Do You Even Lift?

Pre-workout kicks in and I’m ready to make all kinds of gains.  Where do I start? Light cardio on the stair-master to maintain my vascularity during bulking season. Depending on the day, after cardio it’s time hit up my first compound workout.  See my friend Ahmed and give him the gym greeting, “Get shredded or die mirin’ brah”.  I proceed to my next workout.  

It’s not long after January first and the new people are rushing in.  All sorts of people with their “resolutions” that have been our everyday. They come in taking selfies, and acting hard to their friends because they can do a few pounds more than them.  Then the “not-bads” who are just a bit too self-conscious are scattered around.  I was once like them, fat, scared, unconfident  Were they bullied, or unliked? Will they find inspiration soon? The sort of inspiration I found will provide for a life time. Zyzz and Kai Greene, the two most inspiring figures bodybuilding has seen, with two completely different types of physiques.

Life is not life if you are too well-behaved, or scared to be yourself. No matter who you are or what you want to do you will be down-talked.  No matter how big your dream, or how big the path you’re going down, there will be haters. Letting these people bring you down doesn’t make sense. Our lives are too short and we need to chase our dreams while we’re still in our prime. It pays off to be done sooner rather than later. As Zyzz said, “We’re all gonna make it bro.”  

When you talk to someone they don’t dislike you at first. Except when they find out you want to be a bodybuilder. Then they hate you, because your dreams make them feel inferior. They aren’t dreaming big or even dreaming at all. They’ll come at you saying it’s just a dream, and dreams don’t come true. To this you must quote Kai, “ Trust me when I say this dreams do come true and if a man doesn’t have a dream, he has nothing to work for, no reason to get up in the morning, no reason or purpose to be.”  Once said they’ll be astonished and their hate intensified because they failed to bring you down.  You are a warrior, and you will keep fighting for the dream no matter what obstacles you face.  The reward at the end of the road is worth more than any amount of money, than any car, or any tv show.  The dream doesn’t occupy all 24 hours of the day and seven days of the week, you still have time for the shows, friends, and video games.  Just make sure you are making progress towards the dream.

Nothing of value ever comes easy, so you need to work hard, that is what life is about after all.  Many people would look at me and who I am and think I’m a “douchebag” or “fat-hater” but I’m not.  There have been so many times when people first meet me and they think I have all kinds of things going on and they like to tell me the reason I go to the gym is because I’m making up for something else. They do this thinking I started skinny and I’ve only gained a bit of weight. These people think I don’t know what it is like to be fat, they judge me on my current look and don’t bother to look at my past, instead they fill in my past with their imagination and try to make it reality.  

When I see fat people or skinny people at the gym I am joyed.  People are slowly becoming themselves regardless of what other people say. They made the change and the only way for me to dislike somebody is if they gave me a good reason to. That’s the way it is for any real person. I am human, I have faults too, I once came down the same road as you, it’d be hypocritical for me to hate you.  I only look at those outside the gym who are skinny and those who are fat and say to myself, I don’t understand why people limit themselves to such a normal life style. They aren’t really following the dream. Everyday is the same for them.  In my mind I think to the first quote from Zyzz that made my mind start thinking,

"Everybody, one day will die, and be forgotten. Act and behave in a way that will make life interesting and fun, fuck a mundane predictable life working Monday to Friday with something you derive no pleasure from; just living life out till you grow old and wither away. Find a passion, form relationships, don't be afraid to get out there and fuck what everyone else thinks, trust me it’s a lot more fun that way.  Don’t ever pay people out or put people down. Instead just put yourself up and let the haters do their thing. I’d rather be a person that's hated on, than a person that does the hating. A wise man once said… “Haters gonna hate!"

No matter how I act or how I look, I’ll still be judged, and I am fine with it. I’m living my life, and I’m happy.






In this piece I talked about my bias towards people who don't go to the gym or do go but don't take it seriously and act hard. You all probably were able to infer which bias I was talking about though.

Comments (3)

Rafi Hares (Student 2016)
Rafi Hares

Most body builders are seen as muscle heads and this changes that stereotype around and shows how deep of a thinker you are and that you understand the problems with stereotypes and the issues they present for others.