Gentlemen,
When you have a strong body but a weak mind you are a meat-head.
When you have a strong mind but a weak body you are an egg-head.
When you have neither you are useless.
When you have both you are a force to be reckoned with.
In order for man to succeed in life, God provided him with two means, education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the other for the body, but for the two together. With these means, man can attain perfection. —Plato
The damned thing is if you weren't born smart you will never be smart.
On the other hand, if you were born weak (or, more likely, allowed yourself to become weak) you can make yourself strong through vigorous exercise.
I have good news, friends. Dumb people don't read, it is therefore highly likely that you are a smart person.
The question, friend, is will you put your smarts to good use and develop your body along with your mind?
Will you become whole?
Or are you satisfied being half of what you should be.
Do you care to attain perfection? Do you aspire? Do you strive? Do you give your best?
I do.
-Victor Pride
I don’t know if you have ever read this speech, Victor, but it is one every man today should read. My squad leader gave it to me years ago but I still reread it often today motivation. It is Admiral Rickover’s “Thoughts on Man’s Purpose in Life” speech. If nothing else it may give you material for a future post. http://nielsolson.us/Writing/RickoverRotaryAddress10FEB77.html
One speech that has been an encouragement to me and shaped my identity as a man has been Admiral Rickover’s “Thoughts on Man’s Purpose in Life Speech” My squad leader gave it to me to motivate me during a tough time. It is the second result in a google search of the above in quotes. It may be an encouragement to you as well or if nothing else give material for a future post. You’ve got a great thing going here Victor. Keep up the good work
I’ll have to check it out.
The awesome part is that exercise also increases the blood flow to the brain. Every hour I spend on the mat or under the iron gives me a few hours of concentration in the lab or class.
“A strong mind in a strong body” Another quote from the greeks, I just can’t remember who said it.
Reminds me of the “Three Pillars of Health” I talk about, Mind, Soul, and Body. Build all three and your a force to be reckoned with for sure.
I don’t have a weight set. Instead I use cinder blocks and a rake handle. Gets the job done just the same. There’s no excuse to not get in shape. 6 months from now I will have reached perfection.
Agreed. Don’t let a lack of equipment be an obstacle. Instead improvise. It is amazing what can be used as exercise equipment when one opens their mind.
Victor, it is definitely time to become whole. I am looking forward to “Body of Spartan”!
I agree.
It is attractive when a beautiful female has intelligence to match and i know females feel the same way about men.
Too many physically imposing athletes can’t string together grammatically correct sentences during interviews. It’s embarrassing to watch sometimes.
And, in battle, a strong body without a sharp mind is not ideal. Similarly, a sharp mind without a strong body is not ideal. Ideally, the two are in tandem.
Good post! Thats the way we like it in germany…
I believe both,
That if one is not smart he can attain smart through reading books and experience life through different visions.
just as,
if one is not strong he can attain strength through weight lifting and experiencing, trying different ways of becomming stronger.
Great website,
Victor, strong body and strong mind are both prerequisites to becoming a man - completely agree.
I thought you were going to take this a totally different direction though. What if you stopped listening so much to the bullshit mental chatter and instead began to listen more to your body? What if our body was much more in tune with what is really going on around us?
Trusting our gut is the the elementary stage of body-based awareness. Hammering the body into steel at the gym, I believe, starts to open us up to moving past our weaker minds into beginning to occupy a more worthy place - our bodies which are gateways to more reality and truth than our grey matter upstairs.
Your material is strong, and I have to agree with you that more mental (and bodily) clarity is achieved by MOVING and exerting force at the gym physically - the notion of meditation is realized for me by hitting the gym, hard.
Thanks for this reminder and the ongoing reminders to get stronger in the gym.