Is Hardcore Training Dead?

[INTENSE58]

You know I was reading up a little bit on one of my favorite websites ever, Animalpak.com. (Articles found on Bodybuilding.com also at http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/animalpak0.htm) I read a little on the gyms of the old days and the hardcore mentality that is obviously lost in today's up and coming bodybuilders and gym goers. What's up with this brothers? I remember when I started training two years ago, we trained for football with three lifts basically squat, bench, and hang cleans. Four sets for each. Oh yeah, it sucked. There wasn't any televisions, radioes, spas, or any of that crap. We had carpet on the floor that smelled of piss, blood, sweat, and other rank smells that are undescribable. Did that stop us? Nope. We had screaming coaches in our ears, one coach in particular was the main one doing the screaming. He didn't baby anybody, nor show partiality. He called you a pussy footed, gutless, no-balls-at-all, coward. Yeah, those words hurt for a upcoming freshman in highschool.

We trained like there was no tomorrow; most of the time, we didn't want to go back to class after that hour or so of training. The gym I go to now, YMCA, is an alright gym around here. It's the only gym that my town has, what can I say? There are some people that come in there with cordinated outfits, nice hairdos, the newest and best brand of pants or shirts that are sold at stores like JCPenny or the mall in general. Makes me sick, these people are not the people I want to see after a hard fought set of squats or deadlifts. Really I don't want to see them at all. Sometimes a guy who is curling the 25s or 30s for a few reps will ask me do I need those dumbbells he's using. What the crap? I tell him, "No, I'm headed for the 45s or 50s." Then I do more reps than he does, and yell, grunt, and do whatever it takes to move the weight. I seriously believe that hardcore is dying in some places, it's quite obvious brothers. When we don't feel like going beyond that pain barrior and training beyond the comfort zone. Think back to Arnold, Franco, Haney, Ferrigno, just a few names that come to mind. They trained balls to the wall, because they were hungry for a win, hungry for victory. Hardcore training worked for them, our generation should keep it alive. Keep it alive, brothers. Keep lifting.

[CannedHeat]

darn good post.

Me and my workout partnet at school are like that. People look at us wierd but we see the gains. Thats all that matters.

[AJbuilder]

I agree.

[Prime7023]

When i fell in love with bb it was just before i turned 19. I joined a gym called "New world gym". It was as hardore as you can get. The machines were older then me, the only peice of cardio equipment was a bike that had to be 20 years old. Everything was covered in rust and dirt but it worked fine. The ceiling was slumped and in the winter you could see your breath when you exhaled. I loved it. We padded out the leg press with foam as the seats padding had worn out. It was the best leg press i have ever used PERIOD. The dumbells were not coordinated, they were all different shapes and sizes but there were loads and they went up to 60kgs. The plates were so old they had REG PARK's name on them. Everyone there was there to train. The golden age may have been over but some of these boys had lived during it and everyone was freindly. I knew almost everyone who trained there. After a workout i would sit in the reception room and drink a shake and talk to Ruth who ran it. She had been in the iron game probably before arnold learned to walk. She had met him when he was still wet behind the ears and had been the first female powerlifter. Her husband who had died a year before i joined still has many world records for powerlifting. Did i feel inspired? HELL YEAH!! I put on 25lbs of muscle my first year. I was really upset when the gym closed. It was just too hardcore for the weekend warrior and as a result no one bothered to go there. My female freind called it "the prison". I may have known most of the people there but there wernt that many there.
I now train in a multi million pound sports training village. The equipment is shiny and new and admittedly their freeweight selection is unbeatable. But whoever designed the machines obviously never lifted big. There hopless. As a result i havent been able to use a leg press for ages. I look around and im surrounded by all types. Olympic atheletes and top level rugby players. But there still not training hardcore. A few stand out from the masses but most just seem happy to plod through a workout, stopping to answer their phones etc. Forget the new bars, forget the shiny new equipment and especially forget the easy listening music, i would happily give it all up to reclaim the hardcore gym that i loved, and that i will never get to use again.

[TampaBayMuscle]

I agree as well, thats hardcore, thats animal

[damaticous]

That's why I workout at home and not the Y. Too many people talking **** with their pretty clothes and an attitude of "I dont' want to sweat".

[dmbfan1]

i have learned that the only time to lift is late at night...in the 8:00 range. this is when most of the kids and posers go home. the only people in the gym besides me and my buddy are the harcore lifters. we all know what we are there for, and you dont get a blank look if you ask what they are lifting. these are the guys that want to share info...as long as it doesn't break concentration;)

I have come to hate when i am forced to go in earlier due to my schedule. i am surrounded by people that make me want to throw my weights at them. The funny thing is, they are the ones that dont really belong, but they look at us funny when we grunt and strain. but, i digress....

[INTENSE58]

Good news for me though guys... Since powerlifting season is coming up I get to train at my old gym where the floor smells of dried piss, blood, and sweat. Nice, I know. Me and my workout partner both wrote freak on the back of our old powerlifting shirts to get the intensity flowing and freak out the newcomers. It did the trick, nobody lifted except us two. So, the scene at the Y won't be happenin' much right now execept for a few visits every now and then for some supporting muscle groups after the other gym closes. Yesterday, we used that day to get in the groove of things and get our heads on straight for powerlifting. Totally different ball game between powerlifting and bodybuilding if any of you have ever tried it... It's gonna be a war tomorrow though guys, we'll be sweatin', bleedin', cryin' for release from the pain but won't find one, pukin'(maybe), yellin', screamin' for more, it doesn't really get any better than that. Does it brothers? We lift, we get big and strong. It's that easy, right? Competition is just a month or so away, it's time to get strong as a bull brothers. I'm heading out to get strong and win, I'm tired of losing to the stronger guy because he worked harder than I did. Anybody know what I'm talking about: bodybuilding, powerlifting, other sports, or just basic life? Let's forget the past and move forward brothers, let's train balls-to-the-wall and move some heavy iron because we want to win. Who's with me? Who is gonna fade away after the first round of posing? Or the first lift in squat? Or the second quarter of the state playoffs? If you can't figure out why you're doing what you're doing, get off this website and stop reading this article/response. This isn't meant for the pussies who can't make it nor wish to pay the price. Keep hardcore lifting and living alive, all of you who have paid the price and want the win. Who's with me????

[judge4100]

I used to train at a hardcore gym, it was only $15 a month. When you lifted the rubber padding on the floor you could see the basement through the holes in the floor. There was no central heat, tom (owner) used to set up kerosene heaters around the equipment. The DB went up to 200lbs and they looked as if they were never touched. Nowdays its all about how many members you can stuff into a undersized, understocked area. Long contracts and high monthly fees are common. I went to a gym once that was $85 dollars a month, I was blown away by this considering that I have paid as low as $12 month elsewhere. The $85 place had built in DVD players in all the cardio equipment!!! I dream about my future home gym everyday.

[yanke10]

dont fight progress. new machines get u better results. dirts carpets dont have anything to do with hardcore. the reasion i doesnt seem hardcore today is cause more people are joinig. Whether they are hardcore or not, it doesnt matter, they are staying fit and making it cheaper for u to go to ur gym

[Prime7023]

Yankee, i think you missed the point. We arent mouring the loss of the dirt and filth, the worn carpets or the lack of heaters. What we are mourning is that hardcore gyms have been diluted, the hardcore element watered down so that gym owners can attract more people to the gym. If you want to train BIG and grow BIG then you wont mind training in a dump that has all the right equipment, because you know the other people training there will also be training for the same reasons. You go to a nice clean pretty health club and you get all the other types who dont actually want to train but force themselves to do it so that they can get a 'six pac' or loose the extra 40lbs they are carrying round their midsection due to being lazy fat pigs for years. These people have no idea how to train, they pay through the nose for personal training and they get in the way of those of us who are there for the hard graft! I dont want to be doing my last set of squats next to a guy doing curls in the rack next to me! I want a 400lb sweatty monster doing his last set of squats, grunting and growling. Why? because it will encourage me to do better. Sure the girls in hot pants are nice to look at but they are really just a distraction. Hardcore is dying yankee, and why? its simple, it isnt as profitable as these 'mainstream' gyms that now have a strangle hold on the market.

[DB15]

Wow

[NuclearArms]

Prime, you said it well but you have to accept the change and move on. I've been in the old gym/dungeons and they suited the times. Now, I'm 20 years older, train wiser, like to use a lot more machines due to old injuries, watch a little T&A as it goes by, etc. But guess what, my intensity level is as good if not better than it was back then, my strength is on par with what it was 20 years ago (minus some shoulder stuff I can't do anymore), and I don't really care who else is in the gym when I'm there. It's my time. place, and workout and everything else is background noise muted out by my MP3 player. It's great that you can remember the hardcore gym and workouts, but today you have got to establish that place in your mind without regard to the surroundings, and workout with all the intensity you got. Me, I couldn't give a damn if the 400 pound guy was squating 1,000 or 100 pounds, it doesn't and shouldn't make a difference.

[Prime7023]

I almost stopped mid set during shoulder presses to chat up a girl a few weeks back. She was stunning and doing the splits in a pair of tiny hot pants. As much as i like T&A it just isnt the time or place. Me and my training partner have been joking about wearing really dark sunglasses so we wont be able to see far enough to get distracted.

[Flying Knight]

With these people in gym hardcore is dead, bodybuilding is dead and weightlifting is dead. We only have millions of pussy-men left.

Hardcore? Is that curling 25 pounds of iron all-day-long hardcore? Unloaded pec dec flye hardcore? Or the pulldown-by-bodyweight hardcore? Fat pigs running here and there working out their 42" midsections hardcore?

Too many "gyms", "fitness centers" opened. They have to make money from the general public to survive. This raised those ****bags to the majority, and the gym owners are going to kick us LIFTERS away from the gym because we "scared" his clients.

Read this, an unlucky guy got kicked out of gym:
http://www.fortifiediron.net/invision/index.php?showtopic=9099

[Abhishek]

dear friends,
hi
i really thank you the article since in today's world the true essence of strength training seems to be lost amid all the glam models , spas, TV, music and all that.what meant to be an art ,rigorous,morally superior seems to have become a method of acquiring some common fame and the wide eyed "wow" ' s.
now i am 25 yet when i had started strength training in my own country side simple little gym ( manual..no machines,only the indian clubs,iron dumbells and barbells,and the sand pit for mortal combat training) we were happier, a lot better...
now all has changed, cars zoom past and guys in trendy track suits or some other fancy dress come and pump only the arms and chest, and play the blaring music too high...it all seems to have lost that sanctity.
so i am just a bit crestfallen, yet it still gives me joy when i spot a guy or gal truly pumping the guts out only for the sake of loving the sport like a true lover.i always motivate these persons.
thanks again.....bye

[Slimmer]

We used to have a good hardcore gym in my town. The lighting sucked the locker rooms were worse. But in the center of the free weight area there was a big bowl of chalk. with 3 squat racks and 2 deadlift areas. It whent out of business and the only other "fitness club" is full of exercise machine, treadmills, and yoga classes. Where you can get daycare while you work out. Thats why I set up a gym in my garage where I can play real work out music wear my holy sweats and pump out my last rep with real intensity, thats not based on my resting heart rate. Intensity is not dead its just been pushed underground. peace

[INTENSE58]

I'm surprised so many people replied to this article posted by a sixteen year old junior in highschool. Didn't know this article would catch on the way it did. I'm sure the bodybuilding greats would be impressed that the old school style of training lives on. Hey, but what's wrong with putting a little blood and guts into your training? I can understand that a lot people don't want to have the biceps of Arnold, the lats of Franco, or the massive size of Ronnie Coleman... That doesn't bother me, what bothers me is the lack of balls in the gym to train beyond that pain barrier and really fight for that last rep, as well, as doing everything it takes to get it. Believe me brothers, I have a powerlifing comp. tomorrow, and you can bet your last dollar that I'm not gonna be dragging around this year. I'm not driving almost two hours to get my tail kicked by some freakin' barbell, screw the other competitors and screw the judges. I'm not even caring about the rest, except for me and the weight. Worst case scenario, I lose the contest and have to wait another year. I could care less about the contest, because when I step up to the platform; I'm gonna know that I'm the best up there and I'm gonna prove that I'm the best. No matter who my competitors are. If I lose I go back to the shadows and train even harder for next year. Where am I going with this a lot of you asking... That's great Mat, you have a competition tomorrow good luck, but what's the point? Here's the point for all those of you haven't caught on by now, you don't go by hardcore training because of one contest or another person. Hardcore training is something that is personal, that means you and you alone. You train like that because you crave it, you desire it, you want it, and you need it. Anybody caught on yet? Hope so... You train that way because of yourself, not for anybody else or any title that you'll win. I want you to watch Pumping Iron one day and see why they trained hardcore. Those guys weren't gonna beat Arnold, but they trained like they had already beat him and drilled him the ground. Keep it alive brothers.

[Prime7023]

I hate to say it but all the 'brother' comments conjured up images of hulk hogan and his wrestling promos in my mind. Anyone else get that?

[The Kurgan]

Originally posted by Prime7023
I hate to say it but all the 'brother' comments conjured up images of hulk hogan and his wrestling promos in my mind. Anyone else get that?

Yes, as well as Bugress Meridith shouting down my ear "You're a deadly weapon Rock" and Carl Weathers shouting guff about the "Eye of the Tiger".

ANYWAY.....

I don't like to call my technique "hardcore" because it sounds like I'm some 80's punk fan or a dance fan, but there is something infinetly satisfying about my gym. The PE teacher who runs it is one of the most insanely fit people ever. He cycles to school- he lives 20 miles away. The gym has a strict rule system- anyone seen to be under-training has a right and obligation to be laughed at, and anyone who says stuff like "why don't we get some of those cool Smith machines?" or "lets get those walking machines" will be asked to stop speaking while in the gym.

[alien]

Originally posted by yanke10
dont fight progress. new machines get u better results. dirts carpets dont have anything to do with hardcore. the reasion i doesnt seem hardcore today is cause more people are joinig. Whether they are hardcore or not, it doesnt matter, they are staying fit and making it cheaper for u to go to ur gym

yeah right! nothing worse than walking into a gym full of "tourists" taking their time in free weights and cardio machines because they watch the latest britney clip; some of them dont even sweat and when they see u sweat like a pig( all red faced with an ugly grin) they take the piss?f**k off, all of them!
in the gym one should go(since an aver. weight lifting wokout is about 60-90 min) and train with the highest intensity possible. i go to the gym and i prepair psychologicaly to be an animal. watching tourists ****s up your motivation and there are so many of them nowadays that it is virtually impossible to avoid them. as a result> i only work out early in the morning. surely one cannot connect dirty carpets with hardcore but one thing is sure;u can connect it with the absence of tourists.
one more thing: i dont think more people made it cheaper!u think economically(v.smart) but i dont think it applies to the gym industry cause it has become fashionable.smt like armani shirts;more people want them , more people wear them but that did not make them any cheaper!it would apply when talking about "normal goods" and not about "high quality goods and services" such as leisure time and in our case the pursuit of quality fitness(same applies to aqua springs facilities).

[INTENSE58]

You know, guys, every day I go into the gym there is two type of people in there... The ones that want to win and others who are too cowardly to pay the price to win. A complete physique is what? Good symmetry is key right? In my opinion it is, others' have their's but this is mine, because it's my article. How many people in your gym do you see pound out set after set of barbell curls, bench press, pulldowns, etc? However, that same person wonders why he doesn't grow, all you have to do is look at the idiot's legs or back thickness, that will tell all you need to know. A lot of guys nowadays lack the drive to get to that complete physique and pay the price for it. Here's another definition for hardcore for all of you trying to define it: it's training beyond the pain so you can reach that ultimate goal. Not caring if it hurts, if you puke, pass out, or even if someone sees you yell or grunt... Oh my! Not that, heaven forbid someone would see you yelling out reps on squats or deadlifts. It's a gym, not a library, do what you have to do get the weight up. It's not rocket science, you geniouses. I truly can't stand these gutless cowards that can pump out a few good reps, but when the hard reps (the reps that make you grow) come along they quit. What's up with that? No mental strength at all, those guys who lack the strength to pay the price to get the full potential out of their physique. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The hardcore bodybuilder training is not about dirt carpets, rusty bars, blood, sweat, not having a life, etc. The hardcore is on the inside, it's not what you do, it's what you think like. Sure, I could train 2 1/2 hrs. a day and do endless sets to prove that I'm a "hardcore" bodybuilder. That's not even close. Hardcore bodybuilding is a mentality that you have daily, meals, training, everday life. I mean finishing a set and feeling like an animal that wants to tear the bar apart. If you want to yell afterwards or whatever, go for it. If that's how you do it, I say do everything possible to win. A lot of people are trying to define hardcore and crap: it's a mental thing, not a physical thing. My purpose for this article was to show you guys that the hardcore mentality has left, not the gym scene or old gyms. Every lifter is laid back and lazy, no more balls-to-the-wall training, just "stimulate" the muscles and go home for a nice bowl of cereal. That's today's gym life, let's change that scene guys. Who's up to it??? Let's keep it alive!! Keep pumping.

[hunterwolf]

I just moved from a 'Hardcore' gym to a fitness centre. The move was because of distance rather than choice.

So I step in to this fitness centre during peak hours to do a killer chest work out. Place is packed full of Cardio Queens and Kings, and I head over to the benches.

I see two guys with an Ice Cream Pale full of chalk, thick powerlifting belts and I thought to myself this might not be as bad as I expected.

A couple of guys who can appear to be able to move some weight, give me a little friendly competition.

But then I watched them. Chalking their hands and the bench. Throwing their hips to the air to get this weight off their chest. 3 max and all the grunting and groaning you can imagine.

AND FOR WHAT.... 275lbs

Being the ASS that I can be. I rep'd out 315, told my workout patner loud enough for these guys to hear that I should have gone heavier.

The image of 'hardcore' is a lot different than being 'hardcore'

Dorian Yates put it best

BODYBUILDING IS A GUT GRINDING, PAINFUL, LABOUR, ALWAYS UNCOMFORTABLE AND AT TIMES EXCRUCIATING, BUT BY THAT VERY FACT, YIELDS ONE OF THE GREATEST REWARDS ONE CAN EXPERIENCE. YOU MUST LEARN TO PUSH BEYOND YOUR COMFORT ZONE TO THE POINT WHERE REAL TRAINING TAKES PLACE. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BODYBUILDERS ARE THOSE WHO TAKE MORE PRIDE IN HOW THEY WORK THEN IN HOW THEY LOOK.

[PumpingUp]

Hardcore! Hardcore grrrrrrrr! Train in piss! Brother brother train in piss with benches with nails sticking in your back. HARDCORE ROAR RUFF RUFF throw up on floor piss piss HARDCORE!

[hunterwolf]

A few people are missing the point.

Hard core training isn't about 'training in piss', its about going to the gym and training the hardest that you can possibly train.

Taking years not days to master control of the weights you are using. Each time trying to master that next level. Living the life that it takes to get you there. Sleep, nutrition, focus, and attitude, all take equal roles in that next level.

People need to earn the respect of others in the gym. Not by lifting the heaviest weights, but by going in the gym, day after day, month after month and each time pushing themselves to the next level. Leaving their attitudes at the door and focusing their minds on one goal, to be the best they can be.

[The Kurgan]

Originally posted by hunterwolf
People need to earn the respect of others in the gym. Not by lifting the heaviest weights, but by going in the gym, day after day, month after month and each time pushing themselves to the next level. Leaving their attitudes at the door and focusing their minds on one goal, to be the best they can be.

Now that I like.

[Arith]

I understand what you mean, you go to the gym and see a bunch of people who are out of shape, screwing around and talking on their phones, drives me nuts but i do have a problem with some of what your saying. Screaming and yelling and throwing the weights down doesnt make you hardcore. Being able to curl 45s or 50 when someone else in doing 30's doesnt make you hardcore. Benching 315 and then making a comment about someone who is benching 275 doesnt make you hardcore. Doing the best you can, training at a high intensity level, going all out, thats what makes you hardcore and if benching 275 is going all out for someone, and they are doing to best they can, training intense and being focused, they're hardcore also. Just because you can do more weight, screaming and yelling, doesnt make you hardcore.

[Mugzieee]

as long as a gym has the equipment you need to train in a hardcore fashion, everything else is nonsense. go in there, do your training, disregard everything that is not related to YOUR training, and all will be fine.....

[hunterwolf]

My point back a few posts about the guys who were chalking the bench, their hands, then thrusting their hips to the sky and grunting and groaning, was that guys who 'show off' in the gym are the ones who are louder, more dramatic and try to get the attention of others before a lift.

My insult to them was not the weight, but the way.

Heywood Bround once said 'Sports don't build character. They reveal it.'

The gym is no different.

I find 'show offs' in the gym to be distracting and make the gym more of a circus than a place to train.

[AuggieDawgie]

Originally posted by Arith
I understand what you mean, you go to the gym and see a bunch of people who are out of shape, screwing around and talking on their phones, drives me nuts but i do have a problem with some of what your saying. Screaming and yelling and throwing the weights down doesnt make you hardcore. Being able to curl 45s or 50 when someone else in doing 30's doesnt make you hardcore. Benching 315 and then making a comment about someone who is benching 275 doesnt make you hardcore. Doing the best you can, training at a high intensity level, going all out, thats what makes you hardcore and if benching 275 is going all out for someone, and they are doing to best they can, training intense and being focused, they're hardcore also. Just because you can do more weight, screaming and yelling, doesnt make you hardcore.

This is the truth. There is only one gym here. There are all kinds of people. I cant curl the 50s but I bust my ass. I also need the daycare because its either take my son there with me or not go to the gym. So thatspretty important to me.

[AJbuilder]

A recommended reading : Dinosaur Training. Buy the book.

[Jimineye]

Great Article, really motivated me today.

[waynelucky]

Hi here,
wow, i am a h.i.t. hard core, fan we work to failure, forced reps and sometimes neg's to there are 1000's of us out here we have out own forums to,
glad you posted that as i to see people in the gym still doing that high volume crap as you say they pick up some light db's and curl them for loads of times then come back next week and do exactly the same and wonder why they are not growing, for crying out loud,
Thank you Wayne

[stvn42088]

I think the worst thing to happen to true hardcore training was these new and "improved" gyms with 6-7 FULL circuits of machines. Half of the people who got to the gym do not even know what a deadlift is, forget cleans, push press, etc. I lost sight of the true training for a while, but now I am back in my garage hitting the weights hard, I love the feeling of hitting PRs and doing whatever you want. Also, too many people are basing routines on isolation movements, I can't really think of one isolation movement I do besides curls once in a blue moon.

[stvn42088]

I just have to mention something I have been reading in here. Hardcore in my mind does not go by how much you lift, it's how much work, sweat, and blood that you put in to your lifting and how much you want it. Just because someone can bench 400+ lbs. does not make them hardcore, they may have just had great genetics and done NOTHING to get there. But, what if we have a guy who is benching 275? You say that is not very hardcore, you have to take into consideration how long it took him to get there and how hard he works, chances are with a 275 bench he doesn't work that hard, but what if he has been through injuries and such?

So, to sum it up, I think the effort makes you hardcore not how strong or big you are.

[Nameless monk]

This article is great. The feeling of hardcore training being absent from the gyms we savages here on bb.com frequent is an all too true a feeling. These weekend gym goers who have the gall to ask us for a spot on their bench, who put too much weight on their lifts that they get injured do to improper form, these gym goers who spend more time talking to eachother butt-naked in the locker room than they do lifting. I can go on and on and on about their raging homo ways. TRUST me when I say this, the savagery is by no means gone. In the face of these beeyoches who try new diets weekly and do exercices on balance balls i spit savagery and I know most who are reading this if not all do the same. We see these fools of fitness and it helps to motivate. I for one am silently more pumped when these people think they are getting a workout. Its these people that try and make room for the gym instead of dedicating days to body parts. I ask my friends what's poppin on wednesdays and they know to respond with only what takes up every ounce of thought during the day by responding "shoulder day is wednesday bro." I have read many columns in this website and responded to very few. This is one I have to speak up on.
I wanted to mention something that got me grossed out. I was training the other day and I began to get very delusional, it's happened before where I have worked out till I pass out. I have puked many times on leg days where I am trying to push it the next level. I was getting delusional and was doing my workout. I finished and went to hit the showers and when I dropped my drawers I had **** in them and didn't even know. I didn't recall farting while I was pushing to do one more rep or anything, cause I've heard of guys grunting the last one out and filing their shorts when they thought it was a fart. But I had no Idea when i could have done this. Everyone at my gym already hates me cause of my intensity while training. Now they think I am seriously F'd up in the head. Puking on myself and punching myself in the face for loosing the protien. Now It looks like I wont even get off the bench to go take a ****. What could have happend? I was totally clueless as to how long I had been working out with that in my drawers. Now I am a little nervous about it happening again. Anybody ever have the same problem?

[SuperJL]

I trained so hard I got 2 stress fractures right on my hip bone, 8months later and I'm still training my upper body immensly hardcore

[.aeterna]

:/ I highly doubt that most of you are even old enough to have been around during the REAL hardcore days.

Things have changed, technology is advancing way faster than we are. So how most of you feel is definately not in the minority. But realize, that there is an new age of "hardcore" IMO. **** the cardio, trollin, skeleton pussies. It's all about you now, and if that means using newer equipment so be it. The weight hasnt changed.

[copenhagen]

Originally posted by PumpingUp
Hardcore! Hardcore grrrrrrrr! Train in piss! Brother brother train in piss with benches with nails sticking in your back. HARDCORE ROAR RUFF RUFF throw up on floor piss piss HARDCORE!
lol

[strange/world]

Very good article. My gym isn't a complete hardcore one, but the two owners who are giants try to keep it as low key as possible ... they hav obviously been lifting since way back when and they try not to let it turn into a fancy health spa. I've noticed there are maybe 5 or 6 ppl in there that train with alot of intensity, its great motivation.

Yes, there are alot of ignorant teens with messed up diets who focus on only there arms, but theres one kid who sort of stands out. he's probly 5'4", skinny kid and he's always in there (not always doing biceps, has a well rounded split) givin it his all. From his size you can tell he's not ever going to be the biggest or strongest guy, but he sure does train like it. In between sets sometimes i watch, whether he's doing squats, bench, pulldowns, leg press or whatever he always puts maximal effort into every rep. he's a nice kid too, sometimes i chat with him about whatever. it's nice to see that there are some smart, 'hardcore', lifters in our younger generation. anyone else know of kids like this?

[Knight360]

It was hardcore during football cuz thats what football is, coaches push you to get better. Thats how it is at my school. At the YMCA its a family facility. There are variaties of people, bb's, PL's, models, fitness models, people that just want to cut some fat, or just there for good health. When i go to the YMCA i make sure im in my zone. I talk to no one. Good post. Back in the day gyms were hardcore due to the fact that not many people cared for their health. Gyms were full of hardcore lifters, and BB's. Now days physical health has become an everyday thing for most people.

[Knight360]

It was hardcore during football cuz thats what football is, coaches push you to get better. Thats how it is at my school. At the YMCA its a family facility. There are variaties of people, bb's, PL's, models, fitness models, people that just want to cut some fat, or just there for good health. When i go to the YMCA i make sure im in my zone. I talk to no one. Good post. Back in the day gyms were hardcore due to the fact that not many people cared for their health. Gyms were full of hardcore lifters, and BB's. Now days physical health has become an everyday thing for most people.

[Muscle Clam]

You train for results. All this "hardcore" talk about training with rusty barbells in dark basements is just a way to sound "macho" or "masculine." You can be tough and train with nice shiny machines.

I think it's ignorant to call someone a pretty-boy poser just because they don't grunt and groan. Everyone has their own way of training, and as long as you get the results you want, it's all good, right? It's a contest of the physiques, not the best workouts.

[The Kurgan]

Originally posted by stvn42088
I think the worst thing to happen to true hardcore training was these new and "improved" gyms with 6-7 FULL circuits of machines. Half of the people who got to the gym do not even know what a deadlift is, forget cleans, push press, etc. I lost sight of the true training for a while, but now I am back in my garage hitting the weights hard, I love the feeling of hitting PRs and doing whatever you want. Also, too many people are basing routines on isolation movements, I can't really think of one isolation movement I do besides curls once in a blue moon.

I'm pretty keen on some isolation exercises, but I agree that so many great exercises are nearly forgotten. I can't remember seeing anyone besides myself in a mirror doing a deadlift, and the wonders of the weighted pull-up have also been forgotten. One gym I saw didn't have any barbells, and not even a machine substitute for the bench press... Presumably everyone there uses light weights/high reps to "tone" their arms and stomach, haha!

[Thudd]

Hardcore? Bah! That plate weights 25kg whether it's in a pissy-floored ****hole or the glossiest trendiest gym in existence. If you can lift it in one place you can lift it in the other. Everything else is mental. Hardcore is doing what it takes. Complaining that you can't do a decent workout because the gym is full of yuppies? And you call yourself hardcore?

Sure, a 'hardcore' atmosphere in a gym is great. But if you can't exist without that then you're not hardcore. Hardcore is doing what it takes. Complaining that the gym at the hotel you're staying at has crappy equipment? Get over it and find a way to use what's there.

I love to watch a guy doing an insane bench press as much as the next person. But he's not going to be lifting your weights for you. Hardcore is doing what it takes. Complaining that there are no freaks in the gym to inspire you? The monster bencher is irrelevant when it's you under the bar. The weight is the same anywhere.

Hardcore is doing what it takes

[morphicus]

Great stuff, these days if you train hard and intense poeple pass comments like your overtraining, why? I train a muscle group a day and blitz it ie: all last night every time I moved my quads and hamstrings cramped up its my choice and I train like it because it works.
It does make be laff though when others in the gym where I train look at you as if youve got 3 heads cuase your blitzing yourself.

I am a fitness/personal trainer/ sports injury therapist and train in a gym were I do not work and the guys who personal train in there just work on the principle "do I look good while I am training you" then they train in groups of 4-5 , long rest too heavy weights ( but my mates can hold them while I push).
I openly tell others if they want to improve they have got to treat each session like it their last day on earth.

[hunterwolf]

I read in these posts all about Old-School training. Well.... Old-School training isn't a matter of old rusty weights. It was an attitude. In the Days of Arnold and Franco, creatine, andro, nitro, and all the million other supplements didn't exist. They got their intensity because of mental attitude not because of Ephedra and Caffine.

Being hardcore is willing to try something new, unusual. Recently in a Muscle and Fitness they talked about adding Chains to your bench press to help break through plateaus. how many of you have tried it.

How about adding power movements to your routine?

In the Good Old Days, training was about going out everyday and working as hard as you can.

People will argue and say that benching 400 doesn't make you hard core, and maybe it doesn't but there is a good chance that you have trained hardcore to get there.

Train Hard, Don't give up, give it those few extra reps and most of all, Enjoy!! Learn to Love it.

In the gym its just you against metal. Don't ever let the metal win.

[teen8ger]

You know I was reading up a little bit on one of my favorite websites ever, Animalpak.com. (Articles found on Bodybuilding.com also at http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/animalpak0.htm) I read a little on the gyms of the old days and the hardcore mentality that is obviously lost in today's up and coming bodybuilders and gym goers. What's up with this brothers? I remember when I started training two years ago, we trained for football with three lifts basically squat, bench, and hang cleans. Four sets for each. Oh yeah, it sucked. There wasn't any televisions, radioes, spas, or any of that crap. We had carpet on the floor that smelled of piss, blood, sweat, and other rank smells that are undescribable. Did that stop us? Nope. We had screaming coaches in our ears, one coach in particular was the main one doing the screaming. He didn't baby anybody, nor show partiality. He called you a pussy footed, gutless, no-balls-at-all, coward. Yeah, those words hurt for a upcoming freshman in highschool.

We trained like there was no tomorrow; most of the time, we didn't want to go back to class after that hour or so of training. The gym I go to now, YMCA, is an alright gym around here. It's the only gym that my town has, what can I say? There are some people that come in there with cordinated outfits, nice hairdos, the newest and best brand of pants or shirts that are sold at stores like JCPenny or the mall in general. Makes me sick, these people are not the people I want to see after a hard fought set of squats or deadlifts. Really I don't want to see them at all. Sometimes a guy who is curling the 25s or 30s for a few reps will ask me do I need those dumbbells he's using. What the crap? I tell him, "No, I'm headed for the 45s or 50s." Then I do more reps than he does, and yell, grunt, and do whatever it takes to move the weight. I seriously believe that hardcore is dying in some places, it's quite obvious brothers. When we don't feel like going beyond that pain barrior and training beyond the comfort zone. Think back to Arnold, Franco, Haney, Ferrigno, just a few names that come to mind. They trained balls to the wall, because they were hungry for a win, hungry for victory. Hardcore training worked for them, our generation should keep it alive. Keep it alive, brothers. Keep lifting.

What are you talking about man?
your article is nothing but pussy, you sound like a type A personality WUSS.

you put down a guy who is trying to help you by asking if you want 25s and then you get 'upset' liek a little baby due to what others are CHOOSING to do. ITS THEIR CHOICE MAN, they can wear whatever the hell they wants, its their life.

Then you go on to mention how 'hardcore' training worked for arnold, etc... give me a break... so did steroids you dumbass

[Gerrard]

'Hardcore' bodybuilding?! Even the worst kind of leg workouts dont even come close to what runners, rowers, cyclists have to go through.
I train as intense as I can on the weights, but it's the thought of doing a 5k row on the erg machine to the max that makes me puke. I really laugh at the bodybuilders who think they're going through some kind of torture session. It's a walk in the park compared to the aforementioned persuits.

[ObeseAnorexic]

Good news for me though guys... Since powerlifting season is coming up I get to train at my old gym where the floor smells of dried piss, blood, and sweat. Nice, I know. Me and my workout partner both wrote freak on the back of our old powerlifting shirts to get the intensity flowing and freak out the newcomers. It did the trick, nobody lifted except us two. So, the scene at the Y won't be happenin' much right now execept for a few visits every now and then for some supporting muscle groups after the other gym closes. Yesterday, we used that day to get in the groove of things and get our heads on straight for powerlifting. Totally different ball game between powerlifting and bodybuilding if any of you have ever tried it... It's gonna be a war tomorrow though guys, we'll be sweatin', bleedin', cryin' for release from the pain but won't find one, pukin'(maybe), yellin', screamin' for more, it doesn't really get any better than that. Does it brothers? We lift, we get big and strong. It's that easy, right? Competition is just a month or so away, it's time to get strong as a bull brothers. I'm heading out to get strong and win, I'm tired of losing to the stronger guy because he worked harder than I did. Anybody know what I'm talking about: bodybuilding, powerlifting, other sports, or just basic life? Let's forget the past and move forward brothers, let's train balls-to-the-wall and move some heavy iron because we want to win. Who's with me? Who is gonna fade away after the first round of posing? Or the first lift in squat? Or the second quarter of the state playoffs? If you can't figure out why you're doing what you're doing, get off this website and stop reading this article/response. This isn't meant for the pussies who can't make it nor wish to pay the price. Keep hardcore lifting and living alive, all of you who have paid the price and want the win. Who's with me????

I'm with you. I'll meet you at the squat rack with chalk on my back and big wheel mounted on the bar.

[LukeStacey]

I don't train at a hardcore gym (since the nearest one is too far). I do train hardcore though. I go in, I don't chat,talk on my mobile, fool around, or prance about. I do my session, 45 minutes of ******* torture, till the bodypart (s) im training are thoroughly ****** i shower then I go home. to be honest alot of the people who go to the gym i go to have no idea. They spend like 3 hours in there. Chat on there mobile between sets, spend an hour on one exercise, and basically it takes the p*ss!!!!, the others have no clue, train terribly (why, oh why do people think you have to roll your shoulders when doing shrugs...........Hello Injury!!!), Either that or you see some 17year old kid in there everyday, doing like 100 sets for every bodypart and he doesn't know why he looks like an Ethiopian! I said to him one once, train 3 days a week, eat enough protein, and get some rest you'll grow. He said the more you train the bigger you get, and i get enough protein, I eat plenty of jacket potatoes??, he was like 6'2" and 90lbs Im 6'2 and 190lbs (but ripped). I saw him the other night curling 10kg dumbels and his form was so bad I could'nt work out wether he was doing Hammer curls, front raises or some bizaare movement yet to be invented!! I could go on all night, but why do 30 yr old fat f*****s think that 10 minutes of waving 2 x 3kg dumbells around is going to get them fit????? and then to top it all off, they go down to the bar/restaurant (in the gym) afterwards and have a burger and a few beers......WTF!!!!!!!!!!

I just despair. No one ever takes the time to learn how to lift first, get there diet in order and progress and train hard.

[paint669]

i have learned that the only time to lift is late at night...in the 8:00 range. this is when most of the kids and posers go home. the only people in the gym besides me and my buddy are the harcore lifters. we all know what we are there for, and you dont get a blank look if you ask what they are lifting. these are the guys that want to share info...as long as it doesn't break concentration;)

I have come to hate when i am forced to go in earlier due to my schedule. i am surrounded by people that make me want to throw my weights at them. The funny thing is, they are the ones that dont really belong, but they look at us funny when we grunt and strain. but, i digress....

completely agree, working out at night is so much better then working out during the day. For some reason when the gym is practically empty i can work harder then i ever do.

[hunterwolf]

I openly tell others if they want to improve they have got to treat each session like it their last day on earth. - Love this quote.


People argue about throwing up, or rusty plates, or grunting and groaning.

Yes I can train anywhere, but with some friendly competition in the gym I push harder than I would alone. It's hard to strive to be the best when you are already the biggest in your gym.

I believe that there are those who are true animals in the gym and those who strive to look like animals.

Those who are true animals are usually the nicest guys in the gym, they are willing to spot, give advice and when it comes time to lift and train, there is no one there who trains as focused or hard as they do.

Those who strive to be animals, hog the benches, talk and grunt loud and generally do everything they can to call attention to themselves and their lifts.

Both groups may lift the same weight, but where the difference is, CHARACTER!!.

As I said once before and will quote it again.

Sports does not build character, it reveals it.

Train like it was your last lift, your last rep. If you were to die tommorrow and never get in another lift, make sure your last thought isn't 'I should have gone heavier or gotten that extra rep.'

When you train take pride in your lifts and take pride in showing others how you got there.

Let your character attract others to you. Be the attention in the gym for who you are and not how loud you are.

Be a gentleman!

[dempo25]

thought I should bump this motivational thread back up. Great thread!