When a man starts out lifting serious daddy-weight in the gym, the thought that one day, he might lift the very last rep of his life, almost never crosses his mind. The younger he starts, the longer he has to move heavy things around.

But, the fact remains that, one day, his body will no longer be able to lift those kinds of weights. It is inevitable, as certain and inexorable as the Law of Gravity. Just as the human body adapts and builds itself under stress, so too it ages and withers over time.

I have long advocated powerlifting as the fastest and best way to make your mind and body strong. I have never had any reason to regret taking that advice myself, and I certainly do not regret it now. However, I do acknowledge the fact that, one day, I will have to stop lifting the kinds of weights I lift now. It is unquestionably and inevitably true.

Time marches on relentlessly. There is not the least bit of use trying to fight that fact, if you are to stay healthy and strong. And there is no shame in lowering the amount of weight you can lift, as your body ages.

In my case, I have already dialled back the weights that I lift on my heaviest days. There was a time, about 10 years ago, when I could squat 167.5Kg (370lbs) – those days are long done, I think, as my lower back simply cannot take that kind of strain any longer. On my heavy days, I typically max out my deadlift at 200Kg (441lbs), rather than 210 or even 215, as I once did. My bench has long been consistent at about 100Kg (220lbs), and I am pretty content with that.

Over time, those numbers WILL decline. It is an inevitable and necessary function of allowing one’s body time enough to heal – because powerlifting is VERY HARD on the joints and back. Every day in the gym gets just that little bit harder. Every workout takes just that little bit extra of a toll.

Do not misunderstand me. I consider powerlifting to be a healthy activity that every man can and should take on, because it strengthens and fortifies the body, and the mind, in a way that almost nothing else can. The only other pursuit I consider to be as worthy and as important for self-discipline and overall health, is martial arts – serious martial arts, like muay thai, or jiu-jitsu, or judo.

Powerlifting is an application of Wolff’s Law – that is to say, adaptation of the body under stress and pressure. It is an exceptional way of strengthening the whole body, because it treats the body as a singular system. As such, powerlifting builds strength across your joints, bones, tendons, ligaments, and entire nervous system.

As a major side benefit, it also makes you much more resilient against pain. It makes you stronger mentally as well as physically, so that you can overcome all manner of evils.

This is why I consider powerlifting to be essential to daily life. For those of a particular and methodical cast of mind, powerlifting goes beyond mere exercise – which I consider extremely boring. It becomes essential to one’s sense of stability, well-being, and normality.

Make powerlifting a part of the discipline in your daily life, and I assure you, your daily life WILL get better. Lifting heavy things will make you strong, calm, stoic, and capable of enjoying your own company.

Note here that I have not until now touched, at all, on the subject of making yourself more attractive to women. This is merely a happy benefit, a consequence, of the discipline instilled by the Iron Mind. But it is NOT, and MUST NEVER BE, the primary objective if you decide to start lifting.

If you desire to GIT DA GURLZZZ, or drop “rizz”, or whatever the hell it is that kids say these days, then get out of the gym. You do not belong there, not really. The gym is not, and should never be, about the vainglorious pursuit of aesthetic perfection – not least because such a thing does not exist, but also because the mere boys who pursue such things, are insecure in the extreme.

Those guys are the asshat gym-bros who stand in front of the mirrors, posing up a storm for Instagram likes and followers. If that is all that gives them happiness and meaning in their lives, then their existence is truly meaningless and shallow – and you can see that in the kinds of women they pursue. It should not surprise anyone that a man who is insecure, shallow, and obsessed with his looks, can only ever attract insecure, shallow, and materially-obsessed women.

Do not be like them. Be disciplined and focused instead. Lift because it makes you happy, in a very weird sense – and you have to be weird to want to go to the gym, and do exercises that put your body under tremendous stress, and which leave you sore and aching for days afterwards.

You do have to be weird to squat, bench, and deadlift weights that result in blown blood vessels in your face, and sore knees and chest and back muscles. You do have to be strange to walk around the gym looking like you want to straight-up MURDERISE anyone who gets in your way, while covered in enough chalk-dust to make you mistakable for an embalmer.

This is a particularly odd form of masochism – one that is actually good for you, in the strangest way imaginable.

But, if you do decide to walk the righteous path, and worship in the Church of the Iron God, be aware that his gifts come with a price. And that price is that, eventually, Father Time will catch up with you.

This is no bad thing. There is no shame at all in admitting one’s age. There is shame, however, in hiding behind it. You are never, ever too old to begin lifting and seeing the immense benefits that come from it.

One of my colleagues is in his SIXTIES. He started powerlifting because he tried to go back to surfing after the Scamdemic wound down, and found himself completely unfit and unable to sustain the physical activity required. He tried out Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength method, and immediately began seeing great results, having regained all his old strength – and then some. For him, powerlifting has given a new lease on life.

The last rep is coming for him, just as it is for me. Father Time is undefeated, and he is coming for us. One day, we will no longer be able to lift these kinds of weights – perhaps one day, we will not be able to lift weights AT ALL. It is inevitable, it is normal, and there is not the least use in despairing over that fact. It simply is what it is.

All that matters is that, between this day and that, we take advantage of the time we have, to live lives of meaning, responsibility, honour, decency, and virtue – and, of course, that we SHUT UP AND LIFT.