Some great reads for motivation and sanity

I love a good read, especially when it is about lifting weights. So you could say I am a connoisseur of them, and I'm that guy that likes to reread articles that I enjoyed the first time.

I idolise guys like Bill Starr, Bill Kazmaier, Dan John, and Pyrros Dimas, each for their own various reasons. Whether it is their strength, power, attitudes, or knowledge, there is something within them that I want to know; something that could possibly extend my knowledge or simply motivate me further.

This is the reason why the articles I read with the greatest voracity are the one's from personal experience. They have a depth to them that makes you buy into their wisdom all the more, and almost seems like you're peeking behind the curtain of some of the greatest athletes the world over.

So without further ado, here are some of my all-time favourite articles that are written from personal experience of some of my idols.

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/couldthisbeit.htm 

Dave Tate is one of those old-school stiff upper lip kinda lifters, and he has come through some tough times. In this awesome article, after picking up an injury that he can't grit his teeth and work through (needing shoulder surgery), Dave has to ask himself the tough questions and find out whether the payoff is worth all these setbacks he is constantly pushing through to keep lifting.

http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/site/how-to-get-bigger-without-curling/

Bill Starr's wisdom is irrepressible, with his stories making stone-cold sense without over-complicating the issue. In this piece, he and his burly Uncle give the third degree to the typical chest and arms warrior in brisk and no-nonsense fashion. You will read this and wish that you too had run in to Bill Starr outside a local seafood joint when you were just starting out!

This next one isn't weights-related, but really goes to show the lengths some people will go to have no accountability for their own unhappiness.

http://blogs.news.com.au/bossy/index.php/news/comments/im_sick_of_eating_junk_food_and_being_fat/

This is one to make your blood boil. 'Bossy' is a straightforward blogging psychotherapist, who sets out to proverbially whip the whining and often oblivious fools of this world through her own brutally honest rationalities. This one poor girl is obese and 'can't control herself', but she really really hates being fat and wants it to change magically! Lack of accountability+denial=obese wreck.

ENJOY!