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View Full Version : We are all underdogs.



zbrewha863
11-18-09, 5:21 pm
I was always the best.

The best looking. The best grades. The best at every sport. Hell, I was even the best at things I didn't want to do.

I was focused. Every day. Every little thing that I was doing was my mountain. I cilmbed, every day. People always bet on the mountain.

I heard them. I was too small. Too big. Too fast. Too slow. Too white. Too street. I played too much by the rules. I didn't play by the rules enough. Too perfect, there had to be something wrong with me. I heard them.

I was 17 when I was hired at the local gym. I was a personal trainer (uncertified) -- I was too small, too weak to train lifters, so I got to train women and obese men. I started lifting, seriously.

I heard them. I was too small. Too weak. Too inexperienced. I didn't own lifting gloves. I didn't have the best shoes. I didn't have a bodybuilding.com membership. I was going to embarass myself. I was going to fail.

I was 17, just about to graduate high school with a 3.9. I was all-state in Florida. I was seeing Ms. Florida. I was the underdog.

Every day I asked questions. I gained knowledge. Every day I worked, lifting or running. I gained muscle, I lost fat.

Eventually, one guy asked me to help him train arms. I rode shotgun on his journey. Every day he lifted, I lifted. He sweat, I sweat. We both grew. Others saw this, started wanting training. We all travelled together.

They didn't like that. They challenged me. They were doing 285 on incline, trying to hit their new max. They laughed, said I couldn't do it. I had only been lifting for four months. I was too weak. Too small. Too inexperienced. I had never seen anything like this. It was the middle of my chest workout. I obliged.

I weighed 160 at the time. I got it twice. The third rep, something went wrong. My back . . . pain. I was laid up, had to have surgery.

I heard them. I had lost. I didn't make it. I was too weak. Too small. Too inexperienced. I had never seen anything like this before.

I came back. Bigger. Stronger. Better looking. 285. 305. 345. I couldn't be stopped.

I heard them. There was no way I could come off surgery that fast. I was too strong. I was too big. I was too determined. I must have been on something. No, I was too inexperienced. There was no way I could've known what to be on. They had seen guys on stuff before, this was different. They had never seen anything like this before. I got respect. I heard them.

I left for college. Then the business world. Now law school.

I heard them. The day I got there. There's no way I could have done all the things I said I had done. I was too big. Too stupid. Too young. Too inexperienced. I was just coming off back surgery. Again.

I went back home for the first time in a few years. I saw them. They saw me. They asked what I was up to, where I had been, what I had seen and done. I told them. I waited for the hating to begin. They had my back. They had seen me walk the walk. I told them the others at law school had already counted me out. Doubted me. I knew. I heard them.

One of them took me aside, put his arm around me, bought me a shot. He said we knew I would make it. We knew I would prove them all wrong. We knew I would climb, every day. We had no choice.

Every day I surprise people. They say I'll never get that internship. Nobody is hiring. I'll never make that grade. I'm too dumb. I'll never get back to the shape I was in. I'm too weak. Too fat. It's too hard. It's all too hard.

I am 26. I have run a multi-million dollar company. I have been given personal awards from the governor. I have shot men from over a mile away. I have squatted 800. I have fucked the homecoming queen. Every day, I have climbed. I have been counted out. I have overcome.

Still, I am an underdog. They always bet on the mountain. I hear them. I climb, every day. I was always the best. Fuck the mountain.

Gaoshang Xiongshou
11-18-09, 6:14 pm
YEAH!!! FUCK THE MOUNTAIN!! Welcome to the FORVM!

The_Legacy
11-18-09, 6:37 pm
That's right. Fuck the mountain. It's all about you. Welcome brother.

C.Coronato
11-19-09, 10:38 am
That was deep bro. Welcome.

ghost
11-19-09, 10:44 am
i gotta agree, that was a great post man. looking forward to more to come.

zbrewha863
11-22-09, 4:23 am
Thanks everybody. I wasn't trying to brag about anything with this post, but after re-reading it I think that it sounds like I may be. I was just using some examples to say that, even though I have accomplished many things, every time I start something else I'm still an underdog.

Thanks for the inspiration, this whole forum is full of great people and great posts.

zbrewha863
12-03-09, 1:29 am
I was doing deadlifts. On the last rep of the last set I was straining to get it up and wham! My whole lower back tightened up to the point that I couldn't even stand up straight. I tried to get through my workout, but ended up not finishing the last set of standing EZ bar curls because I was in so much pain. I went home, put a heating pad on my back, and laid in agony. I passed out.

About eight and a half years ago, I had my first back surgery. My back was pretty much useless when I injured it originally, and 4-5 surgeries later not much has changed. Once every few months, I'll push myself too hard on something and hurt my lower back. I'll take a week off from the gym to heal, then come back with some half-assed back workout to "ease into it" -- this half-assed back workout will continue until I up the weight too much (to compensate for the poorly designed workout I guess) and hurt my back again. Vicious cycle, I tell you.

I thought about this as soon as I hurt my back today. I started doing deadlifts to strengthen my back about a week ago. I said fuck it, if my back is torn up, I need to build it up. In the middle of the last rep, I pulled a muscle or something. Normally, I would instantly stop, lower the weight, and stop the workout. Today was different.

I was tired of having a hurt back. So I decided I wasn't going to have a hurt back anymore. I was wincing through my entire workout. It was hard to breathe, and with every step my entire core was in pain. The entire drive home, I was completely in pain. I put on the heating pad and went to sleep. The sleep of victory.

I woke up a few hours later, back is doing much better, barely hurts. More importantly to me right now, I feel great. I feel like I accomplished something today. I always count myself out when it comes to working out my lower back in any way, to the point that I don't even do incline barbell bench anymore (what I originally injured my back working). I'm not condoning injuring yourself, but today was a mental victory. I put my head down and said "I'm not going to let my back stop me." I shed a huge monkey off my back today. I was in agonizing pain, celebrating on the inside.

J-DOG
12-06-09, 9:23 pm
Great post bro couldnt have said it any better myself! Keep em coming cause iu am subbed for this journey for sure!

Peace

JD

Mr.Chaos
12-06-09, 10:54 pm
A man of my own philosophy. They talk the talk they dont walk the walk. I like that. Rings true on so many levels. Truth be told. No matter where you go the mountain will always take the bet, and in most instance will win. It is not a matter of overcoming for the sake of proving the vile wrong. It is overcoming for the sake of self improvement. It is the man against the giant. It is David Vs. Goliath. Thank you for the inspiration. I will ponder this with care. This old beat up Chevy always does.


-Mr. Chaos

looking forward to the next post.

zbrewha863
02-01-10, 11:40 pm
re·set
Pronunciation: \(ˌ)rē-ˈset\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): re·set; re·set·ting
1 : to set again or anew

I was looking into my local CrossFit gym (thought about giving their workouts a try) when I saw that one of their members or trainers had posted this on their comment board. That's it, just the definition above. Everybody else was posting their times from their WOD (Workout of the Day), this guy or girl just posted the definition up there.

This person accomplished more than anybody else did today. I don't know what their time was and I don't care, it doesn't matter. For that definition to mean more to somebody than their WOD time means something. I'm 26, and when I think of the word "reset," I think of a video game when I was a kid -- you die, you hit the reset button. My Dad used to get so mad at me when I did that; he'd say, "In life, there is no 'reset' button. You're going to have to learn that."

Tell that to this person. They didn't push a "reset" button on their X-Box -- they picked up the stones of their crumbling house, and they started to build it back anew. Without "reset," this person would just be SOL. They couldn't start anew . . . knee surgery, having kids, whatever, they'd just be stuck with their body. They'd be stuck with that crumbling house.

I'm a believer in 24/7/365. Another thing my Dad taught me was that "it's easier to keep a knife sharp than to sharpen a dull knife." Mr. Miyagi style, sharpening the knife. I'm in the gym at 6am, I haven't missed a day of work in years, I still eat the same thing for lunch I ate 20 years ago. But don't think that doesn't mean I haven't hit the "reset" button before. Everybody who's hit the bottom to rise back up knows when someone else has done the same. To me, "reset" doesn't equal quit, it equals respect.

J-DOG
02-01-10, 11:47 pm
Amen to that brother! Great post!


JD

zbrewha863
04-22-10, 3:32 pm
I've been thinking about the next step in my life recently. I'm graduating law school in three weeks, after which I study for the Florida bar until I take it at the end of July. It is hard to put into words the literal way that I see my choices, paths, options. I guess, for that reason, I have been reflecting on the past three years of school.

I can't put that into words, either. The best I can do is use an analogy as a question. For any sports fans, particularly college sports fans, this question is for you.

We've all seen small programs come up and make a good run or two. Sometimes, these programs make a good run for a year or two, only to fade back into obscurity. The analysts will talk about how they had some star player, or a genius coach who went to a bigger school. That's it. There was your shot. See you in another 20 years, UNLV.

Sometimes though, as with Boise State football, they grow up. They become a serious, perennial contender. A program everybody mentions as an afterthought, but nobody wants to face. This is how most great programs are built. Our coach, Bobby Bowden (make no mistake, he is still OUR coach), compared Boise State now to FSU in the 70s/80s. That's saying something. That's not just a foundation. That's a scary fucking house.

What's the difference? What separates the programs that grow up, putting out class after class of winners, from the programs that blow their load and fade to black?

Cellardweller
04-22-10, 4:20 pm
Every day, I have climbed. I have been counted out. I have overcome.

Still, I am an underdog. They always bet on the mountain. I hear them. I climb, every day. I was always the best. Fuck the mountain.

That just went up on the basement wall across from my bench.

zbrewha863
08-28-10, 1:33 am
Awesome brother! I'm honored to have inspired someone.

zbrewha863
08-28-10, 2:16 am
Greg White died in a motorcycle accident a couple years ago. You probably never knew him, unless you were a serious bodybuilder or trainer in central Florida.

Greg White was as serious as they come.

I grew up in a small town in central FL, we only had one gym - the local YMCA. It wasn't bad for an all-purpose gym, but it was just that. It had to cater to soccer moms and the morbidly obese as much as it did to serious weightlifters.

I was working there one day when Greg was working out. You always knew when Greg was there - he was the blonde giant who would be screaming as he squatted incredible weight, then the next minute be bs'ing with younger guys about the good ol' days of lifting.

This day, I walk up and Greg turns to me - which was rare b/c Greg normally talked to the entire group, sort of like a preacher of the iron. He says, "Hey man, I was just talking about how this gym sucks. Don't get me wrong, you keep it up and everything, but you can't get big here. I'm going to start a new gym here, just for us real lifters. No bullshit day care and aerobics rooms, just old school equipment, huge dumbbells, and wall-to-wall plates. You wanna come?"

He didn't have it worked out any further than that. He didn't have a building, or rates, or a name. He just knew that he wanted to be the biggest thing you've ever seen, and he was going to get there NOW. "Greg, you don't have anything worked out and I leave for college in three months. I'm in if you get it together."

It ended up taking him a few months longer than expected to set it up. Building permits, finding the equipment he wanted, convincing the bank next door that he could keep the noise down. But I came back from college for a break and stopped in. The place looked like some shit hole concrete block basement you saw the NY/NJ bodybuilders work out in back in the day, stuffed with weights you could never believe a man could lift. I told him that, just like that, and his face lit up like a little kid.

He let me work out for free that day, and I came out feeling like I just stepped out of a time machine. I had never been to a gym like that, and I never wanted to go back to a "modern" gym. Greg's passion for lifting was in every square inch of that place. There were 20-year old girls there going for broke on deadlifts, that's the kind of energy this place had.

Sadly, the gym never made it. It was too small of a town to support two gyms, and the cheap day care and after-school programs at the Y were too much to compete with. After a year or so, Greg closed shop and went back to bending bars at the Y.

I could go on for pages about the stories I have of Greg. He was one of the most intense, crazy, dedicated guys that ever walked the Earth. But just like his shit hole lifter's gym, Greg was on borrowed time. He was killed in a motorcycle accident about a year after he closed up the gym.

Me and some buddies were just talking about Greg the other day. We were talking about all the crazy things he did, and mostly how intense and dedicated Greg was to bodybuilding. Sort of like how you reminisce about most people who are gone, but with more reverence. Not all of us wanted to be a beast like Greg, but everybody respected his drive and what he did with his short time here.

I guess what I took away is that everybody dies, but make sure that when you go, people remember you on your own terms. Greg White was a nutcase who never listened to anything anybody told him not to do, trained exactly that way, and died as the biggest, craziest, old school bodybuilder our town has ever seen. We should all be so fortunate.