We will at times decided to make changes and put first our health and sanity. With the plethora of information out there and the endless debates on what fitness method has the bigger dick, it's hard to not get caught up in the drama of it all especially when it comes to Forums. I have left one forum more times than probably Terry Funk has retired from Pro Wrestling and something just kept bringing me back to it. Had enough and although a couple people on there are cool guys and look for the positive side of things, it's still overshadowed by old geezers who had their prime in the 60's or early 70's who can't seem to stop bitching about things that have nothing to really do with them. I never belonged there.
It's also important to be aware of how someone might try to sell you something great but it's got more piles of shit than cows in a pasture. Out of the thousands of courses out there, which by all intents and purposes work, only a fraction of a fraction of them would benefit the general population. It's the selling of bullshit to get you sucked in. They also want you to abide by their "rules" in order to keep you from thinking for yourself. Their product, their rules so do speak.
If you're willing to invest in a product, it can be a bit of a gamble as to whether or not it'll work for you whether it costs 10 bucks or $100+, it's about utilizing the hard earned money and making it worth while without succumbing to the crap many ads place. Yes, many of these folks make a great living selling books, seminars, kindles and all that but very very few will provide you with great service and have an encouraging attitude instead of a money grabbing douchebag that sells $250 of one product and if you don't like it, he'll write you off as an idiot and someone who isn't a real "doer" whatever the fuck that is.
My personal belief is that when you invest in a product, yes it's important to understand the basics and learn how some of the exercises work along with experimenting with the program (at your own pace of course) but once you understand the basics and formalities of that program, be free to use it however you see fit. Make your own rules, adjust according to your needs, not what the author feels like he should force you to do. Is it important to be safe, yes. Is it important to understand the mechanics, very much so. The rules however, don't apply to everyone and there should be a freedom of doing things that don't always apply to what an author tells you. After close to two decades of (give or take a couple years) learning from so many programs, less than a handful really work for me and I get to say what I do and how I do it. Never feel shackled to a person's pitch and broken promises.
One of the things I love about Red Delta Project and the courses the man behind them provides is that yes he has his convictions about what he believes in but he's also very flexible in helping others achieve their goals and having a very encouraging and energetic attitude. He makes funny references to real topics in the fitness industry and respects what others do in order to achieve their goals. When Bud Jeffries was alive, he wasn't just encouraging, he would literally cheer you on and help you not only believe in yourself but also somehow knew what potential you have and give you kick ass tips to tap into it. He would push you, but never to the point where there was a risk of severely going to the hospital, there was limits to that. He was also loving, caring and saw how great someone could be or already was. His courses are still as incredible today as they were when he first published them. Logan Christopher is another that is highly encouraging and will tell you like it is. He's one of the most honest guys in this field and I value his opinions while highly trusting him with what he provides.
These guys make or made their business with heart and belief but never took a dogmatic approach to things or could make you feel like you were unworthy. Some others however tend to not only believe in their own hype but will go out of their way to treat others like shit and think their stuff is like nothing else out there. Seriously, it is messed up to treat someone like garbage just because others may have said a couple things. Did you know one guy is so damn obsessed with a troll that he put this person as the headline for his book on Profiting From Trolls? That should tell you how warped somebody has to be to use another human being in that manner as a means to make a buck. This is the same guy that charges $200 for a book that is a direct rip off of Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning book and has really shitty quality. Same guy that not only praises Furey yet in the same paragraph will call the man fat and can't do pull-ups, don't you find that a little contradictory? I mean, I had a falling out with Furey myself but I'm not going to insult the man with extreme prejudice, that would be fucking dumb.
This still goes back to who do the rules really apply to? It should in the end be up to the person buying someone's product, not in the sense of telling the author or coach how to do his/her thing but to create their own rules, have the freedom to make a program work for them once they understand the basic mechanics. That would be like a low level college kid in Physics telling his professor how to apply string theory when he can't write down the simplest terms of that field. You just don't do it. There's no limit to how much knowledge you absorb but it is important to learn how you can apply that knowledge later on as you progress and grow.
Absorb what works for you and carve out your own path, apply what you have learned into what goals you want to achieve and be wise in what you invest. Be safe, get strong and keep being amazingly awesome.
