Is It Just Me or Does This Guy Have an Axe to Grind?

I GOT THIS IN MY EMAIL THIS MORNING:

I have to admit, the best part of my day is reading what my clients have

to write in about. This next one comes in from my friend out in PA named

Joe Selvocki. This is a guy who has tried many things to improve and for a

short period of time was blinded by the blanket lies that the drug bloated

pig powerlifters put on him. I mean honestly, Joe is a good guy who knows

that when you pay money to learn how to train, you should. Instead, he and

many other guys paid a ton of money to learn how to train from these "well

known" elite powerlifters. We’ll get back to his scenario later but check out

this quick story Joe sent in about an 8 year old boy and his father.

"One Saturday, the owner of the gyms son came to the gym. I would say he

was at that time, like 8 or 9 years old. His father (a steroid junkie), was trying

to show him how to deadlift. He had him doing the wide stance. He was not

grasping it. He was having great difficulty lifting it. All the owner did was yell

and scream at him. You can see he was getting scared. Finally his father got

so mad he smacked him across the back. He almost went flying into the wall.

He told him to get out of here".
This is the worst kind of person; an abuser. You should know that prior to
becoming a liscenced teacher of Health & Physical Education that I was a one
on one counselor. I changed my fields because every time I heard another
child tell me about getting beat, I wanted to teach the abuser a lesson. I was
too empathetic and my life moved on. Moving on…
Also by the story we can read that the drug pig had no teaching ability nor the
concept of relevancy to teach anyone let alone a child. Every single individual
has their own way of learning and this MUST be understood by the teacher of
skills. Now, let’s get back to my friend Joe and the world famous one day
seminars that cost more than what I make in a week as a trainer.
People pay big bucks in order to learn how to train and why anyone would
pay drug pigs is beyond my capacity but I do have an idea why. The reason
is because powerlifting has become somewhat popular and it is a strange but
used measuring stick of what can be lifted. Powerlifting on the whole is a very
narrow perspective on training. For example; Joe would tell me that the “elite”
powerlifting dietes of the seminar would tell him to gain 50 pounds in his belly
to reduce the range of motion in the bench press. Read that again and no you
didn’t imagine it, it really was just that; horrible advice. I can actually go on and
on all day long with these examples of absolute sewer advice. I don’t want to
hurt too many feelings so I will stop now before the tears start to roll and the
piggies go into their roid rage.
Did you know? The powerlifting “elite” diete of them all is quoted as saying, “I
have been on juice for over 20 years and I have no problems”. Sad man, sad!
Eh, what the hell, one more story. So Joe sends me another video of these
“elite” lifters trying to run a 1/4 mile. This dude couldn’t even do half a lap around
a track before literally falling and having his friend run to him with oxygen. What
a sad state of affairs that boy is in. I mean seriously, if your house was burning
who would you want running in to save you? Me or this elite pork bellied pig? We
both know you want me because all around athleticism, toughness, strength, power,
mental toughness, and the WILL TO WIN is what I have.
What type of fitness professional gives advice to gain 50 pounds in the belly?
What type of “elite” lifter uses special apparel to help them lift what they can’t without?
Kind of makes no sense at all right? I’m telling you. I read this stuff every day man
and it’s funny yet sad to me. Sad because I am one of a few core individuals telling
the absolute truth about what it takes to get in real shape and I charge a fraction of
what these liars do. This stuff is also funny to me because I find myself at a loss for
words when I receive emails from people saying my program is too simple to work.
Wanna’ know why I get those emails? It’s because the loser, kid smacking, gear wearing,
and steroid guzzling punks of the world are spreading so much disease it makes honest
people look like liars, that’s why!
I bet they’ll be a lot of people unsubscribing from this email list today around the world
and for good reason; this email is about them. My very writing gets beneath their skin
and makes them mad because all they have done is add gasoline to a fire that is literally
destroying mankind one person at a time. This misinformation needs to stop and the
honest fitness needs to come out. Until my last breath, I will expose the liars, fakes,
cheaters, and people hurting other people when their paid to help.
Want to see a REAL example of training. Go visit my latest video which is now featured
ony my YouTube page. There you will see a natural, tough, and determined man who is
not afraid to fail, no afraid to put everything he has into a task, and knows he demands
the best out of everything he does. Leave your comments please and let’s put this fire
out that the lies have started.

P.S. I know I hurt feelings today and you know what, it’s about time someone did it. I
simply won’t stand for this nonsense any longer.

MY Email to him:

I have to disagree with you on stereotyping powerlifters as roid pigs and nonathletic. Yes, there are many who do fit that stereotype, but MOST powerlifters do it just for fun and do it naturally. As a matter of fact, most of the powerlifters I know are some of the most down to earth, gentlest guys you could ever meet. Stereotyping them the way you have in your email is no different than people stereotyping me because I am black.

The guys you are referencing are obviously guys who, in general, don’t live well-rounded and healthy lives and that has more to do with them as people than as powerlifters. I, myself, take a well rounded (in my opinion) approach and apply what makes sense from powerlifting, bodybuilding, strongman and athletic conditioning to be the best I can be. There are a lot of good things I have learned from you, especially as far as mental toughness and focus are concerned and I would be just as quick to defend YOU from bad generalizations as I am to defend powerlifters from yours.

It seems as if different “factions” of fitness get so focused and narrow-minded towards their preferred way of doing things that all they see is the bad of other disciplines, which is ironic, because when you go back to the old time strongmen/bodybuilders that all these disciplines spring from; you see that they looked at it all as a continuum and found a way to use them as a WHOLE as opposed to individual segments that had nothing to do with each other.

YOU GUYS, TELL ME - DOES IT APPEAR THAT I SAID ANYTHING THAT COULD BE TAKEN AS AN ATTACK OR OFFENSIVE IN MY RESPONSE? I’LL POST HIS RESPONSE AND THEN MY ANSWER.

HIS RESPONSE:

First off you should know that I have more close friends of ethnicity than not so the card you pulled won’t work with me man. Sorry, no good. If you took offense to the email then maybe, just maybe, it struck a chord within you. It wasn’t directed AT YOU but at the steroid pigs in the powerlifting realm. If that’s not you or your boys, why did you apply it to yourself right? Think about it. Read back what you wrote to me and tell if it seems like your trying to defend good guys that I did NOT offend. I did not say ALL powerlifters did I Landis? Nope, just the pigs doing it wrong. You’re way too defensive man and to be honest, ther’es nothing I can do about that. Just don’t bring the race issue at me Landis, I don’t do well with it. Leave apples to apples and everything is fine. Bring other things into the mix and you’re trying to start the fire.

If you’re on my list, of course you’ve learned things. I do good business

AND MINE:

I didn’t pull any race card with you Dave. I simply stated stereotyping is not a good thing. I have seen enough of your stuff to know you train athletes of different ethnicities and backgrounds. You’re definitely misinterpreting that from the start. Re-read it, I never questioned your affinity for dealing with different types of people. You need to stop being overly sensitive. I just used that as an example. Since I am black and deal with stereotyping on a daily basis, I know how bad it can be.

And if you look at what I wrote I said that there are plenty of guys that do fit the stereotype that you brought up. What I said is that it had nothing to do with powerlifting but more with what they lacked as people. If you take a step back and check the tenor of your email it does seem as if you saw all powerlifters as bad. I am not a powerlifter, I am just saying the ones I have met are decent guys and don’t fit that stereotype. I even said I have learned good things from you.

You are obviously answering with pre-concieved notions and instead of actually reading what I wrote, you saw it through whatever lens of past experience you have had and I can do nothing about it.

When you calm down, re-read what I wrote and digest it objectively. Better yet, have an unbiased 3rd party read it and see what they got from it.

LIKE I ASKED, IS IT JUST ME OR DOES IT SEEM LIKE HIS PANTIES ARE IN A BUNCH?

.

People have opinions. They may be different than yours and vice versa. The world continues to rotate.

Wow.

HE’s the one that’s getting defensive, really. It sounds like he’s very misinformed and just plain ignorant about powerlifting as a sport.

Your reply was non-emotional, succinct, and well written. He’s seeing what he wants to see.

[quote]JGerman wrote:
People have opinions. They may be different than yours and vice versa. The world continues to rotate. [/quote]

True, but what is your opinion on what was written?

That’s what Lee was looking for.

To your question; yes, this person does come off as having an ax to grind, and no, you don’t come off as offensive. Just out of curiosity, what sort of lifting does he advocate?

[quote]lewhitehurst wrote:

LIKE I ASKED, IS IT JUST ME OR DOES IT SEEM LIKE HIS PANTIES ARE IN A BUNCH?[/quote]

I don’t think his panties are in a bunch.

However, I DO think he’s got a pineapple wedged tightly in his ass.

[quote]Hertzyscowicz wrote:
To your question; yes, this person does come off as having an ax to grind, and no, you don’t come off as offensive. Just out of curiosity, what sort of lifting does he advocate?[/quote]

“Funtional” which to him is sandbags, kegs and I believe kettlebells. I use these implements as well, for conditioning; but I was trying to point out to him as I do to most people, having one aspect as your main focus is fine, but that doesn’t mean to discount every other form of training out there or to be nasty towards others who train in other ways.

Tell him if he says “powerlifting steroid pigs” one more time, that you’ll punch him in the face.

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Tell him if he says “powerlifting steroid pigs” one more time, that you’ll punch him in the face.[/quote]

LOL. That’s what made me raise my eyebrow about the email. From what I could read, that is how he saw everyone that powerlifts and I found that insulting. Typical online tough guy stance. And as soon as I called him on it it got personal.

There is a kernel of truth to his original email and he is obviously passionate. His reply to you was a result of hitting send before his brain could catch up to his fingers or, he lacks reading comprehension.

[quote]imhungry wrote:
Wow.

HE’s the one that’s getting defensive, really. It sounds like he’s very misinformed and just plain ignorant about powerlifting as a sport.

Your reply was non-emotional, succinct, and well written. He’s seeing what he wants to see.[/quote]

x2

Lew his panties are in a bunch, people naturally want to pigeon hole individuals. The example he used with the father teaching his kid to dead lift has nothing to do with “pig powerlifters”. That is bad parenting. Your example was dead on and accurate, he wanted to label this guy instead of just saying this asshole dumb fucking parent did this. He must be somebody you respect to a point cause I would have been more blunt.

I think it’s clear that he’s getting emotional because of the child-abuse, I don’t think he necessarily believes what he’s saying about powerlifters. Maybe he was abused when he was a kid, and that’s why this story made him so angry.

[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:
I think it’s clear that he’s getting emotional because of the child-abuse, I don’t think he necessarily believes what he’s saying about powerlifters. Maybe he was abused when he was a kid, and that’s why this story made him so angry.[/quote]

That doesn’t explain his spurious claim that I used the race card nor his inference that I was I was offended because I supposedly felt he was talking about me. It isn’t just the story, it was his irrational response. Everyone has a bad day and their bad moments but you should be mature enough not to compound one idiotic personal tirade with a baseless personal attack. I could have come at him just like he came at me, yet I didn’t. Given the fact that he never responded, I am betting he had someone else read the emails and they told him he was being an ass and he isn’t man enough to admit he stuck both feet in his mouth. Much like here on the forums…

I just realized he can’t write or spell for shit, either. I just realized everytime he typed “diete” it was supposed to be “deity”.

Yeah… I have actually encountered that quite a few times, though not as offensive. It’s a situation of different factions of strength and fitness just pigeon-hole one another. The cardio/aerobic types say this, the bodybuilding types say that, the powerlifting types say another, and so on. In each encounter, the people just wouldn’t dare try to appreciate the benefits of the others. Your friend sounds like one of those people, unfortunately. Hopefully, he takes a step back and realizes his faulty attitude.

[quote]lewhitehurst wrote:
HIS RESPONSE:

First off you should know that I have more close friends of ethnicity than not [/quote]

I think anyone who says something like that is not worth talking to.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe everyone is “of ethnicity”.

[quote]lewhitehurst wrote:

[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:
I think it’s clear that he’s getting emotional because of the child-abuse, I don’t think he necessarily believes what he’s saying about powerlifters. Maybe he was abused when he was a kid, and that’s why this story made him so angry.[/quote]

That doesn’t explain his spurious claim that I used the race card nor his inference that I was I was offended because I supposedly felt he was talking about me. It isn’t just the story, it was his irrational response. Everyone has a bad day and their bad moments but you should be mature enough not to compound one idiotic personal tirade with a baseless personal attack. I could have come at him just like he came at me, yet I didn’t. Given the fact that he never responded, I am betting he had someone else read the emails and they told him he was being an ass and he isn’t man enough to admit he stuck both feet in his mouth. Much like here on the forums…[/quote]

I understand your frustrations, however, try to remain objective about the whole thing. It’s like you said, he probably had a pretty bad day…or week. He’s so stuck on one thing that since you didn’t agree with him, he took it as you attacking him as well. He probably feels like an ass right now. Needs time for his ego to subside, so he can make amends.