If you’re a man, you should be strong. You need it to survive in today’s society and get ahead in life. Find out why every man needs to be stronger with this blog post!
The “what makes men stronger than women” is a question that has been asked for centuries. There are many reasons why this may be true. Some of the more popular ones include testosterone and muscle mass.
We’ve chosen to reprint a vintage essay each Friday to assist our younger readers discover some of the greatest, evergreen jewels from the past, with our archives currently totaling over 3,500 items. The original version of this essay was published in August of 2014.
When I initially began studying the Art of Manliness, I didn’t consider physical strength to be a particularly vital aspect of masculinity. Character strength was important, but physical strength was a distant second. Perhaps it’s because I established AoM partially to break away from the over-fetishization of being ripped that was (and still is) pushed by other men’s publications. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t in good condition at the time. (I’m definitely not immune to this temptation!) We typically develop our definitions of masculinity in line with what best defines us. I used to play football in high school, but after college, my exercises became inconsistent and half-hearted. This was particularly true in law school, when keeping up with my academics plus operating a nascent blog meant that exercise was just not a priority.
Working out, and particularly lifting weights, has been an important part of my life over the past several years. It all started with my 90-day testosterone experiment, in which I began exercising frequently to see how it would affect my testosterone levels. The habit remained after the formal trial finished. I went from being uninterested in exercise to looking forward to them as my favorite time of the day. And I discovered that strengthening my physique had a positive impact on how I felt and handled myself as a guy.
At the same time, my study of masculinity’s core provided me with a theoretical knowledge of the function of strength in the ancient, universal code of manhood. This study persuaded me that strength is the core of manliness, since it is the foundation for all other male traits.
The value of strength-building to a man’s virility sank into my mind and bones over time. In today’s environment, when most men spend their days seated at computers, strength may seem to be unnecessary. Being powerful, on the other hand, is never a negative, and it is often advantageous on a number of levels. Above all, strength is the foundation of the code of masculinity. Today, I’d want to discuss why.
Why Is It Important For Every Man To Be Strong?
One of the few and most important distinctions between men and women is physical strength.
If the Protector position is the center of masculinity, then physical strength is the nucleus of masculinity. It’s the most important criterion in determining whether or not a guy can hold his own in a fight — whether or not he can push back when pushed. It is therefore important to how people assess a man’s manliness viscerally. You might call it foolish, ridiculous, or medieval, but it all boils down to how we assess men in a crisis: can they keep the perimeter secure? Even if we now live in a peaceful era, men and women (even the most progressive among them) still perceive men who seem physically strong and healthy to be more respected, authoritative, handsome — and masculine — than those who do not. Lifting also increases testosterone, which is the lifeblood of a man’s masculinity. As a result, if you want to feel more like a man (and be treated like one), you should work on improving your physical appearance.
Strengthening your body and mind is beneficial to both your physical and mental wellbeing.
Obesity is fatal. Exercising and boosting your T (like weightlifting does) maintains your body healthy and helps you fight sadness. Is there anything more I can say?
Physical strength is important because it prepares you for any situation.
Strength is still useful even in our comfortable, suburban lifestyle. I want to know that I can carry someone out of a burning house to safety (as well as save my own life in an emergency); I want the strength to lift huge bags of mulch while I’m working around the house; and I want to be able to wrestle a would-be assailant to the ground.
Strength may be thought of as an antifragility-increasing redundancy: we can depend on our technology and equipment to get the job done for us most of the time, but you never know when you’ll need to get down in the dirt, and when you do, you’ll be grateful to have your physiological strength on hand. When you peel away everything else, you’re left with the most fundamental of conflicts: muscle vs nature and muscle versus muscle.
Physical strength promotes all-around excellence and a full-fledged existence.
Too frequently, we associate strength training with shallow cads and stupid dudes. We created a false binary between virtue and power, intelligence and brute force.
However, many great individuals throughout history, including philosophers, statesmen, and authors, rejected this false distinction and highlighted the significance of developing the body, intellect, and spirit. They realized that a man’s other qualities would never be able to reach their full potential without a strong physique.
You may be familiar with Theodore Roosevelt’s conviction of this truth — how, after his father told him, “Theodore, you have the mind, but you don’t have the body, and without the help of the body, the mind cannot go as far as it should,” he transformed a weak, sickly boyhood into a strong and virile manhood. You have to create your own body.” “I will create my body!” TR said, and he spent the rest of his life doing just that, boxing, wrestling, climbing, swimming, and hunting until his death.
What you may not know is that Winston Churchill, another of history’s most illustrious men, had an almost same experience. William Manchester, his biographer, describes his development as follows:
He had been bullied because he was sick, an uncoordinated weakling with the pale frail hands of a girl, and spoke with a lisp and a small stutter. They thrashed him, mocked him, and threw cricket balls at him. He hid in the surrounding bushes, trembling and embarrassed. This wasn’t exactly the stuff gladiators are made of. His sole weapons were an unbreakable determination and a nascent feeling of invincibility…
Churchill set out to modify his nature from the age of seven, proving that biology does not have to be destiny. The English psychiatrist and author of Human Aggression, Anthony Storr, believes that he was “pushing himself to go against his own inner nature to a considerable degree.” As a Victorian, Churchill believed he could be master of his fate, and that faith sustained him, but everything we have learned about human motivation since then underscores the immensity of his undertaking. W. H. Sheldon identified three major physical characteristics, each with its own set of psychological qualities. Churchill definitely fit into the third group, which included ectomorphic (slight), mesomorphic (muscular), and endomorphic (fat). His head was large, his limbs were short, his tummy was tumescent, and his chest was little. His skin was so delicate that unless he slept nude between silk sheets at night, he would break out in a rash. He could only wear silk underpants on his skin throughout the day. Endomorphs are known for being lethargic, calculated, laid-back, and predictable. None of these were true of Churchill. He shifted his emotional makeup to that of an athlete, portraying the image of a brave, indestructible bulldog.
He became despondent at points along the road. ‘I am plagued with such a frail physique, that I can scarcely withstand the fatigues of the day,’ he wrote in 1893. Nonetheless, he was eager to show that he was just as tough as any mesomorph. During a game of tag when he was in his teens, he almost killed himself by jumping from a bridge; he pitched down about thirty feet and was comatose for three days. He fell steeplechasing at Aldershot and again on disembarking at Bombay, injuring his shoulder permanently; he played polo with his arm strapped to his side for the remainder of his active life. He had pneumonia as a youngster. He spent the remainder of his life with chest problems. He was allergic to anesthetics and would break out in boils on occasion. Despite this, he refused to succumb to human weakness. There were no concessions to weakness in his inner world. He never complained about being tired. He travelled to war councils abroad in his seventies, stretched atop a tick mattress on the floor of an unheated World War II aircraft… He will be remembered as the defender of freedom at its darkest hour, but he will also be remembered as a man.
Churchill and TR knew that they couldn’t spend their lives curled up in bed reading heaps of books if they wanted to develop their brains to its peak quality and achieve something big on the international stage. Instead, they’d need the stamina to tour the globe and broaden not just their mental but also their physical horizons, putting their moral beliefs and cognitive abilities to the test in the real-life leadership crucible. A powerful physique would get them where they needed to go and aid in their field performance. They could never have accomplished or become everything that they did without physical strength.
Thus, if you want to reach your full potential, you should follow in the footsteps of these great individuals and pursue what the ancients called mens sana in corpore sano: a sound mind in a healthy body.
Physical fitness imparts valuable life lessons.
Strength training not only provides us with physical energy to confront our goals, but it also teaches us numerous metaphorical concepts. Working exercise consistently requires discomfort and devotion, which teaches you discipline, resilience, and humility, among other things. In his article “The Iron,” musician and artist Henry Rollins encapsulates the importance of lifting weights in shaping a man’s character:
It took me years to realize how valuable the lessons I received from the Iron were. I used to believe it was my foe, that I was attempting to raise something that didn’t want to be lifted. I was mistaken. It’s the nicest thing the Iron can do for you when it doesn’t want to get off the mat. It wouldn’t teach you anything if it soared up and through the ceiling. That’s how the Iron communicates with you. It indicates that the substance you work with will cause you to resemble it. Working against something will always work against you.
It wasn’t until I was in my late twenties that I realized I had given myself a wonderful gift by working out. I learnt that nothing worthwhile comes without effort and some suffering. I learn more about myself when I complete a set that leaves me trembling. I know it can’t be as horrible as that exercise when things turn worse.
I used to battle the agony, but it finally dawned on me that suffering is not my adversary; it is my summons to greatness. When dealing with the Iron, however, one must be cautious in interpreting the discomfort. Ego is to blame for the majority of Iron injuries. I once spent a few weeks lifting weights that my body wasn’t ready for, then went months without lifting anything heavier than a fork. If you try to lift anything you aren’t ready for, the Iron will offer you a lesson in restraint and self-control.
I’ve never encountered a genuinely powerful person who lacked self-respect. I believe that a lot of inside and externally directed disdain masquerades as self-respect: the notion of lifting oneself by standing on someone else’s shoulders rather than doing it yourself. When I see men working out for aesthetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst manner possible, as cartoon characters, billboards expressing insecurity and unbalance. Character displays a person’s strength.
Our goodness is supported by our strength.
Strengthening one’s character and virtues not only develops them, but it also gives the required backbone – the correct framework – on which to construct our moral principles. When draped on a building that lacks strength and solidity, the mantle of virtue hangs awkwardly on a man who lacks fire and struggle. We’ve all seen nice guys who are either dangerously thin or enormously overweight, who seem like they’d cry if a bully broke their walking stick and got out of breath climbing a flight of stairs. We don’t regard these mealy males as men or gentlemen, despite their claims to be wonderful guys and ideal gentlemen. They’re decent guys, but they don’t know how to be men.
Our virtue is secured by our strength.
Because his claim to virtue is weak if he doesn’t have the virile courage and power to back it up when questioned, we may appreciate a pleasant but wimpy guy but not think of him as masculine. What good are intellectual and moral accomplishments if those who possess and nurture them are subjugated by others who have no regard for these higher values? It’s necessary to have convictions, but are you willing to fight for them? Can you genuinely call yourself a “good family man” if you’re easily outmuscled by a bad person attempting to kidnap your wife and children?
TR phrased it this way:
When a wrong is done to the community by anyone, when there is an exhibition of corruption or betrayal of trust, or demagogy or violence, or brutality, I want the man who is a citizen to feel the determination to put the wrong-doer down, to make the man who does wrong aware that the decent man is not only his superior in decency, but also his superior in strength.
Strength training pays tribute to your forefathers and mothers.
To live and reproduce before modernity, a man had to be physically powerful. Whether fighting the weather or other men, our forefathers had no choice but to depend on their ingenuity and physical power to emerge victorious. Men who attempted to show themselves in fights or hunts, daring to achieve big things, and have the physical power to overcome any barrier were able to father children and pass on their genes. Those who did not take the risk, or who lacked their contemporaries’ courage and prowess, died childless, and their doomed genes perished with them.
This indicates that we are all derived from the world’s alpha males – the strongest, quickest, brightest, and bravest men of the past. It’s hardly a leap to believe (as Dr. Roy Baumeister does in Is There Anything Good About Men?) that excellence flows through our veins.
So, what are you planning to do with your genetic heritage?
Do you like to play video games?
Sitting all day and cramming your face with taquitos is a recipe for disaster.
Writer Jack Donovan argues in “Train for Honor,” an article contained in the book Sky Without Eagles, that we dishonor our heroic forefathers by wasting the physical strong heritage they’ve left in our DNA. “Imagine our forefathers’ revulsion and scorn for us all if they lined up contemporary males on the street,” Donovan writes.
We show gratitude and honor for the guys who came before us who had to be physically strong in order for us to live and enjoy the luxuries we have today when we train to be physically strong. A deadlift is like to lighting a votive lamp for our forefathers.
Simply said, strength-training feels terrific, macho… and awesomely manly.
Finally, apart from the practical and character-building advantages of being physically strong, it simply feels great to be able to lift a lot of weight off the ground. I felt like a beast the first time I deadlifted 450 pounds and watched the bar flex in the mirror. I let out a primal scream of triumph, and that sensation stayed with me for the rest of the week.
It’s a fantastic feeling to be able to do what your body was designed for. And it’s a big tragedy to live your whole life without experiencing this emotion at its pinnacle. Even Socrates, who lived in ancient Greece, proclaimed this fact. “It is a shame to grow old through mere negligence before realizing what type of man you may become by developing your body power and attractiveness to their fullest level,” the philosopher scolded a young man in poor physical condition.
What Does It Take to Be a Strong Person?
Not every guy is biologically equipped to become large and ripped. Every guy, though, has the potential to become stronger than he is today. If you want to feel your most virile, regardless of your other hobbies or physique, you need to become familiar with the iron.
Now, the ideal of strength is a hotly discussed topic that has evolved throughout time. Primitive tribesmen were slim due to a lack of intentional exercises and a consistent intake of protein. Warriors from Sparta were torn to shreds. The sinewy frame that comes from physical work was common in Great-grandpa. Some guys these days are more concerned with size and strive for a bodybuilder physique, while others are more concerned with “functional strength.”
Personally, I don’t believe it matters what your objectives are as long as you’re working toward them. The most essential thing is to discover a workout routine that you like, that motivates you to move and gain muscle, and that you will stick to. Even if your major love is something like jogging, if you want to be around for the long haul, strength-building workouts should be a part of your daily regimen.
I would state that I do not believe you should grow to the point where your mobility and cardiovascular system are compromised, and you are unable to run a mile at a reasonable pace. You shouldn’t ignore the strength component of functional strength by doing so many repetitions, so quickly, that you don’t gain muscular mass. If you ever have to, say, pull a log off your back, it’ll be a big job that you’ll only have to do once.
However, there are several choices in between these two extremes. Experiment with different activities and modalities to see what works best for you.
Conclusion
The quality of strength is a distinguishing characteristic of masculinity. Generations of males have been able to defend and provide for their families because to this actual power. It’s the force responsible for the construction of our buildings, highways, and bridges. While our modern environment does not need physical strength, it is nonetheless a valuable endeavor since it sets the groundwork for the development of the Complete Man.
Make an effort to be stronger today than you were yesterday. I guarantee you’ll notice a difference in your body, mind, and soul as a result of doing so.
Vires et sinceras Honor and strength.
“Being a strong man quotes” is an article that will give you some reasons why every man should be strong. It is important for men to be strong because it allows them to protect themselves and those they care about. Reference: being a strong man quotes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it important to stay strong?
A: Because staying strong is important.
How strong a man should be?
A: This is a difficult question to answer. A mans strength should be based on what he needs in his life and his goals.
Why being physically strong is important?
A: Being physically strong is important because it enables you to move heavy objects which can be harmful without breaking, and helps you get around more easily.
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