Where Have all the Body Beautifuls Gone?

[SeverianB]

its due to media and our generation of being indie and crap. also technology has contributed to the way we think as well (also makes the majority of society lazy), but don't worry brah, all that matters is that we know what the true beauty is

oh and they jelly

This.

[Kapeesh42]

i totally agree...

[LitheLifter]

I am a child of the 80's (And thank goodness not the 60's...). My wonder years were Reagan, Billy Ball, Van Hagar, button down collars with 501 jeans and penny loafers, the Evil Empire. At the age of 14 I received my first weight set and bench. I used it daily, sometimes twice a day, which might officially make me a gym idiot since the only lifts I did were bench and curls, as well as a few sets of Jefferson lifts (didn't have a squat rack, had to improvise...). But what heck, I was only 14.

In 1981 I joined a real gym, with free weights and Nautilus. The gym owner put 20 lbs of muscle on me that summer 125 to 145 (At 5' 9" tall).

The 1980's were about "The Body Beautiful". It didn't matter what you looked like in your clothes, what mattered was what you looked like out of your clothes. Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger (I really believe today that most people don't know that Arnold S. was Mr. O.) were the icons of the day. But don't forget Zane, Haney, Gasparri, and Cory Everson. The Wide World of sports showed weekly footage of some mighty Russian weightlifter, or Reggie Jackson carrying a fridge on the "Super Stars". The three months before I was married I spent in the weight room. I wasn't going to look like a soft pile of doughnuts on my wedding day. I had to laugh recently when Men's Health had a quip, "Look Better Naked". Sorry Editor dude, that's been around for at least two decades. In the 80's people threw away their jogging shoes and bought cross training shoes and weightlifting gloves. Home gym sales skyrocketed and "No Pain No Gain" was a phrase that resounded from Soloflex to every bulletin board in every gym between El Paso and Missoula.

Fast Forward to the 2000's. The Body Beautful has disappeared. Aside from a few "gym rats", "Garage gym" devotees, or basement dwellers, The Body Beautiful has turned into Corpus Maximus. I can't shop at Walmart because their mediums are almost to big for me. At 5' 9" and 180 pounds I am not thin by any stretch of the imagination, but I am tiny compared to most of the larger than life bodys that rumble across town.

The 80's gave us the silly question, "How much do you bench?" Most of us probably laugh at that now. But it isn't any sillier than the, "Hey dude, I just drank two, 2 litre bottles of Pepsi!" Which some of us may have heard as recently as, within the last week.

Obesity is skyrocketing, diabetes is an epidemic, junk food sales are astronomical, asses have more dimples on them then a Maxflight. Instead of treating these problems at the "gras roots level", most Westerners are satisfied to let their MD give them a pill that treats the symptoms, but not the cause.

There has been a TV ad lately about fishing. "Take a kid fishing!" is it's theme. That is a start. To take that further, when their done fishing, take the kid to the gym.

I have been an athlete my entire life - not bodybuilder, mind you but from cross training in high=impact sports for years, once I entered the gym, I was ripped in a month. I realize, that this is not for everyone, but when I am in public, tiny as I may be people comment often about my fitness and muscle -they often want to take pictures too. That's how "freakish, being a normal size and "fit" has become!
Oh, and you mentioned Walmart - if you have two of the USA, "now normal-sized" people standing across an isle, you can't get by! Sometimes, it is onlt one person standing in the isle.......it makes me shake my head......food marketing, the ingredients, and what is acceptable - nation wide - has to change - but it's all in politics!!

[AAOBob]

The best part is they get to use our tax money for "free" health care soon enough.

[rvadog]

Survival of the fittest anyone?

Pet Peeve.

That's not survival of the fittest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest

Sorry. Continue.

[rvadog]

The best part is they get to use our tax money for "free" health care soon enough.

GTFO. You are not allowed to talk about "Obamacare" unless you know what it actually does. Hint- It does not use tax dollars for healthcare any any significant way.

[AAOBob]

GTFO. You are not allowed to talk about "Obamacare" unless you know what it actually does. Hint- It does not use tax dollars for healthcare any any significant way.

Hint, I'm in the medical field, I know what it does and what its going to do. Its going to increase increase spending by some 500 billion dollars over what is currently projected on medical care. By 2021 its projected 1 in 5 dollars spent by the US govt will be for healthcare. Do some deeper research than CNN and bother someone else.

[rvadog]

Hint, I'm in the medical field, I know what it does and what its going to do. Its going to increase increase spending by some 500 billion dollars over what is currently projected on medical care. By 2021 its projected 1 in 5 dollars spent by the US govt will be for healthcare. Do some deeper research than CNN and bother someone else.

Hahhahahaa...right...again, GTFO.

21% of the budget ALREADY goes to healthcare. a 1% drop would be nice!

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258

Hint, I'm pointing out that you are making "facts" up to suit your politics...

[Redrum92]

What bugs me the most is that food is an addiction yet nowadays its all "fat is beautiful." No its not. Addiction is ugly.. Eating disorders are not beatiful. And being obese is just that.Being morbidly obese is not a fashion to be accepted, it is not a political cause that needs equal rights or anti discrimination laws. Sure people should be less rude, but if you are obviously killing yourself through food, people are commenting to try and save your ****ing life.

You don't see me as an ex junkie trying to defend my actions or saying "emaciated, pale, and track mark ridden arms are beautiful".... And how much hate cig smokers get these days, all the anti smoking ads.. Never seen an anti obesity ad. Because it would *gasp* offend people.

Almost as bad is people who act like its out of their hands or that its 100% their genetics. Maybe 1-2% of the time it can be blamed on a legit medical condition, but even then you can mitigate the effects. Eating healthy is hard, but if I kicked heroin, you can put down the big Mac and 5 liters of mtn dew/day habit. You can get to the grocery, you can get to the gym. Stop spending money on fast food and *surprise* ..plenty of money for the gym. Stop watching t.v. 8 hours a day and spend just 1 of them doing weight training.

All the excuses are bull****. It's hard, yea. Achieving anything worthwhile is.

/rant

P.S. oops didn't realize I was resurrecting a long dead thread

[Thekittenking]

I agree with you and I don't think insecurity is a bad thing, its a great motivator. The attitude in this thread just reaked of superiority and condescension. Of course everyone should eat healthier and I think its important to educate children about good nutrition.

I think you picked the wrong word for insecure. Just because a pianist practices piano doesn't mean he is insecure about his musical ability, but he probably wants to improve it as best as he can. Same thing with lifting for looks.

However, I agree with you in that how people choose to live their own life is their own business. The only thing I mind about the obesity thing is it makes me seem shallow and is limiting in my choice of mates even though 95 percent of girls would be dateable from a physical attractiveness perspective if they just took care of their bodies.