Performative Fitness, Performative Politics, Performative Everything

Where have all the serious people gone?

This post is kind of about politics, but not really. Wherever you sit on the political aisle, I ask that you take a deep breath, don't immediately react, and read on. The main points here are important for everyone.

​Over the past few weeks, we’ve been inundated with videos of defense and health secretaries Pete Hegseth and RFK Jr. performing a terrible excuse for pull-ups and push-ups. Then we saw mayoral candidates Eric Adams and Zohran Mamdani bench pressing—though in reality, not a single bench press rep was completed. Finally, we saw economist and presidential advisor Peter Navarro trying to be a tough guy in response to Zohran Mamdani doing curls (curls!!) using his hips more than his arms.

In all these examples, not a single solid repetition was completed. Not one.

​It’s absurd for so many reasons. And it’s a perfect representation of the performative nature of everything these days.

​I've made a career writing about actual excellence. My work has been endorsed by many of the top performers in the world. I spend loads of time training, and lift more weight than 99.99 percent of the clowns on the internet. I don’t take steroids or use other performance-enhancing drugs.

All that comes as a preface for my first point:

How much weight you lift has absolutely zero bearing on how well you lead or govern.

​It also has absolutely zero bearing on how good a person you are. (Same goes for how fast you run, swim, or cycle—you get the point.) When undertaken with integrity and care, weight lifting can shape your character. It can instill traits like discipline, focus, persistence, grit, sticktoitiveness, and toughness. But there are many different ways to gain these qualities and characteristics. No single pursuit has a monopoly on them.

​Commitment to any craft, when undertaken the right way, helps to form your personhood. The absurdity of these videos is that none of these guys are lifting with any care or integrity in the first place! Not only does their weight-lifting have nothing to do with their leadership, but they aren't even lifting properly! Any serious athlete will tell you that. They are trying to look strong instead of actually being strong.

​Which leads me to my second point:

​Beware of the ego lifter—in the gym, and in life.

​The ego lifter is someone who puts a ton of weight on the bar to look tough, but then they do a quarter of a rep. Or they spend hours upon hours making their biceps appear big while neglecting a squat, deadlift, or press.

​Or they take steroids, which really do work, but then have a crutch to shortcut the process and many of the lessons it teaches you.

​We live in a world of ego lifters.

Lifting weights should not be left-coded or right-coded.

Lifting weights is great, and it has benefits for everyone. Same with all forms of physical activity. But it’s important not to confuse performative, tough-guy antics with people who actually train with care and integrity.

​Legacy media on both the left and right completely miss the boat on this. If you want to train hard and be a badass in sport, that's great. There is nothing wrong or toxic about it. But it also doesn't necessarily make you a good person! It all depends on how you go about it.

Where have all the serious people gone?

​Like, actually.

If you train hard, with care, and with integrity, you may want to make it a part of your identity. And that’s totally fine.

​But this is the TikTok, high-school cafeteria version of “look at me, I’m tougher than you are.” C’mon y’all.

We need to do a better job of taking things seriously, caring about them, and separating elaborate and performative nonsense from the real deal—in all elements of life.

​Otherwise, the marketers and grifters and ego-lifters of every domain will win, and we’ll all be worse off for it.

​Be wary of people who prioritize entertainment value over real value. Once you are aware of this, you can't help but see it everywhere. One of the most important skills of our current era is having a finely-tuned bullshit detector. Do what you can to support people who keep the main things the main things and who do them with care and integrity.

Individually, don't bury your head in the sand. Stay engaged. But at the same time, do your best to tune out the noise. Remember that the key to a good life is to commit to a craft, do it with care and integrity, be of service, and surround yourself with good people.