Reactions To Muscle

Bob Evans

Member
I know this topic has been raised before. But I have been noticing it recently. How other people react to you when you have a build. Here are a few things I notice.

1) I catch people looking at me "checking me out".

2) Strangers -- like sales people will bring up the topic of working out, and weight lifting and ask questions. Then talk about their own fitness programs. -- or lack there of.
(I always pitch HST by-the-way)

3) Some people will warn me not to get "too big"

4) One guy asked me if I was power lifter (that’s when I decided to start cutting!!!)

I am far from Greek God material. It is just interesting to see the reactions. I gotta admit I am not complaining. What is weird is some reactions are positive -- and some negative. It is also a little weird having guys stare at you. And then glance away when you look in their direction.

Curious to hear other people's experiences and comments on the subject.

I can only imagine what Blade, Bryan, Biz and the other BIG GUYS on here experience.

BOB
:D
 
Because of high body fat I rarely get looks because of my build.  However, I have been 6'4" since about 6th grade and am generally a lot larger than most people, even those my height.  I catch people staring sometimes, and then they look away when I notice, yeah.  I guess I get the same mix of reactions plus a few others.  A lot of guys with beer muscles try and start fights with me at bars, which is annoying.  Smaller women and I guess people in general tend to either be scared or intimidated, or just plain avoid me because when I'm relaxed and chilling I tend to look pissed off.  The shaved head doesn't help.

I've also taken to sitting on the floor rather than chairs or couches.  One, I find it more comfortable.  Most chairs and couches just don't feel 'right' or comfortable to me.  Two, it seems to relax people when I make myself as small as possible.  One of my best friends is this real sweet girl.  She's 130 soaking wet, tall and with a real slight build.  She was scared of me when she first met me.  Glad she got over that, 'cause she's a total sweetheart.
I guess being larger than most people and able to lift more weight than them, and having it be obvious, is sort of an isolator to a certain extent.  Then again, there are always women who love big, strong, burly guys.  :D
Thank God for the size advantage too.  Without it I'd be a total loss in a fight.
 
MOST people act positively about me as a bodybuilder but I've learned that the workplace is not the place to show off the biceps (or pecs or abs or anything else). Most people are out of shape and they become intimidated when someone who has a good body walks into the room. But, in addition to jealousy, others still have the same misconception that they have about a blonde female with big tits - stupidity. They look at a bodybuilder and think, great body but no brains or, as I've heard before, nice house; nobody home. So, I no longer try to wear tight clothes at work but I also don't wear tents either. My "appearance" is more than just physique; it's also intelligence.
Dave
 
I've put on some muscle the past year a half, but I still have a way to go to make some heads turn.
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It's a good thing I heard about HST.. can't wait to start my first cycle this Monday!

Coming from a college student... some of the guys that are bigger in the gym usually have a cocky attitude and are @$$holes, especially when I am back home near the city.
 
I'm not huge yet, but I am pretty close to breaking 200 (I'll be there in a few weeks hopefully) and at 6'1, that's not very large. I still get a fair amount of looks but not really for muscle.

Most of the guys at work don't seem intimidated. They ask me to flex my arms a lot and ask for advice on training, diet, etc a lot. Some other things are probably best left unsaid in public.

You know I think an interesting thread would be about self image. How do you view yourself? I always see myself as scrawny, tiny and weak when I look in the mirror, even though people around me say otherwise. I've always wondered if there are a lot of people with similar feelings about themselves in the bodybuilding world.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]They ask me to flex my arms a lot

I guess that is an example of what I am talking about. Last month I saw a guy who I had gone to grad school with, he has always been a lifter and is in great shape. when he saw me he grabed my bicep and said "good on you man--- you are staying with it --you'r there!!!" I also saw an old high school friend -- I told him I had gotten back into lifting and showed him my arm -- his reaction was "gross" and made a face. He is not a lifter but his brother is a bodybuilder. The opostie reactions is something I am currious about.


Deathdance - regarding body image. Alot of guys do it to compensate for having been a skinny kid. I shot up early and filled out early -- so I never thought of myself as small. But say in 6th grade -- you look up the ladder to the bigger kids a few years older than you -- so in a way everybody is a skinny kid when you are compairing yourself to the older kids.

I just always liked muscle -- thought that is the way the world should be. I respected the guys who had it and wanted it for myself. Then was amazed that it was accessable -all you had to do was work out a bit and it was yours.

Bob
 
I have gotten to the point where I hate to have small talk with strangers because it always goes the same way:
"Good to meet you. I'm a trainer. I am in school, still. No, I don't play football. No, I didn't play before. I am a bodybuilder. Who cares how much I bench!"

I still like the attention though, good and bad.
 
Xahrx, I can definately attest to what you are saying. I'm somewhere between 6'3 and 6'4. I'm not muscularly huge, but just by reaching proportions relative to my height, I look pretty big. I'm still on the skinny side (on my opinion) but I weight 215, just because it's stretched over so much of me.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (BoSox @ June 22 2005,8:56)]I'm not muscularly huge, but just by reaching proportions relative to my height, I look pretty big.  
Stop being so modest, if I could have found that pic of yourself you posted in one of the Sonny battles you had I would

Oh wait here it is :) Has anybody told you need to work on your left calf, I'd say it almost freakish, give it some thought ;)

jay%20cutler.jpg
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (dkm1987 @ June 22 2005,10:57)]Has anybody told you need to work on your left calf, I'd say it almost freakish, give it some thought ;)[/img]
I get that all the time :confused:

Darn slow-twitch fibers...
 
I saw Bryan at the Olympia in Vegas a few years back. We were walking down a street in the downtown part of Vegas and a street bum came up to us looking for money. Bryan had a baggy shirt on.

"Hey can you guys spare a dollar?"

He puts his hand on Bryan's shoulder.

"OOOO A LINEBACKER!!!"

The guy quickly took his hand off Bryan's shoulder and ran away. Neither of us had said a word.

Now there is a reaction to muscle. ;)

Happy Birthday to "the linebacker"
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (BIZ @ June 22 2005,8:48)]I have gotten to the point where I hate to have small talk with strangers because it always goes the same way:
"Good to meet you.  I'm a trainer.  I am in school, still.  No, I don't play football.  No, I didn't play before.  I am a bodybuilder.  Who cares how much I bench!"
I still like the attention though, good and bad.
ROTFLMAO.

Jesus, that line still makes me cringe. How much do yhou bench. It's a like a so called car enthusiast asking about price before horsepower.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (BoSox @ June 22 2005,9:56)]Xahrx, I can definately attest to what you are saying.  I'm somewhere between 6'3 and 6'4.  I'm not muscularly huge, but just by reaching proportions relative to my height, I look pretty big.  I'm still on the skinny side (on my opinion) but I weight 215, just because it's stretched over so much of me.
6'4", 300lbs. At least my BF% means there's 240lbs of muscle under there. Now just to get people to see it...

And to think, I used to be heavier.
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It's a slower road than I like, but the weight is going down slowly but surely.
 
Great thread. I'm eating these anecdotes right up. Keep 'em coming guys.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (ectoman @ June 23 2005,7:27)]Great thread. I'm eating these anecdotes right up. Keep 'em coming guys.
My favorite:

My friends and I are at a club and having a good time. One of my friends gets a little worked up when he's drunk, starts jumping around and spills a drink on this kid in a suit jacket. The kid is steaming, he looks like he's ready to tear my friend's head off. I'm watching this all from the side.

So, the typical workup to a fight ensues, people talking to each one of them, the situation is getting tense. I walk into it from behind this guy and get in the middle of things. I ask what happened, like I didn't know already. Told my friend to apologize. When he did this guy who a few seconds ago looked like he was ready to throw down with the whole bar says, "That's alright." Then returns to his beer and shortly afterward, exits the club.

He was barely over five foot this guy, I loved it. I didn't even have to imply I would do anything, he just shut his trap and walked out with his friends. So despite it's odd turns, having some size on most of the world has its advantages.

Good thing he didn't have too much of a beer muscle. I can't fight to save my life really.
 
After a while, you become oblivious to the stares but stupid comments always wake me up. 99% are complimentary so no harm done. The best compliment though is that as you age, people doubt your real age when you are in shape. I mean trim and muscular, not like a Ronnie Coleman look-alike. More like Frank Zane. At the doctors 2 years ago, one of the physician assistants came into the room where I was and said the staff out front had a pool going as to how old I was, The absolute highest guess was 48 while I was 58 at the time. A nice ego boost. I have thinning gray hair and my face looks my age but my body fools people. I walked out of the office a little taller than when I went in.
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Great thread - I could talk all day about this. As a 52 yr old that still trains it is real interesting for me - not many 52 yr old guys workout much and the ones that do usually just do cardio of some sort.
I am 5'10" and around 210-215 lbs with a 34" waist and arms around 18". I think I'm normal size, my wife thinks I have Bigorexia because I'm still looking for that extra 1/2 inch of growth - LOL.
At work I get a lot of attention from women of all ages because I work in an office and most of the guys there are real out of shape. Some people go out of their way to speak to me, others.....  I recently became friends with a really pretty girl that I've walked past, in the hallway, for 3 or 4 yrs and she would never even look at me to say hi.  I'm thinking "I wonder if someone told her I'm an @$$, etc. etc". Now she dates a guy I work with so she talks to me and says "You are really nice - I always thought you were kinda intimidating".  
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In the gyms I work out in it varies. At lunch I train in a military gym and I have a good relationship with about 5 of the other guys that train there. One is bigger than me probably 6'4" 250 lbs of muscle. I'm real comfortable at this gym. At night I train at a local gym and everybody pretty much avoids me except to say hi. I do catch a lot of people sneaking peeks at me and the way I train. It's easy to see what everyone else is looking at in the gym because it's got mirrors all over the place -  LOL.
We recently went to Cancun and the place we stay has a lot of fun people of all ages. During the day around the pool or on the beach - people rarely approach us to talk even though people are talking all over the place - it's like we have a disease or something. I have been asked many times If I'm a cop. At night - in the clubs it's a little different - we tend to meet a lot of people. I like to wear baggie clothes when it's hot - I guess it's harder to tell what people are built like in baggie clothes.
It does cause some problems with other people my age because the wives like the way I look and I think it rubs their husbands the wrong way some times. I try to downplay it by just saying we all have hobbies and this is mine - but it gets kinda old sometimes when you work so hard to look good and you have to downplay it to make other people feel secure. These guys don't "let up" on me when we are on the golf course ;)
One good thing is I don't have to deal with the beer muscle guys very often. No young tough guy wants to mess with a 52 yr old guy. If he kicks my butt, he looks bad and if I kick his butt he still looks bad.  
My wife likes the look except when she feels I'm getting too bulky, my boys (28 & 21) like the look and hope to surpass me (I hope so too) and my daughters (26 & 24) and their friends always tell me how "buff" I am. I guess everybody else will just have to deal with it as they will cause my plan is to improve even more  
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Firm
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Firminator @ June 24 2005,9:10)]One good thing is I don't have to deal with the beer muscle guys very often. No young tough guy wants to mess with a 52 yr old guy. If he kicks my butt, he looks bad and if I lick his butt he still looks bad.
firm, i think if you lick his butt, you'll both look bad.
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Nice thread Bob!!

I get the looks and comments too, and basically just roll with it. I'm fairly short at 5'8" but I weigh around 185 now, and am fairly lean (thank god). My wife's boss, who is a cardiologist, swears I'm on something. I always just laugh and tell him it's just hard, consistent training, good eating and smart (non-steroidal) supplementation. The other day, my wife tells me she now knows why he thinks I'm using.

He has a Patient that has used/abused steroids, and most likely other things like Clen and T3 etc, for years. Well, he now has cardio myopathy and a very weak heart. My wife met him for the first time the other day, and tokd me that besides being a little taller a little bigger and mostly just leaner than me, there really isnt' much difference. Now I get it. lol

I always get a hard time at work for being "too healthy". WTF is too healhy? "oh he won't eat that, it's not healthy food". Well, that's true I guess, but still. Someone asked me what I got for fathers day, and I told them. I got a heavy bag and all the accessories. "figures", she said. I just laughed.

I have two cousins that are both huge. One is around 5'9" and about 250lbs. He's fairly fat, but as an ex-powerlifter, he's not too bad. His sister, at 4'10" and (get this) 140 at around 10% bf is huge for a woman. She just competed in her first show, and from the pics, held her own very well in the heavy weight class. Walking around with these two is just comical. They get stared at and comments more than any one Iv'e seen. He's more reserved about it, and wears stuff that covers most of him up. She on the other hand is a total attention whore. She loves every bit of it good and bad. Always with the small tank tops and tight pants. Her legs are giant for a girl her size. Peoples' reaction to here are the funniest ever.

Of course, are always curious of things they dont' understand. :D
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (addy @ June 24 2005,12:22)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Firminator @ June 24 2005,9:10)]One good thing is I don't have to deal with the beer muscle guys very often. No young tough guy wants to mess with a 52 yr old guy. If he kicks my butt, he looks bad and if I lick his butt he still looks bad.
firm, i think if you lick his butt, you'll both look bad.
tounge.gif
That is too funny !!
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Firm
 
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