The other week while at the OCB Midwest States Natural Bodybuilding and Figure Competition I finally got it. I got it. I understood. I accepted. I embraced the concept and was not alone. "I got it" and not because I placed. While standing backstage I finally realized what bodybuilding was all about. Some of it I knew already but it was a combination of things that made me stand back and realize bodybuilding was so much deeper than what people give it credit for.
The mainstream sees it as a group of big greased-up monkeys prancing around in their underwear or a bunch of women who are trying hard to be men... not my words by any means but that's what many see it as. They couldn't be more wrong. Yes, I'll admit, of course there's narcissism, little mans's complex and some seriously egotistical jockeys riding on the applause but you're going to find that in any sport. The only difference is some athletes get a big fat pay check and perform while wearing clothes; for the most part.
Anyhow, what I mean is I saw the sport in a new light. I saw a group of people, some of whom had never met, become a tight knit group within minutes. Perhaps because there were no other choices but maybe, just maybe, these athletes understood each other down to the very core. As athletes they understood the dedication to the diet and how difficult it was. They understood the concept of training even when sick with aching joints. They understood the choices they made and the fine lines some of them may have crossed in order to compete at the bodybuilding event. They understood what it was like to not know what-the-heck they were doing on stage and were hoping to receive feedback from the good graces of other competitors and judges.
As an athlete you may have walked away from the experience humbled, enlightened, saddened, disheartened or excited beyond belief. You took with you an experience that not many people can understand or would attempt to understand. The bonds of bodybuilding is comprised of a secret society that embraces us when we're at home alone thinking "I can't eat one more piece of chicken." It's a group of people offering comradery to "freaks" when no one else will. Yes, the stage has it's few seconds of glory but the underlying meaning lasts a lifetime.
Understanding is something that only comes with experience and it took me three shows to learn the secret brother and sisterhood of bodybuilding. Any bodybuilder can spot another bodybuilder from a mile away. The mainstream say's its because it's the oversized muscle's; whereas, we say it's a lifestyle.
Comments
It is a lifestyle - well put Lisa, absolutely.
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