Choosing a Lifting-Related Essay Subject

For my college English class i need to write a 5-7 page essay defining something then providing evidence to support the definition. For example lets say i choose abortion i would choose to define the word human saying that i believe the definition of a human is when the child is born not while it is still in the womb. Does that make any sense? If not i can try to clarify as much as possible.

Anyway I want to do the essay on something that interests decided to do it on something relating to weight lifting. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great,

Thanks in advance for any help.

Honestly, doing anything lifting-related for school is a terrible idea. Your teacher will almost assuredly think you are wrong about things because of something he/she saw on Dr. Phil. Just pick a generic topic and get the A and move on with things.

im gonna have to second jtrinsey. I wrote a persuasive speech for a com class on why lifting weights is better for your overall health and well-being than distance or constant speed jogging. My teacher told me to pick a new topic after the first rough draft. Apparently my arguments would have flown over the student body’s heads. If you want an A… pick something low-key or a “suck up” essay.

I’m sorry, but LOL at your topic header.
“Chosing a Liftig-Related Essay Subject”

^ I didn’t write that, for some reason the mods like to change the titles to some of topics that are posted, or at least they’ve done it to me a few times. Not exactly sure why…

I did get a giggle out of it though.

[quote]Zackgsc wrote:
^ I didn’t write that, for some reason the mods like to change the titles to some of topics that are posted, or at least they’ve done it to me a few times. Not exactly sure why…

I did get a giggle out of it though.[/quote]

Here’s a topic: Do real men get “giggles” out of things and if so, why?

Most people wouldn’t really appreciate any fitness related topic that isn’t along the lines of “eat lots of carbs and do lots of cardio”. If you’re going to though, you could try something like “why being a hamster on a wheel doesn’t stop you being a fat ass”, or something along those lines.

I tried that once but ended up getting a b- on it. But If I was going to write it would go something like this…

Weight lifting is about strength, both inner and physical strength.
Define both types of strength
Explain how lifting effects both the obvious and the confidence it builds.

Counter argument, something about the lifestyle promoting an unreachable perfection. Causing more damage then self affirmations or watching Oprah or some shit.

Counter that with something about setting an attaining goals, compare yourself to an artist or another activity where perfection is impossible

Get back to your point about strength, conclude it.

Cite me.

Honestly, I think one of Shugart’s articles would be a great basis for exploration

In The Face of Death: Forums - T Nation - The World's Trusted Community for Elite Fitness

Disgusting and horrific as it is, we all witness this every day. It’s not like diabetics and morbidly obese people would need to commit to a life-long goal of extreme will and strength like us, they just need to put down the Cheetoes for once and take a walk and they might live to see their grandchildren born.

But so many can’t. They just gotta have their McDonalds every Saturday, and Monday night always has to be pizza night, and they just can’t miss a weekend of drinking.

There’s a growing rift in America between the strong that persevere and that weak that choose helplessness. While your knowledge would provide a great basis, you could probably learn a lot by exploring the sociological impacts of obesity, where it started, and where it’s going.

Frankly, it’s a huge topic. I’d be surprised if you can fit that into 5-7 pages.

write about body dismorphia (spelling is probably jacked)

write about the mental health benefits of weight training. no one can argue philosophical training details (cardio vs weights) and you can show the massive amount of data on improved mental health.

jnd

[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
Honestly, doing anything lifting-related for school is a terrible idea. Your teacher will almost assuredly think you are wrong about things because of something he/she saw on Dr. Phil. Just pick a generic topic and get the A and move on with things.[/quote]

Agreed, just get the A with something you can slam dunk.

How much does John Q. Public know about lifting anyway? I mean REALLY know.

Even better, how do you think some fat, I-know-better-than-you English teacher feels about it?

English is one of those subjects where there’s not so much a line of right or wrong, you can piss of a chemistry teacher and get an A if you’re right. No such luck with English, you gotta give the teacher what they want to hear.

[quote]Ghost22 wrote:
jtrinsey wrote:
Honestly, doing anything lifting-related for school is a terrible idea. Your teacher will almost assuredly think you are wrong about things because of something he/she saw on Dr. Phil. Just pick a generic topic and get the A and move on with things.

Agreed, just get the A with something you can slam dunk.

How much does John Q. Public know about lifting anyway? I mean REALLY know.

Even better, how do you think some fat, I-know-better-than-you English teacher feels about it?

English is one of those subjects where there’s not so much a line of right or wrong, you can piss of a chemistry teacher and get an A if you’re right. No such luck with English, you gotta give the teacher what they want to hear. [/quote]

That of course is assuming you have an idiot for an English teacher. Because some people have what is called a “grading rubric” in which you can objectively assess an essay.

bad idea homie

like others said, the classroom isnt the place for muscle…dont T it up

dial it down and do some stupid global warming or gun law paper

All my English teachers and professors loved me, so listen up. :wink:

A standard piece of writing advice is that you can’t write an essay that bores you without boring your reader. So if you’re interested in lifting, you can make that your inspiration. But it’s not meant to be a technical essay, so don’t go into a discussion of the best way to train. I think the idea seems to be to demonstrate how well you can argue from a set of premises.

You’re going to come off as a dumb jock if you write a jock essay, so it has to be brilliant if you want to overcome that first impression.

One thought: How do you define strength? Aristotle thought virtue lay in moderation – we should avoid having too much or too little of any personal quality. Does that apply here? Can you be too strong? (Look up the original since I don’t have a citation off the top of my head – I think it’s in the Ethics.)

Also, the more concrete question – is strength measured in absolute or relative terms? Relative to your body? Relative to your gender? What about the Olympic athlete amputee with artificial feet – is he handicapped, unfairly advantaged, or competing fairly with the other runners? Would a genetically engineered athlete be stronger (according to your definition) than his “natural-born” counterpart?

You can do a very interesting little riff on the elusive definition of human excellence if you use some imagination and do some reading.

[quote]AlisaV wrote:
All my English teachers and professors loved me, so listen up. :wink:

A standard piece of writing advice is that you can’t write an essay that bores you without boring your reader. So if you’re interested in lifting, you can make that your inspiration. But it’s not meant to be a technical essay, so don’t go into a discussion of the best way to train. I think the idea seems to be to demonstrate how well you can argue from a set of premises.

You’re going to come off as a dumb jock if you write a jock essay, so it has to be brilliant if you want to overcome that first impression.

One thought: How do you define strength? Aristotle thought virtue lay in moderation – we should avoid having too much or too little of any personal quality. Does that apply here? Can you be too strong? (Look up the original since I don’t have a citation off the top of my head – I think it’s in the Ethics.)

Also, the more concrete question – is strength measured in absolute or relative terms? Relative to your body? Relative to your gender? What about the Olympic athlete amputee with artificial feet – is he handicapped, unfairly advantaged, or competing fairly with the other runners? Would a genetically engineered athlete be stronger (according to your definition) than his “natural-born” counterpart?

You can do a very interesting little riff on the elusive definition of human excellence if you use some imagination and do some reading.[/quote]

That’s a pretty good idea, it’s in the Nicomechean ethics. Probably book II, or X, I forget. But, with regards to having too much of something like strength. Aristotle does talk a lot about what your function in life is, so if you’re a power lifter, then no. But if you’re… something where strength is detrimental (I can’t think of an example), then yeah.

How about this for an essay? Feel free to use it. It’s not written formally, but who cares? It’s long, but believe me, it’s well worth it, especially if you don’t take yourself or your lifting TOO seriously.

“(O.J.) has an uncanny instinct for sensing when to make the move, when to make the cut. He can kill you with a headfake, he can kill you with his legs and the ability to be in a direction in any single second. He also kills you with his variation of speed…” -Howard Cosell, on some of the ways O.J. can kill

The Greeks firmly believed that a sound body led to a sound mind. This is an important thing to remember when obsessively lifting weights. I have been putting this theory to test, and the results of my workout routine run contradictory to what the Greeks believed.
My good friend Virgilio and I embarked on a weight-lifting journey back in November. We have a squat rack, an Olympic bar, a curl bar, and a ton of weights, so we went at it full bore. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. It seemed innocent at first, but things soon took on an ugly nature. As our bodies became more fit, our minds rapidly devolved into what can only be described as dangerously unhealthy behavior.
Our goal was multi-layered; not only did we want to gain as much maximal strength as we could, we wanted to gain explosive and functional, applicable strength as well. We lifted weights close to our one-rep max for various explosive, athletic movements (power cleans, deadlifts, squats, bench press and standing overhead presses) for 1-3 reps over 7-9 sets in order to target our fast-twitch muscle fibers and increase our explosive, ballistic capabilities. We quickly became obsessed with developing these fast twitch muscles to the point where we randomly flexed as intensely and quickly as we could and then relaxed and flexed again in a rapid-fire outburst of contortions and gesticulations. It sounds harmless, but the lightning-quick contractions caused our faces to contort in and out of a wide range of disturbing expressions until we were grunting like fornicating pumas. It wasn't long before our roommates shrank in fear and hid in the bomb shelter during this display. Our fast twitch "exercises" inevitably escalated until we were screaming, raising our arms skyward, turning toward our stupefied roommates while still feverishly twitching, pointing at them, making a motion like snapping a twig, wiping the froth from our mouths and laughing maniacally, all while perched on top of our refrigerator completely naked.
When Virgilio and I began, we charted our progress. Unfortunately, what started out as a way to monitor our strength gains soon turned into a crippling obsession with improving upon the previous week's results. On the days that I showed quantifiable improvement I floated around the house in a euphoric state, baring my chest and shrieking with joy. But on the days that I failed to show improvement I became confused, angry, embarrassed, filled with self-doubt and fear and I would run up the stairs and into my room where I sulked and cried and questioned my worth as a human being before shamefully crawling back downstairs in tears several hours later to consult with Virgilio about what could have possibly gone wrong.
Because of this obsession with making strength gains, Virgilio and I turned to some exotic motivational techniques. In the gym it is common to see a couple of guys working out together offering words of encouragement and helping each other pull through a particularly tough set. Some friendly competition can even arise from this. But mundane tactics like this don't work for us. We resorted to more creative methods, such as screaming vicious insults at each other, spitting in each other's faces, holding knives to each other's throats mid-set, whipping each other with chains and bamboo or pointing a loaded .44 Magnum at each other.
Virgilio and I also used some avant-garde performance-enhancing techniques. In order to gain massive strength, massive weights need to be lifted. A great way to prime your body for a huge one-rep lift is to increase your heartrate right before the lift is executed. A favorite technique of ours was to yank a potent smelling salt or three up our noses. The powerful rush of ammonia carbonate through the nasal passage causes a short but highly intense spike in heartrate and jacked us up enough to get that extra bit of power into a given lift. Smelling salts are hard to find these days, so sometimes we put big icepacks over our hearts that illicited a panic reaction in the aorta (like tricking your body into thinking it's dying, thus an added rush of fear-driven adrenaline). Another method was to think of something that angered us beyond recognition, although the last time I did this I drove myself to the verge of hyperventilation before a big deadlift. I completed the lift, but when I dropped the weight back down I passed out, fell over, hit my head on a bench and slipped into a mild seizure. But there was a silver lining to that cloud; the spastic reactions in my muscles as I grand malled away was a great, albeit short, fast twitch muscle workout.
The gains made have been substantial. Aside from the weights, we also run short sprints while chained to barnyard animals, split entire cords of wood with our bare hands, leap up whole flights of stairs in a single bound and are able to recover from this exertion instantaneously. But this physical fitness has come at a heavy price.
We have no outlet for our newfound physical abilities and we NEED one. I frequently reel around town with my fists clenched tight, hoping, praying that someone, anyone so much as glances at me in a weird way so I can satisfy my insatiable need to plunge my fist through their sternum, hurl them to the ground, jump onto their face and smash their brains out their neurocranium. I am plagued by an uncontrollable desire to run amok through downtown at night and headspear the biggest people I can find. In my darker moments I am convinced that my chest muscles have become dense enough to stop low-caliber bullets. Yesterday I attacked a rabid Rottweiler, ripped out its jugular with my teeth, then broke down in tears while I waited for a satisfaction with my actions that never came. This is not healthy. Nor is it healthy when Virgilio and I discuss what we'd do to some of our degenerate neighbors. Things go overboard when we mimic eating their faces, pituitary glands, gall bladders, whatever. I also own nunchucks now, and the sight of them lying on my counter, unused, leaves me feeling lonely, vacant and insignificant.
It wasn't always this way. We started out as normal people interested in becoming physically fit. But the ugly turn our psyches have taken has been horrific. Our neighbors give us a wide berth when they see us, our roommates fear us and I openly welcome the apocalypse out of a morbid need to see how I'd fare. If you see someone in the gym drooling, mumbling to himself with a crazed look in his eyes, taking long pulls off of smelling salts and breaking into fits of hysteria, steer clear. This person is clearly not right. A sound mind indeed......  

this may get flamed but i did a paper/speech on strength and health and also did one on steroids and america. with the strength you could go so many different ways with that. mental strength and how building you outter can help your inner, as someone already stated.

for the steroids report i kind of turned it around a bit and stated that seeing as how they say they are enhancers and make people better, why wouldnt we legalize them and use them for our troops, fire fighters, pd, things of that sort where if you could be performing better the well being of those who you are helping you should be doing all you can to perform your best. i may still have those papers if you want to see them let me know. good luck.

If you get a B- it’s not because you chose to write about lifting, it’s because you suck at writing. If the paper is good and proves to be deep and not one dimensional, then you’ll get a good grade regardless of what you write about.

[quote]myself1992 wrote:
If you get a B- it’s not because you chose to write about lifting, it’s because you suck at writing. If the paper is good and proves to be deep and not one dimensional, then you’ll get a good grade regardless of what you write about.[/quote]

You hit the nail on the head.