The Overnight Transformation of Fitness

I was a typical skinny kid who naturally wanted to build muscle and get stronger. At 14 I started with a basic iron barbell and dumbbell set in my backyard. I used my father’s homemade freestanding picnic table bench to perform numerous exercises from Arnold’s The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.

Armed with just those few tools and an unseemingly endless amount of motivation I spent hours training. I eventually affixed my only barbell to two hooks I screwed into a couple of trees for pull-ups. I fondly remember grinding out 15 sets of pull-ups (5 sets wide-grip behind the head, 5 sets wide-grip in front of the head, and 5 sets close-grip) three times per week. If it rained I would simply drape a towel over the bar to prevent any further rusting.

After every session, my hands would be calloused, dirty (from the rust), and swollen from endless sets of pure joy.

Growing muscle and discipline

I learned so much with every single rep. Not only was I building muscle and strength, but I was also building discipline, confidence, and membership in an exclusive club of humans that relished the process of building something good. I was an architect painstakingly designing my own unique piece of art.

I eventually joined others at the gym. It was a local racquet club that had a small room dedicated to weight training. There was a main floor with Nautilus brand equipment and steel dumbbells–many homemade. Beyond the main area was a pit of sorts where all benches, power racks, and leg presses lived.

No TVs, few treadmills, and mainly a bunch of lifters willing to help each other out. At 15 I was a young lad, new, green, and wide-eyed. I rode my bike, rain or not, and trained for two to three hours six days per week.

Many of the older lifters took me under their wings and spotted me, checked my form, and befriended me. It was a close-knit group of like-minded people.

No cell phones (they didn’t exist yet) and no antisocial behavior. Everyone worked with each other and motivated one another.

One day I woke up to this

At the risk of sounding like an old codger, things today are different, much different. I’m specifically talking about the social media side of fitness. I honestly don’t have the exact words to describe what mainstream fitness has become. It was once a private brother (and woman) hood of dedicated lifters. Now it’s showboating, narcissistic behavior at its best.

Without ranting on and on my main concern is that this behavior has spilled over into our local gyms. Smartphones, cameras, tripods, and filmed daily PRs are now the norm. We get dirty looks for walking in front of someone’s camera. Large groups of gym bros just hanging out, setting up mini bars of pre-workout powders on benches, and the endless selfies with requisite butt sticking out or arm flex are now the norms.

What happened? I feel like I was a happy lifter in my gritty world of iron and I woke up the next day to a literal circus act of ridiculous behaviors.

Is anyone actually training anymore? Will it ever get better?

Crossfit has an idea. But that’s another story…