Eastern Promises. Image credit: idealterna
I saw Eastern Promises, a movie about the Russian mafia in London. Semyon is head of the crime family. Soyka gossips Semyon’s son is gay. Semyon replies:
You know, it never snows in this city. It’s never hot. London is a city of whores and queers. I think London is to blame for what he is.
Cold Weather. Temperatures in my home gym are same as outside. When it’s 35°C/95F in the summer, it’s 35°C in my home gym. Temperatures in December dropped to -4°C / 25F. I exercised in those temperatures.
People tell me I’m crazy to work out when it’s that cold. The same people tell me I’m crazy when I workout and it’s 35°C. They also tell me I’m crazy when I workout after a night out. Or that I’m crazy to workout when I have a cold.
Excuses. Thing is, you’ll never have ideal conditions to workout all the time. You can always find an excuse not to workout:
- You’re tired or sick
- You didn’t eat well
- You don’t have time
This guy trained in my home gym for several months. He hasn’t trained since it got colder, which is since November. He told me: “I’d love to workout again, but it’s too cold“. I can do it, why can’t you?
There’s No Something for Nothing. My interpretation of Semyon’s words is that people choose the easy path. Sure it’s no fun working out when it’s freezing, but staying at home is no solution for me.
You know the saying: what doesn’t kill you make you stronger. Here’s a video from Rocky IV. (Note that Dolph Lundgren catches the bar incorrectly – with low elbows – on the Power Cleans at 1:00. And he’s slow.)
Although I understand the point you are trying to make, I am deeply disappointed you pulled out that quote from “Eastern Promises” to make your point. As one of the enthusiastic readers of StrongLifts.com (which I really enjoy), I question my ability to continue reading your site when I see such homophobic rhetoric written on it. I am one of many gay readers of StrongLifts.com, and I am shocked this was included.
You totally didn’t get the point he’s trying to make here
He is most certainly not making a homophobic statement by quoting the movie in this context.
He just wanted to show how people always tend to blame external factors/other people for their own failiure.
the quote below is from the most recent rocky film and and also clearly explains the point Medhi is trying to make here:
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I’d hold you up to say to your mother, “this kid’s gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid’s gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew.” And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watching you, every day was like a privilige. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that! I’m always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You’re my son and you’re my blood. You’re the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain’t gonna have a life. Don’t forget to visit your mother.
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I have nothing against homosexual people but I really don’t get why you are offended by a fictional character in the first place.
Before I posted, I thought about how it’s a quote from a fictional character. The posting merely illustrated a point about hard work by using that quote. I completely agree with everything about working hard, and hardship. But when you see a quote like that, it strikes a chord. And honestly, I am not sure most readers would be able to distill the intention of the text like you did. But the context of the quote definitely creates an environment that doesn’t make me feel welcome.
I have seen the film, and loved it. And if you look at how well you cleared up the point by including the full quote from the film, it’s evident what good intentions were part of the posting. Again, I just think singling out the quote about “whores and queers” in London strikes quite a chord. Thanks for including the full dialogue.
There are of course times when you just shouldn’t go to the gym. I definitely don’t mind working out in the cold, heat, or snow (don’t like the rain though, those are indoor days). However, injuries, a really bad cold (below the neck), etc etc are not excuses but unfortunate things that can stop a person from being able to go to the gym. I should know =)
I think my flu would have killed me if I worked out at the same time =) Thankfully I’m almost at 100% now. Can’t wait to hit the gym! I think my wife will be glad to not hear me complain anymore about being unable to go to the gym as well.
Cesar: I don’t think you are giving people enough credit. I understand that homophobia is a real problem and I to am discusted by any form of hate because of anyone’s age, race, sexual idenity, or religion. But I have to give people the bennifit of the doubt. People are going to believe what they believe, usually based on how they were raised or what kind of environment they were raised in. I believe the point is we are who we are and nothing anyone else says or does can change that, whatever lifestyle one chooses…and that is the best part, we get to choose! I think everyone can learn to be more tolerant of others no matter what the situation…Thank you Mehdi for more motivation and perspective about what lifestyle I’m choosing today.
Well said Bryan. You’re right. People do choose. I’d just like to let others know that there are many gay readers of StrongLifts.com, and I myself feel inspired by the great articles and content posted here. People can indeed believe anything they want about homosexuals, religion, politics, you name it. I hope that by voicing my opinion maybe other people can be more tolerant of gay people, as well. Again, I just want to be clear that I think the quote, taken out of context, the way it was originally posted, just gives off the wrong impression, at least to me. Thanks to everyone for writing in, and posting your opinions. I love the dialogue.
I hope it snows, I miss running in the snow. Awesome workout!
Roy: I understand about times where we feel we are too sick to train, but in truth we can always train. It might not be the workout we normally do but there is something that we can do. This something is what I believe Medhi refers to that we need to do. The illness or injury may limit us but does not put us out of the game. I recently tore my left right pectoral in a skiing accident. Haven’t been able to due bench but I just work around it, and still try lifting with it as much as I can without further damage. But even when ill go as far as you can without resulting in further illness. There is a limit you just have to be willing to test it.
I read something like this in one of Bruce Lee’s books. He and a student went for a five mile run and the student said he was liable to die. Bruce said, “Then Die.” the reasoning behind his comment is, “you might as well be dead if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life….There are no limits. There are plateaus but you must not stay there you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”—This is from Bruce Lee’s The art of expressing the Human body.
Buy the way I just glanced back at this book and Bruce Lee did 4×6 in a lot of his workouts. I am just looking at the volume similarity to the 5×5. Also I figure this looks like a good post to put some influencial quotes
Have a flu where you can’t move and then tell me that again….I would like to see a person choose death or staying sick for a lot longer over not lifting. I think that person would have to be really egotistical and stupid. There were rare days when I was able to do some push ups and a few dips, but anything more than that would have just made myself worse and weaker in the long run.
Sometimes there are workarounds, like if your leg is injured you can work your upper body, etc. Sometimes there aren’t workarounds.
You’ve taken a quote from Bruce Lee and misinterpreted it. He’s not talking about a person that is unable to do something because of sickness, a gunshot wound, etc. He’s saying that you need to be able to push through pain that isn’t going to kill you. I used to lift until I used to almost puke or passed out and I loved it. I also ran cross country and although I sucked at it, the pain hurt but I pushed through it. That’s what Bruce Lee is talking about. There is a distinct difference in pushing past pains that won’t kill you and just being plain dumb.
You have to know the difference.
I am sorry to hear that you were that sick then. I still believe that Bruce Lees mentality was how do you know it will kill you if you don’t take the chance. I understand a person who normally runs one mile would likely struggle or die if they tried to do a marathon at their one mile pace but they can go for two or three and be fine. I don’t interpret his intentions to mean do everything or go to extreme extremes. I interpret his meaning as if you can kick, then kick. Something I strongly believe in. Regardless if I am healthy or ill. That can be looked in the light as dumb thinking but to me I look at it as just my will to fight. Also I have a military past and it forced us to live that mentality all the time. I am sorry if I offended you Roy in my previous post, I had no intentions of doing so.
now i know why you had to quit your job — must be a lot of work writing fake comments on all your posts to make it look like you have a large audience.
also, going to your website over and over again to generate hits. tough work.
Just what u can expect from a gay to be honest. Getting all upset from a silly thing.
-4 celsius is hardly a freezing temperature by the way. Go take a walk in -40c and -4 feels like a hot sauna.
I think this video (a commercial, but a good one) tells everything about excuses:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA
^who invited these two?
(my comment was in reference to the unnecessary comments left by “seriously” and “Jason Papillon”)
@other noob:
No offense taken. Just wanted to state that there are definitely times you have to be smart about what you do.
I think what Mehdi is saying, is to be smart, but don’t make excuses. And quit being a wuss, basically.
Is that about right Mehdi?
Mehdi,
Why do you not isolate your garage?
I’ve done that with my house and now it’s very very isolated house and we don’t lose the energy and it’s not expensive. Yesterday I done my workout in my gym, where was very cold and I didn’t feel good. I couldn’t warm properly and I ran very quickly.
P.S.
In Bucharest now are -12 C, very, very cold!
You always somehow read my mind and post accordingly!
That’s me! I haven’t worked out since November because it got cold. I’m obviously going to start again soon heh.
It was 42°C the last time I hit the gym. But so what? I just took more water with me.
I enjoy going to the gym because I know how great I feel when I walk out. I think if you want to do something bad enough, then you just do it.
Serious injuries and sickness aside, I don’t see how I could come up with any excuse to stop me from doing something that makes me feel great.
I just got this movie tonight and plan on watching it.
Lots of replies. Thanks all for commenting.
@Cesar
Thanks for the kind words on the blog. I’m confident StrongLifts.com’s readers are smart enough not to interprete this as a sexual or racial prejudice. You & other commentators understood the point of the article, which proves my point. And as long as you train hard, you’re certainly welcome on this blog, whatever your sexual orientation.
@Flupn
That was the only good part of Rocky 6. Thanks for reminding me of this quote.
@Roy
You completely understood my point Roy. There are definitely times where you have to be smart about what you do. But you can work around injuries, you can workout when sick (the flu is one exception), etc. Push your limits.
@seriously
Building a large audience is a lot of work indeed. However I do enjoy the challenge, much more than the work I did as an employee. If you have a blog/website & need help with building an audience, send me an email I’ll be happy to help you out.
@Jason Papillon
I don’t like racial/sexual/… prejudices. Please don’t post any here Jason.
@Simca
Great video, thanks a lot for sharing.
@Liviu
Impossible to isolate it, garage is much bigger than on the videos. I saw on the news it was heavily snowing in Romania. -12C is very cold indeed. It usually don’t get colder than -4°C over here.
Great article, people do choose the easy way instead of choosing the correct way. There was a time when I did that, i let a voice in my head tell me what to do (laziness, excuses…). And I realised that did not only happen with workouts. So as i was analyzing those things in life/workouts i get the conclusion that easy is almost always the “bad” choice. Politicians choose the easy way and get corrupted, same with cops, and other people. Sometimes is not easy to be honest, moral or to do the right thing. But this is not about easy/hard is about right and wrong.
I see a very strong connection between workouts and how you run your life. I can tell about someones character by training with him.
Seeing all that made me change, now I dont try to be disciplined I am. Don’t try to go to the gym when I have a problem, I just go.
Thats the way it work for me now. My other life style was full of weakness. This is harder but I am happier.
(sorry for the bad english again, reading this must be painful)
I have to agree with Cesar and add my voice. He is not alone as a reader here. While Mehdi says he is not homophobic and did not intend to use the quote as a slur, the message that comes across is. It is a commonly held misconception that being gay is caused by outside influences. Including a character’s bigotted thoughts without confronting them is condoning them. Derogatory terms like queer are just as damaging as the “n” word referring to African Americans or a host of other slurs. I always look forward to reading Straight to the Bar and will continue to but do hope for increased awareness on this issue. Cesar. Thanks for being the first to speak out on this on this site.
Yes, Mehdi, good point!
It’s just mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!
Mehdi,
I am a whore and am very offended by your slur on “whores and queers”. I want an immediate apology and please be more sensitive to my alternative lifestyle or I won’t read stronglifts.com ever again.
Mehdi,
Funny how you caught the Dolph’s poor power clean form in the context of the entire movie. It is something I often do at the movies with my girlfriend. There is nothing at all believable going on in the movie, but it is entertaining. So, I’ll pick up on some trivial scene and I’ll tell her how that could never happen. She takes the bait usually and laughs out loud at how ridiculous my comment was. (Since when do Russian boxers train on a Versa Climber)!
@Caim
Totally agree on the connection between workouts and the way you run our life. Very very true.
@Leon
Straight to the bar?
@MarkFu
Those were probably plastic weights too Dolph used for the Power Clean
I don’t have a problem with Mehdi using this quote. It doesn’t imply that he’s homophobic even though the quote itself is. I do think it might not be the most useful quote to use in this context, to get the point of the article across. I think there are more powerful and perhaps “safer” motivational quotes to use. With safer, I mean quotes that people won’t get butthurt (no pun intended!) over, because of the controversial subject included.
What’s funny to me about the so-called homophobic quote is that is from a fictional movie with actors portraying members of the Russian Mafia. Are we to expect them to be as “enlightened” as we are?
Clearly, the use of this quote merely obfuscated the point Mehdi wanted to make.
I am a gym whore, so should i feel offended? Lighten up, peeps. Btw, since Dolph is an evil russian boxer in the movie, where are the damn kettlebells?
The Rocky montage is hilarious! I love the way that they are pitting the good old American way against the evil Soviet way. Mightily ironic considering how many American strength and conditioning coaches are now influenced by the old Soviet training methods and research.
BTW, I seem to remember kettlebells making it into the Rocky Balboa training montage. And so the wheel comes full circle…