[quote]palindrome wrote:
It’s not a game, we just call it that.
Reference “the Great Game”. That wasn’t really a game either.
[/quote]
Cigar? Toss it in a can, it is so tragic…
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist
[quote]KBCThird wrote:
I do not think this is a great post. THe self-congratulatory attitude around here drives me nuts sometimes. IT’S JUST - LIFTING - WEIGHTS. We are not an army (and if we were I wouldnt trust 90% of the people on here) and we are not superheroes. You have your own reasons for training, that’s fine.
I think it’s awesome that JayPierce gives so much importance to being able to be physically active in his daughter’s life. But the rest of this is perlor-room semantics. It’s not a game because it’s important?
Football, and dozens of other organized sports are important to the lives of hundreds of thousands of jr high, high school kids and college athletes, as well as a very few, very lucky pros. That doesn’t mean it’s not a game. We need to stop being in such awe of ourselves around here.[/quote]
Great post. The reams of “I am HARDCORE, hear me roar” threads have gotten pretty old lately. The Iron Game is a phrase that goes back to the Golden Age, Tommy Kono, Venice Beach, etc. None of those folks took lifting lightly.
Yeah, but they called it a game because the were regularly in competition with each other! How many of you T-Nation guys stop your heavy deads in order to have a handbalancing contest with your friends? That would be what I would call, a game. Were they serious about it? Sure. Some very much so. Does that kinda thing require skill and practice? Yes. But being able to do some manuever is in itself a mental battle. I am arguing over the fact that there are relatively no aspects of training especially hard training that don’t build character, inner strength, and determination. A game is about proving something to someone else. A sport, or a lifestyle, or a “physical culturist (the REAL salty strong, old-timers- not the muscle pumpers)” is quite different. Tommy Kono was an athlete who grew up calling it a game, but he was an ATHLETE. Same with Grimek, Reeves, Park, Anderson, Hepburn. Legends. Do you think they stuck with it because they liked the “game,” or cause it was fun? I think aspects of squatting 500 for 5 are brutal. That takes mental mastery. They stuck with it casue they got something OUT OF IT! Take the guys before them- Sandow, Jowett, Zass, Brietbart, Hackenschmidt, etc. These guys REGULARLY stood up to injustices and saved the lives of others. In my opinion they were some of the guys who “superheroes” were based on at the turn of the century. Guys who saw some shit going down and didn’t think twice about getting in there and doing something about it. That’s what I’m talking about. I’m talking about bringing some backbone BACK to training. Getting something out of it. If you just like to lift for shits and giggles that’s fine. Lift away. But if you are trying to slay your own dragons (fears and doubts), then you are training. Iron Game is one of those traditional names and catch phrases. But we certainly differenciate between training and “working out” now adays don’t we. Word arguments are about semantics. I’m saying- call it a game if you treat it like that… if you’re trying to impress others. But if you’re in hard training FOR yourself, and to be PREPARED for anything life throws you, then don’t treat it like a game. Give it the respect it deserves. This isn’t a ra ra post. It’s not about “rallying the troops,” r having some people on the internet that don’t know each other pat each other on the back. It’s about asking the big questions that people don’t like to ask themselves. Why are you doing what you are doing? And who benefits?
Hey, I just read the only article on here by Jason Feruggia. I kid you not, it’s on this exact same topic. Also, described better than I did:
http://www.T-Nation.com/article/features/the_everlasting_bond
Cool, but a bit eery. Maybe it’s that collective unconscience between those in the “game,” haha.
Hmm, so the author had his wallet nabbed by a little girl and found out that he knew nothing about life on “the street”…
remind me of kellen winslow describing “DA U”