From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Subject: Re: well, what do you know? (was Re: help! excessive estrogene[sic] 
	production)
Date: 1998/09/08
Message-ID: <6t454o$jrj@sjx-ixn6.ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: misc.fitness.weights,sci.med,talk.politics

In <01bddb60$4be0a9c0$7e9d9e80@greenwd.msfc.nasa.gov> "William Greene"
<william.greene@msfc.nasa.gov> writes:
>
>
>
>Steven B. Harris <sbharris@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> In "Bil & Tag" <tag@hiwaay.net> writes:
>>
>> >Narcissist:  What person A calls person B when person A realizes that
>> >person B is his superior in every way.
>>
>>    Interesting.  How a narcissist defines narcissism.  "If you'd like
>> to compare readling lists," indeed.  What a laugh.
>
>	What is ironic about this whole exchange is how un-narcissistic I am as
>are most folks that I know who lift weights.  Most folks lift not because
>they love to look at themselves in the mirrors, but because they are more
>self-critical of their deficiencies than are most people.  Sure gymrats
>will proudly tell you about their lifts and sometimes they will even pose
>in front of a mirror to check their progress.  There is nothing wrong
>with being proud of one's achievements.
>	But what is it that motivates a person to continue to work harder
>and harder in the gym.  Is it self-love?  Or is it instead the deep down
>knowledge that they could always be better.  As someone who has been
>involved in bodybuilding for nearly two decades I have seen some of the
>best physiques in the world. I know what a truly great physique looks
>like.  When I look in the mirror, almost no matter how good I might
>become, it's unlikely I will ever see, in my own eyes, a truly great
>physique. I am educated enough to be able to quickly identify all my
>deficiencies relative to the ideal, deficiencies that the average person
>might not even see or might minimize as, well, "good enough."
>	The same goes for lifting poundages.  If tonight in the gym I hit a
>personal best bench press in the gym, I'll be ecstatic.  I might even log
>onto m.f.w. and post a great big "Yahoo!"  But I'm not a world class
>bencher.  Even if I were to beat me previous best by 50 lbs. I would still
>be several hundred pounds from the best in the world.  Sure my lift would
>impress some guy off the street but I know better.  I know that no matter
>how hard I work, no matter how much dedication I have, I will never be a
>world class bench presser.  I have located a genetic boundary within myself
>that most people will never explore.
>	The bottom line is that despite your tired old cliches and stereotypes,
>most serious lifters with any brains at all are quite humble.  On the one
>hand, they are proud of what they've accomplished.  On the other hand, they
>see before them all that remains to do if ever they hope to fulfill there
>own personal goals set at a level beyond that of which the average person
>can conceive.  Lifting weights is not an act of self-love.  It is an act of
>self-improvement.  It is an act of self-determination against the futility
>of our attempt to stretch the limits of our genetic birthright.
>
>Bil


Comment:

    Well, nothing wrong with that (although the description of looking
in the mirror and never being satisfied sounds like an feminine/
anorrhectic characteristic which might respond to -- dare I say it--
aromatase inhibitors).  I'm merely pointing out that too much
testosterone makes people almost completely asocial, like your average
bull or lone lion, out there looking for a small pride to move in on,
with cubs he can kill.  If any psychoactive drug did that, we'd make it
illegal and controlled. Indeed, that was just done for anabolic
steroids.

    The (not so surprising) thing is that feminists have not caught on
to this issue.  Half the human race, by a role of genetic dice and
through no fault or choice of their own, is continuously being
subjected to a psychoactive substance which greatly increases their
chance of criminal activity.  Some of the female lawyers who are big on
the post-partum psychosis or premenstrual tension defence, would be
genuinely shocked if somebody suggested the same might be appropriate
for most or all men in the doc.  The prisons are filled with men not
because we all have evil souls.

    I can just hear the feminists: "Well, any man too worried about
this can always have himself castrated."  Well, any woman with PMS can
do the same.  That's not a solution.  Suggesting it is shameful.
Rather, we need some more creative thinking.  I don't have the answers.

                                    Steve Harris, M.D.