I agree with you for the most part. It really isn’t anyone’s business and he quit a fairly good corporate job so he could help people train and continue to compete himself.
Why would anyone do that could go for a million different things? Why rock climb, be an NFL player, skydive, etc. anything beyond the sit on your ass could certainly get us. And sitting on our ass gets us as well!
Definitely some holier than thou in this thread along with a lot of judgements from people who almost all undoubtedly have never had anywhere near the dedication to push themselves like he has.
I can’t believe it took me to the last 6 or so posts to find people who don’t agree with the OP’s nonsense.
I don’t know if Meadows is about to die, and neither does anyone else in this thread. But I’m pretty sure the most reasonable answer is ‘probably not’. Meadows has looked like shit for years. Pretty much just like this. Some dudes look shittier than others, particularly in the face. I don’t think this is the reliable health indicator some folks in this thread are making it out to be.
There are also thousands and thousands of people walking this earth right now who have used more drugs than Meadows for longer periods of time. Yes, some bodybuilders die, in their prime. It’s a tiny minority of them. To come out and say ‘Meadows will be one of these people if he does not stop competing soon’ seems truly insane to me.
But the value judgements from Gorillakiv83 are what really kill me here. I hear it all the time about celebrities and athletes. This celebrity needs to stop partying and focus on his marriage. This athlete needs to hang up his cleats before he has another concussion. Etc. I can’t imagine making such judgements on other people. I’ve got enough to pay attention to trying to figure out what I should be doing with my own life and how to raise my son. The last thing I’m about to consider is whether I think John Meadows ‘should’ keep bodybuilding or if he should just focus on his supplement business. As far as I’m concerned, he should do whatever his conscience tells him to do, and if that’s to keep bodybuilding, he should damn sure keep bodybuilding.
i gave it a second thought : why did i open this thread? why did i give a damn about a stranger? i may enjoy his advices but that doesnt mean i should be concerned about him. just like the last comment says it was a nonsense of mine. end of discussion.
I smoked for 15 years before I quit. The connection between the cigarettes I smoked and decreased lung function was abundantly clear to me the entire time. I also loved smoking cigarettes, which is probably the biggest reason it took so long to quit.
Who says the things we enjoy have to be conducive to health and longevity? What advice would you give free solo rock climbers?
Alright, let’s just assume that John is using so much drugs that a Xenomorph is going to burst out of his soon-to-be Palumbosim inflicted belly one day.
I’m not convinced that he competes solely out of passion. His brand image goes along the lines of the “in the trenches” guy with real world experience and scientific knowledge. Someone who also walks the walk and succeeds despite the odds, i.e, the underdog. His programs(the 12 week ones you have to purchase) alone are written in a way that seems like he is with you and giving you instructions on what to do every workout for every exercise. One of them has his exact workouts while preparing for a competition. I believe he does what he does because of his business(of course, the element of passion for competing is probably there too).
In the end, we’re talking about trade offs; risks vs returns. A middle-aged man who was a successful employee in the private sector and has built a million dollar brand in self-enterprise probably knows what he’s getting into. I’m really surprised so many people really think he’s some deluded guy chasing a dream at all costs solely because of passion. But then, that’s probably also part of his appeal to his audience.
I don’t think this is true either, lol. I think a lot of people smoke cigarettes and simply assume the risk. They’re ok with it. Not everyone is ultra-concerned with longevity. Those who have come to terms with their mortality may be more willing to accept that a slightly shorter life, perhaps with a painful end, is worthwhile as compared to an entire lifetime of extreme caution and aversion to things they enjoy. Every decision we make in life is a risk/reward tradeoff.
My mother in law died of lung cancer and if a smoker that loved cigarettes so much saw her final 3 days, he/she would have stopped smoking immediately.
Those who say they prefer to do what they love to do regardless of the risks believe bad things only happen to other people. They think they are invincible.
When an enhanced athlete loses his kidneys and starts spending hours in dialysis everyday, i dont think he will continue making so bold statements.
Dude, you’re living in a fantasy world. Did you see the Ronnie Coleman quote above. The dude could not walk, directly after back surgery, and he said his only regret was that he didn’t squat 800 for 4 reps, instead of just 2. You have NO idea what risks high level athletes fully accept to get where they want to be. Linemen in the NFL KNOW they are going to be nearly crippled by the end of their career. They play with broken, mangled fingers, all sorts of ridiculous injuries.
As far as the smoking goes, I smoked for awhile. I watched my grandmother die from it. Literally saw her on her death bed, suffering for almost a year. It was awful. I can promise you I fully understand that this can happen to anyone, including me, from smoking. I still did it. And you’re talking about a final 3 days? Dude, that’s crazy. If you told me that, to become the worlds strongest man, I would have to trade 10 years off my life, and suffer the worst any human has ever suffered in the final month of my life, you bet your ass I’d fucking make that trade. I wouldn’t hesitate, even if I KNEW FOR SURE that was going to happen. Fuck yea man. I wish I could make that deal.
I know I’m not invincible. I have a torn bicep and a torn pec. I can see it every time I look in the mirror. I can feel the strain in my right arm every time I lift an Atlas Stone. I accept the fact that one day, it’ll probably tear right the fuck off. So I’d better lift all the stones I fucking can, while my bicep is still there.
I started this thread with good intentions. My main point was : if you have a wife and kids, you should think twice. thats my way of thinking.
you said you have a son. i just cant understand how you can trade 10 years of your life with a strongman title. thats approximately 4000 days you could have spent with your loved ones.
i hope you understood my point. english is not my mother language, you should consider this fact before you get angry at me.
maybe i dont have the champion mindset, i dont know. i just find it meaningless.
I value quality of life above quantity in most regards. Is it really that hard to understand? If I can increase the quality of 70 years on this earth, at the expense of an additional 10, then yea, that’s a pretty good trade off for me. Especially if the quality difference is a substantial difference, based on my own values. I know a lot of people just want more days. But days are limited, period. I want 26000 great days, not 30000 average ones. Being the best at the world at something is something that would make a hell of a lot of those days pretty incredible.
I’m not angry at you. I’m explaining to you how misguided you are as to what other people often think. You seem like a very nice person. No hard feelings.
As for my son: I hope he values his life as much as I do, and wants to make the most of his time on the earth like I do. I hope that he doesn’t live in fear and trepidation, that he’s willing to take risks, sometimes big ones, in order to chase dreams and fight for happiness. I hope that he doesn’t avoid every risk to make sure he gets a bunch of extra average days at the end of his life. And if we’re being honest, those last days are generally going to be less than average if we get there anyway… who is really in their prime and just loving every day of their life past 70 or so? And on top of that, none of us are even GUARANTEED to be here tomorrow. If I died tomorrow, because of some freak accident, the legacy I leave behind for my son is that I worked hard to achieve what was important to me. I didn’t let criticism or the risks other people told me I was taking get in the way of that. I’m sorry if you can’t understand that mentality.
This is always the part that gets me when people keep arguing about how you have to do things for longevity. To say that people think they’re invincible and then turn right around and act like you’re guaranteed some sort of long life as long as you eat right and don’t do drugs is simply mindblowing.
My Grandpa never lifted a weight or touched a steroid in his life, and then contracted various horrible cancers in his 70s and died a slow and painful death. Could you imagine if he had been saving himself up for his 80s and 90s what a letdown it woulda been?
Then again, everyone’s YOLO until they’ve got the Grim Reaper coming to collect on a tab they’ve been willfully running up over years and years. Amphetamines aside, nothing blinds us to our general finitude quite like being in good health does.
Knowing that you’re not only going to die, but that you’re going to die because of something you did to yourself despite knowing the risks, must be a very bitter pill to swallow.
It’s kind of like how I never remember just how much having a cold sucks until I get a plugged nose and phlegmy throat, even though it’s easy to say I can deal with it as I sit here typing in perfect health. Multiply that by a stroke or metastatic cancer and I’m sure I’d be amenable to reevaluating certain life choices that sent me down that rabbit hole.