Jim Wendler on "Hardcore"

I am a sucker for anything Jim Wendler says or writes.

This quote is from an interview with him and Dave Tate over on T-Muscle. I cut out a bunch in the middle,the majority of it not work/family safe. Hence the bracketed ellipses [. . .].

JW: Yeah, they don't need validity from any outside source. [. . .] Hardcore is engaging in an activity that you love and don't care what anyone else thinks. If you're hardcore, you'll never question why a guy wants to do something.

That is exactly how I feel about lifting. And MMA. I don't question why other people would want to get into the ring. I don't regard it as sane, especially, but I understand how you can have a need to do that.

The specifics I'm interested in, though. I won't ask, "Why do you go to the gym?" but I may ask, "What do you do at the gym?" I'll ask "When is your next fight?" or "Do you plan to fight a lot, or just this once?" but "Why?" . . . no, not in the general sense. I know why. I understand having that need to lift and train, and I can't explain it anymore than others can explain it to me.


As a total aside, it's cool to know that Jim Wendler does 5/3/1. Not just the program's author, he uses it. More like he's shared his program with everyone else than written one for others. Nice.