What BB means to me

[Steele]

Forgive me for this rant...but you guys are a great extended family...

What is bodybuilding to you?

For me, bodybuilding is part of me. I will continue it for the rest of my life. Going to workout is a specail time for just me. I control everything from the first weight i pick up to the last one i drop down. every session i make a step towrds accomplishing a goal, whatever it might be at the time. it is a time when i face the pressure of a literal weight and refuse to buckle underneath it. I master this domain. Sometimes the pain is immense, but again i refuse to stop until my time in the gym is done.
I find that living is alot like working out. I will continue it for the rest of my life. Your life should be specail to you. From the day you take your first step you must srive for continuos progress in all endeavors. Sometimes the burden of living in this world becomes unbearable, but i refuse to buckle underneath it. I will find the strength to carry on. Sometimes the pain is immense, but again i refuse to stop until my time in this life is done.
My live-in girlfriend told me this morning she got a job transfer to another state and she is leaving me the end of this month (she planned it), i got laid off at work, the girlfriend is taking our dog, i don't have a single friend in this state, i am eight weeks out from my first competition...
My list and your list could go on forever, but i say fuck the outcome. I will not crack under the pressure, i will not wilt in the midst of pain. I will come back stronger, harder until my time is over. This is what bodybuilding is to me.

[daem]

i walk in to the gym with nothing but my bag and ambition and check my ego at the door. not the kind of ambition that relies on past success stories or my shining moments, but with the realization that every second is a chance to turn it all around and head in the direction i choose for myself. my goals all center around me and noone else. i gauge my successes and failures on quantifiable achievement and subjective observation, but noone else is going to tell me what i can and can't do.

i find solace in the gym since frustration and anxiety all disappear when that first plate hits the bar or that first dumbbell is pushed. regardless of what is in store for the rest of the day i can look back and see that i accomplished something. in my own little world of school, work, and lifting there are times when giving up or giving less than 100% seems almost justifiable, but weakness is not a part of my physique or psyche. there is no such thing as failure if you have given your all and come up short regardless of what others think. when i look back at my time in the gym and realized i pushed myself to my physical and mental limits without breaking down or succumbing to fear i am more of a man than i thought. for me bb is more than just a hobby...it is an ongoing battle between my body and mind.

[Steele]

i feel that daem. good to hear the passion.

[Terinox]

To build muscle.
To better myself.
To increase my strength.
To increase my confidence.
To exert anger and rage through effect and safe manner.
To check out hot chicks in skanky clothing.
To see how far I can actually take my body and look the way I want.
As a hobby because right now it's the only thing I'm really good at and interested in.
Because I find it to be actually a fun activity.
To spend some good quality time with my close friend who also is hardcore lifting.
To explore strange new worlds and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

[kc]

for me, it's my challenge. It's the one thing that continually challenges me, the one thing I can never hit the top on. I spent the first 22 years of my life being what everybody expected, 4.0 student, the good kid..whatever, nothing I ever did until i started to seriously lift challenged me over and over. Three or four days a week, I walk into the gym with a need to walk out comletely defeated. Every day is a challenge, walking out of the gym with anything left, I failed, I didn't rise up to the challenge, I got lazy. To me, that's what keeps me going, knowing that last time was practice, this time is the real thing. All you guys who leave your ego at the door, I respect that, tho I'm pretty sure it's what drives me. That ego rep, the one where you got nuthin but couldn't or didn't do it last time and you're determined to hit it this time, that's the challenge. Keeping strict form, pushing up that elusive rep, that's what it does for me, but that's all ego, 100% selfish, the reason I had that pouch of tuna last night before I went to bed. LOL, I HATE tuna.

[Steele]

just hearing all of your thoughts is really motivating.

terinox, man, hot chicks scantily clothed is definitely one of the percks.

LIFT ON, LIFT STRONG!!!!!!!!!!!