Uncompromising Passion

He finished his set out of breath and pale faced. He sat on the nearest bench slouched over, looking as if he was going to pass out. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes while he periodically gasped for air. I was startled at first and really uncomfortable. I asked if he was OK but didn't get an answer.

This man wasn't the type you would ever expect to see cry. He was my most loyal and dedicated client at a New York health club where I worked as a personal trainer. I’ll call him Rob to ensure confidentiality. He is 225 pounds of solid muscle and is a former New York City police officer with a no nonsense attitude. He definitely isn't your first choice of someone to meet in a dark alley.

After a long silence, Rob stood up and did his second set of deadlifts with more ferocity than the first. Seemingly being calmed by the accomplishment of this set, he told me he was going to go get some water. As he walked away, another trainer came up to me and half jokingly asked if Rob was going to be OK. I smiled and said he’d just been up late the night before with some “extracurricular” activities.

The truth

I’m one of the only ones who know the truth about Rob. Rob is dying. He has a degenerative lung disease that he developed from breathing in all the dust and smoke from the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. Almost no one knows this about Rob because he never complains or shows any weakness. He trains harder than almost anyone I have met and takes care of his body as best as he can. He keeps his head held high through everything and talks with an unmatched enthusiasm.

This attitude doesn’t come from a false sense of machismo but rather a solid resolve to accept the things he can’t change and embrace the life that he has. Robs does whatever he wants whenever he wants. He spends as much time as he wants doing the things he enjoys. He is one of the only men I can say I have ever met who lives life on his own terms.

Tell them

This was one of our last workouts together before I left to go work as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. At the end of the session, Rob looked at me with the same passion in his eyes that he always has and told me something I’ll never forget. “One day I will pass on, but I want you to tell the athletes you train about me. When they complain about the workouts that you put them through and the pain that comes with hard work, tell them about that crazy bastard you used to train with half a lung who would rather die than not finish a workout. Tell them how every breath he took burned and how all he wanted was to be able to catch his breath just once.”

The amazing thing about Rob was that training was like taking a breath to him. I’ve trained with world record holding weightlifters and I have yet to see Rob’s passion matched. He’ll continue to work harder than anyone I know until the day he dies. And until that day, he will loudly curse the thought of giving up or giving in to complacency with tears running down his face.

When I was hired at the club where I trained Rob, my boss asked me what my training philosophy was so that they could write a bio of me to post on the gym wall. I wrote down: “Passion trumps everything.” — Dave Tate.