I felt like writing... Be Grateful For Struggle... Read it on my blog here ==> robkingfitness/robs-personal-stuff/grateful-struggle/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few years ago I met a man who had a huge impact on me in the bodybuilding and fitness scene. I went to a workshop in Denver Colorado and something he said stuck in my mind and still does every day. Be Grateful For Struggle. I competed in my first PowerLifting meet in 1999. I am not gonna lie, I knew very little about PowerLifting. Back in those days I was a BodyBuilder who just like to lift HeavyWeights and competing in a PowerLifting meet seemed like a fun idea at the time. I didnt know the rules, I didnt know much about the sport but me and a small team from HeavyWeights signed up and competed (at the time I didnt have a gym I only had a supplement store and we trained at the YMCA across the street from where I lived). At this meet I bombed my bench press on all 3 lifts (2 from technical failures) and my last one just got heavy. My ego had gotten the better of me and it was a huge learning experience. I walked away hitting a 527 lb squat, but missed my opener on bench of 372 lbs and was disqualified from the event. My ego ruined me that day, but I learned a lot. A few months later while training hard and heavy I attempted a 500 lb sumo deadlift beltless. I missed the lift, I fought for it when I should have dropped it, and I felt a stabbing pack in my back so bad I thought that someone had stuck a hot iron into my lower back. From that day forward I was never the same again in my training or my life. Fast forward to 2013 and I met some amazing people via the internet and seminars that helped me learn to strength, repair and overcome my injury. Two people that helped me greatly with this was Dr. Stu McGill and Dean Somerset. From what I learned and applied I was able to slowly overcome my injury, get strong, heal and get back to lifting HeavyWeights and PowerLifting. This year I had a great year and did things I never dreamed I could do. I competed in St. Catherines Ontario at the 2013 Canadian Nations and walked away as a National Champion. I never saw that coming at all. A huge thank you to my coaches Kevin Farrell & Danielle Rideout on that day for all their help. A few weeks after that I was accepted as a part of Team Canada PowerLifting and got the opportunity to compete in South Africa. Even though I came second last in my division I was so happy to be able to compete, to represent Team Canada and to lift HeavyWeights again. Competing in South Africa as a member of Team Canada was something I NEVER thought possible. Only a few years before I could barely get out of bed without pain and now here I was on the platform competing against people from Russia, Poland, USA, Japan and more. It is hard to put into words how amazing an experience this was. After that meet I realized that I needed to improve and for the last 5 months I have been FOCUSED and DRIVEN to make 2015 bigger and better than ever. I am setting it as a goal to become a World Champion and to bring that back to Canada, To Newfoundland and to my gym HeavyWeights. For 13 years I struggled to overcome an injury, and this injury made me appreciate what I had lost and it made me grateful for this opportunity to be able to lift and compete again. I think of this every single day. Train Hard, Train Smart & Be Grateful For Struggle.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 01:24:46 +0000
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