Understanding Bodybuilding
If Greek mythology existed, bodybuilding would be the sport made for the gods. It is a sport that demands more than most can give. Bodybuilding is not for the faint of heart, nor the weak minded. To be successful is this grueling sport you must have the mentality of success imprinted on your thoughts everyday. Once you have achieved this mentality you no longer spend idle time pondering empty thoughts, but instead you learn to use your mind consciously, every day, as if being in a constant state of meditation, with your thoughts fixed on the end result.
Having that end result be the ability to unveil something that is more then beautiful. Before I sold my soul to my education, I was an active bodybuilder who loved everything about the sport. I was introduced to this sport when I was 12, although I remember it like it was yesterday. I went with my mom to the grocery store to try and convince her that buying Reeses would somehow be a great idea. As we were walking I decided to look for the biggest bag I could find. I cut through the section with all the magazines to get to the candy isle as quick as possible.
It was in that isle, on a muscle mag magazine that I first saw a picture of a man named Dorian Yates. A man that stood 6’1, 270lbs, with what looked like only muscle. I remember staring at the front cover for what felt like a lifetime, I knew from that second, that’s what I want to look like. I no longer wanted to be a pro football player, or a pro basketball player; I wanted to be a professional bodybuilder. I forgot completely about the candy, found my mom and asked if I could push the cart from then on.
Of course, at that time I was too young to venture into anything that resembled a bodybuilding lifestyle, yet I still used my little weights every night. It wasn’t until I was 18 that my bodybuilding mentality took over my mind. Going into my first year of high school I met this girl who slowly became my upmost passion. We started dating before I could even drive, until my first semester in college, she was my world. I loved everything about this girl and was certain she was that one I would spend the rest of my life with. However, mid way through my first semester in college she decided it was best to go our separate ways.
Completely devastated, and young, I came up with the idea I wasn’t enough, that if I had could become something more then great she would have never left. I then turned to bodybuilding, first in the mentality of hate, channeling my emotions through the pain of lifting. But as time went by my idea of doing this for her transformed to having bodybuilding became infused into who I was. Everything I read, everything I thought about was bodybuilding. I went from spending money on going out and clothes, to supplements and protein.
No matter what life through at me, no matter how upset I became, I could always set foot in a gym and forget the worries of the world. Walking into a gym was like stepping on a battle field, I knew I would have to fight my way through heavy sets of iron resistance to come out on the other side victorious. With weight stacked against me I would sit down on the closest bench, eyes closed and music blaring, concentrating on the task I had before me. I would think to myself: pain is temporary, but glory is forever. That no matter what, I was going to get this weight up even if it destroyed me in the process.
By the time I opened my eyes I had become so focused on that I had to do that I could only see the weight I needed to overcome. It was as if I summoned all the strength I had in me to be ready to take on the world. I then would perform the exercise. As I brought the weight down to my chest I knew I was in for a fight. And then it began, as I pressed the weight off my chest with all my strength I had I told myself ignore the pain, become great. Seeing a bodybuilding yell as he is trying to finish a repetition is more then beautiful to me. It’s our on way of saying I’m not giving up till I’ve won.
To me, each time I perform an exercise is one step closer in becoming great. I feel that most everyone has a misunderstood concept of what bodybuilding is and means. This sport isn’t a hobby, or something you can do on the side. This has to be a lifestyle, a passion, and a desire. When I was an active bodybuilder I viewed myself as an artist working on a masterpiece. It’s the mind not the body that determines your success as a bodybuilder; it’s mental aspect that allows you to press past the pain barrier, to enjoy being in the gym for countless hours, and to lust for more.
Your mind is what sculpts your body into art. I also believe people view bodybuilders somewhat gross, or obsessed. I feel like everyone is so used to seeing someone who is in average shape, with little to no definition, someone who doesn’t have the time or discipline to sculpt their body. This makes bodybuilders look freakishly, and unattractive, rather then beautiful, and full of hard work and sacrifice. These are the people who don’t understand what is actually involved in this sport. Bodybuilding is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. It is a great challenge, and a great success.
There are many aspects in becoming a great bodybuilder like, having good nutrition, a choice of good supplements, good training hours, preparation for competition, and a good mind frame. If all these aspects are met then there is a future. Most people stereotype bodybuilders as a “meat head” or someone who lifts religiously and gains mass. Although this is true in almost every case, lifting weights is only responsible for a quarter of the results. Nutrition is a large percentage of a bodybuilder’s success; it determines how well they effectively apply knowledge to nutrition.
The limiting factor to the ultimate success of your workout is what happens after you leave the gym. This is one of the biggest misunderstood concepts for someone who is trying to excel in this life style. Nutrition consists of macronutrients and micronutrients. The macronutrients consist of protein, carbohydrates, fat, and water. The micronutrients are vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. The best source of nutrition is through whole foods. A bodybuilder should never allow the use of supplements to overshadow the consumption of whole foods.
For a bodybuilder the most confusing part about the sport is making sure of good nutrition and diet. Another fundamental element of success is allowing your body to recover. A bodybuilder gains size when torn muscle fibers are reconnected or “patched” with new muscle tissue. The added tissue gives you that swollen look that every bodybuilder lusts for. Bodybuilding, in all its aspects, has many similarities with a lot of activities we find ourselves consumed in. As football players strive to achieve new skills in practice, so do bodybuilders in a gym.
It takes just as much focus and willpower to not only play this sport, but to continue it everyday. It requires as much focus and determinate as a college student trying to excel in his classes. There was one point in my life where I was completely consumed by bodybuilding. I started out with a fragile frame, consisting of a mere 125 pathetic pounds. Not knowing much of anything about this sport, I would stay up at night in search of the greatest motivational quotes to help me maintain on my path. Regardless of what I had in front of me, my mind was constantly fixed on my workout session that was to come.
The greatest feeling for me was to wake up in pain; with that pain meaning I put in enough effort in the gym for my body to realize it. I loved every aspect of lifting, from buying bigger clothes to the research of supplements. After obtaining three very hard and grueling years, and falling into an addiction to steroids, I was finally shaping into a monster. Standing only 5’11, I achieved to grow to a massive 220 pounds. I remember vividly the reaction of friends and family members that hadn’t seen me in some time.
Astonished, some reacted in a positive way telling me how impressive it was, I can only remember however, the people who told me I had taken this idea to an extreme. Id be lying if I told you this didn’t bother me. I had put in so much effort and sacrificed so much to become what I was. So many asked “why do you do it, why do you like it, the process looks so painful. ” For so long I couldn’t fathom to try to put a reason into words. After many failed attempts to explain why I gave up trying to explain to so many eager to understand.
It wasn’t until I read a quote from a bodybuilding magazine that an athlete had stated after he had one a competition could I explain my obsession for greatness. The quote, “the reason I do all that, put my body through all that…is because I love it. ” As little as that explains to many, it was the perfect explanation to me. The reason I put myself through all the pain and sacrifice, was because I loved it. Bodybuilding was my passion, my obsession; it had became so great in my life that it captivated me. After all was said and done, I was met with disappointment, as I came to realize the worlds opposition on bodybuilders.
I wish I could tell you that I stayed true with my dreams, or that I didn’t let the world decide what looked best, but I did. For as long as I can remember, all I wanted was to be Dorain Yates, to be great. I wish I could explain what it felt like to accomplish a dream only to have it turn against you. For the first time in what felt like forever, I no longer wanted to be great, I wanted to be “normal. ” Maybe I had taken it too far, maybe they were right, or maybe they all had a misunderstood concept of what bodybuilding is really about.
