No, there’s this weird dichotomy that people…I hate speaking like this because it’s like, “Oh, he’s an elitist,” or whatever.
People like me who are like competing at the top end of the powerlifting or the strength sports spectrum, some of the stuff that I say isn’t necessarily meant to be applied to the vast majority of people, which is the vast majority of people that are following me.
I know that 95 percent of the people that are following me, they’re not setting out to be the best in the world. They’re setting out to be the best version of themselves, which is amazing.
There’s a separation there. I don’t know if you saw or if anybody who’s listening to this, my significant other, Brianny, she just transitioned from powerlifting to bodybuilding, competed in her first Women’s Physique show, and then went on to nationals, got fourth at nationals, had a very, very successful season.
On one of her posts, she was talking about, I can’t even remember, but it was going the next level on whatever endeavor she’s finding herself in. I commented something, where it was like, “Showing up isn’t half the battle. It’s the bare minimum,” or something like that.
I had people respond to me and be like, “Man, this is bullshit. What the fuck, Joe. Sometimes, that’s the hardest thing for a lot of people.” I get that and I understand that, but that statement isn’t meant for the people who are saying, “Well, I’m not squatting 900 pounds. I’m not doing it to that level.”
The people in that position, they can afford a lot more balance, a lot of much “healthier relationship” with what it is that they’re doing in order to achieve all-time world records, certain physique looks, levels of body fat, or whatever achievement that you set yourself out to.
There’s a point where you can’t really expect balance. You can’t expect moderation. If you succeed, you’re either one of the most genetically gifted people on the planet and you should consider yourself blessed, or you’re delusional because you’re not getting to where you could be otherwise.
It’s a matter of perspective because I am, sometimes, incredibly jealous of the people.
I live in Las Vegas. This is a very party-centric, have fun, go out, hang out type world. A promoter friend of mine who is one of the big guys at some of the clubs here, texted me today. He’s like, “Hey, do you want a free table today at one of the clubs because I think Kygo is playing or something?”
This table would go for $7,000 because it’s on stage and I’m like, “No, man. Sorry. I’m benching right now and I have a podcast later. I need to rest because I have a heavy squat on Sunday.”
Part of me sometimes, I’m like, “Man, I wish I could be like, ‘Yeah, we gonna do that because that’d be really fun,” but being in the position that I’m in, you can’t afford that level of balance at this point in the training cycle.
People that are more relaxed about it, you could argue it’s a bit healthier relationship. It’s not so much healthy in terms of their peak physical achievement, but healthy in terms of like, “Hey, it’s OK if we don’t do this and it’s OK if we do this.” I’m jealous, sometimes.