Comments on: What the Russian Mafia Can Teach You About Strength Training

By: Gubernatrix

Gubernatrix — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:03:03 +0000

The Rocky montage is hilarious! I love the way that they are pitting the good old American way against the evil Soviet way. Mightily ironic considering how many American strength and conditioning coaches are now influenced by the old Soviet training methods and research.

BTW, I seem to remember kettlebells making it into the Rocky Balboa training montage. And so the wheel comes full circle…

By: Shaun

Shaun — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:55:05 +0000

I am a gym whore, so should i feel offended? Lighten up, peeps. Btw, since Dolph is an evil russian boxer in the movie, where are the damn kettlebells?

By: MarkFu

MarkFu — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:42:25 +0000

What’s funny to me about the so-called homophobic quote is that is from a fictional movie with actors portraying members of the Russian Mafia. Are we to expect them to be as “enlightened” as we are?
Clearly, the use of this quote merely obfuscated the point Mehdi wanted to make.

By: Bud

Bud — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:25:14 +0000

I don’t have a problem with Mehdi using this quote. It doesn’t imply that he’s homophobic even though the quote itself is. I do think it might not be the most useful quote to use in this context, to get the point of the article across. I think there are more powerful and perhaps “safer” motivational quotes to use. With safer, I mean quotes that people won’t get butthurt (no pun intended!) over, because of the controversial subject included.

By: Mehdi

Mehdi — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 09:46:10 +0000

@Caim
Totally agree on the connection between workouts and the way you run our life. Very very true.

@Leon
Straight to the bar?

@MarkFu
Those were probably plastic weights too Dolph used for the Power Clean

By: MarkFu

MarkFu — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:03:57 +0000

Mehdi,

Funny how you caught the Dolph’s poor power clean form in the context of the entire movie. It is something I often do at the movies with my girlfriend. There is nothing at all believable going on in the movie, but it is entertaining. So, I’ll pick up on some trivial scene and I’ll tell her how that could never happen. She takes the bait usually and laughs out loud at how ridiculous my comment was. (Since when do Russian boxers train on a Versa Climber)!

By: MarkFu

MarkFu — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:37:57 +0000

Mehdi,
I am a whore and am very offended by your slur on “whores and queers”. I want an immediate apology and please be more sensitive to my alternative lifestyle or I won’t read stronglifts.com ever again.

By: catfish

catfish — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:26:04 +0000

Yes, Mehdi, good point!

It’s just mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!

By: Leon

Leon — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 15:44:16 +0000

I have to agree with Cesar and add my voice. He is not alone as a reader here. While Mehdi says he is not homophobic and did not intend to use the quote as a slur, the message that comes across is. It is a commonly held misconception that being gay is caused by outside influences. Including a character’s bigotted thoughts without confronting them is condoning them. Derogatory terms like queer are just as damaging as the “n” word referring to African Americans or a host of other slurs. I always look forward to reading Straight to the Bar and will continue to but do hope for increased awareness on this issue. Cesar. Thanks for being the first to speak out on this on this site.

By: Caim

Caim — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 11:33:30 +0000

Great article, people do choose the easy way instead of choosing the correct way. There was a time when I did that, i let a voice in my head tell me what to do (laziness, excuses…). And I realised that did not only happen with workouts. So as i was analyzing those things in life/workouts i get the conclusion that easy is almost always the “bad” choice. Politicians choose the easy way and get corrupted, same with cops, and other people. Sometimes is not easy to be honest, moral or to do the right thing. But this is not about easy/hard is about right and wrong.
I see a very strong connection between workouts and how you run your life. I can tell about someones character by training with him.
Seeing all that made me change, now I dont try to be disciplined I am. Don’t try to go to the gym when I have a problem, I just go.
Thats the way it work for me now. My other life style was full of weakness. This is harder but I am happier.

(sorry for the bad english again, reading this must be painful)