{"id":21,"date":"2016-12-12T16:09:20","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T16:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drscottstevenson.com\/wordpress\/?p=21"},"modified":"2016-12-16T23:31:59","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T23:31:59","slug":"why-earn-it-perspective-of-an-older-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drscottstevenson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/12\/12\/why-earn-it-perspective-of-an-older-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Earn It? (Perspective of an Older Guy)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each of us is the product of the interaction of our biology<\/strong> (genome, epigenome, etc.) with our environment<\/strong> (culture, climate, family of origin, etc.). \u00a0Of course environment\u00a0changes, shifting over time<\/strong> with the flow of history. Imagine a thought experiment:<\/p>\n

A very distant future you, with access to technology far beyond what\u2019s available to us today, seeks greater \u201cself-knowledge\u201d so you decide to investigate the influence of \u201cnurture\u201d across time on what is means to be \u201cyou.\u201d<\/p>\n

You clone yourself\u00a0at the state of a (fertilized) zygote\u00a0and stealthily travel back in time, \u201cimplanting\u201d genetically identical versions of you across various epochs and cultures representing a wide breadth of the\u00a0human condition. \u00a0We\u2019re talking about examining the effect of technology, language, harshness of living conditions, wealth, childhood nuturing, etc. with control over the genetic starting point. \u00a0(In each instance, it\u2019s \u201cyou,\u201d living a different life.)<\/p>\n

Naturally, with your time machine and mind-reading technology, you can then immediately go back and harvest the knowledge, worldview, and cognitive capacities at any point in \u201cyour\u201d various lives, storing this information so that you can then experience with perfect virtual fidelity (cool\u00a0technology, eh?) what it\u00a0was like to be each of those versions of you.<\/p>\n

Of course, you\u2019d be a different you, each time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014
\nNow imagine \u201cyou\u201d\u00a0growing up just about one generation later<\/strong>, specifically as it relates to learning and gathering information. You grow up not knowing anything other than instant access<\/strong> to the largest collection\u00a0of human knowledge (and ever expanding data) that\u2019s ever existed: The Internet. \u00a0The value of learning the meaning of a new word is framed in the context that you can always look it up<\/strong> (bound paper dictionaries are a thing of the past). \u00a0You relate to others via your phone, social media (and blogs), and can send links and files to share experiences\u00a0instead of pull them from memory and engage in conversation and story-telling.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, sorting through all this information can be a formidable task<\/strong>, one that you may have never been been taught how to do: Search engines provide thousands of \u201chits\u201d and the information is often very contradictory. \u00a0\u201cExperts\u201d often rise to the top of the information heap based upon the number youtube subscribers, Facebook followers and Instagram\u00a0likes. \u00a0News stories about notions of science very often don\u2019t reference the original studies they speak of and online authors most often don\u2019t see the utility in referencing their sources, either. \u00a0(And very few consumers of information bother to test the veracity of sources, so why should you?\u2026) \u00a0You are left trusting what you know to others, missing out on a certain kind of\u00a0processing of information. \u00a0Because it\u00a0is accepted behavior in the world you live in, you may even\u00a0see very\u00a0little reason for first hand gathering of opinions, facts and data or interpretation of the validity of scientific information. \u00a0Everyone else is swallowing the blue pill, so you do, too.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

So what does this have to do with bodybuilding?\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s my belief that there is an intrinsic value<\/strong> that comes from taking a critical mind-set to the various aspects of bodybuilding: training, diet, supplementation, etc. \u00a0This simply cannot be had by naively gobbling down information one is fed from google, youtube experts (or even me, of course). \u00a0Naturally, one relies upon expert opinion because there are only so many hours in the day, but the process of ingraining information, by performing the mental gymnastics of piecing together the story of how muscle grows, how one loses body fat, etc.\u00a0fosters deeper understanding<\/strong> that simply is not available other wise (at least with current technology that I\u2019m aware of). \u00a0Exercising one\u2019s cognitive abilities sharpens them, and processing information in this way seats understanding in a way that you can draw upon it to interpret and problem solve in the future. \u00a0By analogy, memorizing the location of the major skeletal muscles from a book is a far cry from actually finding, palpating, and performing intuitive muscle testing to determine each of these muscles\u2019 action(s). \u00a0The former is very passive process, whereas the latter is actively engaging in the learning process. (Which learning style do you think would help the most in figuring out how injuries occurred or in coming up with new exercises in the gym?\u2026)<\/p>\n

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. \u00a0Teach him to fish, feed him for a lifetime.<\/em><\/p>\n

Earn It!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I chose \u201cEarn It!\u201d as the mantra for\u00a0Fortitude Training<\/a>\u00a0because it reflects that idea that one must earn bodybuilding gains through hard training, but also because of the value in \u201cearning\u201d knowledge by fishing for it oneself<\/strong>. \u00a0Knowledge that one has\u00a0come to by \u201cearning it\u201d is knowledge that one\u00a0owns and can use to foster further knowledge. One\u00a0know the depth and breadth of its roots, its limitations and its application.<\/p>\n

So, in my opinion, there are no \u201cstupid\u201d questions<\/strong> \u2013 a question just implies ignorance, which is the ground state we begin with when it comes to certain areas of knowing. \u00a0(I\u2019m putting aside inborn fears, reflexive actions, etc.)<\/p>\n

However, there are poorly investigated questions<\/strong>, which suggests one has bypasses the act of trying to fish for answers.\u00a0 One might ask oneself:<\/p>\n