Although this post may not be strictly related to HST, I'm very interested in hearing what motivates and inspires people. There may be several reasons why we start lifting weights -- we might have been small or weak and wanting to become bigger and stronger.
I also believe that most of us have had some kind of "good example" around, that inspired us to start and lift weights in the first place. It might have been your brother, your neighbour, Steve Reeves, Arnold or anyone else that had an appearance that inspired you or got you started in some other way.
So - who was your inspiration, hero or role model? OK, I'll start.
I guess my first role model when it comes to training was my father. When he was younger, he was a gymnast, and was always doing things like walking around on his hands on our lawn. He was in great shape, even after he stopped doing gymnastics actively, and much more muscular than my friends fathers, which was quite unusual in the mid-seventies. He is still in good shape now, in his early seventies.
I guess I wanted to look like him, so in the late seventies I started working out at the (only) local gym, after having done what I could with the dumbbells we had at home for a couple of years. I was about 12 years old.
On Sunday afternoons, there was always these old movies from the 40's and 50's on TV. One that I particularly liked was the classical "Singin' in the rain", starring Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly isn't really known primarily for his physique (like for example Steve Reeves), but he was actually quite muscular - especially for a dancer - and became another source of inspiration. I don't think I was aware of this at the time, though.
Once in the gym the walls were full of posters of the bodybuilders of the 60's & 70's - Arnold, Lou Ferrigno, Dave Draper, Sergio Oliva etc. The ones that stuck in my mind was Draper and Arnold, in that order. They were of course amazing, but if it comes down to it I'd say that my primary role models, and the ones that got me lifting in the first place, was my father and to some extent Gene Kelly. My father never pushed me in any way, but was always very supporting when it came to my lifting, even though I was the only 12-year old in the gym at that time...
Regards,
/ R
I also believe that most of us have had some kind of "good example" around, that inspired us to start and lift weights in the first place. It might have been your brother, your neighbour, Steve Reeves, Arnold or anyone else that had an appearance that inspired you or got you started in some other way.
So - who was your inspiration, hero or role model? OK, I'll start.
I guess my first role model when it comes to training was my father. When he was younger, he was a gymnast, and was always doing things like walking around on his hands on our lawn. He was in great shape, even after he stopped doing gymnastics actively, and much more muscular than my friends fathers, which was quite unusual in the mid-seventies. He is still in good shape now, in his early seventies.
I guess I wanted to look like him, so in the late seventies I started working out at the (only) local gym, after having done what I could with the dumbbells we had at home for a couple of years. I was about 12 years old.
On Sunday afternoons, there was always these old movies from the 40's and 50's on TV. One that I particularly liked was the classical "Singin' in the rain", starring Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly isn't really known primarily for his physique (like for example Steve Reeves), but he was actually quite muscular - especially for a dancer - and became another source of inspiration. I don't think I was aware of this at the time, though.
Once in the gym the walls were full of posters of the bodybuilders of the 60's & 70's - Arnold, Lou Ferrigno, Dave Draper, Sergio Oliva etc. The ones that stuck in my mind was Draper and Arnold, in that order. They were of course amazing, but if it comes down to it I'd say that my primary role models, and the ones that got me lifting in the first place, was my father and to some extent Gene Kelly. My father never pushed me in any way, but was always very supporting when it came to my lifting, even though I was the only 12-year old in the gym at that time...
Regards,
/ R
