BLUE COLLAR STRENGTH CLUB

11/04/2020

STAND·ARD

/ˈstandərd/

noun

noun: standard; plural noun: standards

• a level of quality or attainment.

• a military or ceremonial flag carried on a pole or hoisted on a rope.

RAISE THE STANDARD

phrase of standard

• take up arms; prepare to fight.

Blue Collar Strength Club was started in 2011 as 14:23 Training Systems. The name was based upon the Biblical verse of Proverbs 14:23 “In all toil there is profit but mere talk lends only to poverty.”

This verse set the standard for our training philosophy and principles.

Even though the name has changed over the years, that founding principles stay the same.

Hard Work Works!!!

This brings me to answer the question I have been asked numerous times “Why do you hang the pirate flag/skull & crossbones/jolly roger on your gym wall?”

A favorite bit of tech history is the infamous hoisting of a pirate flag over the Apple company headquarters almost 40 years ago. In the early days of Macintosh, Steve Jobs and his team of rebel ex-Microsoft employees took a rather radical approach to business and they symbolized it by raising a pirate flag over their headquarters in California in 1983.

This home-made standard featured a rainbow Apple logo for an eye patch. Jobs is also quoted as saying “Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?” 

When I think of the meaning behind Proverbs 14:23 and the term “Blue Collar” I am reminded of the pioneering efforts by these rogue techies. Their rebellious ideals and unwavering passion laid the foundation for what we now enjoy as Apple, Inc. Blue Collar Strength Club was also built on a foundation exactly opposite of what a lot of the “Fitness Industry” is. While people in the fitness industry promise easy fixes and short-term successes, we tell you the truth that it is going to take a lot of consistent hard work over a long period of time. It won’t always be fun & enjoyable, but it will be worth it.

What many of you may not know is that my first vision of Blue Collar Strength Club and what it would grow to become included a standard of its own. One day we will own a chunk of land and a building to fly our flag. Until that day we will continue to go against the grain, and for good reason. In my opinion the fitness industry’s grain is a complete failure. Our foundation is rock solid, however, and it happens to be viewed as radical in today’s fitness industry.  That’s fine with me, especially when I look at the results we’ve proved to be capable of. Blue Collar Strength Club has done big things in the last nine years and it is time to take it to the next level in 2021. We are in a fight against complacency and mediocrity and against those enemies we raise our standard.

So, I will borrow the words of Steve Jobs when I ask you:

“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”