-wink nudge-nudge no-performance-enhancement-going-on-here things that you just won't find a broad market appeal for that. Furthermore, sponsors worried about the ethics of the situation are going to be hands' off.

I think wanting to be strong is something that everyone on the planet understands as good. Not everyone wants to play football. Not everyone wants to box. But everyone wouldn't mind being healthier and stronger.

I wish this could be conveyed to the public in a more above the board way. Have a few camera crews follow around the spectacle, show the conflict, the positive aspects of hard work and winning. You get the masses and they'd be paying you to compete and not vice versa
 
Im not mentally tough enough to do it anymore. I have no idea how i did it in college. Well i do i had alot more time and energy.

Between working 55 hours a week im just drained. I hate cardio so fucking much. I guess its the feeling of having to do it than wanting to do it. And atleast for me the amount of injections i would do daily was over whelming. I hate needles in the first place. Con outweigh the pros

It takes a toll on your relationships as well
 
Too expensive and time consuming. I just couldn't give it what I needed to while also being a good day and maintaining my day job
 
Prioritys change. Family, finances,health, outlook on life etc.
 
my blood pressure was a wreck
body riddled with injuries
no one cares or ever cared if i competed
cost money didnt make me money
its a drug sport competing for plastic trophy, soooo not worth jeopardizing health
i placed first in a few shows. proved i could. checked the box...
-F2S
 
In the uk competing basicly free

£20 for yearly membership
Tan is about £60 at venue

England is small and your never more then a hour drive away from
A big city, all the big city’s have multiple comps

I’m in Liverpool in May we had
Nabba northwest (20 min drive to Southport)
Ukbff northwest (20 min drive to Warrington)
Ibfa mr Liverpool (10 min drive into city center)

I havnt competed as 90% of the athlets are midgets and Id look like a bean pole standing next to them
 
I feel I got overlooked on more than one occasion and placed lower than I deserved because the other competitors were friends of the judges. I suppose favoritism in judgeing is just human nature and never really being in the in crowd as far as the local bodybuilding scene just was too much of a handicap for me after having gone through the time, expense and sacrifices one experiences in Contest prep. Also as far as enjoying going to the gym and really enjoying a good workout is considerably diminished by contest prep !
 
I haven't competed since 2011, but just didn't feel I wanted to waste some growing years dieting down to extreme levels when I could be growing. I actually had a lot going on in my life and changed career paths, moved across the country, my fiance at the time left the country and ditched me lol. I plan on competing again in 2019, but I'm going classic so I don't have to push things TOO crazy.
 
I competed for 9 years total, won my share of shows and mostly always placed first or second so I have no regrets or sour grapes. I haven't competed since 1996, NPC cards were around $45 and the enter fee was $40. Even then, I felt the cost was stupid as I had to pay to make the promoter money and give me a cheap trophy. As I started into National ranks, I felt the reality of competition and what needed to happen if I was to keep going and I didn't want that. I always loved going to the gym, working out and looking good so I stayed big and used my vacations as motivation for dieting down and cutting up, I would go nuts on my vacation eating and drinking so looking good for the trip was not the point. Occasionally, I am told I should do a masters show, not really interested anymore. Instead of paying many thousands per year in drugs and travel, I now pay much less and look pretty good. I am financially successful with a good job, a nice stock portfolio and a family that supports me to still hit the gym daily.
 
...because powerlifting is a hell of a lot cheaper. Between membership and fees for a full power meet it's only going to set you back about $100 bucks (unless you have to travel and get a hotel).

Another benefit of powerlifting is there are many federations/organizations that hold meets. It's a whole lot easier to host a powerlifting meet than it is a bodybuilding show. This means many more meets to choose from, and less travel and expenses.

You don't have to diet down and feel like shit. It's actually very much the opposite. Unless you're trying to set some sort of all time world record, then more then likely you're probably water cutting pretty hard, but either way it's still not a starve-fest.

I'm like a pseudo bodybuilder who has been obsessed with getting jacked his entire life. I starve for the opportunity for competition but in reality I would wrather not compete in bodybuilding anymore. I still train like a bodybuilder and train for hypertrophy with some slight modificatinos to my trainng if I have a meet coming up, but from here out I prefer to compete in powerlifting because it's just plain fun. It's exciting, it's always an amazing atmostphere with everyone cheering everyone on, you usualy leave feeling great about yourself. Just a good time. The only part of bodybuilding that is actually fun is the training, looking in the mirror and seeing how jacked you are, and hearing everyone tell you how jacked you are.

I try and go for the best of both worlds. I know i'm never going to be getting paid for any of this. Just want to do what makes me happy and enjoy my life. I was born to life weights, as long as i'm doing that i'm good.
 
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Often people want to use logic when looking for reasons to compete. There are not many reasonable arguments, you do not earn money, you do not get fame, you do not get pussies, you do not get praises from anyone. And you feel miserable for months. I think the only reason is if you enjoy the contest prep, even more than with the competition.

If you are doing this for money, for a career in the industry or seeking justice from the judges, then it is too steep a hill and most will not be able to climb it.

On the other hand, I think the budget to compete has skyrocketed, it's a joke, I do not even talk about drugs. That money should, at least, be used to pay the professionals, and not just for the MO while the 10 place receives 1.000 dollars.
 
A huge part was getting married and having children. I give a lot of accolades to guys who can balance it all, and I'll certainly admit I have less constitution than those gentleman who can do so without bending their health(too drastically).
I simply didn't want to continue to sacrifice, compromising those around me that I ultimately desired to enjoy time with. For many it's a workable situation. It just didn't end up being that way for me.

The other reason was for boards like this. Specifically, here, posters such as Dante and nothuman. And several I'm forgetting, for sure. As I've gotten older I haven't been able to help the conscious(and probably sometimes hypochondriatic) thoughts concerning long term health and quality of life. I've become borderline obsessed with blood work markers and even just recently got a total body CT scan, heart stress test, EKG(my 5th) just to assuage thoughts that I'm not going where I need to be for longevity.
I love bodybuilding. But I was a mediocre competitor(handful of top 3) and I was never going to be better than a state level guy.
I'm a spectator has-been, I suppose. But I'm also comfortable. Kudos to the guys that can do this endeavor with relative wholesome relationships and health.
 
Trying to look the way judges want you to look is not what I wanted to strive for. I choose to just compete against myself every year instead.
 
I did mostly state level shows in bodybuilding because I enjoyed competing against myself and the best package I had brought. Still did really well but never felt the urge to try my hand at national level as I didn’t have what it took to win pro card in bodybuilding( reading this thread does make me think a lot of ppl are delusional in what they look like and how the would do at nationals...placing top 5 at a big state show in bodybuilding is a whole other ball game then winning at nationals, come on guys!!)
However, when classic was introduced, it just made sense for me to try. Did 2 shows, state show where I won both classic and bodybuilding (did for nostalgia lol!) overalls, and then classic in jr USA, where I won my pro card!
Balance is key. I didn’t have to sacrifice much (I always go to Gym 4-5 times a week, cleaned up diet and incorporated family night into my prep), and with classic, I got to bring the package I’ve always strive for.
Competing is rewarding IF you are realistic in what you want from it and WHAT YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH REALISTICALLY



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I haven't competed in several years , went to work over seas. I'm home now and decided last year that since I'm in my 40's I'd try it again just as a challenge. I had a major setback with an order taking 3 MONTHS longer to get here than expected and having put all my eggs in that basket I wasn't gonna try to compete on TRT only LOL.

Here is Louisiana the NPC is corrupt as fuck , the venues at most shows in my area suck ass and the promotors are assholes that act like they are doing you a favor so I won't ever compete here until Luke Tesevich is out of the NPC. There is a great show the next state over that I'd likely do or in the panhandle of Florida.

I don't have the genetics to compete at national level so for me it's just about beating the last showing I had. It completely a personal goal to see what I can push myself to do , I've done my own prep the last few times and to.me that's the most interesting part of it. I'm actually having alot more fun helping others prep for there shows.
 
Many, many years ago my first wife told me after a few bodybuilding shows that I was much stronger than I was "strong looking". So I began powerlifting and did much better at that! LOL

The funny part is that powerlifting also made me look much more like a bodybuilder...
 

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