Also, make sure you're all squared away with the membership stuff. You don't want to be the one who gets called out because you "forgot" to sign up.
Every week I make these long elaborate lists of things I'd like to write about. I get all excited to write some nonsense about the intricacies of the snatch-grip dead lift or some other irrelevance that I know no one really wants to read about. Then I get a reality check... Someone will utter something to the effect of "I have too much muscle.." or "My these or those are too big or bulky.." Immediately thereafter a record begins to scratch in my brain and I get a strange twitch above my right eye. No one can see it, but it's there. Right above the eyelid.
Here's the interpretation that happens inside MY head: "I'm getting a little more awesome and I'm really concerned about it because I want to keep sucking at life.."
*Side note: I hear this from guys more that girls. Frequently, boys will ask me how they should train at the gym. I reply very simply: train to squat twice your body weight and press your body weight. Their immediate response is usually: "I can't squat.. my legs get too big.." A few years ago I would take time to contest their asinine logic but now I just shrug it off. When they say things like that, I just hear: "I don't want to do anything challenging, I don't have the necessary equipment for that.."
I am too awesome.
No one has ever been deemed too much of anything awesome. Even Michael Jordan had plenty of room for improvement. He knew it better than anyone and that's what made him Michael Jordan.
Our subjective perceptions come from contrast. We compare and contrast things. So relative to another car, mine is either faster or slower, or bigger or smaller. How those perceptions are interpreted is up to me. If I BELIEVE that a good car is big and fast, then I can make a generalization like "My car is better than a smaller, slower car". But there is nothing really concrete about that statement. Only what I believe, and not much more.
So when I hear about how some of you believe that your muscles are too big.. I laugh. Compared to who's!? The average person? Really? You really want to juxtapose yourself against the status quo?
Well, let's evaluate a little further. I googled "average American" and got this:
Now, this isn't necessarily an accurate representation of the true average American but it is significant. It doesn't take too much reasoning to conclude that this family ranks pretty high for numerous risk factors associated with obesity. Thus we necessarily conclude that obesity is unhealthy and the opposite must be healthy: polar contrast.
Let's see that: I typed "anorexia" (a disease) into google..
Yikes. It doesn't take medical school to know without a shadow of a doubt that this is an image of unhealthiness. This is an image of obsessive, compulsive, destructive disease. Yet if you ask this woman what she is doing, she might tell you that she is striving for maximal health based on what she believes to be true about health and fitness.
So without beating the dead horse any longer, here's a few things to contrast against..
Talk to me about your "big" muscles (and how awesome they are) when you're cranking out triples of 225 pounds after a couple months of blowing the gym off.
Here's some more: http://www.allthingsgym.com/2012/09/summer-krasinski-squats/
Gentlemen, if you aspire to look like this, then you are useless to humanity and should probably be used as a bear snack for my personal team of sled-pulling polar bears.
Something went terribly wrong in this kid's childhood. His parents need a good beating.
It is my personal contention that every human (males especially) should feel this innate, visceral obligation to be an asset.. To something or someone, perhaps. Be able to at least contribute if not impress. If one's goal is to have just enough muscle to not collapse because it's part of an image that they think is desirable, then that individual is selfish beyond my comprehension. I don't care how vocal that person is about ridding the world of plastic bags and saving the ice caps, he's useless. No one listens to anyone who voluntarily chooses to wither away by the age of 30. I digress...
Here's what a real male should aspire to look like:
Magnus Samuelsson (former World's Strongest Man) says hipsters make for decent protein shakes; of which he drinks 5 a day.
Anyway, the point is that the sooner you stop comparing yourself to others or what your skewed imagination believes is good or better and instead focus on achieving positive things, the easier your training will become.
Go put some meat on your bones and walk around with that certain swagger that only a person who can do awesome things can have.
Enjoy!
Facts:
Volume builds bigger muscles. So doing more reps of light weights to "tone" just means your doing light body building. Enjoy. http://70sbig.com/blog/2012/08/20/
Bigger muscles have greater contractile potential. Meaning, bigger muscles have the potential to generate more force (especially in women).. Awesome! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15947721
Women have at most, 1/10th the testosterone of a (real) male. So without hormonal supplementation, woman generally won't look like dudes. Most boys won't even look like dudes. Bummer. http://70sbig.com/blog/2012/08/20/
Testosterone (along with numerous other hormones) is made from cholesterol. Ladies, you need it too. That bears repeating, but I won't. http://www.endotext.org/male/male3/index.html
Nice front squats. Love the thighs. Not to mention being able to fill out a pair of jeans.
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the testosterone point. Over my years of training I have gotten into so many discussions with all kinds of people about how women will never "look like a guy" when they pick up weights because they don't posses the hormones. I still don't get why people still buy into that. They see women in Max Muscle, Flex and Muscle & Fitness who have been loading on Anavar, Winstrol and who knows what else and sincerely believe that is their future. Women in Oxygen are more realistic.
They don't get that these people (both the men & women) train to achieve an extreme look and there is a large volume of added hormones to get it. Not to mention that all those shots they see are within a day or two before or after a contest. The rest of the year, they all plump up and look softer and more relatively normal with the exception of the size. Even in contest shape, if you were to stand next to them, a lot of them aren't as huge as they look under the lights.
The guys are even funnier when they criticize female weight trainers. They always say "dude she looks like a guy." My response is usually your a guy and you don't look like that. Can you point out anyone within a stones throw that does? That usually gets a blank stare. Most guys won't ever achieve that 'look' unless they spend all their paychecks on pharmaceuticals, have the genetics to go with it, spend the large sums on the diet are willing to invest the time.
We all have the same muscle groups, aside from skeletal structure and genetic composition, if we all train our muscles the same way, they will develop the same way. Girls who lift don't look like guys. They look like girls who lift. Nothing wrong with that in my book depending on what extreme it's taken.
I can speak from experience because in my 30s I competed for a couple years. People see pictures and are surprised that I was barely 174 lbs. (down from 210). It's all an illusion. You simply cannot maintain that look 365 days/year. It's not healthy.
Now I just ignore it because people are going to think what they think. Maybe it's some kind of neural pathway thing. I find it more pleasant to be with like minded people who know better. I love women who aren't afraid to pick up a bar or dumbbell and throw weights around.
Strong is cool. Strong is attractive. Strong is functional. Strong is sexy. Both mentally and especially physically.
Forget Vogue & Elle. Looking athletic and being harder to kill is where it's at.
Nothing else needs to be said. The same message applies to BHIP. We're striving toward the same goal. Confidence promotes a good self-image. When your training develops your confidence, you gain confidence in other aspects of your life. You want to work harder, you feel better about yourself, your physical abilities and your appearance regardless of what others think.
ReplyDeletehttp://library.crossfit.com/free/video/CFJ_BeautyInStrength.wmv
"If a second attempt looks regular, that female may not be able to make as large of a jump as you (and she) think she can. You women have probably noticed this; you’ll do a rep at a heavy weight and it feels fine. Then you go up ten pounds and you get stapled. It all has to do with neuromuscular efficiency." (http://70sbig.com/blog/2012/08/20/)
ReplyDeletethat's what happens to me! good to know there's a reason for it, and it's not because of some physical inadequacy. (though, i guess, it may be a little of that too..)
an overall great post, rostislav.
Thank you, Anonymous.
DeleteI don't think there is a definition of a "real male" and the guy who you want to use as bear snack might have some kind of an eating disorder for who knows what (perhaps being bullied!). I think making such generalizations about what a real male should "look like" is not in the spirit of BHIP.
ReplyDeleteHe well may, But I found his pic on a hipster fashion blog so who knows..
DeleteThe point of the post was to illustrate contrast and the "spirit" of BHIP is about building work capacity through effective Strength & Conditioning relative to general physical demands.
I apologize if you found this post offensive.