Author Topic: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?  (Read 33001 times)

calfzilla

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Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« on: November 05, 2012, 06:25:31 PM »
http://www.bobparis.com/2012/11/so-what-happened.html



So, What Happened? I've recently received several emails asking the same essential question, "What happened to bodybuilding?"

Many of these messages refer to the sport itself, with the common upshot being: "What the hell happened to the sport we used to love; why has it grown so thoroughly corrupt and unrecognizable over the past twenty-five or so years?"  The other version of this question is directed toward me, as in: "Since you were once a champion, why doesn't your life still revolve around the sport?"

First, I'd like to focus on the personal aspects of this.

The shorthand answer is that, when I was still involved in bodybuilding, back before I retired more than twenty years ago, I wasn't ever really what one might call a "lifestyle bodybuilder." In other words, bodybuilding was simply a sport at which I excelled. It wasn't my core identity. In fact, I often found myself (as I wrote in GORILLA SUIT) desperately wishing I could leave the by-product of my hard training (i.e. that massive and generally uncomfortable physique) in the gym, as a baseball player leaves behind his bat, a track athlete her cleats.

Look, I've written this so many times before it's become something of a personal cliché: Back when I was 19 and wholly adrift, bodybuilding saved my life. But not because of the muscles. Rather, bodybuilding saved me because of the discipline, direction and focus it engendered. It provided both a physical and metaphorical path forward.

I've also often written of having combined my athletic and artistic sides as I pursued bodybuilding, but there was a third part to this intertwined structure: A strong, over-riding philosophy, a chunk of which went something like this: Do the work, do it well, and get on with it. So that's what I'd do: Invest my time in the gym with absolute focus and intensity and then let it go, heading off to pursue my real life; one composed of a dozen other wide-ranging interests from theatre to books to backpacking.

It’s this diversity of interests that eventually led me away from a strict focus on hard-core weight training as a central part of my life. Don’t misread that, though. I'm the fittest and healthiest I've ever been; and certainly the happiest and most authentic. I love my intense yoga practice, my cycling, my hikes and trail runs - and yes, my regular, moderate resistance training. 

In an ironic way, I have the time spent in bodybuilding to thank for leading me toward this eclectic yet focused path, where exercise is merely one part of a fulfilling life.

One of the initial reasons I was first drawn to bodybuilding was the notion that this was what many of us back then were after: Yes, our efforts in the gym would sculpt the best possible physique. But more than that: We were striving to build a life. A real, well-rounded, amazing life. That was the bodybuilding of Arnold, of Zane, of Reeves.
 
That was my bodybuilding.

AC Slater

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Re: Paris
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2012, 06:43:33 PM »
no one cares what that penis puffer thinks.
I dont like twinks.

Rudee

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2012, 12:20:47 PM »
Although Bob Paris is gayer than a stack of strawberry pancakes, I respect the physique he built.  If I was to pick one pussy pulling physique to have for life, Bob's would be top of my list.   (no homo)

Kwon_2

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2012, 12:22:08 PM »
Yes, we might not agree with his lifestyle-choices here on Getbig, but he had a great physique. (one of the best)

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2012, 12:23:38 PM »
After Nestle bought bodybuilding it's been downward ride.
.

BayGBM

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2012, 02:14:58 PM »
http://www.bobparis.com/2012/11/so-what-happened.html



So, What Happened? I've recently received several emails asking the same essential question, "What happened to bodybuilding?"

Many of these messages refer to the sport itself, with the common upshot being: "What the hell happened to the sport we used to love; why has it grown so thoroughly corrupt and unrecognizable over the past twenty-five or so years?"  The other version of this question is directed toward me, as in: "Since you were once a champion, why doesn't your life still revolve around the sport?"

First, I'd like to focus on the personal aspects of this.

The shorthand answer is that, when I was still involved in bodybuilding, back before I retired more than twenty years ago, I wasn't ever really what one might call a "lifestyle bodybuilder." In other words, bodybuilding was simply a sport at which I excelled. It wasn't my core identity. In fact, I often found myself (as I wrote in GORILLA SUIT) desperately wishing I could leave the by-product of my hard training (i.e. that massive and generally uncomfortable physique) in the gym, as a baseball player leaves behind his bat, a track athlete her cleats.

Look, I've written this so many times before it's become something of a personal cliché: Back when I was 19 and wholly adrift, bodybuilding saved my life. But not because of the muscles. Rather, bodybuilding saved me because of the discipline, direction and focus it engendered. It provided both a physical and metaphorical path forward.

I've also often written of having combined my athletic and artistic sides as I pursued bodybuilding, but there was a third part to this intertwined structure: A strong, over-riding philosophy, a chunk of which went something like this: Do the work, do it well, and get on with it. So that's what I'd do: Invest my time in the gym with absolute focus and intensity and then let it go, heading off to pursue my real life; one composed of a dozen other wide-ranging interests from theatre to books to backpacking.

It’s this diversity of interests that eventually led me away from a strict focus on hard-core weight training as a central part of my life. Don’t misread that, though. I'm the fittest and healthiest I've ever been; and certainly the happiest and most authentic. I love my intense yoga practice, my cycling, my hikes and trail runs - and yes, my regular, moderate resistance training. 

In an ironic way, I have the time spent in bodybuilding to thank for leading me toward this eclectic yet focused path, where exercise is merely one part of a fulfilling life.

One of the initial reasons I was first drawn to bodybuilding was the notion that this was what many of us back then were after: Yes, our efforts in the gym would sculpt the best possible physique. But more than that: We were striving to build a life. A real, well-rounded, amazing life. That was the bodybuilding of Arnold, of Zane, of Reeves.
 
That was my bodybuilding.

Really?  Sorry, I'm not buying that... and when one looks at how so many bodybuilders turn out a few years later (broke, damaged relationships, unhealthy, etc.) it's clear that they were not building lives--only bodies.  I wish the case were otherwise.  :(

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2012, 02:15:56 PM »
Although Bob Paris is gayer than a stack of strawberry pancakes, I respect the physique he built.  If I was to pick one pussy pulling physique to have for life, Bob's would be top of my list.   (no homo)
X2


The gays are always such great writers. (OMR being one of them)

Dr Dutch

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2012, 02:16:56 PM »
Suicidezilla

Kwon_2

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #8 on: November 06, 2012, 02:17:10 PM »
X2


The gays are always such great writers. (OMR being one of them)

BAYBGM is very intelligent as well.

Big Chiro Flex

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2012, 02:18:08 PM »
BAYBGM is very intelligent as well.
Really? All I've ever read is his agenda trying to convince me that I'm gay because I bodybuild.

Dr Dutch

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #10 on: November 06, 2012, 02:20:50 PM »
Really? All I've ever read is his agenda trying to convince me that I'm gay because I bodybuild.
Being intelligent doesn't mean he can't be frustrated... ;)

arce1988

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2012, 02:34:08 PM »
  A Statue

G_Thang

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #12 on: November 06, 2012, 03:04:18 PM »
X2


The gays are always such great writers. (OMR being one of them)

Science Minds > Liberal Arts Minds, but they sure are great creative writers.

That sums it up.

dustin

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #13 on: November 06, 2012, 03:06:11 PM »
Really? All I've ever read is his agenda trying to convince me that I'm gay because I bodybuild.

Really? I never got that from him. Been a really big fan of him. He lives pretty damn close to me too. I always hoped I'd run into him.

OMR is also a really good writer too, and a good person.

Kwon_2

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #14 on: November 06, 2012, 03:06:22 PM »
Really? All I've ever read is his agenda trying to convince me that I'm gay because I bodybuild.

That may be true, but i suppose that's mainly due to him worrying about your credit rating

tommywishbone

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #15 on: November 06, 2012, 04:04:47 PM »
26 years ago and still one of the nicest physiques ever. Amazing. No Homo. . . well. . . a little.
a

che

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #16 on: November 06, 2012, 04:16:40 PM »
26 years ago and still one of the nicest physiques ever. Amazing. No Homo. . . well. . . a little.

Best combination of handsomeness, aesthetics ,size , definition , proportions ,class,  elegance , fineness,  gracefulness,  refinement, stateliness, gloriousness , magnificence,   tastefulness, exquisiteness........... .....ever.(no homo)

tommywishbone

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #17 on: November 06, 2012, 04:19:46 PM »
Lots of "ness" in that post Che.  :D
a

che

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #18 on: November 06, 2012, 04:26:09 PM »
Lots of "ness" in that post Che.  :D

Truthfulness :)

Pet shop boys

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #19 on: November 06, 2012, 05:00:38 PM »
Wold have been funny to see Bob Paris at his very best "on a best physique contest" losing to Branch,Jay,Jackson and Philsulin on mainstream tv channel......




WOOOSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

tommywishbone

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #20 on: November 06, 2012, 05:01:23 PM »
a

deceiver

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #21 on: November 06, 2012, 05:08:59 PM »
Yada, yada, yada.

Judging standards changed. That's all. What it takes to go back is changing the way contests are judged and stop pushing monsters. Thats it folks.

This "article" is a pseudo-intellectual mutter.

Bam-bam

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #22 on: November 06, 2012, 05:53:37 PM »
Really?  Sorry, I'm not buying that... and when one looks at how so many bodybuilders turn out a few years later (broke, damaged relationships, unhealthy, etc.) it's clear that they were not building lives--only bodies.  I wish the case were otherwise.  :(

bay again with his cliche and basic passive agressive attacks on bodybuilding and bodybuilders.

Chacka

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #23 on: November 06, 2012, 06:10:56 PM »
bay again with his cliche and basic passive agressive attacks on bodybuilding and bodybuilders.

would have expected him to support Paris's view as they are both "brothers" however it seems his disdain for "lifting weights" has over powered his cock-lust ???

cephissus

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Re: Bob Paris - So what happened to Bodybuilding?
« Reply #24 on: November 06, 2012, 06:41:18 PM »
Yada, yada, yada.

Judging standards changed. That's all. What it takes to go back is changing the way contests are judged and stop pushing monsters. Thats it folks.

This "article" is a pseudo-intellectual mutter.

I agree but why did the standards change?

Because more and more people found out about steroids, now only the mentally deranged freaks are stupid enough to engage in pro bbing.  The secret is out, and only those deluded enough to not see it themselves are still suckered into chasing and living "the dream."

There is no going back.  The illusion has been shattered.  Pretty soon even the most naive (grandmothers, children, etc.) will understand that the strongest thing about big musclemen is their delusion.