The Cyborg Complex (Fitness Related)

haha, yeah it’s terrible but the whole album is one big Arnie reference

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I’ll try at some point, but the kiddo is really taking it out of me now (today, all day, non-stop!)

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Why would anyone listen to fitness celebs when it comes to these lol? They’re bums.

The trend worldwide is shifting towards more self-employment enabled by technological advances and globalization. Being self-absorbed generally isn’t a positive trait when it comes to success in this. They’re getting this confused with self-motivation.

However, to be really successful at this, you kinda need to be a cyborg minus all the fitness stuff. It’s a young man’s(and woman’s) game.

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This is probably what everyone should strive to be. Some find happiness through adversity, conflict, power, midget tossing… lots of different types of people.

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This really isn’t bad advice. It takes a while to get into the particular mindset and make it a habit but it eventually becomes second nature. The pros far outweigh the cons.

Anyone who takes this shit as gospel is a closet U2 fan.

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There is actually nothing wrong with launching a side hustle or having a part-time job (gasp) in addition to one’s full-time job, absolutely nothing. I mentioned in a certain context, that of the cyborg who doesn’t have to work or urges others to not work either. You know, be employed somewhere or do work besides using the internet.

There’s nothing wrong with an online business either and it’s actually something I wanted to do for the past decade but there always has ALWAYS seemed to be something that has gotten in my way, mostly in terms of time. I still want to, but truthfully lack expertise in some areas of going about it. Which is why I’ve finally faced the fact that I’ll have to pay for some expertise and guidance and software. PTDC.com has some valuable information on launching online fitness and nutrition sites. As I’ve personally changed throughout the years, I don’t only want to deal with fitness and gym nuts but rather ordinary people who want to get into shape, but also use my RD expertise to deal with eating disorders and obesity. If you have recommendations of how to go about setting online stuff up, I’d appreciate it. Our goal is three kids and by the third, I’d like to be making more dough. :wink:

I also am confused on what niche to fill as I REALLY would like to talk about a variety of topics on You Tube. I have become more interested in a lot of things in life than simply eating and exercising. This can take a whole new thread. Much of what I want to talk about these days is non-PC but I’d be very careful on YT.

The disdain for being employed in the scenes I mentioned is interesting. It falls in line with memes common amongst many online gym rats, such as “no one’s gonna tell me what to do,” “f— what everyone tells you,” “I don’t give a f— what anyone thinks,” “I didn’t let anyone tell me I couldn’t do it”. (For the last one I usually feel like posting underneath: “Not only did no one tell you that you can’t do it, they thought you could do more with yourself than going to the gym.” :slight_smile:

I wasn’t solely referring to fitness celebs. There is a pipeline going in no particular order: fitness<->manosphere<->political incorrectness<->PUA<->incel

I am actually passionate about topics in all areas. Hence why I have come across the cyborg aspirations of many I speak of here.

I’m sure some are U2 fans. You know, U2 is another band that is “socially aware”. Like Rage Against the Machine is. :slight_smile:

In the manosphere there’s a constant push for young men to go into STEM, which is interesting because most men aren’t equipped to do so!

The fact that there are so many gurus in so many life areas giving advice to young men is a symptom of society heading south, likely resulting from a high divorce rate, fatherless households, and an inadequate educational institution. I highly doubt in the 1960s or before, so many young men were clueless what to do with their lives. Most men had a woman as well, whether they were an average Joe or a top dog.

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I’ve known a few people like this. They’re always scrambling to be on top of the latest trends, but the thing is, it just scrambling.

When you peek behind the curtain both people that I can think of have broken their families in pursuit of buzzwords. I take kind of a guilty pleasure in interrupting their tirades of the latest whatever with “so, how are the girls? They must be getting big, huh?”. This definitely rains on the parade.

They’re sad. They never turned the corner into adulthood and learned to give of themselves.

I kind of like parenthood and adulthood in general. It clarifies priorities. I want to provide a safe, sane, and stable household for my kid to grow and thrive in. I gotta do what I have to to do it, but I also have to examine motives and priorities to make sure the actions match up. Without little exercises like that, it’s easy to parade vice dressed up as virtue.

My dad did that a lot. He was a great guy down at the bar. If anybody needed a favor, he was the man. Or needed a place to crash, or a $20 to “get them by” . The result was an economically stressed, unstable (massive understatement) household, but down at the bar it was “Hey! Jimbo! what a great guy!”. He loved the pats on the back and being “a great guy”.

It was all just vice parading as virtue. Now, I do a few things to take care of myself, but I try to make sure it’s to an over all benefit to my family. I participate in a 12 step program. A couple of nights a week if I’m lucky, much to the chagrin of a couple of gurus that think you need to spend every night at a meeting and helping sponsorees. I’d rather help my kid with his spelling, math, and some calisthenics, but I have to stay sober too. My wife and kid don’t need to hear from a bunch of strangers what a great guy I was at my funeral because I was missing from their lives.

I did feel pretty good though to sit down at the parent teacher conference and find that his kindergarten teacher thinks I’m a great guy.

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Exhibit A

Curious; why are you following him in the first place?

I don’t. It popped up on my feed.

Ah. I guess why read it then? It could be because I don’t have an instagram that I might be out of the loop. I have a facebook, and stuff like that shows up and I can scroll past without really looking at it.

This guy’s ‘side hustle’ is obviously copywriting going by that woo woo bullshit :man_facepalming:

The ‘cyborg lifestyle’ strikes me as something that appeals to young guys who still stay at home, looking to add purpose to their meaningless lives.

The same guys who love to take black and white photos of themselves whilst sitting on a bench in the gym, ‘reflecting’. While they put some ‘life quote’ underneath said pic about ‘grinding’ or ‘crushing goals

When in reality, the only thing they’re ‘crushing’ is the dried up jizz on the wank sock they keep under their single bed :man_facepalming:

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I am so digging this topic.

I think you are being cynical though. With the exception of the TRT, marriage view and a few other minor things you described my life and philosophy on life for the most part.

I’m sure some people may take offense to this, but that’s their choice to and not my intent, but I personally view a life for myself being ordinary and static as a waste of a life. No other organism on the planet chooses to stop growing or reproducing, etc, by choice. Imagine if a tree just stopped growing and bearing fruit and said 'ok, this is good for me, i’ll just stay here." But people do all the time. Stop perusing education, stop trying to advance their income etc.

Put in perspective, in the past 7 months, I am about to complete a professional designation that takes most on average 2-3 years, doubled my sales production from the same time previously, revamped my physique and read or listened to about 20 books(not including the 8 for the designation). My wife is the same way too.

Now granted, I am not promoting this on social media, rubbing it others faces or trying to inspire anyone, this is the only time or place I have even talked about it. But that pretentious look at me bullshit of ‘influencers’ or gurus is everywhere and not just on this Cyborg Complex(awesome name for it!).

If other people want to be happy being static, that’s fine. If people want to go to their grave pushing the envelope that’s cool too and just my preferred operating system. Pushing that narrative onto others or judging them for it is what is kind of lame.

This is a stereotype and an inaccurate one in my personal opinion. You did accurately describe the social media phonies though. I personally have been constantly moving up any corporate ladder I have been in(and I work currently for a large publicly traded financial services company), have and still get recognized as a liked and respected teammate and leader. I am married and my wife and I are planning on having kids soon(she is also a cyborg and a VERYsuccessful young entrepreneur.)

We want to be rich, we want to life a life that most others would think is not obtainable and we want to look great doing it. We want financial freedom and independence for ourselves and future children. I like wearing high end and custom clothes. I like pushing the envelope physically and I like waking up at 5 am and getting more done in the first 1-2 hours of my day outside of my daily obligations than most will do in a month. Being a ‘cyborg’ brings my life joy and a sense of purpose.

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Just read some of the other replies. I have to say I am surprised that on a site dedicated vanity and self improvement in one aspect of life, you would find people judging, demeaning, stereotyping and insulting people who promote or follow that same mindset in other avenues.

People here praise and worship Wendler and others who are even more fanatical and dogmatic on these pursuits when it is solely fitness and performance related, but take the opposite approach if someone mimicking similar zealot like behavior for appearance, attire and wealth accumulation.

Nobody else sees the hypocrisy? The ‘hardcore pursuit’ of fitness and bodybuilding is any less ridiculous than someone going against cultural norms in the hardcore pursuit of ‘making it rain/crushing it’ etc? Really…

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So this is my previous post’s point. Are we insulting ‘social media posers’, ‘social media self promoters’ or people who are buying into the cyborg complex concept but are not there yet?

I can get behind the first. The second is everywhere and before hating on people, know that for some it does in fact make them good money and bring happiness. The third? That’s like making fun of an obese person who is starting a gym membership.

I don’t think I am and I think you have misconstrued some of what I have written regarding context, and I will explain how. I don’t go for the common millennial trend of having one or no kid. I have a son now, another child coming in August, and our goal is three kids. Pretty much no other life form on planet earth besides humans living in the USA, Western Europe, and some of Southern Europe, do people see progeny as a burden or to commit collective suicide as a species.

In regards to work, I happened to pick a profession in which much of the job entails completing a set of tasks and going home. I am not in sales or a monetarily driven position. I don’t handle money. I get paid a salary, get raises, annual monetary gifts around holiday time, and that’s it. That’s the path I chose when I was seventeen years old. Had I other knowledge or understood the world more or had a different upbringing, perhaps I would have chosen something else. But I’ll say this: I get shit done at my job, stay late when necessary, have great reviews on all but one previous job (my administrator there was a full-blown psychopath who got fired herself), I treat all co-workers and visitors with respect, kindness, and agreeability, and so forth. I don’t avoid inconvenience; that means I don’t avoid annoying phone calls to be made, going out of my way to accommodate people and so on.

Right now, I am taking a break from studying for my continuing education units, so my education is ongoing. But that’s not only for my profession. Everyday I read part of a book, read articles, and listen to podcasts in my car on a wide variety of topics, including politics, economy and money, child raising, history, and health.

Although I do not work in a high-driven profession with constant financial advancement, I do not consider myself static and I plan on doing everything in my power to produce standup children with bright futures. No, they don’t have to be rich one day. If they wind up being gifted or extraordinary, that would be great. If they wind up being of ordinary ability, that’s fine too, because they are MY CHILDREN. Unlike the worship and admiration of my fellow people for only smart and rich people, I also have respect for people who have ordinary positions and ability raising families and being civic-minded. Their lives are not a waste to me!

This is completely different than what I spoke of in this thread and that’s obvious. You’re working in a team environment and despite your individuality and individual aims, you manage to work in groups as well. Your life involves getting up to an alarm clock and going to a J-O-B.

That’s fine. But I would say it’s condescending that someone with a low-skilled, but needed job, say a janitor, who simply does what he is told, has friends, and family and is a generally good person is not living a “wasted life”.

As you can see, I have pushed the envelope physically, evident from my photos and personal thread. And now that my life is far more settled, I actually plan on taking the bull by the horns and doing some more.

Most professions, needed ones at that, do not require such hard drivenness. Being a teacher, nurse, dietitian, pharmacist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, foodservice director, do not require such wild ambition. Now I know this can be countered with, “But what about moving up to police chief, fire chief, detective, head pharmacist, and so on?” Yeah, I get that, but for the most part such people do a series of tasks, work a set of hours, and go home, and for every top position, there are a mass of nine-to-fivers, and their work is not wasted.

PS for disjointed post: you’re not urging men to not go to college, launch some silly hustle, or only go to school only if it’s for a STEM field.

My mom had an ordinary job as noted above. Did she “waste her life”. She is not super ambitious, never was, doesn’t give a rat’s ass about exercise or daredevil activities, yet raised two kids alone with a negligent do-nothing, husband (my dad), had excellent health benefits, raises in pay, and now has a pension and annuity and still works part time at the same school she taught at for 30 years. She ain’t rich or super-talented. Wasted her life? I don’t think you’d say so.

Thanks for the post. It was good. Again, I think you missed my context. I have some acquaintances that are in high-driven fields and another who is an IFBB pro (one of my closest friends ever). I admire them.

Good point. I got to this in my post.

Just saw this. See my previous post, as stated before. I had a feeling my observations would be taken out of context.

All the people I admire, some of which I won’t even mention, were zealots.

AHAHAHA

Was referring to the responses, not your post.

In regards to your first response, I agree with much of it. Here’s my thing, you shoulnt have to defend your position nor that of others(the janitor example) much like those that pursue being a cyborg(man I really love this term for the dialogue) should have to defend theirs.

My main personal bias comes to play when one thinks(not saying you, the proverbial ‘you’) that by pursing one path, they have to neglect another. I know, and am mentored by people who are extremely wealthy, fulfilled and have family as the most important part of their life. Their persuit of self perfection makes feeding those last two parts easier and better.

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