Gym Strength is Meaningless

I was at the mall the other day.

After eating a bacon cheeseburger with the guys, we made our way to the arcade, where we spent the next couple hours swinging away at one of those punching ball machines (Boys will be boys… but we did break the record by a longshot).

And there, between rounds of swinging like a demented baseball pitcher, I saw this guy. Big guy. He had the typical gym build. Huge upper body, but disproportionate, soft and puffy looking muscles.

I could see right through it.

I could tell right away that he lacked any kind of real-world strength and performance. There was nothing behind those muscles.

It was all show, no substance.

And I was thinking to myself, why build a body like that if you can’t do anything with it? Why spend countless hours at the gym if you have nothing more than a semi-decent body to show for?

What can you do with it?

Let’s get this straight, I do cut the guy some slack.

Unlike 99% of the human population, he, at the very least, has some semblance of self-respect and discipline to make it to the gym and put in the work week after week, month after month.

In fact, if you’re one of the few people that work out on a regular basis, much respect to you.

You’re already light years ahead of everyone else. With that out of the way, don’t just lift weights to showboat your flabby pecs in way-too-tight t-shirts. Set the bar higher for yourself.

Ask yourself, what can you do with your gym-built body? What can you do with it outside the gym walls?

If you’re anything like me, you want to be more than just a show pony. You want to look good (damn good), but you also want to be able to handle yourself like a champ in every situation.

And that is precisely why I chose bodyweight training and why I train like my life depends on it.

I don’t do it for a pump. I don’t do it for show. I do it to get stronger, tougher, better. Physically and mentally.

My workouts are designed to make me better in and out of the gym. Anything other than that is not worthy of my time.

Think of it this way. If you’re like most gym regulars, you’re training for about an hour, 3-5 days a week. That’s only a fraction of your waking hours. What about the rest of the time? If you can’t transfer any of that gym performance to the real world, what are you doing?

You’re selling yourself short, that’s what you’re doing.

Set the bar higher

I never believed in training purely for aesthetics. Looking good should be a side-effect of becoming a real-world superhero.

You must be able to move your own bodyweight effortlessly through space. You need to be able to endure intense stress on your muscles, joints, tendons and cardiovascular system without breaking down. You need to be able to defend yourself.

Your average gym workout will never get the job done, however. It might be enough to create a flashy physique (if you know how to diet), but other than that it’s all fluff, no substance.

All filler, no killer.

And that my friend is meaningless once the gym doors close behind you. Be better than that. Get on a real program and enjoy real results that go way beyond a mere gym pump.

 

Thank you for reading

Victor