BodyBuilding

By Levi

Lou Ferrigno A Bodybuilding Legend

Could there be a more inspiring story than the one we look at in the life of Lou Ferrigno? He has become a real legend to the sport of bodybuilding. By the 1970’s, Ferrigno had already become an incredibly inspiring story. From humble beginnings to international celebrity as a bodybuilder and then catapulted into the Hollywood spotlight when he played as the gentle green monster on the TV show “The Incredible Hulk”. Now some may be smacking their heads and saying “OK I remember that guy now.” One thing that may come to you has a shock is where he started and the road he took to become a successful bodybuilder. Any bodybuilder hopefuls should hear Ferrigno’s story and use it as inspiration for personal bodybuilding success. Not to mention it is and altogether wonderful story even if bodybuilding is not your thing.

Pre-Bodybuilding years

Lou Ferrigno was born in Brooklyn New York in the 1950’s and his family discovered that he was born deaf. In the 1950’s there was not an active determination on how to help the hearing impaired, so Lou kept himself out of situations where communication was key by isolating himself from the crowd. It wasn’t until his early teens that he would discover his love of weightlifting. Lou became captivated with weightlifting to the point obsession; it became a driving force in his life and helped to keep his mind off his hearing impairment. He began working out everyday lifting weights, making sure that he ate the correct foods faithfully. Over the next couple years he began to set a goal of entering the amateur bodybuilding competitions. Once he enter the bodybuilding competitions, he did so wonderful that he grab the attention of body building tycoon Joe Weider. Joe Weider brought Lou into the thick of the professional bodybuilding world. Lou did really well in his new profession, but because it didn’t pay very well to be in professional bodybuilding, he had to switch back and forth between bodybuilding and construction. Construction just paid far more that bodybuilding, at the time! It wasn’t until Lou was featured in the documentary Pumping Iron; Lou would then become the center of attention of numerous Hollywood producers.

The Hulk

Remember that James Bond villain, Richard “Jaws” Kiel? Yeah, well he was first picked to play the part of Hulk but did so poorly he was ousted a few days into the first shots of the plot. It was apparent that Lou’s decision to pursue bodybuilding with diligence was about to pay off because he was then called upon to portray the green giant. Many thought the whole idea of the new show would be a failure let alone having a world class bodybuilder in Lou, try to save the show. Little did anyone know it ended up becoming a big time show lasting many years on network TV and decades in association, whether it had to do with Lou or nor it didn’t matter. Lou Ferrigno was now a full blown, worldwide bodybuilding super star!

Today, Ferrigno is retired and no longer competes in body building. You might catch him appearing in some competitions a s guest speaker or judge. Signing autographs at comic conventions and meeting with all his fans who have followed his career through the years is pretty much what he does nowadays. When it comes to body building culture history, Lou Ferigno is a true icon and definitely one of a kind!