The Takeover: Sean Waxman On Toughness

Sean Waxman is the head coach and owner of Waxman's Gym, and he was a nationally ranked lifter under Hall of Fame coach Bob Takano. Charlie, Danny, and I got breakfast with him before training and talked about everything from how he got into weightlifting to his philosophy on the relationship between coach and athlete. Here he talks about the true meaning of toughness, a message all of us can take to heart.

At the end of the day, you know what real toughness is? It's discipline. It's discipline to make the right choices.

Sean: "I always tried to prove how tough I was to myself. My whole life was revolved around how tough I could be, you know? There was never a break from it."
Armen: "That's exhausting."
Sean: "Exactly. You know, after I kill myself at training I go to the bar and fuck with people, get into fights at the bar. So, essentially, from the afternoon to three in the morning I'm flexing."
Armen: "You don't have to prove that externally to whoever, whether it's yourself or other people."
Sean: "At the end of the day, you know what real toughness is? It's discipline. It's discipline to make the right choices. The discipline to say I'm not gonna do that, I'm gonna save it for this. That's what toughness really is. It's not beating people up, or getting beat up, or it's not killing yourself to the point where you get hurt. That's not tough, that's stupid. Toughness is the ability to make good decisions, even when they're not convenient or they're not comfortable."

See what Ursula Papandrea has to say about being a woman in a male dominant sport: