Clayton South - Do You Believe In True Bodybuilding?

**webmaster** · 11-27-2002, 01:13 PM

True bodybuilding. What is it and how do you know if you are a true bodybuilder? Learn what it means to be a true bodybuilder!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/south6.htm

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ZachG_85 · 11-28-2002, 11:33 AM

Umm... decent article.

All the "steroids have never been proven to add muscle mass" was bull****.

The Latin America prostitution is a sick rumor, or a gross exaggeration at worst.

True bodybuilding is what you believe it is. Some do it for health, some to attract others, some for personal reasons. There's no need to tell someone what "true" bodybuilding is.

And as for the "more is better has been accepted as fact" thing, I don't think anyone who's picked up a magazine in the past 15 years has believed that more is better in terms of training.

Clayton South · 11-28-2002, 05:48 PM

Hi ZachG_85. Thanks for your posting.

The Latin America prostituion phenominon is a sad reality, not a rumor. For more information I point you to John Romano's monthly column in Muscular Development. Also, IFBB Pro has written a bit about that here on bodybuilding.com.

True Bodybuilding, or bodybuilding as it was originally, was as I outlined in the article. If something first existed in a specific form or performed a specific task, then anything that is a deviation from that original concept is something else. For example, the color black [which is not really a color, but for our purposes it will be] can not still be said to be black if ligthened...it now becomes grey. Bodybuilding is what it started out as, not as it has become to many today.

You mention picking up a magazine and how anyone who has done that wouldnt accept that "more is better." I refer you to Flex Magazine, the official "journal" of the IFBB. Take a look at some of the workouts....one specifically that comes to mind is one advocated my Markus Ruhl. The title is "are you man enough for this routine?" For one exercise alone he advocated 15 sets of 12 reps. Magazines are the problem, and that was the point.

Hope that helps,

- Clayton South

bigdun · 11-30-2002, 03:22 PM

This ‘sport’ is so confusing. There are so many differing opinions on every aspect. German workouts will it add pounds yet at the same time it’s overtraining. Then you got Peter Sisco saying work out 3 minutes every 2 weeks (a dramatization, I know). Take drugs don’t take drugs. Wasting your money vs. a wise investment in you. How do you make your way through all this crap and make improvements? I’ll keep listening to my coach and figure out if it works for me. What I know for sure is I won’t take drugs and I’m not going to diet.

In the end, this article put some things in perspective for me. Be true to yourself and filter all the b.s. out there.

Clayton South · 11-30-2002, 03:45 PM

Bigdun....

Im glad that you enjoyed the article.

It is true that there is so much "stuff" out there.

The state of bodybuilding today SUCKS! Check out Muscular Development this month for an interview with Bob Chicherello (or HOWEVER you spell his last name). He talks a bit about the state of current bodybuilding.

You are wise to find information and stick with it when you know it works. Check out my article "Bodybuilding: Its true nature!" for more information on the scientific method. Let me know what you think in an e-mail when you read it.

Hope that helps,

- Clayton South

12-04-2002, 08:50 AM

My problem is that I'm in love with the sport. I want to continue to take it to the next level. As a natural competitor I know in my mind that I will never be a Flex Wheeler, a Ronnie Coleman or a Gunther because my lack of drug use. Although I respect thier efforts, I do believe the current pros have taken bodybuilding to an unreachable level. Is it bodybuilding or a science project? I'm not willing to inject myself with anything, therefore a pro I will never be. Should being a professional athlete in the IFBB be illegal? We know drug use is out of control. As I pound away year after year trying to make those good gains it seems my efforts are so useless. Why continue? At 28yrs old, 5'10.3/4'' 190lbs competition weight it just doesn't seem to be enough. I want more!! How far do I have to go to be competitive for a Pro card?

Clayton South · 12-04-2002, 12:42 PM

Paindomain1

Its true that now more than ever drugs are increasing - as if things could get anymore freaky. I am just waiting for 30 years down the line when we have 500lb 6'1 guys who are SHREDDED on stage. Sadly, it may happen. We are at 300 now, so whos to say that 500 is so far off?

IF you want to become a pro and if your not going to take steroids, you might as well forget about it. Check out IFBB Pro's column here on bodybuilding.com for an inside look into the so-called "sport."

Hope that helps,

- Clayton South

Del · 12-08-2002, 04:30 PM

True... the olympia and so forth has become a freak show; more like a circus attraction than a sport. I feel sorry for the pro's who are little more than the advertising whores pimped by ruthless supplement companies... but who cares?

I enjoyed your article... you obviously worked hard on it but, for me, the SPORT of bodybuilding is an individual thing. I feel bad for him, but I don't worry myself about the 250ib roid head working out next to me. Just because I love to lift and care for my body doesn't make me dependent on a certain "niche" community...

Sure, companionship in the gym is nice, as is relating to like minded people... but bodybuilding isn't (nor do I think it should be) my whole life. I think too many bodybuilders make this so and thus seperate themselves from the wider community. Hence, the reliance on their "niche" community and the dispair elicited from its degredation into supp. politics and freak shows.

I think the solution to the whole "bodybuilding is falling apart" syndrom is to simply dissasociate oneself with that mode of bodybuilding. Hell, it's only a word... yet because we label ourselves with it we somehow feel intrinsically connected to ALL the connetations it carries, the good, the bad and the ugly (ie. Ronnies abs).

I prefer not to stress about it, and simply think of myself as a guy who likes to take care of his body, stay healthy, and look good.

Del

ZachG_85 · 12-08-2002, 04:38 PM

Hey, leave Ronnie alone. Thinks his midsection sucks? Looky here boy.

Del · 12-08-2002, 04:45 PM

Hehe... I wouldn't trade abs with him personally, and I DEFINATELY wouldn't trade organs with him. I didn't really wanto pick on any specific bodybuilders, so lets not get into an argument about Ronnies physique...

Clayton South · 12-08-2002, 05:32 PM

Del...

I think your focus is the right one. Bodybuilding is about health.

The sad part is that so many people now are taking loads of suppliments and even steroids resulting from an illusion that they will win the olympia. I mean, has anyone seen the training videos of the pros? Its unreal.

Anyone with any vision of being a pro should squash it unless they plan on taking a copius amount of steroids.

Its sad, but thats how things are now days.

- Clayton South

ZachG_85 · 12-08-2002, 05:38 PM

The only difference between a natural and an IFBB pro is ONE shot. That's it. Are there some that take RIDICULOUS amounts? Yes. Are all of them? Even the majority? No.

As for the pros training videos, that's why they're pros. Because they train balls-out. If they half-assed it, they wouldn't be in the IFBB.

06-07-2003, 02:38 PM

Thank you for this article. I am female and into (women's) bodybuilding. I dropped out of the 'bodybuilding scene' about 7 years ago when certain aspects of the sport really disgusted me. I've returned to it (I LOVE BODYBUILDING) and it seems to have gotten worse. I'll continue to develop my physique w/o the use of "extra" products (pills, supplements, powders, drugs, etc..) and search for like-minded people to share the experience with.