This week I got asked on the forum whether I stopped lifting once I learnt the truth about bodybuilding. The answer is: "No. I didn't stop lifting." However I stopped giving a fuck a long time ago. I know it sounds crazy but eventually you have to do it too. Yes, not giving a fuck works wonders.
Initially everybody is a maniac when it comes to training. Everybody. You are looking at people in the magazines with awesome bodies and you are thinking to yourself: "One day when I get to be this big my life will be great ". The truth however is that your life will not be great. It could be better but it could also be worse. In all case you will not feel the way you think you will.
As the years pass by you will learn a lot about the cult of bodybuilding, fitness, weightlifting - whatever you want to call it. You will learn its good sides and its bad sides. But sooner or later you will get tired and mad for not seeing the results your are supposed to see. This is the moment where you will start to question everything and will probably do some stupid stuff like following some ridiculous diet which makes you measure your food, sleep 10 hours and squat 5 times a week. Stupid. We all have to learn somehow even though sometimes it's hard to remove the ego glasses and stop listening to fairy tales.
After you fail many times even though you did everything by the book you will realize one thing - you wasted a huge amount of time working in the wrong direction. At some point we stop being playing with old toys. It's just not fun anymore. Most people may describe this as a moment when you lose motivation but in the world of fitness it's a good thing because being a maniac who measures his arm in order to impress girls is just a cover up for something else. It does not matter how good you cover a shit - eventually we are all informed about its presence.
Not giving a fuck about lifting feels likes escaping slavery. Because lifting weights is slavery. You may not realize it right now because you are in between your creatine and protein shakes while watching a video of the hodge twins but you will eventually. At least I hope so. My goal was never to demotivate anyone. Actually my goal is simply to present you the truth so that you can learn from my mistakes, save some time and move on with your life despite the fact that you don't have a six pack or big arms.
Of course you can always start using steroids and get to look like a fitness model or even a bodybuilder. Yes, you can do that. I cannot stop you nor do I want to. I am here just to say to you that you should not become a slave to drugs. In this life we are always a slave to something (food, water, money, love) so it makes sense to at least try to limit our masters. It's pretty hard to serve one master and pleasing 5 masters is even harder.
I know for some of you it's pretty hard to skip a day in the gym or even eat a cookie. To me that is simply self destructive and in the end of the day you are going to explode whether you want it or not. Try this - don't eat for a few days. You will notice that you will get pretty hungry. At least I do. On the day you eat after your starvation you behave like a pig. Why? Because nature likes balance and when you shift something to one end eventually it builds momentum and goes to the other side. Therefor it makes sense to keep everything in the middle.
When you are on a death bed and somebody asks you to tell a cool story or some accomplishment of yours you are probably not going to say: "Well, I measured my food and injected a bunch of hormones in my ass for years in order to get big and cover my insecurities." This does not make for a good story. What does make for a good story however is this: "I wanted to be a doctor and I became one." or " I wanted to become an actor and I became one." I guess something like "I wanted to be a bodybuilder" and I became one is also pretty cool but given the fact that being a bodybuilder is sort of like getting a silicone surgery the story is not as good as being a doctor. I am open for debate on this one and don't get mad at me please.
