Author Topic: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder  (Read 7971 times)

jwb

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #25 on: July 17, 2006, 12:53:57 AM »
I like Kerry's American watch lol
Yeah that was a good one. I like the whey king too.

Best quote is about cormier crying to yates and saying his sports pyschologist told him to rid rid of the outside influences and yates says dude i;ve been telling you that for 6 years you dickhead


UK Gold

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #26 on: July 17, 2006, 01:07:55 AM »
Its a pretty good book, well worth a read. Should be able to get it very cheap from amazon prime or ebay.

hifrommike

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #27 on: July 17, 2006, 01:11:10 AM »
The subtitle would have been more accurate had it read, "Confessions of a Failed Bodybuilder." 

HUGEPECS

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #28 on: July 17, 2006, 06:35:08 AM »
Well, these monkeys, whoever they are should leave bodybuilding alone. When they failed to become bodybuilders, they go out and write books, and give interviews to anybody who would listen. there is nothing new in bodybuilding anymore that we dont know. Bodybuilding have been bashed, ripped to shred by the media time and time again. I really dont need another scrawny nerd who never had what it take to begin with telling me about " the life of bodybuilders"
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Slick Vic

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #29 on: July 17, 2006, 06:39:26 AM »
"He competes in a bench pressing competition and a bodybuilding contest. The harrowing tale of his pre-contest diet (e.g. not using Crest toothpaste because it's sodium content is too high) makes it easy to see why Sam came to his senses and stopped forthwith."

This is silly.  No competitive bodybuilder would have to do this.  Why try to give the impression they eat or train differently or with more effort than we do?
That's just ridiculous.  ::)

ribonucleic

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #30 on: July 17, 2006, 07:10:14 AM »
While I suspect that it takes a number of dramatic liberties [i.e. his mentor does hetero porn], it's my favorite bodybuilding book by a wide margin. It's certainly the most accurate depiction of the, uh, "mental game" in bodybuilding. [Which is why everyone in the industry feels humiliated by it.] And as Adonis insightfully observes, the anti-climactic ending is very true-to-life.


The True Adonis

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #31 on: July 17, 2006, 07:35:38 AM »
While I suspect that it takes a number of dramatic liberties [i.e. his mentor does hetero porn], it's my favorite bodybuilding book by a wide margin. It's certainly the most accurate depiction of the, uh, "mental game" in bodybuilding. [Which is why everyone in the industry feels humiliated by it.] And as Adonis insightfully observes, the anti-climactic ending is very true-to-life.



Who was the mentor?  Know the real name?

ribonucleic

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #32 on: July 17, 2006, 07:37:20 AM »
Who was the mentor?  Know the real name?

Afraid not. But he was an Italian from New York...

Bob Ciccherillo?

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #33 on: July 17, 2006, 08:12:54 AM »
Afraid not. But he was an Italian from New York...

Bob Ciccherillo?

 You implied above that his mentor would have actually been doing gay porn. Are you saying that Bob has done gay porn?... ;D
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funk51

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #34 on: July 17, 2006, 08:30:04 AM »
i thought it was a pretty good book as it shows his growth from an outsider to an insider in the bodybuilding world. esp interesting was his descripton of the caste system in many gyms in this country good reading. try to get your hands on david carters book the iron game it's in a similar vein but more graphic, only some names are changed to protect the quilty. ie the gropenator et el.
F

ribonucleic

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #35 on: July 17, 2006, 08:48:36 AM »
Are you saying that Bob has done gay porn?

You tell me.


BlaXXXima

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #36 on: July 17, 2006, 09:10:22 AM »
Hahahaha... Muscle, by Sam Fussell.

I've read it about 4 times now over the past 10 years. It always makes me laugh and cringe about the 'bodybuilding types' that populate our gyms.

Not like they don't exist in other realms of society, but this book cracked me up.

Def. a must read.

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #37 on: July 17, 2006, 10:46:24 AM »
what is the John Hottens book about?  haven't heard of that one

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #38 on: July 17, 2006, 10:51:50 AM »
I`d like to read Dave Drapers Books.  I hear he has a new one out.  Draper is one of the greats.

timfogarty

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #39 on: July 17, 2006, 10:57:15 AM »
what is the John Hottens book about?  haven't heard of that one

quite a bit about Munzer, Yates, Coleman, DeMilia, McGough

ribonucleic

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #40 on: July 17, 2006, 11:03:53 AM »
what is the John Hottens book about?  haven't heard of that one

Brit-centric, but very well written account of life in the pros. His account of Munzer's demise was rather moving, I thought.

BlaXXXima

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #41 on: July 17, 2006, 08:21:39 PM »
Brit-centric, but very well written account of life in the pros. His account of Munzer's demise was rather moving, I thought.

Agreed. A good read.  Interesting in many ways.

hifrommike

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #42 on: July 17, 2006, 10:52:35 PM »
Hotten is a British investigative reporter & wrote about bodybuilding from the outside.  He went to several shows & interviewed people who knew the details of Munzer's drug stack (which was mind-boggling).  He doesn't do a hatchet job (like ESPN), but he also isn't biased in favor of bodybuilding either.  It's from a British perspective.  It's worth seeing but isn't a must. 

jwb

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #43 on: July 18, 2006, 01:47:41 PM »
Hotten is a British investigative reporter & wrote about bodybuilding from the outside.  He went to several shows & interviewed people who knew the details of Munzer's drug stack (which was mind-boggling).  He doesn't do a hatchet job (like ESPN), but he also isn't biased in favor of bodybuilding either.  It's from a British perspective.  It's worth seeing but isn't a must. 
its a pretty good book and he say it as he saw it.

he gives yates some props as being the brightest bodybuilder he met throughout his research by far.

ronnie he likes as a jovial, funloving character.

some of the rest get what they deserve for being themselves...

Bicep_Boy

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #44 on: August 29, 2006, 11:08:02 PM »
Yeah, I remember that book.  I was a member of Brignole´s Gym at the time.  It was written by a guy named Sam Fussell (as was mentioned before).  His parents were Ivy League professors (as was also mentioned before), or something like that.  Lonne Teper bashed it appropriately, because we all knew it was a bunch of crap.  He created a story by mixing characters and embellishing profusely.  For example, he said he slept outside in his car.  That´s a lie, and the book was filled with them.  But he wanted to write a book that made him look like he had made the journey into the deep dark "cult" world of bodybuilding, and all its freaks.  The reality was not freaky enough to make an "interesting" story, so he colored it - a lot.

nycbull

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #45 on: August 30, 2006, 07:03:03 AM »
Yeah, I remember that book.  I was a member of Brignole´s Gym at the time.  It was written by a guy named Sam Fussell (as was mentioned before).  His parents were Ivy League professors (as was also mentioned before), or something like that.  Lonne Teper bashed it appropriately, because we all knew it was a bunch of crap.  He created a story by mixing characters and embellishing profusely.  For example, he said he slept outside in his car.  That´s a lie, and the book was filled with them.  But he wanted to write a book that made him look like he had made the journey into the deep dark "cult" world of bodybuilding, and all its freaks.  The reality was not freaky enough to make an "interesting" story, so he colored it - a lot.

Dude, the reality of bodybuilding does not need to be embellished. It is as bad as he said. Lonne Teper has a vested interest in the industry, of course he was going to try to squash the book. I think it is a great reality check for anyone getting into bodybuilding.

Dan-O

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #46 on: August 30, 2006, 07:17:29 AM »
The Andreas Munzers, Tom Princes, and Samuel Fussells of the world should not be bodybuilding.

Matt, Matt...  those types of people you described ARE the vast majority of people who are bodybuilding!

gatrainer

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #47 on: August 30, 2006, 08:02:22 AM »

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #48 on: August 31, 2006, 06:34:12 PM »
Matt, Matt...  those types of people you described ARE the vast majority of people who are bodybuilding!

Of course Fussell was apparently smart enough to draw the line somewhere short of total self destruction.
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El_Spiko

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Re: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder
« Reply #49 on: August 31, 2006, 07:01:05 PM »
I read Sam Fussel's book. Interesting. I liked it overall, but definitely focused on the negative. He tried to write "from the inside", but he is clearly viewing it as an outsider. He's trying to display bodybuilding as a freakshow, playing up all the urban legends about it. There is some truth in those myths, but only some. Dave Draper is one fo my favorite writers, but my favorite BB book is still Pumping Iron. Charles Gaines perfectly captured the sport in his writing, punctuating his writing with the photographs of George Butler. The fact that many of the problems with bb that Gaines touches on in Pumping Iron are still problems in the sport today says alot about his insightfulness
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