“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.” – Samuel Johnson
Old Country Strong is about ridding the pain of being a man or woman through the pain of discipline and training.
The gym is our church, the iron our preacher. On the platform or under the bar it will never lie to us, it will never let us go half way.
When our turn is up, we will be ready to ride the lighting and answer the call.
West Seattle Barbell Club Membership Director John winters came up with that declaration for what we are. Your next questions might be where did Old Country Strong come from. It all came about from a slip of the tongue from a Club member when referencing how strong some girls in a competition looked. Instantly the phrase caught on with the Club like wildfire. The term brings about thoughts of a time when training and life were tough…. And people didn’t bitch about it. The more we talked about it the more I thought about legendary work ethics of wrestlers like Alexander Karelin carrying refrigerators up stairs. Or American hero Dan Gable getting up in the middle of the night to train, why? “Because that’s what time the Russians where training.” Being Old Country Strong is about having gravel in your guts and exposing your weaknesses and having the desire to eliminate them. We train Crossfit with a HEAVY emphasis on the barbell lifts. But we don’t stop there having members with mix martial arts, kettle bell, and all areas of D1 athletic backgrounds we are always pushing our training. This is an open forum for anyone who has ever desired to pull a truck or spent their winter nights under a rusty squat rack in the garage. Why? Cause it takes grit, that’s Old Country Strong.
Old Country Strong: Life and Lifting 