Bro Has An Embarrassing, Demoralizing Day At The Gym — Until Arnold Schwarzenegger Chimes In To Pump Him Up

I really love all the feel-good stories that have gone viral over the last two weeks; the two that stick out are the hotties from L.A. offered to dance with a big guy who was fat-shamed by a 4chan user and the Philly bros who invited a stranger to their bachelor party. This one from Reddit might take the cake in its all-out Bro-ness, though.

Redditor GnashBrowns recently explained a no good, terrible day at the gym in the fitness sub r/gainit. He went to the gym by himself for the first time and left the gym completely demoralized and embarrassed:

Don’t really know where to start, but here goes. I’ve never been strong/big or anything close to those words. I’m 19, 6’5 and 130lbs/59kg. I often go to the gym with my friend but I don’t go when he’s unavailable because I’m not confident going by myself.

Few days ago I started the Stronglifts 5×5 & GOMAD because nothing else seemed to work. It was also a few days ago when I realized I’d have to start going by myself if I wanted this to work. So today I went to the gym for the first time by myself, feeling pretty nervous. Headed to the locker room and reviewed the proper forms for squatting, deadlifts, and overhead press. First exercise was squatting. I warmed up with 55 then started 65 for the 5×5. Everything went pretty well until the last rep on the fourth set. Took a nasty spill and landed on my right knee to prevent myself from falling backwards. A couple people laughed. That hurt more than falling down. I got back on the horse and finished up the last set at 60. Next exercise was deadlift. I never really got the hang of the form for a proper deadlift so I practiced it while looking in the mirror. Started my first set at 55 but couldn’t get the form down, my right knee kept buckling and gave out on the fourth rep, causing me to fall once more. Same people laughed and got many looks in my direction because of the loud noise. Feeling completely embarrassed at this point, I put the bar and the weights in their places, and left with my head hanging low.

I know everyone experiences failure once in a while, but having it served to me firsthand coupled with people laughing just destroyed my confidence.

He received many words of encouragement from other Redditors. But then Arnold Schwarzenegger — a King amongst the Bros and a very active Redditordiscovered the thread and chimed in. Here’s the pep talk Schwarzenegger gave GnashBrowns to pump him up:

Someone told me about this. I hope I’m not too late here, I’m traveling, but I wanted to chime in.

I always say don’t be afraid of failure, because how far can you really fall? You found out – to the ground. It’s right there. Now you know it isn’t anything that should scare you.

You should be proud that you weren’t afraid – not embarrassed that you failed. You could have made excuses not to walk into the door, but you didn’t. You knew it would be hard, and it would be uncomfortable, and it might be awkward – and you did it anyway. That’s courage.

I’m proud of you.

The last guy I rooted for broke a world record in the deadlift. You have more in common with him than you think.

First, he started out lifting just the bar, too (when you look at him, he may have been 3 months old at that point). Second, imagine his courage. He walked up to that bar in front of a big audience and television cameras, knowing that not only had he never lifted that much before – NO ONE on earth had – and it was highly likely he would completely fail. You may not think about it this way, but you showed that courage, on a smaller level.

Finally, I’m rooting for you, too. You took the first step and you fell, but at least you fell in the right direction, so get back up and take the next step. Keep moving forward.

Amazing. Inspiring. Just when you’re ready to throw in the towel, Arnold speaks up with words of inspiration.

Get them gains. Never give up, Bros.

[H/T: BroBible Reader Tulio… Thanks for sending!]