the part where it becomes bizarre for me is when fiction is used as a basis for a real life lifestyle.
This is my problem with it too. I think of groups like the Star Trekkies pretending a fictious lifestyle and ask myself what's the difference. Invented languages and so on make it all the more hard for me to treat seriously.

And seeks to overly "codify" something that really should be more personal and private.
Here here. For me it's all about doing your own thing and making up your own rules to suit you and your partner. As soon as we are forced or put under peer pressure to conform to a certain code of coduct we lose individual freedom, the exact opposite of what it should all be about.

To think that there is some uniform way to train submissives is something I've always found insane
I agree to an extent but there can be principles which good training should conform to. It's like education, yes each training course should meet the specific needs of the trainees but nevertheless there can be global guidelines, criteria and best practices.

Saying it is "just a story" would be fair IF there was not a LIFESTYLE based around it.
I'm not sure I understand what lifestyle really means. If there was a commune somewhere with people living in Gorean community 24/7/365 then I could. I ask whether it can truly be considered a lifestyle if a person leaves home every day into the outside non-gorean world to work and behave the same as millions of non-gorean others until coming home to live some, not all, aspects of Gorean way of life in the comfort and privacy of the home.

Of course each to their own and it's not for me to criticize anothers chosen path. I am merely explaining my problems with it and why the "Gorean Lifestyle" is not for me.