Tales from the Fitness Factory

[Bookman]

I'm hooked.

[freebirdmac]

I've throughly enjoyed reading this!! Thanks!

[unimoose]

I've throughly enjoyed reading this!! Thanks!

X2 I look forward to each installment!

[ArchAngel'73]

Thank-you all very much. Your comments are appreciated and I will keep this going until I run out of memories of this place.

[ArchAngel'73]

After I finished high school, I waited 2 years before going to university. My family needed me to work. I thought it was a tremendous waste of time academically, 2 years was already 1/2 the time it would took to earn a B.A. and I wanted to keep the momentum from schooling going.
But I did my duty for my family and worked. I rarely worked full time hours, but it kept food in the house and money in my pocket. I had time to kill, and finally, a place to kill it.
The 'Factory.

Most of my work outs were in the mornings, starting around 10 am. I far preferred training at that hour as it wasn?t too busy and I could get the workouts in before starting my work day.
I shared the gym with a good crew at that time.


Two people that caught my eye in the gym were Cam and Betty. They weren't a couple, they didn't train together, but they were both hardcore power lifters.
Cam was by no means large, around 5'8" 180 lbs. But he was strong. First man I ever saw squat 5 plates per side for reps. He could also benched over 500 and I saw him do deads with seven bills. He thought belts, straps, gloves, and benching shirts was the way of cowards. But he did make allotments for bodybuilders, as we were such pussies, according to him. He didn't even make fun of me for wearing gloves, straps, and wraps.
I was always in awe when Cam took off his shirt. On his back, right where the squat bar sat, was a huge freaking callous, like his back had decided to grow a place for him to put the squat bar.
Some found it repulsive, I thought it was neat.
Cam was always well spoken and fun to be around. He took the time to teach this newb about power lifting, Olympic lifting and some of the different ways they train. He also taught me how to squat. None of this 1/2 rep b.s either. Deep, cryin' for momma to get you out of the hole squats!
When I was able to keep pace with Kevin for our first leg workout, it was because Cam taught me about squatting. I had and still have the highest respect for Cam. Regardless of the crap we went through at the 'Factory, he never got into an altercation with any one. Cam won 3 power lifting meets in the 1st year I knew him.

Betty forever remains in my memory banks as the one who taught me how to do dead lifts, use a weight belt and knee wraps.
I was amazed at this lady's ability to do dead lifts, 4 plates per side for 7 reps. Eventually she increased it to 450, I know as I was the one screaming at her during the set.
We got along great, she was one of the first regulars to talk and teach me. When I joined, I used knee wraps to wrap around my waist when I did BB curls so I didn't hurt my back, I had no idea what they were really meant for. Thank goodness, she pulled me aside, laughed a bit, and then taught me when and how to use them.
She saw one day I needed a belt for squats. She suggested I buy a good leather one for the support. I told her I didn't have much money and it would have to wait. Off she went to the lost and found box, pulled out a leather belt and had me try it on. Sure enough, it fit. She went and got a marker from the desk and wrote my name in it!
To this day, I still own that belt.
Betty had her own business and often talked of her partner. Being young and dumb, I never caught on until much later that she was lesbian. This bit of info came about at the juice bar one day when one of the gym members insulted her behind her back. Luckily, Cam was there and told the guy to say something nice or he shouldn't say anything at all.
I really didn't care if she was gay or not. She helped me, she respected me, and that's all that mattered.
Betty was only around the first two years the 'Factory was open, I assume she went to a different gym after. She competed twice and I remember she destroyed the competition on her last meet with totals over 800 lbs.

Neil was also a great guy. He was training to get into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He didn't just do the usual free weight exercises but also concentrated his efforts on things like sit ups, dips, push ups, and his cardiovascular work to beat the physical requirement tests. He always worked his butt off and sweat like a piggy.
He also liked to talk a lot in between sets and would go a mile a minute. I didn't mind being interrupted by him as he usually had something constructive to say.
When the ephedrine craze swept in our gym (which I was part cause of) he urged me not to take it.
One day I noticed I hadn't seen Neil in a few weeks, I inquired to Kevin as to his whereabouts. Turns out Neil was arrested for possession of a narcotic, ******* to be precise.
No wonder he talked a mile a minute and tried to steer this young kid away from something he knew was bad. I never saw Neil again, and wish him nothing but the best.

I really don't know what to say about the next guy, except that Bo was a shining example of what not to do in bodybuilding.
Bo thought he was hardcore to the bone. He worked as a bouncer at a few local night spots and his number one ambition was to be as huge as possible, then he might compete.
He came complete with the do-rag, baggy sweats, baggy sweatshirt covered with a lumberjack sweatshirt, earphones, and construction boots. Didn't matter if he was at the gym or at work, that's what he wore. He also wrapped everything in the gym, whether he was working it or not. Elbows, knees, wrists, weight belt.
Bo would also frequently pass out during his workouts.
The problem with Bo is that he treated himself like a human guinea pig and had no consideration for his health. Dan Duchaine was the "guru" at the time and he advocated doing some crazy ****, all of which Bo jumped at the opportunity to do. He ate crappy, he lived crappy, and he took a boat load illegal substances to get bigger.
So much stuff that the front desk guy had a pool in which you could place your bet as to what day Bo was going to have a heart attack and die.
Thankfully, Kevin had to kick Bo out before he died on his gym floor. Kevin dinged him too many times for not putting his weights away. (and damn straight your membership could be revoked for that, them's were the good ole' days!)


Vern and Ernie were two older gentlemen who joined to ward off the effects of father time. Vern was in his late 50's, Ernie in his early 60's. They both worked out together and made a tremendous effort in the gym. Weight training was completely new to them and they gave it their all.
In my opinion, they were too nice to be members there. Apparently they thought I knew what I was doing as they frequently asked me training questions. I always obliged. Any one who had the bravery to join this gym at an advanced age deserved my respect.
Vern still trains at that very same gym (it has different owners), saw him there last month. In the course of a decade he put on some good beef, and he's well into his 60's now.

Throw in Moose, Igor, Kevin and I, and my future training partner Al in there, along with a dozen or so irregularily attending members, and we have the morning crew that I learned to both love and loath.

Next stop
I do some work for Kevin and learn all about the world of supplements.

[BlondeAmazon]

Great Thread- looking forward to more stories!!

[justtryn]

Again, great stuff. I think I know that Bo guy. Sounds like someone at my place.

You have a gift Brian - keep writing!

[Bookman]

You found my belt!

[Arlecchino]

Great thread man.

[raffim]

You found my belt!

LOL... reps

Thanks Brian....

[ArchAngel'73]

I have returned with more.
I've thought long and hard about how to follow forum rules and be able to tell my tales from there. The truth is, illegal substances were rampant at the time. I avoided them like the plague, but they were around every single day I was there in one shape or another. To keep this thread open, I will refer to them as "Igor's Supplements" and will not discuss them further then that.

I will also be mentioning ephedrine. To clarify, ephedrine is not illegal, but it is a banned substance according the the World Anti Doping Agency. Ephedrine is currently sold legally in the United States and Canada. In Canada, it is still available as a food supplement.
Bodybuilding.com also carries product(s) with epedrine. So, no forum rules broke with that one.
Thank-you for reading.
Next installment on its way.

[ArchAngel'73]

After a few weeks of training together and chumming around, I began to notice that Kevin did not carry any supplements for sale. He admitted to me that he was not up to speed on the supps of the time and started asking me what I thought was good. I was just starting to learn about protein and vitamins myself and had boughten a great book called the "Supplement Review" by Bill Phillips (of MuscleMedia 2000 fame and future owner of EAS).

Bill cut to the chase in that book and rated out of 5 stars, all the supps and companys that existed at the time. There were not that many supp company's back then, not like today where I've lost count and interest.

Being an endomorph, I was always looking for supps to get lean with. Dymetadrine 25 by AST Research (25 mg ephedrine/hcl) was given 4 stars by itself and combined with caffeine and Aspirin was rated 5 out of 5 stars.
By definition, it was an asthmatic medication, but sold over the counter to any who asked. And dirt cheap. 10 cents a pill and you were guranteed to feel it and have an awesome workout. Today,a good pre-workout or fat burner supps can cost up to 10x that per serving!
The benefits of ephedrine was that it was a CNS stimulant, and it helped burn the most amount of bodyfat out of any legal supplement on the market, including today.

Kevin liked the sound of this, and I reported to him my own experiences with this supp, and it was extraordinary. I gave him some of mine and by next training session he was hooked (no pun intended). He wanted some ordered for his gym.

Kevin also wanted other supps, protein powders, vitamins, ready to drink pre-workout drinks, amino acid drinks, carbs drinks, and any thing else that worked. I was getting free training and had a great friend, so I offered to order them for him.

My primary resource was once again related to Bill Phillips. He had a magazine at the time called Muscle Media. He had not yet boughten EAS and the mag was industry breaking. Bill would only take supplement company's advertisements if their products had passed an independantly done quality control test. The contents had to have at least 85% ofwhat the labels claims were.

From my memory, the following companys are on that list;
Beverely International
Ultimate Nutrition
AST Research/Labs (can't remember what came after AST)
Designer Nutrition (Dan Duchaine's company that 2st came out with whey protein, Designer Whey)
Met-Rx
and TwinLab are what I can remember out of a list of 20 or so.

The ever popular Weider line, which I first bought my jug of "Anabolic Cuts" from, was far behind the pack in quality control.
Kevin also told me not to go for a local company called NHF. He knew the owner in British Columbia and the guy mixed his tuff up in his home grage!

Whey protein was new, and damned expensive! There was only one option at the time and that was Desinger protein.
We decided to carry protein by TwinLab and Ultimate Nitrition as well. Good old milk and egg protein. Cheaper, effective and it sold well. No complaints ever from those products.

Creatine was also new, and hard to get a hold of. We never did end up carrying it.
During the latter part of the Fitness Factory's existence, Vanadyl Sulfate came out. I had no interest in something that increases insulin levels or sensitivity so I have never taken it. Many of my gym mates loved it. I read now that it is toxic and it dangerous in large quantities.
Glutamine also arrived during my stint there. I remember Rob, a soon to be part owner of the club, was chugging this stuff down like candy for weeks. He took up to 50 g a day, and glutamine was also expensive. He said it worked for recovery, but he quit the mega dosing after a few weeks as it came along with an upset stomach.
I've since tried glutamine, and must concur with Rob. It definitely works for enanced recovery. Imo, if you buy a good brand of whey with a decent glutamine or glutamic acid profile, you dont need to supplement with stand alone glutamine.

And we carred the standard Animal Pak by Universal Nutrition. Plain old vitamins and minerals. There were 11 or 12 pills to take all it once, you were full after. Strangely enough, Muscle Media never did rank Universal Nutrition very high. A solid company in my opinion.

The drinks in the fridge were Kevin's connections, no matter what I said. American Bodybuilding was the company, not much of a fan. Protein, carb, and amino drinks. Later we got some "Turbo Tea" that had ephedrine and caffeine in it already. Tasted like crap, but worked.

All it took were a few phone calls, Kevin's credit card number and we had supps. I initially odered all of them, and when Rob came into the picture, I gladly gave him the task of keeping the 'Factory fueled. After all, I wasn't getting paid.

Some other supps at the time that turned out to be complete crap are the fat burners choline and inositol. Chromium picolinate never did anything for me either. Getting a vit B12 injection was also popular, and plain stupid in my opinion. A needle!! For a vitamin!! Never!
MCT oil was and still is okay. But, after drinking it you always got a tremndous gut ache and rendered this supp not worth the effort.
Glandulars- the idea was that if you want a healthier heart, you should eat the heart of an animal in powdered form, or any other organ you want to bring up to par. Complete crap.
Plant Sterols- rumoured to have anabolic properties. The stuff in plants will cause humans to grow big muscles, another crock of chit.
Digestive Enzymes- They don't do anything unless you have issues digesting food. Not effective for burning fat what so ever, despie claims.
Colostrum- The idea was the mother's milk has a whole slew of growth factors like IGF-1, GH, and other's I can't spell. and that bodybuilders needed to drink this! No freakin' way I said, I left the teet a long time ago and I wasn't about to go back!

Let's not forget the products that had everything in them but the kitchen sink, like hot Stuff. I heard it worked, but wasn't about to spend my hard earned money buying glandulars and a heap of other things in the hope that one of them worked.
Or those damned weight gainer shakes. I never used them as being fat was my initial problem. They kept on geting bigger and BIGGER. 1,000 cals, then 2,000, then 2,500 and before you know it 5,000 cal shakes are out there! Weider's Mega Mass 5000 stands out in my mind.
And the infamous Cybergenics. The supps were complete crap, it was the training routine that came along with the supps that actually worked.
The only Gh releaser that I found to be effective is GABA. I felt it work, read about it in Phhilips' handbook, and still use it and recommend it, especially if you have trouble sleeping.
Test boosters were Yohimbe (works, is ltd., but works) and Tribulus Terrestis.


There were tons of things on the market, even more so now. And like today, most of them are snake oil and designed to get the consumer to part with their hard earned dollars.
The difference between now and then, is science. Science is used to prove a supp does or does not work, and is also used to flabbergast the audience with the research behind them (ala MuscleTech ads). There are more things that work, and there are way more companies selling them. Weider owned the field back in the day, today we don't hear much from them (there are other reaons to this, but the point is, as a supp company, they aren't one of the big ones any more, after decades of being on top).

At the time of the 'Factory, the most popular supplements are those that you went to Igor to get. I asked Kevin why once, he replied that they were guaranteed to work and in the long run, cheaper then anything we could get at a legit supplement dealer.
I am proud to say, that I was able to walk out of that era unscathed by Igor's supplements and have never done business with him or his ilk my entire life.



Out of all the quality supps we brought in, nothing took off like the Dymetadrine 25's.
At first, there was just me testing them, then Kevin, then every Tom, Dick, and Harry seemed to be taking "D 25's".
Next time, I go over the "ephedrine craze" that swept my gym.

[ArchAngel'73]

By then I had established some criteria when buying supplements, they had to work and there was no need for them to cost an arm and a leg, most important of all, they had to not be illegal. I didn't need protein (I thought anyway) I was large enough and wanted to lose bodyfat.
I also reasoned that, since ephedrine was an over the counter "drug", that it would definitley work and everything else since then had been a waste of time and money.
I bought my very first bottle the day after I bought Phillips' book.

I was nervous taking it, I had never imbibed anything stronger then Tylenol. I was expecting a serious mind altering experience here.
I downed it with a cup of coffee (my first cup of java ever!) and an Aspirin, packed my stuff and went to the bus stop for my gym trip.
I was wondering when this serious mind altering stuff was going to kick in, when the next stop a bee got on the bus along with a passenger. For some reason, I thought this bee was a serious threat, I didn't take my eyes off of him for one second. He buzzed in and out of the people, he came by me and I feverently swatted at him, only to have him buzz around some one else.

Thankfully, my stop came and the bee was till swooping all over the place. It took me a few years to realize this, but I stared at that bee for over 25 minutes while my bus traveled, didn't seem more then 5 minutes. The scary part is, I always knew where he was. Unbeknowest to me, my concentration levels had increased exponentially.
My first workout on "D 25's" was nothing special. The two most significant things I noticed was the tremendous thirst, and profuse sweating. After that workout, I would end up always wearing a hat, chewing gum, and bringing a water bottle with me when training. Even after I stopped them I did this, old habits die hard I guess.

The second day I decided that maybe I was a bigger guy and needed a stronger dose to feel them. So I took two, along with the coffee and aspirin.
I tell ya, when I was at the gym I thought my chest was going to explode. My heart was thumping so bad I could both hear and feel it, my mouth was crazy dry, and I sweat like a prostitute in church.
Mentally, everything was clear. My thinking accelerated, my senses heightened, I preceeded to tear up that gym like I never had before! But this was too much, and I decided I didn't need two tabs, one was fine.

I liked the "D 25's".
Too much.
Nobody ever told me when I bought them that they had addictive qualities. I was young and dumb and all that mattered was they worked and they were legal. I just thought they burned fat. One of the biggest mistakes of my life, being ignorant of something I was putting in my body.
Simply put, they helped me keep up with the juice monkeys in the gym. Some of which, I trained with, frequently.
It never occurred to me to "cycle" them or even to not take them, they helped, why stop? When I started to feel less of the effect, I increased the dosage, just like my gym mentors would.
It wasn't until months down the road did I decide to go a week without. The time in the gym just sucked. I was burnt out, lethargic, and didn't have the strength I used to. So i just didn't get off of them until the 'Factory closed down, years later. What can I say? Oops.
During my peak use of Dymetadrine 25, I would take 2-4 tabs for non-leg days and 4-5 for leg days. The most I ingested at once was 6 tabs, 150 mg of ephedrine. I'm lucky to be alive to tell this tale.
I didn't think my usage was so bad. My buddy, King Lau from the leg press my first day there, took 12, or 300 mg. every freakin' day he trained.

When my local supp shop had trouble getting them, off to ChinaTown I went to the Chinese herbalist. I bought 1 lb of ma huang (ephedra), took it home and made batches of this foul tasting tea, put it in 2 litre pop bottles, and stored them up.
One time, I forgot to rinse the ma huang and had dirt and sediment in the bottles. Didn't faze me none, I was hardcore at that point! Down the hatch it all went! if it didn't kill you, it made you stronger, right?

One day it dawned on me that I might be having a problem.
My leg training made me nauseated. I read if you took a tablespoon of baking soda before training, it would prevent this.
I was finishing my shift on a Friday. Off to the lunch room I go for my pre-workout regimen.
I take 1 litre of my ma huang home made tea (with sediment) and drink that. Then I chase that with 2 aspirin tabs and a pot of coffee, along with my tablespoon of baking soda. All this stuff tastes absolutely vile to me.
Off on the bus to the gym I go. But my stomach is extremely distended at this point with all that liquid, and I'm burping up dirt and ma huang and that isn't killing the grit I have in my mouth from the baking soda.
I was so full of liquid, when I walked, I sloshed.
I wondered then "what the hell am I doing to myself?".
But, I was hardcore (I am indeed being sarcastic), and I just continued that until they got my Dymetadrine 25's back.

After a few years of use and abuse, I became concerned over how I had changed. I had no patience, my sleeping patterns were horrible, and the depression was starting to kick in, real bad. I had never been depressed before this and haven't since.
I had certainly never had been suicidal or near psychotic and that's what ended up happening. I learned after in university of something called "amphetamine induced psychosis". The excess ephedrine did this to me, it was damn scary!
I quit taking it after I nearly offed myself, cold turkey. Years too late, but the lesson invaluable.

Ephedrine can now only be purchased here in 8mg tabs. I have used it (but not abused it) since those times, and not for a very long time now. It creeps me out and brings back bad memories I would rather forget. And part of me is scared to use it again. I think 8mg is manageable and safe for most people. But you are always going to get people like I was that are going to do more then they should. Its the naive and foolhardy I'm worried about.
I see many use this supplement, and many are as oblivious to its effects in higher dosages as I was years ago.
Yes, it burns fat, increases your energy, focus, and strength, and is cheap.
But, my lungs were prone to bronchitis, I was bitchy all the time, my heart raced and palipated frequently, my eye twitched, and my mind cracked. And that's just some side effects!

What bothers me the most to this day, is the part I took bringing it in and making it popular in my gym and city.
I am hoping that this snippet from my experiences with it will open up the eyes of at least one person who has gone overboard with it, and hopefully they chose to do something about it.
I'm not saying not to buy or use it, just be aware of how it and you might react.




Next time (sooner then you think), I leave this touchy subject behind and discuss Fitness Factory Gym Etiquette.

[ArchAngel'73]

Kevin didn't have any posted rules in the gym. These were things you were expected to learn, even if it was the hard way.

Competitors (bb'ing or powerlifting) in season mode trumped all other trainers. If a guy or girl was getting ready for a show and he or she needed the squat rack, then they were given the squat rack, without complaint from the affected. BB'ing competitors were easily recognizable from the tanning process starting months in advance and the gradually increasing levels of leanness. Also, watch of the impromptu gym posedowns, those gave you a good idea who was doing a show soon.

There were no cell phones then, but there were beapers and pagers. These had to remain in the locker room. Except for Moose, he seemed to have his all the time. No one ever called him on it as he was so freakin' big, including Kevin.

Put your weights away after using them!
Unless,
management or counter people weren't there to catch you.
or
Some jerk left what you actually need on the bar. Then it was acceptable to use it and blame him/her for not re-racking it in the first place.
Those caught received warnings, after three warnings they reserved the right to kick you out whenever they had had enough. It depended on the guy though. King always left his weights, but he was super nice and kinda dumb, we forgave him.
Bo, on the other hand, was a moron, left his weights on purpose, and had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He even had 2 years worth of warnings before he was tossed out.
My personal rule was I only put the weights away if I started with a free rack and wasn't going to get caught leaving them there, ha ha.

Loud noises, grunting, and screaming were all okay, as long as it was in the name of training and stopped when the weights weren't being lifted. Kevin said he had done far worse when he plated football and didn't care how loud people got, within reason of course.

Screaming in pain was not only allowed, but seemingly encouraged. We all did it, but it better not happen until the final few reps.

Strong perfume and cologne were worthy of getting you sent back home to shower, weren't even allowed to do it there. I laughed my ass off every time I saw someone getting turfed over this. Old Spice smells so nice when its poured on.
It took almost a year for Kevin to stop all the Tiger Balm usage. King started it, smelling up the place with this funky chit that he claimed eased the pan in his joints. Then all the big guys did it, the place was more like the tiger balm factory then the fitness factory. Gawd they wreaked! First came the signs, then came the verbal warnings, then they were sent home for the day. Many were pissed, I was pleased as my joints didn't ache and neither did my nostrils now.
If you stunk of body odour, you were warned, and asked to go home the next time. he he, I know this one fom experience.

We had no in gym personal trainers. If you wanted to train people there, 1st, you better be damn good, 2nd, you paid Kevin. I only ever saw four trainers there. IFBB pro Donna Logue, Rob (a co-owner), Sean (a useless protege of Rob's), and a Cybergenics handbook. Sean wouldn't dare work in the evening, as the big guys were all there. He hid himself in the morning crowd, with some of the older less experienced folks. I ended up "stealing" one of Sean's clients by offerring him to be my training partner. I thought if Sean was going to use me to teach his client how to do squats and dead lifts, then Sean wasn't worthy of his job. Sean never did complain to me,maybe because I stunk.

When two people meet, and they are each carrying weights and in each other's way-the person with the most weight automatically gets right of way.
Regardless of gender. So, if I'm racking the 100's and and some small dude is carrying 110's, I'm moving. I always liked this rule.

As Moose and I found out, we were not supossed to "abuse" the equipment. What this meant, other then standing on top of the stack on his new back machines, I never knew. People stood on top of the leg press and tossed barbells around a lot. I think he made the rule just for Moose, I, and his precious back equipment.

We were never required to actually clean the equipment after use, you did it out of fear. When some 6'5" mother f****r weighing 350 asks you why you left his bench full of sweat, you learn very fast to clean up after yourself. Although I never did this, I only needed to witness it once. That poor kid.

As large as some of these guys were, there were few cases of equipment hogging. We all paid for memberships to use the equipment, we were all there to train, and cooperated well with one another in this regard.
No one was allowed to say no if someone asked to work in, except the competitors.

"Circuit Training" was not allowed during busy times. That was not considered actually working out at the 'Factory and frowned upon by all. If we ever had problems at night with this rule, we didn't even bother Kevin about it. One of the bigger guys would just sit on one of the machines and disrupt all attempts at continuing with the circuit. We had a great deal of mischeivious fun messing with the newbs and circuit only trainers.

A newer rule for the time, no one got a free ride. Everyone paid for a membership or drop in. Not all were happy about this. The Alberta Bodybuilding Association (ABBA, yes really) bodybuilders, judges, and even an IFBB pro all expected to train at the 'Factory for free, because it was a bodybuilding gym and it was done in the past. Some even left over this, to where I have no idea because all gyms went this road.
I thought it was fair. I had read about it in books, seen people pull the "I know Kevin from ABBA" bit, and felt that getting out of their way during prep time was bonus enough for being here.

We had a few more not so common and eccentric conditions to training there, which will be covered next time.

[unimoose]

What a great couple of posts! Just fun to read and you certainly don't hold back.

[boathead]

When two people meet, and they are each carrying weights and in each other's way-the person with the most weight automatically gets right of way.

i love this rule!

very good stuff. i've enjoyed reading immensely.

[ArchAngel'73]

There weren't too many female members when I joined, a combination of the times and it being a hardcore gym. As such, we treated our gym ladies like gold. If you were visiting us and decided to hit on one of our ladies, you had no less then 3 guys come over to the pair and ask if everything was all right. That always brought that b.s to a stop.
When Kevin did more renos, we attracted all sorts of people after. The cardio bunnies, the bicep kings, and bench press addicts swarmed the place. We tolerated them and let them do their own thing, as long as they didn't get in our way (ie doing curls on a squat rack). We evaluated a person's character by what they did in the gym. The harder you trained, the more respect was given.
What one wore in the gym was also indicitive of your intenisty level. There were no clothing attire rules in the 'Factory, pretty much everything was allowed. When the Spandex came out, along with the "Hotskins", we recoiled in horror. We didn't know it then, but this ushered in a time of dressing like a tramp when one went to the gym.
If it wasn't the folds of fat being bunched up in the Spandex, it was the gawd awful colours and design styles of the "Hotskins" line. Those of us in our beloved baggies, do-rags, and construction boots just shook our heads in disbelief. Our hardcore ladies never even wore that crap.
This led to another rule, you were not allowed to wear revealing clothing uness you had something good to show (men included).
and another...
If you did wear something revealing, you were now open season to be hit on by any one who wanted. There would be no more big dudes that ensured you trained in peace.

We were all there to train, not for a fashion show.

When the Fitness and Figure competitions started, we were hypocritical and welcomed them with open arms. Tight clothes and all.*chuckle*


With a bunch of guys tipping the scale @ over 300 lbs. and oodles of test flying in the air, there were bound to be some disagreements.
If you couldn't settle this with words, there were a few acceptable options.
One was to have Kevin arbitrate. His decision was final. If he didn't like you, you were screwed no matter what.
The second, was to take your beef out the back parking lot and go mano to mano there. No cops, no rats, no traffic. Last person standing wins.
The third I loved the most and usually happened when two competitors started talking smack to one another. We cleared eveyone out of the leg room, gathered around, and the two went at it in a POSEDOWN! We yelled and cheered for our favorite and the person with the best physique that day won.
The loser was pretty much embarrassed into shutting their face until the next real comp came, and could only get in our good books with a respectable placing.

Personally, I couldn't fight, I was fat, so I kept my mouth shut. Served me well over there.

Should you ever decide to compete, the Alberta Bodybuilding Association (ABBA, really) would stop you if you didn't look like you should be onstage.
Kevin tried to talk you out of it if you looked like you couldn't place in the top 5. "What's the point of competing if its not to win? he told me.
"I have a gym reputation to uphold here. If they think I'm letting them onstage looking like a fat ass and then they're letting the audience know they train here, ain't gonna happen!"
But it was worth it to have his blessing and you representing the 'Factory.

All bodybuilders competing out of the gym were automatically sponsored! They were given free Fitness Factory track suits, supplements, tanning sessions, posing coaching from Kevin, free entrance fees and ABBA memberships, and any nutritional knowledge Kevin had. There was probably more I didn't get to learn about.
When Fitness and Figure entered the picture, same thing.

I was proud to be a member. He didn't forget who pioneered the sport and the lifestyle. It was his way of paying back the community that had literally broken their backs paving the way for the hordes to come.

In retrospect, we had quite the family, and a very dysfunctional one too.
We had to have special rules to manage the chaos, some not socially accpetable. At times, we were a law unto our own. We judged, persecuted, and charged all that passed before us in our haven of pain.

Amongst us walked criminals, police, gang leaders, pastors and priests, lazy people, driven people, young, old, skinny, fat, different races, different creeds. They were all my brothers and sisters.

But the gawds of the gym, the lords of the land, the people for whom the 'Factory was made were the competitive bodybuilders.

Join me next time when I learn just how far giving bodybuilding judges a moon shot can knock your placing down, and find out what the profession of an "attitude adjustment co-ordinator" really is. My first ever bodybuilding show (in attendance).

[unimoose]

I was wondering when the next installment would be! Great as usual Brian, looking forward to the next one.

[ColdFlex]

Great stories! Keep 'em coming.

repped

[ArchAngel'73]

While training one day, I met my first ever pre-competition bodybuilder. Kevin was giving him posing advice and checking his body fat levels. He was very young looking, I guessed I was a couple of years older then he, and I was only 21 or so. Turns out he was 33!
I'll never forget him. His name matched his boyish looks, Cory. He was about 5' 6" and tipping the scales at a very ripped 175 lbs.. I was so freaked out over his conditioning, first time I've seen someone with veins running up and down their abs and legs.
The grooves were so deep in his quads you could actually stick your fingers inside of them! -and I did!
Although smaller then some of the guys he was to go against, he had tremendous shape and symmetry.

After talking with Cory for a bit, I also discovered he was married, had a baby, and worked as an exotic male dancer (a profession I would later find to be the most common amongst the competitors that year). I could swear the kid was 19 he looked so young.

This broke the ice for Kevin to invite me to my first ever bodybuilding show, the Northern Alberta's (Northerns for short over here). Kevin was giving back to the community, and was judging the show as well as sponsoring it. The Fitness Factory only had one athlete there that year, Cory.
Tickets were cheap back then, even my poor ass could cover $15 for the pre-judging and $20 for the evening show. Damn straight I was going!

I didn't even know what to wear? Is this a formal thing? If not, can I wear baggies (lol)? Shorts? Turns out, it never matters what you wear to a bodybuilding show. Baggies, slut clothes, "make me look hyooge clothes", dress ones, didn't matter. You had to have the bod to back up on how you dressed. Back then though, we tended to treat this like a celebrity event. I wore formal attire and didn't feel out of place, as many others felt the same way.
And we took a little bit of pride representing our "sport". We had a bad enough rep anyway, why contribute to it?
-today's audience is a little less refined

The Northerns were being held at the University of Alberta (U of A for short). I remember walking from the bus stop, a few tanned males were walking into the Student Union Building, and the U of A students were staring, wondering what the hell was going down with all these dark faces.
I just followed them and got to where I needed to go. I already knew why they were so dark, the lights on stage washed out a lot of cuts and definition if you were pale.

A few words about the audience before I continue. I noticed after a few years of attending these shows, that the spectators can be divided into some common sub-groups. There are, of course, the family members and friends of the competitor, of which the majority of the audience is made up with.
Then we have the guys and gals who are interested in competing but want to check it out first hand for themselves. I thought of this as strategic planning, since I was one of them. A good idea to see what goes on, what you need to look like, and who you need to keep an eye on.
Another sub-group is the people who attend every bodybuilding event in existance. I met a few at my first show that I would see every show after I went to. One that stands out in my mind is a wheelchair athlete based out of Edmonton. I've seen him at every show I've been to here, seen pics of him in Musclemag International, and Muscular Development. I liked these guys automatically, as they loved bodybuilding so much.
Which leads us to the pervos and predators. Gay, straight, male, female, didn't matter, they were always there. These are the folks who would scope out the competitors and "offer" them help as financial backing for their shows in exchange for sexually oriented favours. When Kevin started promoting shows, these people became blacklisted and were not allowed to attend. He went off of personal experience and what the athletes were reporting to him.
In my opinion, a damn fine move on his part.

The judging.
Have you ever wondered just what the heck they are looking for up there? Me too!
So I asked a judge, Kevin.
1st and foremost is shape, comonly referred to now a days as having an X frame. Wide shoulders, small waist, flaring quad sweep.
2nd was defintion and conditioning. Rich Gaspari had raised the bar with having striated glutes and hamstrings, and that's a hallmark of being lean enough to win shows (back then anyways).
3rd, muscularity. Just how much muscle did this guy or gal manage to get on their frame.
4th and 5th was proportion and symmetry. Did the legs match his upper body, was any side bigger then the other, did the physique flow well when presented?
6th was posing. Proper display of physique was essential for the judges to be able to actually judge the physique. Posing that brought the crowd into play or made them happy could be the difference between a tight run for placings.
The posedwon was done after the scores were tabulated and didn't count. Only for the fans.


Let's get to the show itself.
Very well run, un-entertaining MC, huge classes, no guest poser. This was quite a long time ago and I can't remember all of the details, but I do recollect some highlites.
Cory was a middleweight and placed second in his first show. He had the guy on everything except muscle mass. This turned out to be Cory's last show. He needed to make a choice, bodybuilding or to continue with his career. Getting bigger would have taken away a lot of business from him and kept food out of the mouth of his family, so stripping it would be for him.

All athletes were introduced with their name, place of training, years of training, and profession. Cory was straight up with his, "exotic dancer". One of the light heavies had sense of humour and listed himself as an "attitude adjustment co-ordinator". He worked at a local night club as a bouncer. LOL

Then came the heavies, and the man who should have won the show. He was also an exotic dancer, cut to shreds, and very muscular. His problem was that he knew he was going to win and gave off a tremendous amount of attitude, not confidence, attitude!
During his posing routine, he turned around, hiked up his trunks letting his glutes show, and bent over! Yes, his glutes were shredded, but that pose was illegal, he knew it, and it would cost him dearly. He was a shoe in for 1st place in the overall but made 4th out of 5 guys in his class.
Never do a moon shot in a bodybuilding show.

He came back next year, won the overall, took it to the Provincials and placed 3rd in his class. No moon shots, no more attitude.


Pre-judging is long. Depending on how large the classes were, it could take anywhere from 4-8 hrs once it starts.
One thing that I fould straining was when an athlete competed in more then one class (1 person could do the Master's, the couples, and the regular event, or the novice, couples, and regular event, or their age group and the regular event) and they would use the same posing routine. Made me feel like yelling at them. Boring!
Although the longest part, pre-judging decided who was winning that day. The night show is primarily for the audience and for the judges to take a second look at their decision.

The evening show was smooth and flawless, except for the moon shot. I was amazed at these guys and still am. Shrunken in faces, saran wrapped skin, tanning dye, veins and straition on top of muscle size that you didn't think was possible, routines that got the crowd amped, I was hooked!
The judging team did stop one lady from competing and the audience never saw her, neither did I. Kevin just told me she needed another 3 months of dieting to even think of placing.
Lesson learned, do not confuse going to the gym with actual bodybuilding.

Regardless of placings, everyone was a winner in the eyes of the fans. They had the courage to diet for months on end, train and do cardio, and then expose themselves for the world to see, all in skimpy underwear nonetheless.

I was my first show and an eye opener. I was no where near big enough to run with these boys but now knew what it might take to get there. I wasn't willing to pay that price, but from here on in I trained like a mad man.
Getting lean never occurred to me. Some of these guys were over 70 lbs in their off season weight compared to competition weight. Oops on my part, again.
I've been to better shows since, but that one reserves a special place as it was my first. There were no Fitness/Figure Divisions back then (I like F/F but they made the shows 3-5 hrs longer), everyone stayed until the end out of respect, and I've never seen any one do a moon pose and get slammed by the judges like that since. A different time, but not the best of them.

Later on Kevin became the promotor of all ABBA events. Those competitons were the most memorable. All of a sudden we were introduced to guest posers, entertaining MC's who made the evening, and one was guaranteed to be entertained when attending.
Coming up next, I take my lessons learned and start "conquering" machines and kicking ass in the 'Factory.

[ArchAngel'73]

Training, my first love.
Sweat soaked, grunting, pain so prevalent its about to burst through your temples training.
Kevin showed me the light, introduced me to all the weight equipment, and divulged some secrets of seeking pain in the gym. Joe Weider had a great intro book for bodybuilders, came complete with anatomy charts and exercise plans, rep and sets schemes, and of course, his "Weider Principles". Bash "Uncle Joe" all you want, that man is the secondmost influential man for me in bodybuilding.

I had been at the 'Factory for almost 2 years, and I was just beggining to fit in with the big boys. I had a reputation for training with Kevin (and lasting through it!) that opened them up to me. I had socialized with him and his friends, and they later on became my friends as well. But first, I had to prove my worth.
It started with squats. If training was my first love, squats broke my cherry. My legs were always strong, able to lift the entire 1000 lb + stack on the old Nautilus leg press my first foray into the high school gym.
Donna showed me how to wrap my knees and use a belt, she also made sure my form was good enough to meet a powerlifting judge's approval.
And I squatted...
135, then 225, then 315, and at last 405 for reps.
My peak came one day, it was to be my first time squatting 495! I pyramided up to 405, and said its time for the jump. I loaded that plate like it was the final nail in the coffin.
The first six were better then sex! (I was a virgin at the time, LOL)
Another set! My mind screamed more!

Then I got a funny feeling. I haden't set the safety pins in the squat rack (that was for wussies, LOL) the last set. I don't know why, but I decided to this time. Saved my life.
I'm cranking out reps with 495 on my back, alone in the gym, Kevin's out of sight at the front desk. I get to the bottom of the sixth rep and my back caves forward!
Sun of a bish I'm going to die!
My waist bends forward, my back plummetting to meet Mother Earth with almost 500 lbs there. Then I hit those blessed safety pins, and the whole gym was filled with the "Crash". I'm on my knees, the bar on the now bent safety pins about an inch off my shoulders. The gods smiled upon me that day.
Kevin comes charging out of the front and is yelling "What the hell happened?"
He sees me, the 495 on the bar, the bent pins, and asks me if I'm okay.

I'll never forget my response. Wide eyed from shock, I just looked at him and yelled back "That was fuggin' cool!!! I just did 495 for reps!"
"But you almost wrecked my squat cage!"
"Its just the pins, I just got 495 for reps!"
"Look at the bar, its bent too! Useless!"
We had a stupid sign in the gym, "If the bar ain't bendin', you're just pretendin'." I pointed to that and grinned.

Throw that 495 squat in the mix of the leg press/hack squat/ leg extession tri set, along with some SLDL and ham curls superset and you have the makings to get some pretty freakin' big legs. And that's just what I did.

Why legs?
They are hands down the most difficult body part to train. Once you've mastered that, nothing can stop you. The mental fortitude required to blast through some intense leg days is what seperates the wheat from the chafe. (now, I believe diet does that too).

I loved it! I would come up with the craziest chit to do for leg day.

20 sets of 20 rep squats, took me 2 hrs to do. Fridays I worked during the day and trained at night. That night everyone must have been out partying, the leg pit was absolutely empty.
Perfect, I set up the rack and brought the garbage can over ( a valuable lesson learned from Kevin. You don't want to be running around looking for your puke bucket on leg day)
I did a couple with 135 to warm up, my work sets (all 18 of 'em) would be with 225. I don't remember details, but I do recall a fitness hottie coming into the leg pit while I was moaning and cursing on the floor and she promptly left.

I do however, recall the days of ensuing pain.
Saturday, the next day, I had to work. My legs were not sore, they were numb, just like I had finished that workout. On my trips to the counter to help customers, my quads would often buckle. I got some funny looks that day, but I was used to it by then.
Sunday I woke up, and TRIED to get out of bed. Impossible! I rolled to my gym bag and downed 4 Aspirin. 30 min later I could hobble around.
Thank God I didn't work Monday as I couldn't move.
By Tuesday I was able to "walk" myself to the doughnut shop and ate a dozen right there, reading MuscleMag International. I had read that Stony Grimes (former amateur bodybuilder) cheated on his diet by eating doughnuts, I thought that would make me feel better.
When you're not used to eating crap, you get diarehea from eating junk. Not exactly what I needed with my legs in that shape.
By Wednesday I could walk with a limp. My training split called me train legs that day, so I did. (in retrospect, that was freakin' dumb!, LOL)
All in all, I loved it! Within a month I did a repeat performance, without the doughnuts, with 315 lbs..

One day, Ken H., the former owner of the gym, tried to tell me how to do standing calf raises. Everyone thought Kennie was a gawd, being the former owner and all.
Everyone except me. I had an axe to grind with this S.O.B, he took my money and then closed the place down. I had absolutely no respect for ANYONE who tried to scew me over.
And here little Kennie was, trying to teach ME how to do calf raises.
I was wearing Gator Gym baggies, he had shorts on. He proceed to do his little calf raises, all the while explaining to me how to contract them, point the toes in different directions, and get a full contraction.

I played along like a nice dumb newb "You mean like this, Sir?
(mentally, I replace the "S" with a "C", and pronounce it "Cur", for that is what he was, a filthy dog)
and did them his way.
"Yes, yes! Now you have it!"-he excitedely responded.

I got off the calf machine, I looked him up and down, and stared at his pathetic calves.
"I disagree. You look like **** for someone who has been "training" for decades. These..." I rolled up my baggies
"are calves. Many are better, but mine a bigger and better than your's ever will be." They were 17.5", and thank-goodness I had done my cardio because they weren't fat.
"This" I stated "is how you train calves."
I took the pin out of the 200 lb mark and put it to the stack, 500 bills. I repped that fawker out for 30 some odd reps.
I got off the machine and Kevin was there, wondering what was going down.
"Kennie here..." ( I called him Kennie 'cuz he hated it) "is trying to teach me how to train calves" and I pointed at his 13 inchers.
Kevin laughed and walked away.

Other then saying "hello" to Ken at the gym, I never bothered to speak with him again.
Some might call this arrogance, even I admit it was one of the brashest things I've ever done. But I formed a strong opinion that day, if you're going to dole out advice, you better know what the heck you are talking about and able to show some evidence that it actually works.

I was barely over 20 years of age, training for almost 5, 2 at the 'Factory. I may have needed to lose some fat, but I could train and hang with the best that that gym had to offer.
I later learned that the only thing that seperated me from them, was intensity. Some relied on "Igor's supplements" to get them through, some were just lazy, other's didn't know what they wanted nor what they were doing.
I was "lucky". I had been shown the right way to train, I had been shown what busting your balls really meant, and I had been taught the value that hard work gets you results. (if only someone had shown me how to diet properly back then it would be a different story)

I was hungry. (not talking about food here either!)
I had finally found something I excelled in and I wasn't about to hold anything back.

While I'm on a good memory streak...
Around this time I decided to repay Kevin for the meals he had boughten us both, and took him and his girlfriend, Jodie, out for dinner at some Italian place. Jodie was hawt! Being shy, it took me a while to actually talk with her, but when I did I came up with some juicy stuff!
When he was competing, Kevin had no qualms about stripping! He drew the line when a group of men asked him, but my best friend at the time was a former stripper!
His response was "It paid the bills."

Later that night we dropped Jodie off and he and I went to a club, dressed in suites. He had to judge an event there. A wet t-shirt contest and as a judge he had a $100 bar tab.
He told me to have fun while he judged the "ladies".
I sure did!
When he came back I was drunk out of my mind and there was $20 left on that tab.
"What am I going to tell your parents!?" he exlcaimed. (he was like my older brother)
I was too sloshed to care.

Hung over, stinking like garlic cloves from the Italian place, and looking like crap saw me getting chastised from my co-workers all day.
Up until that point I had never missed a day of training since joining, that day I simply had to go home and go to bed.
Never again have I done that. That was like cutting Samson's hair in the Bible.

Thank-you for reading and letting me get this off my chest.
Next time, I get off my high training horse and write a little about my former training partner and the only friend I have left around from the Fitness Factory days, Al.
You don't want to miss this one, he was 60'ish back then and able to keep pace with me in the gym. (and @ 73 yrs of age now is entering his 1st show this October!)

[Stenn]

"That was fuggin' cool!!! I just did 495 for reps!"
"But you almost wrecked my squat cage!"
"Its just the pins, I just got 495 for reps!"
"Look at the bar, its bent too! Useless!"
We had a stupid sign in the gym, "If the bar ain't bendin', you're just pretendin'." I pointed to that and grinned.

Priceless...

[reamade]

Great stuff!!

http://reamade.wordpress.com/

[Tifflex]

Excellent as usual Brian. I really enjoy your memories.

[BlondeAmazon]

i lovelove love this thread

[FitIron]

Rockin thread B, keep them coming...

[Hound53]

love these stories

[freebirdmac]

You truly are a fiend!!!

[Bo_Flecks]

Bo, on the other hand, was a moron, left his weights on purpose, and had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He even had 2 years worth of warnings before he was tossed out.

I never really met a guy named Bo that I liked...

[ArchAngel'73]

I never really met a guy named Bo that I liked...

When I first saw your username, I almost crapped ma pants thinking Bo had decided to join us.
I'm glad you're not him! By my calculations he should have been dead 3 years ago. LOL

Thank you all, again!
Another installment coming up.