Natural man was not heavily muscled!
Man was not going to the gym standing in a mirror doing curls.
Natural man was not taking supplements, drinking protein shakes or worrying about getting enough “Macros” or working their body on a split routine of ” Back and Bi’s or “Shoulder and Tri’s.
Natural man was strong, self reliant and ruggedly tough!
Man lived to survive, to find shelter, to find food and to protect his tribe.
Few men today do anything that resembled a natural man.
Look at some of the men today who live off the grid, who hunt food everyday, who have to fight the harsh climate, men who walk miles a day, cut wood, drag and pull animals or wood back home just to survive.
Working muscle and gym muscle is completely different.
Natural man rarely had enough constant food to maintain much fat or any massive muscle.
The body does not grow massive muscle with a lifestyle of natural body movement, being fat, or massive would put you in a dangerous situation for survival, it would require a man of sloth in past times to gain massive weight because life was constant movement!
The few strong men of old time, were laborers who moved to the occupation of strength, they were the strongest men of their time.
The average man in the past couldn’t care less about squatting, dead lifting, or bench pressing.
I have known thin men who were as tough as nails, and big boys who complain nonstop when they get a cold.
It was rare a man would hit the gym, yet men were stronger, more physically fit more self reliant living with basic food, and manual labor.
I never knew of a weak trash man, junk man, furniture mover, farmer etc they didn’t exist, they couldn’t exist!
Men who had to labor, men who had to hunt his own food, lived in a preditor, prey world, you either stay strong or you starved!
Injury was abuntant, a hard life requires physical and mental toughness, injury only meant you needed to become tougher.
All men that lived physically hard, for survival or war were injuried, no man could escape injury, it was impossible.
But injury was never a second thought, there was little time for rest. Recovery was continue going until you healed, this was a way of life that only built physical and mental toughness, weakness could not exsit!
But all men alike brag about injury either as an excuse, or to brag.
Injury is weakness, injury should be kept secret!
Natural men in the past, might not have been gym stronger, but they were physically and mentally stronger and more durable!
Johnny Grube
Very well said John . I love being a laborer everything is just say better when you labor. . Your shower feels better at the end of the day , your meal is much more appreciated etc… You notice you ever rarely see heavily muscled guys in a labor enviorment . It’s very rare.
Happy Fathers Day John
@Chuck
Smaller guys would kick a big guy’s ass no problem lol.
Very true. Great article Johnny. One of my best friends Dads was an iron worker for 40+ years and “scrawny” by most standards. However, at 65 years old, while a few of us (4) struggled to slide an old 700 lb (at least!) coal furnace w/ auger onto a truck (mind you, there was nothing to grip foot or hand wise) he came over and said, “Excuse me, I’ve got this – I have tremendous upper body strength.” It slid like hot butter and he was so graceful about it – didn’t even contort his face or struggle in the slightest. I had heard stories about him for years – how even the 20 year old’s at work disliked him because they had to keep pace with him (“8 for 8” was always his response. 8 hours of pay for 8 hours of WORK), and how he once tore a car door off out of anger while drunk. 71 now and still a beast!
It’s like Johnny has said many times…years and years of work with no rest builds an unbelievable amount of tendon/ligament strength (isometrics) that isn’t bulky but yields superhuman strength. It takes years to develop.
Nance, great reply, thanks for sharing.