Give Me Weakness and Injury,
or Give Me Death

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By Phil Stevens

Injury, weakness, a physical or mental short comings have been on my mind of late with various nagging small injuries that are pissing me off. Personally it’s the little nagging things that get to me and are the hardest to handle. Small lil injuries or colds that don’t debilitate you, but just hamper you. Keep you from being able to train 100% or feel right. Make me piss and moan or stress more then I should about some little thing.

On the other end, give me something catastrophic, a blown bicep, a truck running me over, a major illness and its nothing. There is no questioning or harping over them, its just GO time. Its time to get it done and prove this ain’t getting me down, I'll come out the other end not only as strong but stronger then prior.

This just got me thinking on this subject as it relates to the population as a whole. How people of today deal with personal weakness, stressors, injuries, and life happenings big and small.

Most people see such as simply a negative. They try and hide them from others, and from themselves. They stress over them. Let them get in their heads and limit them from progression, or trying new things. Even worse they may cry and moan to others about it. Blaming anyone but themselves. Seeking pity to seemingly make them feel better or give them an excuse to be in the position they are, prove to them selves they are weak. I say in my worst Shakespearian dialect.

Hide not from thine infirmity. Find delectation in your feeble idiosyncrasy’s. Employ thine as kindling for extraneous furtherance. Duel. Combat each torpid archetype. Perpetually crafting quintessence from wretched frailty. Only with such will thine be in nigher dominion of impeccability.

HA LOL, you got to love a thesaurus ; )

What I am saying again is, do the opposite. The greatest progress in my training, and life in general, has come consistently from something negative. A horrible happening, an injury, or identifying a weakness. I then grasp hold of it, control it, Make it mines. I don’t dwell on it (long) as something I must accept, as something that controls me. I Attack it. I control it. View it as my next hurdle. My next personal battle that stands between me and my goals. Use it as fuel for the fire. Turn a negative situation into a position of power.

It’s a constant battle, but an empowering one.

Allow yourself to own you.

If anything is the number one reason for the weakness of the general population today its simply not having the gumption, or balls, to realize you control you. It’s OK to smack life in its collective face from time to time. It’s OK to have opinions. Its OK to show a little aggression from time to time. We are NOT meant to be pawns and live life 100% by others wishes. Get a little selfish. Play a little rough. Its not only OK it’s a positive trait.

It has come to the point people can't handle even the smallest little bump in the road without having a break down, expecting pity, help, or flat out giving up. When you got a problem, 99% chance you created it with your actions or inactions, so get the hell up and fix it. Don’t bow down and be its bitch expecting pity or help from society for every little thing. Don’t simply accept the fact that, “This is the way it is, what I’m destined to be. The mans getting me down. I just got dealt bad cards and have to live with it.” Bullshit, you’re the man. Take some responsibility for your life and your actions and go get what you want.


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Use life’s little bumps as fuel for further progression. Realize the grass is always greener. We all got problems. Deal with yours. If one has no perceived weakness they have then apparently reached a state of perfection, no further progression, stagnation.

You might as well die you have nothing further to live for. Weakness, injury and Failure is NOT a negative, or an ending. It’s a new beginning. A chance to get stronger, A new and unique challenge. Its those whom consistently take on these, as such, and don’t back down, give up, or piss and moan, about the hurdles life throws at them that progress on to excellence.

You've got to keep rolling over those never ending hurdles. Man up and find joy in the fact aren’t going to end to the fight. Life’s never going to be all crème filling. Your going to have to keep chomping through the crust keep that sweet goodness coming. But if you man up, those bumps will not only be less frequent but you’ll actually look forward to hike up them, as well as what’s on the other side.

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About The Author

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, 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).