Dealing With Parents!

I don't know about you, but my parents hate the thought of me bodybuilding. I envy all of you who have supporting parents who encourage you to eat right and go to the gym. My mum constantly says my muscles are now out of proportion and my arms are way to big for my height and that I now look like a 'freak'!

She says I should eat 'normally' (which in her mind means whenever I'm hungry), not every 2-3 hours (which I try for), and eat a diet that contains chocolate and pizza, which I should enjoy, rather than the egg whites and the tuna out of the can I eat (which makes her feel sick).

Yeah, right, as if I'm going to add pounds of muscle by eating chocolate and pizza everyday!

Parental Non-Support

Getting supplements is also a nightmare, and I found leaving big tubs of protein powder in the kitchen really makes her mad. Leaving supplements in the kitchen is like a red rag to a bull. I have several times said this is my last order and I will then stop taking supplements, but I am running out of excuses to make another order.

Someone in my gym said I should enter a local bodybuilding competition next year, and my biggest mistake was telling my mum about this. If you have parents like mine and are thinking of entering a competition, make sure (if you tell them) it is only the week before (at the most), as the constant moaning will make you go crazy!

Under no circumstances should you go around the house topless (especially if you're a girl!) if you have a large upper body when your parents are around or they will just roll their eyes at you and say or do something to try and make you feel guilty for bodybuilding.

Tips & Tricks

The one surefire way you can tell if someone is a bodybuilder or not is to look at the size of their neck. Now I've been training for a while, and my neck has swollen slightly and my mum has encouraged my two little sisters to refer to me as 'fat neck' (which shows I am making progress!), but at the same time it's really aggravating!

No matter how much you tell them that keeping to a strict diet and routine encourages discipline which will, in turn, help you with other things in your life, they will still say the pain (which I like) in the gym is pointless, and "you should act like a normal teenager." This is the part where whatever they say goes in the one ear and out the other, and you find a way to desperately excuse yourself from the room to get a bit of peace and quiet.

Try and bring up (when they are moaning about your lifting habits) that there could be worse things you can be doing. I'm sure they would rather you went to the gym and ate healthy rather than become an addicted smoker and hang out with a crowd who encourages you to steal and get a bad reputation around your area.

If your mum has just put the washing up, never put an empty cup or plate in the sink or smoke will come out of her ears!

Even as I'm writing this, I can hear my mum talking to my little sister about how I am eating for the sake of it, and it's just food that I do not really enjoy. Will she ever quit moaning?!

If there are any other things which I have left out that could keep my parents off of my back, I would really appreciate it if you could drop me an e-mail at johnlemare@hotmail.com. Thanks!

Cheers,
John Lemare