“The same guys who called certifications worthless now sell them for $999 with a free T-shirt.”
Observation:
Those who complain about worthless certifications will have their own in ten years.
Expansion:
It’s easy to hate the system until you build your own. Every generation wants to prove they can do it better, and that’s not always bad. The problem comes when the people who once mocked the machine become the ones selling seats in it. Proper education in strength isn’t found in a weekend course; it’s found in the years between injury, failure, and figuring it out anyway.
Be careful what you criticize — you may do the same thing one day.
That’s not necessarily bad if your intent is in the right place. When the goal is to genuinely help others, it’s called growth.
When the goal is money, ego, or validation, it becomes greed. The key is knowing the difference — and being honest enough with yourself to admit which side you’re standing on.
When I was younger, I mocked many things that I now understand. I laughed at certifications, seminars, and structured systems. I thought they were gimmicks — just ways to make money off people who didn’t want to do the work. Then I got older. I started teaching. I started mentoring. And I realized something humbling: creating a system doesn’t make you part of the problem; it can make you part of the solution — if your intent is right.
The exact structure I once made fun of became the framework I used to help others avoid the mistakes I made.
That’s growth.
However, I’ve also seen the dark side — people who start with good intentions but lose their way once success comes their way. The same folks who once swore they’d “never sell out” end up running the same game they used to criticize, just wearing a different logo. And I get it — I’ve seen how tempting it can be when opportunity meets recognition. But that’s where intent separates authenticity from exploitation.
The truth is, every industry — especially the strength world — runs on cycles.
A new generation comes in, fueled by passion and defiance. They reject the old ways, build their own, and eventually become the establishment. It’s not hypocrisy — it’s the natural order of progress.
But it only works when the lessons from the last generation aren’t lost in the process.
That’s why I’ve learned to look at criticism differently. Instead of reacting to it, I ask, “What will they do when it’s their turn?”
Because it’s easy to take shots from the outside, it’s harder to maintain integrity once you’re inside.
If you stay in this field long enough, you’ll eventually find yourself on both sides of that fence — the one questioning and defending the system. What defines you isn’t which side you’re on, but how you carry yourself when you get there.
At the end of the day, growth and greed can look almost identical from the outside. The only way to tell the difference is to check your intent. Are you building something that generates income or improves the lives of others?
The system isn’t the problem.
