Castleton professor does Ted Talk
It looks as if that one of Castleton’s physical education professors has inspiring ideas worth spreading on a national scale.
Andy Weinberg, professor and co-founder of Spartan Race, was invited to La Jolla, Calif. to give a Ted Talk about “adversity in life,” in front of 400 people. Weinberg shared his thoughts about how humans have come to know only the lifestyle of comfort, and how we have trouble these days when faced with adversity.
Weinberg explains that years ago there was no “easy button.” There wasn’t instant gratification and people were forced to deal with difficult change.
Today, he said, everything is fast and easy. We’re all about instant gratification and people are not able to deal with adversity.
“We live in a lazy society and there is a direct correlation between our obesity rates and our fitness levels, and a lot of people just aren’t comfortable dealing with adversities,” he said.
He continued to explain his ideas about how today’s society is so different from society hundreds of years ago.
“Two hundred years ago we had no choice, and now we are so comfortable. We have our phones, we want our coffee a certain way, we hate sitting in traffic … Years ago people were just hoping they wouldn’t die,” he said. “Now we are so comfortable, we are so soft. We live in this environment where we can’t deal with adversity.”
The Spartan Race he helped create is a test of endurance that requires participants to run for miles, leap over and crawl under obstacles including fire pits and barbed wire and lug heavy objects.
Sophomore Josh Mannings, employee of Spartan Race, has had the honor of working with Weinberg via Spartan Race, and said Weinberg is perfect for the motivational Ted Talks.
“It’s always fun, even when you are working. Andy makes hard work enjoyable, he definitely knows what he is talking about,” said Mannings.
As a parting message, Weinberg urges people to challenge themselves.
“Don’t skip life’s obstacles,” said Weinberg. “Adversity of the road to success.”
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