More and More Betas at My Gym

Off Topic
181

Why does it have to be adversity?

And what qualifies as adversity in the gym?..you broke both your femurs and now squat 50lbs more than ever? Does it have to be that extreme…

I’m not sure I would call it adversity, but when you go to the gym consistently and you aren’t gaining any body weight or strength, a part of you wants to give up. Ignoring that feeling and continuing to go to the gym regardless says SOMETHNG about the character of the individual.

Getting past the period(s) of no gains does prove something. It proves a willingness to get it right, to succeed, to never give up.

I put it like this, “I don’t know the directions, I don’t have a map, but my fuel tank is infinitely full, so I will get there eventually”

This is something that SO MANY people in the world dont have within their character. It (getting stronger in the gym) has taught me something, it pointed out my own flaws (character flaws that bleed through in other aspects of my life that I can now recognize and try to keep in check).

for this, I AM BETTER (character-wise) than a lot of people (many of whom don’t lift weights). Of course it doesn’t have to be weights, whatever Arena someone chooses to occupy, if they are striving to better themselves at it, then I would tip my hat to them as well.

…I’m guessing next comes the part where I get called a self-absorbed douchebag with a high opinion of myself, or a naive young idiot or something along those lines, FIRE AWAY!!!

182

[quote]carbiduis wrote:
Why does it have to be adversity?

And what qualifies as adversity in the gym?..you broke both your femurs and now squat 50lbs more than ever? Does it have to be that extreme…

I’m not sure I would call it adversity, but when you go to the gym consistently and you aren’t gaining any body weight or strength, a part of you wants to give up. Ignoring that feeling and continuing to go to the gym regardless says SOMETHNG about the character of the individual.

Getting past the period(s) of no gains does prove something. It proves a willingness to get it right, to succeed, to never give up.

I put it like this, “I don’t know the directions, I don’t have a map, but my fuel tank is infinitely full, so I will get there eventually”

This is something that SO MANY people in the world dont have within their character. It (getting stronger in the gym) has taught me something, it pointed out my own flaws (character flaws that bleed through in other aspects of my life that I can now recognize and try to keep in check).

for this, I AM BETTER (character-wise) than a lot of people (many of whom don’t lift weights). Of course it doesn’t have to be weights, whatever Arena someone chooses to occupy, if they are striving to better themselves at it, then I would tip my hat to them as well.

[/quote]
Agreed

183

this is all very interesting, but all I really want to see is Debra D posting something, anything.

her Avi is WAY more interesting then all ya’all’s discussion.

nuff said~

184

[quote]Nards wrote:

[quote]harrypotter wrote:
AM I the only guy here who saw the funny in the Ops first post?

A woman PT starts getting angry at how weak this man is…LOL! Thats a troll right there, he isn’t being serious.

TROLLED![/quote]

I humbly disagree.

I think a lot of newbies come to this site thinking it’s a place where you can get manly things off your chest and other manly men will agree with you.
Sure we are a great community, but the community also doesn’t take too well to new guys coming in with stuff like the OP may have said. Also threads by guys that want to know where they can get jeans that fit, which is their way of showing they are large and fit and thus establishing themselves quickly.

This post narrated by David Attenborough.[/quote]

Well my sense of humour is well honed and so is my trolling sense but you’re telling me this;

" She’s doing these curls in front of him with these really well developed arms giving him running dialogue on what he should do. And this guy just watched and thanked her. The woman looked ED… like disgusted with his wimpiness. He was nodding his head and smiling oblivious to being as pathetically beta as i have ever seen …"

Does not have troll written all over it? Sure the guy can be a dumbass for actually making it a serious statement but I stick to my initial reaction which is “LOL!..trollololol”

185

100% agree with Push. I use to have hope for my generation, I am quickly losing it.

On a side note I just ordered Iron John. Looks very interesting.

186

[quote]Edgy wrote:
this is all very interesting, but all I really want to see is Debra D posting something, anything.

her Avi is WAY more interesting then all ya’all’s discussion.

nuff said~[/quote]
truuuue

187

[quote]carbiduis wrote:
Why does it have to be adversity?

And what qualifies as adversity in the gym?..you broke both your femurs and now squat 50lbs more than ever? Does it have to be that extreme…

I’m not sure I would call it adversity, but when you go to the gym consistently and you aren’t gaining any body weight or strength, a part of you wants to give up. Ignoring that feeling and continuing to go to the gym regardless says SOMETHNG about the character of the individual.

Getting past the period(s) of no gains does prove something. It proves a willingness to get it right, to succeed, to never give up.

I put it like this, “I don’t know the directions, I don’t have a map, but my fuel tank is infinitely full, so I will get there eventually”

This is something that SO MANY people in the world dont have within their character. It (getting stronger in the gym) has taught me something, it pointed out my own flaws (character flaws that bleed through in other aspects of my life that I can now recognize and try to keep in check).

for this, I AM BETTER (character-wise) than a lot of people (many of whom don’t lift weights). Of course it doesn’t have to be weights, whatever Arena someone chooses to occupy, if they are striving to better themselves at it, then I would tip my hat to them as well.

…I’m guessing next comes the part where I get called a self-absorbed douchebag with a high opinion of myself, or a naive young idiot or something along those lines, FIRE AWAY!!![/quote]

I am saying there is no adversity in the gym. I don’t consider gym rats tough. Someone who does something they enjoy is not tough. Adversity is when something is thrown your way that you don’t want to deal with, but you push through.

188

Does the term “Alpha Male” really only apply to physical dominance? Could be that the incredibly humble sounding guy that gladly accepted help from the female trainer with cable curls could be an “alpha” in his field.

Ever spoken to a Nobel laureate? Pretty hard not to be beta around those folks in the right context.

189

I find the terms such as alpha, beta, omega to be amusing.

Some guy who trains hard such as an MMA fighter, pulls sluts on a weekly basis and has cash to his name is alpha? Yeah, stick them with a group of marines, SAS/Delta/SBS/SEALs and then see the alpha disappear.

You’re only considered strong in the arena you train in, but it doesn’t mean you’re anything special.

190

Im going to go ahead and hope that OP is just going through a phase and that he is somewhere between “18-22” because thats the same age I had this attitude. If you make it out of this age group and drop the whole “Alpha/Beta” mentallity then congratulations; you’re a normal, functioning adult that contributes to society. If you are past this age and you think in these 2 terms then you fail because you’re pathetic and douche and there is no hope for you.

191

[quote]harrypotter wrote:
I find the terms such as alpha, beta, omega to be amusing.

Some guy who trains hard such as an MMA fighter, pulls sluts on a weekly basis and has cash to his name is alpha? Yeah, stick them with a group of marines, SAS/Delta/SBS/SEALs and then see the alpha disappear.

You’re only considered strong in the arena you train in, but it doesn’t mean you’re anything special.[/quote]

There is a difference between alpha/beta and knowledge/experience.

192

[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
I guess what I’m trying to say is that the original post made by flyboy struck me as similar to someone bragging about how much pussy he gets, going on and on and on, unprovoked, about how many girls swing off his nuts on a daily basis. …while clearly overcompensating for how little pussy he actually gets.

Just with being alpha, instead of being a pussy magnet.

But maybe that’s just me, haha. [/quote]

I obviously failed miserably in what I was trying to express. The alpha/beta thing was not meant in the scientific/anthropological sense but was just a cheap way to reference a lot of the guys (metros/betas/sensitive types/take your pick) I see all over the place. But having said that everything ran off into alpha/beta.

The other angle was that I was making fun of guys starting out … not what I was trying to say and not what I was reacting to.

I simply was observing some guys in a situation that you simply would not have seen 20 years ago. I AM a neanderthal (I don’t mean I’m alpha … just an anachronism) in that I still cringe at the idea of a girl showing a guy how to do something like curl properly.

And I’m not afraid/threatened by women and personally I think fit women are an incredibly awesome development in the last 20 years … so no need to even go there. My comment was not about the girls it was about the guys.

The comment wasn’t about me either. I’m not Arnold and you shouldn’t have to be to make this observation. It’s not like I went over and started berating them … nor did I have the slightest inclination to do so. These particular guys don’t matter … it’s the trend I’m commenting on.

Just an observation that dovetails with what I see at work and on the tube and virtually everywhere in popular culture.

All guys have to start out … everyone is a beginner at some point even if that beginning is when you’re 35 (or 30? or 25? I dunno?) I suppose. But seriously. I mean 50 years ago you would have been called a weakling … and quite early on as a boy. And the stigma associated with that would have driven you to doing pullups on a bar on your door jamb and situps and pushups … maybe getting a barbell set? It wouldn’t have made you Arnold … but you wouldn’t have to have someone talk you through a curl when you were a grown man? Today that isn’t happening for whatever reason.

I think people don’t associate being a man with traditional “manly” things as much. And it’s considered cruel or anti-social to push for that. It’s certainly politically incorrect like so much else.

Another angle on this at least for me in that it elicits the same pissed off reaction from me … is the guys who I argue with now who will take on the kinds of arguments that you would in years past expect from girls. The guys who rant against “cowboys” in the white house as if cowboys are disgusting. And they’ll argue against owning/firing/desiring a gun like the whole concept is totally bizarre. Or the arguments against contact sports and the push for soccer.

It’s the kind of thing you’d have gotten from women and european men 20 years ago … now you get it from your fellow American guys. When it starts coming out of Texas we’ll know we’re all doomed.

… and here ends my rant.

193

lol @ european men not being manly.

194

[quote]legendaryblaze wrote:

[quote]harrypotter wrote:
I find the terms such as alpha, beta, omega to be amusing.

Some guy who trains hard such as an MMA fighter, pulls sluts on a weekly basis and has cash to his name is alpha? Yeah, stick them with a group of marines, SAS/Delta/SBS/SEALs and then see the alpha disappear.

You’re only considered strong in the arena you train in, but it doesn’t mean you’re anything special.[/quote]

There is a difference between alpha/beta and knowledge/experience.
[/quote]

And attitude.

The guys who I perceived to be true alphas, never really claimed to be that. Nor did they garner respect by condescending others for their efforts. In fact, most of the alphas I came across were actually on the quiet side. They didn’t need to talk, they just exuded it.

They were teachers and inspired others, without even trying to.

195

[quote]legendaryblaze wrote:
lol @ european men not being manly. [/quote]

If the european men i saw on the streets of prague and vienna and frankfurt last year were “manly” then western civilization is already dead …