pumpedup86
New member
Forgive me, before I start as this is a rant about life, peoples perceptions, attitudes, expectations and how lifting should be the one steady constant.
I would like to think that by the age of 25 I would of learnt a thing or two in the weight room. Truth be told, I have not, I have only filled my mind up with endless advice from anyone who has a voice and a gym membership. Not only has the internet clouded every bodies thoughts when it comes to "routines" but it also is to blame for countless pointless forums, where 16 year old boys argue about how much they curl, how big there cocks are and what little education to actually have.
When I was 16, I was doing a "bodybuilding" routine and was one of these mis guided douchebags, chatting on MIRC stating that I just curled 40 kgs for 12 reps before going home to eat a shit load of Mcdonalds and jerk off to air brushed, plastic women who I believed would resemble my future wife.
Image,perception and expectations in today's society is a terrible thing. Women want to be stick thin with big fake breasts, Men want to be cut, jacked with a 12 pack to die for, but when did it all become all so consuming? I was a fat kid, who couldn't make a friend because I was the school loser. After being fed up with that image, I decided to loose a shit load of weight, in the process becoming image conscious and physically sick.
I lost the weight, moved schools and all of a sudden, I was popular. I had a 6 pack, I was cut and jacked (as you can be for 16) everyone wanted to know me, all the girls wanted to date me, I for once was wanted by anyone and everyone I came into contact with.
But at what point did this image consume all my time? I was in the gym curling and doing kick backs, to the point where I was weak and pathetic, but looked like the image I needed to project. If I could go back in time, I would of benched, squated and dead lifted, and sprinted every other day.
Fast forward to today. I am in an industry where I need to be fit, well sized, fast and strong, just to survive. During these 10 years, I have moved from routine to routine, "bodybuilding" splits, watched my diet immensely, just to keep an image. And I now realize that the image I was aspiring too not that long ago, was the same pathetic image I wanted when I was 16, Cut, Jacked and appeasing. When in actual fact I was big, slow and weak!
I looked at myself in the mirror and released, I am not 16 anymore, my girlfriend has curves and natural boobs, I drive a Hyundai Getz not a holden commodore, and I enjoy the deadlift, clean's and pressing shit over my head. Why did I doubt myself!
Life throws up a mixed bag of shit for you to over come, i mean hell I make life changing decisions for a job day to day, that effect other people like you wouldn't imagine, yet here I am, worrying about how I look? My career is going great guns, I have achieved my life long goal, I have a wonderful partner and great friends, why the hell am I worrying about how I look?
The expectations of everyone else has clouded my thinking, why didn't I just lift heavy shit and run? Who cares what my rear right delt looks like, or if my calves aren't as shaped as yours? Why have i spent all my free time, perfecting the perfect routine, when I should be keeping it simple, lifting, running, and enjoying life.
Out of everything that changes, lifting can be the one steady constant in your life, something that you keep adding too, that never gets old, and never falls out of love with you. It never fires you, and it never leaves you out in the cold. It brings people together, when everything else tears us apart. I know now that I have been doing everything wrong. I taught myself this lesson but i never listened.
This world is a wonderful yet evil place. We wont live for a long time, so lets forget about perceptions and expectations of others, YOU set your expectations and YOU meet them. I have been working out by myself for 5 years, and my physically expectations have changed because I have let others influence me. Well the buck stops now.
Lift, Run, Live.
I would like to think that by the age of 25 I would of learnt a thing or two in the weight room. Truth be told, I have not, I have only filled my mind up with endless advice from anyone who has a voice and a gym membership. Not only has the internet clouded every bodies thoughts when it comes to "routines" but it also is to blame for countless pointless forums, where 16 year old boys argue about how much they curl, how big there cocks are and what little education to actually have.
When I was 16, I was doing a "bodybuilding" routine and was one of these mis guided douchebags, chatting on MIRC stating that I just curled 40 kgs for 12 reps before going home to eat a shit load of Mcdonalds and jerk off to air brushed, plastic women who I believed would resemble my future wife.
Image,perception and expectations in today's society is a terrible thing. Women want to be stick thin with big fake breasts, Men want to be cut, jacked with a 12 pack to die for, but when did it all become all so consuming? I was a fat kid, who couldn't make a friend because I was the school loser. After being fed up with that image, I decided to loose a shit load of weight, in the process becoming image conscious and physically sick.
I lost the weight, moved schools and all of a sudden, I was popular. I had a 6 pack, I was cut and jacked (as you can be for 16) everyone wanted to know me, all the girls wanted to date me, I for once was wanted by anyone and everyone I came into contact with.
But at what point did this image consume all my time? I was in the gym curling and doing kick backs, to the point where I was weak and pathetic, but looked like the image I needed to project. If I could go back in time, I would of benched, squated and dead lifted, and sprinted every other day.
Fast forward to today. I am in an industry where I need to be fit, well sized, fast and strong, just to survive. During these 10 years, I have moved from routine to routine, "bodybuilding" splits, watched my diet immensely, just to keep an image. And I now realize that the image I was aspiring too not that long ago, was the same pathetic image I wanted when I was 16, Cut, Jacked and appeasing. When in actual fact I was big, slow and weak!
I looked at myself in the mirror and released, I am not 16 anymore, my girlfriend has curves and natural boobs, I drive a Hyundai Getz not a holden commodore, and I enjoy the deadlift, clean's and pressing shit over my head. Why did I doubt myself!
Life throws up a mixed bag of shit for you to over come, i mean hell I make life changing decisions for a job day to day, that effect other people like you wouldn't imagine, yet here I am, worrying about how I look? My career is going great guns, I have achieved my life long goal, I have a wonderful partner and great friends, why the hell am I worrying about how I look?
The expectations of everyone else has clouded my thinking, why didn't I just lift heavy shit and run? Who cares what my rear right delt looks like, or if my calves aren't as shaped as yours? Why have i spent all my free time, perfecting the perfect routine, when I should be keeping it simple, lifting, running, and enjoying life.
Out of everything that changes, lifting can be the one steady constant in your life, something that you keep adding too, that never gets old, and never falls out of love with you. It never fires you, and it never leaves you out in the cold. It brings people together, when everything else tears us apart. I know now that I have been doing everything wrong. I taught myself this lesson but i never listened.
This world is a wonderful yet evil place. We wont live for a long time, so lets forget about perceptions and expectations of others, YOU set your expectations and YOU meet them. I have been working out by myself for 5 years, and my physically expectations have changed because I have let others influence me. Well the buck stops now.
Lift, Run, Live.
