Sup

[cwd]

Thinking about it a bit more, it’s about that Maslow’s (sp?) hierarchy of needs.

I misread that as Madcow's Hierarchy of Needs.
1) complete your novice linear progression
2) do 5 ramping sets of 5 on the big exercises on heavy day, and do a light and medium day too
3) only then may you gratify your most-advanced/least-important desire to do curls and ab work

[topfen]

That whole merit badge thing makes Brett McKay's otherwise excellent site look really immature. I don't know what he was thinking.

I think the intent of the site is good, but the method is silly. However, I can’t offer a better idea.

Immature? Maybe. Silly? Probably. Aaaaand... so? Do both of those apply to XBOX/Steam/Playstation/whatever achievements? Yes. Does that stop them from working as intended? No. Are there two many questions in this post? Probably.

I don't know about US culture but trophies, badges, ribbons and other mementos have been a part of organized sports and popular movements here in europe for a looong time and not only for kids. Nowadays you can share and document your activities with other people through social media, but why the hell is it silly to have a sticker or whatever to remember your first major hike, hunt, fishing trip or whatever? We live in societies were buying/owning things is a way to express ourselves. Some of you enjoy posting pictures of your barbells, others probably enjoy putting a badge on their backpackt to show people that they walked up a particular mountain.

[Wilhelm]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification

Did i mention i love this place in a very strong and beautiful way?

[Hanley]

but why the hell is it silly

You pay $200 a year to participate in some odd, curated list of activities that are "strenuous". And presumably, manly. Or something.

[Wilhelm]

Wait. I could get paid to have someone mow my lawn?

That's not silly. That's fucking genius.

[cwd]

I made a whole new human being to mow my lawn. Actually, several of them. No badges though.

[Mkgillman]

The cycling equivalent of all this is Strava and that has been around for a long time now. Claim you King of the Mountains victory! Complete curated challenges for special badges! Check your Suffer Score against your friends! Premium tier let’s you see how you compare to people in you age or weight category (for when you aren’t actually fast)!

[chrisd]

Or, 300, 400, 500 stickers?

[topfen]

but why the hell is it silly

You pay $200 a year to participate in some odd, curated list of activities that are "strenuous". And presumably, manly. Or something.

Meh. Sure, this could be a money grab. But if this gets you 200$ worth of services and information why the hell not? The name, the shorts, the dude with the mustache are not really my thing. But if I could get access to some form of online platform that helps me work towards a particular goal of mine I would be more than willing to pay 200$ a year and earning eBoyScout-badges sounds fun to me.

[Hanley]

earning eBoyScout-badges sounds fun to me.

Cool.

[PuddingFace]

Meh. Sure, this could be a money grab. But if this gets you 200$ worth of services and information why the hell not? The name, the shorts, the dude with the mustache are not really my thing. But if I could get access to some form of online platform that helps me work towards a particular goal of mine I would be more than willing to pay 200$ a year and earning eBoyScout-badges sounds fun to me.

Note: the use of "you" below is meant in the general sense, not you specifically, topfen.

If you don't have hobbies, sure, it could be fun to have reason to try some different things, until one or several of them stick as long-term hobbies you decide to explore on your own and gain some real proficiency in. If your hobby becomes dabbling in these activities just to earn the badge, then move on to the next, what are you really gaining from that? You can make your own list of things to dick around with, and post them in a thread here to keep you accountable, for free.

[Allentown]

Because you might have one or two people here who care about your dabble in a hobby. If everyone here was tasked with planting a garden, say, talking about planting a garden would be much more active. We did get a surprisingly long thread about fountain pens, though, so who knows...

[topfen]

Meh. Sure, this could be a money grab. But if this gets you 200$ worth of services and information why the hell not? The name, the shorts, the dude with the mustache are not really my thing. But if I could get access to some form of online platform that helps me work towards a particular goal of mine I would be more than willing to pay 200$ a year and earning eBoyScout-badges sounds fun to me.

Note: the use of "you" below is meant in the general sense, not you specifically, topfen.

If you don't have hobbies, sure, it could be fun to have reason to try some different things, until one or several of them stick as long-term hobbies you decide to explore on your own and gain some real proficiency in. If your hobby becomes dabbling in these activities just to earn the badge, then move on to the next, what are you really gaining from that? You can make your own list of things to dick around with, and post them in a thread here to keep you accountable, for free.

Valid points. I grew up doing karate and know first hand that "badge hunting" can lead to pure crap.
And I don't know if the SL-service is any good. Could also be pure crap and a waste of money. I only read the main page and don't really know what to expect. But I think a well made paid online service that helps you explore certain activities you are interested in could work very well. Gamification works in other fields as well, why not here?
We only have so much time and energy and if I have an app on my phone that tells me what to do and what to learn so I can tackle goal X ond day Y that could be a great help. I know several people that have paid for fitness or diet services and been very happy with what they got. And plenty of young people have never really done anything besides school and being a kid and would probably be interested in learning a bunch of skills that a man "should know".
And a community with similiar interests is always good.

[Wilhelm]

Feeling kind of subdued this morning.

385X1X4 deadlifts are slated.

Upon waking, no fucking way.
But it's becoming more conceivable as times passes.

[Wilhelm]

Slept on my damned arm.
4 hours, cool.

Tried going back. Body's like "Nope. Fuck you"

[cgeorg]

Gawd I hate sleeping on arm.

Has anyone noticed that it's a lot harder to get their arms into a not-falling-asleep position when sleeping after getting some mass on their shoulders? I've always been a side sleeper and if i'm lucky I can bend my under-me arm in a way that my hand goes under my head (also under the pillow) while keeping the elbow low enough to not lose feeling after 5 minutes, but I don't think this used to be a thing.

[Wilhelm]

Jeezum!
My belt has never marked me, but i wore tighty whities and my singlet today, and the briefs left long, deep red marks.
They're not overly small either.

[SeanHerbison]

Has anyone noticed that it's a lot harder to get their arms into a not-falling-asleep position when sleeping after getting some mass on their shoulders?

Yes, very much so.

[OCG]

Yeah, gaining like 100lbs radically changed how I sleep.

[Wilhelm]

I would love to be able to sleep on my back, but my thoughts won't shut off when i try.