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By
Phil Stevens |
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The road to
an all around lowered baseline.
I recently had
a discussion on my facebook page that caused quite the response
so I thought it warranted further discussion here.
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The discussion began
as my simple note of the ever-growing number of people/clients
with eating disorders, i.e., bulimia or anorexia. Also, the increase
seems more so in young men/boys than in young women (who oddly
may be taking the opposite route and getting larger). I also suggested
there appears to be a lack of desire in people to want to put
in the work, or even desire, to carry around an above average
amount of lean mass and strength. The desire for men to be masculine,
or masculine simply as an acceptable trait (by the majority) seems
to have passed. That the large, the strong, the “men”,
are truly a dying breed today.
To clarify, in my original
statement I was not knocking on people whom have a healthy relationship
with training and nutrition and are meeting their goals of getting
crazy lean, ripped, or shredded - that's all good. I am talking
about a growing population of people who have a real fear of body
fat; a fear of adding any, a fear of athleticism, of work and
a fear of waking up one day - HUGE. There appears to be a striving
by young men to stay boys, and not progress into men.
Like most great discussions
this did not stagnate, but evolved to greater issues. It moved
on to a discussion about how “the masses have truly settled
for an occasional glimpse of mediocrity!” (Shawn Phillips
www.fullstrength.com)
Sadly, like Kalle Beck added, most girls these days on average,
outweigh, and can outperform their boyfriends.
That’s all good,
and I am all for women being empowered and kicking ass, but even
if we take this to a simple, primal, hormonal level this is impossible
without an asserted effort put in to make it the norm, as opposed
to the occasional genetic exception.
Shawn Phillips is exactly
right; it’s more a desire and a huge push to be LESS. There’s
a constant focus on deprivation and subtraction instead of a focus
on the positives of growth and advancement; an actual defiance
of your natural inclination to grow and mature. An ignorance that
this early self imposed inhibition of your natural ability to
grow, to build, get strong, will in and of itself remove the negative
(body fat) by default and in a positive instead of negatively
focused way.
The real problem however
I think is like Shawn pointed out; it’s more than a fear
of fat, a fear of growth, and maturity, and more a problem of
the actual desire and goal of this generation to be less than
they could be; a goal to hold themselves back from what they are
able to do with little effort versus what they could accomplish
if they were to strive to excel.
When did this happen?
Why did this happen? Can we fix it, and how? When did it become
unacceptable to show some desire, inner and outer strength, to
reach more then you and others may think possible?
My friend Julie Watkins
chimed in on this discussion and her recap of a recent viewing
of the new movie, Twightlight with her young daughter. I can’t
help but think it’s largely media driven like much of everything
else is, but when and why? When did we get this shift where we
as people, are measured not on our personal, mental and physical
growth, to being measured on how much we can avoid it?
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If you take the
time to look, kids, young adults, are more revered by their
peers for their ability to avoid hard work and achievement.
These underachievers are put on a pedestal for how much
outside product, “material goods,” they can obtain
with as little mental, physical, and emotional work, stress,
and growth they can put in. It’s the kid that has gained
the ability to exist, to live as a zit on the ass of life,
just along for the ride that gets the most accolades. WHY?
I can’t
help but know that this seeking and accepting of mediocrity
and flat out underachievement as excellence today is simply
a hard road to an all around lowered baseline, in our world,
our country, and our lives on all fronts. A personal, physical,
spiritual, and governmental down spiral. We need to demand
it back somewhere, somehow.
Leading by example
and passing it on of course; but WE, those who have a love,
a desire, and passion for growth, advancement, and joy of
hard work and what it brings us need to again become the
majority, or we will go the way of the dinosaur. I dread
seeing that world - a world full of existence, but with
a lack of life.
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About The Author
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Coach Phil Stevens is an accomplished
strength athlete with considerable experience in both powerlifting
and strongman competition. Phil is the 2007 APA World Champion
in the 242-pound class (total). He currently holds the APF
275-pound class raw National bench, squat, deadlift, and total
records. Phil’s marquis lift was his 700-pound raw deadlift,
performed on February 14, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Phil has been ranked in the
“Top 10” in the deadlift Nationally across all powerlifting
federations, and in addition to his coaching duties at Staley
Training Systems, he also serves as the Arizona State Chair
for the North American Highlander Association, as well as
the founder of Lift For Hope, an annual strength-competition
with proceeds donated to Charity (www.Lift4Hope.org).
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