From the Desk of Maverick Brenton.
Subject: Removing the Bullshit.
In the gym and in life, it’s easy to get pulled off the path by bullshit. We have so many options for everything in this world that it’s hard to see through it all and remember what genuinely matters - the stuff that moves the needle, the things that are important
There’s a program for everything now. There’s a diet fad for everything. There’s brands that say X about you, and I’ve been judged for training with rusty barbells on a broken concrete floor - to me it’s the same shit. 100kg is 100kg, what difference does it make how it looks?
Over the course of my 20’s up until now at the age of 26, I’ve never stopped training. In fact I haven’t stopped since I started 11 years ago. Week after week I’ve been in the gym or doing some form of physical training. Nothing to me feels better than a hard workout, moving more weight, my muscles on fire, and a head that is clear and calm from sweating it out after a thousand hard reps.
It is a gift to have a healthy body that can pump iron without injury. Good day or bad day, you can just walk in and rep it out. Heavy squats. Dips. Pull-ups. All the stress, anger and frustration travels through your body and onto the weights, then into the immortal soul of the iron. She takes whatever you give her, anytime, anywhere. All the pain, frustration, anger, fear. She consumes it all on demand.
Then you head out with the boys or you go home, and you pound beef, milk, eggs, rice. Whatever it is you stuff your face with after a hard training session. The sleep that night is incredible. Your body is tired and your muscles are throbbing from 100 sets of hard work. So you fall into the deepest sleep you can imagine, and you wake up feeling completely refreshed. Then you pound some coffee, get more protein into your body, and you head off to attack whatever it is you do for work.
Maybe you lay pipe in the fields. Maybe you’re a concreter. Maybe you stack shelves in a supermarket. Maybe you run companies. Maybe you do sales like me. But no matter your profession you go through the day with your head held high. You’re built like a brick shit house. You are strong, and you walk like it. All day you think about getting back under that barbell, picking up those weights, and repping it out again. You think about how good it will feel to get that pump. You look at your arms in any reflection you find, and you smile with pride at what you have built.
It’s the product of hard work, discipline, consistency and sacrifice. It’s the end result of a long held vision. You’ve carved out your own granite beast. It feels incredible. Because only a few men have it, and what you’ve got can’t be rented. Muscle is earn’t, steroids or not.
Doesn’t matter what you do for a living either, you’re part of a global brotherhood that needs no specific amount of money to join, or profession, or status. All that’s required is blood, sweat, tears and desire. That’s the real bodybuilding. The old school. The school that made some of the best physiques in the world. Where guys of every occupation would go for 2-4 hours and train harder than any of these fucking pussies today have ever trained. That’s what I love, it’s what got me into this.
Pumping 80’s music off a stereo in a gym with a dirt floor. 2000 calorie protein shakes with peanut butter, ice cream and raw eggs. That’s what built my foundation. Years of hammering barbell movements, pull-ups, dips and throwing around homemade strongman equipment.
It’s an incredible feeling seeing your body transform before your eyes, from a weak and feeble frame into a powerful, thick, muscular beast of a body. It’s been about 11 years for me now, and that time has went by quick. The older I get the faster she moves. Now I’ve realised that, now I’ve become grateful for what I have. A lifelong friend, a partner who never lets me down.
At the age of 14 I picked up my first weight, and right then she sunk her teeth into my soul and the iron has had me possessed since. But I fell off the path recently, and I have fallen off a number of times. Life gets in the way, it does for all of us. Work happens, suddenly we have “bills”, and we can’t just live off mum’s cooking and smash 1500 calories protein shakes all day. We have to get out there and carve out a spot for ourselves in the world. So that’s what I went and did. Through thick and think I always trained. In my lowest lows, highest highs, it didn’t matter.
It was a rough journey, and at 26 I’m still only just getting started. But after many ups and downs, and trying a lot of professions, I found a few things that work for me. For a while there I got sucked into this flashy life, thinking that what was on my wrist or my instagram mattered more than what was in my heart, but I am back on track now. Back to my old foul mouthed, no fucks given self - who only cares about making progress with my work, getting bigger and stronger in the gym, and enjoying my life.
I’m back to who I was ten years ago, and I know what matters to me. It’s suddenly become clearer than it has ever been before, and it feels good. I thought I needed everything to feel happy and have some self worth, I thought I needed to be the most successful, the most everything, but I really don’t, and you don’t either. All you need is to remember who the fuck you are and not budge.
If a girl doesn’t want you because you drive an old truck, or you wear cheap clothes, or you live a basic life that isn’t filled with clutter, then she’s not for you. Don’t kneel before anything you don’t believe in or want. Don’t ever sway in the wind of life. Stand strong. Stay true to who you are, do what you want, and don’t follow something you don’t believe in.
This world will try to change you, but don’t let it, because there’s nothing but misery in pretending to be a man you’re not - you will awaken each day into a world overflowing with emptiness, wondering why and how you could have everything but feel as though you have nothing,
No matter who you are or what you do, or where you’re from and how much money you have - all that matters in life is you stick to your guns and do what the fuck you wanna do. Spend your time how you want. Live your life in such a way that makes you happy. But remember that happiness is the product of pain. As a young man all I wanted to do was lift weights, eat food, make money and write these articles. So that’s what I do now.
Fuck the flashy shit. I’ve got all I need. Give me a beat up truck and a torn up mattress over a 5 star hotel any day and I will take it. That’s who I am. I tried luxury and I didn’t like it. I get the same sleep in my swag out in a rainy forest, that I do in some $600 per night hotel filled with fat croissant eating cocksuckers that speak to the staff like they are beneath them. No thanks, give me a rough country pub or a campfire over that shit any day. That’s me.
In life and in the gym, if you ever find yourself lost, just go back to the basics.
You can have whatever you want in this world…but that doesn’t mean you either should want or that you need any of it. In fact you need very little to live a good life. I’ve almost destroyed mine and a lot of good relationships in the pursuit of something I didn’t even need. When all I ever wanted was always right there in front of me. Good food, hard training, satisfying work, and a life well lived. But it took all to get all. Sacrifice is a necessity. I wouldn’t change anything about how I’ve lived, and it taught me more than any book or youtube video ever could.
Remember what matters.
Stick to what works for you and fuck the rest of it. Don’t forget what made you who you are, and never think you are less than someone else just because they have more followers on the internet, a more expensive watch, a better car, a nicer house. Some of the best men I’ve ever known had missing teeth and lived off canned fish. Roughness is a good quality.
A man’s true worth comes from within. It’s who he is. You can take it all from him but it won’t matter because he can get it back. He knows who he is and doesn’t bend to bullshit. But the world today has forgotten that, I forgot that, but only for a little while.
The solution is going back to the basics.
In your training, in your life. Strip away the shit, keep it real, and say fuck you to anyone or anything that wants to try and make you something you’re not.
Thanks for reading.
Filed under · Bodybuilding
