Why do we do it?

shmoony

Just a little soul searching question for the bulkers out there. If you've gone through a couple bulk cut cycles and have low body fat with substantial muscle, what's the point if doing it again and again? Isn't the objective to be healthy, look good, and experience the physical and emotional benefits of regular exercise? If a guy weighs 175 with 11% bf, I don't see the point of continuing to bulk. Wouldn't a lifestyle if regular resistance training with maintenance caloric intake be better than living half your life with a gel coating only to have a net result of a few pounds of muscle a year. For what? Muscles don't make you healthier, women don't typically find more muscular men more attractive after a certain point, and then you have to go through cut cycles where you need to restrict your diet and do boring cardio. Is it really worth it? Is it our inate desire to be constantly progressing wherein if we we're not moving forward it feels like we're moving backwards? I ask not as someone from the outside looking in, but as one of us looking to answer my own question as to why I feel the need to be bigger and look better if I'm already big and look good. (According to my wife that is)

MichaelRobinson1994

I'm by no means big, and im fairly new to trying to gain some weight, but my brother is pretty well built, he says that he likes getting to his goal size/weight/bf% after a bulk/cut cycle, but after a few weeks there, he starts wanting to get bigger again!
He doesn't know why, he just feels small after he's stayed the same size for a bit

TavistockToad

I don't see the point of continuing to bulk. Wouldn't a lifestyle if regular resistance training with maintenance caloric intake be better than living half your life with a gel coating only to have a net result of a few pounds of muscle a year. For what? Muscles don't make you healthier, women don't typically find more muscular men more attractive after a certain point, and then you have to go through cut cycles where you need to restrict your diet and do boring cardio. Is it really worth it?

if you dont think its worth it, then dont do it. obviously a lot of people DO think its worth it.... and that is their choice.

Is it our inate desire to be constantly progressing wherein if we we're not moving forward it feels like we're moving backwards? I ask not as someone from the outside looking in, but as one of us looking to answer my own question as to why I feel the need to be bigger and look better if I'm already big and look good. (According to my wife that is)

maybe because you dont think that, even though your wife does?

Bun_Ya

One thing I get out of it is feeling like I am my own science experiment. I enjoy running the numbers, mapping variables, controlling one aspect of the situation while augmenting another and logging results.
It's also about discipline, motivation and probably denying we are mortal, to a degree. There's a philosophical angle to it somewhere - man conquering his environment in an age where we can't do so literally - or something.

thebradzter

My reasons for bulking are here. I never get fat enough to be unhappy with myself.. its about enjoying the journey bro!

http://thebradzter.co.nz/art-bulking/

CrusaderSam

Most guys at 5'10" are never going to get past 180 at 11% bf no matter how many bulks cuts we do. Some guys are super lucky and they have a good frame and a lot of other factors and they can get up to 190. Once you get past that bulking/cutting is silly you are not going to put on any more muscle. So I think most people just do it so they don't have to be on a "diet" all the time and can say "oh I am bulking". Or they are using it to cover up the fact they are taking steroids. Now the last one is very taboo but if you go to a gym, a lot of the guys are on the stuff, its not uncommon at all but because it is so taboo most guys (even some gals) will just lie about using. Most natural guys just don't get that big, but they want to be. Someone looks at the ifbb pros 260+ 4% bf and you look tiny next to them. So most guys are just spinning their wheels driving themselves crazy for nothing.

jwdieter

It's a hobby.

jason_adams

Because you enjoy the challenge
Because you enjoy the rush of lifting more than you did last week
Because you enjoy the feeling of stripping off the extra fat to see that new muscle you put on

Because hard work can be its own reward

Why settle for awesome when you could have MORE awesome?

SillyTree

I have no idea…!?? I have a lot of bodybuilding friends, and they seem to enjoy it!
Perhaps if they weren't bodybuilding, they wouldn't work out at all?

If you're questioning your reasoning, perhaps you simply should try something else?

Personally, I like to train for something specifically…. An event, or sand volleyball, or my favorite, for my recreational hockey team.





I will say though, that in the fitness industry, I get a lot of Bodybuilders who bash Crossfitters, and vice versa…and so and so bashes so and so…. and on and on…

That is perhaps what frustrates me about all of it, more than anything else… Not the fact that they do what they do, but that people assume what they are doing is better than what everybody else is doing… and if they know something the other person does not, instead of helping everybody learn, grow and be better, they bash each other down…. Thus making people defend themselves, second guess their movements, feel stupid, and become afraid of changing.

The Fitness Industry is like a Holy Place for peoples' insecurities.