Natty 6'2

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]yolo84 wrote:

[quote]flipcollar wrote:
Why is it ridiculous? I don’t understand your criteria for a bodybuilder. If someone puts in the time in the gym and looks the part, but doesn’t compete, they’re not a bodybuilder, because they didn’t compete. And if someone does compete, but they don’t look great, they’re also not a bodybuilder, because they didn’t look the part. So you have to compete in a show, and do well? This is weird criteria because it’s so subjective. How well do you have to do? 4th place or better in a regional show? Is it that arbitrary? Is it just up to Yolo84 who is and who isn’t a bodybuilder? I’m absolutely serious about this, because I feel like your criteria for a bodybuilder is baseless.[/quote]

It’s not baseless, the reason people so vehemently disagree is because they like all the “lifestyle” talk. It is not meant as any kind of insult to the OP or anyone at all.

Yeah bodybuilding is subjective. To be a bodybuilder imo you need to compete and in competition display the requirements necessary for the event to some degree - size, proportion, symmetry and conditioning. So this discounts fat slobs like the guy posted. No, you don’t have to look like Frank Zane or something either. It’s common sense what I am talking about - e.g. Thoughts meets all these, even though he could be more conditioned or bigger or whatever. He also competes and has dieted for months and been exceptionally meticulous about all the aspects he willbe judged on (the 4 I just mentioned).

It is strange to me that guys get so defensive over this. It’s not an insult or saying you’re not dedicated or whatever. But equally, I find it flat out wrong for people to claim this status when they don’t deserve it and haven’t earned it.[/quote]

So how about this scenario: What if I stepped on a bodybuilding stage tomorrow, looking exactly as I do today, maybe with more of a tan or something so I looked even more the part, but I didn’t diet down. I’m obviously still a relatively low bodyfat, and while I wouldn’t win a competition anywhere, I would have competed, and by most standards, looked the part. Would I be a bodybuilder then? What if OP did the same thing? We don’t fit the fat slobs category that you mentioned earlier about the link posted. But we wouldn’t win a show either.[/quote]

Do you mean if you went through all the trouble of being a bodybuilder would you be a bodybuilder?

Not winning and doing what it takes to compete are two different things. Driving a fast car doesn’t make you a race car driver.[/quote]

YOLO said that actually competing in a bodybuilding competition wasn’t enough to qualify a person as a bodybuilder if the person doesn’t look great. I disagreed.

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
If a guy goes to the bowling alley every day of his life, and bowls 5 games a day but never enters a competition, is he not a bowler?

So if a guy goes to the gym 5 days a week, trains hard, eats what he needs to eat outside of the gym, and does this all for 5 years for the sake of BUILDING a better BODY, is he not a bodybuilder?[/quote]

No…

I know people that go to bowling alley’s all the time you ask them what they do they may say Salesman, analyst, engineer, not Bowler. Can they bowl… Yes doesn’t make them a bowler? Even then I MIGHT still consider them a bowler because they’ve COMPETED even if it was for hobby. If you’ve never competed or got paid for what you do then your just lifting weights or it’s something you are TRYING to do.

[/quote]

I’m saying if the guy wakes up thinking about bowling, goes to bed thinking about bowling, and can’t wait to get to the bowling alley after work, if he says he is a bowler, then I’m going to agree with him. I wouldn’t say “No, man. You’ve never competed in a bowling meet. You’re not a bowler”. Likewise if someone is obsessed about bodybuilding, goes to the gym to train hard 5 days a week, eats like he should outside, and has the results to back it up and he says that he is a bodybuilder, I’m going to agree with him.

My point is that I guess I’m echoing and agreeing with what has been said by OP, that this is a lifestyle. I don’t get paid to lift weights, and I am only competing in my first meet this Saturday, but whenever people ask me THAT question “So, you look like you workout. Do you play football?” etc, I simply reply “I’m a powerlifter”.

And this - is why the forums suck.

I’m astonished at the self-importance that would breed the kind of behavior seen in this thread. Anyone in their right mind should be embarrassed as fuck shitting on this guy’s thread with arguments about whether he has the “right” to call himself a bodybuilder. Un-fucking-believable.

Jwesus - looking really great. Made BIG changes and you definitely look like a bodybuilder to me! Best of luck with your future physique endeavors…

Bodybuilder - one who builds their body.

COMPETETIVE Bodybuilder - one who builds their body, and competes in a physique contest.


here is a new back photo.

[quote]jwesus wrote:
here is a new back photo.[/quote]

width looks great, small waist too.

good job.

how times have changed :confused:

2 things:

  1. Really remarkable change, I definitely did a double take there. Doesn’t even look like the same person.

  2. If your pants in the recent pic were part of the rating criteria, you would be sitting at a 10 right now.

[quote]flipcollar wrote:
[/quote]

YOLO said that actually competing in a bodybuilding competition wasn’t enough to qualify a person as a bodybuilder if the person doesn’t look great. I disagreed.[/quote]

My bad.

OP Great progress btw

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
If a guy goes to the bowling alley every day of his life, and bowls 5 games a day but never enters a competition, is he not a bowler?

So if a guy goes to the gym 5 days a week, trains hard, eats what he needs to eat outside of the gym, and does this all for 5 years for the sake of BUILDING a better BODY, is he not a bodybuilder?[/quote]

No…

I know people that go to bowling alley’s all the time you ask them what they do they may say Salesman, analyst, engineer, not Bowler. Can they bowl… Yes doesn’t make them a bowler? Even then I MIGHT still consider them a bowler because they’ve COMPETED even if it was for hobby. If you’ve never competed or got paid for what you do then your just lifting weights or it’s something you are TRYING to do.

[/quote]

I’m saying if the guy wakes up thinking about bowling, goes to bed thinking about bowling, and can’t wait to get to the bowling alley after work, if he says he is a bowler, then I’m going to agree with him. I wouldn’t say “No, man. You’ve never competed in a bowling meet. You’re not a bowler”. Likewise if someone is obsessed about bodybuilding, goes to the gym to train hard 5 days a week, eats like he should outside, and has the results to back it up and he says that he is a bodybuilder, I’m going to agree with him.

My point is that I guess I’m echoing and agreeing with what has been said by OP, that this is a lifestyle. I don’t get paid to lift weights, and I am only competing in my first meet this Saturday, but whenever people ask me THAT question “So, you look like you workout. Do you play football?” etc, I simply reply “I’m a powerlifter”.[/quote]

Correct because your stage, your court, is the meet. Therefore you are a powerlifter. The gym is where you train, the meet is where you are made. Body building and Bodybuilding are two different things which is where Bodybuilders have their troubles and lack of respect. The gym is not the court, not the stage, not where you are determined to be a Bodybuilder. Cyclist, athletes of all kind think about their bodies all day, their nutrition, want to look good doesn’t make them bodybuilders.

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

Correct because your stage, your court, is the meet. Therefore you are a powerlifter. The gym is where you train, the meet is where you are made. Body building and Bodybuilding are two different things which is where Bodybuilders have their troubles and lack of respect. The gym is not the court, not the stage, not where you are determined to be a Bodybuilder. Cyclist, athletes of all kind think about their bodies all day, their nutrition, want to look good doesn’t make them bodybuilders.
[/quote]

I like what you said here, making the distinction between body builder and Bodybuilder. It turns the argument into a semantics problem, which I’ve always solved by using terms bodybuilder and competitive bodybuilder. Same distinction, different terms. I see no problem with such a distinction. It’d be like calling ashy a powerlifter, and calling someone with meets under their belt a competitive powerlifter. I don’t think too many people would have a problem with that.

looking beast man

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

Correct because your stage, your court, is the meet. Therefore you are a powerlifter. The gym is where you train, the meet is where you are made. Body building and Bodybuilding are two different things which is where Bodybuilders have their troubles and lack of respect. The gym is not the court, not the stage, not where you are determined to be a Bodybuilder. Cyclist, athletes of all kind think about their bodies all day, their nutrition, want to look good doesn’t make them bodybuilders.
[/quote]

I like what you said here, making the distinction between body builder and Bodybuilder. It turns the argument into a semantics problem, which I’ve always solved by using terms bodybuilder and competitive bodybuilder. Same distinction, different terms. I see no problem with such a distinction. It’d be like calling ashy a powerlifter, and calling someone with meets under their belt a competitive powerlifter. I don’t think too many people would have a problem with that.[/quote]

Honestly, this seems silly. A powerlifter is someone who powerlifts. Performing maxes in the gym isn’t powerlifting, it’s training. Powerlifting is actually competing in a meet. Gym lifts mean shit, it’s all about what you do on the platform, and etc etc.

In the same sense, saying anyone that builds their body is a bodybuilder means that powerlifters are also bodybuilders, as are strongman, oly lifters, etc, yet in the bodybuilding section of the site people are pretty explicit about “no one cares how much you lift, it’s about how you look”. There are clearly other distinctions than simply “building the body” to determine who is and is not a bodybuilder.

All the BS above is why good posters leave this site.

OP looks like a fucking Superhero Action figure in some poses. Most of us should be asking him for advice. I know I have, and it’s helped my training tremendously.

Yet all ya’ll can argue about is the definition of the word Bodybuilder. Comment on his physique in here. If you want to argue about this shit, make a separate thread and GTFO of here.

OP gave you a 7 or 8, can’t remember. lol

[quote]jwesus wrote:

[quote]Moe Doobie wrote:
we are the same height and I like where you have taken ure physique so im curious what the progression was.

were you 6’2 when u started lifting? what weight did u start at and how did it progress? were you constantly gaining or did u go through cut/bulk cycles?[/quote]

this was a 6 months maybe a year after i started training[/quote]

[quote]jwesus wrote:
2 years ago beginning training, between the two photos I did cut. I followed prof x’s philosophy and took it a little too the extreme, I now realize that you don’t need to get that fat to make progress. If you pay attention to diet and take in good food, not processed crap - you will grow. [/quote]

Interesting… So if I’m following the two pictures you posted they are supposed to track your progress from the time period of two years ago-one year ago. Two years ago you had some muscle and a gut. After six months-year, you dropped most of the gut and maybe a little muscle (or not?). And during the time between these photos you did a bulk and a cut but may have taken the bulk too far.

This leads me to ask about the last year. Was there a bulk and cut phase or did you keep calories pretty much consistently high and clean and just back off if the gut started poking out?

I’m happy to dispense advice etc if people want to ask.

In the last 18 months I’ve had maybe 4 months ‘off’ from an eating plan. I get fat too easily, Im almost eating less cals than maintenance but seem to continue to grow. I chalk that up to adequate protein and quality calories.

In 5 years its gone like this

Bulk for a year, cut for 3 months, got colitis for two years an didn’t care about body comp only cared if I got stronger, then pretty much eating below maintenance since October 09, with little breaks of a month here or there.

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

Correct because your stage, your court, is the meet. Therefore you are a powerlifter. The gym is where you train, the meet is where you are made. Body building and Bodybuilding are two different things which is where Bodybuilders have their troubles and lack of respect. The gym is not the court, not the stage, not where you are determined to be a Bodybuilder. Cyclist, athletes of all kind think about their bodies all day, their nutrition, want to look good doesn’t make them bodybuilders.
[/quote]

I like what you said here, making the distinction between body builder and Bodybuilder. It turns the argument into a semantics problem, which I’ve always solved by using terms bodybuilder and competitive bodybuilder. Same distinction, different terms. I see no problem with such a distinction. It’d be like calling ashy a powerlifter, and calling someone with meets under their belt a competitive powerlifter. I don’t think too many people would have a problem with that.[/quote]

Honestly, this seems silly. A powerlifter is someone who powerlifts. Performing maxes in the gym isn’t powerlifting, it’s training. Powerlifting is actually competing in a meet. Gym lifts mean shit, it’s all about what you do on the platform, and etc etc.

In the same sense, saying anyone that builds their body is a bodybuilder means that powerlifters are also bodybuilders, as are strongman, oly lifters, etc, yet in the bodybuilding section of the site people are pretty explicit about “no one cares how much you lift, it’s about how you look”. There are clearly other distinctions than simply “building the body” to determine who is and is not a bodybuilder.[/quote]

This is a semantic argument, do you not see that? It’s just an argument about which nouns describe a particular phenomenon in the world. Vocabulary is fluid. I’m still making the distinctions you’re talking about, but with different word choices. Don’t understand why you have a problem with this.

You can make the same distinctions just with a capital letter if you so choose/define the differences (ie powerlifter vs Powerlifter). Or you could make up other words and attach particular definitions to them, doesn’t matter. That’s why this argument sucks. I was still conveying the idea that there are distinctions between people who lift heavy weights in a gym, and people who do it in competition in front of people. Don’t be mad :slight_smile:

looking great man!
Keep up the good work and hope all goes well for ya with the diet and comp plan!

just my two cents but shouldnt people who want to debate bodybuilding definition (which is fine) start a new thread for it?

To say you are a bodybuilder because you lift without ever doing a competition is like saying you are an NBA player because you shoot around at the park. Its just not the case. Even if you were fat but entered a show, you would be a bodybuilder. A terrible one, but you would be on the grid and in the sport. Until you compete, you are just training to be a future competitor in your sport.

Nobody is gonna run sprints everyday and say they are a sprinter because its a way of life. You gotta get in the blocks and put the training to use!

[quote]@JC_Tree_Trunks wrote:
To say you are a bodybuilder because you lift without ever doing a competition is like saying you are an NBA player because you shoot around at the park. Its just not the case. Even if you were fat but entered a show, you would be a bodybuilder. A terrible one, but you would be on the grid and in the sport. Until you compete, you are just training to be a future competitor in your sport.

Nobody is gonna run sprints everyday and say they are a sprinter because its a way of life. You gotta get in the blocks and put the training to use![/quote]

Don’t try to fuck up my Hoop Dreams. I’m going to be on the Knicks next year

[quote]jwesus wrote:
I’m happy to dispense advice etc if people want to ask.

In the last 18 months I’ve had maybe 4 months ‘off’ from an eating plan. I get fat too easily, Im almost eating less cals than maintenance but seem to continue to grow. I chalk that up to adequate protein and quality calories.

In 5 years its gone like this

Bulk for a year, cut for 3 months, got colitis for two years an didn’t care about body comp only cared if I got stronger, then pretty much eating below maintenance since October 09, with little breaks of a month here or there.[/quote]

Just because I’m curious and I know others are, what have your lifts been like over the years? :slight_smile:

Great progress!