What Defines “Hardcore”?
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I believe that when a lot of people think about a person or a gym being “hardcore”, they think about the stereotypical dingy gym with broken equipment, no fringe whatsoever, no lights, huge guys wearing combat boots, hoodies, clown pants and drinking from gallon jugs while spitting in the water fountain.
Here’s a secret: I hate those gyms. While I do like to lift very heavy, I like to do so in my own corner of the gym with little or no attention outside that from my workout partner, making sure that I’m not slacking on my form to get a few extra pounds up. I don’t like noisy people grunting on every rep, I’m not a fan of slamming weights, dropping dumbbells between every set and people making a mess wherever they happen to go in a gym.
In fact, the term “hardcore”, in my opinion, has nothing to do with how much weight you lift, the type of gym you lift in, or the type of attire you wear while you workout.
Hell, I wear mostly Under Armor clothing when I workout – hardly old flannels or undershirts. I always have my Vibram 5 Finger shoes on (because I’d prefer to lift barefooted, but I wear them whenever I wear shoes, except to church) – I haven’t put on a pair of combat boots on since I left the Air Force in late 2004. My personal training studio? It is painted light blue and grey (kind of like the colors from a Red Bull can). The gym I lift in is pretty frilly too. I personally don’t use 90% of the equipment in there (most of it is completely useless, for the record). But I’d confuse most of the people that lift at the gym I workout at as people who are visiting a gym for social activity, not to workout.
You’ve seen my videos and it is obvious that I train with very heavy weights. Unfortunately, due to the myths that many figure competitors and bodybuilders like to perpetuate, lifting heavy does not make you gain freakish muscle. I hear so many people say that they don’t want to lift heavy because they aren’t trying to gain a ton of muscle. It just doesn’t happen that way. They think that if they train light they are doing more to “define” certain areas. “Defined” means the absence of body fat with the presence of muscle. You cannot “define” a muscle - muscle either grows or it diminishes. There’s no state of hardening, leaning, defining, etc. I’m not sure why people ignore this simple science but it is what it is.
So, what is hardcore?
To me, it’s being serious enough to allow your fitness level and goals play a role in every decision you make. It’s getting up an hour or two early to workout. It’s not going out at night because you have a date with the weights in the morning and you want to be rested. It’s breaking out the Gladware containers you brought to work for your lunch, not loading up to go to the nearest Mexican restaurant because everyone at work is going. It’s saying no to that birthday cake because that isn’t the type of food you eat. It’s when happy hour for you has something to do with a squat rack or maybe some dumbbells or an elliptical machine, and not some bar where everyone is artificially happy because their sense of reality is distorted due to alcohol.
It has nothing to do with wearing string tank tops, shaving your arms, or trying to be “Hollywood”, look like Arnold or some blonde in the SI Swimsuit Issue. Hardcore is a state of mine. It doesn’t fluctuate because it’s January, early Spring, because you have a vacation coming up, or because you want to look like you did 10 or 20 years ago. No, it’s none of those things. Or maybe, it’s all of those things. Maybe, it’s waking up an hour early to cook all of our meals for the day. Maybe it’s using the same grocery list week in and week out. It’s shaker bottles with our meal replacements, taking our supplements at a certain time, Gladware containers full of chicken breasts and rice, working through lunch to get to the gym a few minutes earlier (or going to the gym at lunch), having a water bottle with us as religiously as other people have their wallets or purses, and having that “workout songs” playlist on our iPods.
“Hardcore” is simply someone that holds themselves to a certain standard. They may never tell you that they workout or that they only eat foods that grow from the ground (or eat things that only eat things that grow from the ground). It’s a state of mind. It doesn’t mean flaunting, flamboyant, cocky, or arrogant. It has nothing to do with age or gender. I know “hardcore” teenagers, grandmothers, and hardcore people in between. I know hardcore executives, stay at home mothers, athletes, and even pastors, school teachers, surgeons, real estate agents, paralegals, computer programmers, accountants, students, and nurses.
We don’t view being “hardcore” as a status symbol or someone who has to show it by the clothes they wear or by the way they behave in the gym. It’s in our decisions and the way we live our lives. It’s not a label that we flaunt or even care if anyone else sees us that way. It’s not being in amazing shape, as long as you’re striving to be in better shape tomorrow that you are today.
Many people talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Many others walk the walk but never say a word.
What’s holding you back? It’s not a lifestyle that anyone will do, but we all have the ability to do it if our goals mean anything to us. Excuses don’t lead to body transformation: action does.
Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454
