Nutritionist

[trainlikeafreak]

And no I am most definitely saying drug use is not important to be a successful bodybuilder lol

Ofcorse it is and I am also not saying it's healthy because it isn't.

[HarryB]

I guess the thing is.. if people believe that you have to take a shit tone of drugs to be even marginally competitive then the idea that that's not required seems to be crazy and becoming a drug lab is their reality. BUT it isn't everyone's reality.

But... who actually cares. . If someone wants to take everything under the sun and still be average then good luck to them. If they believe that more drugs means less dieting and/or training to be competitive then again.. awesome.

[Dinahlady]

I dont think you can point at someone who competes and say "you compete so you are unhealthy." But it is definitely suggested, if not established, that gaining and losing large amounts of weight is stressful and therefore "bad" for you, in the sense that stressfull things are negetively related to health.

There are heaps of arguments that there are other common things that are "bad" for you, too lIke smoking, or drinking excessively. but I dont really see that as a valid argument. I don't think smoking or drinking excessively is healthy either, and becuase I like my health I dont want to regularly engage with those things. Just because someone else regularly smokes and binge drinks doesnt give me a reason to do something alternative that will be bad for me.

But I do think that there are things you could do in life that are probably considered much more stressful than competing that are part of life, like getting married, buying a house, having kids, starting a business, ... hahah. It's all about how you deal with things tbh. So I accept the idea that different people choose to do a different set of stressful things in their life. competing could be one the things they choose to do and its kinda up to the individual to assess what is too stressful for them. 

Im personally more intersted in the psychological side. I also think that you can't point at someone and say "you compete so you are psychologically unhealthy/messed up around food/body image/eating." But I do think in bodybuilding it is VERY rare for someone to have their head screwed on and even rarer for someone to actively engage in mental health support (or have in the past actively engaged alongside competing). But I do know one or two. 

 

I know a lot more people who claim to compete because they like the hobby and that's it. I think it would be a really rare for someone who competes to engage with a psychologist or psychiatrist and have them find that to be the case. Its all well and good for someone to say "I compete and im fine" but I can see how there would be people who, even though they function just fine, would still benefit from sorting out why they feel the need to compete. I think lots of people get into bodybuilding and keep doing it because of psychological reasons and if they sorted some of that out they might end up happier (whether they continue to compete or not). But I also think a lot of people who dont compete would benefit from taking their psychological health more seriously too! 

I wont even touch on excessive drug use or people carrying huge amounts of weight (for their frame) etc... 

[maccaz]

I dont think you can point at someone who competes and say "you compete so you are unhealthy." But it is definitely suggested, if not established, that gaining and losing large amounts of weight is stressful and therefore "bad" for you, in the sense that stressfull things are negetively related to health.

There are heaps of arguments that there are other common things that are "bad" for you, too lIke smoking, or drinking excessively. but I dont really see that as a valid argument. I don't think smoking or drinking excessively is healthy either, and becuase I like my health I dont want to regularly engage with those things. Just because someone else regularly smokes and binge drinks doesnt give me a reason to do something alternative that will be bad for me.

But I do think that there are things you could do in life that are probably considered much more stressful than competing that are part of life, like getting married, buying a house, having kids, starting a business, ... hahah. It's all about how you deal with things tbh. So I accept the idea that different people choose to do a different set of stressful things in their life. competing could be one the things they choose to do and its kinda up to the individual to assess what is too stressful for them. 

Im personally more intersted in the psychological side. I also think that you can't point at someone and say "you compete so you are psychologically unhealthy/messed up around food/body image/eating." But I do think in bodybuilding it is VERY rare for someone to have their head screwed on and even rarer for someone to actively engage in mental health support (or have in the past actively engaged alongside competing). But I do know one or two. 

 

I know a lot more people who claim to compete because they like the hobby and that's it. I think it would be a really rare for someone who competes to engage with a psychologist or psychiatrist and have them find that to be the case. Its all well and good for someone to say "I compete and im fine" but I can see how there would be people who, even though they function just fine, would still benefit from sorting out why they feel the need to compete. I think lots of people get into bodybuilding and keep doing it because of psychological reasons and if they sorted some of that out they might end up happier (whether they continue to compete or not). But I also think a lot of people who dont compete would benefit from taking their psychological health more seriously too! 

I wont even touch on excessive drug use or people carrying huge amounts of weight (for their frame) etc... 

post of the month imo

bbers are gonna get defensive on this but its probably true

 

i think any of these physical improvement pursuits would have negative and positive implications

 

im sure PL/Oly lifting there are people that get mentally obsessed with the numbers and its never good enough too, which can be good and bad

[trainlikeafreak]

I think a lot of people who compete have issues but a lot also do it just simply because they love it.. Having a long term goal and working towards that long term goal every Single day.. Life's pretty boring without a passion and a lot of the time it's people who can't hack it or are no good who point the finger and say bodybuilding is unhealthy mentally/physically and that's why I don't do it. Lol zzzzzzzz.

[maccaz]

I think a lot of people who compete have issues but a lot also do it just simply because they love it.. Having a long term goal and working towards that long term goal every Single day.. Life's pretty boring without a passion and a lot of the time it's people who can't hack it or are no good who point the finger and say bodybuilding is unhealthy mentally/physically and that's why I don't do it. Lol zzzzzzzz.

agree with this also

obsession can be positive and negative

 

i got drug/alcohol problem background and can say with certainty that switching addiction (or if you want to call it that, passion) to gym is at least a less destructive passtime lol

[HarryB]

People who speak of something in a really negative way usually do so as a projection of their feelings or experiences. And same goes for people who speak of things in a positive way.