Ridiculous Gen X nostalgia. Proof that fitness has always been plagued with grifters. And a basic truth at the heart of it that brought the appeal.
Short Substack pieces are perfect for when time is divided. The Band needs to move on the metaphysics project, but the circumstances aren’t there. It will get better - just not sure when. Smaller reflections are good for lighting up a big topic from different angles and perspectives. Connections between behavior patterns, profiles, and status are clear in specific examples. Take the common recommendation from high status men to “do stuff”. It seems vague, but there’s a reason. Self-improvement and social outcomes connect. Add confidence, humility, equipoise, competence, etc. and status follows. These come from doing stuff IRL. Navigating systemic crises is just doing stuff on repeat. Same for multi-step planning for future trends. Or generational timeframes based on something other than [where the beast busywork service job is right now]. Including the flexibility to course correct. And the skills and resources to make plans real.
Doing stuff.
It really is that simple, but too many options can be paralyzing. Here’s one example of stuff that anyone can do, with innumerable downstream benefits. It’s not a coincidence that weightlifting is always recommended for self-improvement. Few things can just be taken up so easily with guaranteed positive life changes. Beginning with not needing anyone else to get started. No status prevents walking into a gym or basic regular exercises at home. I lifted through covid with jury-rigged equipment in the back yard. Truly universal applicability without social or resource requirements. This also presents the challenge. There’s no outside pressure to motivate. No league night or car honking in the driveway. It’s pure personal will. With benefits directly proportional to commitment and consistency. There’s a saying that the iron never lies, and it’s true. Miss time and weight or reps are down. But put the effort in and the rewards are irrefutably objective.
Weights came on the radar for me in high school. It was when I started lifting for sports and other kids I knew working out as a hobby. A big enough sample that the physical effects were obvious even with the lack of seriousness. 80s teenagers were immersed in hypertrophic pop culture. Movies, comics, video games, etc. filled with yoked dudes. The bodybuilding fad of the 70s mainstreamed for our adolescence - Arnold being the archetype. A lot of it was homoerotic or unintentionally comedic in hindsight, but huge and/or ripped were heroic norms. With the invariable message that if a dude is bad ass enough, he wins.
Forget content - it’s subconscious impressions and assumptions that imprint. Consider how modern Gamma/SJW “action” toggles between sadism and effortless snark from muscleless girlbosses and twinks. With lots of cringe faux-cool static posturing. Full inversion - where the thought of challenge or duress is so crippling the “heroic ideal” becomes [strike a pose and it goes away]. For us, lifting as path to masculine improvement was deep coded in the zeitgeist.
M. C. Escher, Hand with Reflecting Sphere, 1935, lithograph
Keep in mind these posts are written in hindsight. They aren’t autobiographical narrative. Nothing was this smooth, and there were ghastly missteps. I’m summarizing currently relevant lessons to make the observations more accessible. Concrete situation-reaction patterns from after the fact. There is no intent to pose as some young master of suavity or suggest this sort of process is easy. Neither are true at all. Any poise or certainty I exude now comes from experiences. I’ve learned the hard way to present myself and ORR comes quicker. But just reading what and how I learned is hollow entertainment at best. The point is applicability. Make insights your own. It’s irrelevant if people find me unlikable, cool, or anything else. The hope is for readers to get something for themselves that I’ve obtained for myself. And there’s no substitute for doing - especially for the unintuitive or awkward. They’ll be glad they did.
So how do you do it? This is broadly applicable to life in general. Start with identifying clear and realistic goals. Be general at first until you’ve determined how you respond, then tailor as you gain experience. Expecting too much can be demoralizing. Lifting is a great way to develop systematic persistence because it’s such a controlled activity. Results are trackable to the pound, making it easy to tinker with diet, routine, and other details. But identifying personal goals, ignoring narrative assumptions, and figuring out how is universal. Including the corrections, reevaluations, and refinements along the way.
Another benefit of lifting is humility. No matter how strong you get, there’s always more weight. Injuries and plateaus are frustrating. If you are to keep improving, accepting limitations is necessary. Likewise assessing and assimilating new ideas. Don’t try and posture as an expert from the jump. It’s transparent. Everyone in there was a novice once - start simple then learn. My initial goals were just to get stronger, look better, and improve functional physical performance.
College was when I got serious about physical transformation. Information paths weren’t that different than now. Lifting has always been burdened by fringe and fads - keep it practical. There’s a mechanistic “abstract” side - exercise physiology, kinesiology, etc. And an unsystematic, bro science riddled “empirical” side - bodybuilding lore, trial and error, etc. Actually both are riddled with bro science - the difference is relative. So start with simple observations.
For example, the world’s best bodybuilders represent peak possible muscular development given current exercise physiology + chemistry. To most, Mr. Olympia contestants look pretty similar. But in articles and interviews, they all have their own weight routines. Same fundamentals, but different exercise choices, rep counts, and splits. Best in world at anything presumes optimizing the [aptitude-training methodology] fit. So the first lesson is even the most genetically and chemically gifted respond differently to exercise. The second is there are consistent core principles. The take home is that abstract and empirical have to be in personalized harmony.
Personal anecdote. For me, that was a hybrid bodybuilding-powerlifting routine with lots of running to keep weight down. Raw power and endurance without bulk. The pipe dream at the start was bench 400 at 200. Not really serious- more an outer limit ideal. I was always strong, but a shade over 6’1” with a 6’7” wingspan is built to pull. Biomechanics made bench an unlikely fixation, but it was the exercise at the time. 110 on a Universal press machine the first time felt like lifting a car. When my shoulder exploded a decade later, the most recent max check was 365 at 206. Whether I could have done it is one of those itches that’s never scratched.1 Not that it mattered because the damage was structural and my regimen permanently changed. One silver lining, I suppose was that the family boomer found the denouement satisfying. Steadily increasing physical prowess was a constant Gamma trigger, so a decade-long quest ending in failure was amusing comeuppance for … something.
As usual, Gammas and boomers point to the fear response. R-selected self-comfort. It wasn’t a failure at all. Bench was a natural weakness. My other numbers were all commensurately better. And running kept three miles under 18 minutes and eight miles under 55. From a confidence perspective, I can’t express what it’s like to be that fit through your 20s. From two plates for eight to three plates for eight. Any reader who was/is understands. No labor is hard. Guys 5” taller and 40 lbs. heavier are cleared out of the paint at will. Every physical activity or martial art improves. People look at you differently. Intimacy changes - girls want to watch you walk to the bathroom or draw the curtains. Plus it’s a gift to anyone socially unintuitive or awkward that wants to develop ORR. Reading situations takes some time, and reserve buys it. Someone interesting or eye catching builds interest even while silent. A muscular physique enhances that.
Arbitrary “cool” numbers are ultimately no more relevant than Gamma opinions. Obviously it’s always been mildly irritating to have come short. It’s impossible to hold high standards and have it not be. So what? It’s no different from how the girl of whom I don’t speak had no impact on a subsequent successful pattern with females. The pain of failure is nothing to fear. It comes from living, from trying, and real scars add depth of character. It’s why Gammas try and fake them. There are no soaring victories without it - emotional range being relative. What matters is sustained effort in pursuit of personal excellence. Something good will follow.
You also don’t have to be fanatic. In hindsight, obsessive physical training was probably a reaction to growing up with Gamma rage and incoherence in the home. There was also a personal philosophical interest in the Greek ideal at that point in my life. I’m also very emotion driven in a Byronic way, so the grandeur of epic struggle always drifts to the extreme. Any regimen is an improvement over nothing. Obviously take age, starting condition, health, etc. into consideration. And fit the program to your realistic commitment and interest level. It’s a long haul. Getting the fit with your lifestyle and priorities right is how it lasts. Push-ups at home. A video online. A starter program at any gym. And stay with it. Younger readers, on the other hand, need to give it. You can get really really strong when you start young. Why not be?
This applies to anything hard with personal value. It’s a long tough road. Sometimes it sucks. You may not even “win”. But there is no equation where [blowing it off] = [powering through]. Next post on the theme will look at specific social positives from lifting. But for now, consider. Father Time may be undefeated. An old guy once told my brash younger self “the weights always win in the end”. And Tolkien wrote of fighting the long defeat. But that’s just reality. Our reward lies elsewhere. No logical connection to fatalism at all. And we are gifted the choice of whether to go out hard or easy. Make the POS work for it. You’re infinitely better if you do.
It’s an interesting question. It was a late winter weight, and spring and summer were when I held winter gains and ran my weight down. Getting under 200 wouldn’t be a problem. It was the last 35 pounds. Gains were really slow, but going into my 30s is entering the peak potential strength zone. Given the choice I’d have taken a summer weight of 205 or 210 for four plates. It obviously still bothers me.
“ I’m summarizing currently relevant lessons to make the observations more accessible… There is no intent to pose as some young master of suavity or suggest this sort of process is easy.”
Appreciated. And I just realised how rare that is. Not posing or selling, I mean.
May we all face the long defeat standing firm with our kin. To meet our fathers in the halls of their rest.
Thanks for the post.