When I first became involved in bodybuilding, I would do whatever I saw someone else doing or what the magazines said. Where is real bodybuilding knowledge? Where can I find information that will help me produce real results? Find out what I found!
When I first became involved in "bodybuilding" I was 13 years of age. For several months I followed two of my friends to the gym at our county high school. The gym was fair-sized, and was used by many people.

The exercise routines that I and the others did were fairly general, mostly ineffective, and sometimes injurious. But, somehow, just "going to the gym" made my friends and I feel better about ourselves.

What exercises did we do? USUALLY WHATEVER WE SAW EVERYBODY ELSE DOING! We would read the magazines and watch others during their workouts. From this we would devise routines, hoping to each become larger, tougher, and as a consequence more popular and respected. Going to the gym, in this fashion, and for these reasons, seemed like the right thing to do. It was only later that we stopped to ask:

"Where is real bodybuilding knowledge? Where is a source that gives knowledge that is effective and that will produce results when applied correctly?"

Many Bodybuilders Never Ask Themselves These Questions

When plateaus come and when frustrations mount, many bodybuilders seek out personal trainers. In doing this, many bodybuilders have signed their muscular gains away, and the odds of success are so slim that they can only be matched by the odds associated with playing the lottery.

For many bodybuilders, if a personal trainer is "certified" than no other assurances of credibility are required. Sadly, certification does not make someone a bodybuilding authority. For those of you who have trusted your health to a personal trainer, you need to ask some important questions:

1. Does your personal trainer strictly adhere to the laws of science when taking you under his or her charge?

2. Does your personal trainer take the time to clearly and regularly explain to you the reasons why he or she is having you do something in the way you are being asked to do it?

3. Does he or she enthusiastically answer your training and nutrition related questions? Or, do they evade answering, only to dispense general, non specific catchphrases of conventional "common sense wisdom" when they do answer?

4. Are you getting results under their guidance?

The fact that many can answer "no" to even one of the above questions is a clear and unmistakable sign that the fitness industry is presently on unstable ground. The magazines are not much better. Commercialization has seen the line between genuine science-backed knowledge, and advertising propaganda, blur.

Opening any bodybuilding magazine will show as much. For every genuine training or nutrition article, there is an advertisement for the latest sugar-creatine powder, or the latest arginine-delivered-whey protein concoction.

Even when the so-called training articles are actually about training, often the routines prescribed are suitable only for chemically assisted athletes. In a situation like this, what is the trainee to do?

Somewhere, in the vast sea of confusion, are real answers. Somewhere there is a person, or a group of persons, who are willing to tell fully all that is required to build the body that you have always dreamed about.

Who & Where Are These People?

Who are these people? Who is making sense of all of the confusion "out there"? In the Bible, Jesus Christ remarked: "If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8: 31-32). If you are to grow as a bodybuilder, who is that is making sense of the bodybuilding lifestyle? Who is citing the latest scientific research so that you will make continual gains? Who is always encouraging you to utilize the scientific method?

If the words of Christ are true for spirituality, the words for bodybuilding would be: "If you follow sound advice, you are a bodybuilder. And you shall grow and know the truth; and the truth shall set you free of plateaus, frustration and stagnation." How much have you grown in the past year by following the latest "master trainer" or by reading the latest bodybuilding magazine?

Results are the ultimate indicator as to the correctness of any source or method. The only way to set yourself free of plateaus and frustration is to find that source of bodybuilding truth that makes bodybuilding make plain sense. Bodybuilding.com is that source.
Be sure to check out our fitness calculators page. Dozens of easy to use calculators to make your life easier!


The other writers and I at Bodybuilding.com hope sincerely that when you visit the web site you will recognize the truth that we present, and that you will do research to really prove to yourself that what you find here is correct. We don't ask you to "take our words for it", nor do we ask you to believe in phony "before" and "after" pictures. We do ask you to experience real results for yourself by taking what we write, and applying it in your everyday lives.

If you are a regular reader of my writings or those of my colleagues, or if this is your first time visiting Bodybuilding.com, you will no doubt notice that we are unique. We constantly refer to the latest science and research, and we do our utmost to make science have an immediate, applicable impact on the lives of our readers and visitors. This approach goes way beyond anything that you will find with a personal trainer, or with any of the bodybuilding magazines for sale on the news stands.

In the article Do You Believe In True Bodybuilding? it was shown that the true bodybuilding lifestyle is not the same as what is being passed off as "bodybuilding" today. Despite this fact, the magazines and the general media continue to promote "cosmetic bodybuilding." Rather than emphasizing health, an emphasis on looks-at-all-costs is promoted; not in the name of health, but promoted in the name of sales. The magazines and media promote a superficial lifestyle characterized by a "win-or-lose" dichotomous mentality that results only in failure for all who adopt its message, and frustration for all who try to live up to its ideals. It is very clear that the general media is blind to the life changing effects of true bodybuilding.

To live a rich, healthy, full life, it is important to focus on sound information from reliable sources. For your success as an athlete, no better time-investment could be made. The driving philosophy of Bodybuilding.com is to deliver exceptional value to our readers and customers. This necessitates a commitment to excellence and truth. This means delivering to you the full truth that is necessary for you to get real results. This means never stopping the work that puts you first.

Bodybuilding.com is more than "just another company". Bodybuilding.com is the company that sets the standard of excellence in the industry, the company that puts you first, and that sees your hopes and dreams as special and unique, and wants to see you realize them.

It is the greatest company in the industry because of the quality of character of everyone that makes this work possible.

We are the light in the darkness of confusion, the one source that can make sense of the information "out there". We are the place where real bodybuilding information can be found. Enrich your life, mind and spirit by partaking of the knowledge here. Much success.