A friend said to me that she thinks extreme bodybuilders are just as much body mod-ders as those who get tattoos or piercings.

I would argue that bodybuilders are actually more extreme than someone with almost every square inch of their body tatted, and every possible piercing. How much time can you really spend in a tattoo parlor before you're out of real estate? If the answer is under 1500 hours (and it probably is), then you lose. In 5 years (far less than the amount of time required to be a "serious" bodybuilder), at only 1 hour a day (again, less than the "serious" amount of time), you're well over 1500 hours. The argument on money expenditure is similar, though slightly more debatable, IMHO: cost of ink vs. cost of protein and caloric intake.

And they're not in it for the health benefits. Once you can bench more than ~200% of your bodyweight, and squat more than ~300% of your bodyweight, things just start to get ridiculous. Mainly 'cuz you can't even wipe your own ass anymore, you're so musclebound. Oh, and... 'roids.

Anyways, stay healthy, ref!