Mark,

I respect your choices here. However, there are some very deep and important stories beneath what these folks are doing. After forty seven years of lifting weights ( I don't compete) the sanity that body agency gave me after a gang rape, multiple rapes by the treating military psychiatrist and incest from my brother, helped me cope. Your reaction is common and understandable. However, delving into what lifting has done to give a great man people in the NON_STEROID community is a great teacher. I'm not going to tell you you're wrong, for you have every right to your opinion. I will offer that "being pumped , being dumb" in this community has little to do with it. I would indeed characterize that for the steroid-pumped group. That's a whole different ball game. I've been interviewing the folks in my local lifting community and their stories are remarkable. This isn't about superficiality at all. Nearly every single one comes from heartbreak., obesity, incest, abuse, you name it. Learning to eat healthy and get strong has changed their lives. There is another whole side to this you may not be seeing, but that's your choice. For someone as widely traveled as you are, given what little I've seen of your profile, the level of judgement you've expressed is surprising to me. I lift to stay strong because as an adventure athlete if I'm not strong, I die. Just that simple. Every person who does this, does it for a different reason. I would suspect you're better than to make such a sweeping judgement about an entire community of people about whom you know nothing. But that's just me, and I don't know you. If you're a "learner" as you say, then perhaps that willingness to learn might also be pointed in this direction. You certainly don't have to, but you might be very surprised at what you find. If I didn't respect your intellect, Mark, I wouldn't have bothered with such a long response. But again, we choose to see and believe what we choose. Sometimes it can be terribly limiting.