What bodybuilding is NOT

To clarify what bodybuilding is NOT:

-Bodybuilding is NOT the same thing as Competitive Bodybuilding.

Some bodybuilders choose to compete; not all of them. Competitive Bodybuilding is supported, endorsed, promoted, by the supplement companies; it is a branch of that industry. Competitive bodybuilding is saturated in steroid use. I have as much interest in competitive bodybuilding as I do for knitting my own sweaters out of belly-button lint or learning to ride a unicycle with a testicle-destroying seat, on a high wire with a rabid monkey on my back.

The best competitive-bodybuilders are not necessarily the best bodybuilders. For example, Bruce Lee was a bodybuilder and even though he inspired many people to build their bodies, he didn't compete against others on a stage while flexing and posing. I would say that Carl Lewis, Evander Holyfield, and Michael Jordan are bodybuilders. Brad Pitt or Ryan Reynolds are bodybuilders because they train a certain way based on how they want to look.

Then consider that the current reigning Mr. Olympia (the top prize in competitive bodybuilding) went far beyond his maximal aesthetics. After winning it 8 times, he looks unnatural, worn-down and haggard, his skin looks stretched and faded and his skull looks markedly different from only a few years earlier. He probably looked better when he won his first Olympia than when he won his eighth one. Look up current pictures of the competitive 'champions' of yesteryear. Some don't seem like they are aging gracefully; some have enormous man-boobs or no longer take photos without a shirt on. Some look worse off than people of the same age who did not exercise much at all. Even Arnold says that competitive bodybuilding today is seemingly headed in a very bad direction; an unhealthy obsession with mass and mass only, while judges overlook the distended bellies and "strange lumps."

Don't get me wrong, if the pageantry of competitive bodybuilding is what really floats your boat; then do it. But competition seems to eventually pressure many into getting addicted to steroids, 'paying the price for it,' so to speak; instant gratification for delayed payment. Looking better naked must not be bought "on credit" because you'll have to pay it back with interest. Looking better naked must neither be limited to your 20's and 30's.

I think someone coined it as "competitive bodybuilding" because that sounds kind of edgy, tough. I would rename it "performance bodybuilding;" performance, as in “on a stage,” or as in "performing arts.” Have you ever noticed that beauty pageants are not called "competitive beauty?" Women are called "contestants," and men are called "competitors." I don't accept competitive bodybuilding as a standard of masculinity. Plus, beauty contestants do charity work and other useful stuff.

Professional competitors are actually a suspect source of information about building muscle. Why? No one but them (and their dealer) knows when they started juicing. They could have no idea whatsoever about how to build muscle without their steroids.

-Bodybuilding does NOT require the use of performance enhancing drugs, steroids, or synthetic analogues of steroids or other hormones.

However, certain individuals choose to take them despite well-known and severe consequences. Looking better naked does not involve "disgusting boil-like acne pustules" on one's back ('bacne') or losing the ability to create one's own testosterone naturally (read: erectile dysfunction). And I'm also fairly certain that liver tumors and kidney failure have nothing to do with looking good naked. After a period of time of lifting regularly at the gym, one gets good at telling the difference between normal human growth and abnormal growth. I definitely do not want to see him naked.

"After a month of heavy use and weight training, you can add about 10 pounds of muscle to your chicken chest. Unfortunately, when you’re on your cycle you’ll want to kill people, and in between you’ll want to kill yourself."

If there is only one word used to to describe hormones, it's that they're "powerful" with multiple, cascading effects. They don't just do one thing, like "make you buff;" they do many things, like "fu*k up your internal organs" too.

"In addition to joint problems, taking steroids can cause side effects like oily skin, acne, shrunken testicles, sterility and male breasts. Synthetic testosterone can also inhibit good cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease.

But withdrawal, which can make some men deflate like used balloons, may be the most troubling problem. Taking steroids suppresses men’s own natural testosterone production. After athletes stop taking testosterone, the body may take weeks to months to return to normal hormone levels.

“In the meantime, you will have decreased muscles and decreased sexual function, such stressful withdrawal symptoms that many people go right back on testosterone,” Dr. Bhasin said." link

"Anabolic steroids, which are synthetic versions of the primary male sex hormone testosterone, can be injected, taken orally, or used transdermally. These drugs are Controlled Substances that can be prescribed to treat conditions such as body wasting in patients with AIDS, and other diseases that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone. However, the doses prescribed to treat these medical conditions are 10 to 100 times lower than the doses that are abused for performance enhancement." link

-Bodybuilding is NOT powerlifting. A bodybuilders' primary concern is not about the amount of weight in pounds. Bodybuilders care about how their muscles feel and react to particular resistance exercises because bodybuilders care about looking better naked. For bodybuilders, strength is only secondary, it comes only as a consequence on the road to the major, primary goal: lifting for hypertrophy (growth). In powerlifting, strength comes first in priority, muscle development comes last. So bodybuilding and powerlifting are opposites, diametrically opposed in how one goes about doing each.

-Bodybuilding is NOT about getting as big as one possibly can. Words like "massive," "freaky;" are subjective value judgments, not the ideal. These terms are only valuable to people who were taught that they indeed are. Are they ideal? I would say that he is close to being as big as he can get. Big woop. Despite promises in supplement ads that use such words, forget all that nonsense. They serve to produce anxiety, worry, and frustration so that you'll buy their products. Be wary of bodybuilding magazines.

-Bodybuilding is NOT something one gets from the nutritional supplements that are advertised in bodybuilding magazines. Be wary of bodybuilding magazines. Vitamins are nutritional supplements, but one is not a "bodybuilder" for taking them.

Bodybuilding magazines manufacture notions of what good or ideal "bodybuilders" are "supposed to" look like, by putting the competitors on a pedestal. They are marketing arms for supplement companies. They make unfounded claims in their marketing. Not one is evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, so the ads aren't even reviewed for fraudulent content. The disclaimer that appears on all the ads in fine print states implicitly that supplement companies are free to make any claims that might lead to more sales.

Most ads use scientific-sounding jargon placed next to the photo of a competitive bodybuilder on their payroll. I suggest not second-guessing your own natural potential and decide to give it a sincere and focused effort first. Don't be duped into buying worthless things. It's not a pleasant realization to come to when you get to the bottom of the container and realize, "do I even know what these people put in this awful tasting garbage?"

Want to write ad copy for supplement companies? It's simple! Here's the most popular ad format and its components:

picture of product, product logo, company logo
scientific details irrelevant to product itself
photo of competitive juicer
a couple of bikini clad women on his arms
random use of “massive,” “freaky,” “ripped” in big, bold letters
+ (don’t forget the tiny disclaimer at the bottom!)
= A supplement ad for bodybuilding magazines!

Sharpen up your resume because now you can write the ads too!

Some supplements are claimed to be things they are not:

"Creatine ethyl ester" or "liquid creatine"
As if it's better than creatine. Fancy sounding nonsense.
"Myostatin blocker"
Unless you're injecting antibodies, nothing is happening to myostatin. Even patients with muscular dystrophies can't get that yet as a potential therapy.
"Nitric oxide boosters"
Craptacular and unfounded BS. Is essentially paying 3-4 times as much for extra arginine. And if these products did what they claim, you would also have an erection to go with your protein shake.
"HGH" products
If you were getting real human growth hormone, it would be costing you thousands of dollars Human Growth Hormone, Popular but Illegal

One popular 'HGH' product I've seen contains colostrum among its ingredients. Colostrum is a fluid secretion from the nipples before breast milk flows. From what mammal did it come? They don't say which mammal on the container. Is it people? Cows? Isn't breast milk from cows...milk? These are ‘snake oil’ products.

There are herbal preparations that do have effects on the body, I'm not saying those are snake oil, because herbs actually do stuff. Most bodybuilding supplements don't do what they claim. Powder creatine (creatine monophosphate) is the only thing shown to work with any substantial evidence, besides of course, proper nutrition (and still, it is not strong evidence and the mechanism of [oral, supplemental, exogenous] creatine function in the body is not understood).

A multivitamin is insurance against premature aging, and in case your menu alone is not providing essential nutrients and the antioxidants might not hurt. If you exercise a lot, more antioxidants can help prevent premature aging from oxidative damage. I've seen photos of triathletes whose faces look similar to those of chain smokers. Creatine and a multivitamin, are actually some of the cheapest items at the nutrition store if you look around.

Some of the supplements I do take:
Flaxseed oil is cheap and a good source of omega-3 fatty acids--I choose flaxseed oil over fish oil because fish oil can contain concentrated levels of mercury which is toxic to the nervous system. I add one glutamine tablet after workouts when I am training hard. It may help support the immune system during that kind of "stress." I don't know if that's true, but I learned that bit from a nutritionist, not a bodybuilding magazine ad.

A pretty good supplements article, Men's Health

A good supplements resource listing, Men's Health

About a year ago the biggest magazines suddenly started putting more normal looking people on their covers-- look at the covers of M&F between 2004 and 2005. The inside content has not changed much though. Maybe they realized that the readers were starting to figure things out? I dunno.

non-juicers should not lift like the people in the ads article

-Bodybuilding is NOT a way to dress. There is no uniform for bodybuilding. Bodybuilding does not require wearing sleeveless "wife-beater" shirts or purposefully shredded rags to public places, wearing animal print baggy pants, or bandana do-rags atop one's [meaty] head. Dress however you please, but don't feel like you are playing some role and must dress a certain way because it will have ~ZERO influence on the outcome.

-Bodybuilding is NOT an exact science because every individual is unique. There is a field of study called exercise science but they seem to be lacking in the ability to actually apply that knowledge universally. You are the scientist. Your job is to figure out what works for you.

That said, the best way to change the appearance of the body is through resistance training, also known as "lifting weights," "weight training," "pumping iron." Bodybuilders are athletes. Whether or not bodybuilding is a sport, is highly arguable.