Discipline & Struggle

This “article,” if you will, is not a scholarly analysis of the culture we all partake in. This is almost a long-winded Thank You to it. For myself, without the weight room and the people I have met because of it; I would not be where I am today, nor the man I am and attempt to be. This will all hopefully make sense at the end.

Since my time at Tekamah-Herman High in Tekamah, Nebraska, I knew I wanted to coach, especially strength and conditioning. This was due to my head football coach at the time introducing the field to me. Mainly because at the time, I lived in the weight room. And for those who know me, playing the “game” that comes with sport coaching and keeping my trap shut and recruiting is far from my strong suit. Likely the 2nd reason he pushed me towards the field.

I played collegiately for Wayne State College in Wayne, NE. Without the weight room in high school, I would not have been remotely good enough to compete at the next level. I only played 3 years due to some family health issues that made me decide to end my career and take care of myself fully. I took a deep dive into bodybuilding for about 1.5 years before I graduated and started my career.

  I scraped and clawed my way into a career with 2 years as an unpaid intern at 2 separate Power 5 Football Programs, and 2 paid intern positions at an FCS and another P5 school. Each stop has had its own particular, personal struggle. Now I can say, I am currently a full-time, Division 1 FBS Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach. 

Due to actually getting a livable paycheck again, I have dove headfirst back into the sport and lifestyle of bodybuilding. This leap into being yoked out of my gourd again is why this article has come to fruition. Pre-internships, at my peak dirty bulk, I stood at a 5’10-ish, 250lb mark. I can assure you after 2 years of making nothing, I am not the beefy man from 2020. However, the ultimate goal is to competitively compete, in other words, WIN. Not just step on stage to step on stage. This will be a struggle and take extreme discipline.

Discipline and Struggle. These 2 words sum up my on-going career perfectly, while simultaneously summing up the powerlifting & bodybuilding cultures and lifestyles. Really, lifting culture as a whole. Without these lessons of Discipline and Struggle, what are you really? An untested, comfortable individual. In my opinion, it seems to be a boring way to go through life. The discipline of diet will impact your look substantially, the discipline of honing your coaching style will impact your ability to connect and communicate a message to an athlete.

Without experiencing the discipline and struggle of bodybuilding and an athletic career, my coaching career would have ended before it began. 2 years of little to no pay would turn the normal person away. But the mindset developed because of weight room culture, I and others have powered through struggles to achieve something.

-Cody Hopkins (written Spring of 2023)