22 Jun The Hardcore Fallacy

By Danny Bellmore

What does being “hardcore” really mean? I am quite positive that if you ask twenty different people you would get twenty different answers.

The word hardcore is being thrown around all the time these days, and especially on social media. The word and concept are entirely overused.

What actually constitutes being hardcore? How do you judge something so ridiculous? What really makes a person hardcore? Is it the guy that skips work, so he can be at the gym for a 9 o’clock heavy squat session?  Or do you look at the guy who goes to work earlier, so he can make the 9 o’clock session as being more hardcore? How about the guy who brags that he slept in his friend’s car for months because he was too broke for an apartment,q so he can afford to train? Or would you look at the guy who works a full work week while maintaining the same level of lifting more bad ass? Being hardcore then falls to mere perception.

The word “hardcore” has become a concept and is frequently used as a marketing instrument to push a wide range of selling points. If someone is not able to sell you on their knowledge, they can sell you on a story, or experience they had…or even better, a story or experience they heard about. These jokers will profess, “I am hardcore to the bone, so you should listen to me.” Sadly, too many people fall for that shit.

The bottom line is that everyone has a story to tell and the truly hardcore people never speak about their story. The truly hardcore put in undeniable effort and work because they are programmed to do so and there is no other option. The people who need their egos stroked will climb on their soap box and profess how badass they are. The adversity you overcame makes you more of a hardcore person.  Who cares if you haven’t missed a workout in 10 years? What did you accomplish? Did your total increase, or stay about the same? If it stayed the same your point just became irrelevant.

Pay attention people – no one cares where you lived, or what you went through. That was the result of a choice, or many choices YOU made. Your bad decision making has nothing to do with being hardcore. I look at the people who post such things as people looking for more followers to bolster an empty ego.

Lifting is more mindset than anything else. Longevity is for the athlete that trains smarter, not harder. The progress you obtain can be limited by effort, desire, and your ability to stay injury free.  You can ask any old timer about pushing hard through injuries and how much they talked about those injuries. The old timer’s attitude towards being hardcore today is much different than it was when they were young and seemingly bulletproof.

Want to know how to train for longevity injury free? Pick up a copy of 10/20/Life 2nd Edition. 

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Danny Bellmore

Danny has been involved in powerlifting since 1994. The first swing at a career was short lived due to a major back injury in 1999 that resulted in a 3-level spinal (lumbar) fusion. At that point, he took a 10-year break. Avoiding the gym all together because his body, and back, just never felt right. In 2010, Danny went to handle a good friend at a local meet. That experience re-ignited the fire within and he was back under the bar, never looking back. Danny established an elite total at my first meet back in 2010 and then accomplished a win at the 2012 APF Masters Nationals. Through his win at the APF Masters, he was training using the Conjugate Method, but he wanted a change. He needed a change. Danny reached out to a friend who stated that Brian and the Samson Barbell crew had it going on. In the process of connecting with Brian, he has endured a few setbacks. During our initial discussions, he had torn my rotator cuff and labrum, along with a separated AC joint. The surgery did not "take" and just nine months later, he was back under the knife for a "do-over." During the healing process, he had lost feeling and strength in my right arm. Being pig headed, he waited and waited. My choice to remain stubborn backfired, and I was back in the OR for another spinal (cervical) fusion. Now healed, and a few years under Brian, Danny’s total has moved to 1871 @ 165. He doesn’t like to predict or talk about goals, but he wants more, and feels like he has more. Plans now are to compete at the Senior Nationals in Jacksonville, Florida this June.

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