Interview Essay

Antonio Velez
10-20-13
Mrs. Runger
English 1010

Interview Essay

Anthony Bryant Jr. is a man who is willing to sacrifice his free time in order to chase his goals. He started out watching the p90x infomercial late one night because he had nothing else to do and just wanted to see what it was like. He began to ask around and see if anyone he knew had the program and if it gave the results that were promised. Luckily, he ran into an old friend who had recently lost the motivation to stick with the program, and asked if he could try it out for himself. “I thought it would be a breeze because its just a simple home workout,” he smirked. Little did he know, he was about to challenge himself harder than ever before. This was only the beginning of his journey to understand what dedication and commitment truly meant. A.J. decided that we should meet at his local gym which he attends daily. I got there a little early and decided to check out the environment. Inside was a sizable room filled with machines and equipment built strictly for strength training, half of which I didn 't even know how to use. Out of nowhere, I heard “hey man whats up” from the front of the gym, I smiled and turned around to see Anthony walking through the door wearing a Grey cutoff shirt that said “pain is weakness leaving the body” and a pair of light blue basketball shorts. He is a rather tall, lean guy with short, black hair, weighing in at about 205 pounds. We started talking as he laid down on the bench to pump some iron. After the first three or four minutes, I asked if we could go somewhere else to talk because I could hardly hear him over the sound of the weights rattling against each other. He agreed that it was a bit too loud in the gym for an interview; we went outside and sat at a round table and I asked my first question. I began by asking what his typical day was like through the week. He said he starts his day by getting to the gym before the owner at five in the morning to do cardio. After an hour of cardio he goes home to make his first meal of the day, which is always protein pancakes. Then he picks up his backpack and heads off to school for the next 5 hours. As soon as he gets home from school, he hits the books to make sure he gets all of his work done and has nothing to stress about at the gym. When his training partner arrives they eat a quick meal before heading out to the weight room. They get there and start their average two hour workout, depending on the day: Monday – Chest & biceps, Tuesday – Legs, Wednesday – rest day, Thursday – Back & Traps, Friday – Shoulders, Saturday – Arms, and Sunday – rest day. Upon completing the strenuous exercises they return home for their last meal of the day and go their separate ways until the next session. By this time the only thing left to do is get a good nights rest to let their muscles recover for the next day. I could not understand how they did this every day without giving in to failure. Mr. Bryant told me that there were three objectives to keep in mind when choosing to embark on a fitness journey, to decide, commit, and succeed. I asked what each of these meant individually; he leaned back in the chair and said “boy lemme tell ya, deciding to better yourself is the easiest part, you simply determine whether or not you are willing to go the distance. Anyone can say they 're going to get in shape... right after they take a bite of a twinkie.” That is when I realized he was very passionate about physical fitness. Obviously, deciding to become fit was the easiest step, my next question was which one was the hardest. He told me commitment was the most important part of the challenge to become fit, he looked at me and firmly stated that we should never make a plan B because it only distracts from plan A. He told me if someone was to fully decide and commit to working out then the success would come on its own. After hearing him say that, I felt like it was possible for anyone to achieve what he has with the correct guidance. I asked him if he ever thought about personal training or motivational speaking. He nodded his head and laughed, until he saw that I was serious. Responding with, “ not really, I mean I just planned on attending and hopefully winning competitions, I never thought I could be a help to others in achieving their own goals.” A.J. asked if I thought he would be a good inspiration to keep other people motivated and challenge themselves. I reassured him saying, “you have done this for so long now that it has become second nature to you, I am sure you would have no problem assisting people who need your help.” After the interview was over, I thanked him for giving me his time. he got up anxiously and simply walked back into the gym he has so long loved. I sat there in awe, at how a person can be so dedicated to improving his physique. Anthony Bryant went from watching infomercials of P90X to making the gym his second home. This is a man that has changed my view about what hard work actually means, and was only the beginning of my journey to understand the meaning of dedication and commitment.

Work Cited

Bryant, Anthony. Personal interview. 17 October 2013.

Cited: Bryant, Anthony. Personal interview. 17 October 2013.