strength and money

Too much strength is like too much money.

I like training myself and others. Many want to do things other than lift weights. This is fine, since most commercial gyms are dangerously overcrowded. We all need more strength. Work to develop more strength.

A last month I commented, antagonistically, on a post by a self-proclaimed expert, a personal trainer. I asked “why are most personal trainers skinny these days?” Someone answered my question. He responded “not everyone aspires to be a meathead.” I am not insulted, certainly not online, since being insulted is a matter of ego. This response displays a lack of understanding. I will explain my post, since it was inappropriate, and the reason we all need more strength, since it continues to be seen as a matter of muscle to the uneducated. 

If a trainer is skinny, which is very different from being small, he/she has not earned the knowledge to direct others. Would you hire a doctor or lawyer who has not practiced medicine or law?

I have seen trainers directing others for more than three decades now. In the beginning more trainers were educated in what they taught. Now trainers seem to be “experts” at everything. They watch videos online. They read peer reviewed articles. Even trainers who just read magazines were more educated. A true expert has done 10,000 hours of quality work before they gained enough insight to think for themselves. The internet is not quality work. The quality we speak of is abstract. I will not go Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (a great book) on you but we all think we know what quality is. Can you define quality?

Possessing too much strength, or too much money, is not possible. Think of these things in the same way. 

Strength improvements are a prerequisite for instructing others in the weight room. If you have not made yourself stronger in the weight room do not instruct others in the weight room. For those in need of a trainer, only hire one who has trained holistically for something. Like everything else we realize we need more once we have a lot.

Get stronger