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Muscle & Mind Motivation, Inspiration and The Mind. What drives you?

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Old November 30th, 2004, 09:35 PM
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Motivation -- READ THIS!

This is being reposted from the Official Website of Oliver Price, a British bodybuilder and actor.



Motivation

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn't run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes.

Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you'll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn't think much of them
either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my adviser. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard.

Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special.
My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing.

In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in. Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn't say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a ceratin amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body. Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live.

Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.
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Old November 30th, 2004, 11:33 PM
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That's a great passage. Thank you very much for that. Lately I've been depressed that I can't workout, but I know it's just a temporary set-back, and that I need to focus on recovery. I'll be back in the game very soon, but your mind does loose sharpness when you don't train.

Thank you again.
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Old November 30th, 2004, 11:52 PM
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Thanks, FleXodus!

That is an incredibly powerful and honest statement....and it couldn't be more true. Strength is not just muscle -- it's muscle, mind, and heart joined in harmony and striving for a greater purpose.

And Brent....we're with you, buddy.....and I'm keeping you in my thoughts as I train.
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Old December 1st, 2004, 06:00 AM
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I've actually read that somewhere before and it's still a good read. Thanks for reposting!
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Old December 1st, 2004, 06:54 AM
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the only bit that bugs me:

Quote:
When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity.
What's wrong with cosmetic reasons? If it makes you feel better, and others enjoy it, I think it's fine. So long as you aren't like, "Look at this little man! Don't you wish you had this..." Which I can't imagine our members being like.
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Old December 1st, 2004, 09:01 AM
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I think he was meaning to refer to those who trained solely for cosmetic reasons with disregard to everything else (mind, spirit, etc...). I don't think he was criticizing people who workout to look better, only people who get hung up on that sole aspect and confine themselves to it.

It reminds me of a refreshingly honest advertising tagline from a supplement company a few years ago...

"Why be a bird-chested weakling who can't get women, when you can be a hulking greek god who can't get women?"

Obviously if Oliver had been dead set on 'looking better' on the outside without a care in the world as to what was going on inside, I doubt he would have as much self-awareness and heart as he does today.

It's all about balance.
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Old December 1st, 2004, 11:13 AM
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I would go so far as to take that remark a step further and say that it's about:

- Like Flex said, working out ONLY for cosmetic reasons

AND

- taking it so far that you actually abuse your body in the process. You train with imbalance, you use weights that are too heavy, you ABUSE DRUGS that HURT your body in other ways simply for the sake of muscle.

I don't think he meant that it's bad to admire muscle as a cosmetic aspect on yourself or others, that's not how I interpreted it the first time I read this about 3 years ago or again when I read it today.

Great passage, thank you for the reminder!
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Old December 1st, 2004, 11:29 PM
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Well, I didn't know you could abuse drugs, merely have fun. I'm kidding, and for the record, I've only smoked weed, which isn't a "Performance enhancer" anyhow...

I was just curious about that line. I like to work out because it makes me feel better, and it makes me more productive. I also like to encourage anyone I can to work out, because I like enjoying the cosmetic improvements of others as well!

It is a great read, and I shouldn't be making light of it.
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Old December 1st, 2004, 11:46 PM
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No problem.....

Naah, Brent, you're not making light of it, you're just expressing your perspective on it and asking questions. I doubt Oliver would be offended in the least -- and I enjoyed the discussion.
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Old December 2nd, 2004, 07:39 AM
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Agreed. Good questions and important perspectives are never wrong. I've never seen you say anything, Brent, that made me think "I wish he'd just shut up".... never.... even if I disagreed with it.

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Old December 2nd, 2004, 09:19 AM
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well,then...

i also found the quote very inspiring,for about the first 2/3&then....he mentions Yukio Mishima,a great writer&bodybuilder who revived interest in the martial arts in post-WWII Japan.he wrote"Blood&Steel",an essay,which for the first 2/3 is the BEST defense of bodybuilding you ever read&then...(he commited ritual seppoku).it's all about"balance".
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Old December 2nd, 2004, 09:54 PM
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Which quote are you referring to?

Seppuku is awful (definitely an understatement) -- but i hope it wasn't the reference to Yukio Mishima that turned you off to the rest of the piece. I'm sure the writer wasn't meaning to conjure up images of Japanese ritualistic self-disemboweling ('Seppuku') amidst the more positive themes of his account! :P
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Old December 3rd, 2004, 02:33 PM
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no,no,no,...

..it just seems that something that was clearly positive for the guy(bodybuilding);making him more confident&outgoing at the beginning of the essay,had become a way of isolating himself by the end.(i could be over-analysing)
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Old May 19th, 2005, 07:56 PM
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Wow... looking at his website and some of his pictures, it's hard to believe he was ever an insecure, skinny kid. Sounds kinda like me, only it's carried over into my college years

It's really cool to see how lifting has not only affected his outward appearance, but his mind as well.
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Old May 31st, 2005, 05:15 AM
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He's very handsome, and has an amazing body. I think it's funny that he has a recording of himself doing a "US accent"....
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