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| The Legend Clarance Bass in his 70's |
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| Transformetrics Expert John E. Peterson in his mid-50's |
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| Legendary Coach Steve Maxwell at 58 |
Why'd I start out this way, because I'm sick of hearing people use age as an excuse. When I was growing up I'd hear, "You know when you're in your 50's it's all down hill." Then, as I grew a little older I started to hear, "Wow, once you hit 40 it's all down hill." In my mid-20's I actually started hearing people say, "Just wait, once you're in your 30's it's all down hill." And, incredibly enough, I've acually heard people saying, "Man, once you're in your mid-20's it's all down hill."
Really, WTF! I think the above pictures really tell a different story. Ladies and gentleman, it's not the mileage on the car, it's how you've taken care of it.
Speaking of WTF, anyone that knows me knows that I'm a stickler for good technique while training. I find that this is the best way to maximize the health, fitness, performance, and physique capabilities of any exercise while also minimizing the risk of injury. Also, I've been a kettelbell athlete for around a decade, and I've had the privelage of training with great coaches from the hardstyle, kettlebell sport, tactical, and overall fitness sides of the old K-bells. I love them and find them to be a very useful tool.
So, you can imagine my shock when one of the local gyms started teaching a kettlebell class where they have their students pad their forearms so they don't get injured by the bell smacking into them on snatches and cleans. Really...WTF!
You know if you use proper technique, the bell doesn't smack into you either. But, instead of teaching the proper technique (which begs us to ask the question of whether or not the teacher actually knows it) and letting the students get the full benefits of training with the K-bells, you're going to instead ingrain improper techinque into them and basically force them into injuring themselves. Really WTF!
I'm a huge fan of hill sprints. They are incredible for building muscle, strength, speed, and cardio-pulmonary health, and at melting away the body fat and stimulating a good hormonal environment. On the hill that I regularly visit at there are four of us that sprint it. I'm currently a pretty lean and powerful 185, one of the other gentleman is an ultra-chiseled 230, and the other two are each about 175 or so and look like they belong in an elite spec-ops unit. All of us are pretty chiseled and pretty darn fit.
So you can imagine my disbelief when one of the 175 pounders was accosted by one of the jogging trails joggers. The jogger was about 5'9" and weighed somewhere around 300 pounds with a very high bodyfat, while my sprinting friend is built like a friggin' Greek god. The jogger began yelling and cursing at the sprinter and told him that he'd be much better off if he stopped with the fast hill runs and started jogging for real. The jogger claimed that my sprinter friend would burn more bodyfat and get into better shape that way. Really.....WTF!
First of all, why the need to accost someone else when they're in the middle of exercising? And second, when you look more like you belong in a Sumo ring, why are you trying to tell the ripped and in-shape person how to train? And third, unless your a coach yourself, why are you trying to tell anyone how to train in the first place? Really...WTF!
Coming back from my hill spritns one day I saw a father that was about my age playing on the playground with his keds. I"m not one to judge people by their looks, but he had no arm, shoulder, back, or chest muscle whatsoever. Instead he had a nice pounch for a belly, shriveled up arms, stooped shoulders, bird legs, and a sunken chest. He went over to the pull-up station that this park has and tried his damndest to perform a pull-up. He pulled with all of his might until he was shaking and sweating, yet he only moved about 1/8 of an inch. Now, I know that when you first start out, pull-ups can be hard. But really, WTF!
As a grown man you should at least have some general physicallity. You can't even do one pull-up. It's lucky for this guy that no one was trying to assault his kids or kidnap them, because there's no way in hell that he would have had the physical tools necessary to stop them. There was a time were part of the definition of being a man was being strong!
On that note, Melissa and I have been to a number of funerals over the past week, and it prodded my beautiful bride to ask me an interesting question, "Brett," she asked, "how come most guys look like they're drowning in their suits?" Looking around I could see what she meant. Aside from a little tightness in the buttons in that tummy area, most guys these days can't fill out the shoulders, back, arms, or chests of their suits. Again, I have to ask...Really...WTF!
Again, there was a time that part of being a man was having at least a little bit of muscle on your bones. Now it seems like guys are content being a part of the skinny-fat society where you may be skinny, but you still are out of shape, unfit, weak, sick, and have an over-abundance of body fat. Whatever happend to taking pride in your body and wanting to look awesome in and out of your clothes. All I have to say again is Really...WTF!
On a similar note I saw a boot camp style class the other day for people over the age of 40. The instructor had some resistance cables and was actually teaching the class that they should be very gentle as they pulled the cables because, at their age, they don't want to starin too much and risk injuring themselves...Really...WTF!
I know some people in their 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and beyond that may just kick someone's ass for saying something like that. I've seen 80 year olds still deadlifting 500-600 pounds, 70 year olds that can snap horseshoes in half with their bare hands, and I've had my butt handed to me in the judo and jujutsu world by guys in their 70's and 80's. But yet you're tryingt to tell people not to exert themselves. The whole premise of progressive overload is to exert yourself so that you can create a stornger body. Again....WTF!
Well, I've probably not made any friends with this particular post, but I just had to rant a little bit. Talk with you all soon.
Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan
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