Does anyone ever run into those people who think you are a weight room Nazi or fitness fanatic just because you train a couple days per week and eat like you’re supposed to? Dumb question I’m sure…it’s probably likely this has been posted many times, but I gotta vent.
I’m so sick of talking to friends/family about how I made progress here or there, gained muscle, blah blah blah, or tell them about my passion for lifting. They always seems to come back with the comments “You need to take it down a notch”, or “you take too many supplements”, “you eat too much protein”. What the hell do they know? Last time I checked my mom was not Jen Heath.
Everyone wants to look like those models on the cover of Men’s Health, but obviously the majority of the country doesnt know anything on how to look like that. Maybe they think those gifted few pop out of their mothers with a six pack and muscular upper body. Hello? Male and female models on these covers are not cardio kings and queens. I’m sure a lot of them bust their ass in the weightroom. But people must think that weight lifting = bodybuilding, and therefore models probably don’t get their bodies from lifting weights(maybe that’s why the treadmills are always packed at the Y).
Yeah, it can get annoying, but it’s easier to deal with when you figure out their reasoning. People say that stuff because after you explain why you do what you, they start questioning themselves and they don’t like it.
I think Shugart wrote an article on the subject awhile back. “Toxic People” is what I think it’s called.
Yeah I’ve read those articles. They hit the nail on the head. Good reads…
I try not to go in depth usually since most won’t understand it or care. But I think at the mere mention of it sets some people off. Possibly because most go their whole life struggling to look like a cover model, fail, give up, then criticize anyone else who hasn’t quit.
I only engage people when asked. There are too many misconceptions to try to overcome and you just come across as arrogant.
I work with a guy who’s on his 4th or 5th time on South Beach. The first time he went on it, he was complaining to me about how strict the diet is. I told him to scrap the SB diet and just lift weights a few times a week. He told me that his Dr. told him he should get to his target weight before introducing any exercise. Mind you, he wasn’t obese and he was <30 years old. I just shrugged, stood up, waved my hand over my body and said “Drink it in. I eat what I want when I want.”
The only thing you can do is stay the course and look and feel a helluva lot better than they do.
[quote]tedro wrote:
I avoid talking in depth about training with people that don’t work out or work out infrequently. There is nothing to gain from it.[/quote]
Exactly. Talk training on T-Nation. No one else wants to hear it.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Today, in a ‘functional management’ practical class, we were ortho testing the elbow and wrist.
I attempted to explain to two classmates, that if a chap who looked like a BBer came in with acute carpal tunnel syndrome, but no obvious triggers, then they should enquire about the use of GH or IGF1.
I thought I was doing them a favour, sharing my hard won knowledge.
Nope. Disgust, and a “Well they shouldn’t take the stuff then”.
I’ll keep schtum next time.
Bushy[/quote]
That’s a shame. Their loss as a practioner.
ToneBone
Anytime I see people with picket signs protesting some meaningless shit out in public, I tell them to take it down a notch. It’s the same concept of not understanding, only in their case they’re dirty hippies.
[quote]Contrl wrote:
Anytime I see people with picket signs protesting some meaningless shit out in public, I tell them to take it down a notch. It’s the same concept of not understanding, only in their case they’re dirty hippies.[/quote]
In that case you should open fire mercilessly upon them with a M-249 SAW.