wish I lived in a time with no drugs...

[Steel 0]

Quote

My brother (the biology PhD at Albert Einstein University in New York - have I mentioned how proud I am of him??) benches 300, 4 reps and has never used drugs in his life. He's also been lifting weights for 15 years. It can be done without drugs. Drugs are for people that are impatient.

Ok, no arguement there. I have done 305 for three reps, also drugfree ofcourse. But there is a huge difference between that and 315 for 8. In anycase, I don't even deny that 315 for 8 drugfree is possible. But it is rare, throw in maintaining washboard abs and it makes it damn near impossible.

If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass.
Can't think of anything I need
No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound.
Nothing to eat, no books to read.

[skydiver30960 0]

Quote

I don't get the recreational athlete doing it. Why? What's the benefit? To me, it's no different than an anorexic, with a self image that is nothgin less than problematic.

Why to 100-jump Wonders want to jump a sub-100 sqft canopy? Because it's "cool". They see their "heroes" doing it, and they want to do it too. So they try, and they get hurt or worse. Same thing with the andro and steriods and "shady" supplements... folks read the magazines, see the body types that they are told are "ideal", and do whatever they need to do to reach it. Not saying it's right, just that's why it happens.

Elvisio "drug free and bench is stuck at 285" rodriguez

[billvon 3,120]

> he is probably stonger than I will ever be. So now I feel like shit
> wondering whats wrong with me . . .

I don't get this. There are people who are better skydivers than I am; Kate will always be better at big ways than I am, and Dan will always be better at 4-way than I am. None of that makes me feel like shit. I figure I'm pretty good; I've set a few world records, taught around a thousand people to skydive, and I get the chance to do some fun dives. But when I see someone better than I am, it doesn't make me feel bad. If anything, I think it's pretty cool to be jumping with people who are better skydivers than I am; that's how you learn. It would be depressing to get to a point where you had nothing left to learn (or thought you did.) But that's just me.

[Steel 0]

Quote

> he is probably stonger than I will ever be. So now I feel like shit
> wondering whats wrong with me . . .

I don't get this. There are people who are better skydivers than I am; Kate will always be better at big ways than I am, and Dan will always be better at 4-way than I am. None of that makes me feel like shit. I figure I'm pretty good; I've set a few world records, taught around a thousand people to skydive, and I get the chance to do some fun dives. But when I see someone better than I am, it doesn't make me feel bad. If anything, I think it's pretty cool to be jumping with people who are better skydivers than I am; that's how you learn. It would be depressing to get to a point where you had nothing left to learn (or thought you did.) But that's just me.

Ok I am not sure how this will relate with your case. But I will say, that I believe people are a product of their environment. I don't believe that this is a bad thing. This is why whenever I am in the NYC area, I stop by some high profile gyms and work out sometimes. When I see a lot of people accomplishing more than me it makes me want to do better to stay on top. That is the nature of competition. Now if I go to a high profile gym I expect to see more people who are better. (most of the time they are drug users anyway so it doesn't matter to me) . But when its the company gym, I don't expect my fellow co-workers to be using chemical enhancements. So the first thing that would run through my mind if somebody was way better is the following: Here is a fellow telecom guy who is working out on his lunch break, just like me, and somehow he has managed to accomplish a lot more, so what am I doing wrong? Ofcourse as soon as I found out the difference was drugs I didn't care anymore.

If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass.
Can't think of anything I need
No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound.
Nothing to eat, no books to read.