The New Crop of YouTube Bodybuilding "Experts"

Bodybuilding -  You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means!

Something new is happening in the bodybuilding world, something completely unprecedented as far as I know.  I am speaking of the huge new crop of self-proclaimed bodybuilding experts.  Typically, these guys are 16 to 25 years old, skinny, have never competed in bodybuilding, and do not look at all like bodybuilders.

You might wonder:  "Who would listen to these self-appointed bodybuilding gurus, who boast months of training experience, act as if they know everything there is to know about bodybuilding, but have not built there own bodies to any appreciable degree?"

At least, that is what I wonder.  In the old days, the paradigm was different.  If you were a successful bodybuilding competitor (usually someone who had done well at the national amateur level), and if you looked like a bodybuilder, folks would listen you your advice on bodybuilding.  But now, suddenly, you don't need to have competed to know everything about bodybuilding.  It is not even necessary to look the part!  What a day we live in!

I first became aware of this phenomenon by watching this video debate between Dave Pulcinella (a very good and experienced bodybuilder) and the immensely popular but completely inexperienced Ian McCarthy.  I was appalled at the know-it-all attitude that Ian exhibited toward Dave.  Given Dave's incredible bodybuilding accomplishments, a bit of deference, a modicum of humility might have been expected.  But no, not from Ian!  He has Science on his side, and therefore knows far more than Dave about bodybuilding.



Here is Ian again, in a follow-up video.  It is important to note that he has hordes of rabidly faithful followers.  I don't understand why.  It is some sort of rebellion against traditional (i.e., REAL) bodybuilding?  Is it some sort of Radical Mediocrity movement?  Check out this guy's amazing physique!

Ian's Follow-Up Video

But Ian is far from the only new expert!  Check out this fellow with the incredibly inappropriate name "Big Zeus":



This fellow has so far learned about trap development, but not learned about deltoids.  He also believes that giving up Coca-Cola is too big a sacrifice for most people to make in the pursuit of bodybuilding:



No comment necessary:






Why would anyone listen to someone who looks like the Pillsbury Dough Boy?  But, yet, he feels compelled to share his expertise:



Important thoughts on not rushing into pre-workout forumula use!



It makes me nostalgic for the good old days, when accomplishment proceeded mentoring.

Planet Fitness: Anti-Bodybuilder. Now, Anti-Hot!

My diligent viewing of the TV show Mad Men should have made me realize that, eventually, every advertising strategy will be used.  Like that VW ad featured in an early episode:



I used to think that advertising would appeal to the desire in us all to be winners, to be the best at something.  But I have completely underestimated the advertising appeal of mediocrity!  No entity had capitalized on the massive thirst for mediocrity (and the attendant fear of the achievements of other) than has Planet Fitness.

I already knew that Planet Fitness was the place where you could safely work out without the danger of building any muscle:



But now, I am surprised to find that (if you are a woman, anyhow) Planet Fitness is the place where you can work out without becoming beautiful (hot)!  Who knew that there was such a pent-up demand to pay for a product or service that leaves you totally unchanged?!  I may have to given more consideration to my "instant water" scheme.



Planet Fitness had "pizza nights" and bowls of Tootsie Rolls at the door, to help guarantee that you don't turn into a bodybuilder or a hottie.  I still have to admit that it is surprising to me how many folks want to be comforted in their mediocrity rather than urged on to excellence.

The Selfishness of the Eager Martyr

I recently had an exchange on facebook with a friend who had posted a status update rejoicing in a Congresswoman refusing to be sworn in using a Bible.  I questioned her about why she wasn't the least bit sad (in fact, she was hilariously happy!) over the loss of Christian influence in the public sphere.

Here was her answer:

"I think that's another point where we diverge, because I see that historically, Christianity has done best when it's on the margins, and in general I feel like our witness will only be better and brighter if the world goes to hell around us- I think our kids will have a much stronger influence than what I was able to have."

She didn't mention how strong our witness and our kids' witness would be after we have been beheaded under sharia law.  I don't think it is loving to our kids to hand them over to a world that is ready to slaughter them.

Anyhow, let's examine her motivation:  We should want the world to go to hell so that we can do a better job of evangelizing?  I understand that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, but I don't think we are supposed to actively seek martyrdom, nor to seek a world which is so hostile to the Gospel that it makes many martyrs.  To do so is to be willing that the majority of other people live and die in disbelief, merely so that we can "shine out like stars" among the perishing.  That's selfish and perverse.

Alien Invasion (2006)

Here is the Christmas poem I penned for 2006:

Christ Has Come (2005)

Here is the Christmas poem I wrote back in 2005.

Incarnation (2004)

Here is the next in my series of Christmas poems.  The subject of this one is the way in which God, in the Incarnation, though possessing unlimited freedom of choice, limited himself to one particular set of human characteristics to give his son Jesus.

Christ the Meteor (2003)

I'm not going to get a new Christmas poem composed this year, so I'm going through my old files and digging out some older ones.  This is the one I wrote for Christmas, 2003.