Proving his point - Courtney Gould

About 3 months ago, I called up my boyfriend, Adrian, because I was at my wits end.  My training was going nowhere, I couldn’t complete a lift that I had easily completed months prior.  I was moving backwards and I was beyond frustrated.  I wanted to quit Olympic lifting.  I called up Adrian, so upset with the whole situation and told him that because I am just working backwards and can’t afford a coach, that I might as well just quit. 
He paused for a second and said, “Ok go ahead and quit.”  Honestly, this wasn’t the answer I was expecting, me being the dramatic girl that I am, I expected a different sort of response.  Something reassuring and letting me know that I have what it takes to keep going.  He didn’t do that.  He told me that I have one of two options: Quit - Give up what you have worked so hard for or Shut up – Keep pushing, these hard times will make you a better athlete and stronger person.   He then let me know that if I’m going to quit, I might as well not show up at the gym anymore, because people who quit aren’t needed there. 

Fuck?! I don’t want to completely quit training.  But this also was the kick in the ass that I needed.  Then Adrian told me that he was going to start working on his Total. "
What?! Are you serious?" Was my reply. 
He said, “Absolutely.  Squats and Deadlifts are something I don’t do, but I’m going to prove to you that I will do them and show you that you never quit even if you suck at something."  

Let me give you a little back story on Adrian Larsen.  If you don’t know him already, he is a very straight forward, no bullshit kinda guy.   Adrian was born with club feet and dislocated hips.  He went through 18 surgeries through his childhood and was told by doctors that he was never going to be able to walk.  When he started walking on his own, he was told that he will never be able to run. So he started playing full court basketball.  Adrian is a man that LOVES to prove someone wrong.  Tell him he can’t, and he will do it and he’ll do it well.  He is a bench press specialist with a 711 bench press.  He does all of this without his feet on the floor and balancing. (Try it, not an easy task with even half of that)  The way that his knees bend (or lack thereof) he isn’t able to plant them on the floor.  His hips are fused into the socket and his ankle bones are all fused to together.   Due to this being done as a child, his mobility and flexibility in his ankles, knees, and hips is very limited.  Aside from that, he still trains multiple times a week and plays in a men’s basketball league. 

After this whole “I want to quit Olympic Lifting” issue went down with me, the next time we training together he looked at me and said: “I want to squat.”  "Really?  Are you sure?"
"YEP, let’s get it going."  Now if you know anything about Adrian’s personality, you will know that he’s competitive, and just as competitive to me.  He has always told me that he won’t ever do a lift that I could possibly beat him in weight or reps.  He doesn’t have an ego per say, but he likes to be the alpha of the relationship (and personally, if he wasn’t, we would have issues, my man has got to be stronger than me). 

He wanted to prove his point.  He will push himself WAY beyond his comfort zone to show me that he will work on his weak points and keep pushing through and work on his total.  This hit me hard…. Wow, I thought to myself, I am a fully capable athlete with some talent, and I’m willing the throw that all away because a few months have been shitty and I’m being a pansy about it?  Nope, not an option. 

Adrian continues to work on his total, lifts are coming together slowly.  He has a lot of scar tissue that needs to be broke up and loosened, and mobility improve.   But to see him push himself in his lifts is something that makes me so proud to know him and have him in my life.  I see nothing but amazing things coming from this man and he is one of the most amazing inspirational and fantastic men I’ve ever met.