Thank you for succinctly phrasing responses to all the crap that’s shoved at us for years about exercise, fitness, and working out. (The men are getting sold a bill of goods, too, and many of them embrace it. I pity them. They don’t have you to tell them any better.)

I’ve been lifting for about three months now. I can now deadlift safely, thanks to your video. I weigh a little less, but my jeans are loser and the shoulders of my shirts fit tighter. A paper copy of this rant rests on the desk near my lifting stuff, alongside a boom box and my notebook. Every now and then, I read it again. To remind me that this is my workout, *my* decision, *my* strength, *my* journey, and no one else gets to tell me what my goals should or shouldn’t be (with the possible exception of my doc), or what I can or can’t do. Your rant gives all of us the realization that we are our own bosses and that we are in charge of our own strength. And we shouldn’t let anyone take that away from us, ever.

Again, *thank you*.

and THAT is true strength.

Thank you.

Love this:

"Some days we have workouts so lousy that we want to leave the gym with a paper bag over our heads. Some days we have workouts when heavenly choirs sing and gently hoist our barbell with shining fingers. Some days we have workouts only in the sense that we put on running shoes. Some days we have workouts after which we double-dog-dare the world to fuck with us."

Thank God for sites that don't try to cutesify the fuck out of everything.