Commercial gyms back in the 1990s, when I started out lifting as a little skinny-fat squirt, were all based on machines and a choice selection of dumbbells, cables, and benches for pressing.
If you got lucky, the place would have a rusty dust-covered squat rack hidden away in the corner, dating back to the Jimmy Carter administration. (Look it up.)
These days, many gyms have upped their game in the equipment department. A big chain gym here in New Zealand is known for filling its gyms with upwards of 8 or 10 racks and even a couple of full-scale platforms with bumpers.
Big win, yes?
I’m not so sure.
Great equipment that you cannot use isn’t very great.
Thanks to social media, squatting, deadlifting, and other barbell lifts such as rows and overhead press are all in fashion.
That’s not bad in itself.
What is bad is how the lifts have been influencer-ized along with the gyms themselves.
Most of these places are so over-booked that you cannot even get hold of the equipment you came there to use.
Filled with power racks, yes, and also filled with lazy 20 year olds who need a 10 minute scrolling break between each set.
Even with more gyms and better equipment, on the whole it feels like we’re getting less for greater cost compared to what we got in 2001.
Gymflation is real.
Unlike the inflation that turns your dollars into pennies, gymflation happens because everyone is optimizing everything and filming it all for the phone.
What used to be a borderline niche hobby for college athletes and weirdos on the margins is now mainstream.
Lifts and physiques that used to be impressive now have to compare with the top 0.1% on Earth in order to rate.
I suspect this is one contributor to the demoralization of the poor folks who are only interested in removing a dad-gut or a mom-bottom.
If you have to compare your day one to an Olympic professional’s career best on a day to day basis, that’s going to mess with anybody.
It’s funny how constantly and relentlessly making things better in one way can make everything else worse. That paradox is one of the more interesting mysteries of life.
It’s also a major reason why I recommend checking out of social media and its status games of comparison.
Competition is healthy and stimulating, but it loses that benefit when it mutates into narcissists battling over their egos.
I don’t care much about what happens in the online world anymore. Much of it reminds me of toddlers having slap-fights.
Awhile back I decided that I will not let the Anonymous Herd dictate to me what I want and how I am going to get it.
My goals are my own. I’m after my own results, for my own reasons. I don’t justify myself to anyone else. That goes for physique and lifting goals, money goals, business goals, goals for family and the kids, and goals for life.
I’m only interested in being around and working with people who share my way of looking at things.
It’s true that I am here as a body-change specialist. I diagnose what is holding you back — really holding you back, not your “workout routine” or “diet” — and help you find real solutions that 1) work and 2) create lasting changes.
But a happy healthy good-living body is only part of a happy healthy flourishing life. You’ve got to have that perspective to make anything good happen.
If you’re interested, let me know what I can do for you.
Matt Perryman