The Price For Fitness

Various places around the net provide quality aspects of what people are looking for and a great many of them can be costly, as much as $10,000 or more just to go to a seminar. Is it really worth it? If you got the savings and have a determination to do it, that's awesome and hope it gives you something in return. When it comes to fitness courses or even the cost of personal training, not all is created equal.

In many cases, you would expect that if you pay for this much for a book or a session with somebody, it's going to be the best quality possible yet in reality, there are some greedy bastards out there. Don't get me wrong, I bought plenty of courses over the years and got great benefit out of them. I also got courses that were expensive but the quality of them were as shitty as you can get; crude pictures, writes like a 5 year old who just discovered sesame street, too much about the author, very little in how to apply exercises and other things. 

Over the years as well, you pick up on who writes what and how they advertise. Some people copy and paste someone else and pretend that they're unique and you got people who rip off someone else's work entirely. It won't be the first time and sure as hell won't be the last. Matt Furey has been ripped off many times but he also took a man's style of training and molded it into a global phenomenon which put a lot of people off but also made a killing in revolutionizing physical culture in the modern era for 20+ years now. I get it, people need to make a living, they want the best things in life but I believe in not always needing to stomp on people and take them for granted.

There are so many versions of methods of exercise that you don't know who's really the best or who's just out for the money. Let me ask you this: Is it worth it to you to buy a course for 250 bucks and get crappy quality? Or, would you want a course that's just under 30 bucks that has roughly the same amount of exercises, has ten times the quality and is relatable to even the average person? I would guess quite a few would go for the latter but in this day and age, gullibility can make it easy for some shmuck to spend some of his weekly paycheck to buy a course that promotes well but brings false promises and horrible writing along with making a customer work on exercises he clearly isn't ready for.

Believe me, in some cases, it's better to pay and invest in your health than end up paying a ton of hospital bills and end up in so much debt that it never ends. Unfortunately, some people pay good money for something and end up in the hospital anyway because something went wrong either by following a program too religiously that it caused problems or a program set them up for failure. It happens sometimes.

You can find some of the best training programs for free on the net, even some of the old time mail order courses but even free comes with a price if you're not careful. Just because its free, doesn't mean you won't pay for something later on. Some "gurus" even make the most ridiculous claims in order to sell courses and there are literally some guys out there who sell courses that belittle people and go straight for the jugular in hopes of making them believe their work is the end-all-be-all. That's just messed up and if you're going to belittle, make people feel horrible about themselves than they already are or even try to make them believe your shit is far better than anybody else, that says more about you than your customers. 

There's always a price, the question is, which one are you willing to pay? Personally, I believe in high quality work but not perfect. You don't need to be a perfectionist to have a great course and it certainly doesn't need to be bedazzling either. I believe in finding stuff that hits the spot for you. It's like the idea of Three Bears Method....There are things that are too much, too little and there's that one that just hits it right on the mark and you made it work in your favor. The idea is to find the third bear first, it may take trial and error but the possibilities are there. 

You'll find some of the best stuff just on the side bar of this blog alone. Are they the Babe Ruth of all courses and equipment? Hell no, but the quality, affordability and reviews on them are pretty damn awesome. You don't need to take out a mortgage payment to get the very best. Stay strong and be amazingly awesome. 

You Are Your Best Trainer

            Over the last 8 years or so since I've succumbed to the Physical Culture bug, one thing has stretched in my mind more than anything else in my search for great training and that’s being your own best personal trainer. What does that mean being your own trainer? Simple really, it’s not allowing those who tell you to do something and go with creating your own way of training, being self-reliant. It’s not very easy to do because there is so much info out there that you don’t know what works and what doesn't.

          We have a plethora of programs to choose from, like bodybuilding, strongman, 8 days a week, the super programs of crossfit, the next gadget in the infomercials, how to build bigger arms, getting 12 pack abs, grip strength you catch my drift. The secret is finding what works for you. Experiment, do different programs at the same time, piss off the establishment who don’t know a lift even if they had a gun to their head (exaggeration I know but it’s a good metaphor though). Those who try to tell you what’s superior, what’s the coolest trend, how to build a program that has nothing to do with your progression; they’re the ones who keep you from making something of yourself on your own. Trust your instincts, be bold and question things.

            Nobody really just trains and has fun anymore, to quote the joker “why so serious?” We pay to go to the gym and do all these crazy programs and eventually after a few weeks we just give up and quit. It’s not how hard you push yourself, its how much fun to do something you love to do. If you don’t love training but just keep running through the motions, sure it’s better than nothing but you won’t find the results you want. Train and have fun with it, focus on what you want, use your imagination and create something for yourself. Yes I believe if you have a goal you should be focused on it, be determined and willing to go beyond it and strive to excel at your challenges but don’t become a mean asshole to get there, play a little and make it an adventure.

            There’s always someone that follows specific programs and for some it’s the end-all-be-all for others it’s temporary and the rest think outside the box. Mix things up, draw outside the lines. Here’s an example, I’ve learned from many different guys and even some women and yet I don’t worship their craft and take all of them as a god/goddess of the fitness world. I respect what they do but I don’t agree on everything they do, if you agree with everything then you might as well not have a brain of your own. I love some of these people, some as if they’re my family but I also love being creative. I take chunks out of their craft and mold it into my own thing, kind of like Michelangelo carving out David; I take chunks of concrete to create a masterpiece.

            Love what you do, be creative, feel what you want to do. Think outside the box, be weird, be a dork whatever you are who you are and should train according to who you are as a person. Be safe but don’t be lazy, progress at your own pace and train smart. If you happen to get hurt, then you need to change things around and don’t ever stop learning. Think and Grow because eventually, you’ll find something someone doesn’t like or does but only you will love it the way it is and no one can take it away from you. That’s the heart of being your own trainer.