lets be a bit philosophical, shall we?

shazzdan wrote:

Tjolnir wrote:yet no matter how much gains i put on, i wasn't satisfied even after having the obligatory "cycle". i felt great, was in the best shape of my life and still sad i was never getting the proportions of the "real guys" you see at the mr. olympia.
but somewhere along the way it "clicked", that in order to grow i had to mix various "supplements" and would soon hit unhealthy levels and still not be anywhere near the big guys, so i quit fighting with myself.

You have to go right back to the early 1950s to see what a professional body builder physique looks like without steroid augmentation. The Soviets had a deliberate policy of steroid injections for all their athletes since the 1940s. It is physiologically impossible to get the kind of physiques we see today without steroids and other supplements. Anyone in the sport who claims that they have never taken steroids is blatantly lying because they have been endemic since the 60s. Here are the 1953 Mr. Universe finalists.



Look carefully and you'll see a young Sean Connery in the middle.

Ironic isn't it, that in those days, he had his real hair on his head but had to shave the hair off his chest, whereas by the time of the James Bond films, he could show off all the chest hair he wanted, but had to wear a hair piece because he was already balding rapidly.

Ok... that is the first and only time I have ever found Sean Connery remotely attractive.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok... that is the first and only time I have ever found Sean Connery remotely attractive.

Now you see why he was selected to play Bond. He was only a passable actor and he could barely speak English. He was chosen purely for his looks.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok... that is the first and only time I have ever found Sean Connery remotely attractive.

Odd, given how many years running he was voted sexiest man alive when already in his sixties.

Some things are inexplicable... ;p

shazzdan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok... that is the first and only time I have ever found Sean Connery remotely attractive.

Now you see why he was selected to play Bond. He was only a passable actor and he could barely speak English. He was chosen purely for his looks.

And yet Ian Fleming was so impressed with Connery in the role of Bond that he re-wrote the character in his later novels to make him half Scottish, half Swiss.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:

shazzdan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok... that is the first and only time I have ever found Sean Connery remotely attractive.

Now you see why he was selected to play Bond. He was only a passable actor and he could barely speak English. He was chosen purely for his looks.

And yet Ian Fleming was so impressed with Connery in the role of Bond that he re-wrote the character in his later novels to make him half Scottish, half Swiss.  

Only after Connery received intensive lessons in elocution, deportment, and acting. Fleming initially thought he was an uncouth brute entirely unsuited for the role.

shazzdan wrote:

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:

shazzdan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok... that is the first and only time I have ever found Sean Connery remotely attractive.

Now you see why he was selected to play Bond. He was only a passable actor and he could barely speak English. He was chosen purely for his looks.

And yet Ian Fleming was so impressed with Connery in the role of Bond that he re-wrote the character in his later novels to make him half Scottish, half Swiss.  

Only after Connery received intensive lessons in elocution, deportment, and acting. Fleming initially thought he was an uncouth brute entirely unsuited for the role.

Interesting.  I did not know that. Still, whoever taught him must have done a good job as Connery as Bond is #3 on the American Film Institute list of movie heroes, behind Harrison Ford / Indiana Jones (#2) and Gregory Peck / Atticus Finch (#1)

skywalkersaga wrote:

Thanks for explaining! I wasn't aware of the particulars of the garage kit history, but I appreciate the info. And apologies if I was mistaken in calling them 'statues' -- what term do you prefer? Just 'figures'? And yes, of course, the painting skills are most certainly an area of overlap -- when I referred to the differences, I meant mostly in regard to the fact that action figures tend to require clothing and accessories to be complete, whereas I am guessing all of that is usually sculpted in a garage kit? Again, I was certainly not implying one hobby was better than the other,  but just saying that from my very inexperienced perspective, it didn't seem that they were 100% comparable. 

And I love watching Darren Carnall's painting videos! 

We still call them kits. Incidentally Darren did actually do a series of videos in which he built and painted a garage kit of Clint Eastwood. This was right up my alley! He showed the amount of detail you can add to a kit simply by painting it the right way. The end result was pretty spectacular:









Believe it or not, that holster is not real leather, but, it was painted to look like it. What you get out of a garage kit is often determined by what you put into it, and as you can see, if you want it to be, that can be a LOT!

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:

He looks a bit like my Dad in that second pic!

don't get me wrong, "supplements" was just an euphemism for stuff like winstrol, dianabol, sustanol and such. its a long list and with the dosages required in a professional regime, quite an unhealthy one. arguably andreas muenzer was the most shredded competitor yet he died with 36 years of age. his autopsy showed his liver to be half cancerous and half styrofoam like.
mike matarazzo died with i think some 40 years, was known for some of the if not the best calves on stage.
and ronnie coleman sits partially in a wheelchair, the other time he needs some walking support. cheerful as always and very likable, his only regrets was not doing 4 reps with 800 pound squats

it might sound weird but i'm fine with steroids being used to push beyond the physically possible, part of that belief is that every adult should do whatever he wants with his body, as long as he's aware of the consequences. and those consequences were what kept me from going on a second cycle for i had to up the dosage for the body to respond in the same fashion.
so you might say i quite enjoy today's physique in the olympia minus the bubble gut, which is a byproduct of growth hormones, basically "everything" well, grows.
and in my book markus ruehl definitely deserved the title at least once in his career.


coleman on the left, ruehl on the right(theyear this picture was taken, his form was clearly better than ruehls i must admit)

i wish phicen would bring out a body to match these guys, even the m35 would look skinny in comparison

so yeah comparing the guys from the "silver" age of bodybuilding with the golden like arnold, ferrigno and oliva shows just the huge gap as when dorian yates hit the stage and dominated everyone with sheer mass.
accordingly you can see the progress of substances with dianabol being available i think in the late 50s early 60s, testosterone anyway being synthesized in ww2 and later the stuff that gave us kai greene and phil heath.

for those interested, leroy colbert(sadly deceased, died a few years ago) had a wonderful youtube channel with a lot of insights and valuable tips, which is still active by the way.
he stemmed from the age of bodybuilding where very few stuff was around and had some of the best arms of the time.

one might not like the look of today's pro athletes, personally though i prefer the mass monsters.
cheers

oh by the way, thats some awesome eastwood, the level of detail is amazing.

Thank you for sharing that, Roger! It’s absolutely gorgeous, though I would expect no less from Mr. Carnall. And thanks also for the clarification — ‘kits’ it is, then.

Rogerbee wrote:We still call them kits. Incidentally Darren did actually do a series of videos in which he built and painted a garage kit of Clint Eastwood. This was right up my alley! He showed the amount of detail you can add to a kit simply by painting it the right way. The end result was pretty spectacular

That's a gorgeous paintjob. I could paint a little when I was younger but wouldn't even attempt it these days. My hands shake and my eyes aren't sharp enough to deal with the finer details.

Tjolnir wrote:don't get me wrong, "supplements" was just an euphemism for stuff like winstrol, dianabol, sustanol and such. its a long list and with the dosages required in a professional regime, quite an unhealthy one. arguably andreas muenzer was the most shredded competitor yet he died with 36 years of age. his autopsy showed his liver to be half cancerous and half styrofoam like.
mike matarazzo died with i think some 40 years, was known for some of the if not the best calves on stage.
and ronnie coleman sits partially in a wheelchair, the other time he needs some walking support. cheerful as always and very likable, his only regrets was not doing 4 reps with 800 pound squats

it might sound weird but i'm fine with steroids being used to push beyond the physically possible, part of that belief is that every adult should do whatever he wants with his body, as long as he's aware of the consequences. and those consequences were what kept me from going on a second cycle for i had to up the dosage for the body to respond in the same fashion.
so you might say i quite enjoy today's physique in the olympia minus the bubble gut, which is a byproduct of growth hormones, basically "everything" well, grows.
and in my book markus ruehl definitely deserved the title at least once in his career.


coleman on the left, ruehl on the right(theyear this picture was taken, his form was clearly better than ruehls i must admit)

i wish phicen would bring out a body to match these guys, even the m35 would look skinny in comparison

so yeah comparing the guys from the "silver" age of bodybuilding with the golden like arnold, ferrigno and oliva shows just the huge gap as when dorian yates hit the stage and dominated everyone with sheer mass.
accordingly you can see the progress of substances with dianabol being available i think in the late 50s early 60s, testosterone anyway being synthesized in ww2 and later the stuff that gave us kai greene and phil heath.

for those interested, leroy colbert(sadly deceased, died a few years ago) had a wonderful youtube channel with a lot of insights and valuable tips, which is still active by the way.
he stemmed from the age of bodybuilding where very few stuff was around and had some of the best arms of the time.

one might not like the look of today's pro athletes, personally though i prefer the mass monsters.
cheers

oh by the way, thats some awesome eastwood, the level of detail is amazing.

Those guys are crazy!

I guess, with the amount of money they make, they can afford to get their clothes custom made. Their necks alone look thicker than both my thighs put together.

skywalkersaga wrote:Thank you for sharing that, Roger! It’s absolutely gorgeous,  though I would expect no less from Mr. Carnall. And thanks also for the clarification — ‘kits’ it is, then.

Yeah, I doubt I'll be as good as him when I get going again, but, I'll give it my best shot. This Regan was the last thing I finished I think:

shazzdan wrote:

That's a gorgeous paintjob. I could paint a little when I was younger but wouldn't even attempt it these days. My hands shake and my eyes aren't sharp enough to deal with the finer details.

I hear you, I haven't tackled anything since I've needed to wear glasses, so, I'll see how I go....

The Eastwood kit is amazing, and great job on the Regan.

As for the body types, it would be beneficial if TBLeague does offer more types, colors, and sizes/heights. Personally, I'd rather see more average and more "silver age" offerings, as I think they will be applicable to a much larger set of purposes and historical eras.

GubernatorFan wrote:The Eastwood kit is amazing, and great job on the Regan.

As for the body types, it would be beneficial if TBLeague does offer more types, colors, and sizes/heights. Personally, I'd rather see more average and more "silver age" offerings, as I think they will be applicable to a much larger set of purposes and historical eras.

Totally agree.  TBLeague would do well to put out more average type male bodies.

GubernatorFan wrote:The Eastwood kit is amazing, and great job on the Regan.

Thanks, just hope I still know what to do.....

Stunning work, Roger!!

And yeah, I’m with you guys on the more ‘average’ male body types, as it would be nice to match some of the recent female bodies in that regard. I’d also like to see more ‘regular’ muscular ones of different shapes, sizes, and heights. There’s the M32, but even that one isn’t always quite what I’m looking for. And no offence to the rest of the existing muscular tbleague bodies, but I’m not super keen on how ‘compact’ they are in the arms and torso , as it gives them too much of that artificial body-builder look. Top of my personal wish list for male seamless body would be a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular-but-still-lanky/long-limbed one! And no, not the crazy-tall basketball player they already did. That one’s arms are too skinny, imo. The closest I can think of to compare what I’m talking about to someone in RL is Joel Kinnaman.... *heart eyes*

sadly the monetization in bodybuilding, mr. o in particular, is laughable compared to other sports such as soccer. all the while these guys risk their lives while those dropping on the green on purpose while chasing a leather ball make millions.

100k for first place mr. olympia is nothing when you have to spent 15-20k a month on steroids. sure, sponsors are keeping them above water, still for all their hard effort and dedication they deserve at least tenfold.

think about training for 12 months spending thousands on food and roids, placing third or lower based on politics and going home with 20k for the whole year. if it wasnt for sponsors i don't think anyone would waste their health on the sport.

It has nothing to do with how much work or effort is involved. Female soccer players train just as hard and make just as many sacrifices as their male counterparts but get paid a tiny fraction of a man's salary. Salaries and prizes are directly related to the viewing audience on TV. The percentage of the population who tune in to watch a body building contest is pitifully small and most of those are bodybuilders themselves. A lot of the mainstream community considers these people to be either jokes or freaks, not serious athletes.

When all is said and done the way you look, or present to the world is entirely up to the individuals concerned as long as it does not impact negatively on those around them. The individual in question however should be aware of the consequences of their actions and not demand special treatment because of it.

On competition: Interesting views you all have on competition. I am not the most competitive person myself, but I think the main goal of competition should be exploring and pushing your own skills, and well, then maybe do the winning. Lack of material leads to creativity, and so does a lack of time or a deadline. Short, results might be different. Not exactly better or worse, but different.

On bodybuilding: Funny that you mention Markus Rühl, Tjolnir!
One of my school buddies, Oliver - just a friendly Gameboy kid, then - started pumping in seventh or eight grade. Arnie Fan, like our Gubernator. He is acquainted with Rühl, we are all from the same area and Rühl's fitness studio is nearby.

That's what Oli looks like now. Well I guess now he is clothed and not tansprayed. If he was a 1/6 figure, one might say the head sculpt is too nice for the body, ha. Anyway he won some Natural bodybuilding competitions, but I don't know the details.


His Bachelor Thesis is on calorie restriction. Interesting read, but I don't understand everything, I guess you will understand it better.
(Und Warnung to the rest,  it ist in German):
https://edubily.de/tipps/kalorienrestriktion-ein-ueberblick-zum-stand-der-forschung/

Ovy wrote:On competition: Interesting views you all have on competition. I am not the most competitive person myself, but I think the main goal of competition should be exploring and pushing your own skills, and well, then maybe do the winning. Lack of material leads to creativity, and so does a lack of time or a deadline. Short, results might be different. Not exactly better or worse, but different.

Just to clarify, when I was talking about 'competition' above, I was not referring to actual, structured types of competitions that one enters into willingly to compete and hopefully win points, titles, prizes, etc. I mean goodness, I used to show Arabian horses on the 'A' circuit back in my youth, so I'm certainly not against formal shows, sports matches, tournaments, or competitions. Rather, I was referring to participating in a hobby for fun, only to look around and realize, belatedly, that you have been 'entered' into a kind of informal 'competition' completely against your will and knowledge, without even wanting to be in one. And while that kind of attitude thankfully doesn't seem to exist here, I have encountered it on other hobby forums, where every figure posted gets measured, mercilessly, against some kind of invisible, ever-shifting standard, and thus it turns things into a negative kind of competition -- well, at least, it seems negative in my eyes, since I'm not personally keen on overly-competitive attitudes to begin with, and having to facing that kind of thing just makes me shut down internally. So I was referring to a particular sort of competitive attitude rather than saying 'all competition is bad'. And really, I don't claim any of it is 'bad', just that I personally cannot handle being around it.

Ovy wrote:On competition: Interesting views you all have on competition. I am not the most competitive person myself, but I think the main goal of competition should be exploring and pushing your own skills, and well, then maybe do the winning. Lack of material leads to creativity, and so does a lack of time or a deadline. Short, results might be different. Not exactly better or worse, but different.

On bodybuilding: Funny that you mention Markus Rühl, Tjolnir!
One of my school buddies, Oliver - just a friendly Gameboy kid, then - started pumping in seventh or eight grade. Arnie Fan, like our Gubernator. He is acquainted with Rühl, we are all from the same area and Rühl's fitness studio is nearby.

That's what Oli looks like now. Well I guess now he is clothed and not tansprayed. If he was a 1/6 figure, one might say the head sculpt is too nice for the body, ha. Anyway he won some Natural bodybuilding competitions, but I don't know the details.


His Bachelor Thesis is on calorie restriction. Interesting read, but I don't understand everything, I guess you will understand it better.
(Und Warnung to the rest,  it ist in German):
https://edubily.de/tipps/kalorienrestriktion-ein-ueberblick-zum-stand-der-forschung/

da bleibt mir nur zu sagen : STABIL

great form, especially like the veins pop out. looks awesome in my book. had leg day yesterday and ever seeing a video of tom platz training, well you could say i look like an idiot while having fun and never again skipping leg day

oh yeah and me being the small guy around cheering myself up with YEAH BUDDY.... LIGHTWEIGHT... i guess people got used to it by now.

And now I'm going to upset a few gentlemen ...... Sorry guys and I'm speaking as a woman , in my opinion those pictures of people above (not the models which look awsome btw) look down right nasty I don't mind a well toned man with broad shoulders and narrow hips but muscles on muscles yeuk definately not my cup of tea and i certainly would not want to wake up next to any of them

sorry about the rant.

With regard to the original post /track I have many collections, I have invested a lot of time and money in my hobbies and it gives me great pleasure to do the best i can. I do not have a great deal of disposable income so usually have to get what i can when i can. I find its the building i enjoy the most and this is one of the things i enjoy about this hobby it seems to lead me on to learn new skills I've learned to sew minature dresses on my sewing machine I'm now learning about leather craft thanks to the horse i bought so all i can say is at the moment i'm enjoying myself and thanks to you folks I'm enjoying the company

It's ok, Delanie, you are not alone in that preference...   

And for what it's worth, I am thankful that you share your projects with us here, I've especially been finding your tack-making efforts very inspiring. 

Yeah, your contributions are always valued.

Regarding time, the trap I'd always find myself falling into was rushing a project thinking that people were impatiently waiting for another post. You have to take the time you need to get what you need to do done, it's your time that matters, not theirs.