Hey guys, so I started this blog about Pitt Fitness & Bodybuilding (and powerlifting and strongman and fahking awesomeness) last year when I first became president and….wouldn’t you know…I have yet to write in it…. 😉 That’s okay. I fully intend to keep up with this now, because we have a LOT in store for you this year, and I think it’d be cool for the other members who can’t make it, and some outsiders to see what we really do over here! Please bear with the horrendous style of it… I have some major updating to do.
So the meeting started out with Joe and I talking your faces off about who we are and what we do. We told you a little bit about our experiences, lifts, and most importantly, that Joe enjoys being little spoon. We then transitioned into meeting all fifty/sixty/however the hell many of you there were that day. You guys told us about your age, sex, just kidding………. I think I learned about what citrus fruits you like. And some assholes just decided to disregard citrus fruit and talk about mangoes so….Yeah. That was cool. We had a drawing for prizes from our local General Nutrition Center representative, also your other president, Joe Fogiato. Congratulations to everyone who won t shirts and protein and stuff. We then had a little “Myth Busters” section where we talked about nutrition, females and weight training, and supplement myths. It was just something small to lead y’all into the grand finale: Mista Paul Carter.
When I asked a few of my club members to just give me a little feedback on Paul Carter’s mini seminar, I was expecting to just get a few “Yeah, he was really good!” “I liked him a lot” comments.
To be completely honest, I didn’t even know how to respond to my friends when they sent me their thoughts. I was blown away by the positive comments everyone had to offer. I had the privilege to spend most of this weekend hanging out with Paul, and I can confidently say that he has changed more than one part of my life, solely from discussions and such. I know that many people felt the same way, too just from that hour we had with him as a unit.
I think we can all attest to the fact that it is very different to listen to someone speak in person, rather than hear them on a youtube video, or read their posts online. Some of us in the club have already been influenced by his words and have been reading Paul’s writing prior to him coming, and some people had never even heard of him before the fact. Either way, the general consensus was that Paul……..effing rocks.
So I first asked Joe what he thought about Mr. Carter. (Not to go on too many tangents here, but just to explain mine and Joe’s deal, we have a co-presidency. Why? There isn’t much of a reason. Think of Step Brothers when they do a co-interview. Yeah. Its like that. No more questions). Anywho, just to give some highlights of the response I got back from him, “I think, myself included, that most people thought ‘Oh this really swole dude is just gonna come up and tell us to lift weights, eat a lot, don’t take steroids, blah blah, now ask me questions’ but I was pleasantly surprised when some of the first words out of his mouth gave me goosebumps, and those continued the entire way through his shpeel”. He then continued, “The highlight of it for me was when the question that was something along the lines of ‘what would be ONE SENTENCE you would tell someone who’s going through a lot of hardships from work, school, life, etc'”. Joe was basically expecting a long drawn out answer that beat around the bush and wouldn’t really acknowledge the fact that this girl had just asked a question that had absolutely nothing to do with training. Again, we all were BLOWN AWAY by his answer. He started out by saying “The present is not permanent”. Joe explained to me that all of his hair grew back on his freshly shaven arms from the goosebumps he got.
You see, we crazy college students like to pretend we’re simple people, but we’re really absurdly complicated human beings. None of us know what we want, so many of us do stupid things to cope with our lack of knowledge/wisdom/common sense. To hear something THAT SIMPLE means more to us than Paul, or really anyone not currently in the same situation will ever understand. It honestly felt like a breath of fresh air. Paul is the type of person who you will ask a question about one thing with something else in mind, and he’ll somehow read your mind, address what you were really thinking, relate to it, and then blast it with some crazy explanation that makes complete sense.
I also got an amazing response that I’d like to highlight from Kyle: Guardian of the streets of Oakland. Or something. Kyle has followed Paul for quite some time, and couldn’t be happier about the outcome of meeting this dude who he had been looking up to. Kyle explained, “I really liked how genuine he was and how much feeling he had behind his words. I’ve always loved his writing and it has helped me in many ways, but hearing him speak in person meant so much more and there were times where he had me on the verge of tears. I later talked to Paul about how much I loved his writing and how much it meant to me and we talked a little bit about Pete Rubish. He seemed more than happy to talk about anything and listened to what I had to say while never breaking eye contact. Paul Carter is an amazing speaker, and a truly amazing man”.
Do you guys see what I mean?! How the hell am I suppose to respond to these! One of my favorite things about people is noticing the passion within them, and I could truly tell the fire was lit under some of the club members’ asses that day, and that meant so much to me. Paul told me he was worried that he would have a hard time connecting with a younger group. I think we can all see that was completely false.
Some takeaways from Paul’s mininar (miniature seminar)/a few things I’ve learned:
-BE SINGULAR MINDED with your goals. Paul asked us to raise our hands if we wanted to be super cut OR if we wanted to be super strong. Then asked us how many asses we have. Yep, you can’t ride two horses with one ass. Put your everything into one goal at a time. Aim to become great at one thing, rather than settle for mediocrity dabbling in a few things at a time.
-The present is not permanent. Enough said.
-Do NOT compare yourself to anyone. Just stop it! You train and do things for yourself, not anyone else. Who fucking cares what Billy is benching at another gym
-Believe in the process, yourself, have patience. It takes time.
-You can get bitter, or you can get better.
-Nothing comes without a gain, and a loss.
-Do not be the person who drives home from work and has fifteen minutes go by without even realizing it. Live those minutes and become more aware in them.
-Bad decisions make for good stories.
-Don’t take people’s shit, and follow your intuitions.
-Fear and feeling comfortable will hold you back. As stated before, this goes with settling for mediocrity because you have minimal complaints doing the same damn thing every day. Do something.
Until next time,
Stay Swole.
-Fre$h Prez Brussy
Pitt Fitness & Bodybuilding Club 