In light of so many topics about how social media, movies, the internet, etc have been setting up “dangerous and unrealistic” expectations out of trainees, I’m curious as to who inspired YOU to lift. It’d be interesting to see who people drew inspiration from and, in turn, where they went with it. I theorize that MANY people here were inspired by people that were enhanced or downright impossible to ever achieve and still did great things through that inspiration.
I’d say my two biggest real world inspirations were Arnold and Hulk Hogan. In saying that, I’m giving away my age, but if you grew up in the 80s and 90s, Arnold was the greatest action star ever, and Hulk Hogan was definitely the strongest and baddest man on the planet. I was inundated with these images since before I can remember, and from that I knew I always wanted to be big and strong. And yeah, both guys clearly enhanced.
But if you want to talk REAL enhancement, my other 2 big inspirations were this guy
and this guy
Better seen here
I watched Popeye cartoons religiously as a kid, and even begged my parents to buy some canned spinach for dinners, convinced it would get me to be strong like him. There was nothing more cathartic than watching Popeye down the spinach and take out Bluto. And for folks not fluent in 90s arcade games, that jumble of pixels is Mayor Mike Haggar of Final Fight. You have no idea how much I lost my mind when I found out you could play as him in the game. Normally, in video games, you’re always an average sized if not slightly muscular dude that has to take on people much bigger than yourself. When I saw you could play as some 300lb monster, I was like “why would you possibly pick anyone else?”
Drawing from these inspirations, real and fake, both enhanced in different ways, I sought out to get big and strong. I’ve never used anything illegal to enhance myself, and yes, I’ve never reached their levels, but I’ve never been upset about that. I’m still as big and strong as I can be at this moment, and I wouldn’t trade that time or effort away for anything else.
What about you?