“Winners train, losers complain” (exercise adage)

“Winners train, losers complain” is a popular T-shirt slogan that has been cited in print since at least 2000. The author of the saying is unknown.
 
“Winners train, whiners complain” (sometimes spelled “whinners”) is one variation. The saying is sometimes reversed, giving “losers complain, winners train.”
 
 
Google News Archive
4 May 2000, Ocala (FL) Star-Banner, “Titletalk subsides in Belleview” by Mike Hodge, pg. 1D, col. 1:
Winners train. Losers complain. Every year it seems as if Belleview High School has a new theme for its track team.
   
Google News Archive
10 August 2000, Wilmington (NC) Morning Star, “Brunswick Sports: Hopes high as football teams hit turf” by Lee Wagner, pg. 8, col. 3:
LELAND—As the prospective football players on the North Brunswick football team labored through their exercises and drills in the early morning sun and heat last Saturday, the notation on the back of assistant coach Kintz’ shirt pretty much said it all:
 
“Winners train, losers complain.”
 
28 August 2001, Daytona Beach (FL) News-Journal, “Triathlete gets summer taste of Olympic training” by Lydia Hinshaw, pg. 1B:
“Winners train, losers complain,” was the T-shirt slogan Father Lopez swim coach Bud Farmer had chosen for his team this fall.
     
Lacrosse Forums
Favorite Inspirational Quotes
SwRLaX10D
06-07-2005, 02:14 PM
heres a few more:
“No pain, no gain”
“If something hard was easy, everybody would do it”
“Winners train, losers complain”
“Saying you’re going to win doesn’t make it true!”
   
ChalkBucket
Thread: Gymnastics Poems!!
gracefulone
01-19-2008, 10:54 AM
(...)
Winners train, whiners complain. ten.o
   
Houston (TX) Chronicle
Help needed identifying 2 men in morgue
2 victims remain nameless in morgue
PEGGY O’HARE, Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Published 05:30 a.m., Thursday, June 11, 2009
(...)
He wore a multicolored lightweight jacket, a gray T-shirt that said “Winners train, losers complain,” and Levi’s jeans with a 32-inch waist.