Music

(C'mon, not every blog can be about working out)

I grew up listening to a few different styles but all had similar attitudes.  I listened to Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the entire grunge scene, to Wu Tang Clan, Eminem and 2Pac to The Doors, The Who and Jimi Hendrix.

They hated pop and anything "manufactured."  Anything fake was offensive. 

They hated "rules," and marketing themselves.  They hated the pressure to change for the sake of sales or popularity.  Nearly every band listed above heard something along the lines of "Can't you make your first album again?"

I hated Puff Daddy.. What a stupid name.  I hated nsync, i hated TRL... Were there even other bands outside of Seattle in the early 90's?

(I could stop this blog now and those who know me would say "alright, I know where he's going, makes sense.")

They were genuine and real.  What they did, how they were, the music they made, couldn't have been anything other than what it was.  Real.  It was all truth, all heart.  No bullshit.  

It's not rare or weird for music to inspire us and even assist in teaching some lessons.  Thinking of lyrics by Curt Cobain, Pete Townsend, Eddie Vedder, and Jim Morrison bring back some nice thoughts.  I could point to those names/groups and say "they taught me this, this group taught me that," and so on.  During many conversations, someone says something and in the back of my head, I hear the guitar riff that gets it going. 

"Is something wrong, she said..."

The point is, the music was my example of what to I wanted to be and not to be.  Just as they despised "pop," I see that in fitness industry and feel that passion.  

I know an engineer who never stepped into a gym, knows nothing anout training or fitness, yet bought a chain and now getting rich off of it.  An insurance agent buying a bootcamp company and basically outsourcing the training for a fraction of the cost, making a lot of money off of the trainers.  I don't dislike those people but I wish they would've bought a subway instead.  

People see a gym or center and trust it just because its a known name and has big marketing.  When inside, it's just "pop."

Instructors and trainers who flip their opinions and stances as soon as they change "uniforms."  Thats offensive.  

Phony breeds phony.  

Anyone know how crazy top heavy the finances are at a couple local chain gyms? I do.  

At one end, I think "hey, settle down... Plenty of classes and training for everyone... Be nice."

On the other side, I think "Nah, this means too much to sit back and watch wannabes post their crap all day."  

Money or no money, I'll be doing to exact same things, will they?  

We don't run "pop," classes or change our minds based on money or popularity.  

We don't run programs or give coaches favors in exchange for contracts.

We run what we run and train how we train because its great.  And we don't need to buy into a chain or start kissing another companies ass to do it.  

We're looking to continuously develop awesome training packages for people, to serve and help people, not win a popularity contest, not see our names in print, not make a million dollars.  

I don't care if you never know my name or who I am when we meet, I care that you trust the logo will never steer you wrong.  

I read "You do not need to defend the truth.  Set it free, it will defend itself."