Technically I'm not ex-mormon so IDK if I'm allowed to be here, but I just found this site and I honestly respect/kinda agree with some of the points made here. To be clear, *I don't want to preach*, I just wanna hear your guys' thoughts on something:

As the subject suggests, I'm a gym bro. Ever since I started working out it has been my life. I wouldn't give up training for the world because I'm so passionate about this and slowly but surely becoming lean and aesthetic has been a fulfilling journey.

I feel like ever since I started working out a little over a year ago I've been in conflict with the church's doctrine. My parents are always telling me to work out less (currently on a 6-day ~9hr/week split) and that my gains a temporary as I will simply lose them once I leave on a mission. Just today my dad told me that I won't have my muscles in Heaven and that the only things you take is family, ordinances, life choices, etc. I think it's ridiculous how I'm being ridiculed for doing something as basic as exercising.

I've decided that I won't be serving a mission at all if it means I can't work out. How is this even an issue? Granted, missionaries are allotted 30 mins for exercising, but for me that's a pitiful ration, even when disregarding commute times to the gym and back. Even if I went full Mike Mentzer style it wouldn't work and besides, I shouldn't have to do that to begin with. When I raise my concerns to the bishopric, teachers, etc. I'm met with this "he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:39) sorta answer that isn't very satisfying. It seems like all this flies in the face of the whole "Word of Wisdom" and "the body is a temple" thing. I really need this time to improve my health and appearance and I don't wanna give it up.

Thoughts?

tl;dr - don't wanna serve a mission bc it means I can't work out and I think that's dumb

I'm not into gym stuff or remotely interested in it or anything, but everyone has their passions.

Telling you that you won't have muscles in heaven is one of the dumbest things I've heard lately. Who cares. There are LOTS of things people do that presumably they won't have in their pretend version of heaven. A lot of people pursued what they wanted to do and didn't go on missions (football players, actors, etc.).

I don't think you would be happy on a mission. You would resent their rigid rules that don't align with your priorities. Happiness is following your bliss, not helping the church make money with your free labor.

Keep studying. Life is short. If your parents don't accept you unless you follow the McChurch life path, then that's a whole different topic. Sincere good luck. Just maybe you will be the next Mr. Universe or something. You never know unless you try.

I encourage all to abstain from missions. Soul sucking waste of time and money and lies to boot.

Fitness wise, if you're not in an area with a car, you'll have almost no choice but to be fairly fit. Walking and biking all day is excercise. Many missionaries aspire to other muscle building too and despise the study. I think you'll have the study time accepted by most elders as body building time. If they object. have them read out loud to you while you exercise. If they want to exercise but feel guilty, play pre-recorded crap. Conference talks, bible on mp3.

But no, it won't be the same as when you have control of your time, money, food budget and the rest.

Oh yes, the food budget is VERY low. Tough to get high protein on that budget.

You will likely lose/redistribute muscle mass on a mission. And a mission sucks in all other respects as well.

It doesn't have to mean the end of fitness though. I'm sure you'd need a bigger food budget to eat they way you need to for your fitness goals.

I worked out on my mission. One place we lived had a set of weights in the basement. I made good use of them. Sometimes you might be limited to access to a gym and have to get creative but that’s kind of fun.

Athletes can be faithful Mormons. BYU has some top-notch NCAA athletes who spend several hours every day working out. Former BYU and NFL quarterback Steve Young is a notable example. I can think of at least four professional ballroom and Latin dancers who are church members.

A mission would suck up all of your time. I would do what you want to do. Most young people are better served by pursuing school or career fields. The military might be a good fit for you. Or you might like to go to college. A non-Mormon school could open your eyes to the wider world.

Find a way to live your life in a way that makes sense to you. Bear in mind that many church leaders, including President Nelson and Presidents Monson and Packer, never served missions. The sky will not fall if you don't serve a mission. But it might be in your best interest to play your cards close to your chest in that regard, as long as you are still living at home.

Your dad is an idiot. His "no muscles in heaven" is in direct opposition to the BoM (Alma 11:43-44).

The whole idea of the celestial kingdom is to become godlike. If mormon god is all-powerful, he can certainly give himself as ripped a body as he wants, and he can keep it that way without having to exercise.

Can you go to the gym on a mission? Only if you have the right companion who won't rat you out. Many years ago I had a companion who had been on his university's football team and wanted to play again when he returned. We went to the gym 3-4 times a week so he could lift weights, while I relaxed in the lobby, read non-church magazines, and generally enjoyed not tracting.

As you're finding out, mormons don't like it when someone decides not to conform, and will use all the social pressure they can muster to bring you back into line. As long as you try to go your own way, they will never let up. This is one reason why most of us consider the mormon church to be a cult.

Don't go on a mission if you don't want to, for any reason.

If you're pressured to send in your papers, somewhere in the process you can indicate that if you can't work out, your sanity will be impacted, causing you severe depression. They might decide that you're unfit for a mission.

You didn't mention your age or how far out you are from putting i your papers. If you're a sophmore or junior You still have enough time to work hard in school and find a university that will give you a good financial package to attend. You can even start the summer after you graduate, so you wouldn't have have to deal with your parents for more than a week or so after you graduate.

You haven't mentioned what your parents will do if you refuse to go on a mission. Will you be able to deal with being estranged from them?

Keep in mind that you will be stuck with several companions whose only idea of exercise will be jumping to conclusions. You won’t be eating as much or as often as you are now.

As others have suggested, please don't go on a mission if doing your weight training is very important to you.

I have a chip on my shoulder and I should be a bigger person and let it go. I was assigned to a guy who carried a 1000 lb weight set (free weights). It became a problem.

And before everyone piles on, I like playing sports and doing the weight training. The problem was that Elder Studd and two other elders wanted to work out the entire day and then do the missionary thing 1-2 hours every other day.

I'm not defending the church or the crappy routine of tracting but why stay on a mission if all you want to do is pump iron?

Hey, this group of three stopped playing basketball and other team sports with the rest of the missionary zone. It was all about bodybuilding, taking amino acids and power reps all day and night. I wanted to go on a two mile hike and I ended up going alone (and he wrote me up for going by myself).

Depending on where you go and who the Mission President is, you may or may not be able to keep up your exercise.

I worked out a lot before I went (West Indies Mission), and my mission president was supportive of us working out. On my first island (St. Vincent), we found a makeshift gym just up the hill from where we lived and worked out during our lunch time.

On my second island (Barbados) there was a set of weights and and a bench in the living room so I used that. When I moved to a difference part of the island we found a gym a short walk from our apartment.

On my third island (Jamaica) we found a gym we could drive to, and when I moved way out in the country, I made my own weights from cinder blocks and a metal pole, a pull up bar from a branch in a tree, and a bench from an old board I found.

All the gyms gave us a discount because we we're missionaries too.

So, it can be done. I came hope pretty ripped. But, if you really don't want to go on a mission, try not to go. If you hate being on the mission, a gym won't really fix that.

Oh yeah. Our mission president loved to play basketball so he would meet us at a community college that let us use the gym and play for a few hours.

I had a basketball, soccer ball, and cricket bat and ball, so I could use them anywhere I was. The locals loved to play pick up games with us.

A few thoughts for aspiring bodybuilders about going on a mission (also applies to non bodybuilders).

1. You are an ADULT. Think and act like it. As an adult, you make choices and you are responsible for those choices regardless of who influenced you to make the choice and regardless of what type of persuasion was used.

2. If you choose to discuss your sex life with someone who has ulterior motives, regardless of whether the discussion was supposedly in confidence, you can reasonably expect that someone to use that information to coerce you. Knowledge is power. The more someone knows about you, the more power they have over you. Confession in the LDS culture invariably comes back at you in the form of coercion.

3. You are a VOLUNTEER. As such, you are in a superior position. The LDS church is asking you for your help. If you chose to extend your kindness to the church by VOLUNTEERING to perform some kind of function, the church needs to understand its position as the recipient of charity. If any mission president, stake president, bishop or other so called leader makes demands of you, remind him that beggars can't be choosers and he is in no position to demand anything of you, AN ADULT VOLUNTEER.

4. Money + passport + clear thinking = freedom.
You are an adult, you are a volunteer, there is no binding contract. You can be a missionary on Sunday and a tourist the rest of the week if you so choose. You don't need their permission to be a missionary. You can go knock doors anywhere you want at anytime without anyone's permission, blessing, calling, or setting apart. You don't need anyone's permission to be a tourist at anytime. You can tour anywhere you choose at anytime. It's your belief system that both limits and empowers you.

5. In the United States, they cannot 'send' you home. They can only coerce you into agreeing to go home. In the USA, you have the option of telling the mission president you will go home on your schedule, not his. If he has trouble understanding that, I'm certain the local police will help him understand the you are a FREE ADULT, not an indentured servant.

6. I'm not sure about the visa requirements in a foreign countries as far as a mission president being able to send you home. Research the law before you go so you'll know what kind of legal power a mission president has in the country you are going to, but in the USA they cannot 'send' you home.

7. Take a credit card, a telephone calling card, and a photocopy of your passport with you. That's what any rational adult would do. DO NOT TELL ANYONE about them. They are your ticket out. Keep your options open.

8. Take care of yourself. Make sure you get enough sleep. Make sure you eat right. Make sure you are safe. Make sure you are healthy. Make sure you keep private matters private. That all sounds obvious. What isn't obvious to some missionaries is that obeying rules does not relieve one from natural consequences. If people around you are not allowing you to take care of yourself, they are not your friends. Simply tell them that you are not available for whatever it is they want you to do. If they as why, simply say you don't care to discuss that. Do not present your reasons for debate. You are an ADULT. You do not have to defend your reasons for your decisions. You do have to live in the environment you create with your decisions.

9. Print this out and take it with you.

One more thing. You know that story about putting fleas in a jar with the lid on and after awhile they'll only jump high enough to not hit the lid? When you take the lid off and the fleas won't jump out of the jar.

As long as you think of yourself as anything other than an INDEPENDENT ADULT, you will never jump out of the jar.

^^ This!

I sincerely believe that the basic tilt of one's mission depends on the MP.

I have some basic life advice for you.

Do not use the same screenname for every part of your internet existence, especially when posting something personal on a site that your parents and mormon peers would give you a hard time about visiting.