Skinny guy rant

[Valhall]

Im attracted to strong women, but ammonst my friends im apparantly the only one.

[laser]

I believe there is a positive correlation between the amount of weight you can squat and the ass size you find attractive. I was always a legs man (the thinking being that if a girl has nice legs, she is probably in shape everywhere else). However, once I started squatting seriously, I transitioned to full blown ass man.

[forgeforth]

Not everyone wants to be "big and strong." The Be-A-Man bullshit on these boards is almost as bad as mainstream culture telling men that double-digit body fat levels are unacceptable.

You did your part. There's nothing more you can do. What's the point of arguing or ranting over someone's goals? The reality is that most people in our society desire leanness and low body fat levels. Few care about functional strength and even fewer care to program barbell training consistently.

If we're talking about athletes, you can make the argument that they should be improving their strength to maximize performance. You can then make the claim that barbell training best achieves this task. But Rip himself has made the distinction between trainees and exercisers; the vast majority are the latter.

[skipbeat]

the difference here is that this guy is in a field where physical capability is not optional, and if it is neglected, could endanger lives. he's not going to able to carry heavy equipment, a person, move with a load, etc.

[FireCap]

Skipbeat beat me to it - in what I do strength is important. Conditioning is important as well, but sometimes I think raw strength may be more so. Not an attempt to start an argument!! I depend on him being able to pull a share of the load. But my rant was just to relieve frustration where a portion of the people probably understood. Call it a rhetorical rant.

[Corrie]

Not everyone wants to be "big and strong." The Be-A-Man bullshit on these boards is almost as bad as mainstream culture telling men that double-digit body fat levels are unacceptable.

Part of me agrees, but a bigger part of me thinks we need this be-a-man bullshit to put it in people's minds how much hard work and effort it takes to get results in the gym.

Without that attitude in my head I'd probably have stopped doing SS and gaining weight a while ago because it's been difficult and has made me uncomfortable.

And even if you don't want to be "big and strong" as its defined here, you HAVE to eat to get strong and doing the zone while lifting isn't going ot make you thin and ripped or big and strong.

[Subsistence]

Part of me agrees, but a bigger part of me thinks we need this be-a-man bullshit to put it in people's minds how much hard work and effort it takes to get results in the gym.

Without that attitude in my head I'd probably have stopped doing SS and gaining weight a while ago because it's been difficult and has made me uncomfortable.

And even if you don't want to be "big and strong" as its defined here, you HAVE to eat to get strong and doing the zone while lifting isn't going ot make you thin and ripped or big and strong.

Some trainees may respond to being called a pussy if they don't squat. I suspect the majority do not, based on how popular Rip is compared to Men's Health. Do whatever works for you, but I would find it unfortunate if I needed a bunch of people online telling me to "Be a Man!" to keep up motivation in the gym.

the difference here is that this guy is in a field where physical capability is not optional, and if it is neglected, could endanger lives. he's not going to able to carry heavy equipment, a person, move with a load, etc.

This seems like a much bigger issue with your guys' qualification process and upkeep. People physically unable to do the job should be failing some sort of test which they need to pass to keep the job. That isn't to say personal responsibility is unimportant but the way you phrase it it didn't seem like this guy had any real worries about his job performance, he just didn't like looking fat.

[b17vic]

It is a strange thing that people want to be light, skinny. . . . to lose weight. I understand if someone with a large amount of fat mass wants to trim down but why do the "others" want to be light and week? Do they find comfort in NOT being strong and powerful? Maybe it's some kind of internal threat or fear they have of possessing physical strength, if they look weak they will not be expected to run to someones aid and defend them if the need were ever to arise. Maybe it's just an easy thing to be part of, " The no eat, no train and lose weight and look like I did when I was 14". I don't know. Maybe THEY are reading this and THEY would like to answer? ! :-O

[FireCap]

To clarify yes aesthetics were a portion of it, but medical and performance were another. I see more and more of similar attitudes during applicant testing. Most CPAT like physical tests are more of a test of fortitude then fitness. Applicants would rather give up then suffer. That's good for me, that weeds some out. But the popular misconception that being 6 foot and 150 lbs is a desirable goal for a male hurts applicants just as bad as being 6' and 275 lbs. Mass is your friend when propelled by enough muscle.

[Corrie]

It is a strange thing that people want to be light, skinny. . . . to lose weight. I understand if someone with a large amount of fat mass wants to trim down but why do the "others" want to be light and week? Do they find comfort in NOT being strong and powerful? Maybe it's some kind of internal threat or fear they have of possessing physical strength, if they look weak they will not be expected to run to someones aid and defend them if the need were ever to arise. Maybe it's just an easy thing to be part of, " The no eat, no train and lose weight and look like I did when I was 14". I don't know. Maybe THEY are reading this and THEY would like to answer? ! :-O

I think people actually don't know what they want.

I used to go to the gym as a 5'5 skinny fat 140lb kid and when I signed up they ask you what you want. I'd say I wanted to lose weight. I didn't know that if I wanted to look like brad pitt from fight club or beckham I'd have to actually gain quite a bit of weight.

No one explained this to me either. They just looked at me, said ok and took my money.