GYM RATS: THE PUMP IS THEIR CHEESE, SWEAT IS THE PRICE

Gym rats come in all shapes and sizes, but all of them have one consistent trait.

They don’t miss a day if they can help it.

Sick, injured, it doesn’t matter to them. They want that thing you can’t buy or pick up.

Their go-to is the pump.

The what?

Normal life is a set routine of getting things done. Routine things. The basics, like food, clothing, shelter.

At the same time, other basics that go along with the first set are cooking and cleaning and maintenance.

Results may vary, but the end goal is eating, wearing clean clothes, and living under a roof.

But none of that is enough for the dedicated gym rat. Oh, they want the same as everyone else, they just want to feel better and look better doing it.

They want the pump to get them though the day.

Do some of them pick up strange habits along the way? They sure do. And we all adapt.

For example, one strong man said to eat a few pounds of chicken every day. A few pounds? Like a barrel from the Colonel? No, like baked or roasted chicken. And greens, like a salad, lots of greens.

I listened until I saw how he was around others. He had a strut and some weird head movements like he ate too much chicken. He was also a body-shaver with a five o’clock shadow on his shoulders.

Could it be feathers instead of hair? A chicken plucker from too much chicken? Probably not, but why chance it.

Man On A Misson For Gym Rats

I spoke to a strong man doing arm curls with hundred pound dumbbells like they were twenties.

He was one of the biggest guys I’ve ever seen, but didn’t crack six feet. His width and depth made up for height. Three hundred pounds without a jiggle.

How did that happen? He’d been lifting weights since childhood. He said he took weights with him wherever he went, and he was a big traveler, a world traveler.

Before fitness became a business like Starbucks, with gyms on every corner for every level, hotels had weak weight rooms.

Any broom closet with a barbell was enough to call a fitness center.

I walked though a resort gym recently that was a mirrored hallway. It looked nice, but the mirrors made it look big. And no one was in there. Never a good sign.

To avoid any workout interruptions, the big man took his weights with him. All of the time, I asked?

Yes, he said. Then he got married and took his wife with him instead of dumbbells. I looked at him for the joke. There was no joke.

He said the trade-off worked better for them. I figured he traveled more before the airlines started charging extra for heavy bags. He didn’t show me a picture of his wife.

It’s Never Too Late To Start Pumping Up

My parents, and people their age, people born in the Depression Era 1930’s, never understood the magic of muscle. They believed working out would make them muscle bound and stiff. The sports guys didn’t want that.

Basketball players needed that long, lean, muscle, like swimmers. Football players needed all the bulk they could gather, but not that muscle bound weight.

At the same time, the fifties and sixties were full of big fat men who could still move. Like Art Donovan with his book:

Fatso: Football When Men Were Really Men 

The 340-pound Donovan was a professional football player in the 1950s, when the league was taking shape and the game was particularly attractive to players who enjoyed mayhem. 

To be clear, he had been a WWII Marine in the Pacific, where mayhem was just another day with lower pay.

Things changed when natural athletes started getting stronger than everyone else, who then had to play catch-up or quit.

My dad didn’t catch the fitness bug, but my step-dad did. He started late, decided he was all in and bought workout clothes.

At the time of his passing on Sept. 11, 2020, he was prepared to do everything he could to get strong. He was eighty nine years old.

However, you don’t have to wait. Get with the program today and soon enough you’ll see change. The biggest change comes from looks that say, “That’s one good looking man,” or, “That’s one good looking woman.”

If that’s what you’ll say when the change starts, imagine what others will say.

You can do this. On 1, 2, 3, gym rats, let’s go.