Redcon Rising
By Aaron Singerman
CEO of Redcon1
All of my boys are special in their way. It always shocks me how three boys brought up in the same way, with the same two parents and the same gene pool, can be so unique.
All three have witnessed their parents working out, being part of the bodybuilding and fitness industry, and owning gyms. They’ve seen me train for their entire lives. My 10-year-old, Asher, has been to every major bodybuilding show, met all the top athletes, and even been on the Olympia stage (the Super Bowl of bodybuilding) to hand out a trophy with me.
Aaden definitely wants to be strong, and gets a kick out of flexing and posing, but isn’t too into the work required actually to build the muscles! He was my earliest adopter of girls, though. From an extremely young age, he was interested in the fairer sex. I will never forget a 4-year-old Aaden telling me he likes “girls’ butts.” Recently, he asked if girls like muscles, and when I told him yes, it seemed to reignite some latent interest in working out.
The funny thing is, somehow, only my 5-year-old, Alijah, seems to have thoroughly been bitten by the bodybuilding bug. Since he was a tiny little peanut, he’s told me he wants to grow strong like me. In fact, to this day, whenever he sees anyone with muscles, whether on Instagram or in the gym, he asks me if I’m stronger than them. When I sometimes say, “Yes,” he tells me that I’m mistaken. The only guy he will admit is genuinely stronger than me is Brian Shaw.
Fast-forward to the last few months. Whenever he sees me, he wants to work out. He insists on it. Asher wants to play ping-pong or a video game. Aaden wants me to either tell him something or show him something. Alijah wants to train. He even has been secretly plotting how to get to the gym with me daily without his brothers knowing. He’s been trying to convince his mother without being overheard by the brothers. Just in case they would try to ruin his plans to get huge.
Since the daily gym is out of reach, I’ve assigned him the basics. I told him to do push-ups and sit-ups, 3 sets a day, 20 reps per set. I told him when I see him, we will test him and shoot for a new PR (personal record), and we’ll add extra work to his daily workout. This week was his first week of training. He came back last night and informed me not only has he been doing his prescribed workout, but he’s been doing a second session at night as well!
This morning I took the boys to school, but before we could go, Alijah needed to “train”! This reminds me of the only time I met Joe Weider – the father of modern bodybuilding. I walked up to him at the now-closed Gold’s Gym Flamingo, in Vegas, after the Olympia that year and introduced myself. He reached over from his wheelchair and grabbed my upper arm and gave it a squeeze. He told me, “Definitely a bodybuilder, definitely a bodybuilder!”
The post They’re All Special, Yet So Unique first appeared on FitnessRX for Women.
