ON FANTASY

  

I know I’ve already written on this topic before, but it’s worth re-visiting.  I was blessed to have grown up before the internet was a thing, because, in turn, I was blessed to have been so ignorant in the ways of science and human limitation when I turned to making myself bigger and stronger.  But along with that, I was ALSO blessed because none of my heroes and idols were REAL people.  There was SO little focus the world gave to strength athletics in the early to mid 90s that there WERE no role models for me to adopt.  Yeah, WSM would still air on ESPN at 2:00 AM on occasion, but otherwise, the world (as it still does) cared about REAL sports, and the only time strength sports got any sort of love was once every 4 years in the Olympics.  So what did that leave me?  Fantasy.  And with that, ZERO conception of what was and was not possible.

 

Who did I look up to?  I looked up to Colossus from X-men.  

Yup: speedo, hooker boots and all.  This was MY Colossus as an 80s kid

You ever think about how awesome he was?  Primarily because, when NOT empowered, he was STILL peak human strength, able to press 700lbs overhead, and THEN he could transform and become super-human strong.  

Because again, when you can still f**k up Cyclops BEFORE you power up, you get to pick whatever uniform you want

And then there was Juggernaut, who needs no introduction, and then those lunatics that wrote the 90s X-men cartoon had them face off and my brain exploded from so much awesome.

True nerds will know that this is from the wrong show, but I couldn't find a decent enough photo of the 90s cartoon to reference

Hell, I even looked up to The Blob, because even though he was super fat, it came with being super strong (Paul Anderson woulda made a GREAT Blob), which I know, because I had a bunch of X-men trading cards that had all the stats listed.  I had Hulk Hogan, who IS a fantasy character played by Terry Bollea, with 24” pythons, tearing his shirt off, and, as a fat kid growing up, WAS a fat kid that totally transformed himself through diet, exercise, saying his prayers and taking his vitamins, along with the whole other cast of jacked up professional wrestlers that my brother and I would watch on Saturday mornings, getting WAY too riled up until our dad screamed at us to go back to bed because it was too early.  

To this day I don't know WHY this symbolizes being strong: I just know that it does

I, of course, had Arnold, but it wasn’t Arnold I looked up to: it was Conan, knocking out camels with one punch, or Commando, throwing a phone booth.  I had no idea how much weight Arnold could REALLY lift, but I DID see him carrying a gigantic log like it was nothing in a movie.

 

LumberJACKED...I am so, SO sorry

I had NO idea which of these feats were possible and which ones were fabricated: all I knew is I wanted to be like these dudes.  I wanted to be like Samson from the Bible, or Hercules, or any figure I ever heard of that was known for their physical strength.  And it drove me to chase after this strength.  My earliest memory is of wanting to be big and strong, going back as far as the age of 4, and 31 years later I’m STILL chasing after it, for reasons I don’t even understand any more NOR do I even bother to try to understand it.  I just know this calling is inside of me and I’m just going to chase after it.  And since I’m still a nerd, I STILL read comic books about strong characters (did you see the arc where Colossus BECOMES the Juggernaut?  Holy sh*t!), but it’s also because, in truth, there’s so much more value in fantasizing about being this strong vs being grounded in reality.

In case you thought I was joking

 

I see young trainees now that are so well versed in all the limitations of humanity that they’ve basically given up before they even try.  They know the full extent of genetic possibility of the human race based off the performance of top strength athletes and a series of controlled studies and have extrapolated their entire potential based off these data points, deciding, unquestionably so, that they can ONLY add 2lbs of muscle a month, and that they can ONLY add 20lbs of muscle their first year of training.  Meanwhile, I was running Super Squats under the guise that I could add 30lbs of muscle in SIX WEEKS, based on the cover of the book and Randall Strossen’s constant reassurance it was possible, with STORIES of several trainees that had managed to accomplish such a feat.  Is it possible?  I don’t care: I put on 12lbs in six weeks following that program, which meant, for the FIRST time since I started lifting weights, I was FINALLY over 200lbs bodyweight, having gone from 190 to 202lbs.  I ate my face off and trained as hard as I had ever trained before in my life on that program, because I had a FANTASY narrative I was following that wasn’t being bogged down with facts or reality. 

 

Think of how many trainees simply WON’T run that program because they won’t believe in the fantasy behind it.  “30lbs of muscle in 6 weeks is a fantasy, and I’M so grounded in reality that I’m ONLY going to do training programs that promise me MEAGER and realistic results.”  Yeah, and what did you learn from that experience?  What did you gain?  Because after Super Squats, I learned what it’s like to be OBSESSED with training and nutrition.  To FORCE myself to drink my gallon of milk a day no matter what, because I know that the next workout that comes is going to be Hell unless I am recovered.  Do you know how many trainees confer to me that they can’t TELL if they’re recovered or not?  It’s because they’ve never trained hard enough to ever be UNDER-recovered.  You ever spend 47 hours kicking yourself because you only did 19 reps instead of 20?  Been there, and that obsession drove me to eat bigger and squat harder than I ever did in my life.  And before this becomes another ode to Super Squats, it’s not just THAT program: it’s the simple pursuit OF fantasy that drives this.  Of chasing after things that are completely impossible and, in doing so, experiencing things that are extraordinary BUT possible IF someone is willing to dig VERY deep into their potential.  A reserved and measured approach will not get you there.

You won't believe in Super Squats but you WILL believe in THIS?!

 

Reality is boring: it’s why there are writers for “reality TV”.  You get enough reality in your reality: bring some fantasy into your training.  It’s X-men time, and you’ve got a mutation that lets you heal faster from training, produce fewer fatigue toxins, and achieve super human strength.  Or there’s something magical in that 20^th rep of squats, despite what the latest science says about MRV, RPE or PCP.  You’re training so you can slaughter Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.  Get over yourself about how super serious you are and let yourself be that kid watching Saturday morning cartoons again, because that rich imagination brings with it PASSION, and that passion is the driving force necessary to make ridiculous progress to the point that fantasy stories will be written about YOUR achievements.