'Go daddy!': Boy enthusiastically cheers on dad as he lifts weights in viral video
James Perry said he tapped into "dad strength" to get the job done for his son.
A 2-year-old boy in southeast England has gone viral on social media after his father shared a video of his son cheering him on as he lifted weights.
"Go Daddy! Go Daddy!" 2-year-old Thomas Perry can be heard shouting in the Instagram video as his father James Perry deadlifts a whopping 240 kilograms (approximately 529 pounds).
"This is what I have always envisioned parenting would be like! 😂💪," Perry captioned the post.
The video, posted in late December, has since been viewed over 2 million times on Instagram, garnering more than 1,700 comments and over 240,000 likes.
Perry told "Good Morning America" he fed off his son's encouragement to lift the massive weight.
"Talk about dad strength, there was no way I was going to fail that," he said.
Perry, who is a fitness consultant for a fire station, said it is important for him to show his son the power of health and fitness.
"We live in a world where things are getting consistently easier," said Perry. "It's much easier to be sedentary. And it's important for me to show my son what it's like to be physically strong and physically fit," he said.
Elsewhere in Perry's video, Thomas is seen pointing at a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the wall. "Look, Daddy, it's a picture of you!" he says.
"It is a picture of me!" Perry responds, laughing.
The 40-year-old said his son frequently sees pictures of Schwarzenegger and thinks it is his father.
"I don't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I have no understanding of where this has come from. But he definitely thinks that Arnold Schwarzenegger and myself are both his daddy," said Perry.
Near the end of the video, Thomas can be seen enthusiastically lifting a stick of his own, emulating his father's weight-lifting posture.
Perry said he is encouraged by his son's interest in physical fitness.
"My son sees me exercise quite often … he's definitely picked up the bug to take part in gym based activity," he said.
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