great article

[KCSTRONGMAN]

great article

I'm the lyrical Jesse James

[Thom Van Vleck]

Thanks, Eric. My Uncle and I have some great conversations on training.

Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder

[Al Myers]

I agree with what Eric said 100%! The older I get the more I realize the REAL REASON I work out is the CHALLENGE it presents and my inner battle to overcome the weights in front of me at the moment. Whether you “rise to occasion” and deadlift 300 pounds or 600 pounds it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you gave it all you had that night and beat the weights. Of course, some training days the weights get the best of you regardless of your strength capabilities, but that is what makes it challenging. If weightlifting was easy, I wouldn’t do it. Al

[0722143772]

when i was in high school, the last three years, my sole purpose was to make the state wrestling meet. as a senior, i finally made it to ‘state’. i was thrilled beyond belief. however, when i got there, i soon discovered it was just ‘another’ tournament. a huge disappointment……until a number of years later.

the older i got, the more i understood how much being a wrestler and the training that went into that, shaped the person that i am. i learned so many things and the ‘mind set’ it took to do that. this ‘mind set’ helped me push thru some challenging times as i grew older. it was those experiences that i drew from to tell myself, ‘you did it then, you can certainly do it now’.

it’s the very same reason we all lift now. if you have no goals, no ‘challenges’, you will never know what it takes to really, really push yourself and see what you can do. if you use a ‘crutch’, how in hell will you ever know if it was YOU that did it??

as far as i’m concerned, take all the dope and stick it where the sun does’nt shine. grow a pair of balls, put the weight on the floor and see what you’re made of.

here endeth the lesson………. lol

[Thom Van Vleck]

[b]Quote from RAINBOW BEND on September 16, 2010, 18:21[/b]

as far as i’m concerned, take all the dope and stick it where the sun does’nt shine. grow a pair of balls, put the weight on the floor and see what you’re made of.

here endeth the lesson………. lol

As far as I’m concerned….we need more of this kind of attitude. Good one, Dave.

Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder

[Kurt]

Haven’t posted in a long while (not since the ‘old’ forum, I guess), but I just wanted to agree with the others. That was an incredible article, Thom. I suppose you are now MY “Uncle Phil”, because you really made me think with that piece.

Would I take a drug that would make me strong without having to lift? Absolutely not. After all, it’s the workouts that are the fun (?) part of the journey. Okay, yes, most of the workouts are brutally horrible – but I can’t imagine ever giving them up. In a very real way, these workouts – brutal though they may sometimes be, and even with the occasional (okay, frequent) failures – give my life purpose, a reason to get up in the morning … well, second to my kids, of course.

Now, would I take a steroid that was perfectly safe, and allowed me to keep all the gains I made? That’s a different story …

[Chad Ullom]

I agree Thom, great article very thougth provoking. I’ve never truly been tempted to take drugs, it’s always about pushing myself for me. I know I wouldn’t feel right feel good about anything I won or accomplished if it was done via drugs…no matter how safe they are. The real question for me has always been what if I was close to being good enough for the NFL let’s say. I like to think I’d do the right thing, but who knows. To play in the NFL not only changes your life, but your kids and possibly their kids to make that kind of money. I can at least see how people get caught up in that. And I think a lot of those people justify it to themselves by saying everyone is doing it. Again Thom, great article!
Chad

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