Alexey Shabunya. Huge Muscle From Belarus.

Alexey Shabunya. Huge muscle from Belarus. 

Cody Montgomery - 2016 Arnold Classic Australia

YOU ARE A BODYBUILDER.

I got a private message from someone on Facebook. He met me 20 years ago when I was at my biggest. He was just a kid — only nine years old at the time. His dad was a friend from school who didn’t lift; he never had the inclination. So the kid, now pushing 30, gets in touch and tells me he remembers me as the “biggest man he’s ever seen in his life.” (This, I would argue, is highly unlikely, though it may have been true for him at the time). I was about 245-260 offseason during those years. 

Anyway, the kid tells me I was his inspiration for training. Just reading that made me feel amazing. Then, like so many others, he explained that he wasn’t “a real bodybuilder” like I was back in the day. He went on to tell me he’s trained on a regular schedule every week since college. He said he always had this vision of me in his head when he lifted. But, again, he wasn’t a “real bodybuilder” because he never competed and, as evidence of his perceived failure, his arms “can’t get past 17 inches.”

This, my friends, is bullshit. 

Let me be perfectly clear: If you train your body on a regular basis for the purpose of adding muscle in a pleasingly aesthetic manner, you are a bodybuilder. If you are careful about your diet for the purpose of keeping yourself lean and muscular, you are a bodybuilder. If you gain weight (yes, I mean both muscle AND fat) during a bulking phase to add the maximum amount of muscle before cutting down to a lower bodyfat percentage, then yes, you are a bodybuilder.

You may not be a competitive bodybuilder. You may not have a trophy on display. But make no mistake about it: You ARE a bodybuilder.

For those who lift, only WE know the amount of work that goes into this endeavor lifestyle life. The time spent at the gym that could be spent with friends and lovers; the time spent agonizing over menu planning, cooking and weighing food; supplementation, food shopping, clothes shopping (two wardrobes–on and off season!); dieting, fasting, carb cycling; forcing down 6,000-10,000 calories a day; chalky protein shakes you’ve convinced yourself are actually tasty; body shaving (even if you don’t compete!); and, yes, I’ll say it, devising the safest, most effective ‘roid stack you can get your hands on. (No, I am NOT advocating the use of illegal drugs.)

If you do half the things on this list — and I’ve left out so much more — then you are a bodybuilder. You have earned the right to call yourself that. 

One last thing: When you get emotional about how disappointed you are that your arms, at 16.75 fucking inches, aren’t big enough for your standards, you are, in that very moment, a bodybuilder.

Peace, Paul

Paul is catching up to Jason.

Lee Priest. Huge hand muscles. No, really. His hands are jacked. 

From “Lee Priest: the Blond Myth.”

Binais Begovic. Master of the perfect camera angle. Shot #3 is with his brother Bilsen.   

Instagram Binais: https://www.instagram.com/binais/

Instagram Bilsen: https://www.instagram.com/bilsen85/