How do you achieve greatness?
You may be thinking, “I can’t achieve greatness because I don’t like myself. I don’t like the way I look or the way I eat.” If that’s you, don’t beat yourself up — there is always room for improvement, and while there’s nothing wrong with mediocrity, you should always be trying to live your best life.
Health is the key to unlocking wealth and prosperity. If you can enjoy being fit, you can enjoy everyday life much more! Your work becomes more productive, and you can do more physically because you’re stronger mentally as well.
My guest today knows the power of fitness and how it can transform your life. I’m honored to welcome Steve Cook to The School of Greatness to discuss what makes a real man, what vulnerability means to him, and how to build self-confidence.
Steve Cook knows how to achieve greatness. With over a million people following him on social media, he knows what his audience wants from him — the secrets to bodybuilding and being a real man.
“Being masculine is really putting others first, and … to me, putting others first [is] the ultimate sacrifice.” – Steve Cook
My interview with Steve Cook was eye-opening about the world of masculinity and fitness, and how we often confuse them with one another. This interview will change your perception of masculinity from one of the top fitness gurus in the country, so let’s get started!
Who Is Steve Cook?
Steve Cook is one of the most recognizable people in the fitness industry. He’s a part of the IFBB pro men’s physique, and he’s a competitor as well as a spokesmodel.
Steve Cook has over a million followers on Instagram, Facebook, and half a million on YouTube. His online presence has continued to develop over the years ever since he started his fitness journey in his home state of Idaho.
Recently, Steve transitioned from full-time fitness to entrepreneurship, currently teaching people how to navigate their full-time business while balancing multiple online platforms. But he’s not finished with the fitness world — he currently has a fitness program for men and women. Some of the programs include Swole, Lean, Power, Athlete, and more! He also has a line of clothing products for men and women as well as fitness equipment that he sells on his website.
Steve Cook currently resides in Utah where he operates his fitness business, helping people achieve a fitness mindset, health, wealth, and happiness.
I loved getting to interview Steve and talk about what real masculinity means! Masculinity is a topic that’s very important to me, and so I was excited to hear his insights on how we can begin to repair what masculinity truly means.
Understanding the Role of Masculinity in Fitness
In my interview with Steve Cook, we talked about the role of masculinity and how it’s played a part in his life, growing up in elementary school and playing sports.
“Society tells us certain things on how to be a man. [It] tells us to be big and strong, not to cry, not to show emotions — don’t be the worst. … And I think it affects us. At least it affected me.” – Steve Cook
I think there’s a lot of misperception of masculinity, and Steve Cook did a perfect job of addressing it. He recognized that society was giving him a false perception of masculinity, and so he slowly started to discover masculinity for himself.
Men are often afraid to talk about their feelings. We think we have to be bottled up and not share our emotions and experiences because if we do, people will think we’re weak. The truth is, when we’re vulnerable, we’re actually courageous.
In order to break the stigma around masculinity and vulnerability, Steve Cook created a video series called “22 Things” that talk about fitness, masculinity, and how to become a happier person.
“It’s about being positive, and it’s about surrounding yourself with good people. And it’s about … a different way of looking at things. And I think that … it’s good because there’s more and more … acceptance about whoever you are out there.” – Steve Cook
Masculinity is about serving others and finding acceptance of who you are. When you put your wants second and focus on helping others and expressing yourself fully, you can begin to discover what masculinity truly means. Masculinity is not about body type and what you can achieve physically. Men shouldn’t feel less masculine because they can’t lift as much weight or because they aren’t incredibly muscular. Masculinity is really about helping others.
“There [are] sacrifices that you have to be made. But again, at the end of the day, you feel like you’re doing what you want to do. You feel like you’re giving value to people around you. And that’s huge, like for me, I’m like, ‘Oh, this feels good. So I was doing it, you know, for myself as well.’” – Steve Cook
Serving others does as much for you as it does for them! By giving your time to the people you love, you create stronger relationships and get to see the positive impact you have on them! Rather than trying to be better than everyone else, men should realize that true masculinity lies in service — not domination.
