What you're missing, though, since you're not in the culture is a lot of the extreme stuff that comes in the bodybuilding world:
1. Guys drinking olive oil and raw eggs and choking down pounds of meat.
2. Guys hellbent on boosting AA and IGF-1.
3. Guys taking pre and post workout drinks that are designed to spike insulin and blood sugar.
4. Not everyone agrees with me on this, but I think the mountains of excitotoxin-filled wheys are probably hard on the hypothalamus
This stuff works for the 20 and 30 year olds, but I believe that there is a price to be paid once middle age hits with some of these things.
Again, though, you don't have to do that. Jack LaLanne has a monster physique into his 80's and avoided all of the above through a healthy lifestyle. Bob Delmontaque also did incredibly well into his early 80's. So it can be done...
Yeah I see your point. It's more about the difference between bodybuilding and radical or extreme bodybuilding then? It seems like most of the guys I know who do bodybuilding are really into it and go extreme.