Death of Strength Training

How is it possible that strength training is steadily growing in numbers yet at the same time slowly dying and withering away? Well, It's certainly possible because this is exactly what is happening. At least that's my biased opinion. On the surface gyms are popping up everywhere and companies are flocking to developing wellness programs like it's the internet before the bubble popped - or if you prefer - like a 16 year old hopping on mom and dad's high speed connection to find a porn site. Gym memberships are up, the number of gyms is increasing almost daily and the number of people who incorporate some form of strength training in their exercise continues to grow. So what's the problem? Well if you just look at the exterior of the situation - those stats and figures - there isn't one. But if you go into a gym, just about any one of them, and you take a look at the interior - both your own, those around you as well as the shared space within a gym I think you'll agree, something's wrong. (yea we're talking about the left side of the quadrants you integral freaks!) Here's some of what I've noticed. Most people aren't enjoying themselves. Next time you're there, take a look around and see if you can catch some joy, happiness or excitement while someone's lifting weights or engaged in some other form of strength training. Honestly, it's a difficult task to find someone who's whole heartedly enjoying themselves. Most people seem to just be going through the motions. When I talk to people here and there at my gym, I don't find a whole lot of passion and drive. In fact, the conversation almost always goes to something else. It is as if people are implicitly saying, "there's nothing to talk about with regards to lifting weights, why would anyone talk about that?" Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with this, but it does display the mind's tendency to go elsewhere, away from strength training. Sometimes I'll just look around and watch for a few minutes and connect with all that's going on around me. That's when I get the biggest sense that most people are just going through the motions - physically they are on what seems to be an autopilot. When I look at someone I can usually feel what's going on within them. The body communicates so fully that sometimes I don't even feel like I need to have a conversation with them to know their interior. (Hey, either I'm really dialed in or I'm really starting to master this whole "projection" process really well!) Sometimes, it's just a complete checkout. Like the guy who was working his shoulders while watching TV last night. It was as if the human being - the part of him that animates his aliveness from within - simply wasn't there. Body on auto pilot doing one thing, mind on auto pilot watching some crappy game of baseball. Another woman broke my heart a few months ago as she was struggling with something while she was working out, her struggle appeared to be very intense. It was radiating from her like a distress beacon cutting through the night. I felt as though she was just on the edge of holding things together. What was tearing her up inside was the fact that she didn't have any more chocolate Full Strength nutrition shakes. This existential uncertainty was...ok, obviously just kidding... One of my least favorite things to watch is a trainer and trainee working "hard" together as they talk throughout an entire set... about skiing. And this guy is getting paid for that! He's considered a professional of sorts? Good lord, no wonder this strength training thing is heading south (just a play on words here - I've got nothing against the south!!!) Most people aren't really fully engaging themselves. What I'm getting at is most people don't fully engage themselves in strength training. Now I get that there are different levels of engagement, but the vast majority of what I see is the opposite. Dis-connected, Dis-engaged, Dis-empowered. People must feel deeply obligated to train in order to maintain this pursuit. It's the "I should" strength train story line. I think this approach to strength training is killing this beautifully rich discipline. So many people are not becoming more alive, engaged and aware through their strength training. Too many people numb out, go through the motions, dissociate from their current activity and then feel relieved once they're done. Why? My guess is because the obligation has been lifted for a brief amount of time. Strength training has a short and strange history - beyond the scope of this blog - but it's birth was born out of people who had at least an interest in developing their strength. The individuals who have carried this discipline forward are those who fell in love with the practice. Why did they fall in love with moving iron around? I ultimately don't know. Personally though I've found a discipline that challenges me to wake up, passionately engage in my life and find a meaning and depth in my life that quite honestly does not as vividly arise in any other sphere of activity. I write this in hopes that people who strength train can bring their struggles, their conventional day to day habits, their desires as well as their vivid passion for life and bring it all into their training. I hope that the woman who broke my heart wide open can bring her suffering into her training in a way that fuels her greater unfolding. I hope this inspires someone to tell their trainer to shut the fuck up, to let them be in this brilliantly painful moment without adding yet another distraction from what really matters. I hope that strength training can be a place where we can bring our habitual tendency's, but instead of just playing them out like an old record stuck at the end of the track, I hope we can learn to confront these habits set by set, moment to moment while we dance with weights. I hope people can begin to step beyond their conventional level of engagement and feel the ebbing bliss hiding within the intensity of a really great set. I hope more people can know the radiant ecstasy that flows up the spine, the formless stillness that settles into an infinite space, and the tears that embrace both suffering and joy. Yes all that and the oddly strange surroundings of all too often bad music, strange guys either checking you out or sizing you up along side the sea of unconsciousness of those who physically came but have yet to really show up, running on autopilot hoping to get in shape some day. Perhaps in the strangest of circumstances, we can breath life, real life, into a discipline that's both growing and dying. Regardless, I'm looking forward to having some more authentic company as I'll be dancing with the weights later on tonight. Peace, Rob