I ask a question.

Class stares at the machine/person/whatever like it’s going to magically appear.

Then I show them.

Some still don’t see.

Others think they’ve got it…

Then I ask them to come show me

Some still have no clue

Others do… at least in that scenario.

For the ones who “get it” it’s usually example specific.

In the next example some are staring again, others are applying what they learned and not recognizing there are other factors that they are missing… it’s not as simple as they thought.

I show them how to analyze the linkage system in one machine.

In another they are lost.

They don’t see the principles.

The only memorized the one scenario… not what made it true!

Nope! Not possible!

And you’re not going to get off the hook that easily!!!

Again… the subject of opinions!

All too often in a discussion dependent on objective facts, people want to “disagree”. People need to understand that when you “disagree” with contextually accurate facts, evidences, and thoroughly explored, logic-based rationales, you are NOT expressing your opinion. You are displaying your ignorance and inability to think thr0ugh the process toward recognizing objective reality.

In such situations, when your ego won’t allow you to learn, explore, struggle to understand and wisely benefit from the situation… AND won’t allow you to just through in the proverbial towel, the ego hopes to generate an easy way out by offering mutual acquiescence… even when (and I apologize for using the analogy again…) the “disagreement” is over something that has a right and a wrong… a 1+1=2 level of objectivity.

Keep in mind the aforementioned phrase contextually accurate! In some scenarios things that are absolutely true for one person may not be true for another. Conversely, things that are true for an individual in one scenario, may not be in another.

Along the way it’s also important to keep in mind that no one ever entered a conversation in order to have his/her mind changed!

You’ve undoubtedly heard the saying “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one!”

While we are offered the freedom to express our opinions, freedom to do something doesn’t always mean it’s wise to do so.

Which brings to mind another great saying: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” (often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and someone else that I can’t recall)

Unfortunately, too many people don’t seem to understand opinions… and the limitations in their applicability.

Opinions are for subjective issues. “I think blue better than green” is an opinion one could reasonably have. It would be nice to know the context… like are we talking trees or sky? Because the same person would likely have a different opinion based upon the context.

BUT… 1 + 1 = 23 is not a reasonable “opinion”. In fact, one can’t actually HAVE such an opinion. It’s just plain false, inaccurate, wrong, ignorant, self-indulgent, and even ego-maniacal. That is objectively inaccurate, despite one’s beliefs!

Mathematics is not an opinion dependent subject. Yet in a discussion I will often state a fact not dissimilar to “1+1=2” and the other person will actually say “I agree”! At which point I have no choice but to ask “and if you didn’t… does that make it wrong?!”. “Your opinion is irrelevant in this case!” And the person usually looks either bewildered or offended. but I have to say that someone agreeing with 1+1=2 is the more offensive thing!

The best quote I may have ever heard regarding opinions was from a guy who used to teach for one of the organizations I was associated with decades ago. He said, “Everyone is allowed to have an opinion, but that doesn’t mean they’re qualified to.” –John M

“I think it’s good equipment.”

Really?

Strength equipment is not subjective. It’s design is either consistent with human motion and strength profiles or it isn’t!

Your endorsement of something that is objectively “not good” doesn’t make the equipment any better.
It simply exhibits your ignorance of the facts!

Even if the equipment you believe is “good” (for someone), you wouldn’t know how to use it! How do I know you wouldn’t? Because if you knew anything about it you wouldn’t think it was so “good”!

“Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” is a well-known quotation in sports. It is attributed to UCLA Bruins football coach “Red” Sanders.

Such quotes are seemingly inspirational. In truth they are highly contextual. How do you measure winning? Why are the winners of a game worshiped… and then later frowned upon when it is discovered that they cheated? If winning is the only thing, then it shouldn’t matter how the score was achieved… because “the only thing” leaves no room for honor, integrity, or honesty. That would be four things… THE thing… and three apparently vital yet unspoken qualifiers.

All too often (like… always) the sound bite is considered by those that are superficially observant, singularly minded, and short-sighted to be the end of the story… to be all there is to an idea, principle, or potential truth. It’s short, easy to understand, and often inaccurate or misleading. In the end, every sound bite falls apart as truth requires context and qualifications. A sound bite is at best the beginning of a sentence that is almost never completed. Completing it requires too much thought, introspection and mental exploration of circumstance and scenario specifics. Thinking that much ruins the moment, takes the steam out of the rally cry, and dramatically diminishes the superficial motivation that mindless followers crave (not to be confused with the internalness of true inspiration).

Watch this ➡ (the good part that follows the imposed ads) and tell me that the only concern should be “winning”. Or better yet, tell me what truly defines “winning”! Is there really a sound bite that explains what you felt after that video as compared maybe to watching your favorite team gather more points on a scoreboard. The feeling following the video is generated by witnessing integrity, compassion, and an “it’s bigger than the score” perspective of winning… offered by a mere child. What you feel when your favorite team wins is ego… by proxy! You did nothing and deserve nothing, yet as an adult… with all your supposed wisdom and life-experience, it’s somehow everything, momentarily. Ultimately you wasted an hour of a relatively short life living vicariously through others. Sadder yet is the recounting decades later of having witnessed such score-based game winning moments, as if they were the crowning moment and total measure of your life-experiences. Saddest… they probably were.

Maybe we should be less concerned about whether or not people we don’t know (and who truly don’t impact our lives) amass more points than others (who we also don’t know nor don’t impact our lives) during a given hour. Maybe we should be more interested and invested in what might actually constitute intrapersonal success by what truly may impact our lives… as well as the lives of those whom we may potentially influence, directly and/or indirectly … during a moment… or over an hour… maybe much longer. Maybe we should invest more wisely… with a long term strategy… and measured by what constitutes “winning” across and for a lifetime. Intrapersonal success can’t be measured on the outside. There is no score board. And the only potential opponent is you.

A response typically intended as a rebuttal to something another says. It’s often a subtle way of one saying “I disagree”. I can mean “I’m not sure”. All too often it can be taken at face value: the responder simply doesn’t understand!

I have presented at many different levels from virtually exercise professional kindergarten to well beyond PhD. Sometimes the level is above the audience, sometimes it’s below… or at least a few of them think it’s below them.

And over the past three decades of presenting nationally and internationally I can’t count how many times have I heard these things following one of my presentations:

“That was pretty basic. I already knew that. Good review though.”
And other times it’s:
“Well that stuff really doesn’t matter. It’s too much science, too much analysis stuff. You don’t really need to know that stuff.”

The first statements are evidence of intellectual immaturity, and so much so that they have missed the deeper layers and often the entire context of the presentation. These statements are severe ego responses.

The second set of statements are also evidence of dismissal of value of information… because it simply was not fully, or even partially understood. Blatantly severe ego responses.

Here are some things to consider:
1. The basics are the key to understanding the more advanced information. To putting it into practical perspective. Basic doesn’t mean “easy”! It doesn’t mean “below you”. It means foundational. Fundamental. VITAL! …as principles from which to put next level things into practical perspective! Vital to developing a thought process! Vital to learning to THINK!

2. The first sign of a intellectually immaturity is that one doesn’t appreciate… doesn’t really GET the basics!!

3. The intellectually immature think moment arm is some sciency thing that doesn’t really matter. They absolutely don’t get that it’s the key to understanding strength and resistance… to understanding EXERCISE on a professional level!!!! …to understanding that 100 pounds can be zero resistance or 1000s of pound-inches, (Torque is the key! weight is only 50% of the resistance!!)

4. The most intelligent people I know realize that principles… BASICS ARE THE KEY TO INTELLIGENCE!!!

5. The most intelligent people LOVE LEARNING! Life-long learning is the key to the process of mastery. Masters make things look simple and easy.

6. The most intelligent people LOVE “RE-VIEWING”! Not just reviewing, which is little more than glancing at something you’ve seen before. This is misleading to the perception of understanding. When we recognize we’ve seen those same words before, we assume we “know” it. Big mistake! Recognizing the words, remembering having seen them before has nothing to do with “knowing”.

7. “Re-view” is a way of writing and saying this word meant to mean “explore as if it was the first time”! In fact, for a truly intelligent individual, a “re-veiw” will be very even more enlightening than the first pass! Because the truly intelligent person will have become a different person in terms of experiences, information, and most importantly PERSPECTIVE since the first reading, viewing, observation!

8. And truly intelligent people LOVE PRACTICAL APPLICATION! “Book learning” is not remotely enough! Too many people can memorize and quote facts, but have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA HOW TO APPLY IT!! No idea how to MAKE DECISIONS!

9. And finally, the intellectually immature think in terms of good or bad exercises. They want numbers. They can not make strategic, scenario-specific, progression oriented decisions (determined by a client’s current status, not end goal). They need protocols. They think assessment of someone they’ve never met begins with a 1RM!?!?!?! They are not yet, and may never have the ability or desire, to strive to function as a true Exercise Professional. They are only worthy of working with the currently fit and extremely tolerant (orthopedically, neurologically, systemically, etc.). Unfortunately they are the standard for today’s trainers, coaches and even physical therapists.

On my list of stupidest quotes ever uttered is “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

I bet statisticians have an f’n hey day with that!!!

So let’s apply the logic…

Your kid breaks 100% of the toys he doesn’t own! (that’s why toys r us went bankrupt)

You go to jail for 100% of the stores you don’t rob. (that’s a lot of life times behind bars)

You get HIV from 100% of the people you don’t sleep with! (WOW!)

You wreck 100% of the cars you don’t drive! (so you wrecked like a billion cars today! …and do you have to inure all the cars you don’t drive?)

Now if they said “you can’t MAKE 100% of the shots you don’t take, that’s true …and you can’t miss them either!

The Perceptions, Realities, and Benefits of Failure

“If you tried to do something but couldn’t, you are far better off
 than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded.”
-John Ragland, Jr

It is likely that over the years you have heard many quotations like the one above on the subject of failure. They commonly attempt to offer a positive outlook on the fact that you failed. How did we become such emotionally fragile beings that we are damaged by the notion of failure, which simply means “lack of success in a specific endeavor”. Engine failure. Math test failure. Failure in an endeavor does not the person a failure. That’s a judgement imposed by others… or worse ourselves. Quotes like the above are poetic attempts at getting people off their asses, but they should come with qualifications! If I tried to skydive and fail is that worse than doing nothing? At least if I hadn’t done it I could choose the next day to do something else, like volunteer at a homeless shelter.

There are those that address failure from the perspective that it is just that… perspective… that it exists purely in the way you look at things. And others realize that success only comes after attempting to remedy failures.

“There is no such thing as failure. No one ever fails at anything.
Everything you do produces a result.
The real question is what you do with the results that you produce.
Failure is a judgment. It’s your opinion. It comes from your fears. “
-Wayne Dyer, PhD

“If you can meet triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same…
yours is the earth and everything in it.”
-Rudyard Kipling

Long after inventing the light bulb Thomas Edison was working to invent a storage device for electricity…the battery. At one point he had 25,000 failed attempts.
When asked by a reporter, “How does it feel… failing 25,000 times.”
Edison replied, “Fail?” Today I know 25,000 ways not to make a battery.”

Failure is contextual and time dependent. If the goal is not achieved then temporal failure exists.
It’s what you do with that fact internally that makes all the difference! So “failure” could be considered a key to the process of progress… and absolutely vital to the process of mastery!

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
-Michael Jordan

“Some people think that when a lot of things go wrong,
all of which are small and insignificant,
that it’s to protect something perfect that wants to come into your life.”
-Carolyn Myss

“You are responsible for the effort, but not the outcome.”
-David Hawkins, MD, PhD

“The outcome of an event is much less significant than what we become
through the experience of the event.”
-Gregg Braden

“The things we are adding or improving (information, weight, reps) are just signs of progress,
but do not necessarily constitute progress.
The processes that allowed us to add or improve is where progress occurs. The state of the brain, muscle, nervous system… these are where the progress actually exists”
-Tom Purvis

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.
Fear of being wrong kills creativity.”
-Sir Ken Robinson

“Success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”