"What's your (their) routine?"
Everyone wants to know what the routine and diet was that resulted in this transformation. What's the secret? What is the magic formula? How do you go from A to B?
The thing is, these questions ultimately miss the point. They're based upon a false notion that it's all just a formula. Plug in X amount of sets with Y amount of movements and you get Z results.
The reality is, it's not that easy.
Apparently this button didn't test well with the marketing demographic.
As much as we want everything in life to be binary and science, the reality is, physical transformation is art. Science cannot capture the toil, the struggle, the hard work, sacrifice and pain. Science is cold and unfeeling. This is art. Your physique and your ability are an expression of YOU. Are you unstoppable? Are you made of cold steel and nails? Or are you soft, squishy, and possibly cream filled?
Sorry, I'm still not over them being gone.
The reality is, if you need to ask "how did you do it?", you won't be able to. We like to over complicate this stuff and pretend like you HAVE to do a certain program a certain way at a certain time or else you won't get results, but the reality is, theses are just excuses. Hard work is hard work. The people who wake up one day and decide to change themselves through sheer physical toil and dedication get results, regardless of if they are following the "best" plan. The people who follow P90X and then quit after a week don't, regardless of how well put together the plan is.
I have been called anti-intellectual in my ranting before, but lets address that. The reality is, I see the human population as over educated these days, and as a result we are missing the "big picture". We are a society of electrical engineers with no electricians. All managers and no laborers. We have lost sight of what it takes for success to happen. A gameplan is fine and dandy, but without the sheer guts and willpower to forcibly affect change, it is worthless.
Without the boots on the ground, this is just a man with a funny hat and a riding crop
Our lifting forefathers had none of the resources we have today. There was no internet for Paul Anderson, Bob Peoples, Bill Kazmaier (in his prime of course), etc. These men simply had to bust their ass and find out what worked through will power and bullheadedness. It takes fortitude, mental and physical, to be able to keep returning to the gym and enforcing your will upon your body and the iron.
From these men we can definitely learn lessons, and while some of them are intellectual (thank you Paul for the gift of ROM progression), the big one to learn is to just get in the gym and bust your ass.
It's not about how many sets of how many reps of which movements you do on which day. It's your ability to come back, again and again, and hit the iron hard enough to make an impression.
Education probably has less to do with it than culture. This is the most immature and delusional generation to ever exist. The strength of their pretensions are generally proportional to the weakness of their character. It's always an unreasonably specific question based upon an absurd premise: "What's the best steroid for building arms?" Conversely, I would have supreme confidence in someone who asks "What do I need to do to reach my potential?"
ReplyDeleteWell put man, and definitely a valid observation. No one wants to learn any more than the exact answer to their specific question. If you suggest that they read more to learn the theory behind a concept, they tune you out.
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