Image credit: oi.meunome.é.nemo
This article was submitted by Jason, author of World Fitness Network. If you never watched the movie Fight Club, this article has spoilers.
Some people just don’t get it.
I’m sure you’ve encountered them throughout your life. They are the people who go through the motions of every-day life without much of an effort, never trying and never hoping for something better than mediocrity.
For these people, rationalization becomes their source of security; justification is their natural defense.
They rationalize their lives by making excuses about why they can’t achieve great things. And when people around them do achieve greatness, they must justify that success by explaining why it can’t happen to them.
You may have heard it before:
- Constantly eating healthy food proves that you are just a health freak.
- You only want to look better or become stronger because you are so self-absorbed.
- The fact that you see results from your hard work only shows that you’re just lucky to have the genetics you have.
- The success people have in the workplace is only good luck, or having a good upbringing.
In their minds, nothing is internal. Their lives are shaped by all of the external forces which they believe are beyond their control.
Here is a favorite excerpt of mine taken from the movie Fight Club:
Jack and Tyler Durden step onto a bus at night time. They hold onto the hand grips as the bus travels. Jack looks up at an advertisement; a Calvin Klein ad featuring a tan, bare-chested muscle stud.
Jack: I felt sorry for guys who packed into gyms, trying to look like how Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger said they should. Is that what a man looks like?
Tyler Durden: Oh, self-improvement is masturbation. Now, self-destruction…
A man in a suit knocks Tyler’s shoulder as he passes. The Man takes a handle, close by. Jack is angry, staring at the man, who stares back.
Jack: You could take him.
Tyler Durden: The trick is not to care
This short scene from Fight Club is deeply profound, and it represents so many people in the world we live in. Jack says that he felt sorry for all the superficial people that pack into the gyms or go weight lifting to look better.
Of course, Jack’s closest friend, Tyler Durden, is played by the ultra-ripped Brad Pitt. Ironically, Brad undoubtedly had to spend countless hours sweating away in the gym to look that way.
We discover at the end of the movie that Jack’s friend, Tyler Durden, is not a real person at all, but instead is Jack’s imagined alter-ego. Tyler Durden is nothing more than a reflection of everything that Jack wishes he could be. At the deepest level of his sub-conscious self, Jack wants to become Tyler Durden.
Tyler Durden speaks Jack’s inner thoughts, but he outwardly represents everything Jack wants to be.
The trick is not to care
Let your drive go deeper than the people around you. Within the sub-conscious of each of us, we all desire to look good, become admired, build strength, or have the praise of others.
But I believe that the best measure of who we are is not how we look, how high we rise in the workplace, or what we get out of our exercises. It’s what we put into it that matters the most.
The truest measure of strength goes much deeper than the muscles we have on our body, the weight we can lift, or the speed at which we can run. True strength swells within us and drives us to create something great. Building an outstanding physique and powerful body is only an outward display of this inner strength.
When we go to the gym, it is the most difficult set of squats, the last mile we run, and resisting certain foods that separates us from others. If there were no challenges in life, no human would ever be able to rise higher than another.
So the next time someone implies that your desire to look better, become stronger, or achieve success in life is superficial, just remember Jack and Tyler Durden. People only say these things because you are a reflection of the strength they wish they had within themselves.
In the words of Tyler Durden, the trick is not to care.
This article was submitted by Jason, author of World Fitness Network. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to the World Fitness Network blog by clicking here or sign up for email updates.
Nice article, the author shouldn’t have given away the ending of the movie, though, in case someone has inexplicably missed out on “Fight Club”.
yeah, I had just watched the first half of that movie 2 days ago :p, movie is pretty much ruined now, but I like the article tough.
Chuck Palahniuk has a strange perspective on weightlifting and bodybuilding. He says things like:
“The gyms you go to are crowded with guys trying to look like men, as being a man means looking the way a sculptor or an art director says.
Like Tyler says, even a souffle’ looks pumped.”
But in “Stranger Than Fiction” he admits to having tried steroids at one point until he noticed they made his balls shrink. Also, in “Survivor”, the main character is on steroids as well as a whole lot of other messed up stuff to make himself more “aesthetically pleasing.”
Best Article online here in my humble opinion.
I especially like the phrase “It’s what we put into it that matters the most.”
have a nice day everyone
I’ve never understood the moral/meaning behind Fight Club, can someone explain, if there is one
.
“When we go to the gym, it is the most difficult set of squats, the last mile we run, and resisting certain foods that separates us from others.”
I couldn’t agree more. You have to break some barriers to really “grow”.
Thanks for the feedback on the article.
flupn,
Sorry to have spoiled the movie for you. I was in such a dilemma over this one, whether to mention what Tyler Durden is. On the one hand, there are the people who somehow missed this movie all those years, but on the other hand, the key to the lesson lies in what Tyler Durden is. I hope that the number of people whose lives benefit from the explanation is greater than those who haven’t seen the movie. It’s still enjoyable though (I knew the end when I watched it too).
Ro,
I don’t think I could do the movie justice, but I do see a strain of emphasis of self-denial and embracing the pain of life. Hopefully someone else has more to add to my thoughts on the movie.
Alex,
You sound like you’d make the perfect training partner!
This is a great post. I automatically approved it when Jason sent it my way. Check out Jason’s blog for more of this.
@Ro
Fight club is about a lot of things: emasculination, the rat race, awareness, finding a purpose, etc
“Self-improvement is masturbation” means instead of trying to improve yourself, remove what is holding you back.
In Fight Club, Jack first leads a path of self-improvement: example his addiction for ikea stuff. He eventually blows up his own apartement (self-destruction) when he understands it’s holding him back. He’s living a rat race.
He goes further down the road of self-destruction: living in a shitty house vs. the luxury he had before. It’s when he has totally hit rock bottom that he is truly “enlightened”. That’s when he has become Tyler Durden.
It’s very deep, but the lesson taken is that true self-improvement does not happen by trying to change who you are, but rather by removing what is holding your back. Instead of trying to be more confident (which could turn into arrogance), remove the shyness. That is the true path to “enlightment” or awareness. If you want more on that topic, read “Awareness” by Anthony De Melo.
Enjoyed the post, thanks.
Man did u forgot the rules…….The first rule of Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club and the second rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.
nice post by the way
on a serious note…can we add a warning like ***spoilers inside***
Perfect article! I used to be in the Jack camp and still kind of am when it comes to what I call “suits and corporate america.” I’m a network admin so luckily I don’t have to wear a suit. When it comes to my physical self though I want to look great and be healthy as an ox (a tiger looks better though).
[...] lifting more weight really equal to adding more strength? In some cases it is, if you consider the fact that the heavier lifts tend to use more muscle [...]
Fantastic article. I never comment on articles, but I had to express how much I liked this one. Keep up the great work!
This is outstanding. As much as I know that I need to be the one determining my own self-worth, and not what others think, it’s always good to be reminded of that. Fantastic post.
Great article! Thanks for sharing this.
I really like the article, and can truly appreciate the sentiment.
But…
The conversation after a guy in an old military field jacket (not a suit)bumps into them on the bus ends at the “self-improvement is masturbation, now self-distruction…” line. The line as quoted above is from a script that can be found online, but not in the actual movie. I couldn’t find it in the book either.
The line “self-desctruction is masturbation, now self-destruction…” is in the movie. I watched it before the post got published. But the part on “you could take him” is not, correct.
This is great!
I’d like to see a lot more of these kinds of articles on the site. Physically lifting and being technically sound with the equipment is one thing, but actually getting your ass to the gym is another.
5 stars!
Good article. I, too, am a big Fight Club fan; it’s full of some of the best writing I’ve ever seen in the movies.
“…it is the most difficult set of squats, the last mile we run, and resisting certain foods that separates us from others.”
I equate this to pushing yourself out of your ‘comfort zone’. Growth, whether mental or physical, only comes from pushing beyond what’s comfortable thereby exercising the mind and muscles, forcing them to grow and become stronger.
Hi, just found this site when surfing for information on Chuck Palahniuk. After reading this article and the comments i was just wondering if any of you got the point of Fight Club? Fight Club is about hitting bottom. About getting to the worst stage there is and staying there. This means in every aspect of life so that includes physical fitness. I find it amusing that you are quoting it when you have no idea what its about. I admit, the film is very misleading and it does miss the point a bit but some of you are talking about the book. It seems like you either didnt read it properly or you didnt get the point. Its about nihilism, not self improvement. Its the opposite to what you guys are going on about.
Oh and the line “self improvement is masturbation…(etc)” is in the film and in the book.
Try reading it again on a deeper level. Seems like you have only seen the superficial side. I can reccomend “Diary” and “Haunted” by Palahniuk.
Oh, to the guy that mentioned Survivour: yes he uses steroids but its not him that wants to look good, its his agent that encourages him to take them. He just wants to kill himself with the world watching. Which is pretty understandable considering the rest of the book.
Marla
xxx
deep! i never comment posts but this is amazing, a true insight into the human mind and sub-conscious. i love fight club and the views expressed in it. cheers for the thoughts mate
Holy shit I cant believe a novel turned movie whose focus is on the main characters quest for self destruction has been warped into a weightlifters manifesto. The fact the Jack kills Tyler is his final victory/failure over the cult of modern perfectionism. If you truly dont care why the hell would you bother with the first squat, never mind the last? You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else.
If you got to the bottom of all these comments so long after this was origianlly posted - congratulations!
@Marla - It seems that you may not have really understood the point of Fight Club. Nihilism is an easy assumption about the point of the story but it’s a shallow one. Having read Haunted I would think might give you a better understanding of his work and general motivations in story writing. Surely you didn’t think that the point of that story was that mindlessly following the need to be the center of attention really should be the goal of the individual. I wonder if the “murder” of his alter-ego might have deeper meaning after all? Especially after having adopted so many of the alter-egos traits? “You are not what you own” seems more of a theme and that seems pretty close to removing the extraneous and embracing the real you. I’m sorry that exercise seems so shallow to you but I think you really did miss the point of Fight Club; you may have missed the point of all of his stories. Being “rotting meat” and “not a special snowflake” or even “worthless” doesn’t mean the advocacy of nihilistic non-action in Fight Club. Why start a “fight club” then? Struggle is the ultimate resistance to nihilism. Malaise is it’s ultimate destination. There is no Tyler there is, in reality, only Jack just as there is no “person I wish I were” there is only “the person I am”. I can add to that person or take away from that person but that is who I am and who I will remain. “Self improvement is masturbation” means that the self-help section and all that you can strive to do to change yourself doesn’t mean anything. Being you allows you to change from “chewed wads of bubble gum” to being “carved out of wood”. I just think you read into it what you wanted it to mean not what it was supposed to say.
/steps down off soap-box
“But I believe that the best measure of who we are is not how we look, how high we rise in the workplace, or what we get out of our exercises. It’s what we put into it that matters the most”
I had just lived in a place in Wales, UK for 3 years and in this city it has some of the most outragously high statistics about steroid use between age of 15 - 60 in Europe. Looking at this alone even before I could truly understand the underlining messages within Fight Club I can see clearly the low self esteem about the way they look, and how they could better that by taking the drugs, yet it doesnt prove inner strength. Many men I believe still confuse inner and outer strength. But drugs aside, it goes back to other references in the film namely about consumerism. To quote Jack “I loved every stick of furniture in that place”. I’m pretty much sure that many people want to be that shiny looking new consumer product in a box unopened and fresh, rather than losing all and finding who and what they truly want with life.
“It’s only after you have lost everything, your free to do anything” But what I want to know is are you lost if you can’t lose everything?
I’ll wrap up my comment with a quote from a recent movie I have taken something from that plays off the same theme. Batman Begins, Racheal says to Bruce -
“…but it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.”