Why Lifting Weights Is Now Apparently a Right-Wing Act of Rebellion

At some point between protein shakes and gender studies, lifting weights became political. Deadlifting is now a declaration of ideology..

Apparently, being strong, disciplined, and taking responsibility for your health now makes you “problematic.” If you lift heavy, eat steak, and wake up before sunrise, congratulations, you’re now part of some ideological movement you didn’t sign up for.

Somewhere, someone decided that self-reliance is selfish, hard work is toxic, and delayed gratification is outdated.

We used to call that character.

Now it’s called privilege.

I didn’t get the memo, I thought we were just trying to be less fat, live longer, and stop blaming genetics for our lifestyle choices.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: We’ve built a world that worships comfort and calls effort offensive. And in that world, training, showing up, sweating, doing something hard, on purpose, has become a quiet act of rebellion.

Why Socialism Doesn’t Work (In or Out of the Gym)

Living in a socialist country, this one’s probably going to ruffle a few feathers, but the truth’s too funny not to share.

I was chatting with one of our coaches the other day. Great coach, great shape, eats discipline for breakfast, but with a faint blue tinge in his hair (you know the type).

So I asked him this:
“Imagine if the gym worked like a socialist system.
You do the squats, someone else gets the glutes.
You wake up at 5am, eat your salad, do your cardio and the guy who slept in and ate doughnuts loses the weight. Sound fair?”

He looked at me like I’d just asked for steak at a vegan brunch.

In three sentences, I’d turned a perfectly neutral Finn into a flag-waving conservative.
Jesus could’ve paid me to help him convert people, only problem is, I keep converting them to the wrong church. The one where you only take a knee in certain exercises.

Now, I’m not totally against the spirit of socialism.
Some people need a helping hand. Some need guidance.

But in business terms, it’s like profit-sharing: great in theory, until someone stops carrying their weight and still expects the same dividend.
When we first launched our own profit-share model, it became a haven for okay coaches, North Korea without the parades. Everyone got a share just for turning up.

So we switched to a point-based system.
Now it’s a place for great coaches.
You contribute, you earn. Simple.

It’s the same in the gym.
Effort creates value.
If everyone gets the same reward regardless of what they put in, output collapses.

Economists call it the tragedy of the commons.
I call it Netflix.

📈 The Real Cause of Inflation (And No, I Don’t Mean the Economy)

Everyone’s talking about inflation, prices up, productivity down, governments printing money like it’s a group project no one wants to lead.
But let’s be honest, inflation didn’t just hit the economy. It hit our waistlines too.

We inflated everything our expectations, our appetites, our egos, our delivery app budgets.

In the 1970s, people were broke but lean.The average american pig is now leaner than the average American.

As for you Finland, we are just lucky that our pigs are on average fatter than the american ones or we would have the same problem. Maybe the american pigs are right wing.

But now we’ve got $6 lattes, $200 leggings, and BMI scores that look like crypto charts.

It’s not just calories that are inflated, it’s comfort.
Every time life gets hard, we print more dopamine.
Scroll, snack, swipe, repeat.

Governments print money to avoid pain.
People eat to avoid pain.
And both end up broke.

In both cases, the cure isn’t more stimulus, it's discipline.
You don’t fight inflation by printing more; you fight it by producing more.
You don’t fix your body by cutting corners; you fix it by burning the excess.

Economists call it “tightening fiscal policy.”
I call it “tightening your belt.”

The Sweat Economy

Welcome to the only economy that’s still fair, the one where you can’t fake deposits.
Inflation doesn’t exist here because you can’t print effort.

You either invest daily or go broke quietly.
Every rep, every meal, every disciplined choice adds value to your account.
Skip enough, and the debt comes due in stress, fat, fatigue, regret, or all of the above.

There’s no bailout, no subsidy for laziness, and no stimulus package for inconsistency.
The lazy can’t borrow it, and the entitled can’t tax it.

Business works the same way.
Companies don’t fail from bad ideas; they fail from a lack of disciplined deposits, systems, habits, people.
They chase hacks instead of doing the heavy work that compounds.

The Sweat Economy doesn’t care about intentions, only execution.
You can’t outsource effort.
You can only automate discipline by showing up when you don’t feel like it.

And the return?
Freedom.
Not the hashtag kind, the kind that comes from knowing you’ve earned it.

Universal Basic Income vs. Universal Basic Fatness

We live in a world obsessed with safety nets.
Universal basic income. Universal healthcare. Universal participation trophies.

The problem is, when you remove risk, you remove drive.
People stop moving when comfort is guaranteed.

We’ve built a world of universal basic fatness.
Food on demand. Comfort on demand. Entertainment on demand.
You can live an entire life without breaking a sweat and most people do.

The result? Economic obesity.
Everyone wants guaranteed outcomes with minimal effort.
A government for your finances, a therapist for your emotions, and an injection for fat loss.

Resilience only grows when something’s at stake.
When failure costs you time, pride, or opportunity.
That’s what made earlier generations stronger, their “universal income” came from effort, not entitlement.

The gym is one of the last free markets left.
Effort in, result out.
You can’t delegate your push-ups or redistribute your calories.

If you want something universal, make it a universal basic effort.

Make Discipline Great Again

If the gym were political, we’d have right-wing protestors outside your house while you order Uber Eats and binge Netflix the same way Antifa protests climate change between vape breaks.

But let’s be fair, socialism isn’t all bad.
The core idea of taking care of each other is a good one. It’s essential.
No one or not many build muscle, or a business, completely alone. Even the most jacked, self-reliant guy in the gym still needs someone to spot him once in a while.

The problem isn’t socialism. It’s softism, the belief that comfort should be permanent, that struggle is optional, and that someone else should carry your share of the load.
That mindset kills performance, in both the gym and the boardroom.

The truth is somewhere in between.
You need the freedom to earn your results, but the humility to help others earn theirs too.
That’s how strong teams work. That’s how healthy economies, and healthy bodies actually grow.

So no, you can’t redistribute effort or share squats.
But you can share systems, support, and the occasional spot.
That’s not socialism. That’s leadership.

And if lifting weights makes you a rebel in a world addicted to comfort.
then maybe rebellion’s exactly what we need.