What it Means To Be A Man

You’re not a real man just because your balls have dropped, your voice has deepened, or you have some hair on your face. Just because you have a job, lot’s of money, or even a family – although the latter responsibility has turned many a boy into a man – doesn’t give you the title of being a real man either.

Being a man has nothing to do with age, status, or muscle. And everything to do with character.

Freud says we’re a product of our own desires. That these desires are out of our control. They’re innate. Our dreams, goals, and who we are, are a result of our nature and our nurture. They are out of our control.

Viktor Frankl has different theories. Frankl puts the blame, power, and onus on the individual to make his own decisions, create his own desires, and determine who they are, and who they are to become.

Frankl says we have choices. I agree with him. We can choose what influences us. We can rise above our surroundings. We can be a man. This ‘taking control’ and responsibility is at the heart of what it means to be a man. A boy accepts excuses. A man accepts blame.

Character

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” ~ James D. Miles

A real man has characteristics. So does a boy, a woman, a saint, and a scumbag. In this article we’re going to go over a man’s character, and how it is developed.

Read the rest of this entry »

The 10 Best Supplements for Men

I remember walking into a weight room and seeing the jacked guys having their protein shakes – and who knows what else – and thinking that’s what I’m missing. That’s what they’re doing that I’m not, that’ll get me jacked.

So I started taking supplements, all kinds of supplements. But nothing changed. Why? Because our ideal physique doesn’t exist in a pill, powder, or potion. There is no magic supplement that’ll get us our ideal physique. It doesn’t exist.

So why should we take supplements?

We should take supplements to SUPPLEMENT an already healthy diet. Without an already healthy and well-rounded diet filled with lots of proteins, good fats, and vitamins, supplements are literally rendered useless.

However, it’s pretty damn hard these days to get all the nutrients we need, simply from eating whole foods. And so, we use supplements to fill these gaps. As men, filling these gaps can help us maintain a healthy body, recover faster, boost brain function, speed up our metabolism, perform better in our workouts, and naturally raise testosterone levels.

So what should we take?

There’s a ton of confusion out there as to what works, and what we actually need. This list will give you 10 supplements that are great for improving performance and maintaining a healthy body for men. You can read the benefits, and identify if each is something you need or want in your diet.

The following are the 10 Best Supplements for Men Read the rest of this entry »

Do You Deserve What You Want? Shockingly: No.

Do you deserve what you want?

You deserve what you have. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The simple fact is that you haven’t done anything extraordinary to deserve that which you want but don’t have. Am I being a dick? Maybe a little, but no one is excluded from this, including myself, so don’t get your panties in a knot.

In a society where a sense of entitlement runs ramped, we feel we deserve what others have without actually doing what those people have done to achieve what they have. It’s a simplified look at why the world is carrying so much debt.

The obvious objections that we can all throw out there is the kid that just drove by, loud music a blazing in a red Ferrari. What has he done? This is where we (yes, all of us) have to grow some balls. This kid did the only thing he needed to do to get that Ferrari: he was born into the right family.

And I feel sorry for him.

He’s had the one opportunity in life that I think everyone deserves: the opportunity to earn. The gift of a chance to elevate one’s status. The opportunity to give our kids the life we never had.

Hell, the opportunity to prove everyone else wrong. To prove ourselves wrong. To succeed!

Yet, we neglect to see this blessing and instead wine and cry about the kid that did nothing to get that Ferrari. Well, neither did you. Neither have I. If we did what was necessary from us, we’d have the thing. It’s simple.

We are exactly where we’re supposed to be.

Our attitudes towards daily life, even life’s setbacks, and the shit that always seems to hit the fan, determines our happiness. We control our happiness, but we’re still looking outward for an answer as to why we’re not happy. Read the rest of this entry »

the death of heroism

Are you a hero?

By today’s standards, you may very well be.

The modern day hero is the father who is there for his family. He’s the husband who stays faithful to his wife. The person who puts others before himself. The girl who has a crazy idea to help other people instead of simply elevating her own status. The student who raises money for the homeless. The single mother who raises two kids all on her own.

Are these people good people? Yes. Should we admire them? Yes.

Why are they seen as heroes?

Because they are no longer the norm.

We have gotten to the point where we think so little of ourselves and what we can accomplish, that someone who reaches just a tad further than the average person is a hero. 100 years from now, people will be reading about these heroes, watching movies about them. Poor future.

I grew up watching William Wallace take on England, Maximus Decimus Meridius take on the Roman Emperor in the Gladiator. I watched Rambo take on army’s, I read about Joseph being sold as a slave by his brothers, then rising to the height of power in Egypt. Heroes of the past are heroes in the truest sense of the word. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Unconventional Weight Room Mistakes

I’m looking in the mirror at the gym. My shoulders are about as wide as the girl standing next to me. My shirt, a medium, may as well have been a XXXL. To say I was skinny would be an understatement. I was a toothpick.

I couldn’t find a shirt that would fit tight around my arms, or get a girl to take a second look at I walked by. But I worked hard. Very hard

When I was skinny I trained longer and more often than I do now, but my body just wasn’t reacting to what I was doing. Little did I know, but I was making some very simple and fundamental mistakes when it came to my training. Mistakes that, no matter what your training goal is, can’t happen in your training if you want to achieve your ultimate goal as fast as possible.

Have a look at the following list. Are you making any of these mistakes? If so, let me know which one(s) in the comments section, and when you’re going to stop making them (i.e. TODAY!). Read the rest of this entry »

How to Lower Estrogen Levels in Men

The skinny fat man, or more specifically, the man boob. Are they a product of fat, or of high estrogen levels?

Well, the skinny fat man‘s life is kind of a revolving door of one thing contributing to another, all contributing to higher estrogen levels, lower testosterone levels, and a physique that doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence.

However, did you know that fat in itself creates higher estrogen levels in men? Or that we’re surrounded by a material that gives us more of this ‘woman’ hormone?

But what of this hormone? This thing that makes a woman a woman, and a man’s body look like he’s turning into a woman…

Why do men – from a societal standpoint – have feverishly rising estrogen levels? And how the hell do we turn this ship around before the “manzeir” becomes an actual item sold in stores??

The following article will give you strategies to lower estrogen levels, and tips to build lean muscle, and never look like a skinny fat man again. Read the rest of this entry »