Stranger things have happened
Before I left the Seattle seminar, I informed Billy that he needed to weigh 240. He was 220 at the time. Well, he is on his way with his self-proclaimed “Feast Fest”.
Here is a picture of a five egg omelet with bacon, sausage, and cheese, hash browns, toast, biscuits and sausage gravy, and three additional scrambled eggs. Billy brought his lunch pail, cause he’s goin’ to work.
Nice
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Hey Justin,
I’ve been following the linear progression for about 2-3 months, and working on doing things right like in Mark Rippetoe’s book. I train at a “fitness gym” (because they have child care, but I hate the place). I’m 180lbs and 5’9″, not naturally strong. I am at 250 on squat (started around 200), 280 on dead lift (working on 300), and 130 on press ( started at 115). I’m not the strongest guy but I’m working on it.
The other day I was going for a PR on deadlift and this guy yelled at me from across the room and tossed a 45 lbs weight at me. He went on and on about how he much he used to lift and that my weight was “chicken shit”. All this while he was doing leg presses. He told me I was an insult to people like him, tearing up his gym, and making too much noise. This is a guy who does curls inside the squat rack.
A few days later I was looking in my notebook to see what my work set was going to be he yells at me across the gym, “Hey you need me to sign off on that? Holy shit that’s a lot of weight. Man, you might need a spot!” This is while he and his friend were doing press with the smith machine by the way. All this has really discouraged me lately, because picking a fight would cost me my career in law enforcement. There is not a whole lot I can do but keep getting stronger.
I tell you all this to say that it was really hard to ball my fist around a barbell and lift when I wanted to just walk out. I just wanted to thank you for making this website. I know a lot of posts are funny, but a lot of the posts put some fire in my ass to go lift in spite of idiots like him. So thanks, it really helps a lot. OK, I’m gonna go drink some milk.
–Russell
This is an interesting e-mail. I can’t believe that the guy in the gym would be that much of an asshole, but stranger things have happened.
My suggestion to Russell: ignore that silly goon. Get your shit done, and get out. There is no sense in having any kind of altercation. Aside from potentially getting your ass beat (2 vs 1), it would allow yourself to fall into the douchebaggery that he exudes.
Which brings me to an important point that I have wanted to cover for a while. 70’s Big does not equate with cockiness. Any kind of “my penis is bigger” attitude quickly reduces you to a jackass. I don’t want a community that gives off an aura of superiority. I want us to have a community that is enthusiastic about the common goal of increasing strength and working hard to do it. Whether it is Russell, who is squatting 250, or a guy who squats 600, they are equally important to me. Who would want to stay in a community that belittles others?
This has, and always will be, a place to learn. I don’t get paid for any of this. On a daily basis I post on this site, I answer the questions of at least ten people via e-mail, and I go out of my way to help the people in our gym — all of it to make others work hard in order to get strong. I would hope that this supportive helpfulness resonates within this particular community.
Thomas Jefferson puts it much more eloquently: