Читать книгу Solitary Fitness - You Don't Need a Fancy Gym or Expensive Gear to be as Fit as Me - Charles Bronson - Страница 13

After winning the silver medal in 2002 I was interviewed by BBC TV and the interviewer asked me who was the person I most looked up to. ‘Charlie Bronson,’ I replied. They never broadcast that interview! Charlie trains without fancy gyms or fancy food and I had to shed over 20 pounds in order to get down to the weight for the Games. I admit, I had to eat all the fancy foods, but Charlie does it on porridge. I admire him because he is so fit and I also admire how he keeps himself occupied by training and breaking world records. I first became aware of Charlie in the year 2000 at a charity auction when my uncle won the bid for one of Charlie’s drawings. He gave the artwork to me and, from then on, the man fascinated me. I wrote a letter to Charlie through our club secretary, Alec McGowan, and we’ve been writing to each other ever since.

While Charlie has been an inspiration to me, I believe he could also inspire a lot of up-and-coming youngsters when he gets out of prison. I can imagine him running his own gym to help these people with his training methods. Those at the top of their game should also try some of his methods, along with his fitness schedule, and see how it goes. Top footballers, top boxers, tennis players and people from all different sports and walks of life should give his workouts a shot. We might do five sets of ten or something, but Charlie does thousands in one go within an hour. You couldn’t think about it, could you? People only see the glory parts of winning, they don’t see you up at six in the morning, doing your workouts and running in the snow and the rain; they only see you on TV. Training for fitness has to be all year round. You see people out training in July, running in the sunshine, but you don’t see them out in January.

I remember the time when I wasn’t working – all the foods you need, you’ve just got to leave them. If Solitary Fitness had been around at that time, then I would have had no hesitation in using the book for inspiration to guide me and to help improve my fitness while on a low income.

I admire people who train and get as fit as they can. I don’t think I’d go to the gym if I wasn’t a boxer, but I’d still follow a fitness regime of sorts, which would include Solitary Fitness. Paul Smith Jnr