I need to get this off of my chest, but before I do I need
to lay out the following:
- There are exceptions to every rule. I’m going to speak in general terms and paint the picture with broad strokes. If this offends you, chances are that I wasn't referring to you, or I was and don't care.
- The views expressed here are not necessarily shared by any other member of the RB group as a whole. Just mine.
I've been around long enough to notice a pattern, and I know
I’m not alone. Some people will quietly
agree, some will boastfully say I didn't go far enough, but neither are
required. This is more food for thought
than anything else.
Sportsmanship, maturity, generosity, brotherhood,
attitude. These are some of the many traits
that define the sports athlete. I see
those traits in people, as well as seeing a gaping void where they should be in
others.
Again, I’m going to speak in general terms when I talk about strength sports, and my experience in Powerlifting.
As a newcomer to the sport, and it is most definitely that, a sport, I notice that nearly every athlete, every participant have very similar attributes. I notice a willingness to help a fellow competitor. I see guys screaming their head off when a competitor lifts, even when they are in direct competition in the same weight class. Whether it’s chalking your buddy’s shoulders or helping them into gear or letting a competitor borrow wraps or a belt when they forgot theirs, there is a unity in the air that can be felt.
This extends beyond the platform too. I’ve been lucky enough to train with some great lifters and share knowledge as well as learn a lot along the way. The only way to do this is to be totally and completely open minded and humble. You’ve got to be able to take constructive criticism. Not only that, but you’ve got to be able to tell a friend that his squat looked like shit when it did, or else you’re just coddling.
Again, I’m going to speak in general terms when I talk about strength sports, and my experience in Powerlifting.
As a newcomer to the sport, and it is most definitely that, a sport, I notice that nearly every athlete, every participant have very similar attributes. I notice a willingness to help a fellow competitor. I see guys screaming their head off when a competitor lifts, even when they are in direct competition in the same weight class. Whether it’s chalking your buddy’s shoulders or helping them into gear or letting a competitor borrow wraps or a belt when they forgot theirs, there is a unity in the air that can be felt.
This extends beyond the platform too. I’ve been lucky enough to train with some great lifters and share knowledge as well as learn a lot along the way. The only way to do this is to be totally and completely open minded and humble. You’ve got to be able to take constructive criticism. Not only that, but you’ve got to be able to tell a friend that his squat looked like shit when it did, or else you’re just coddling.
It may just be that the pure nature of powerlifting draws
personalities that have those attributes.
From what I’m learning and experiencing, PL takes a lot of work. No shit, right? That work is performed for
the promise of attaining a goal, and that goal is a quantitative measurement or
your accumulated skill, strength and experience expressed in the form of a
number, or set and total of numbers.
By and large, the lifts themselves aren’t flashy. You aren’t judged on how you look outside of the rules of the lift. You’re judged on what you can DO. That to me is the definition of a sport: Doing. Doing more than your competitor. But Sadly, some people are less interested in DOING and more interested in how they LOOK.
By and large, the lifts themselves aren’t flashy. You aren’t judged on how you look outside of the rules of the lift. You’re judged on what you can DO. That to me is the definition of a sport: Doing. Doing more than your competitor. But Sadly, some people are less interested in DOING and more interested in how they LOOK.
I see a lot of guys in the gym, or in forums, or in video’s,
in advertisements or even in public who embody that. It’s a different mindset, it’s a different
set of attributes. Self love, vanity,
immaturity, arrogance, insecurity, jealousy.
I see these people unable to take advice. I see these people put in obsessively hard
work to be happy gazing into a mirror.
More than that, I see these people flaunt themselves around like camera whores. I’ve even seen people justify a high squat by totally ignoring science, claiming that their friend who took an online personal training course said it was bad for the back and knees. Using excuses that coincidentally make their way easier than the right way. Those kind of people don’t seem to want to GET better, them want their false outer image to LOOK better.
More than that, I see these people flaunt themselves around like camera whores. I’ve even seen people justify a high squat by totally ignoring science, claiming that their friend who took an online personal training course said it was bad for the back and knees. Using excuses that coincidentally make their way easier than the right way. Those kind of people don’t seem to want to GET better, them want their false outer image to LOOK better.
They’re also the first to try to compare dicks,
figuratively. These are the guys who flock to bodybuilding forums and post
about how much they deadlifted out of the rack and bounced off of the rubber
floor with wrist straps, or did quarter power bows in the squat rack with 5
plates. More concerned with which NO
supplement will get their veins to pop the most rather than the fact that their
rounding their back on a pull, screaming "don't fuckin touch the bar!" as they're pinned or bouncing the bar 2” into their sternum to get
some rebound on their bench. So what if
the lifts look like shit, that’s a lot of weight!
Ok, they’re douchebags.
So why do I care?
One simple reason.
Bodybuilding is and has always been more visible, popular, accessible,
advertised and distributed than powerlifting.
Magazines like Flex, Muscle & Fitness, Built, AXL, Kaged muscle,
Men’s fitness, Monster Muscle yadda yadda yadda. To date, there are as many as
30 bodybuilding magazines easily available on news stands, and only ONE true
powerlifting magazine, Mark Bell’s POWER Magazine.
Well, the internet is still pumping out powerlifting literature right? Sure, but google “Strength” and look at the top results. After the wiki definitions, who’s got the top spot? Bodybuilding.com! Bodybuilding, the sport where strength doesn’t matter. The sport where strength is just a byproduct of SIZE.
Bodybuilding drowns out the rest with flashy advertising, over the top pageantry and ridiculous looking role models. Look at the Arnold Classic, or theOlympia . Both huge bodybuilding expos. Guess who gets to take the stage as a
sideshow? Strength sports. PL, Grip, Strongman. Like circus freaks. The message is loud and clear to today’s youth
looking for direction: It’s all about
how you LOOK.
Well, the internet is still pumping out powerlifting literature right? Sure, but google “Strength” and look at the top results. After the wiki definitions, who’s got the top spot? Bodybuilding.com! Bodybuilding, the sport where strength doesn’t matter. The sport where strength is just a byproduct of SIZE.
Bodybuilding drowns out the rest with flashy advertising, over the top pageantry and ridiculous looking role models. Look at the Arnold Classic, or the
Life isn’t a beauty pageant, it’s a competition. Life is about bettering yourself and your
situation in the face of adversity. It’s
about working hard to achieve, working hard to eat, working hard to survive. Did your grandfather give a shit about how his
ABS looked? Fuck no! Did the greatest
generation defeat the nazi’s with back double bicep poses? Shit no!
When the hell did guys stop trying to get strong and start caring about
how strong they look!?
People who live their lives for the appearance, for the LOOK
tend to be that shallow lady you hate at work, or the flashy douchbag in the
4cyl convertible with the racing stripes revving his engine at the stop light. Living your life for the look is as
artificial as captain biceps on the magazine cover wowing the impressionable
kids with his roided out pipes, selling big box creatine for only $85. Vanity, self love, insecurity,
big-o-rexia. These are the subliminal
messages being sold to our kids. The lie
that Big not only equals strong, but that Big > Strong.
Unfortunately, they’ve got the corner on the market still.
But there’s always a silver lining. With
the rise of competitive strength sports, it seems like more kids are bypassing
the pony show for something just a little harder to find in all of the noise. Fewer guys are drooling over the muscular
thighs of some bigger than life poser and actually getting in the gym to put
the work into strength. Something bigger than they are, a brotherhood, a sport.
Will Strength sports ever rise to the notoriety of bodybuilding? Time will tell, but in the mean time, I’ll be working on and sharing a passion for strength and performance. Those others with mandatory mirror time can keep blasting their guns and lying to the world about how strong they are.
Will Strength sports ever rise to the notoriety of bodybuilding? Time will tell, but in the mean time, I’ll be working on and sharing a passion for strength and performance. Those others with mandatory mirror time can keep blasting their guns and lying to the world about how strong they are.
