Tales from the Fitness Factory

[ArchAngel'73]

Before I move on to Al, I want to write about a little crazy tradition I developed at the 'Factory.
By the age of 24 I could squat 4 plates, or 405 lbs, for reps. My birthday was going to be coming up and I decided that squatting would make me ageless. If I could squat 4 plates, father time had not affected me that year. So, it became tradition for me to train legs every birthday, starting of with the grand daddy of all exercises, the back barbell squat.

I managed to get three of these tradition squat sessions in at the 'Factory, and have not missed a year or the 405 in 11 years. Damn good call for a youngin', I must say!
One year, my friends from a different province were in to visit me. I made them go to the gym with me so I could train legs before I agreed to do anything else that day.

Since today, July 13th is my birthday, it took me back those years ago, once again, and thought I'd update this thread.

Back to how I met Al.


At first, Al was just another older guy in the gym to me. He had Rob as his trainer.
Rob was the new co-owner of the 'Factory and did personal training on the side. I respected Rob a great deal as he wasn't your average gym monkey with no aspirations in life other than to get huge. He knew his chit in the gym and I coudn't fault anyone using him as a trainer, and trainers were frowned on in those days.

Day after day, week after week, I saw Al and Rob doing their thing. Not one of them missed a session and I could tell that Al was just soaking all this info up.
Al and I trained around the same time, and one day I noticed that Rob was pointing me out to Al as I did squats. I was trying to mind my own business but there was something about 2 people chatting away about me in the corner that got me wondering just what the heck I did to be so deserving of this special treatment.
In the locker room, I asked him. He laughed and told me Rob had said that that was the perfect way to do squats and that Al should watch me so he could learn the technique.

Okay then.

A few months roll by and Rob is now no longer able to train Al due to personal reasons. Rob has this former client/friend named Sean. Sean is 6' freakin' 5" tall and plays basketball for a local college. Has no idea what he's doing in the gym, that's probably why he hired Rob in the first place.
Rob pawns Sean on to Al, and Al hires Sean thinking Sean knows what he's doing.
I watch on as this turns sour.
Sean is late for appointments or even misses them completely, Al is aways on time. Sean gets Al to run stairs when Al wants to be a bodybuilder. Sean gets Al to train with circuits when free weights are required.

One day, after Sean didn't make it to yet another appointment I made Al a deal that I would never regret.

"You're trainer sucks. He doesn't know anything and he's never here. You're paying him for this?"
"Yes, $20 an hour. He doesn't charge for missed sessions though."
"But you miss out when he doesn't show."
"Yes. (he was always to the point)"

"Well, I have an offer for you. You train with me, same time, same place as now. In return, you drive me to school (going to university back then) after we're done. You'll have input as to what we do, but we do things my way."
"Good show!"

And so, it was on!
I had a training partner, and a ride to school. All I had to do was show him some stuff that I've learned from the mags and Kevin and he was in business. But I got a little more then I bargained for.

Ya see, Al looked around 40-45.
During those post workout trips to school I learned a lot about him as a man. He was married for decades, had two amazing children, a stellar member of the community, and a hang up on details.
And one day he dropped the bomb, my training partner and now friend, was actually 61!

I said to myslef "Holy chit, you're training a geezer."
But then the old bugger was able to keep up with me in the gym, and then some!

I was big into compound sets, super sets, and giant sets at the time. My methodolgy for training was to seek out the most excruciating pain in the least amount of time (thanks Kevin!). Al kept with me every step of the way.

He hemmed and hawed that he must be holding me back because of the differences in the weights used. But that didn't matter. He knew exactly when to spot, how to do it, and when to yell at me to crank out more. He also started getting on my case about my diet, the nerve! LOL

I distinctly remember one day running through a giant set for biceps. Preacher EZ curls first, DB curls next, and seated concentration cable curls last. By the last exercise, Al had 15 more lbs on the stack then I and got the same reps. I knew this old bugger had some suprises left up his sleeve yet. And he had 30+ years on me!

I had my sweet revenge one day when the old guy thought he would keep up with me on squats. After the 5th set he went running to the bathroom and spewed his cookies.
The second time I made Al puke was just a few years ago at a different gym. We had just done legs, of course, he was doing seated calf raises of all things. And then it hit, and off my bud goes to the change room to find a garbage can.
I literally laughed my a$$ off the entire trip home. I didn't care he was 70, he knew the value of ball bustin' work!

Al and I trained together off and on for the rest of the existance of The Fitness Factory. Holidays and summer were a bit off for us, but school time was amazing.
When my addiction to ephedrine raised its ugly head, he was one of the few that understood and supported me. He would always check to see if I had taken anything, if I did how much, and then give me the "talk" that I didn't need that stuff.

One of the most ironic occurances was when Al was sold some Clenbuterol. He didn't know what it really was (an illegal fat burner) and here he was offering me Clen as he was told it was safer than ephedrine.
Al was highly against any kind of illegal performance enhancer, and here he was, in his 60's, buying up Clen.
I was more than happy to return the favour and clue him in as to what he was taking. We still laugh about it to this day. I just could not envision him doing well in prison.

My days training with Al at the 'Factory were both the best of times, and the worst of times. The worst as the effies had firm control of my mood and I was often an a$$ (now its all natural, lol).
The best as Al saw through most of it and we made some fantastic progress in the gym.
I taught him some stuff about lifting, and the importance of eating enough. And he demonstrated how real men bare responsibility and look after their family.

We've remained friends for over 13 years now. Through thick and thin. I could not have asked to have met a finer person.

When I joined this forum, I found a guy that I thought could actually help Al and I realize our dreams of competing in a bodybuilding event. Al and I were always leary of competing as we both knew what it would require of us to compete, and that was not the road we were willing to travel.
But then, on here, I discovered that Natural Bodybuilding Competitons do actually exist. And that there are people around to help you get there.
I went searching for one, one that would help get my friend and I on stage and keep him healthy.

And then Al and talked about it, and we hired him to get the job done.

As we were taking pics for our coach a few nights ago, I discussed this thread to Al, and told him what I had planned. He agreed with it, and I will be sending him the link to this post.

This, is my friend Al.
He is 73 years of age, and clinging to 7% bodyfat in these pics, with the help of our coach.


http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d_73/029-1.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d_73/010-2.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d_73/006-4.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...d_73/004-4.jpg

I will be more then happy to pass on any comments and questions to him, perhaps he might even sign up here to answer them for himself but I'm not making any promises. Have you seen some the stuff that goes on on bb.com? Would you want to invite your respected friend to a place with the misc. section? I thought not.

Al, my brother, you are a true example that age does not mean a bloody thing!

[NotTooLate]

I'm trying to catch up with your story Brian. I've finished page 1 and have to get some sleep. Will read page 2 next time. I got a real kick out of your description of the empty hand side DB raises lol and your happiness over puking lol Do you recommend doing those negative bench presses to increase on the weight? You mentioned that it screwed up your elbows. I would like to try it if you think it works.

[jtroster]

Happy Birthday!

[Hound53]

seventy f'ing three! As always a good post fiend and wish this damn board was not so stingy about passing out rep points, Iguees I will just have owe you another one. By the way tell your friend the pics just assured this youngin of 55 that he should be able to keep on training for another 20 years.

[Stenn]

I will be more then happy to pass on any comments and questions to him

You must have messed up your post. I don't see a 73 year old guy in any of those pictures.

[Burlington]

This thread is great!

Your friend is phenomenal!

[ArchAngel'73]

I'm trying to catch up with your story Brian. I've finished page 1 and have to get some sleep. Will read page 2 next time. I got a real kick out of your description of the empty hand side DB raises lol and your happiness over puking lol Do you recommend doing those negative bench presses to increase on the weight? You mentioned that it screwed up your elbows. I would like to try it if you think it works.

It sure worked, but as the misc saying goes, "at what cost?" I screwed up my elbow for a long time. I do not recommend these, I older and wiser.

Happy Birthday!

I'm late, but thank-you.

seventy f'ing three! As always a good post fiend and wish this damn board was not so stingy about passing out rep points, Iguees I will just have owe you another one. By the way tell your friend the pics just assured this youngin of 55 that he should be able to keep on training for another 20 years.

I did Hound! He's more than happy to inspire people to train at any age.
He sure has inspired me, age is no excuse.

You must have messed up your post. I don't see a 73 year old guy in any of those pictures.

Thank-you good sir.

This thread is great!

Your friend is phenomenal!

I was sure to tell him.




I did pass on everyone's comments to Al, thank-you. He really aprreciated it.

If all goes well, I should have another installment in here very soon.

[GuyJin]

Just clicked on this thread and your friend is just amazing! He doesn't have the body of a 73-year old--he looks like he has the body of a 50-year old or less...and this dude is IN SHAPE! You're very lucky you found someone who could inspire you so AND serve as an inspiration to all of us.

[ArchAngel'73]

Kevin was a popular guy. He owned a business, dressed well, good looking, and drove one of them reliable Honda's when they were not so popular. Although he knew a lot of people, he knew which were his friends and which were his acquaintances.
Behind every great man is a great woman, so the saying goes. Not so in Kevin's case when I met him. It should have been changed to "is a great looking woman." His girlfriend, Jody, was just gorgeous. I could barely speak to her at first I was so tongue tied.
Jody was a model (of course) and taught aerobics. She later started taking real estate classes but I never knew what became of that.
She was also my first exposure to a gold digging psycho beeotch.

She conducted herself superficially well, until you were around her long enough to witness a tantrum.
One day I was training legs. Kevin had a small pad up the stairs where he could crash and Jody was over that morning with him. They started fighting. All of a sudden there's freakin' filing cabinet drawers being flung down the stairs and smashing into the walls, swearing like I've never heard before, all eminating from her. 10 minutes of this and then she walks down the stairs and says good morning to me as if nothing happened, right over the papers from the filing cabinet drawers.
Kevin follows her with a big welt down his throat. She tried to scratch him after he wouldn't pay her Mastercard bill and told her she needed to be more responsible with money.
"High maintainance" I believe the term is called today.

Jody had her good points too. One thing I admired about the two of them is that they worked out together. Not all the time, but when they did, it was very cool to watch. She matched his intensity even though she couldn't his weights. I respected that about her.
She also took the time to teach me some stretching exercises to do the splits. I had this stupid idea in my head that I was going to compete, and wow the judges with a split in the posing routine. Although the stretching was good, I never did get to do a full split.

Both Jody and Kevin did a photoshoot together for a magazine at the 'Factory one day. I had a chance to witness this hell. It was a back exercise photo shoot.
1st was bent over barbell rows. That 1 exercise took over an hour to shoot. The both of them were asked to hold the reps for an ungodly time while the photogs did their work. Imagine the pain of holding a 225 lb barbell mid-rep, while some guy snaps pics for over 60 seconds.
The 2nd was seated cable rows. This took less time, 45 minutes, but the same thing, hold the reps, hold the contraction, tighten everything, and smile.
During this time I trained chest and tri's, did 30 min on the bike, and left.
They weren't done yet, and I wanted no part of any photoshoot and developed a high respect of those athletes in the mags that did them.

Of infinitely higher character was Kevin's best friend since elementary school, Dave.
Dave broke the mold on stereotyping bodybuilders.
He was one the few there with a university degree (B.Sc), a fantastic career (Air Traffic Controller), and a level head on his shoulders. Bodybuilding wise, he didn't look like much with his clothes on. When he decided to do the Northerns, he shocked the whole damn province.
Dave could out train any one of us there, tougher to train with than Kevin. When we did legs, it wasn't enough for him to do tri and giant sets, we had to do drop sets within those too. The leg press went from 8 plates per side down to none, and always ended up with his training partners on the floor moaning in pain.
I was no exception. On one level, I really hated Dave.
No matter how hard I tried, I could never match this guy's intensity. and he never made a sound when he trained, not a grunt, a fart, nor a scream.

Imo, Dave should have had full ownership of that gym, might still be around today. But then again, he was too smart to own a gym. I did find out later he was a silent partner with about 40% of the ownership there.
Dave spotted me the first and only time I've ever done a 315 lb bench. 1 rep, over 10 years ago, never forget it.
This guy was also ahead of his time with eating. While we were getting Roast Beef sandwiches from Arby's for protein, there was Dave, eating his chicken breast and broccoli, every damn day.
I went clubbing with Kevin and Jody one night, we saw Dave @ the bar. He was smoking a cigarette.
I nearly died.
I asked him about this, he responded "Only when I'm drinking". I wasn't gonna agrue with a man who could do my laundry on his abdominals.
I never did see him with another cigarette.

"Big" Eugene
A real ugly motherphucker, burn marks from a house fire in his youth covering 40% of his body. This man just looked scary.
But he was a friend of both Kev and Dave.
Married, kids, good job, worked his a$$ off in and out of the gym.
Although Eugene's scars didn't cover his whole face, they covered just enough to make him mean looking. One of his facial nerves was also damaged and gave him a permament snear.
I didn't think much of Eugene at first. Then he came in with his wife and kids and it became apparant that this was good family man.
I watched him train with Dave and Kevin, legs. I almost barfed.

After the session Eugene hauled Dave into the posing area and told Kevin to watch, as his legs weren't qualified to go up against Dave's and Eugene's. I never Lol'd so much in my entire life.
Off went the shorts for both of them and each started posing in their undies.
I started feeling odd watching 2 men try to out flex one another in their gitch.
But then a crowd gathered and I figured at least I wasn't the only one.

Dave was lean, but Eugene was leaner and BIGGER. The bloody veins coming off his legs were SICK! They started with the standard quad shots, showed some side hams and calves
Then Dave pulled out the big guns, he lifted the shirt for the ab/thigh.
To his credit, Eugene tried, but 1/2 his abs were scar tissue, lean yes, but this couldn't save him.
Dave flexed the intercostals and then the whole package as the crowd clapped and approved that he had indeed one this impromptu posedown.
In bodybuilding, the beauty can beat the beast.

I don't know how Kevin met this next guy, nor why he was Kevin's friend, but it was what it was.
My first exposure to Norm was when Kevin put some pics on the gym wall of fame, one of them was Norm's. He was over 40 and had some killer guns (arms).

My second exposure to Norm was watching him spray OVEN CLEANER on every piece of gym equipment before, during, and after he was using it. Some times he would even stop in the middle of a set, clean away, and then continue. He even did this to ALL the cardio equipment, even if he wasn't using them.
My 1st tip that all wasn't right in Norm's world.

One day I came to the gym, Kevin was there, said he just got back from Norm's and was shocked.
It was April 20.
Norm was throwing a birthday party. Balloons were out, cake was there, music was playing, and here Norm was having this party all alone.
"Who's the party for Norm?"
"Hitler."

The music was from the Hitler Jugend (Youth) and good ol' Norm had Adolf's pic hanging in his living room.
The phuckin' nut jobs i met there....

Norm was a city bus driver. I took the bus. I got on Norm's bus one day, he said hello, treated me fine. I proceeded to watch him as I lived in a very ethnic neighbourhood. Sure enough, a white person got on and all was fine, then another ethnicity got on the bus, and he was rude or pretended not to hear them.
Even though he was Kevin's friend, I wanted nothing to do with him.
I nicknamed him "Nazi Norm".
1 of 2 nazi's I met there. Why me God?


Shelli and Calvin were married, religious, and were far removed from bodybuilding. They worked out for health purposes only, and were Kevin's "non-bodybuilding" friends. Everyone needs some.
I got along great with these people. Calvin's back was screwed up and he wore a brace, I frequently spotted him when he worked out alone. More often than not, both he and Shelli worked out together.
Calvin made leather wrist straps, he made me a pair for my spotting efforts. The best pair of straps I've ever owned, they didn't break until 8 years after he gave them to me.
Al still has his.
Shelli had a kick ass job as a flight attendant. I remember her telling me they flew out to Hong Kong for dinner and the flight only cost them $22.00.

Calvin and Shelli reminded us to keep a level head just by being around. Keep perspective, bodybuilding is not the only facet of life. By all means train, but also develop your soul and mind in the process.

I don't know if I was part of the "inner circle". I did get to find out a whole lot of stuff from Kevin, probably because I listened and didn't want anything from him but to learn bodybuilding. I sure didn't feel like it back then, more like the pest who won't go away.
But I did hang around all of these folks (except for Norm), and not only learned a lot about training, but of life.



Next time, I'll skip the people and jump into what I learned from them about training and increasing its intensity.
Thanks for reading folks!

[Tifflex]

Another great one Brian! Thanks.

[Stenn]

Thanks for reading folks!

Thanks for writing, man. I enjoyed it.

[ironwill2008]

I finally got caught-up on this thread, Brian; great stuff!

[ArchAngel'73]

The type of people that were members of the 'Factory were the basis of my intensity. The majority displayed an extreme passion for their endeavours, whether it be powerlifting, bodybuilding, or training for a sport. We all fed off one another's energy.
Despite the weirdos I can't remember a single slack ass from that gym.
When you train around people like that it tends to inspire you and make you work harder so you aren't the only lazy s.o.b in the gym.
#1 lesson I learned about intensity, give careful consideration to where you train. Training around like minded individuals can help take your training to the next level.

Before I set foot in the gym I made sure I was prepared for my session. I had all my gym gear and a clear plan of what was going on that day. It helps when you're in the middle of a workout and you don't have to think what you're going to do next.

I can't stress the importance of music enough. When the lactic acid burn is too much, when your temples are pounding and feeling like your head is going to explode, there's always that song that jacks your adrenaline and your good to go for at least 3 more reps.
Speaking of adrenaline...this is a hormone you want to release during training. Its release can be facilitated by caffeine and some damn good mental preperation using visualization and digging deep into your cro-magnon roots and declaring the iron as your sworn enemy.

Seek the pain, don't avoid it.
Mediocrity avoids pan, champions pursue it.



Up until training with Kevin I had only read about super sets/giant sets/compound sets, after I lived and loved them.
The most amount of pain in the least amount of time.

My favorite leg sessions went something like this...

5 sets of BB Squats

3 sets of Leg Press giant setted with
Hack Squats and
Leg Extensions

3 sets of Lying hamstring curls supersetted with
Still Leg Deadlifts
-after I got control of my breakfast we did calves

3 sets of Standing Calf Raises supersetted with
Leg Press Calf Raises


For biceps we mixed "21's" and "pairs" on Db curls.
7 reps @ the bottom, 7 reps @ the top, 7 full range of motion reps and then pass it off to your buddy. When he's done, repeat.
I just hated these, imo, pain like that should only come from leg day.


Triceps were straight up forced reps beyond failure, Kevin liked cable pushdowns.-especially after I let him drop an EZ curl bar on his head doing skull crushers.
As a spotter, I would start by pushing down the weight using 5-10 lbs of pressure while the trainer repped out until I was doing 50% of the work.
I fondly remember cursing him on these.

Delts. Gawd damn I hated training them with him.
1st trick was a giant set combo

seated Side DB Raise followed by
seated Front DB Raise followed by
seated Rear DB Raise
-all with forced reps, spotted underneath the elbow. If you didn't spot him right you got in chit.

2nd trick.
"Rack Running"
Start with the heaviest DB you can for Side Raises for 6 reps.
IMMEDIATELY after, rack it and grab the next DB that's 5 lbs less.
Repeat until you reach the lowest DB's, and THEN, do them empty handed to failure.
If anyone's curling in front of your rack, they will move, trust me. only a fool stands in the way of that insanity.


Chest
My bench was always weaksauce, and a good thing for me 'cuz Kevin didn't do bench. That was for powerlifters and footballs players according to him.

Again, the damn tri-sets.
Started with 3 sets of incline Bench Press (which I was grateful for as my shoulder didn't hurt for these) giant setted with
incline Flyes and topped off with
the Pec Dek
-all were forced reps too, except for the Pec Dek where the spotter would have had his face smushed due to the design back then.


Traps
Besides squats, one of my strongest exercises.
Straight sets to failure, usually including no less than 500 lbs on the bar.
His record was a fully loaded Olympic bar with 45's, apparrently there's over 700 lbs on there when its done. and it can bend the bar.


We came up with some crazy ideas on the side too.
Kevin had this thing for conditioning weight training as he came closer to a show.
The bugger lined me up one day and said we were doing "breathers", squats and DB pullovers supersetted together, 20 reps a set.
For 10 sets!

Lungs burned like fire, along with my legs and upper body, that was phucked up.

One night I decided we were doing 20 sets of squats, his legs sucked.
We got through it all right, it was the next 5 days of DOMS that killed me. The first 2 days were numbness, I knew I was in for it.
I required Aspirin to get out of bed, and donuts for the pain.

2 weeks out from the Provincials and his business partner has a brand new half ton truck.
Kevin decides to hook it up to a harness and pull it in the back while in neutral.
I clapped.

Another conditioning session for him was "100's"
Straight up light weight sets of 100 reps.
Sounds easy until about rep 60, then things get real ugly fast.
Done on the leg press, you must force your mind out of your body and go some place pleasant because it is hell if you stay.


Thank-you for your time.

[ArchAngel'73]

Another great one Brian! Thanks.

Thanks for writing, man. I enjoyed it.

I finally got caught-up on this thread, Brian; great stuff!

My pleasure.

[Baldiewonkanobi]

No one loves a great Bodybuilding more than old Baldie.

Pics of the old 73 cogger were removed?

But him back in the next chapter.

[Baldiewonkanobi]

Bodybuilding STORY is what I ment to type.....

[ironwill2008]

Keep 'em coming, Brian.

[Do_Somethin]

I've been reading this thread for over an hour. You could make a pdf of these stories and it'd be great. Books of this nature would be engaging as this thread was/is.
I wonder what happened to some of these people? I wonder where they are now?
Good stuff.

[norinicole]

Hey Brian, can't wait for the next installment

[jwsarge23]

Awesome Brian, Thanks!

[ArchAngel'73]

I've been reading this thread for over an hour. You could make a pdf of these stories and it'd be great. Books of this nature would be engaging as this thread was/is.
I wonder what happened to some of these people? I wonder where they are now?
Good stuff.

I have no idea what a PDF is nor how to make it into one.

I will tell you where some are now later on, but many I have no idea.
Thank-you!

No one loves a great Bodybuilding more than old Baldie.

Pics of the old 73 cogger were removed?

But him back in the next chapter.

I cleaned up my photobucket account.

Here they are, 73 yrs. young, my friend Al.
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...pics/010-2.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...pics/004-4.jpg




and yes I'm bumping my own thread.

I've been in contact with Kevin and I'm 2 weeks and 3 days out from stepping on stage and making this dream complete.
"I'll be back" soon.

[djflex]

fiend I forgot all about this thread, subbed to reread . Was a great read and brought back some memories of my own

[New Evolution]

Fiend good thread man. Subbed to read later.

[Tyrbolift]

Parts of the stories and characters hit so close to home, and I love how you keep an important theme throughout, which is, you get out what you put in. Every action results in a benefit or consequence. Very few of us are real "victims" of anything.

[djflex]

stumbled across this thread while cleaning out my old subbed files...

anyways bmped for some newer people who may enjoy...

op has not updated in awhile but it is a good read....

[Nikonguy]

stumbled across this thread while cleaning out my old subbed files...

anyways bmped for some newer people who may enjoy...

op has not updated in awhile but it is a good read....

This was/is great stuff and Brian's transformation to a competitive bodybuilder is pretty amazing!

[Do_Somethin]

This was/is great stuff and Brian's transformation to a competitive bodybuilder is pretty amazing!

X TWO... hundred...

[ArchAngel'73]

A pleasant surprise in my user CP, I appreciate the bump.

I haven't updated it in a long time but give me a week and I'll have another post or 2 to add.

[SHOWTIME]

A pleasant surprise in my user CP, I appreciate the bump.

I haven't updated it in a long time but give me a week and I'll have another post or 2 to add.

I look forward to it!

[nvrstopworking]

Arch... I'm kind of speechless right now. Just finished reading the entire thread in one sitting here and WOW... I haven't been that engrossed in any kind of bodybuilding media since I watched "Pumping Iron" for the first time. Seriously!

You have a real gift for writing and your stories are as inspiring as they are funny (or scary!).

You should really have your own blog.

Thanks for the entertainment and here's hoping that you still have more to share!