valstrengthtraining

A lot of people want to lose weight because it is what is programmed into our minds by most of what we watch and read. And even feel. Measurement for clothes now is intentionally made for thin individuals. I buy clothes for practical reasons and not for fashion and I do not buy often. My clothes shopping experience 4 to 5 years ago are now memorable to me because the sizes are what they were supposed to be.

Nowadays, people’s perception of normal size changed. Last year, I went to buy hiking trousers in a shop. I chose the one showing my waistline. But when I fitted it, the waist is perfect but the thighs are tight. It was supposed to be for outdoors so it should be loose on the thighs allowing for unhindered movement, but then it was tailored for what the advertisers want the buyers to perceive – that their thighs are so big that it won’t fit into the trousers. My body weight and body composition has not changed much since 5 years ago, but the fitting of clothes then felt more natural. Now, clothes feel tighter on the arms- to make men’s arms appear bigger as if to say they are stronger, but for ladies they would feel insecure and say their arms are too big. Look around and what is shown in advertisements are clothes worn by malnourished models, photoshopped magazines, topless male models with muscular chest and rippling abs but their legs and calves are always covered. Video commercials show pretty ladies eating some fancy gourmet dishes with all their ecstatic and even sensual facial gestures. Even video games show female characters with watermelon like engorged mammary glands. This is not what we want our kids to dream to be. This is not what our future leaders of the world should be.  

It would be better if people wanted to train to have stronger bodies. Stronger does not necessarily mean bigger, it means the stronger person is able to lift something which, prior to training for a certain period of time, was not able to lift. This allows her or him to do more, and perform better. Training to be strong is not easy, it even feels harder for some. And you have to constantly do it if you want to maintain a certain level for strength and fitness. It is not easy but it instills a certain sense of discipline, and confidence. It can be a slow and uncomfortable process, but that is how it is, especially at first. But better do something real, than just fool yourself as if you did something great by buying a lot of quick fix products. Be honest to yourself. A lot of people have discipline, and confidence. What we need more of now is honesty. Plain old honesty, not hype. I still remember the motto our Parish Priest instilled amongst us when I was in Elementary School. Be Honest. Be Clean. Be Kind. Be Self-disciplined. Be Hard-working. I believe training should be honest- not hyped.  

Our environment shapes our perceptions if we do not educate ourselves well. The internet bombards us with information. We must discern which ones are useful and which ones are crap. Crap information is sweet. It tells of quick and easy fixes. Useful ones tell the truth and the truth oftentimes hurts. Do not take everything you read as the truth. Truth is very elusive. What is true for you may not be true for me. But there are a lot of similarities. We can infer through wise observations. We need to ask ourselves why. There are so many things that we cannot understand. And we must be careful since there is so much information. Including this post. What benefit will I get if someone reads this? The most is probably a comment- good or bad. So why do I write? Because I observed that things are becoming too hyped, that products are now made not to fill a need, but to create a “perceived” void that makes people want to buy another useless product. And that does not make sense to me. It does not make my job any easier too. So hopefully, if someone stumbled upon this post, that they would open their eyes. It would help me and the industry if there are less fad following trainees. Sometimes I am mistaken to be a magician. That people come to see me, say they cannot train for now, chit-chat, and they expect to leave the gym stronger, faster, and above all, with a pretty face. I just hope people would wake up. Be careful also of those who call themselves experts since the truth is, the more you know, the more you know what you do not know. So better educate yourself, always ask why? why not? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to look for my magic wand, it weighs 20 kg and it has rotating sleeves. You would understand it if you spent enough time training in a gym, not on your “smart” phone.  Start to Train Better, Live Better!