Two Rules in life: 1.) Never Quit and 2.) Always remember Rule#1
When I was growing up with little to qualify me for anything. We were so poor that on Sunday mornings I used to get up hungry. Put on my shorts, shirt, and tennis shoes, jump on my bike and go looking for a friend who would invite me to breakfast. After a mooched breakfast I was ready for the day. The other six days in the week were days without breakfast before school. Lunch was a feast.
I tell you this little story to set the stage for the kind of determination that I had to generate to be better than I was. There is no space for pity or self doubt, only the dream of earning my way out of this condition that I did not ask for.
Despite all this I played every sport available. I settled on Baseball, track, and football even though I was best cut out to be a wrestler. I was driven by the idea that I too could be respected and I wanted to be a winner. I did not want to be regarded as the poor kid who would live down to the expectations of others.
One of my football coaches said to me that “I had to play big_ I could note “QUIT.” He would yell at me, smack me on the helmet when he thought I wasn’t giving it my all. He took me into his office one time and explained that I had to be better and that he was depending on me to be better. He would not accept anything less. I responded in a big way. Next game I had 18 tackles paying linebacker, blocked a punt, intercepted two passes. Quitting had just disappeared from my vocabulary and belief system.
not These early lesson have not been wasted on bodybuilding which I took up much later in life. Learning to push when others rested. Never being satisfied with the training or the results. Always assessing my physique, refining and redefining my training plan to correct deficiencies real and imagined. Going into the gym early and staying to the end.
The results for this older guy has ben great. I just. finished my 22nd contest and earlier this year I turned 70 years old. I can tell you that if I had “QUIT” there would not be the super satisfaction I get from competing and winning. The numerous trophies and medals are significant because I did not “QUIT”
I write this to you my friends to say that you can have most things in life if you will persist and don’t “QUIT!”—Quitting is never and option. Keep at it and good things will come your way!
Six Pack and Senior 