SBS Insight - Bigorexia

[nzbodybuilder]

Hey guys

Kiwi guy now living in Sydney, Australia (since Nov last year).

This might interest some (probably all?) of you.

On SBS (a local TV station), they have the program Insight, which on their website states:

Each week, host Jenny Brockie uses her unique skills to guide a lively debate on a single topic

This week it was about Massive Obsession, young men and the pressure for massive muscles.

http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/

You can watch online. I don't know if there are restrictions to watching it outside Australia though (i.e. the video won't load outside Oz).

If it doesn't work, I think you'll get the gist of what happened on the comments page.

Four weeks ago I was interviewed on the phone about bodybuilding and why I want to grow, what I do each day for food/training/social occasions etc. Three days before recording I was then asked to appear on the show and be in the audience. They edited out my responses (thank god, made a dick of myself with stage fright!), but the whole show pissed me off.

Not a balanced debate at all, and as usual, bodybuilding was made out to be bad. Took me a week to get over it I took it so personally

And now some of the main people on the show are being interviewed local breakfast shows. Because training at the gym five days a week and bodybuilding are "bad".

Read a book instead! That's what Peter Fitzsimons does!

Why does the media always have do this to our chosen lifestyle/passion/sport!?

It's hard enough to get decent supplements over here. My concern is some politician will get on the bandwagon, drum up public support, and shut down unhealthy vitamin shops.

What are your thoughts? I need some good old Kiwi, "Bro, she'll be all right" attitudes right now!

[MrSI]

In the body building section go to "get ready to rage" the topic is being talked about in that thread

[nzbodybuilder]

Opps! Sorry, didn't see it there. Thanks.

[Android]

Peter Fitzsimmons had a good point. If you are going to put so much effort into something do it with something useful that will remain with you forever, not something temporay like oversized muscles.

I mean let's be honest here, everyone says they are dedicated and that bodybuilding gives them discipline when I would say it's reverse of that...a dedicated, disciplined person can be good at bodybuilding. I mean the ex-anorexic guy was a classic case in point and his mum even agreed...he already commits to anything he does it to the extreme...bodybuilding didn't teach him that.

So he has that in-built extremism...now go out and use it on something beneficial and live his life through what Peter Fitzsimmons believes is the right thing to do....we should all live as Peter would like...i would have thought :shock:

not srs...just didn't expect it a TV show to show it any other way mate.

I loved how they thought the guy was weird for going to McDs with his mates and not eating...maybe they think it weird if you go to the pub and not drink and instead enjoy the time you spend with your mates as well?

Some things ring true though, using "Arnold is still alive" as a reason to take steroids sounds funny when you hear someone say it yet many people do use that as a yard stick for the risks...(despite the heart surgery 10 yrs ago).

[DANIEL8]

agree with the Arnold thing, this guy gets so much paper he can actually afford to pay for stuff that goes wrong with him. who knows what else he has paid for to still be alive. :shock:

[HarryB]

agree with the Arnold thing, this guy gets so much paper he can actually afford to pay for stuff that goes wrong with him. who knows what else he has paid for to still be alive. :shock:

They also seem to forget that he didn't take as much gear or even close to what guys do now.

[MrSI]

i couldnt agree more with you android, i helped train a guy that has asperger's syndrome. while he became very annoying haha (not really his fault) because of his condition he will become a freak for a natty. i would chuck anything at him and he would do it then do it again, one thing was heavy squats for 6reps then no RI straight into 1min jumping squats then 8reps squats no RI 50sec jumping squats until you get down to 10sec jumping squats now 99% of the population would tell you to get F%*ked pretty quicky, but because the way he was wired in the top 2 iches he just did it and that is a quality that is very suited to being successful in the sport. different but yet similar to the kid with the eating disorder.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

[Agent]

^^ LOL at old dude wearing a pirate bandana as part of his mid-life crisis, sorry, no credibility.

[two_phat]

5 - 6 days a week of training, 2 hours per training. That is the same of many athletes - in a wide variety of sports (many of which have much higher injury rates). Peter Fitzsimmons probably trained in this way - it was just for a much more mainstream sport.

This, is the problem, bodybuilding is not recognized in the same way other mainstream sports are.

Oh well - haters gonna hate.

[thatwaslight]

ahahahahahahaha

[nzbodybuilder]

Peter Fitzsimmons had a good point. If you are going to put so much effort into something do it with something useful that will remain with you forever, not something temporay like oversized muscles.

I mean let's be honest here, everyone says they are dedicated and that bodybuilding gives them discipline when I would say it's reverse of that...a dedicated, disciplined person can be good at bodybuilding.

I have to disagree with you on this one Android. Bodybuilding DID give me discipline.

I'm a naturally lazy person. If I can put something off, I will, and sometimes it is a struggle to get motivated to go to the gym.

If it wasn't for my passion and desire to do bodybuilding, I would still be a fat lazy slob playing xbox and watching my sci fi programs.

By learning that I required discipline with food prep, sleeping patterns, training routines, etc, it became reflected in my life.

And contantary to Peter Fitzsimons, I have just recently finished a Geology degree (lots of procrastination with assignments....), plenty of books to be read there!

Also, life is temporary. I'd like to think that when I'm 80 and I look back, I'm pleased with my decisions. I certinally won't have the muscle size I have now, but at least I won't look back in regret and think "why didn't I do bodybuilding?"

[pyro]

Video annoyed the hell out of me, the entire audience seemed to have negative views of any gym work. They were going on about about how you can do better things with your time, yet how many of them would go home and watch 3-4+ hours of tv a night. Whats more productive watching mindless crap or actually having dedication 5-6 hours a week staying fit and eating healthy.

Fitzsimmons was just an ass, he has no idea what the guys were doing with the rest of their lives, he just assumed they spent every minute of their spare time in the gym or doing something gym related.

[Android]

Peter Fitzsimmons had a good point. If you are going to put so much effort into something do it with something useful that will remain with you forever, not something temporay like oversized muscles.

I mean let's be honest here, everyone says they are dedicated and that bodybuilding gives them discipline when I would say it's reverse of that...a dedicated, disciplined person can be good at bodybuilding.

I have to disagree with you on this one Android. Bodybuilding DID give me discipline.

I'm a naturally lazy person. If I can put something off, I will, and sometimes it is a struggle to get motivated to go to the gym.

If it wasn't for my passion and desire to do bodybuilding, I would still be a fat lazy slob playing xbox and watching my sci fi programs.

By learning that I required discipline with food prep, sleeping patterns, training routines, etc, it became reflected in my life.

And contantary to Peter Fitzsimons, I have just recently finished a Geology degree (lots of procrastination with assignments....), plenty of books to be read there!

Also, life is temporary. I'd like to think that when I'm 80 and I look back, I'm pleased with my decisions. I certinally won't have the muscle size I have now, but at least I won't look back in regret and think "why didn't I do bodybuilding?"

Fair enough, would have thought playing x-box alot required dedication to turn away other pastimes to some degree though else you would have done other things...my bad

Don't know if u realized but you just did to habitual xbox players and sic-fi watchers what Peter Fitzsimons did to bodybuilders...u implied it was a negative time-wasting pastime

[anyonehelp?]

I just found this yet another dig at Bodybuilding. How can they say us Bders are obsessed, when people training rugby 3x a day and also people who train for marathons... Are they not 'obsessing' also.. They have a goal (to win, generally) and we have a goal too. Either to win in comps or for personal reasons... Pisses me off a bit.

[NZnoob]

Its really just general populations fear of the unknown,

As the 14year old was trying to explain, where they look at body builders and see steroids and grotesque muscle mass, we see dedication and hours upon hours of hard work and sacrifice. This is really much the same as anything that isn't glorified in mainstream media, such as the predominant opinions of professional computer gamers or chess players. Until you have tried to reach the level those people are, you can never really understand what it takes, so its far easier to dismiss and criticise it. Its that criticism that gives them tunnel vision when the body builders in that room were trying to explain themselves, they have chosen not to accept it, so they go out of their way to avoid hearing the other side of the story.

This was especially evident when the 'ex steroid, now turned organic foods salesman' started talking over the teenage panel members explanation of supplements. Whilst I believe he could have made a better job of putting it across, the point I hoped he was making for the valid reason for taking supplements such as protein, was that unless you have an unlimited budget/stomach capacity, its isn't possible to achieve the amount of nutrients body-builders required even with a strict diet which would be far healthier than the average populations.

The audience member, who would have known this from his time body building, instead just tried to criticise the body building population for being unhealthy, saying that we need to eat 'vine ripened organic vegetables, etc etc' (as if we need a lecture on nutrition), to suggest that we have no concept of eating real food, and that we some how just live off supplements - And that's the view that ultimately most of the viewers at home will be left with.

But oh well, it'll be us laughing when they are all fat from McDonalds, or when they have to pay for people to lift boxes or shift couches.

[Dontrunwithknives]

I think the general population is jelly

[nzbodybuilder]

Don't know if u realized but you just did to habitual xbox players and sic-fi watchers what Peter Fitzsimons did to bodybuilders...u implied it was a negative time-wasting pastime

Touche.

Though I didn't mean to imply that it was negative. I should have been more clear that instead of getting myself to the gym I would just stay at home and bum around.

Now I go to the gym, THEN bum around! Mass Effect Three comes out this week. 30 hours of saving Earth. Not time wasting at all!

[Android]

Don't know if u realized but you just did to habitual xbox players and sic-fi watchers what Peter Fitzsimons did to bodybuilders...u implied it was a negative time-wasting pastime

Touche.

Though I didn't mean to imply that it was negative. I should have been more clear that instead of getting myself to the gym I would just stay at home and bum around.

Now I go to the gym, THEN bum around! Mass Effect Three comes out this week. 30 hours of saving Earth. Not time wasting at all!

all good, just playing with your words mate not that srs

holy s**t, final chapter experience is different for everyone if you import saved data from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 :shock:

[I Declare War]

Nerd alert.

Time to put as much effort into starting my own business as I give bodybuilding. I'm sure is possible to do both and achieve success. I hope.

Can't be called a failure if you achieve success in both. Right?