If You Have A Body, You Are An Athlete

I took this picture few weeks ago while I was in Paris. This is one of my favorites quotes of all time and seeing it on the wall just made my day.



It “belongs” to Bill Bowerman, notorious American track and field coach and one of the co-founders of Nike.
Don’t think of him as just a business man who created the world’s biggest sportswear company (I mean, yes, he also did that!); Bill Bowerman biggest contribution to the sports world came from his constant research in seeking improvements in athletic footwear design. It’s also thanks to his vision that we have today better running shoes.
Let’s go back to the quote; what I love about this is that in a way it just states the obvious: everyone got a body hence everybody is an athlete. We were all gifted with an amazing “machine”, that is almost unstoppable. We tend to forget this.
For instance, yesterday a dude approached me at the gym asking me why I was doing so many planks in my exercise routine. When I told him that I needed a strong core for triathlon he said: “Man, you’re a triathlete? That’s f*@*! extreme, I could never do that!”. I asked him: “Can you swim, ride a bike and run? Than you can do a triathlon as well, you just need some training and you can do it!”. Easy as that.
We shall never ever forget what Bill Bowerman taught us: if you have a functioning body than you’re an athlete.
Just set your mind to it and you can do it!

The Iron You