Unpopular Opinion: Four Years of RDLs

There’s more exponentially information shared between humans today than even just a few years ago. When you consider the differences between how much information is shared today versus ten years ago, the world becomes unrecognizable. 

The graph below is the “volume of data/information created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide from 2010 to 2020, with forecasts from 2021 to 2025” in zettabytes. The growth is staggering. 

It’s worth noting that much of the information we’re exposed to is visual. If you’re into strength and conditioning, you’re getting a ton of inputs about what people are doing in the gym. You’re bombarded with people older than you, younger than you, smaller than you, and bigger than you making lifts. 

What you see today can be misleading about a past you cannot see. 

The classic example I share often is when an observer sees an athlete making big lifts and subsequently mimics these individuals’ current training in an effort to develop their capabilities. In reality, you’d need to adopt the training they did in the past (not the present) to get there. 

A personal anecdote may help. The first day I took a deadlift from the floor I pulled 500lbs. It’s unpopular to acknowledge the four years of strictly Romanian deadlifts, hip extensions, and sprints that preceded that day, however. 

Most of what the remarkable efforts you see so much of today are built on efforts in the past that aren’t in the zeitgeist of the digital age. Be careful of the reality that’s brewing in your head today.

History holds better insight than Instagram.