Was the caption of a photograph featuring the late, great Steve Reeves alongside a handful of other bodybuilders at a competition (if memory serves, it was the 1947 Mr America).
Powerful words that are needed now more than ever considering the Fitness Internet is awash with drug addicts, people who lie about being drug addicts, those who are so obsessed with training they have no real quality of life, and so on, and so on.
Absent an aspirational anchor like that, I don’t blame people for feeling demoralised when they’re confronted with that sort of content.
Which is why the next time you see something that makes you doubt your achievements ask:
“Is that healthy, natural, and real?”
If no, disregard.
I am acutely aware that I am straying perilously close to “everyone who looks better than me is on steroids and mentally ill with no life” – or, worse – “the hardest part is showing up” territory.
But that is not what I am saying at all.
My point is the purpose of training is to enhance your life, not overtake it or, in the case of PED abuse, potentially steal many years from it.
That’s why whenever I am in need of inspiration, I plumb the dark depths of the internet to read blogs from ten to twenty years ago detailing the lives and achievements of the great bodybuilders from the middle of the last century (many of whom were also athletes, like, for example, two time Olympic gold medalist Tommy Kono).
Why?
They didn’t abuse drugs (because steroids weren’t widely available before roughly 1960), in the main had careers only tangentially or entirely unrelated to fitness, fathered children, and were all around good role models whose example is well worth emulating.
On that note…
I’ve a three month programme called “Silver Era Secrets” (named after the period these guys were active in) wherein I teach clients how to design straightforward, sustainable programmes based upon how training was done in those days.
This is a fairly expensive offer (£1200), so not one for you if money is tight (I don’t recommend anyone stretch themselves financially or, Heaven forefend, get into debt to work with me because it’s not conducive to relaxing into your training to the degree required to get results).
The details are on the below-linked page.
Please read it carefully to make sure your decision is a fully informed one:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/programme
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman