"I Will Always Be A Bodybuilder" - Marc Lobliner Retires From the Sport?

I have said this many times before, and I have gone back on my word.

Post-show I have even made videos on why I am done competing in bodybuilding. I have said it emphatically. I have stated it with my kids and wife sitting next to me. I have stated it on all forms of social media.

But then I would make more gains and want to display them on stage. I would listen to my amazing supporters and give the sport of bodybuilding a go one more go.

Related: Red, White and GAINZ Sleeve-Splitting Arm Workout

Because of this, I won a pro card. I kept going. Kept pushing. Kept fighting. But the difference was in those instances I enjoyed the show itself, but I just got tired of the journey.

The dieting and the copious, life-encompassing training. But I love being onstage. Showing what I have earned through years of training and stringent diet and being judged against my peers by a group of 7-11 judges. I loved the presentation, the performing, the battle. Past tense?

I Did Not Enjoy My First Pro Bodybuilding Show

At my pro show, perhaps it was due to mismanagement, I did not enjoy the day of the show at all. It was 11 pm before I even felt the stage with my bare feet. I couldn't obtain a pump, and there was no pump-up equipment to wake up my lifeless body. When I did hit the stage there were only about 10 people left in the crowd, probably all there to support me.

I came in second at my pro show.

This is nothing to not be proud of but is something I am actually happy with (as happy as one can be NOT coming in first place). But the problem is, I enjoyed the training, I enjoyed the diet, but I disliked everything about that day other than hanging with my bros.

I didn't enjoy the stage, I didn't enjoy the waiting, and I just didn't enjoy competing in general. So after discussing this and for reasons to be mentioned later in this article, I hereby am retired from competitive bodybuilding for the time being, but reserve the right to change my mind if the flame sparks again. But, with that said, I am still, and will always be a bodybuilder.

I Will Always Be a Bodybuilder

Bodybuilding has played a huge role in helping me become the man that I am today. Goal setting. Not settling for mediocrity. Not listening to haters who say that I cannot do something, but rather using their venom to further motivate me to train harder, eat better, and to become an even better bodybuilder.

Setting short and long-term goals, meeting them, beating them, then setting new short and long-term goals and even elusive BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals). Being a better me. Being a healthier, more active me. Taking pride in my appearance and making time for my health and mental wellbeing. Dominating life.

Being an Alpha Mother F#cker.

Bodybuilding is no longer challenging to me. I don't mean that because I am an elite bodybuilder like Phil Heath or Kai Greene, because I am not. I mean it in in the sense that I know the game, I know how to grow and how to diet. I just don't feel challenged anymore mentally. I need to find something that not only expands my physique and performance but also expands my #mentaljewels.

Bodybuilding was always about more to me than just building big muscles. It was about exposing my weaknesses and turning them into strengths. It was about overcoming setbacks and making them triumphs.

It was about achieving greatness. Not empirical greatness, but greatness within. Becoming the best damn "The Machine" Marc Lobliner I could be. I want that back. I want to do something I have never done. I want to expose my weaknesses. I want to take steps towards personal greatness in something. I want to grow as a person.

Marc "The Machine" Lobliner Hits the Course - The Obstacle Course

My next endeavor is something I am admittedly not great at. In the past weeks, my mind and body have been dramatically altered. I have evolved. I have experienced levels of exertion and pain never before felt.

I want that. I need the challenge. It excites me, and the learning curve has me drooling at the thought of conquering it.

Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) is a sport in which a competitor, traveling on foot, must overcome various physical challenges that are in the form of obstacles. Mud and trail runs are combined and the races are designed to result in mental and physical collapse.

I am ready and have been training for this.

At my pro show, I weighed 238lbs at 4% bodyfat. I am now 223lbs and even leaner. I have been training diligently and hard, amassing miles of time running hills and on land, in snow and in mud.

My body is acclimating, I am ready for the challenge and the mental and physical gains. The passion is ignited. This is in addition to intense weight training (I will ALWAYS be a bodybuilder) and Muay Thai training once a week. When I set out to do something, I always go 120%.

Related: The Machine's New 120: Get Your Mind Right, Push the Limits

I will be doing the Battlefrog Race in Los Angeles on February 6. I don't expect to win, but you know there will be nothing left in me when I finish. As with bodybuilding, intensity is the only way I know how to compete, and I will bring it, I will bring the RUCKUS!

Thank you so much for the support throughout the years. And don't worry, I am still a bodybuilder, I am just not competing. Because no matter what, we are all brothers and sisters in iron and I will always be a bodybuilder.

And that's not a game!