I grew up watching the Incredible Hulk, like old school Lou Ferrigno, and I just had a chance to see an early screening of a new movie called Gym Rat, where good old Lou (not as the Hulk) played a significant cameo appearance.
Gym Rat is a movie I’ve been ‘in the know’ about since its original idea was conceived by its lead actor Josh Murray. It starts streaming October 20, 2026, and Josh just won best actor at the Beverly Hills Film Festival! #gojosh
Josh and I met back in 2017 in an acting and self-development workshop called Commitment Impulse, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.
So today, I’m helping out an old friend and his new motion picture by sharing a video chat he and I had around the movie, bodybuilding, self-awareness, trauma, addiction, incarceration, and being motivated to be “fit” due to trauma.
We also talk about his personal struggles with longstanding chronic illness and chronic pain, plus his path to recovery.
And in case you don’t know a bit about my past career: I was a TOTAL gym junkie in my late teens, 20s, and a big part of my 30s.
I originally got hooked on working out due to knee rehabilitation from a torn ACL ski racing, and that led me to study sports science in the early 90s. What followed was a high level career working in sports centres with all sorts of folks, from teaching basic fitness programs and classes, personal training, rehabilitation for injuries, and even working with high performance sports via nutrition science, and then eventually bringing some Feldenkraisian methods to athletes.
What is interesting though is this: the stories that have stuck with me are the ones wherein folks were abusing and neglecting their bodies (not the ones who found good routine and long-term health). Sort of sad when I think about it, but it was tough to keep folks motivated to work out without punishment or some kind of reward – I mean, I worked in the business district of Vancouver for years, and you’d be amazed how high power executives would be DEDICATED to win that ten dollar t-shirt to prove how committed they were to their cardio minutes.
Needless to say, a big reason I left that career was because I couldn’t handle what I didn’t know back then was driving these behaviours (or lack thereof), and yes, you guessed it: dysregulated nervous systems!
The good news is I am seeing more people become aware of the dangers of overdoing it in the gym, and as Josh explores via his character Lonnie in Gym Rat, how far one will go for ‘perfection’ and recognition.
Have a watch!
