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Why "Gym Strength" Makes You Fragile
We live in a privileged society. Thanks to technological and economic advances, we have achieved levels of comfort and longevity unthinkable a century ago. Having more wealth and resources allows us to enjoy fuller, safer lives with our loved ones. This is an indisputable triumph of civilization.
However, human biology did not evolve in comfort. There is one area where this excess of protection is severely limiting us: our physical capacity.
The fundamental error is seeking the same comfort in training that we have on the sofa. More and more people are signing up for gyms, but many are making an inefficient investment. They believe that paying a fee, sitting on a guided machine, and performing 3 sets of 10 repetitions with a moderate load is sufficient.
The reality is technical and cold: if the movement is guided and the effort is low, adaptation is minimal. Going to the gym to "comply" for an hour to sweat a little may work for the first few weeks (the novice effect), but after six months, progress stalls. An appearance of "fitness" is built, but without real capacity.
The goal of training should not be merely aesthetic, but functional and structural. Nassim Taleb, in his work Antifragile, perfectly illustrates this concept through his own experience. After receiving threats during the financial crisis, he had to decide how to manage his security.
Instead of subcontracting his protection, he decided to embody it:
"After the banking crisis [...] The Wall Street Journal suggested I 'stock up on bodyguards' [...]. I started taking the suggestion seriously, and it seemed more attractive (and considerably cheaper) to become one, or rather, to look like one."
Taleb contacted Lenny "Cake", a trainer and security guard weighing 130 kilos (285 lbs), who taught him the difference between real and cosmetic strength:
"He was a proponent of the 'maximum lifts' type of training and swore by it, as he considered it the most effective and the least time-consuming."
If you want real results, you must move away from "domain dependence." Gym machines eliminate the need for stabilization and smooth out the movement, creating what Taleb calls "fragile" strength.
"People who build their strength using these modern, expensive gym machines can lift extremely large weights [...] but fail to lift a stone; they would be completely crushed in a street fight by someone trained in messier settings."
To be truly useful —to yourself and your environment— you need:
Do not seek comfort in training; seek what is necessary. Take an interest in improving your marks in basic movements and gaining global strength. Aesthetics will be an inevitable consequence of a body that functions well.
Training under these principles gives you security, real health, and connects you with a physical reality that modern life tries to hide. Be useful, not just visible.
Text inspired by the book Antifragile by Nassim Taleb.
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