When Did Fitness Start To Suck?

The state of fitness absolutely sucks nowadays. We all know this to be the case at even the most casual of glances around. But once you observe that such a phenomenon exists, then you have to ask why? More specifically, not only have people become less fit, but the practice of fitness itself seems to be less effective than ever. There are certainly more gyms around then you could shake a stick at, but despite the sheer ubiquity of fitness facilities, people are getting fatter than ever. Why?

A previous article that I have written on this website lays the majority of the blame for the modern world’s growing obesity epidemic on the crappiness of modern diets, combined with a general decay of society… but wait just a minute!

This picture shows men in some rural backwater in India still managing to train and make themselves stronger. Some of the “maces” they’re training with appear to literally be stone blocks on scrap metal poles.

So the general suckiness of modern America is likely not in and of itself a reason for the dismal state of physical fitness. To figure out why that is the case, I think it is best to briefly look at a history of fitness as a discipline and try to find where things went off the rails.

The Ancients

While training likely existed as long as humanity has been walking on two feet—and naturally, movements such as hewing wood, hunting, and stone knapping were arduous physical labors—the first evidence of dedicated physical training as a discipline comes from the first large states/empires that arose millennia ago. Evidence of physical training and strenuous sports exist in civilizations as diverse as the Egyptians, the Persians, and the Greeks.

Naturally, the majority of these sports and trainings were done for practical purposes: namely, to train the young man for war. Remnants of this “classical” fitness can be seen in the Olympics: the running events, javelin throwing, boxing, wrestling, and discus illustrate this point.

Pankration was sadly rejected outright by Pierre de Coubertin

In addition to these, the first gymnasia were opened at this time. It was the first time that physical fitness as an end in and of itself was pursued. Of note is that early records from the time period indicate that much of the training of the time was calisthenic in origin, and bears much similarity to training undergone in the modern sport of gymnastics: handstands, heavy-duty calisthenics, la planche, human flags, and the like.

The Renaissance

The dark ages and medieval ages, perhaps due to the Christian eschewing of the flesh, didn’t focus much on physical training—what physical training there was was largely from heavy labor and military training for the noblemen. Instead, we can skip ahead to the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods to see the rebirth of physical fitness as its own discipline.

Writers and physicians such as Cristobal Mendez and Mercurialis published some of the earliest fitness related tomes that still exist to this day—De Arte Gymnastica and El Libro por Ejercicio Corporal, the latter of these providing the featured image. Various parts of these books advocate such exercises as rope climbing, the balance beam and, you guessed it, even more calisthenics.

Bodyweight training remained a major facet of physical fitness for centuries, well into the 19th century—innovations such as Thomas Inch’s plate loading barbell in 1905 were of course very useful, and the philosophy behind physical training continued to change (namely, that it took on distinctively nationalistic undertones in the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries), but even by the time of the 2nd world war, physical culture could largely be said to be a combination of bodyweight and weight training, similar to what I myself advocate. So what seems to be the problem here?

The Decline

So with such a solid background of worthwhile, functional physical training, where was the point of diversion where people just… forgot about all of it?

Some would argue that the rise of machine fitness caused the decline—I would disagree with this. While machines are vastly inferior to free weights and calisthenics for the training of real functional strength and ability, they’re certainly better than nothing, and if it was merely a case of “Everybody is just using cable machines and treadmills instead of hoofing it in the hot sun”, then we’d certainly see far less obesity than we have today—we would have a nation of people with fluff muscles and possible joint imbalances, but that’s certainly preferable to the nation—and increasingly nations—of fatbodies we currently have.

A major problem, in my opinion, is the rise of fitness as an industry—in other words, the living core of what stuff actually works is relatively narrow, and thus it’s pretty hard to make yourself rich off a “meat and potatoes” regimen. It’s much better to hock a “get fit quick” scheme to lazy fatbodies that conveniently lasts forever and thus lines your pockets.

No matter what celebrity martial artist is attached to this, I guarantee none of them actually used this piece of crap

On that note, we can against point to a general decline of society as a culprit: to be more specific, the idea that people have indeed become substantially lazier and less willing to put in a gradual grind for what they want out of life, for a variety of reasons that could probably have an entire book written on just them.

Even those who do more or less become fit nowadays have likely just made themselves look fit, perhaps the inevitable result of a society that has debased itself as much as ours has. While even the ancient Greeks appreciated an aesthetic physique, it was an aesthetic that came from, and was associated with, physical power and functionality.

So if you want to know why fitness seems more confused and lackluster than ever now, I think that’s somewhere in the ballpark: a surfeit of counteracting information ironically making the average person more ignorant than ever, and a general decay of society furthering the ignorance of people.

What can be done to possibly ameliorate this? Here’s a good place to start.

Read More: How Effective Are Books On Fitness?

65 thoughts on “When Did Fitness Start To Suck?”

  1. Its also due to the shitty nutrition internet diets over there….
    Vegan diet, Low Carb diet, High Fat diet….etc in which its all BS. every Soyboy shit try to tells you that is the best diet or whatever shit they are spouting…
    You need a full nutrition plan consists of everything to support your body perfectly and build a toned one.

    1. With a western diet it is really easy to go overboard on carbohydrates. While we certainly need it for general health, it can entirely be obtainable via food intake and it’s often high-carb sugary drinks which send people over the edge to spare tire town.
      With liquids, always go the low-carb or zero carb route as much as possible.

    2. Reality
      That’s true. and the focus should be on natural carbs to obtain the best nutrients the body need.

      1. You sure it wasn’t just because you were eating less food, even though you focused on less carbs?

        1. I ate till I was full, I don’t know if it was more or less. What’s important is to avoid carbs AND fat together as you will use the sugar (in the carbs) and store the fat..High Fat makes you body effective at burning fat, something it “forgets” when there’s plenty of carbs.

        2. The cure is not only Low Carb..it was Low Carb/High Fat..been doing it for 4 years now and had no problems with health or weight.

      2. Rollov
        Good for you mate.
        it work if you are overweight and for a while…but be careful, you will lose a muscle tissues too because of the conversation of some of these tissues to energy to compensate.

        1. I don’t know if that is true since there’s plenty of energy in fat you just have to learn to use it.

    3. I gained 5Kg at the start of this year, so this month a 17Km run every other day up a mountain (1100m elevation gain) until it’s gone. Did my 6th run this morning, lost over 1Kg so far. Staying in shape is hard when you’re over 60.

    4. What about dairy and meat clogging up arteries proven scientifically so fat and even skinny ppl at old age get heart attacks, strokes and cancers?

  2. People get a gym membership to not use it, and when they do go the gym they spend the time there doing stupid stuff, taking selfies and instagram photos for the “likes”.

    1. A few instagram fitness super-narcissists like Michelle Lewin have made a whole career off having a million+ fap happy beta orbiters and the marketing revenue she can get off ad placements, product endorsements, and convention appearances.
      Like look at her when she finishes an exercise. She’s so in love with herself.

    2. Not only taking selfies at the gym, but later HEAVILY editing them with photoshop or some other image software. Nothing on the internet is real

  3. Veganism is a tool of the the globalists. It is designed to sicken you mentally and physically. Womens hair becomes brittle and falls out. They become fanatics about liberal idealogy and shave their stoopid heads. FCUK them right in the Poozy.

    1. Talkin’ ’bout a world
      Where all is free
      It just couldn’t be
      And only a fool would eat that.

  4. Like most people I have a love/hate relationship with the gym however when it comes to outdoor activities like hiking, biking, jogging, basketball, etc I’m all in. The gym is simply depressing and monotonous in comparison.

    1. My thoughts exactly, I could never set foot in another gym again… the scenery gets fucking boring and I get sick of seeing the same people doing stupid shit like dudes slamming the weights down and yelling, or women coming to the gym in full makeup and using the bike for 5 minutes so they don’t sweat it all off… then walking into a corner to do a selfie. Gym culture is fucking lame, I bought a mountain bike so I don’t have deal with idiots anymore…. the terrain is always changing/challenging, and you can pick any kind of scenery to work out in.

  5. My estranged father moved to a ghetto in Mexico after finding he wasn’t financially competent enough to survive in Ontario. He sent pictures of his local outdoor gym, Men were bench pressing car axles and steel poles dipped in buckets of concrete. Where there’s a will, There’s a way.

  6. I think there’s more bodybuilders and fitness freaks around today (per capita) than ever before. In the social media age it’s hard not to be exposed to it and see videos of guys walking shirtless getting numbers from girls and what not. In some white trash MTV programs all guys are basically natural bodybuilders.
    Aside from laziness and soyhood the only thing that keeps the level of competition somewhat lower is the association of fitness with lower socioeconomic classes and roid monsters with blood pressures off limits. Some guys don’t see and cannot visualize how lifting would change their lives and some would prefer to go into martial arts which they feel is more masculine (not going to open that can of worms here).
    A big reason why guys don’t see it is because there’s a lot of conflicting information about lifting, smug know-it-alls leading them astray and guys unwilling to own up to the defects in their diet and training. The harder you train the more pride you start to feel upon improving your body and start to understand just how powerful it may be for you and your life. If your idea about training is based on misconceptions, you won’t make that much progress and will figure that everyone more advanced is on genetics and steroids and you might still train and take pride in being above average although you’re not above average, because you’re still eating candy every day and doing basic lifts that do not engage the muscles proportionally. Try eating candy once a week and doing several exercises for your calves alone and that’s when you see that bodybuilding is not that easy and the results can be much better.

  7. Or just use Kratom. Number one choice of Hercules and all the Green Gods. Legend says that Jesus was buried with a torch and a sprig of Kratom—look what happened to him.

  8. Fitness started to suck when they got TVs, music and classes at gyms. I want to train with weights in silence so I can concentrate.

    1. So do it. Who gives a shit what other people are doing in the gym? I’ve been working out since I was 18 and I think I’ve taken like 2 or 3 classes in that entire time. All I ever do is weights and cardio. What’s stopping you from doing that?

      1. You can’t work out in silence when there is loud dance music playing. The TVs are a barrier to concentration. I now work out at home or run in remote places.

  9. Great piece. Personally i stick to kettlebells and body weight training. Swimming for low impact. Teach tennis full time and need to preserve my body

  10. The problem is purpose; nothing in Western culture has any meaning anymore beyond satiating your most base and carnal desires. But after every climax the inevitable “now what?” question arises, unless you’re a sociopath, then nothing really matters. Such people thrive in the moral sewers of the West.
    Go look into any infantry or special operations units. I guarantee no one there has problems keeping fit. They have a good reason for it. All doubts, anxieties, and questions of meaning can easily be subliminated into that purpose.
    But if you’re not a soldier, olympic athlete, or fire fighter then you’re shit outta luck. After you finally get that 300 lbs bench press you can post some selfie on instagram and tomorrow no one will care. Some new clown will post his 340 lbs bench press and on the circus goes lol

    1. “But if you’re not a soldier, olympic athlete, or fire fighter then you’re shit outta luck. After you finally get that 300 lbs bench press you can post some selfie on instagram and tomorrow no one will care. Some new clown will post his 340 lbs bench press and on the circus goes lol”
      What makes you think someone will care about an olympic medal? What’s less narcisistic about showing off in the olympics than lifting at home and recording it?

      1. Lol dude, did you really just ask such a question?
        Wait for the next olympics, get out from under your rock and note the difference. Note how different it is to yet another guy benching 300 lbs on instagram.

        1. Sure did. I don’t see how you’re a clown if you have goals proportional to your genes and are proud to reach them and share them with others. The olympics is the same thing with more exposure.
          I guess if you graduate college with good grades you’ll keep it to yourself too unless you become the head of that school one day?

    2. When the fitness trend started in the mid-70s most of it was centered on some activity: hiking, gardening, biking, martial arts, tennis, bowling, baseball. Then there was the blow up of Arnold and Yuppie culture in which ‘being fit’ became so the sole goal since people started working longer hours in office jobs.

  11. Larsen,
    It would be great if you used your anthropological research skills to go more in-depth on fitness culture. Between gym bros, cross fit fanatics, etc… so many people have built their identity around fitness and it is only them who are actually fit. What part of American culture involves fitness to the degree where average Americans get fit? It’s a big topic.

      1. Larsen, do you know anything about PACE training by Dr. Al Sears? I’ve read a little about it, so am thinking of trying it.
        Based on what I’ve read, mostly Amazon reviews, but some at his website, it’s basically a way of fine tuning interval training. He insists cardio is dead. At least what he calls, ‘long duration cardio and aerobics’, is dead. Which his view suggests, includes interval as well.

  12. A lot of people get discouraged by the sheer goal alone. Back in the day, people were cutting 10 or 20 pounds 50 was a challenge but manageable or maybe they were already average and just wanted to get toned up. Now people tell me they got to cut a 100, 150 200 pounds! Like holy shit that’s like a pound a day just to resemble a normal human being by the end of the year lol.

  13. If you have a habit of chasing comfort vs discomfort. The easy thing vs the hard. A shortcut mentality….you will never be fit. Not physically, at least. Probably not mentally, or spiritually either. Financially, maybe but still uunlikel.
    Unfortunately there’s no way to teach grit. You either have it or you don’t. If you don’t have it and want it, you just have to do gritty shit and silence your inner bitch. It’s just as easy to do as it is not to do. Just a decision.

    1. Great advice, belongs right up there with “be yourself bro” and “if ya wanna bang her, just be aloof bro”

    2. Very astute and insightful comment. I often try to emulate Teddy Roosevelt’s “strenuous life” mentality. Even though it is hard in a metropolis that I live in. But doing things the extra mile; sometimes looking at my callouses to see if my hands have gone soft is a good indicator. I eat 5 meals a day. Ppl wonder how I do it, I tell them because my body requires it from the rigors of my daily routine. It is part of my diet program.
      On a separate note, what ruined fitness?
      Sluts.

  14. Article is kind of misleading. The overall population might be a joke when it comes to overall fitness and health but the people who actually work out are some of the most ‘in shape’ people humanity has ever seen. Agree with ‘Banned’ about the lack of purpose in society other than narcissism. Weighing an extra 50lbs and being jacked is really pointless unless you are literally a lumberjack or do some insane physcial job or whatever. Regardless the marcassitic aspect is really what drives alot of people to workout also. Honestly there’s nothing wrong with having a bit of good ego, not too much obviusly, but ego is what drives people to achieve goals. Ego can quickly get out of hand though if it’s overinflated.
    People on a whole in the U.S. might be overweight all around, but again, those who do workout are some of the most insane lifters and athletes the world has ever produced. I’m sure it’s debatable and you can find a couple historical figures scattered througout history who are the ‘best ever’ at their sport, but by and large if you think about the actual number of weightlifters and athletes the world has produced out numbers ANY other point in human history, by alot. Just look at the video someone posted above with the chick working out. When in human history have women looked that jacked other than right now? Again, liek I said, I’m sure you can find some historical figures scattered around here and there and some culutures where women were in shape etc. But by and large the girls who do workout are some of the hottest sluts humanity has ever made, bar none. It’s unfrotunate that the ‘average’ girls no longer really exist though, espcially in the U.S. ‘Average’ girls are almost all way overweight. The girls who do workout alot of the time take it to the extreme and workout way too much.
    All I would say is the article is misleading simply because I think the ratio is skewed. You have tons of people who don’t workut but by and large those who do are in way better shape than people in the past. Think about this, 100+ years ago in the U.S. how many men looked way jacked? Very very very few, unless he was a literal bodybuilder he would be average unless he did lots of outdoor labor and even then he wouldn’t be ‘jacked’. Nowadays all you have to do is walk into a gym and you’ll see at least one guy whose pretty freakin ripped and you’ll seem some hot girls lookin fine as hell. Don’t get me wrong, I agree health in the U.S. is a joke but at the same time those who do care about it are in some of the best shape and physical conditioning humans have ever been.
    The female body has definitely sort of changed as of late, but on a whole I would simply guess that theres more in shape women today (who work out) as opposed to 100+ years ago is all. As far men goes, its sort of a toss up, but I would still stay even though the majority are overweight there’s still probably more men who are ‘jacked’ than in the past. The human body can really only take so many shapes, and I’m sure if you look hard enough you could find exceptions but generally women in the past didn’t look like they do now. Not to mention its always interesting looking at models from even 30 years ago and how much different those girls look compared to today.
    Modern normal girl (yikes, pick your poison):
    https://www.womenfitness.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/survery-on-womens1-1000×619.jpg
    Modern girls who work out (instagram ‘models’ – yawwn) But still extremely hot, hottest girls in human history? Hmm, debatable, I like bigger natural boobs so not 100% perfection, but not bad either.
    https://www.pinterest.es/pin/346425396316259215/
    Alot of it has to do with the clothing girls wear too. Something else worth mentioning I think is while obviously there’s a look of vanity involved, at the same time what about the ‘inspiring’ aspect for guys to work out harder? I mean, seriously, there’s tons of dudes who look like superman nowadays. 100 years ago how many men looked like superman? I mean, I don’t know, all I’m sayin is it the guys who work out are in pretty insane shape, but those who don’t have fallen by the waste-side.
    As a side not, I hate to say it, but I was just browsing to find some actual good hot girls and damn is it tough. I hate to say it, but a lot fo hot girls are in porn or really messed up somehow. I see few and far between genuine goodlooking babes who aren’t whoring out in someway, whether it be instagram or otherwise, really disturbing, but shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe its just me but most of the actual ‘hot’ girls that I would actually classify as would bangs are almost all pornstars. I don’t know what that says about me personally, but I also tend to lean towards slightly more ‘exotic’. Regardless I think any girl whose actually super hot (big boobs/butt) is probably whoring it out if you see a picture of them online. Alot of pornstars are really pretty gross actually, but all it really takes to ‘succeed’ in porn is a nice face and big boobs generally speaking, and in reality THAT (nice face and big boobs) is really what most men want and would be satisfied with at the end of the day. Obviously being overweight hurts too. Not to say ‘all’ hotties are whoring out, but the vast majority probably are. Who knows. Bytheway if you ‘follow’ any models on any social media your ruining yourself, so I would stop ‘following’ them asap. Long story short though people who do work out are in pretty good shape, everyone else is something else entirely it seems.

    1. Right on the money Guest Spot,
      Even fifty years ago people were much more ignorant about nutrition and even severe allergies and celiac disease were poorly understood and sufferers basically forced to eat whatever they were given.
      The average person had very limited understanding of muscle anatomy and function until the internet age. I remember being mid teens and relying a lot on 90’s bodybuilding books to learn about lifts; a lot of it went over my head and what did not was vague or misleading. The book would tell you that upright rows work the front delts although most sources now say they work the lateral dets, which is a big difference. Most guys did not know that the bicep is not the only arm flexor and people were just plain fucking around a lot and I think most young (early 20’s) guys still are.

  15. Availability of fattening food, 24 hours a day is the most at fault. And liberal ‘take no responsibility for yourself’ indoctrination takes care of the rest.
    Prominent conservatives not leading by example is no help either, when fighting societal decay. We have media champions championing the virtue of marriage and family, who are life long singles without children. Or have adopted children, only to bad-mouth celebrities who do the same. Then there are the fat ones, the multi-divorced ones, and the junkie ones. All given a pass by their fans, and each other.
    Meanwhile, the beautiful people at ground zero of the cultural wars in Hollywood, are no longer so beautiful either. Or have climbed on board the fat acceptance crazy train. With their stupid vegan diets being unappealing to the rest of the normal’s that are left.
    In the end, the trite and true is what still what holds whether the center still holds or not. All things in moderation. Because the palace of wisdom found at the end of excess, is not what anyone thinks it is.

    1. Actually when it comes to health and diet ‘everything in moderation’ is a false idea. Less is WAY more with fitness. Fasting is the all time miracle for obese people; simply eat less. The solution is pretty simple, but the ‘problem’ is perception and no one knowing how to say no to a meal, or their next meal, or the meal AFTER those AND THEN going to sleep hungry, AND THEN WAKING up WITHOUT eating AND THEN WORKING OUT in a fasted state AND THEN FINALLY eating. Average person thinks THATS insane and ‘only for fitness junkies’…but the truth of the matter is simply eat less and work out more.
      Easy in principle, ‘hard’ in practice. ‘Everything in moderation’ fails when it comes to working out and staying in shape. Most people – the vast majority – could eat WAY WAY less AND WORK OUT and be better for it. Really the only time you want to increase your actual consumption is if you are lifting major and actually going to the gym on a consistent basis OR you run your ass off and break a sweat every other day. MOST people who DO NO EXCERCISE can EASILY live off of ONE meal a day if you are at a normal body weight. What makes being overweight ‘difficult’ is boosting the metabolism enough to start the actual weight loss. A lot of overweight people it seems have a hard time just ‘jump starting’. The miracle drug here in reality is simply eat less.
      But the ‘problem’ becomes that to actually burn weight you need to be eating (but not too much) and if you have no concept of portion control you can easily end up gaining weight. Combine this with some sort of ‘spiritual’ / ‘uplifitng’ ambition and you can lose the weight. Spiritual fasting + nutritional fasting = in shape. At the end of the day what kills is portion sizes. If you want to lose weight just stop eating as much, really that’s all it boils down to, but at osme point your going to have to ‘push’ your body ‘past’ its normal routine and force your metabolism to start shedding the weight. Eatting less will lose the water weight generally, but to really shed fat you have to sprint or lift hard, you have to do SOMETHING other than just sitting.
      When your ‘trapped’ in a mindset of being 50lbs overweight it’s difficult to totally ‘get it’ — when your overweight its ‘tough’ to conceptualize what real eating entails and what it looks like. Another problem too is men especially think they need to eat ALOT to get ‘jacked’ – true while eating more (while working out ALOT obviously) gets you bigger, if you don’t consistently work your ass off you will be 40-50lbs overweight and NOT jacked long before your ‘shredded’. A lot of guys don’t understand calorie intake and the vast majority do not track their gains or calories. The short answer is you have to workout a TON to really justify eating more. Just because you worked out WAY hard a couple weeks or or a couple days doesn’t mean all of a sudden you can overindulged and make it a habit. It depends on your goals, but the most common one I see is simply guys thinking they can suddenly eat anything and everything simply cuse now they are working out heavy. Obviously progressive overload has its time and place and if your goal is to get huge or whatever than eat more slowly as oyur working up to your lifting goals steadily.
      Too many guys ALL at once over eat and then they stop working out and are still eating like hogs and then a few months, maybe half a year down the road they are suddenly fat cuse they tricked their mind to think they could eat more even though now they aren’t working out. Getting shredded is not as difficult as it seems as long as you think LONG TERM. It takes years to develop certain muscles, but you don’t necessarily need to eat like a hog or a machine unless you want to get huge. I’ll just use girls as an example. Theres fitness girls who have pretty toned and defined abs and bodies obviously, but they don’t eat like hogs (if only rarely on cheat says), but the point is a lot of dudes want abs and struggle getting them but they don’t realize theyre eating too much.
      I see more girls with 6 packs now than guys BY FAR because girls eat less normally on a whole and so eventually they end up having their abs show. Granted men have the ‘harder’ challenge here; namely getting abs and ‘big’ (if that’s their goal – which for most men it is) the ‘problem’ is getting big requires a lot of calories but if you want the abs you need to make damn certain what your eating and watch when your eating and lifting way more closely than if you don’t care about getting huge. It’s a lot more of a balancing act than just being ‘toned’ and girly and not eating like a machine.
      Girls have it easy on some many different levels to appear more ‘in shape’ because the definition for being ‘jacked’ as a girl is about as pussy a definition of being ‘in shape’ as you can get. Anyone can get abs if they don’t eat and do at least 5 mins of planks a day, shits not hard, just starve yourself, which is what most girls do. Top it off with having a natural good face, natural big boobs, and a decent ass and the girl will get HOUNDED by every thirsty beta cuck around. But did it take her a lot to get THAT? The answer is no, it didn’t. She was blessed with big boobs and a good face and she simply lifts a few weights here and there and does some planks and other stuff occasionally. If your not obese and underweight its actually much easier to get the ‘ripped’ or ‘toned’ look than most people realize, because all that’s involved is a bit of moderate / consistent exercise mixed with not eating as much and just making sure you fast than workout, its not difficult to accomplish. Most people are so damn overweight though that EVERYTHING seems ‘difficult’ though.
      Don’t get me wrong, I know its a pain in the ass to lose 50 lbs (I’ve done it) but in reality its just portion control for the most part and obviously jump starting metabolism major at some point. One the main points I’m trying to make here is hot workout girls don’t – I’ll repeat – DONT HAVE TO WORKOUT NEARLY as hard as men to get in good shape. And I’m not talking professional bodybuilders. Load up any Instagram ‘workout girl’ and she might be in shape and toned and have a six pack – nice right – abs aren’t really my thing on a girl, but hats off for doin those planks. I don’t care if she has abs or not, generally I prefer no abs on a girl, but the point is its not as hard as its made out to seem. Girls who whore out on Instagram are trying to game guys (once again) to think they are ‘EVEN MORE desirable’ because they workout. Why? Because girls know working out (real working out) is insane hard. Its not just some easy shit you can do. But girls have made it look like it makes them more desirable – when in reality all guys want are big boobs and decent mug to suck on.
      Real working out and bodybuilding is if your trying to get big AND have a six pack is a major commitment. Its a balancing act between working out and eating. Very few girls have the capacity to do what male bodybuilders do ok, It’s just not the same. A shredded girl does not have to eat nearly as much to get the same perceived results as the guy. For a guy to get a six pack and be big is not an easy thing to do ok. Whereas most girls have no desire to get ‘big’ and huge (which is fine) but the point is that they are put in the same category as men who workout; i.e. girls who workout and guys who workout. They are not the same. I don’t like seeing Instagram girls getting put on a pedestal just cuse they starve themselves and put themselves in yoga pants. We get it ok, your hot, most guys would do you, end of story, stop ‘following’ these whores, for Christ’s sake. If your a guy and you want to be ‘shredded’ and don’t care about being big just don’t really eat (if only in intervals) and just workout all the f-ing time and give yourself a year or so and you’ll get there eventually. But all I’m sayin is don’t be fooled by the Instagram chicks. They all want you to think they are on the same level as male bodybuilders. TOTALLY different beast altogether.
      Chew on this for a minute: men have 10x the T in their bodies, girls have to workout WAY harder than men JUST to get to what our norm is. I don’t workout for a month and I’m still in decent shape and can out bench, press, squat, run almost any girl who goes EVERY damn day. Now, I keep in shape normally on a regular, but even if I didn’t workout for a month I’ll still beat the shit out of any girl who works her ass off every day, hands down. And MOST ‘average’ (guys who occasionally lift / workout) men can too. Unless your one of these soyboy homos. Point is men don’t realize that lifting is PART of their DNA, its part of our makeup. You as a man were made to lift shit. Girls were not. Plain and simple. Any average dude can starve his ass and workout and be WAY more jacked than any dumbass girl. For girls the ‘fitness’ image is JUST THAT; an image to attract jacked guys, nothing more.
      This video worth a watch. Conan’s a joke (as in not funny), and I’m sure there’s some CGI on Tarzan, but the dude still was in ‘good’ shape, that much is undeniable. The reason he’s not just ALL CGI is cuse its obvious parts of him are real, but he describes his eating habits and it more or less matches what you want to shoot for and what is actually practical. In other words he just starved himself for about a year, which is all Instagram chicks do; starve themselves and go to the gym occasionally.

      1. As a side not – as someone who actually works out, eats correctly, and is shape – I find it pretty bafflingly and disturbing the sheer amount of naysayers there are online who completely dismiss men who are jacked and in shape. Yes, a lot of dudes use roids or other garbage, but does this mean EVERY dude does? No. Just cuse you can’t get in shape doesn’t mean other men arne’t. It fails every common sense test in the book. I don’t understand how so many men can sit back and whine and bitch about how everything is cgi, or photoshopped, or he uses steroids etc. Here’s the deal ok, first off you’d be a complete idiot to think NO ONE is NEVER photoshopped, or had cgi put on them, or that some dudes use roids. But SO MANY men go to the extreme with their naysayer garbage arguments claiming all men are either cgi in movies, or use roids, or [insert beta argument]. And secondly, and most importantly, men defy seemingly all logic when they make claims that men CANT get as jacked or ripped as other men (i.e. youtube workout guys or movie stars) Some men actually make the claim men CANT get ‘that big’ – it’s such a retarded statement to even make. Even if some dude did use roids lets say, have you never seen a jacked dude before in real life? The complete stupidity is unreal. There’s men who actually think this shit. Not to mention, all of that aside there’s plenty – yes, PLENTY – of dudes who are in pretty damn good shape who don’t use any bs and are 100% clean. Some sour grapes like to complain that men can’t get ‘that big naturally’ etc. In certain cases their right, but there’s still plenty of men who are in pretty damn amazing shape who don’t roid up, use any enhancers, and don’t photoshop themselves. I just can’t believe this is the world we live in where men’s natural brute strength and pure physique is being claimed to not even exist – by other men no less. I’m sure all the homo’s will talk only about his dick, but this picture says it all. Men can get naturally jacked, just look at Hercules. Or was this carved AFTER steroids? The fact that I even have to say “its not CGI, hes just jacked’ shows how little faith men have in themselves. Yes, we know there’s tons of cgi and photoshopping out there, save us your childish complaining about gay magazines and focus on the real.
        https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2f/2f/6e/2f2f6e88c180afaaea65b02191ffcec5.jpg

        1. the woman’s plan for looking fit the starve n barf plan. end of story.

        2. Guest- Good posts. Even though this article is about fitness as such, I was really thinking moderation in terms of weight maintenance as known in the past, for the average person. Without exercise necessarily having to be a part of it. It use to be the norm.
          Me, I’m into exercise too, but have given up the ghost on being jacked. My abs aren’t visible, and probably never will be, but man, they are rock hard. Always have been. Though my aging back could use some work, I see that as easily fixed.

        3. Matt – generally the human body can live with and function with far less calorie consumption than people think. Sure, you need stuff like protein which your body doesn’t make on its own, but generally speaking less is still more. Your body excretes and gets rid of loads of nutrients on a daily because most peoples diets are over encumbered with more nutrients than they need, or not the right kind of nutrients that the body requires. Point is simply that ‘moderation’ is an incongruity; i.e. you’re not ‘moderating’ a healthy weight, you’re ‘moderating’ an unhealthy one. If I’m at a normal healthy weight and I believe the phrase ‘everything in moderation’ to be true than what am I doing when I’m eating? I’m watching how much I eat – I’m moderating my weight – but this doesn’t mean the current ‘normal healthy weight’ I’m at is actually ideal, all it means is I’m moderating my current weight and watching what I eat.
          I could be 50lbs overweight and follow ‘everything in moderation’ and I’ll still stay at 50lbs overweight. ‘Everything in moderation’ is an irrationality. The assumption is that if you moderate everything you eat that you’ll be healthier for it, which presupposes you’re already healthy to begin with. All it means is your going to stay the same weight. If you don’t overeat you won’t lose weight or gain weight, you’ll just stay the weight you’re at. I’m being redundant, but I see the phrase ‘everything in moderation’ thrown around inaccurately enough that it’s worth pointing out the inconsistency being implied. Eating less and’ better’ food (i.e. getting the nutrients you need or are missing) is almost exclusively better. ‘Everything in moderation’ is simply moderating your current weight which isn’t a ‘health plan’ worth following in my opinion. If your suggesting moderating your nutrients from different sources than sure that’s fine, but people throw that phrase around as a kind of ‘catch all’ phrase to explain away health concerns without understanding the required nutrients your body actually needs to function.
          Sure excessive is bad, and so is under eating certain foods your body needs, but having a little bit of everything under the guise of ‘everything in moderation’ simply substitutes one poor diet plan for another. If I’m eating garbage food and not eating a lot of it, but only a little bit here and there I’m still consistently eating garbage food enough to where my body is expecting to eat it again at some point. An example is soda. If I only drank a soda every once and a while (lets say once a week) my blood sugars going to get jacked up from that weekly sugar spike. You can ruin months’ worth of working out with a single meal. Long story short, “everything in moderation” doesn’t apply to food.
          Maybe for other stuff it does, but if you actually watch your health and only eat real food and not trash if you think your going to occasionally indulge most people (I would say on average) most people won’t have the self-control to NOT make their moment of overindulgence a new habit. One time will surely lead to more times for the average person. AFC thinks “Yeah, McDonald’s is fine today, everyone says its trash, but it tasted ok.” – Lunch the next day,”Oh it seemed fined yesterday, guess I’ll have it again.” – Two months later, “Why do I always feel like such crap? I’ve gained almost ten pounds, ugh.” – Logic right out the window. AFC thinks, “But I ONLY have the McDonalds in MODERATION with all the other stuff I eat, it COULDN’T be THAT.” – Most of the the time the AFC doesn’t have the self-awareness to even realize even that much. Anyways, I simply think complete abstinence is the only answer for certain ‘foods’.

  16. Do you know why a soldier or fire fighter HAS to work out or train hard for physical fitness?
    When it comes time to need either one to rescue your sorry ass, whether it be a battlefield or inferno, you don’t want the soldier to have to make TWO trips to carry your 300 pound plus sized ass, and firefighters know better that they have no CHOICE but to carry out your 400 pound butterball nastiness, with an airpack on and DOWN STAIRS TO boot. They have to do it in ONE trip only, but in America these days they don’t have the leeway to pick the size of their victims to rescue. At least the military know that their rescues likely will be their size or under 240 pounds.

  17. “Stay physically active and focus on eating just enough, mainly the most nutritious foods. If you do eat more (especially of the least nutritious foods), get more active.”
    What was that? Fifteen seconds worth of information? That’s really all you need to know as far as fitness goes.
    A couple statements like that would ideally end the fitness industry. You don’t need models, trainers, hippies, certified experts, health clubs, gyms or even weights to act on that knowledge. If you really want to get analytical, buy a watch or a ring that tracks your caloric expenditure and cook your own food and track the caloric intake. Beyond that, the industry would be dead if people stuck to the basic knowledge.
    The fitness industry is a vestigial zombie and they know it. So they bank on viral narcissism, lies, abject thirst, the steroid cartel and a variety of sports apparel brands.
    Lastly, nothing disgusts me more than the males who thirst over these overly virile female fitness models. Almost every time you click the profile of some dude lusting over her gross 8-pack, it’s some weak, soft-bodied clown who for sure doesn’t even try to practice what she preaches. Whenever you’re not onboard with how “attractive she is” they always say “you’re just jealous because you’re out of shape and she’s bigger than you”. 1. I’m in better shape then his loser ass. 2. Even if she’s not on steroids or photoshopping her pics or throwing around fake weights, at least I make a difference in society.

  18. I don’t think fitness sucks today. There is more knowledge floating around on the net about fitness and nutrition than any man could process in a lifetime. Some of it is garbage but a lot of it is genuinely good information. I’d also wager that MOST people (75% or so?) know in a general way what is required to get and stay fit. Eat a balanced diet, exercise, and get a good amount of rest.
    Any time I go into the gym I am surrounded by inspiration. Men and women in the best shape of their life, old dudes staving off the grim reaper (or a walker) for another few years, fatties trying to overcome years of bad decisions…America knows what needs to be done to get into shape. And there is no stigma anymore with working out and watching your diet like their used to be. I talk to my dad about it (old Baby Boomer) and he maintains that when he was younger no one worked out other than athletes. Even people in the military weren’t big on physical fitness until about the 80s. And the equipment in there is top notch. You can focus on free weights, machines, cables, cardio, there are (usually) even open studios for you to do body weight training or whatever. Hell the other day I was at the gym right before dinner on a Sunday and some guy was in one of the empty studios working out with a fucking bullwhip.
    So what’s the problem? Why are Americans so fat? We’re surrounded with knowledge and opportunity and yet we’re the fattest we’ve ever been. And the younger you look the fatter they are. I know it’s like a fantasy for guys to bang a teenager but to be perfectly frank my 40 year old girlfriend is hotter than most 20 year olds that I know.
    In my personal opinion there are three major reasons for Americans to be so unhealthy. The great news is that these are all problems that are entirely within your power to overcome. (1) ready access to cheap and unhealthy food, (2) sedentary lifestyles, and (3) poor sleep habits. That’s it. Everything else is fluff and bullshit.
    There are a thousand reasons for you not to overcome these. You can bitch about the people at the gym, or how expensive it is, or how you’re too tired after a full day at work to hit the weights or go for a run, etc. etc. But if you want to get into shape and feel better, you absolutely 100% can. Everyone knows what needs to be done. It’s not rocket science.

    1. Yeah, its not rocket science, but 40+ hours a week sitting at a desk + never going to the gym cuse your ‘tired’ after 8 hours sitting at a desk and waking up at 6am + crap diet will work a number on most.

    1. Everyone I know who has tried crossfit has ended up with a joint injury, then stopped. Usually a rotator cuff, something that doesn’t cure easily.

  19. I agree with those above who said it’s good to have a practical reason why you need to stay fit. I don’t like gyms so much because they seem boring. In a gym, how often do you test your skills against another person? Instead, I joined a judo club where I spar with others. I still don’t go to a gym but I know what I need to work on (core, upper body, arms) and I do the extra exercises at home. My diet has been affected too. I started craving more protein, so I eat more of it and less of other things. Started going to bed early and rising very early, with no need for an alarm clock. If someone told me to do all of those things “because it’s good for me” I probably wouldn’t listen or I’d stop doing them after two weeks.
    My grandparents never went into a gym. Yet they probably had equal strength to those who do. They worked from sunrise till sunset, physical labor, no sitting. They walked very long distances — not on paved roads but across meadows, fields, forests, hills. They hauled things all the time. Grandma could pick up a heavy sack of flour and carry it for a few miles on her shoulder. My grandparents were never sick, depressed or demoralized. They were very well centered, stolid and had loads of common sense. They also survived two world wars and basically died of old age. I wish I were like them. I am too pampered and therefore weak.

  20. Fitness centers have really started to suck here in France since they been invaded by women, Africans and Salafists. I have nothing against women and some of my best friends are black. But all too often, these three categories can be very touchy toward Alpha French males and as for the North African origin types many of them seem to have an agenda. Only the other day a young man (who I had taken for a Portuguese, but was in fact a 2nd gen Algerian) who formerly had suggested that we go for a drink some time, reacted to a compliment I made him about this medal -looked like some kind of cross – which it turns out was made by the Touareg. I was admiring the excellent niello work on it when I he immediately announces his identity as an Open Borders proponent, because the poor Africans cannot go wherever they like. I immediately changed the subject and moved on. There will be no after workout drink anywhere. I never shower at the club only using the men’s locker room to stash my street shoes.

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