I've been saying, "I'm anti-hardcore. Being hardcore is stupid. Don't be hardcore" for a few years now.
But it never quite sounded right.
Here's what I meant: being "stupidly hardcore" is continuing to exercise or train through an initial injury, not respecting your body if you're underslept, fatigued, stressed, ill, over-heating, dehydrated, or similar -- and not just physically, but also mentally, and also in terms of teamwork and leadership.
Take Bill Walsh, the NFL coach. In the excellent book The Score Takes Care of Itself, his son reminisces:
"He [Bill Walsh] recognized that the old boys' network that defined the NFL management and ownership in those days [didn't appreciate that] his style was not traditional, not heavy-handed. It was more professional or corporate in style than the shouting and screaming, intimidation, and punishment that were the usual tools of old-school head coaches in the league. Here's a very small example: In those days, one method of "toughening up" players was to prohibit them from drinking any water while they were on the field during practice. Bill Walsh allowed it, because he saw no gain in the policy. In fact, he felt that depriving players of water during practice was counterproductive; it lowered performance. The "toughening up" approach, however, was the one owners felt comfortable with because it had been around since the start."
The owners of the day liked to see the players "being hardcore."
Bill Walsh was too busy to be hardcore. He was too busy winning three Super Bowls, being twice-named Coach of the Year, and assembling one of the most impressive sets of innovations and career in completely turning the San Francisco 49ers from a laughingstock to a powerhouse.
The owners liked hardcore. Stupidly hardcore.
So I say I'm anti-hardcore, but it doesn't sound right. I do believe in being disciplined, rigorous, mentally tough, conditioning one's mind and body, being service oriented... I believe in being fanatical in doing the right thing, I'm anti-expediency, I think complaining is the second lamest thing in the world, second only to crying about things without improving them.
But hydration is real, and stress is real, and sleep is needed, and training through injuries is typically a really bad idea.
If I tweak something in a workout, I just stop. It doesn't matter. One workout being crummy doesn't matter. But when you rip the cartilage in your knee, that screws your life up.
I did that, being hardcore, once. Too much weight doing squats. 215 lbs while I weighed around 170 or 180. But I wasn't genuinely at that level. My form was off. And when I started to feel a little weak, I didn't want to go down in weight. Look at those plates! WOW I'm manly.
Was it worth all the physical therapy?
Hell no it wasn't.
It wasn't worth all the physical therapy I had to go through. The days of being unable to walk. Getting prescribed an obscene amount of anti-inflammatories. I still have to stretch every day or my left knee starts hurting.
So when I've said I'm anti-hardcore, that's what I mean. Don't do that. And if you've got some ultra-bro idiot in your social circle that wants to push other people unsafely past their limits, (1) don't do that yourself, and (2) tell them to knock it off and stand up to it if they're pushing other people into doing dumb stuff.
And yet, "anti-hardcore" doesn't sound right. I do believe in being "good hardcore" in training -- disciplined and rigorous, tough, methodical.
But I think I've got a new phrase for it.
Anti-stupidcore.
Stupidly hardcore = stupidcore.
Yeah, I'm against that.
Anti-stupidcore.