# Henry Rollins Lifting Story



## joecamp4 (Jul 10, 2002)

For those that like Rollins, here is how it all began...

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention.  To not be
like you parents.  To not be like your friends.  To be yourself. 
Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself.  All I was, was a product of
all the fear and humiliation I suffered.  Fear of my parents.  The
humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be
mowing lawns for a living.  And the very real terror of my fellow
students.  I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and
my size.  I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I
didn't run home crying, wondering why.  I knew all too well.  I was
there to be antagonized.  In sports I was laughed at.  A spaz.  I was
pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every
waking moment made me wild and unpredictable.  I fought with some
strange fury.  The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time.  As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to
talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing
that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes.

Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside.  I only talked to a
few boys in my grade.  Other losers.  Some of them are to this day the
greatest people I have ever known.  Hang out with a guy who has had his
head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and
you'll find a faithful friend forever.  But even with friends, school
sucked.  Teachers gave me hard time.  I didn't think much of them
either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my adviser.  He was a powerfully built Vietnam
veteran, and he was scary.  No one ever talked out of turn in his class.
Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to
the blackboard.

Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he
asked me if I had ever worked out with weights.  I told him no.  He told
me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a
hundred-pound set of weights at Sears.  As I left his office, I started
to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the
weights that I was not going to buy.  Still, it made me feel special. 
My father never really got that close to caring.  On Saturday I bought
the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car.  An
attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school.  He said
that he was going to show me how to work out.  He was going to put me on
a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I
wasn't looking.  When I could take the punch we would know that we were
getting somewhere.  At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or
tell anyone at school what I was doing.

In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises.  I paid more attention than
I ever did in any of my classes.  I didn't want to blow it.  I went home
that night and started right in.  Weeks passed, and every once in a
while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my
books flying.  The other students didn't know what to think.  More weeks
passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar.  I could sense
the power inside my body growing.  I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of
nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest.  I
laughed and kept going.  He said I could look at myself now.  I got home
and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt.  I saw a body, not just
the shell that housed my stomach and my heart.  My biceps bulged.  My
chest had definition.  I felt strong.  It was the first time I can
remember having a sense of myself.  I had done something and no one
could ever take it away.  You couldn't say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have
learned from the Iron.  I used to think that it was my adversary, that I
was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted.  I was wrong. 
When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing
it can do for you.  If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it
wouldn't teach you anything.  That's the way the Iron talks to you.  It
tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to
resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I
had given myself a great gift.  I learned that nothing good comes
without work and a ceratin amount of pain.  When I finish a set that
leaves me shaking, I know more about myself.  When something gets bad, I
know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me:  pain is
not my enemy; it is my call to greatness.  But when dealing with the
Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly.  Most
injuries involving the Iron come from ego.  I once spent a few weeks
lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not
picking up anything heavier than a fork.  Try to lift what you're not
prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and
self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect.  I
think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself
off as self-respect:  the idea of raising yourself by stepping on
someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself.  When I see guys
working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the
worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and
insecurity.  Strength reveals itself through character.  It is the
difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr.
Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength.  Strength is kindness and
sensitivity.  Strength is understanding that your power is both physical
and emotional.  That it comes from the body and the mind.  And the
heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he
was not strong.  Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a
weakened body cannot sustain it for long.  I have some of my most
romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron.  Once I was in love with a
woman.  I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was
racing through my body.  Everything in me wanted her.  So much so that
sex was only a fraction of my total desire.  It was the single most
intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see
her very often.  Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the
loneliness.  To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone.  It enables me to concentrate on the lessons
that the Iron has for me.  Learning about what you're made of is always
time well spent, and I have found no better teacher.  The Iron had
taught me how to live.

Life is capable of driving you out of your mind.  The way it all comes
down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane.  People
have become separated from their bodies.  They are no longer whole.  I
see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban
homes.  They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. 
And they behave badly.  Their egos run wild; they become motivated by
that which will eventually give them a massive stroke.  They need the
Iron mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into
a single strength.  I believe that when the body is strong, the mind
thinks strong thoughts.  Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind
degenerate.  I wallow in a thick depression.  My body shuts down my
mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found.  There is
no better way to fight weakness than with strength.  Once the mind and
body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn
back.

The Iron never lies to you.  You can walk outside and listen to all
kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard.  The Iron
will always kick you the real deal.  The Iron is the great reference
point, the all-knowing perspective giver.  Always there like a beacon in
the pitch black.  I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend.  It
never freaks out on me, never runs.  Friends may come and go.  But two
hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.


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## bigss75 (Jul 10, 2002)

That is a good story


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## Captain (Jul 10, 2002)

I'm gonna lift my ass off today.


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## Tboy (Jul 10, 2002)

I saw when he did that interview.  Seems to be a pretty cool dude...


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## joecamp4 (Jul 10, 2002)

The man....


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## Snake_Eyes (Jul 10, 2002)

I love that more and more every time I read it.


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## Tank316 (Jul 10, 2002)

great story.


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## bigss75 (Jul 10, 2002)

I wish my teachers would have bought me a weight set.


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## Lightman009 (Jul 11, 2002)

Cool story.


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## Mudge (Jul 11, 2002)

That is a good one.


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## Vale Tudo (Jul 11, 2002)

That truly was awesome, and very motivational


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## seyone (Jul 11, 2002)

that is a pretty good read


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## Craft (Jul 11, 2002)

Very cool story!


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## kuso (Jul 11, 2002)

Great fucking story...............wonder if it`s on one of his cd`s....be cool to listen to in the car on the way to the gym


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## ZECH (Jul 11, 2002)

Dude that was a cool story..glad you posted it~


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## Chest Rockwell (Jul 11, 2002)

Definitely a cool story.
Thanks for sharing.


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## buff_tat2d_chic (Jul 11, 2002)

Super read!

Nice to know that everyone was ordinary once.


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## joecamp4 (Jul 11, 2002)

> _*Originally posted by kuso *_
> Great fucking story...............wonder if it`s on one of his cd`s....be cool to listen to in the car on the way to the gym



Your right...I've heard him speak on a number of issues, but never Weights...that would be something to hear   

Joe


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## kuso (Jul 13, 2002)

> _*Originally posted by joecamp4 *_
> 
> 
> Your right...I've heard him speak on a number of issues, but never Weights...that would be something to hear
> ...



 So then, why are you yelling at me


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## joecamp4 (Jul 13, 2002)

Oh sorry...I'm not yelling at you...thats Rollins talking about Weight Lifting.  He tends to get worked up at his shows


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## Chest Rockwell (Jul 14, 2002)

I saw an interview wit Henry Rollins on
the Howard Stern show a while ago.
He talked about weight training and what he eats throughout the day.
I was very suprised when I heard what he eats everyday.
The guy eats next to nothing.


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## kuso (Oct 1, 2002)

Bumping this baby just coz I wanna


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## Brad224 (Oct 2, 2002)

Great motivational read. Can't wait to get to the gym tonight (legs night!). Thanks for posting.


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## Redsol1 (Oct 7, 2002)

> _*Originally posted by kuso *_
> Great fucking story...............wonder if it`s on one of his cd`s....be cool to listen to in the car on the way to the gym



i have the "i know you" vs "a warm place" in my MP3 player almost every mix i make for the gym. It reminds me where i've been, and how far i've come.

La'
   Redsol1


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## Neil (Oct 7, 2002)

> _*Originally posted by Snake_Eyes *_
> I love that more and more every time I read it.



I was thinking the same thing.


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## THE_GAME (Oct 8, 2002)

very inspirational story


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## maniclion (Mar 23, 2004)

Bump


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## Deeznuts (Mar 23, 2004)

> _*Originally posted by joecamp4 *_
> I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me:  pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness.



I believe that's one of the best quotes i've ever heard.


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## Vieope (Mar 23, 2004)

_ Very good _


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## Flex (Mar 23, 2004)

> _*Originally posted by Tank316 *_
> great story.



Ditto


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## Sean0621 (Mar 23, 2004)

Great story motivating as hell


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## BiG DoG (Aug 18, 2005)

excellent read! Thanks for the post!


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## Doublebase (Dec 15, 2010)

Bump.


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## MDR (Dec 15, 2010)

Good stuff.  Always liked Henry Rollins.


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## Big Pimpin (Dec 15, 2010)

Awesome


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## TampaSRT (Dec 15, 2010)

Some very true stuff in that story, awesome!


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## Caretaker (Dec 15, 2010)

Tboy said:


> I saw when he did that interview. Seems to be a pretty cool dude...


 He is. I kinda know him from the old Black Flag/Misfits punk days. He was always cool with me. Kinda quiet but when he spoke, he had something to say. VERY intense on stage. Never been in the weight room with him. THAT would be interesting.


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## njc (Dec 15, 2010)

Awesome read!


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## maniclion (Mar 14, 2013)

Re-up for the awesomness...


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