“The guys we laughed at in our twenties become the ones we quote in our forties.”
Observation:
The people we once mocked become the people we quote.
Expansion:
Time has a way of humbling lifters. You stop worrying about who’s right and start recognizing who lasted. The legends weren’t always popular — they were just consistent long enough for everyone else to catch up. When you’ve been around this long, you realize that respect always arrives late, but it’s the only thing that sticks.
And here’s the key lesson: Respect and influence are not the same thing.
When you’re young in the game, influence looks like everything. You notice who’s getting the attention — who’s getting the sponsors, the followers, the likes, the podcast invites.
You assume that’s what success looks like. And to be fair, influence does move the needle for a while. It gets people watching. It gets people in the door. However, influence is fragile — it only lasts as long as people remain attentive.
Respect, on the other hand, doesn’t need an audience. It’s earned in quiet consistency, decade after decade. The people you laughed at early on — those who didn’t market well, didn’t chase trends, and just kept showing up and doing the work — end up becoming the ones whose words actually hold weight. They were building something that lasts long after the algorithm forgets your name.
I can recall lifters and coaches whom I didn’t fully appreciate when I was younger. Maybe I thought they were outdated, too cautious, or stuck in their ways. Now, decades later, I realize they were playing a completely different game. They weren’t chasing relevance — they were chasing mastery.
The legends of this industry, the real ones, have something most of us spend years trying to understand — they’ve learned how to stay. They’ve survived injury, burnout, and every wave of change that’s hit this space. They’re still here because they built their foundation on substance, not hype.
In your twenties, you laugh at the old guard because you think you know better. In your thirties, you start realizing how hard it is to stay in the game. By your forties and fifties, you start quoting the same people you once dismissed — because their advice turned out to be right. It just took you twenty years to understand it.
The internet’s full of influencers.
They rise quickly, fade just as fast, and are often forgotten by the next training trend. But the people who genuinely make an impact — the ones whose ideas shape generations — they’re the ones who kept showing up long after the spotlight moved on.
That’s the difference between being popular and being proven.
Influence fades when attention shifts.
Respect grows when time passes.
So yeah, the legends we once joked about, rolled our eyes at, or said were “past their prime” — they outlasted us. And that’s why they matter.
You don’t become a legend because you went viral.
