It may seem counter-intuitive, but just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you have to give up your bodybuilding dream. There are many disabled people within the body building community who have decided to not let their disability get in the way of their dream.
Real Disabled Body Builders
An example of someone who’s done this in real life is Nino Savona. He’s a body builder who gets it done despite needing to walk using crutches. He even tries to do his exercises standing up whenever he can, for as long as he can. Nino is even able to sometimes go for a time on a treadmill, for example. Other body builders with disabilities include Nick Scott who some people call “the Beast.” He was in a car accident at the age of 16 that left him incapable of walking. He didn’t feel any pain in the accident, but it did leave him without sensation in his legs. He endured paralysis from the legs down, and then learned the lesson of getting through one day at a time, becoming a source of inspiration to many in his successful quest to become a professional body builder.
Why Bodybuilding?
One question some people might ask is why a disabled person would want to go into body building in the first place. You would think that it wouldn’t be the first choice for anyone who had a disability, especially if that disability was physical in nature. But the truth is that body building can have seriously positive mental effects on the people who go through it. It’s a simple fact that working out releases endorphins into the brain and that it can raise the spirits of anyone who does it a lot. Strength training in particular has some seriously positive effects on mental outlook.
But even beyond that, body building will make you feel strong and confident in your body. This is an effect of physical disables that people often forget about. Studies have shown that physical disabilities have a strong correlation with being depressed and having a lot of anxiety. But body building can be the perfect counter for that, since it works on the same wavelength, so to speak. Bodybuilding makes you feel confident and proud of your body. It’s a way to feel active and in control when before you felt uncertain and lost, like your disability had all the control and you had none.
Seeking Your Dream
Though it may seem impossible, the many stories of people who’ve done it and are doing it should prove otherwise. The important thing is to do everything you can to achieve the goal; including getting help from the government in the form of social security disability back pay, for example. Whatever caused you to be disabled in the first place might qualify you to get financial support from the government. You can then use the support you receive to go after what you want.
