

Granted, some people shouldn't be left to their own devices



Sometimes it can be



Little known fact: Ben had an 800lb deadlift





As much as people think they want it, people HATE freedom. Freedom is reviled, despised, rejected and feared by a great majority of the population. People crave restrictions, boundaries, bondage, limitations, rules, laws, oaths, vows, etc etc. They crave this because it prevents them from engaging in something truly terrifying; introspection and reflection. It prevents them from being held accountable for themselves. The truth is that there is nothing more tyrannical than freedom to most people, because freedom forces you to act and decide for yourself, and very few people would ever willingly choose themselves as their masters.Alright, so that had nothing to do with lifting, so let me reign it back in. What I’m trying to get at here is that trainees are always looking for rules, boundaries and limits when it comes to training. They want to find the exact parameters of all things and then hold all things TO these parameters, to the point that they’ll engage in tremendous amounts of arguments with other trainees in some sort of pursuit to find out what is right. They determine what maximal volume is acceptable in training, what ideal frequency is to occur, the exact moment protein synthesis occurs at, what specific genome is best suited for lifting, etc etc. Why do they do this? Because they FEAR freedom.It’s so terrifying when you are told that you have the freedom to do whatever you want. Don’t I HAVE to squat if I want to get strong? Don’t I HAVE to drink a protein shake immediately post training? Don’t I HAVE to have a strength foundation before doing a bodypart split? Hell no! YOU ARE FREE! You have the freedom to decide, to act, to plot and plan and scheme and execute and conquer and succeed! It’s a choice that gets made by YOU! …isn’t that horrible?It’s absolutely tyrannical because there are SEVERE consequences for exercising your freedom: specifically, the consequences of your own actions. If you decide to never squat, you suffer whatever consequences are inherent in those actions. The same is true of never doing mobility work, of benching 7 days a week, of running Smolov on top of Westside, or any other idea you come up with freely of your own volition. There are laws of the universe that you are beholden to as you exercise your freedom, but this ultimately means that YOU are your own dictator here. No one else gets to decide the results of your actions.Why does this matter? Because people are so quick out there to tell you what you MUST do. And, in turn, people are equally in a rush to listen to these nutjobs, because people CRAVE a master. Having never tried otherwise, they’ll tell you that you HAVE to consume protein in the “anabolic window” or else the workout is wasted. And they’ll cite studies and references until they’re blue in the face, but never once was it a question of exercising their freedom and trying otherwise. They’d rather live like a prisoner. These are the same people who beg to have some sort of drill sergeant type trainer to keep them on task in their training and nutrition, because left to their own devices, they’d exercise their freedom to not get to their own goals. These people are so terrified of freedom that they’ve sold themselves to slavery for the sake of security.But with as comfortable as a life of bondage may be, it is never a fully realized existence.It’s an existence within a bubble: confined, restrained, and ultimately unfulfilled.It is the allegory of the cave: a life that exists of observing shadows and imagining them to be real.To REALLY exist, to live authentically, to experience life, one must choose freedom.And it is a choice.And it is a terrifying choice, because within freedom there is uncertainty, and there is the potential to fail...but only with freedom is there also the potential to succeed.Only when one is free are they able to take the risks NECESSARY to achieve the reward.A slave’s only reward is to not die, but a freeman’s reward is to LIVE, and the two could not be further apart.Be your own master and live under the harsh tyrannical rule of your own freedom.Take chances, make mistakes, stray from the beaten path and face all the consequences that are a result of your actions.And face them as a man who is free, with no one to blame but yourself, and, in turn, LEARN from these actions.Those that are constantly in a rush to find a way to blame anyone but themselves miss out on the best part of failure: learning.You will become much stronger, inside and out, when you are able to accept what you have done, why you have done it, and what you will do in the future to make it better.