Tag Archives: confidence in yourself

I was visiting my parents in Maryland and had to find a gym for my workout.  I show up and it’s pretty crowded, mostly with high school and college kids.  While I was working out there was this pretty big kid running his mouth the whole time.  He was telling anyone who would listen how bad his high school football team was and that he didn’t want to play for a team of losers.  Not long after that he moved on to telling another kid how pitiful his workout was and that his sister could lift more weight than he could.  The other kid had decent size and was built pretty good.  He kept his mouth shut and kept working out.  “The MOUTH” went on for about an hour.

I finally decided to shut this guy up.  I walked over to him while he was berating the other kid about what a Wus he was.  There were probably about 10 other guys in the area and all of them are listening to “The MOUTH”.
Me: “Hey, I’ll bet you 100 bucks that he out benches you, right now.” and I pointed to the other kid.  The other kid just about turns pale white as his jaw drops.   “The MOUTH” just stared at me.
“The MOUTH”: “but I don’t have any money on me.”
Me: “That’s ok.  I’ll just give you 100 bucks if you can out bench him.  When he beats you, you won’t owe a thing.”
For the first time all day “The MOUTH” is quiet.  I just called this kid out and he had no other option.  The other kid was dragged into a situation that he didn’t expect and from the looks of him, a situation that he didn’t want to be in.  I knew, that as bad as he didn’t want to be in that situation, “The MOUTH” didn’t want to be in it even more.

We set the bar for 225 and each of them reps it out one time.  We increased the weight to 255 and each of them does it for one rep.  Next we added another 20 taking it to 275.  The other kid goes first and easily pushes it up.  From the looks of things, I’m thinking that he can probably max out between 300 and 325.  But I knew that this wasn’t going to matter.  “The Mouth” gets down on the bench and takes his lift off.  He lowers the weight, hits his chest and struggles to push it up a whole 2 inches before it settles back into his chest.  I let it lay on his chest for a little while, just so that this moment would sink in and stand out in his mind.

When it was over,  I told the other kid great job and went back to my workout.  After I wrapped things up and was getting ready to the leave gym the other kid comes up to me.
Other Kid: “How did you know that I could lift more than him?”
Me: “I’ve known people like that my entire life.  All they do is run their mouths and they can never back it up.  All talk and no action.”
Other kid: “Thank you for calling him out.  He has been giving me crap every day for the last couple of months.”
Me: “Have CONFIDENCE in yourself.  You have nothing to lose.”

I have a feeling that “The MOUTH”, never said another word to the other kid.  He probably never set foot in that gym again.  If someone is going to talk that much crap, challenge them.  What do you have to lose?  Shutting someone up like that is something that you will never forget and neither will they.  I knew exactly, who “The MOUTH” really was almost as soon as I walked into that gym and now everyone else who was in there knows who he really is.