Lou Ferrigno is a famous retired professional bodybuilder, made actor and superstar personal trainer.He's most famous role on came with the 1978 The Incredible Hulk tv series. He was Michael Jackson personal trainer at a point in his career.
When he was very young he suffered some ear infections that led him to 80% lost of his hearing.
Growing up he was a victim of bullying. He was introduced to the sport of bodybuilding by the age of 13 and the weight lifting routines gave him some edge, and the necessary confidence to be respected by other kids. He was very tall and adding some muscle made him a very powerful figure.
5 Life Lessons From Lou Ferrigno
Lou Ferrigno Life Lesson 1
It's not what happens to you, but how you deal with what happens to you and the actions you take, that determines your success. Lou did that, by taking bodybuilding as the answer to his childhood problems.
To bodybuilding enthusiasts he's best known to be the challenger of
Arnold Schwarzenegger for the title of Mr. Olympia 1975 (the most
important title in this sport). A movie called "Pumping Iron"
(1977) portraits the preparation stages and the competition itself.
The
differences are evident between Arnold and Lou, not just from a physical
standard but mainly from a mentality point of view, the first is a very
confident man, with lots of people surrounding him, the second a very shy young
man, with his father always around.
You
can see in the video bellow an excerpt from the movie, a typical
example of Lou's dependence on his father:
Although bodybuilding gave Lou purpose to his life, at this point he wasn't ready to do it by himself and he didn't manage to get enough earnings to live from it. He left professional bodybuilding to concentrate in acting and other sports.
We came across the other day with a 1992 documentary titled "Stand Tall" that talks about Lou's comeback to professional competitions as a bodybuilder. He was in his 40's and in an amazing shape!
But his body wasn't the only thing that surprised us, the most astonishing thing was a clear difference on how he perceived competition and bodybuilding. He's mind changed over the years and by then he was in a different mental place, for the better.
Here are some wonderful excerpts from the documentary with analysis on how you can take valuable life lessons from it:
Lou Ferrigno Life Lesson 2
"Have more fun than competition" - Lou FerrignoOur take: Isn't this what life's all about? Sometimes competition blinds us, and we tend to forget why we do what we do in the first place: because we love it and having fun it's crucial!
Lou Ferrigno Life Lesson 3
"Every day I wake up, and bet on my life, you have to believe in yourself. This is the first time I believe in myself." - Lou FerrignoOur take: Believe in yourself every single day!
Lou Ferrigno Life Lesson 4
"I was always holding back at that fear, you see there a lot of athletes today that could be phenomenal, they never achieve that because they were afraid to let got of their fear. I wanted to break every fear that came along. I've done it with every single fear" - Lou FerrignoOur take: We all have fears, the difference is how we deal with it. Some people get paralyzed by it, and don't achieve nothing, like Lou says about athletes. A minority of people "break every fear" and get what they really want.
Lou Ferrigno Life Lesson 5
Conclusion: We we're glad to see that Lou changed for the better, no longer a shy dependent young men of the 70s, but in the 90s a super confident and driven made men. I guess Lou Ferrigno really did STAND TALL.What to retain from this Stand Tall Lou Ferrigno Experience:
Lesson 1 - No matter how bad you feel or people make you feel: it's not what happens to you, but how you deal with what happens to you and the actions you take, that determines your success.Lesson 2- Having fun it's a must in life! Fear of failure can blind us, remembering our passions and reasons it's fundamental to proceed.
Lesson 3 - Believe in yourself now, and from now on! Don't wait years or decades to do so. This combined with preparation will give you confidence to overcome any challenge.
Lesson 4 - "Break every fear" and move on! Stop any fear you may have before he stops you from doing what you really want!
Lesson 5 - Change can come to us all, if we believe in us, if we have fun with it, if we take fear aside, do what we are supposed to do and Stand Tall.
Be GREAT!
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