The former bodybuilding great and Governor of California shares some words of encouragement.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has worn a great many hats during his long career. Championship level bodybuilder, fitness icon, actor, and politician. His talents are multifaceted to say the least. But it appears his action hero persona has apparently rubbed off on the man once revered as the Austrian Oak.
Recently on the popular internet forum Reddit, a poster describing his horrible day in the gym took to the forum to share his embarrassing session in the gym. It’s something that most every athlete goes through at one point of time or another. You feel off when you lift that weight, you feel demoralized, like you’ll never be able to pick up another weight again. But it seems like this poster was having a considerably rough training day. Here’s his description of a deadlift gone wrong:
“My right knee kept buckling and gave out on the fourth rep, causing me to fall once more. Same people laughed and got many looks in my direction because of the loud noise. Feeling completely embarrassed at this point, I put the bar and the weights in their places, and left with my head hanging low.”
Sounds pretty beat up. It’s always tough when you miss a lift, but it’s even more demoralizing when you have a set of onlookers mocking your failure. From his description of himself it sounds like this guy may have been a newbie. Standing 6ft 5inches tall it appears that he was just beginning to get into lifting. From the sounds of things it would’ve likely been his last trip to the gym. That is if it wasn’t for Mr. Schwarzenegger himself who responded back to the depressed lifter.
“Someone told me about this. I hope I’m not too late here, I’m traveling, but I wanted to chime in.
I always say don’t be afraid of failure, because how far can you really fall? You found out – to the ground. It’s right there. Now you know it isn’t anything that should scare you. You should be proud that you weren’t afraid – not embarrassed that you failed. You could have made excuses not to walk into the door, but you didn’t. You knew it would be hard, and it would be uncomfortable, and it might be awkward – and you did it anyway. That’s courage.
I’m proud of you.
The last guy I rooted for broke a world record in the deadlift. You have more in common with him than you think.
First, he started out lifting just the bar, too (when you look at him, he may have been 3 months old at that point). Second, imagine his courage. He walked up to that bar in front of a big audience and television cameras, knowing that not only had he never lifted that much before – NO ONE on earth had – and it was highly likely he would completely fail. You may not think about it this way, but you showed that courage, on a smaller level.
Finally, I’m rooting for you, too. You took the first step and you fell, but at least you fell in the right direction, so get back up and take the next step. Keep moving forward.”
Looks like Arnold is trying to save lives in real life. With a few simple words it’s funny how you can motivate someone, even a stranger, into sticking to the path and traveling the road to betterment. No doubt it’s a pretty awesome moment in the current internet culture, one that should be admired and appreciated.
What do you think of Arnold’s words of encouragement? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
