Why? - Vince Gironda (1973)

 

Same Guy. Shut up about his struggles. 

Hello.

I am young William Burroughs and

 I do not approve this message in any way, now

kindly put that glass on your head.

Why do some become great in their areas of endeavor and others mediocre? 

Why is it that some men have reached the stature of Carnegie and Hughes in business, Reeves and Scott in bodybuilding, and Anderson in power lifting? 

Indeed, the question of why some men become successful and others not has plagued man for centuries, and the variables that contribute to success are so numerous that only an exhaustive study would give the answer. 

Here, he cites this book for further reading

then carries on with the article: 

https://annas-archive.gl/md5/f55206cb7c880ed6928dbb7c677d5929

Achievement need is a learned motivation to compete and push for success. It's all quite funny, this belief that seeking something supposedly "better" (invariably ego-based) is "natural" but then, because almost any activity from bodybuilding to managing an organization can be viewed in terms of competition and success versus failure, and the need to achieve influences individuals in a large number of diverse situations. 

Because achievement is a learned motive, there are wide differences among individuals in their experience and therefore in their motivation with respect to achievement. 

Let's discuss motivation and its importance. 

Oops. 

Bill Burroughs on a Burro while 

burrowing deep into

the Land of Oops and

reaching for his sidearm. 

No harm there. 

Now kindly put that glass on your head.

There are different conceptions about motivations; however, there is general agreement that a motive is an internal factor that arouses, directs, and integrates a person's behavior. 

Motivation is distinguished from other factors that also influence behavior, such as the past experience of the person, his physical capabilities, and the environment he finds himself in, although these other factors may influence motivation.

There are two important components of a motive. First, drive, which refers to the internal process that goads a person into action. Second, a motive is terminated by reaching a goal or obtaining a reward. Many psychologists add that motivation also includes a conscious desire for something. This is sometimes called a want. 

A want is related to the goal-selecting functions of motives. An example of this want is that of a bodybuilder's desire for a championship physique or a weightlifter's desire for a 1400-lb. total. 

The motives we will discuss are called social motives, and they involve people being with people, winning their approval, having a good time with them although they're still alive afterwards, and of course enhancing one's self-esteem with them, through them or inside of them in various degrees and in a multitude of body-insert locations. We're gonna need a bigger freezer and, a little later . . . a larger dump site. 

My friend Robert made it to death a while ago, who knows with this "time" bullshit.  Clock or no clock, he drank himself to it. A beautifully subtle yet sublime, implying-not-suggesting Leaving Las Vegas variation. A good train station drinking friend. Yes, leaving los station, as they say down south. Drinkee till stinkee and heart no longer be pumpy. Yeah! Good on ya, Mate, and Cheers! 

So many stories and so trippy for a non-drug businessman who made and lost a million several times. Why should I care . . . all the well-wound clocks stopped decades ago, someone choked that dog out with a telephone cord and the mourners have finally finished coming ba dum ssss and death-related sexual innuendo.

Good god, how beautiful is this Robert Shaw soliloquy (is that what ya call it?) and don't ya wish you could somehow write like that with the right and fine emphasis and language inflections and the affliction inherent in the horrors of life . . . and this feller ad-libbed it off the cuff . . . Chief. Poundin' and hollerin' and screamin'

Chief. 

Doll's eyes.

Jaysus fuck, to be able to do something like that just once and be content with it already. The slings and arrows of simps and those lacking marrow . . . shut off your head and hear this . . . the word sounds bounce in this nightmare, drawing you in to the terror all the more. 

"A baseball player, a bosun's mate" 

Are you hearing this? Out-fucking-standing beauty expressed in the human form as best we can and art is something of a savior but I may be veering dangerously to the positive here, ya figure?

Okay. You can't write like that and neither can I.

Now kindly put that glass on your head. 

You writer-types are idiots. Playing around with timed repeated phrases and how long a thought gets perceived as short term memory before gettin' sent off into the long-term memory storage site in that stinkin' worthless head of yours. All a lot of bozos if you ask me. 

Now kindly piss off, glass or no effing glass! 

Yawn . . . Social motives are personal, they feel as if they come from within, some sort of internalization has taken place. The motives are usually in reference to the person himself: "I want the approval of the people I know," or, "It is my need to achieve." 

A psychologist by the name of Allport (Gordon W.) has come to the conclusion that only those activities that are personalized or ego-involved will persist. Numerous experiments show that human subjects will perform better on a task if they are ego-involved in it and, naturally, all genocides attest to this, be they for revenge or simply for profit. There are several terms that are used to describe this internal factor which seems so important in social motivation. The terms ego and self are often used. 

People vary a great deal in their sense of self. (My favorite people to view and listen to are ego-bloated folks who sorely lack experience, talent and effort BUT make up for it with wildly unrealistic levels of self-confidence and importance. Always a pleasure.).

Some people grow up seeing themselves as inadequate, while others see themselves as basically good and worthy of respect and the catholic church will gladly destroy all of that with a rimshot and a blessing. Man, I don't know it it's Ram-baud or Rim-baud so the sounds may vary. 

Most people try to keep their sense of self at the highest level possible (and tend to be a pain-in-the-ass to be around. Don't get too-too carried away with your illusions and beliefs, Sport . . . you're a human animal on the putrefaction list; all the memories in all the minds of living people won't change the fact that you no longer exist. Please get over your sense of "self" and leave the dead alone already with those endless and tiresome pointless noisemaking memories of them. Let fucking go of all that, or not). Arthur Rimbaud's early poems showcase a teenage genius evolving from traditional verse into a revolutionary and rebellious style and Verlaine's aged and tender butthole papyrus scrapings show this to be more than true. 

  

Now then 

with an added "anyhow," 

no matter, here's to the eventual 

bloating, marbling and liquification of our organs that brings joy to worms and little else.  

Now, now then again. . . the desire to maintain or establish a positive evaluation of the self operates as a powerful motive. It helps explain why some people will endure physical hardships, hunger, and pain because of pride of self. 

Ya gotta love the human ego and ALL its self-protective qualities. I mean, really now? . . . we're the chosen ones who know how it all came to be, what's in charge and how to communicate with this "what". NOW we're talkin' unfounded enormous pride of ego to the point of mass madness and, personally, I love the insanity inherent in all our frightened minds. Intense insanity inherent would be somewhat Cagean and over the top in a very Saint Nicolas way. 

Okay, nuffa that crap.

You's are turning me into a fan-a

that other Cage with the silent symphonies.

Here's a related, quick Q&A:

Q: Why do some men become great in the weight  game and others only fair?

Vince Gironda: First and foremost is the individual's ability to concentrate on a singleness of purpose. This is an ability to see straight through to a desired goal and know how to achieve it. 

An example would be Larry Scott (he sure gets trotted out a lot in discussions of this type). He would work out at 5 o'clock when the gym was packed with people talking and working out. Larry would get a good workout every time because he knew what he wanted and was determined to get it.

Q: Are there any other observations you've made about the attitude of bodybuilders in your years of experience?

A: Yes, you must have confidence in your selection of exercises. This is related to the self-discipline I've been talking about. Hang on . . . 

"Every time people ask me how I got big I tell them, 'I did everything that Vince told me not to do.'"

- Don Howorth

Nuffa that.

This was fun.

Enjoy Your Lifting! 

And don't be afraid to enter into the comment section.

I'm like a kid waitin' for End-It-Christmas over here. 

Tender redefined in my mind,

it's so dark yet sunny

at the same time

ya boring twat.

Ah, go fuck yourself. 

"When the Autumn weather

turns the leaves

to flame."

Hey, it don't have to rhyme if

you can make the reader

 taste it. 

and very few can

or try to.

Meanwhile, I'll see it all much like these non-verbal words speak of . . . 

a very fuck-it, truckin'-on view of life

till then and end. 

Stoic? 

No, 

quite the contrary in this September experiment:

Very enhanced emotionally! 

Good golly and gee whiz, the lows in this motherfucker

are so high! 

And christ crapping on a holy cracker, 

who don't love-like them 

subliminal line break games.

But then, what would you know,

stuck in the positive-only chosen box of experience

and when outside of it,

clinging to straws of convenient belief. 

Strange as it may seem

I spent more "time" on this one

than so many others. 

Also, I managed to be a complete asshat throughout. 

So there.