The Selfishness of Self-Inflicted Injury : Lack of Gratitude

 The Selfishness of Self-Inflicted Injury

Lack of Gratitude

By Adam Mundorf

“People have lost sight of the true purpose of exercise.  It’s not about the reps or weights; it’s about producing a deep level of fatigue without damaging the structure so that the body is compelled to adapt and increase its strength.  It’s about discipline.  With discipline comes integrity and virtue.  This is the source of beauty in the well-trained human body, and why you can’t acquire it from the outside; it’s an internal, mental quality shining through.” -- Steve Maxwell


The Selfishness of Self-Inflicted Injury
If I have to hear one more meathead complain about their lower back or shoulders I'm going to lose my damn mind.  If I have to go to one more kettlebell cert and hear people bitching about their hips, I'm going to lose my damn mind.  If I have to hear one more calisthenics 'athlete' complain about their elbows and shoulders, I am going to lose my damn mind.  Many of the above people I speak to, are in their early 20's.  Talk to me in 30 years!

What are we doing all of this physical activity for?  At the end of the day it's to provide a long, strong and healthy life.  It's to grow old without being an unnecessary burden to others and society.  We are so misaligned as an industry, where we exercise just simply to impress others or to hit certain numbers.  Not lifting a certain weight to impress or building big gee-whiz muscles to impress on the beach. It's about treating your body as a temple of gratitude. It's about building a body that doesn't need joint replacements and that allows you to be available for society deep into old age. Keeping your form paramount and keeping quality at the forefront. Willingly harming your body is a selfish act and should be frowned upon. Imagine someone asking you for help and you can't because you blew out your knees with a ponderous poundage squat. Imagine not being able to pick up your grand-kids because you left your health in Gold's Gym. Imagine not being able to defend your animals and family because you messed up your shoulders showing off in the gym. Imagine needing others to care for you simply because you couldn't check your ego at the door. Keeping goals intrinsic and exercising simply because it is the virtuous thing to do.

Now of course a man can't live his life without challenging himself but you should always assess the risk to reward of an exercise. You also need to assess why you are doing it.

This blog isn't supposed to target those who lost their health due to :
  1. Acts of God
  2. Work Accidents
  3. Military Service

Lack of Gratitude
I believe damaging the body through self-inflicted injury shows a simple lack of gratitude for being born with a healthy and able body. Every time you wake up with breath, a beating heart and a functioning brain, you have an opportunity to become a better version of yourself. Some are not so lucky. They are born with deformities, lose limbs through military service or are struck by a drunk driver rendering themselves ruined.

Maybe next time you go to workout, instead of injuring your body to be the strongest man down the street, treat your body like a temple of gratitude. Have the long view in mind and realize that in an interconnected society like ours, everything is connected and everything matters. What you do in the gym, affects the long term outlook and results of the community around you.

Just think about it.....

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