I'm BACK

First off I just wanted to thank eveyone for sending me emails and asking me questions. Keep them coming!!

Forrest Griffin & Powerlifting - What??

Here is an excerpt from Forrest Griffin’s first book back in 2009, Got Fight?, (He’s an Awesome MMA fighter and former UFC Champion for those of you who don’t know). This part of the book is about when his college football friends decided to be tough guy, douche bags.

 “…Now, I was certain this short, scrawny kid would begin wailing and running in circles, which only would have prompted this asshole I was with to chase after him… a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound linebacker chasing down a hundred-and-twenty-pound kid, pens flying everywhere. But that’s not what our geek chose to do. Out of nowhere, he charged directly at my dickface associate and swung for the hills.

  I couldn’t fucking believe it… the football player was so big that even if you had ten buddies getting your back, you’d still think twice about charging him. And here, this little kid was doing it all on his own, petite fists looping through the air like pesky mosquitoes… Anyone who saw this exchange would have figured now that he had taken one to the face, he would stay down and play dead. That’s not what happened. Getting socked only seemed to fuel his passion for justice. He popped back up like a weeble-wobble and again charged forward… he grabbed the kid by his neck, dragged him over to the edge of a grassy slope, and threw him down it. The kid tumbled head over tail, but when he reached the bottom, he didn’t lie there in a tattered heap. He came storming back up the hill. When he reached the top, he stopped for a moment, casually removed his glasses… then said “I’M READT TO DIE!”

  …They’d throw him down, kick him in the guts and back, and begin to walk away. Before they could make it five feet back to the Jeep, the kid would leap up again and charge them… Meanwhile, I’m urging these boneheads to get moving. (Why Forrest didn’t help this kid I have no idea.)

  The driver revved the engine and peeled out. As we sped away from the scene, I looked back over my shoulder. I saw the kid come over the top of the hill in all of his hundred-and-twenty-pound glory, and a chill went down my spine. His face was bloody, and his button-down shirt was torn and grass-stained, but there wasn’t a trace of emotion on his face. Instead of running for the police, the kid dusted himself off, put his glasses back on, and then headed casually off… Right then, I realized that not only was that kid the coolest guy in the world, he was the toughest son of a bitch to ever walk the face of this earth. (Got Fight?, Forrest Griffin w/Erich Krauss)

I hope you already know why I chose this topic from Forrest’s book.

During a powerlifting meet it’s the “BIG” lifters that get all of the attention and adulation. But to REAL powerlifters, it’s that “little” man or woman putting everything into each lift and pushing themselves to their limits. Those are the lifters that deserve our respect. Many of the BIG lifters really don’t push themselves as hard as they should or could. They rely on their lifting gear, superior genetics, and/or drugs. These lifters maybe push their “giant” bodies and tiny minds 80%. I’ve met many powerlifters over the years that to me present as cowards. They would belittle and tease the smaller lifter trying their best in front of the crowd and pushing themselves to their absolute limits – just like the college student that Forrest writes about.
Now of course I respect and admire many of the advanced powerlifters out there. A REAL man or woman competitive lifter to me not only has to be physically strong, but respectful and humble as well – the best powerlifter of ALL TIME Ed Coan comes to mind…