When i first started, my goal was to look good without a shirt,
When i got there, my next goal was to make it obvious i worked out when wearing a body hugging shirt.
When i got there, my next goal was to make it obvious i worked out when wearing a normal shirt.
When i got there, my next goal was to make it obvious i worked out when wearing L size.
Then XL.
Now when i wear XXL it's still obvious i work out, i don't need to wear bodyhugging or sleeveless anymore.

Lifting weights is sign of:
1) self-improvement
2) Desire to become greater than you are today
3) Wanting to be the leader and not the "lead"
4) Dedication

It's that simple.

Yes, i'd like to say otherwise. This topic has been debated numerous times. Take a black bodybuilder like Ronnie Coleman who has lets say a very well endowed organ like say more than 6 inches, if he weighs close to 300 pounds, any 6 inch d*** would look small compared to that kind of mass.
It's all relative.

Part of my inspiration ot bodybuild was because of family history. My grandfather had amazing strength, I've still got an old photo of him lifting my grandma overhead with one hand. He used to lift the giant wheels of old fashioned wheelbarrows for bicep curls.
My uncle was a Mr Junior Malaysia 1979 who had 18 plus inch arms. He had awesome genetics and he's one of the few who got me started.
Sometimes you get sick of eating every few hours to maintain muscle mass, constantly watching to the time to see when your next meal is, but when you bust your ass in the gym, put on a lat spread and see those lats flaring out to the sides, feeling the pump. Yeah, the rewards speak for themselves.
People with strong powerful physiques exude a type of confidence not seen in regular people. They don't need fancy ass clothes to look good or show off. The physique says it all. At the end of the day, it demands sub conscious respect cos you know when you see a bodybuilder, the guy's got discipline; taking intense pain by inducing microtears in the muscle; then supplementing it with adequate nutrition and rest to induce sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, etc.
My 0.02

To people who think that women don't like muscular men, i have tons and tons of female friends who prove it otherwise. But hell, i don't do that shit to impress women. Of course i got a few girls who say you're getting too big or muscular, but then i don't give a shit. I do it to impress myself, not those who will never understand a bodybuilder's passion or dedication to the sport.

Why aren't the average Joes able to identify with the bodybuilding easily like football or basketball? Cos when you watch football or basketball, you're a spectator, but you don't necessarily have to PLAY football to enjoy watching it. But those people who go to a bodybuilders' competition are also those which participate in the sport. Only those guys can identify which the aesthetics portrayed out on stage. They know how it's like to constantly battle the iron constantly and can identify with the pain those competitors have went through to achieve those physiques.

This post has been edited by darklight79: May 12 2006, 02:18 PM

Yo bata. Pretty old pic. Heh. You know those pics with b lack and white. Yeah, he was awesome. I don't have it anymore. I remember looking at it when i was a lil' kid. At that time, I didn't really have a relative concept of what strength was, so it was pretty amazing.
Seeing a probodybuilder lift crazy ass weights is inspiring, but seeing a member of your family do that is awe inspiring. Those pics are are with my aunties now, ever since he and my dear grandmother passed away, we've had his personal items passed out among all of us.
I wish i had it now, so i could scan it here. It may have been more than 5 years since he passed on, but the memory of that pic stays with me. It motivates me even when i have a crappy day and don't feel like going to the gym.
Imagine, it was pretty tough for someone to gain mass and bodybuild during his time with the war and all. Yeap, one of my idols my grandad.

What's your form like? ATG or just to parallel? Freeweight squats done on a power rack or Smith machine squats? Rep range? These are important deciding factors.

Ditch the Smith machine. It sucks and does nothing for CNS force proprioreception. Nothing at all. Doing squats on the Smith is easy cos there's no stabilization of your trunk and core strength required. I can do almost 400 pounds squats on the Smith but have to reduce the weight drastically for freeweight ATG squats on a power rack for 150 kgs. If you do free weight, you'll need to reduce 150kgs by half. Pizzaboy has trained with me before. He knows how hard is it to do freeweight ATG.
Once you do free weight, you'lll see results. I got Pizzaboy to do my leg workout and he almost died but he liked it in the end. Lol.

Still, 150kgs on Smith is not bad, but free weights are the best.

This post has been edited by darklight79: May 19 2006, 12:09 PM

See bro. That's exactly my point. The Smith does the stabilization for you. It does all the balancing for you. And therefore, your gains in muscle won't be optimal. The harder the exercise is; freeweight squats, much better. Anything that requires more stabilization (recruiting more stabilizer muscles) is always better.
Jusat like you'll ask yourself, why are freeweight barbell bench press better than the machine chest press? Why are pull ups better than pulldowns, etc.
Notice in all the fitness centres, the big guys are usually at the free weights section and the smaller fitness fellas are always at the machines section.

And yeah, ATG squats gimme a butt ache too.

Here's a video of how ATG squats should be done. This is my friend Blake from the US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t38iOC56r8

Oh shit. That sucks. Yeah, i know how you feel. I don't get it, not just your company's gym but with most of th fitness centres. The people who own those places don't realize how important a power rack is.
I switched to a gym where there's one. It's awesome. Try to if you can my friend. Good luck!