Viewer Mail

Time to answer a little "viewer mail." A reader sent me an email asking about my enjoyment of the Rocky films and how they inspire me. I know there are people who say those films are corny or contrived. Maybe so but I think they offer good advice whether you are an athlete or not. It goes back to that baseline level of understanding thing I like to talk about. It gets exhausting to deal with people for whom every freakin' thing requires a long-winded explanation. Like the Cheers theme: sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. Sometimes you wanna be around like-minded people who get you and who you get. Simple. I get the Rocky films. Whenever Trump writes a business book, I get it. I still smile every time I think about Trump's commentary on Cinderella Man and how identical it was to my own. Americans love a good underdog story. We love a comeback. We love rags to riches. In Rocky III when Paulie gets drunk and Rocky bails him out, Paulie has the attitude that Rocky owes him so much. Rocky says, "You owe yourself." I thought, "Absolutely!" In Rocky IV when he asks Apollo if the fight is more like you versus you, again I thought, "Absolutely!" You don't have to be someone who trains in a sport to get these metaphors, although it doesn't hurt. I've been reading his book, Sly Moves (http://www.amazon.com/Sly-Moves-Proven-Program-Strength/dp/0060737875), and he offers good insights about his experiences in training for the Rocky and Rambo franchises. He's tried every fad diet and trained in every way you can imagine. If nothing else, one message you should take from the book is that getting older shouldn't mean resigning yourself to a rocking chair as you wait for death. And at any age, you shouldn't let anyone convince you that you are too much x or not enough y to accomplish your goals. Trust me, after being out of rigorous training for over a year and not being 20 years old anymore, I could say, "Well, f*ck it. I don't want to rebuild my base of strength, I don't want to start over. It's too difficult and too time-consuming." You know what? I got time. The next year of my life is going to pass whether I am lifting again or not. It's important to me to be comfortable in my own skin in a way that I haven't been before; more specifically, I need to ride solo without drawing my strength from external, temporal sources. Today was a cardio day and, since I am sore and beaten up, I used the dreadmill. As I was walking, I thought, "I wish that idiot would come back and say that shit in my face now. I wish he would come back and tell me he had to go for a run to keep from beating me up. Piece of shit. This time, I'd tell him, 'Throw the first punch, bastard. Ain't nothin here but space and opportunity.'"

My fight is back. I don't know how anyone can watch a Rocky film and not feel inspired. There is something truly magical about transforming into more than you ever thought you could be. With that magic comes a sense of pride and self-respect. Instead of feeling like a victim and wallowing in pity, you become a victor who says, "Yeah, OK. I've been deceived and screwed over at times. Sometimes it was someone else's orchestration and sometimes I did it to myself. But that does not and will not define me. I WILL get up out of the dirt and so help me, if I go down, I will go down swinging with one hell of a fight."