Rant #1

I hope I am not alone here in saying going to any social event can be stressful even for the average person. But if you are a strength athlete chances are you are more than stressed out having to explain over and over and over again about why you do what you do and hear all the negative things about what lifting heavy does to you and all the bro science in between.

Being a avid powerlifter and strongman competitor since a young age and having to explain every year as to what it is I am doing exactly has now become a constant stream of verbatim explanations from a young age. Only time in my life where the sport I loved wasn't judged or misunderstood was when playing football was the love of my life. No one gave me anything but praises for being team captain and the number one offensive lineman and top in Ontario.

However, you throw in a strength sport and everyone simply goes into judgement mode and everyone becomes an expert in anatomy and physiology when they simply just don't get it. As strength athletes we don't do this because we are not trying to be cocky, a god, or trying to prove we are better than everyone else, we do this because we love it. It is something that is only understood between strength athletes.

The Football player, the sprinter, the soccer player , and any athlete will simply not get why lifting heavy things is so important to us. We are a rare breed and yeah maybe we have some screws loose but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Now don't get me wrong here. I am not going to say that everyone should know what it is we do. It is our duty as athletes of these sports to be advocates and spread the knowledge of them because if we don't then who's going to? Take the criticism, use it to add fuel to your fire, but do not get mad or frustrated at the fact that people simply do not understand what it is you're doing. You got into the sport because you loved it not because you cared what someone else had to say about it. Be positive and explain to them that they won't understand unless they experience for themselves and to come watch a competition of yours and get the true understanding about why you do what you do.

It is important as athletes period to only have positivity around you at all times and not to allow negative comments to knock you off your course. Stay true to the reasons why you started doing what you're doing and never let ANYONE tell you different!

Rant Over!