Saturday, March 10, 2018

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU


I’m just getting sick of this, so allow me to rant.  Every time I see a video of someone accomplishing some ridiculous feat of strength, I see the same dumb thing in the comments.  No, I’m not talking about the steroids accusations, I’m not talking about the bad form comments, I’m not talking about the “my back hurts just watching that” nonsense; I’m talking about the miscreants that make the video all about THEM.  And they do it in the stupidest way possible; using it as an opportunity to talk about how weak THEY are.  “Oh man, here I was happy doing only HALF of that”, “Oh wow, if I tried that I’d blow a gasket”, etc etc.  Jesus Christ; quit being so self-centered for a second and let this person have their glory.  It’s not about you!

Image result for Deadlift nosebleed
Oh man, if I tried to get a nosebleed like that, I'd probably only get 1 nostril going!

“But I’m just pointing out how STRONG that guy is!” No you’re not; you’re trying to reinforce your toxic mediocrity by shifting attention AWAY from greatness and focusing it on weakness.  You’re trying to create a culture of under performing to justify your OWN failings rather than letting magnificence shine when it is present.  There was no doubt whatsoever that Eddie Hall was strong when he deadlifted 500kg; you pointing out that you’d be happy to deadlift 500lbs is trite and a meaningless statement that did nothing to benefit the rest of us.  Respect the lift by admiring it or by shutting up about it, but when you try to take attention away from the athlete by shifting the focus onto you, you are truly committing a crime.

And quit your compliment fishing; this isn’t a therapy session.  You don’t need someone to tell you to buck up and that everyone has to start somewhere; we all know this already.  And hey, for those of you that watch these videos and say “that’s it, I quit”; good.  Get out, because your monument to weakness is offensive and is setting us all back.  “But my self-esteem!” I HOPE your self-esteem is low, because hopefully you’ll resent yourself enough to want to make a change.  People that are content have no reason to improve; it’s the people that absolutely DETEST their very being that are going to be out there making meaningful changes.  If you want acceptance, go make a tumblr, but if you strength, quit making this about you.

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You won't BELIEVE the sort of tumblrs this image shows up on...

“Hey man, I just want to establish some realistic expectations”, no, go away.  What you’re doing is the exact opposite of helpful.  Let’s abolish realistic expectations and give EVERYONE unrealistic expectations.  Let’s get bored of 1000lb deadlifts, let’s see so many 3000lb totals that it’s trite, let’s get so inundated with greatness that we expect nothing else.  When we normalize greatness, achieving it seems almost inevitable.  What you’re doing is dragging us all down with you as you do your best to turn the topic of conversation around and back to you.

Hey, know what you can do to get people to start talking about you?  GO DO SOMETHING!  Go do something that is WORTH talking about.  Don’t pride yourself on how weak you are; go into hiding and turn into some sort of horrific unstoppable juggernaut and come back decades later so that the whole collective internet hivemind sees you and says “What the F**K?!”  Go EARN the right to be spoken about.  Don’t try to steal it by attempting to turn the spotlight onto your weakness whenever given the chance; remain silent until you have something to say, and then say it so loud that no one can hear over your awesomeness.

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Eddie couldn't hear over how awesome he was...and because he was bleeding out of his ears

And why CAN’T it be you?  Why spend so much time wallowing in maudlin self-pity when you could go out and BE these things you idolize?  No time?  Genetics?  Drugs?  Excuses, the whole lot of it.  Because even if you can’t reach THEIR level, you can certainly maximize your potential, and in doing so you will reach levels that few other humans in total will ever experience.  You WILL be spoken of by others, because the person that has peaked, in whatever form that takes, IS impressive among others.  You won’t have to hog the spotlight or shift attention away from others or play weird psychological games to trick people into noticing you; you’ll be noticed because you finally went and achieved something.


But until that time, it’s not about you.  Don’t make it about you.  Let the greatness that is occurring occur before you, and praise it for what it is, and reflect on it for what it means to you, and give that person what they EARNED by achieving this feat.  One day, you might be able to earn it too.

25 comments:

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    1. No problem man; I needed to hear it too, haha.

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  2. Just watched the video on Eddie. He says it damn near killed him, but he would go for it again if needed, just to keep his spot in history.

    Would it be fair to say, to go with this post, to figure out what these guys are doing differently and train accordingly? Or is this pretty much the idea?

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    1. That doesn't necessarily go with this post, but it's not a bad idea. That said, you also have to ask if you're willing to make the same sacrifices as those people to achieve what they did. But interestingly enough, from a training perspective, Eddie isn't doing anything really unique. In fact, he's training in a way a lot of the internet has decided doesn't work; body part splits with lots of assistance work, like a bodybuilder. Damndest thing really, haha.

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    2. Wait, he does body part splits? Well, then! Obviously his greatness is due to his genetics, drugs, and his beard! Obviously!

      Haha, I've honestly concluded that people just overthink fitness. They want to find "shortcuts", when they would just progress a lot faster by realizing there isn't one, that the best method is one that you enjoy doing as a routine, and that the way you get it to work is you just apply it consistently, and understand that at some point it may not work and so a different approach might be needed.

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    3. Purely anecdotal but it does generally seem that most of the top guys aren't doing anything all that unusual in their training. Sure there's differences from person to person but it's pretty rare to find someone way outside the norm (and if you do, odds are someone else did it decades ago). They're just doing it with a bloody-minded stubbornness that'd rather hack off a limb than admit defeat.

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    4. I would believe it. Every so often a novel approach comes along, that changes the game, and it becomes the new norm, but I haven't heard of that happening often. I know I have gotten a lot more out of my current efforts just by putting more work in each session and being (fairly) consistent.

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  3. I wish i could write an article this good, but I would probably just end up writing somethìng unintelligable and boring.

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  4. Best thing I've read in a while.

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  6. Damn fine article man

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  7. Oh man I love this. It especially makes me nuts when people do that with adaptive athletes. "I can't even lift that much and I have both [hands/arms/legs/etc]!".

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    1. Oh geez, how completely criminal. Humanity is amazing.

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    2. Next time that comes up, ask them what their excuse for not being able to do [x] is.

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  9. This is exactly why I seldom bother to read the comments section when I watch elite weightlifters train on Hookgrip Youtube.

    I love the focus and purpose these superb athletes show in all their lifts, from the empty bar to their heaviest sets of the day. They KNOW you can't have a high peak without a strong base.

    Thanks for this post. It was well worth the reading time. May you smash some PRs soon!

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    1. Thanks man. And absolutely correct. So little value in the comments.

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