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At what point did being "strong" become taboo?
Recently I spent a weekend with some of the strongest men and women on the planet, and one thing reigned through. You can never be too rich, have too much fun, or be too strong.
Somewhere down the line we began to rehab ourselves...right around the same time, we stopped getting stronger. Strength is just another term for prehab. We spend time strengthening in the now, and less time in the future saying, "if only I had". Regret is generally the mantra of Rehab patients everywhere. Somewhere down the line we made up excuses like "I don't wanna bulk up". Forgetting that to do requires large amounts of calories. So all the while we avoid weights we are continued customers of "Ben & Jerry's"...talk about "Bulk".Somewhere on our "progression" we developed huge facilities where we had tons of treadmills and machines, and we kick out folks who cause a ruckus..AKA- folks who are strong and intimidate us. Somewhere down the line we became sicker and sicker, simply, because we got weaker, and weaker...well some of us anyway.
Over the weekend I began to take note of certain things these folks did...right or wrong. Some interesting things seem to come up when looking at the mass benefits of simply getting "stronger". Below are just a few things I learned from Louie Simmons and crew, at Westside Barbell.
1. Louie's aged. Sixties I think, and still stronger than 99% of the population. He was injured a dozen times before he developed his methods which today prevent injury(someone has to pave the way with injury, so the rest of us reap the benefits). But even in his sixties, he puts guys under half his age to shame. He works out multiple times a day, all geared toward strength, speed and power. Short intense sessions. Thats it. Today, the guy is lovable as hell, but if you backed him into a corner, I wager he could tear your head off if he needed to.
2. While the nutrition I witnessed made me cringe from every angle, I must say, I bet there is a correlation between how the body will handle even the most ridiculous concoctions as long as you are testing the limits of your strength capacity frequently. To sum that up, you may not be the prettiest on the block if you eat how WS Prescibes, but even eating sub par, has alot less negative effects if you pair it with amazingly taxing strength workouts done frequently, and quickly.
3. "Being big sucks...it just makes you fight gravity more", Lou said. He went on to explain it became his goal to figure out how to make athletes as strong as possible without getting any bigger.Those of you with the "I don't wanna get bulky argument", pay special note of that. Strength does not equal size...strength equals health, calories equal size. Food makes you big, and big makes you work harder.
4. In CrossFit health is paramount, unless your a games hopeful. When you pair the simple diet strategies we RXD along with CF conditioning and strengthening you have the most well rounded program imaginable bent on delivering results in every aspect from, heath, virtuosity, appearance, psychological, and so on. Remove one part of that equation, and that gaping hole may rear it's head when you least expect it.
So what does this mean for CF'ers everywhere? Simply put, there is never a time when strength is a hindrance, so if your neglecting your work that makes you stronger, stop avoiding. If you scaling unnecessary to just go faster, quit. Stop finding excuses to miss your strength days because you don't feel as though it was as good of a workout...lift heavier. Stop finding ways to spend time on the treadmill instead of under a bar. Make sure when you finish a strength workout you feel just as spent as a met-con. Decide now weather you want to do the only substitute for strength work....rehab.
"Treadmills are for fat people" -Louie Simmons
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