NEW ORLEANS — It has long been proven that exercise, especially weightlifting, improves physical and mental health, and is linked with longevity.
So, if you're having a hard time getting into a workout routine, this young man’s story will give you more inspiration than you can possibly imagine.
The road to Luke Hawx becoming a successful professional wrestler, actor, and stuntman was paved with abject poverty, truancy, teen pregnancy, no family structure, and working three jobs to survive.
“As a youth, I had a really, really rough life," said Luke Hawx. "Drugs, alcohol throughout my family, and a lot of crime."
The courts putting him in a Boys Town home saved his life, and so did something else.
“Wrestling was my savior. When wrestling was on television, it consumed my life. Nothing in my life mattered except wrestling,” said Hawx.
So, Luke hits the weights every day at Valhalla Training Grounds. And it was someone there who unexpectedly changed his life, again.
Sam Pitt works at St. Michael Special School. He was born 30 years ago with a genetic condition that caused mental and physical disabilities, but several years ago he wanted to start working out and one day approached Luke.
“He said, ‘How come we've never worked out?’ And I said, ‘I didn't know you wanted to work out with me.’ And he said, ‘I have been waiting forever to work out with you.’ ‘We can work out anytime you want dude. You tell me, because I'm like you inspire me,’” Hawx remembers.
His muscles have grown, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills are better. His mood is calmer. Socially, there is a difference too.
“He's met so many good friends," said Sam’s stepmother Shannon Pitt. "You know, he loves coming here talking to everyone about fitness, about everything else,” she said, as Sam kept echoing, “Yeah, yeah” to everything she said. “He loves everyone here. It makes him feel good.”
Sam is such an inspiration to all the hammer strength guys in the gym, Luke has given him a nickname and a shirt with the words, ‘The Smasher.’
Now what makes this story with Luke the Wrestler and Sam the Smasher even more amazing is that when Sam was a little boy it was thought that he'd never walk, or talk, and look at him now.
“I get emotional thinking about it, because you know we all have bad days, and we have tough times," said Hawx through tears. "And you take a guy like Sam who comes in with no excuses, no matter what, and he comes in here and he pushes,” he said.
The guys said the whole gym lights up with Sam’s fire and passion.
Sam describes it this way, “Joy. Yep.”
But words really can't describe his sense of accomplishment and belonging, but his tears of pure, heartfelt happiness can.
And you can see Luke in action at his next big wrestling event, Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Pontchartrain Center.
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