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“Another rep, another nail. Another set, another brick. Another split,
another backbreaking load of concrete... An honest day’s work for an
honest day’s pay. In here, no distractions. Not like the outside, with
ignorant people and their questions such as, ‘Is bodybuilding a sport?’
The first hundred times, I answered. I’ve stopped answering long ago...”
“Sport. What does the word even mean? Yeah, it is a word that’s easily
defined... Still it doesn't mean much. Let me ask you, how do you
describe what you do in a single word, an entire way of living with
just 5 letters? I can’t. What I do is more than a word. What I do
cannot be confined by the basic limitations of language. Who I am
cannot be so easily defined.”
“Bodybuilding is a sport, one that doesn’t end with stepping up on
stage... That’s just a detour. But bodybuilding is more, like breathing
or living. It is transcendent. It is not merely a word, but a symbol, a
process of becoming--a constant striving to better oneself. This great
journey that I’m on, one that we all can become a part of, has a
beginning but no end.
As I sit here, in the middle of my labor with two and a quarter on my
back, I know I’m just a tiny speck. On this ordinary day, as I hammer
out reps, each one drives my determination deeper into the grain of my
being.” |
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“’Is
bodybuilding a sport?’ Brothers, if you ever get deep into this game,
be ready for this question--you'll get it over and over and over again.
When I first go into this sport, I didn't know the answer. Later, I
knew and I answered. At some point, I stopped answering altogether. Who
the fuck cares? Still, a part of me can look at the question
rationally. What does the word ‘sport” mean? If ya look it up, you'll
see
a lot of different definitions. One definition is a guy who can accept
the hard life and can deal with all kinds of shit. Kinda reminds me of
Tantalus. Now this Tantalus had it fucking
bad man. See, Tantalus was punished by having to stand in a
lake. Above him was a tree filled with ripe fruit. Around him, was
cool, clear water. When he got hungry and reached up for the fruit, the
branch would move away. When he got thirsty and bent down for a drink,
the water would fall away. His punishment was that he could never
satisfy his hunger, his thirst. Yeah, this is only a story, a myth, an
allegory, but there's stone cold truth here. Like Tantalus, we
bodybuilders have to put up with a lot of shit (yeah, we also dish it
out too). But more to the point, I know what it's like to feel a
constant
hunger, an unquenchable thirst. Bodybuilding to me, like all great
sports, like
all great lives, is a process, a never-ending journey of
self-improvement
and betterment. Built into this process is a basic concept of
competition. Not necessarily the competition of the stage--that's just
a detour. If I were to never step up, bodybuilding would still mean the
same damn thing. Because every fucking day I spend in the gym, every
fucking set,
every fucking drop of sweat that falls from my
brow, I am competing. And if you’re doing it right, you’re competing
against the baddest, sickest motherfucker there is… Yourself."
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"Sport.
The word can mean someone takes a beating and comes back for more. This
defines the iron warrior. But it can also mean an
organism which, through mutation, goes through an abnormal change.
Mutation? Abnormal? Change? Shit, these are words I know something
about, words I can fucking relate to. Most people, they want to fit in.
They want to be liked. They don't want to be abnormal. Great thinkers,
philosphers and artists, they don't give a shit what others think. They
are committed to a pursuit of truth. Yeah, there's truth in
bodybuilding... Truth and a kind of purity that I haven't found
anywhere else. When you lie there, under the weight, there is the stark
black and white truth, a revealing moment--can I lift this weight? Can
I squeeze out another rep? Brothers, ain't nothing like it... The
silence, the peaceful solitiude of an empty gym--nothing but your
thoughts, the clean burn of those weights, the inner struggle against
yourself... So is bodybuilding a sport? Fuck yeah... It's the sport of
mutants. We walk among you."
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Mockery. Jest. To make a "sport" out of something... One word. So many
fucking meanings. And it's not just the word sport either. Same thing
could be said for the word bodybuilding. See this is the problem when
it comes to arguing about whether or not bodybuilding is a sport. Too many
definitions, too many viewpoints. Nobody's ever on the same page. Long
story short, too much talk and not enough of what matters. Action.
Getting your hands dirty. Talk is fucking cheap. You wanna know about
what sport means to me? Many things... Like making a mockery of gravity
and defying the laws of physics every time I load up the bar...
Ridiculing the plates, belittling them, putting them in their fucking place... Going heavier, harder than I
ever thought possible... Never letting what I think I can do get in the
way of what I'm gonna do. Spilling blood and guts for this sport I love. Being bound to it and never letting go.
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