Rocky - The Eye of the Tiger
When Silence Becomes Your Super-weapon
If you grew up in the 80s or 90s like I did, you might have watched Rocky III and IV until the VHS tape wore out like I did. I watched those movies hundreds of times, easily. In Rocky III, there’s a message that I see more clearly now that I’m older.
Before the first Lang fight, Rocky had gone full Hollywood. Press conferences. Endorsements. Photo ops everywhere. A charity romp with Hulk Hogan. The 1980s version of what we’d call “social media influencer” today. It was like a circus. Mickey hated every second of it. And what happened? Rocky got it handed to him by someone who was hungry; an adversary who came from the shadows.
The Reset
Then came the rebuild. Rocky stripped everything away and went back to Creed’s roots. No cameras. No glamour. No fancy equipment or flashy training montages for the public to consume. Just raw, hardcore, eye-of-the-tiger training in an old gym—the kind of work nobody sees or knows about. The result? He delivered a beating instead of taking one.
The Work No One Sees
Here’s what I’ve learned: luck looks a lot like hard work. Often, the work no one sees. The work you put in when you’re at your lowest. The work no one hears about. The unglamorous reps you put in when the cameras are off and the notifications are silenced. In a gym you can see your breath in. Hoodie up. Lights low.
We live in a world obsessed with documenting every rep, every meeting, every “grind session.” But the real work—the transformative stuff—happens in silence. It happens when you’re not performing for an audience. For Rocky, the transformation happened after a stern talk from Apollo and staring off into the ocean. I have a buddy who went through a medical issue and it reminded me of my own 11 years ago or so. After chest compressions, you tend to evaluate a bit of everything. I remember a moment in a hospital room - I was alone. Just me and God. It was silent. My tinnitus was singing. It was a bit of a precipice moment I suppose. I figured I could emerge from the silence stronger and confident that if I could survive this, then who knows what else I could survive. Or I could be crushed by its weight. I decided I’d emerge.
Was Rocky cringe sometimes? Absolutely. Maybe this post is too. But you can’t tell me Rocky didn’t play a part in defining a generation. I’m not sure if it was Rocky specifically, or a mix of influences, but I like the idea of going back old school sometimes.
When people doubt you, make them feel it. When they are posting their highlights – push another rep. I don’t think we should feel the need to explain our process or defend our methods. Don’t even defend being cringe. There’s a reason some are meant for ordinary, and some aren’t. Just do the work. Show up and leave no doubt.
The world is noisy enough. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is go silent, go dark, and let your results do the talking.