Here is the last finger clamping results.  In that I was clamping the distal point of the right pinky finger and now I am clamping the medial region.  I have abondoned the pulling motion as it seemed to be more the hand clamping that was generating my results.  Now I’m still doing LSJL using the Irwin Quick Grip clamp and one of the areas I clamp includes my left index finger with the Irwin Quick Grip.  I have not seen the changes with the quick grip clamping that I have with hand clamping.

A number of people doing LSJL reported that they felt it was more effective to use your hands to manually generate pressure.  This may indicate that there may be a deficiency in the Irwin Quick Grip and that an alternative clamping method may be needed.  That will be something that I am exploring.

Right now I’m going to clamp the base of the proximal end of the finger like so:

Then I’ll see if I can pull out a little more growth.  There does seem to be some kind of conditioning effect where the body becomes more resistant to clamping.

Below is the progress pic.  I try to align based on the bottom based on the middle part of the finger because it’s extremely difficult to align based on where the proximal finger begins.  Now this image isn’t going to prove anything.  I’m going to need x-rays or a lot more significant growth.  I’ll see how the finger base clamping goes.

A recent food-based documentary I was watching on Netflix which was hosted by Anthony Bourdain on Colombia (Parts Unknown Season 1, Episode 3) made me start to wonder whether there was any correlation between living and growing up in different altitudes and its effect on stature. We know that Bourdain is a rather large man who is at least 6′ 4″, although he can look even 6′ 5″. In the show, when he was walking around the Colombian market places, he looked like an absolute giant compared to the local Colombians. That got me wondering.

I have noticed over the years the trend that people from the Andean Mountain regions, like Peru, Chile, and Bolivia were found to be quite small in stature, even relative to the regions and ethnic groups found in South America.

There was a famous story years ago about this mummified skeletal remains of an adult female who was said to be around 2-3 feet tall. I can’t find the source to this story on the internet. Maybe you guys the readers can find the story that I am talking about.

So I wanted to see whether that is any scientific studies that might verify this idea of mine that people who are born, grew up, and raised in geographic regions where it is of high altitude tend to be slightly shorter than people born, say, from a region that is at sea level.

A quick search on PubMed does reveal at least 3 studies which suggest this idea might be true.

1. The effect of high altitude on the growth of children of high socioeconomic status in Bolivia.
2. Effect of altitude on the physical growth of upper-class children of European ancestry.
3. The physical growth of urban children at high altitude.

The abstract from the first study does show that if a child was born, and lived their whole life in high elevation, at least in La Paz, Bolivia, they tend to be shorter than children who spent less time there.

The 2nd study says that the hypoxia (low oxygen levels) that is caused by the higher elevation can cause stunted growth within boys and girls of upwards of 3 cms on average.

The 3rd study says that children who lived in the city were found to be consistently taller than indigenious children who lived in the countryside in high altitudes. However these same children were found to be about the same height as children from Peru who lived in the cities who are at high altitudes. The rest of the abstract was difficult to figure out what were the conclusions they have reached.

I made a special to realize that all of these 3 studies done on mostly indigenious children in Bolivia was in the early 1980s, more than 30 years ago.

However the implications of these studies can still relevant.

If you wish for your children to maximize their growth potential, it might not be a wise decision for them to grow up in regions of high altitude.

From a physiological perspective, the only possible explanation on why children who are completely born and raised in high altitude regions come out shorter is because of the lower levels of oxygen that they gain.

In fact, since they are raise in regions with higher altitudes, the effect of gravity on them should be much less. Remember that water boils at a much lower temperature in high altitudes, instead of the usual 100 Degrees Celsius needed for the water molecules to overcome the 1 atm of atmospheric pressure.

If we were able to make the region full of oxygen that is saturated, I would guess that children who grew up in higher altitudes should in fact turn out taller.

Let’s remember still that the stereotypically tall ethnic group of the Dutch in the Netherlands live in a country that is very close to sea level. The Netherlands is half surrounded by water, and very low and close to sea level. Of course, that logic wouldn’t explain why people from Bangladesh, which is even more saturated and closer to sea level are not tall. So we can forget this argument.

There has been enough anecdotal evidence and studies that showed that the children who often grew the tallest are the ones who were raised in a suburban area, not urban or rural. They get the balance of good nutrition, healthcare, and great services from living close enough to the city/civilization, but also get the benefit of having the natural benefits of being close to nature, trees, fresher air and more oxygen, and better water.

However, if you are looking to see which group of children would end up as adults to be more stocky, with wider bodies and broader shoulders, it would be children who were born and raised in rural regions. I have personally noticed from my road trips through Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and other states in the Mid-West that white american children who grew up in places like Iowa, Nebraska, and similar type states turn out to be not just above average in height, but also very wide, and stocky.

The main takeaway from this post: It is most beneficial to raise one’s children closer to sea level, in a region that has plenty of nature, trees, oxygen, and water, in a suburban area, away from the city.

If you are a regular reader of the website, you guys might remember that I went to this Biomaterials, 3D-Printing, and Tissue Engineering type of conference last year held in Boston at the Wyndam around Oct, called the Organ-On-A-Chip Conference, which was the exact same place, and time for the Annual Termis Conference. Too bad I was not able to attend the Termis conference or I might have met Dr. Atala and Dr. Warren Grayson, who is a scientific advisor for EpiBone, the company which we should all be watching.

While I was at the conference, I met with all of the companies are are exhibiting. Given that this field is very small and micro-niche, there was very few companies represented there so it was easy to talk with each of the companies and really understand their technology. One of only dozen exhibitors was this Sweden based company selling this 3D-Printer injected Bio-Material which they called “BioInk”. There was 3 guys there, a father-son team, and a 3rd young man. Recently, they presented their work at another conference, the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

I knew the instant that I talked with them that their technology could be used to print out new cartilage tissue. In fact, their specific purpose was dedicated towards cartilage tissue. The father of the group I had forgotten the name of until today, when in the website ScienceDaily.com, apparently their technology is mentioned in an article. Refer to “3-D printing could one day help fix damaged cartilage in knees, noses and ears.” It seems that the world is finally taking notice to Dr. Paul Gatenholm’s research. Apparently he has a team based in the Wallenberg Wood Science Center in Sweden. I have never been to Sweden myself but if there is another Tissue Engineering or Stem Cell Conference in Sweden (or Leipzig, Germany) I will attend that one. One of the most famous stem cell research places in the world is the Karolinska Institutet. I have read so far 2 Ph. D from people who did their graduate school there on research which pertains to our objectives. I never knew or heard of this extremely prestigious medical research based university until I maybe just 2013.

While we would love their research to be for making hyaline cartilage, their focus right now is for cosmetic reasons, working with plastic surgeons to make ears and nose tissue which might have been damaged and removed due to cancers and tumors. Which does give me hope in realizing that they are willing to use this technology for cosmetic as well as medical applications.

Apparently their composition/formulation to create their BioInk is the following… “mixed polysaccharides from brown algae and tiny cellulose fibrils from wood or made by bacteria, as well as human chondrocytes, which are cells that build up cartilage”

Since I talked with him personally (as well as his son who was at the conference) which was back in Oct of just last year, 2015, it seems that they have pushed further in their research and so far done what I had predicted in previous posts. Here is what they have already accomplished.

1. They have figured out the right formulation combination to allow embedded chondrocytes and MSCs to survive in the culture medium.
2. They have successfully moved the research from the lab dish into a living system, lab mice right now.
3. The implanted tissue in the mice survived and actually turned into cartilage.
4. They took MSCs derived from human bone marrow and mixed with with the chondrocytes.
5. The result was a success in being able to multiply the number of chondrocytes, ie expand the cartilage tissue size volumetrically.
6. Both chondrocyte and cartilage production was stimulated
7. To make sure the jump into clinical trials (testing on humans) they have now found a plastic surgeon to consult with on what are the legal and regulatory steps to push forward.

Beyond just research, his company has found a cosmetic company they are partnering with to 3D-Print human skin tissue for probably grafts.

Here’s a study with more info on this The bio in the ink: cartilage regeneration with bioprintable hydrogels and articular cartilage-derived progenitor cells.

I was watching some short National Geographic type program on Youtube on Chimpanzees when the narrator started to talk about the noticeable differences between chimpanzees and bonobos. The thing that really struck out to me was the following picture. Notice that the Size Dimorphism is different between the Bonobos and the Chimpanzee species.

The picture is not that big, but you can see that when it comes to Chimpanzees, the difference between the female and the male is very large in terms of body size. Then we look at the bonobos. Relatively speaking, the difference between the females and males are much less. In fact, the male chimpanzee is actually on average taller than the male bonobo while the female chimpanzee is shorter than the female bonobos.

Then we can look at the structure of behavior between the two species. There is a well known stereotype that Chimpanzees are more likely to use violence to settle problems while Bonobos have sex to resolve conflicts. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRckXzNaQEQ)

Now lets look at the study “Body Size, Size Variation, and Sexual Size Dimorphism in Early Homo“. In the study, they stated that Pongos, Gorillas, and even our ancestors the Australopithecus all exhibited high levels of sexual size dimorphism. The writers wrote it very well when they said the following “…strong size dimorphism has been linked to sexual selection, and changes in size dimorphism imply significant changes in behavior and life history.”

Remember another stereotype, which is that bonobos is the other known primate which is known to have sex for pleasure and fun, not just for procreation, compared to chimpanzees. Sex when done for pleasure and gratification resolves conflict.

Let me just give a very superficial theory and let the readers think it over. Is it possible that the human kind’s obsession over height, and to judge which male is taller than the other, as a form of dominance, is something based on chimpanzee-like behavior and not bonobo? It was revealed to me that chimpanzee groups are usually much less than bonobos. Bonobo groups are larger than chimpanzee groups.

If we then look at gorillas, the size of each group doesn’t decrease, but the idea of there being a clear alpha-male gorilla is obvious from primatologists that have been studying gorillas for decades. In each gorilla group, you have one clear leader, which is often the largest male there. There will be other male gorillas in the group, but the large alpha-male gorilla get precedent when it comes to reproductive access. (Anyone ever watch the Return of the Planet of the Apes?) – Gorilla alpha males might sometimes be challenged by another male in the group. I have never studied gorilla group pattern myself but I would assume that if the other male wins in the fight, he can take over as leader of the tribe and gain sexual access.

What if a human tribe or ethnic group changed their behavior from solving conflict through war but through having sex? I predict that the there would be much less concern then of the men in trying to prove to themselves over size, as exhibited by the behavior of the bonobos. In fact, over time and the successive generations, the tribe which prefers sex over fighting will have the male’s height relative to the female’s height decrease over time.

Similarly, in cultures where men try too hard to exhibit their masculinity and use aggression and fighting to resolve conflict, the females in that tribe/group will look for men who are of the largest size, relatively speaking to the rest of the men there. Over time, that tribe will have a large size dimorphic variation. This is similar to what many of the modern men in the “Red Pill” community would call women are exhibiting Hypergamy based on looking for the “Alpha Male”. These women will only mate with or even  “settle” for men who have alpha type behavior as well as large in size. They might not always choose the tallest guy in their community (remember that broad shoulders is also key here) but they will settle for a guy who is very buff/muscular and with broad shoulders. This is where exercising by the male can work to his advantage, at least up to a certain point.

Since we can show from a clearly scientific perspective that the species of bonobos can exist and flourish just as well (if not better) than chimpanzee species, it suggests that we can as humans evolve to a different level of existence where war and fighting is not need, but using the power of sex and pleasure can resolve most human conflicts. We just need to get over our Puritanical viewpoints on sex, become more European with relaxed laws on prostitution.

Instead of believing that the only way the world works is where females always act through hypergamy looking for that single 1% tall, physically strong, violent, alpha male to have sex with to have that most ‘fit’ children, we can see that there is a 2nd option, one where the traditional sultan/harem approach can be changed to be more democratic. Societies based on the idea that a single male can horde hundreds of females as a group all for himself and not leaving any viable partners for the rest of the males in the society leads to obviously war, violent, and sexual dysfunctionality.

From the study we referenced earlier, it explicitly reveals the following… “Agonistic male-male competition for mates is predicted by sexual selection theory…Where males can monopolize access to receptive females to the exclusion of other males, competition resulting in male reproductive skew will ensure. Because body size helps males win contests and is heritable, selection should favor large male size….”

Being taller, usually means being stronger and larger. This translates from a competition, fighting pov to show that in societies and tribes where males horde females, then it makes sense larger men would be promoted more.

So can we build a society where competition is not promoted as highly, as well as sexual access is easily obtained, for pleasure reasons and not just for procreation?

The result would be the following…

1. Heightism will be severely reduced
2. Sexual dysfunction like rapes, fetishes, and perversions will decrease
3. Less stress overall for the society
4. Decreased violence by men
5. Decreased crime

In any society where competition is severe, and where resources are limited, heightism will exist. We look at places where there are either high population or high population density and they will be the places where discrimination of men on their height will be exhibited. If there was ever a tribe where short men were not discriminated on, it would most likely be in a society where male-male competition is discouraged, resources are relatively abundance, and sexual access is easy. Of course, we can look at places like Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands) which have all those things, but I still hear many cases by shorter men where they are severely discriminated against by females in the sexual selection process. Of course, we already know that men from Scandinavia is stereotypically among the tallest in the world.

Axial loading can help with growth if the right stimulus is in place namely existing remodeling conditions.

Effects of mechanical loading on cortical defect repair using a novel mechanobiological model of bone healing.

“Mechanical loading is an important aspect of post-surgical fracture care. The timing of load application relative to the injury event may differentially regulate repair depending on the stage of healing. Here, we used a novel mechanobiological model of cortical defect repair that offers several advantages including its technical simplicity and spatially confined repair program, making effects of both physical and biological interventions more easily assessed. Using this model, we showed that daily loading (5N peak load, 2Hz, 60 cycles, 4 consecutive days) during hematoma consolidation and inflammation disrupted the injury site and activated cartilage formation on the periosteal surface adjacent to the defect. We also showed that daily loading during the matrix deposition phase enhanced both bone and cartilage formation at the defect site, while loading during the remodeling phase resulted in an enlarged woven bone regenerate. All loading regimens resulted in abundant cellular proliferation throughout the regenerate and fibrous tissue formation directly above the defect demonstrating that all phases of cortical defect healing are sensitive to physical stimulation. Stress was concentrated at the edges of the defect during exogenous loading, and finite element (FE)-modeled longitudinal strain (ε_zz) values along the anterior and posterior borders of the defect (~2200με) was an order of magnitude larger than strain values on the proximal and distal borders (~50-100με){2000 is within physiological microstrain}. It is concluded that loading during the early stages of repair may impede stabilization of the injury site important for early bone matrix deposition, whereas loading while matrix deposition and remodeling are ongoing may enhance stabilization through the formation of additional cartilage and bone.”

“Compressive axial loading (100 cycles/day, 1 Hz, 5 days per week for 2 weeks at 0.5 N, 1 N,
and 2 N peak load) was applied across the flexed knee and ankle immediately after fracture
or after a 4-day delay, which coincided with the hematoma and inflammation stages”<-This is axial loading in contrast to lateral loading.

” femoral segmental defects subjected to daily cyclic bending (900 cycles, 1Hz, 15 min/day for 5 consecutive days per week for 1, 2 or 4 weeks) beginning on post-surgical day 10, which coincided with a provisional matrix scaffold, led to formation of pseudarthrosis with enhanced cartilage formation”<-pseudoarthrosis is a fracture that won’t heal properly.

“In sum, loading produces a strain field around the defect that is high on the anterior and posterior borders and low on the proximal and distal borders”

” Daily loading during the inflammatory phase (PSD 2 to 5) delays hematoma clearance and bone matrix deposition, stimulates cellular proliferation and osteoclast activity, and promotes cartilage formation.”

” Proliferating cells were observed within the defect at all time points post-loading and within the elevated periosteum and surrounding cartilage nodules suggesting that loading activated proliferation even when strains were relatively low (50-100με). ”

“low stress and strain lead to direct intramembranous bone formation, compressive stress and
strain lead to chondrogenesis, and high tensile strain leads to fibrous tissue formation”

Functional in situ assessment of human articular cartilage using MRI: a whole-knee joint loading device.

“The response to loading of human articular cartilage as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) . An MRI-compatible whole-knee joint loading device for the functional in situ assessment of cartilage was developed and validated in this study. A formalin fixed human knee was scanned by computed tomography in its native configuration and digitally processed to create femoral and tibial bone models. The bone models were covered by artificial femoral and tibial articular cartilage layers in their native configuration using cartilage-mimicking polyvinyl siloxane. A standardized defect of 8 mm diameter was created within the artificial cartilage layer at the central medial femoral condyle, into which native cartilage samples of similar dimensions were placed.  After describing its design and specifications, the comprehensive validation of the device was performed using a hydraulic force gauge and digital electronic pressure-sensitive sensors. Displacement controlled quasi-static uniaxial loading to 2.5 mm (δ2.5) and 5.0 mm (δ5.0) of the mobile tibia versus the immobile femur resulted in forces of 141±8N(δ2.5) and 906±38 N (δ5.0) (on the entire joint)and local pressures of 0.680±0.088MPa (δ2.5) and 1.050±0.100 MPa (δ5.0) (at the site of the cartilage sample). Upon confirming the MRI compatibility of the set-up, the response to loading of macroscopically intact human articular cartilage samples (n = 5) was assessed on a clinical 3.0-T MR imaging system using clinical standard proton-density turbo-spin echo sequences and T2-weighted multi-spinecho sequences. Serial imaging was performed at the unloaded state (δ0) and at consecutive loading positions (i.e. at δ2.5 and δ5.0). Biomechanical unconfined compression testing (Young’s modulus) and histological assessment. All samples were histologically intact(Mankinscore,1.8±1.3)and biomechanically reasonably homogeneous (Young’s modulus, 0.42 ± 0.14 MPa). They could be visualized in their entirety by MRI and significant decreases in sample height [δ0:2 .86±0.25mm; δ2.5:2 .56±0.25mm; δ5.0:2 .02±0.16mm; p < 0.001 (repeated-measures ANOVA)] as well as pronounced T2 signal decay indicative of tissue pressurization were found as a function of compressive loading. In conclusion, our compression device has been validated for the noninvasive response-to-loading assessment of human articular cartilage by MRI in a close-to-physiological experimental setting. Thus, in a basic research context cartilage may be functionally evaluated beyond mere static analysis and in reference to histology and biomechanics”

“In terms of hydration, compressive loading most likely induced considerable water redistribution within and possibly out of the tissue.”

For a long time I never believed in this idea that a heterosexual male could just go to the local gym and just “lift” his way to a level of physical attractiveness to compensate for his shorter than average height. It was something that was promoted by a large percentage of young teenage and adult males in the USA today, who treat exercise as a preferred form of hobby or past-time.

It seems that I might be wrong to a certain level. In doing research on what exactly women expect from potential romantic male partners, I came across media articles that referred to this one study done in Australis. From Business Insider, there was an article entitled “Women’s Standards Of Attractiveness Are As Unrealistic As Men’s“. The website for Bloomberg magazine also wrote about it entitled “Women Choose Mates by Shoulder Size First, Research Suggests.”

Out of over 100 female subjects (yes, I realize that the size is not that large) that were asked to judge the male form for attractiveness, it seems that shoulder-to-waist ratio was the most determinant factor, followed in second by height, and third by male genitalia size. Related to this subject, there might be evidence that have a shoulder/waist ratio close to the golden ratio may be the best for attractiveness, which is 1.618. This means you measure the width of your shoulders to the width of your waist.

For the longest time, there were always anecdotal evidence spoken by females who were asked about what they found physically attractive in males. They would say that having wide, broad shoulders was one of the key components. This 2013 study seems to confirm this theory.

So how does this help the guy who might have stopped growing taller, but obviously want to go to the gym to make themselves more appealing to the opposite sex?

It seems to be linked to the level of testosterone in a males body again. I found out back in the 2012-2014 time that there is an ideal range of testosterone that should be going through a guy’s body around puberty to make them above average in height. The level of T should be higher than average, but not too high.

What is well known from a study in anatomy is that even after the growth plates in the young guys’ body are gone which contribute specifically for vertical growth, the sternum area is still however cartilage, specifically fibrocartilage. It seems that if the young male has a high level of T, that testosterone will in fact cause the fibrocartilage to expand, which will cause the overall skeleton to grow in width. This creates the wider torso, broader shoulder look. This is what happens when basketball scouts say that the rail skinny tall nba draft pick will eventually fill out. When the vertical growth has stopped, then the width growth starts, expanding the rib cage, and thus the overall upper region of the shoulders.

However, that fibrocartilage in the sternum doesn’t last forever either. Around the age of say 25-27, that cartilage also starts to ossify. This means that if you wanted to expand your torso and make your shoulders bigger and wider, you need to do it in your early 20s to mid 20s.

The best type of exercise which I can recommend anyone, specifically young adult guys around the age of 18-26, who is looking to make themselves have large shoulders, is to focus on just 3 exercises. 1) swimming (specifically the fly stroke), 2) pull ups and 3) shoulder flys.

Now, let’s remember the golden ratio. One need to combine the width shoulders with a narrow waist, which means that they should combine it with the following 2 types of exercise to narrow their waist. 1. Abdominal/Core exercises 2) Cardio (You might not even need cardio if you swim with high enough intensity to burn off the adipose tissue around the waist area).

Let’s remember the things we learned years before. Probably the most popular type of male body that girls want is the mesomorphic type, but more specifically the “swimmers’ build”. Swimmers get their body shape from swimming. If I could just compact down my recommendation for the 1 type of exercise a young adult guy can do to make themselves more attractive to the females, it would be to focus on swimming, and swim with high intensity.

For the longest time, I said that bodybuilding and weightlifting is a waste of time and stupid and doesn’t work in making the females more attracted to the guy, since I knew for a fact that exercise will not make a short guy taller. I thought that height was the most important factor in female attraction.

That may not be the complete picture here. Height is indeed critical and important, but a more accurate description of female attraction is being able to recognize in a guy the physical attributes from the male body to reveal that when that guy was going through puberty, they had the right level of testosterone going through their body. Females can biologically, instinctually recognize which males have the bodies which have the right proportion sizes.

It used to be in the 90s and 80s that the guy who gets the best looking females in the years of high school were football players, not basketball players. Basketball players are on average taller than football players, but football players are much wider, thus wider in the shoulders than basketball players. However, I would be willing to guess that there would be a 60/40 ratio if a large number of females were asked to just whether they would prefer the 6′ 2″ football player body with a 1.6 shoulder-waist ratio to the 6′ 4″ basketball player with a 1.4 shoulder-waist ratio.

There does seem to a be a height cut-off point where the taller you are, the attraction from females actually decrease. There has always been at some level this image that the super tall thin guy is not as masculine (thus attractive) as the less tall, but still tall guy who has wider shoulders, and is buff.

So for the guys out there, I would suggest that one should focus on weightlifting or exercise in general to a certain point to help compensate for height, if they are shorter than average. And when I am talking about exercise, I am saying it to focus on just 2 results. 1) Increase the width of the shoulders and 2) decrease the width of the waist to the golden ratio. 1.6

Phase 1 – When you are still going through puberty and still growing vertically – Exercise Recommended – Swimming. It seems that swimming actually decrease the bone mineral density, which is something pediatricians are against, but from my personal research, the lower than average BMD is nothing to be worried about, since in the long term, that eventually increases as we get older to full adulthood.

Phase 2 – When you are just finished with growing taller and finished puberty – Exercise Recommended – High Intensity Swimming with the Fly stroke combined with pull ups and shoulder flys

Phase 3 – When you are around the age of 27 and older – Focus only on core exercises to decrease the waist measurement, since you can no longer increase the width of your shoulders, since the fibrocartilage have finally finishes ossifying around the ages of 26-27.

Here is where weightlifting aka bodybuilding fails, and doesn’t do anything. Do no do the following exercises, since they do nothing for you in the long term

• Squat
• Deadlift
• Bench press
• Bicep Curl -or any type of exercise that works the biceps
• Tricep Exercises
• Calf muscles exercises
• Leg presses

The exercise of squatting and deadlift is particularly useless and dangerous, to one’s back, hip, and knees. The exercises of bicep often cause tendonitis and bone spurs in the elbows and shoulder joint areas.

Remember that we are looking for “functional strength”. Functional strength refers to the strength that the rock climber gets from being able to lift their entire body weight over their head. Functional strength is what will make one light in weight, faster, and be more agile and quick on their feet. Functional strength is derived from using one’s own weight as the resistance to work one’s muscles. That is why I do not recommend exercising using barbells, dumbbells, and machines. Instead of lifting a weight in a predetermined path, one should be lifting and maneuvering a kettle bell.

Young men these days love to talk about their “gains” which I am guessing is just increases in the measurements of their muscles, but the increased muscularity is not what really attracts females, at least the majority of females. The real truth is that weightlifting and bodybuilding is something today’s young men do for themselves, to make themselves feel better about themselves, to give them the confidence, since exercise increases the level of testosterone and endorphins going through the body. It is more likely that the guy who is exercising to become extremely muscular is doing it to gain the admiration of other heterosexual males, rather than the sexual desire of females, since we are vane creatures and want to be admired, by both men and women.

If we look at pictures of say 2016 Arnold Schwarzenegger, we can see that all of his work in bodybuilding in his 20s to win those Mr. Olympia championships eventually were lost. Father time and mother nature takes away the “gains” we exercised for in our 20s and 30s. This is true for people like Ronnie Coleman, another former Mr. Olympia. His downfall with all his back and hip injuries show that weightlifting and bodybuilding is actually a very stupid, time wasting, and body damaging past-time which the American young adult men these days don’t realize yet.  All that hard work is removed when we get older. Remember that before Arnold came along in the 80s, and his Venice Beach Gold’s Gym time in the 70s and early 60s, exercise was actually not a very big thing.

It wasn’t until the 80s that exercise and the need to have a ripped, muscular body was considered attractive by both the American male and female demographic. However, being tall, and having broad, wide shoulder have always been.

I honestly believe that weightlifting and bodybuilding is a fad that will not stand the test of time. Exercise is here to stay since the benefits from cardio workouts are too beneficial, although cardio can be bad for the joints. That is why I suggest swimming as the best form of exercise.