Am I bodybuilding for my enjoyment, or just to impress other people.

[Husseinisdoingfine]

I’ve been going to the gym recently and pushing massive weights, as well as drinking protein shakes and eating much more than I usually do. I can’t say I feel any better.

Below is a picture of a card I got from a Marine Corps advertisement, of exercises I used to do (the image is not uploading, but it’s a plastic card of push ups and sit ups to do). Now I go to the gym. I don’t really feel any better. When I was eating plant based small-medium portions and doing the Marine Corps exercises, I felt great. And I had plenty of time for meditation and other things. But now I’m gagging on these disgusting protein shakes.

Is building muscle really just all Ego?

I know Buddhism is kind of trashed on this forum, for being dogmatic and producing minuscule states of consciousness, but they were definitely on to something when they suggested that desire produced suffering.

Should I stop bodybuilding? I do it really because I’m insecure of how skinny I am, and worry that fems don’t like it. But point to me ONE example of a monk with shredded muscles. My guru heroes (Sadghuru, Osho, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, etc…), none of them were ever shredded. Except for Ken Wilber of course.

[Preety_India]

Mostly it's all about Ego and less about health. 

 

[something_else]

2 minutes ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

fems

If you're unironically calling women 'fems' you have bigger problems than being too skinny lol

4 minutes ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

I do it really because I’m insecure of how skinny I am,

I am also really skinny and quite insecure about it, but I don't know how much it matters.

My arms look like toothpicks, especially my wrists. I've done some weightlifting mainly focusing on arms to build up at least some bicep/tricep and forearm muscles and I've seen reasonable results

The reason I say I'm not sure if it matters though is that I actually can't think of a single time a girl has called me skinny, but for my height I'm considered underweight

I think it's probably not a bad thing to use it as a motivation to keep active. I would like to put on some serious muscle at some point just to see what I look like and learn what my body is capable of. You may as well commit to it and see where the journey takes you

I hope you gain some value from this thread before you inevitably delete it later on 

[spiritual memes]

@Husseinisdoingfine Yes it's about ego but you should do it anyways to burn through karma

[mandyjw]

We want a perfect body or a perfect career or whatever because we think in the having of it we will feel great and also be bulletproof and immune to insecurity. But you have to see that insecurity is self created, other people aren't causing it, there's no real hierarchy or social structure or survival bias or whatever else that's causing it. Once you get the the core of that desire, the desire to feel good unconditionally and be immune to what others think, you see that you already have it, and it is only our own thoughts saying otherwise that creates the illusion of vulnerability. 

The car, the hot girl, the house, the muscles, might just be a lesser desire covered over the desire to feel and Know oneself as invulnerable and beyond thoughts about ourselves that feel bad to think. Everything we want is because of the way we think we'll feel in the having of it. Get the foundation right and everything will come and if it doesn't something better will. 

Then you're more in touch with what actually feels good, what you actually want now. 

Don't throw out desires like the baby in the bathwater, just realize, there's no "you" behind them, and nothing holding you apart from it. A pure desire feels like a great idea. It doesn't need to result in anything great, because it knows it is already great. 

Edited January 25 by mandyjw

[Carl-Richard]

I love lifting weights. I started because I wanted to look bigger, but I kept going because of how it makes me feel on a physical level. Nothing beats the feeling of calmness and satisfaction you get from walking home after a gym session. 

Drop the shakes. I've never bought any powders in my almost 10 years of lifting. The only thing I bring to the gym is a piece of fruit and a water bottle (and lifting straps ).

That isn't to say I don't like feeling muscular. It's just not something I usually spend much time thinking about (or maybe I've gotten used to it). Of course, if I can't go to the gym for some reason or if I get an injury that impedes my performance, then I'll start thinking about it more.

[lxlichael]

@Husseinisdoingfine

In my good experience of lifting weights, running is the far superior task when it comes to building the minds capacities to employ agency over the bodies sympathetic nervous system and general bodily responses. Most bodybuilders would be pussies when it comes to running not to say that all runners aren't either, most probably don't push themselves as much as they should.

You must be pushing yourself to the edge (1) as much as possible (2) for as long as possible in order to truly test and grow the mind (literally your brain will grow in certain areas, not just common knowledge now in the right circles neurogenesis in the hippocampus and hippocampal growth).

I wish I had started sooner.

Respectful recommendation: Do both (or any other combination as many other things outside of both running and weights I just don't know of an activity that would test the mind in this way more than running and I want to be challenged if someone sincerely believes this to be the case) where it is most intelligent for you to do so. Prioritise the building of your mind in the action or any related action therein over anything else (i.e. simply building muscle).

[Carl-Richard]

2 minutes ago, lxlichael said:

I just don't know of an activity that would test the mind in this way more than running and I want to be challenged if someone sincerely believes this to be the case) where it is most intelligent for you to do so. Prioritise the building of your mind in the action or any related action therein over anything else (i.e. simply building muscle).

Nothing tests the mind more than committing for a deadlift max.

 

Lifting heavy weights is also one of the very few things that consistently increases IQ scores

[Federico del pueblo]

@Husseinisdoingfine 

I think it can be both, an ego thing but also an amazing thing.

But anyway I think it's amazing to lift some weights. It just gives you this feeling of "I'm doing a manly thing" and as laughable as that might seem to some people, I think there are good reasons for why it is like this.

I'd say do your workouts but do so within reason, you don't need to be 250 pounds of muscle to be attractive for girls.

Do as much training as is really enjoyable for, sure, sometimes you must push yourself because you're lazy. But what I actually mean is: if you can reach maintain a good physique with 3-4 workouts of an hour per week and this is actually fun for you, then do it.

Don't believe that you must train 6 times a week for 3 hours so you become huge and thus more attractive...you don't need that much muscle mass to be attractive, most girls don't want huge muscle mountains, they want toned guys (if at all).

 

Also: while doing all your training, don't neglect the inner work of changing beliefs and emotions etc, the more you do of that, the less you'll feel like you need huge muscles.

Edited January 25 by Federico del pueblo
added last paragraph

[lxlichael]

@Carl-Richard I don't interpret this as a challenge if it is be more direct about it haha. Otherwise deadlifts genuinely are useful, I do them. From martial arts to cliff climbing, various things test and grow the mind in various ways. Running for me is the ultimate diamond I've found so far, though I'm always open-minded. I'm so open minded that I even bypassed the obvious humour and inputted "IQ incrase" + "Deadlifting" into google .

Edited January 25 by lxlichael

[Preety_India]

16 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

Nothing tests the mind more than committing for a deadlift max.

 

Lifting heavy weights is also one of the very few things that consistently increases IQ scores

Then why do they appear so dumb. 

[Kamo]

Ive been training and body building for about 5 years now. As well as following along with actualized.org for about 6 years. Being a Marine Corp Veteran myself I learned a motto, "Know yourself, and seek self improvement"  Our goal is to optimize Body and Mind with our Spiritual Growth and Personal Development. You can frame your training in a way that your conscious of what your doing which is building a healthy ego. Going to the gym is primarily a functional survival technique. Being conscious of these functions will shed some light on the purpose of going to the gym.

• Building Strength-Having strength serves as a very useful function for survival and makes doing certain physical tasks easier to perform. It allows one to do manual labor such as lifting, pushing, climbing, chopping wood, carrying heavy objects ect..
• Physical Defense- Being stronger gives you a higher chance of successfully defending yourself or a loved one in a life threatening situation against an assailant or attacker, coupled with proper self defense techniques makes you better able to handle physical confrontation if necessary. 
• General Health-Remaining physically active leads to good health and longevity.
• Psychological Health- Impacts ones self esteem and self image in positive ways depending on how identified with the body you are. As well as increases your ability to focus, relieves stress, helps memory, and can impact depression, anxiety, and mood.
• Mate Signaling-Due to the biological reproductive system, psychological need for sex and reproduction are human needs. Having a more fit or muscular physique has been shown to "visually" attract woman. You still have to be able to communicate well or this function fails to fulfill its purpose.

These are all survival functions and relate to the ego. The way your framing it "Is building muscle just all ego" Is to fall short of understanding survival. You must eat, sleep, and remain active as a function of survival. Depending on what kind of lifestyle you live, putting on muscle can be beneficial and serves to aid in the survival needs that I listed above. How ever it is only one method and survival is not completely dependent upon going to the gym or not, its another tool. Placing any additional stigma or judgment on it would be missing the function it serves. 

If your trying to simply look more muscular to attract woman thats a different layer of ego which is stemming from your lack of self esteem and going to the gym will not change that. It may help but you need to do deeper psychological work on yourself to identify the root cause. 

[Husseinisdoingfine]

1 hour ago, mandyjw said:

The car, the hot girl, the house, the muscles, might just be a lesser desire covered over the desire to feel and Know oneself as invulnerable and beyond thoughts about ourselves that feel bad to think. Everything we want is because of the way we think we'll feel in the having of it. Get the foundation right and everything will come and if it doesn't something better will. 

YES!

Even if I get those muscles, I still have yet to solve my deep psychological insecurities.

Edit:

P.S. for anyone reading, that Marine Corps exercise card I linked above is the exact one I used.

Edited January 25 by Husseinisdoingfine

[PurpleTree]

nope you bodybuild for me and i think it's hot, oooh yessss more reps for that gluteus maximussss baby                 jk

1 hour ago, Preety_India said:

Then why do they appear so dumb. 

shhhhhhhhhh 

14 minutes ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

YES!

Even if I get those muscles, I still have yet to solve my deep psychological insecurities.

Edit:

P.S. for anyone reading, that Marine Corps exercise card I linked above is the exact one I used.

sure, i used to think money could solve all my problems as a teen, used to visualise money and all that but now of course i know it doesn't make me happy

sure money helps and is fun but i'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable

i'd rather be rich and happy than poor and happy though

and i'd rather be rich and miserable than poor and miserable 

who cares though? nobody

Edited January 25 by PurpleTree

[RobertZ]

I would reiterate @Kamo‘s point, that bodybuilding is a survival strategy.

For some people, bodybuilding is one path to self-respect. Bodybuilding provides a primal knowledge that “I am strong. I look fantastic because I earned it.” Self-respect [and a bit of an ego] promotes survival in some situations.  Self-respect also provides a foundation for the virtues (like fortitude and courage); and these virtues are the “raw material” for graceful habits like hope. 

Foundations do not always have to be strong. If a person is already floating in a community that deeply assumes respect for life—norms of caring for each other’s feelings, available healthcare, broad and deep care for vulnerable people, and so on, then maybe (maybe) there is little need for a person to develop their self-respect. Even a twig can float on a lake of esteem. 

However, when a person faces hostile situations like bullying or harassment, then the mental requirements of transforming one’s body, and the new body itself, provide core advantages. I'll cite Dwayne Johnson's imposing character and Zac Effron's chiseled abs--not meaning to exclude any number of stunning women. 

Maybe you already respect yourself enough, and you don't need to bodybuild, or take any other path toward self respect. Maybe a 'god bod' is not worth the negative feelings you feel right now. Your subtext suggests that you don't want to continue bodybuilding.

Many people try weights, food, and rest for a little while, then decide against bodybuilding. Nothing is wrong with not bodybuilding. A person answers to their own aspirations. Note, however, that it takes about 10 years of intense work to fully develop an adult body.

It sounds like you are giving bodybuilding a fair shot because you did not say,  ‘My body prevented me from reaching those grapes, but those grapes were probably sour anyway.’

[Carl-Richard]

7 hours ago, Preety_India said:

Then why do they appear so dumb. 

Well yeah as a general rule, sure . However, there is something to be said for being the best in the world at something, especially in the case of Eddie Hall and this particular lift. He beat the previous world record by a margin of 7%, which is literally unheard of in the history of powerlifting (or probably any sport). He just picked a number he wanted to lift (500kg) and went to all lengths to try to pull it off (within the rules of professional powerlifting of course). He gathered a team of doctors, psychiatrists and hypnotherapists to try to find a way to unlock his maximum potential and eventually landed on teaching himself to enter a hyperadrenergic trance-like state on command, the types of states that happen during near death situations, which is an extremely mentally challening thing to do, aside from running a world class physical training regimen on top of that. The ability to execute on your vision like that; the careful planning and extreme hard work and dedication that is required to not just innovate but absolute dominate, is not something a dumb person can pull off . If we look to bodybuilding as well, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not exactly a dumb guy either

[Leo Gura]

You can do bodybuilding in a more healthy way, focused more on health rather than pure looks:

 

[Preety_India]

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You can do bodybuilding in a more healthy way, focused more on health rather than pure looks:

 

Whats your opinion on steroids? 

 

[itachi uchiha]

start to love doing the gym routine. muscle are by product. exercise is the cause . try to love doing exercise and muscle will happen on its own

[Kshantivadin]

10 hours ago, mandyjw said:

The car, the hot girl, the house, the muscles, might just be a lesser desire covered over the desire to feel and Know oneself as invulnerable and beyond thoughts about ourselves that feel bad to think. Everything we want is because of the way we think we'll feel in the having of it. Get the foundation right and everything will come and if it doesn't something better will. 

Then you're more in touch with what actually feels good, what you actually want now. 

Don't throw out desires like the baby in the bathwater, just realize, there's no "you" behind them, and nothing holding you apart from it. A pure desire feels like a great idea. It doesn't need to result in anything great, because it knows it is already great.