“True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united.” -Wilhelm von Humboldt
Putting terms like “strength” and “easy” together in the same sentence seems a bit counterintuitive, but in my quest to age strong I’ve come to realize these terms are not mutually exclusive.
I’m pretty much over what the fitness industry has become in the last decade. While the internet has certainly made training information more accessible, I feel it has ruined the industry largely due to social media. Social media is nothing more than fitness influencers hawking bullshit supplements and training methods to get you to buy their latest e-book or get 10% commission on your supplement order as long as you use their discount code at checkout.
This has resulted in me spending more of my time digging up everything I can on bronze and silver era bodybuilding and physical culture.
When I read about people like George Hackenschmidt, Sig Klein, and George Jowett I’m extremely impressed by how well rounded they were as human beings. They were strong, had excellent physical development, and were incredibly articulate. Today everything in the strength and fitness industry has become so specialized. While this may contribute to more world records in strength sports, destroying the body in the name of performance is something I am no longer interested in. I’ve come to appreciate what those of the bronze and silver era of physical culture sought to attain. The goal was a more holistic one that focused on developing the mind and body, achieving strength, athleticism, and a beautiful physique. As Hackenschmidt states in his book The Way To Live: In Health and Physical Fitness, “Health can never be divorced from strength.”
Rather than destroying my body in the gym trying to push limit weights in the squat, bench press, and deadlift, I’ve found an approach that will likely allow me to enjoy the process of lifting well into my twilight years if, God willing, I live that long. I strive to make all of my reps in the gym, regardless of the exercise, as easy as possible. This doesn’t mean I ignore progressive overload. I still have the goal of increasing my strength, but I want to have complete command over every repetition. I’ve found my joints agree with this approach and it has allowed me to have the energy to engage in other physical activities I enjoy such as running and jiu-jitsu.
It has become comical how people act as though they are going into battle by going to the gym and lifting some weights. The gym warrior attitude so prevalent on social media is amusing to me. I’ll take the easy reps of the legendary Yuri Vlasov instead.
No bullshit posturing for the gram’ just smooth, clean reps, then he stands up from the bench with a smile on his face.
I hope you enjoyed this article and sincerely hope that it helps you find more enjoyment in your fitness training. Until next time, stay strong and healthy!
We could discuss on this topic for a long time. In my humble opinion it comes down to separation - health from strength/fitness. Liked you’ve mentioned in the article, people who approach this topic see things holistically, as wholeness. When there is a demarcation, that’s we can start questioning - where does health and performance start? It is so often that people approach training as a completely separate activity, but in day to day life they are complete arseholes.