Lifting Weights Doesn't Make You Badass

In the words of Harry Selkow, “Strong people make other people stronger. They don’t put them down.” But that isn’t what I see on a daily basis. I see the opposite. I see people using lifting weights as a tool to insult people and make up for all the other things they lack in life. If you truly have no life outside of a barbell, I honestly feel sorry for you. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again—no one cares how strong you are if nobody knows that you’re strong.
I’ve made enough selfish mistakes to know that the greatest use of any “strength” I’ve built is to apply it to helping other people. Being told I have muscular arms is a great ego boost, but I’m not making anyone’s life better for it and it sure as hell isn’t making me more badass. Whatever lifting you do—and I don’t care what kind—it should hopefully be a reflection of your dedication to get stronger. It should reflect your values and efforts. It should represent a work ethic. It should be something that you can tie into other areas outside your life and say that it does something positive for you.
Lift because it makes you a better person, not so that you can say you’re badass. I’ve known far too many tough people in my life who don’t squat, bench, or deadlift to say that doing those things makes you anyone special. Your experiences, your reactions to adversity, the care that you show to others, your cool under fire and ability to act—those are the things that make someone a tough person. To simplify them down to numbers on a bar and only that diminishes both yourself and everything that the iron could stand for.
Make the iron stand for something. Make it represent more than just bars and numbers. Make it something to be proud of. And use it in the service of others more than anything else.