Bodybuilding Affordability

It's 2013, and it's getting harder than ever to afford anything anymore. Groceries are absolutely fucking ridiculous now!

Those dreams I had of becoming a 250 lb monster are starting to dwindle away as I try to keep my family afloat and pay for basic necessities. We live in a world where it costs $5 for a few rolls of toilet paper to wipe your ass with, $60 to fill up your gas tank, $60 to take your family to a movie, among every other bullshit ripoff thing you can think of.

Eventually I came to a point where I had to seriously consider everything I was doing with fitness and nutrition and either change it or give it up. Well I’ll never give it up, so change is what I needed. But how? Its pretty fucking hard to take something you’ve done half of your life and start cutting corners while still trying to progress at it.

My bodybuilding has become about as expensive as a new Mercedes payment every month, no joke. Having a family was a choice I made and my bodybuilding lifestyle just wasn’t fair to them. So how did I cut corners and still progress at this? Honestly, I started looking more into old school approaches to building a physique. All of the newer magazines and physiques you can forget about if you ever want to have anything else out of life. If those magazines told the truth the articles would read “Gain 20 lbs of muscle by spending all your $$ on drugs and groceries and fuck everything else.”

Let's put this into perspective here.

A national level competitor or pro is spending about $800/month on growth hormone, $300-$400/month on testosterone, $100-$200/ month on ancillary compounds like HCG and anti-estrogen pills, and we’ll say $500/month on random other compounds or peptides. Let's not forget about $100/month on protein powder, and roughly $800/month on groceries, more like $1500/month on groceries for someone like Kai Green or Ronnie Coleman. So all of that added up is about $3000- monthly on something that started out as a fucking hobby.

Worth it? I think not. I personally was spending about 1/3 of that for a long time. I made the decision to have a wife and a son, and let me tell you it’s far more rewarding than just the gym. So how did things change for me?

For starters, most supplements are bogus. I dropped almost everything and my physique didn’t suffer a bit. I only take protein powder on a rare occasion when I can afford it, but the majority of my protein comes from meat twice a day and kidney/pinto beans, and I also use liver tablets with each meal. A jug of liver tabs just goes further than the protein powder and lasts me a little longer.

I stopped eating egg whites a long time ago, eggs have gotten very expensive and at $2/ dozen I just can't see myself eating 12 egg whites every morning anymore (at one time I ate 36/day). I now eat 4 whole scrambled eggs each morning, sometimes only 3.

A typical days diet for me would look like such:

Breakfast – 4 whole eggs, 1 serving of plain Greek yogurt with honey, 1 cup oats

Lunch – 8 oz steak, chicken, or fish stirred into 1.5 cups brown rice with kidney beans

Late afternoon – 1-2 cups brown rice with kidney beans, bowl of broccoli

Dinner – 8 oz chicken, steak, or fish with an avocado, 1 cup oats

Late evening – 2 spoonfuls peanut butter, large bowl of broccoli or green beans

That's pretty much it. I don't eat much anymore. I believe you get yourself to a certain point and you set a physiological set point for yourself and holding muscle just isn’t as difficult as it once was.

Occasionally I splurge like anyone else would, but this is similar to how I do things about 95% of the time. So I guess the way things have changed for me is my goal with my physique. I’d be very pleased with a 200-210 lb ripped to shreds body, it's all about quality and health at this point. I’m only about 5’8″ so that is still big to me. If you guys have any time, go check out some of the old school bodybuilders, most of their stats were around 200-220 lbs.

This my friends is realistic, and quite honestly a more pleasing look anyways.

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12 thoughts on “Bodybuilding Affordability”

  1. Hi John,

    Thanks for information. We don’t need a supplement to start a fuckin hobby. but at my country protein powder is way cheaper compare to real food. as example. 1 serving whey protein powder cost me only $2.40 versus 5 whole eggs cost me $5.00.

    Meat is damn expensive here. 1kg of red meat cost me $21.00.

    So I will take protein powder strictly for saving more money.

    Reply
  2. Hey john,
    For your diet when you say a cup of oats is that cooked or uncook? Also how many ounces of the kidney beans do you eat with the meals? Thank you.

    Reply
    • oats is uncooked measure and with kidney beans I usually eat half can at a time. On the oats, if you heat them in the microwave it usually makes them too thick and harder to eat. I usually just run hot water over them and eat them like cereal.

      Reply
  3. Hey JD,
    I really appriciate your realism to the bodybuilding lifestyle and sport. You are truly what being a champion is all about and physique wise, your stats are fantastic in my opinion. You have built up a top notch quality physique that 99% of many bodybuilders cannot do or even maintain at that level. Many guys mass out for short periods of time and then shrink to nothing. This is a relatively new phenominon here in New York. I do not know why. You are truly the real deal and as stated a while ago, I plan to use your bodybuilding peronal program service soon. Also, As your situation gets better, do not give up on your quest to gain some more size. You will probably one of the few Champs that will keep everything. God Bless JD.

    I.A.A.M.

    Reply
  4. When I look at your physique it looks like you have made the right decisions. I also think that a home gym can be profitable if it stays within a $10k dollar range or self-built.

    I pay €30 for my gym x 12 that is €360 per year x 30 years = €10800. Considering that lifting weights is a lifetime commitment that would be worth it. A really long investment with low profits, if one has plenty of money for that…

    Reply

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