Ok muscleheads, how many of you feel like your social life has gone down the drain since your quest to become the next Arnold began? Let me begin this article by saying that it doesn't have to be that way! That is, you can still build an outstanding physique and have a fun and healthy life on top of that.
First of all I want to break down what it takes to become Mr. Olympia before you continue your quest to one day get up on stage with the best in the world for the ultimate crown in bodybuilding.
It Takes A Life Of:
- Dedication
- Persistence
- Some crazy ass genetics
- An almost prefect diet day in day out
- An almost perfect sleeping pattern
- An almost perfect training pattern
After reading the above and saying to your self "I'm ready, I can handle all that," good I admire you, but are you willing to pump your self full of life threatening drugs and put up with all the side effects that come along with the drugs and ultimately have an early death to be the best in the sport?
If you still answer yes to all of the above questions, I think you're crazy I wish you all the best with your journey and all the best for life.
For the 90% of you out there that answered no to any of or all the above you are in the same boat as me. This means we can still go on and have a very healthy social life and continue to make awesome gains in the gym. Now obviously there are guys out there that are much more dedicated to this sport than me and you and that's nothing to be ashamed off because lets face it, the only reasons you got into bodybuilding was for girls or some sort of sports performance.
Why Did You Start Bodybuilding?
So let's not lose sight of what we first started the sport of bodybuilding for. A classic example of this is: "Well the only reason I started using weights was to impress the chicks, but I got so caught up with my time in the gym and the addiction of bodybuilding, that I had no time to talk to chicks let alone be sleeping with them." Ha-ha, I had become the Teenage Mr. Sydney in two years of training but my chick count went from a super high to a market crash and had hit an all time low due to the dedication I had given to the sport.
I would see my self thinking that I can't go to that party up the road with all my mates because there will be alcohol there and what about my tin of tuna that I need to consume every hour "I better stay at home so I don't miss meals and my 10 hours sleep". Does this sound a bit like you at the moment? Are you sacrificing friends and a bag full of fun for the competitive side of bodybuilding? You really got to ask your self is it all worth it?
Bodybuilding doesn't have to be competitive and can be enjoyed by the young to the very old, as it is a healthy lifestyle that builds self-respect and image.
What Are Your Intentions?
This article by all means is not to turn people off of bodybuilding, but simply to make people think of what there intentions are with the sport. Personally, I body build to have a good looking and healthy body. No I don't plan to become Mr. Olympia, I simply don't have the genetics to accomplish such a goal but I do plan to become a very healthy and respectable bodybuilder even if it is only in my eyes. That to me is more than becoming some juiced up freak of nature.
Now I know there is no better feeling than pushing out a personal best on the bench press, making your chest scream in agony as you crush the muscle fibers with pleasure. But as much as I enjoy that feeling, I also enjoy the feeling of sitting down with a few of my best mates with a few icy cold beers and bag of potato chips and watching football and talking about what girls we scored with the previous week.
Call me a wimp but I'm not willing to give up time with my girlfriend and best mates for time in the gym. I'm not willing to live a life of picking and choosing everything I eat and what time it is eaten, reading every label on every thing I eat making sure I don't exceed my daily calories.
What I'm saying is people can still make great results in the gym without being an obsessive bodybuilder as long as your training hard and eating enough protein you will continue to make muscle gains. You must have time to enjoy other things in life, so go out and eat some KFC, drink a few beers, stay up late, masturbate, have sex (I honestly know people who hold back from this for the sake of muscle growth) and damn, ENJOY YOUR LIFE! You only get one.