Tales from the Fitness Factory

[nvrstopworking]

Great stuff Bri!

Still one of the most entertaining threads that I've read here on bee-bee-dot-com.

[tsoden]

Shameless bump.

No shame at all...got anymore stories?

[robosphere]

I'm glad you bumped this. I was glued to it for more than an hour!

[ArchAngel'73]

I will finish this thread by the end of 2013.
because I want to.

Stay tuned for more consistant posts from OP.

[ArchAngel'73]

I am not yet done my Tale…

Gym characters aside there came a time when my time at the ‘Factory showed me everything there was to see about bodybuilding competition.
In the gym, in the locker room, in the parking lot, in the audience, with the judges, and from a promoters stand point.
It fascinated me…EVERYTHING about it fascinated me.

A brief run down on the general competition schedule in Alberta back then ( and still goes on today).
1st there were the Northern Alberta Bodybuilding Championships, the “Northerns” for short. This would cover Edmonton and area. Usually in June.
2. Usually 1 week before or after are the Southern Alberta Bodybuilding Championships, “Southerns” for short. This covers Calgary and area. Usually in June.
Edmonton and Calgary are Albertas 2 biggest cities with Edmonton being the capital of the Province.
3. A month to a month and a half later are the Canadian Bodybuilding Championships, or the “Canadas” for short.
FYI, we do not call the winners of the Canada’s “Mr./Mrs. Canada”.
We call them IFBB pro’s.

Later on in October Kevin made another contest that still runs to this day, but that’s a different post.

We’re gonna cover a series of contests and behind the scenes stuff I saw right up until The Fitness Factory’s demise starting with the second show I went to as a member.
The 1st was when the male stripper competed.

Show #2 was bloody awesome 12 weeks before it even began.
By this time the show itself was confirmed and all the bodybuilders were able to enter and start their prep.
That year we had 3 top notch guys come from my gym plus Kevin was a judge, despite the conflict of interest.
I would find out later that the mechanisms in place for judging pretty much eliminate favoritism. The highest and lowest scores are immediately tossed and the remaining averages are used to determine the winner.
Furthermore the judging criteria consisted of;
1. Muscularity
2. Proportion
3. Symmetry
Conditioning was not a focus point back then.
But
The leaner you were the bigger the muscle appeared, and the freakier you were.
Big muscles and freaks tended to win shows, not the most conditioned.



1st was Kirby.
Standing 6’5” and a follower of Victor Richards eating plan (10k cals/day) Kirby was one of the largest men I’ve seen. The boy stepped onstage at 260 lbs. and that was big beef back then.
Friendly guy too, always made time for me and included me as part of the group despite I was not a competitor.
I’ll never forget the day I walked into the gym and Kirby and Brad were doing lat pulldowns but from UNDERNEATH seat so they could get a better stretch.
Kirby had his own business, a hawt wife, and I was simply in awe of this gentle giant.

Kirby was undoubtedly competing in the heavy weight class, the heaviest class back then.

#2 was Brad. Shorter, stockier, and more aesthetic than Kirby. Reminded all of us of David Dearth, the rock n’ roller bodybuilder. Longer hair, loud music, and always chewing gum, Brad trained with a vengeance every day.
I never said much to Brad as he was usually busy training or socializing with the bigger guys.
Kirby and him trained together for that years Northerns and like Kirby Brad had his own business and hawt girlfriends, most complete with boobie implants and those were a rarity back then.
A nice rarity though.
Brad went on to compete in the light-heavyweight class that year.

#3 I’ll never forget Dave.
Quiet, unassuming, lethal Dave.
An air traffic controller, Kevin’s silent business partner and best friend, and a man that held a quiet intensity in the gym I try to emulate.
Dave was small by bodybuilding standards. Wouldn’t think anything of him walking by him on the street.
I made the mistake of challenging Dave one day leg pressing…after he completely kicked my ass doing 100’s and drop sets I trained with him every chance I could get.
Dave was what a bodybuilder should be…smart, precise, realistically demanding, meticulous in his supplementation and diet, leaving no stone unturned but never too much into anything.
Dave was perfect because of balance.
Dave is where I 1st learned better is better, not more.


Over the course of 12 weeks I watched these guys get leaner, and bigger. I watched them eat, I watched them train, I watched them practice posing, I listened to them bitch and moan on the bike and at the front counter.
I saw healthy faces turn into zombiefied skeletons.
And the transformation was unreal watching them train as they got leaner…being able to see EVERY muscle move, take over, let loose, and then do it all over again is some magical sight to behold.
This is not gay.
This is the beauty I find/found in bodybuilding.
It’s ART!

The veins popping were freaky for this initiated neophyte, the thought that someone could get so lean as they would have veins running up and down their abs or legs was amazing to this fat weightlifter.

Walking, living, talking human anatomy charts.

I watched these men walk in the gym with life the 1st couple of weeks, after that they all looked haggard, tired, depleted, and brain dead.

Posing practice.
At about 4 weeks out the guys started putting in some serious time in the better mirrored and less populated leg room.
Kirby and Brad often helped each other with this, calling out foreign words like “front lat spread” , “rear double bicep”, “relaxed”- (which made them cramp so bad it looked like they we’re gonna drop dead).
Flexing everything in one shot is not easy…they shook, sweat a lot, and swore like troopers.
At 2 weeks out Kevin walked by and said;
“Good, now smile and pretend you’re enjoying it”.

Smile?
How could they??
Everything I love most dearly in this world has been taken away for months on end for these men…food!
Kirby, God love ‘em…went to the side, hunkered down and let those hyooge ass hamstrings drop as he rolled his arm over into a gigantic side tricep and spiked that calf.
He grinned like an evil fukker.
“Good enough Kev??”

Why would anyone want to do this to themselves??
I was soon to find out.

Kevin—“You going to the Southerns this year?
We got Dave, Brad, Kirby competing and I’m one of the judges.”

Me—“I was hoping to. Just gotta get a ticket.”

Kevin handed me two, 1 for me, and 1 for Al.
I was dirt poor, and grateful.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ArchAngel'73]

2 beasts versus a beauty.
Brad and Kirby were beasts in the gym. Heavy intense weight training sessions coupled with constant eating for a few years on end made these boys big.
They looked like bodybuilders and lived like bodybuilders.

Dave, on the other hand, was not. He didn’t lift heavy but he lifted with volume, he did not get fat in the off season he stayed lean, he did not grunt and groan when training but kept it quiet. Watching Dave train was like watching a Zen Master.

I sat through the bantam and light weight classes with impatience at the pre-judging…I was there to see my boyz on stage!
1st came Dave in the middle weight class.
My jaw dropped.
I did not expect this from him at all.
Lean, the leanest man onstage.
Aesthetic as fawk, no bodypart out balanced any other, both sides of his body were equal, and them gawd damn abs were just ridiculous! Obliques, upper and lower abs, serratus you could cut bread on. Never seen anything like that in person.
There was one other guy in Dave’s class that came close and being a newbie with self vested interest I could not make an accurate call.

Brad came out with only 3 guys in the light heavies.
But something was wrong…he abs were blurry and unseen. This was not what he looked like in the gym a few days ago.
Everything else was fine, he was hyooge and an easy shoe in for 1st place if it wasn’t for his abs.
WTF happened??
Striated glutes, torn up hamstrings, striations everywhere…but the abs were nowhere to be seen.
After the show I learned poor Brad did something wrong with his diuretic use (some ASS cause water retention and this needs to be countered with another drug) and pretty much washed out his abs despite being so lean.
1st place lost on a chance.

Kirby.
Gawd damn.
Kirby’s shadow over shadowed everybody else in that class, of which there were 6.


We had comedians doing MC work for the show and it was of course their 1st time doing a bodybuilding show and probably seeing guys/girls like this.
One of their remarks when Kirby walked out was that he was the size of his new car.

The comedians shined that night and made the show even better than ever for me.
When the heavies came on one of the MC’s brought out a bag of McDonald’s and offered everyone onstage a cheeseburger and then ran!

When the middles came out and they were doing the mandatories another MC interrupted and asked if any of them could do the flex one pec at a time thing.
3 of the guys did and got the whole audience rolling.
BUT DAVE WENT A STEP FURTHER AND STARTED ROLLING HIS Abs!
It was sick. In a good way.
Never saw anything like that since…striated ab muscles complete with veins rolling up and down looking like their digesting something, but from the outside.
A lady behind me in the audience muttered she was gonna throw up…and I laughed.
Dave had made it!

Pre-judging over, night show rolling, the audience rolling with laughs from the MC’s, it comes down to the routines.
Middles are 1st, Dave’s music is slow and Zane like, so is his posing.
Nothing is missing, nothing.

Dave and Kirby brought down the house with loud metal, typical of their personalities, training, and physiques.
Brad tried to hide the abs but every front shot was effectively ruined.
Kirby however, just muscled his way through, as he should have.

The placings…
Kirby 1st.
Brad 2nd.
Dave 1st.

At the end of the show all class winners line up against each other for the overall win.
There is always a posedown.

5 guys stood up there with the size difference being very noticeable between the bantam and heavy weights.
Kirby dwarfed everyone on stage.
But Dave, the middleweight, was perfect.
And I think he knew it.

He stood off to the side during the posedown, refusing to mix it up with Kirby’s mass shots.
Every time Kirby did a most muscular or one of his money shots Dave brought out the Ed Corney/Lee Labrada poses and pwned Kirby on aestherics.
EVERY
TIME.

They got ‘em all lined up…
The MC’s are doing the countdown and were left with Kirby and Dave vying for 1st and 2nd.
Then the unbelievable happened.
They announced Kirby for second and Dave for first!

Kirby had a good 60 lbs. on Dave, calves bigger than my head, and arms the size of my legs.
DAVE WON!
Incredible.
The beauty beat the beast.
Little scrawny Dave beat Kirby. I’m stunned, but pleased.
There still is hope for this “sport” when that happened.
Mass was not the be and end all that day.

On stage my 2 gym mates congratulated each other, Kirby ate humble pie and never let it appear to have bothered him.
Him and Brad both gave Dave his due respect upon returning to the gym and many promises of future battles where tables would change were discussed.

After the show I learned some interesting details about the financial cost of competing in this show;
Brad and Kirby both spent approximately $20k between food, supplements, and other costs.
Dave spent $6k.

More is not better.
Better is better.

[trebuin]

Great posting as always, love the descriptions and the sense of .........history, for lack of a better word.

[lolakitten]

Brilliant - love reading these - thank you!

[SHOWTIME]

Waiting
For more
B

[MartinMaggie]

Thanks ArchAngel'73

[doughnutgut]

Subbed. Gripping reading. Worthy of publication. srs.

[ArchAngel'73]

Show #2

Fresh outta the Northerns not even a week away was the Southerns, all Albertans south of Red Deer including Calgary (the 2nd biggest city in Alberta) went and still do go to this comp.
My gym was still settling down after the Northerns. Dave and Kirby both made an appearance but did not train at the gym that week.
Seems they all took a week off, which I later learned is a common practice among competitors.

But not Kevin.
He was busier than ever.
For the Southerns he had been asked to be a back up judge and was given a free booth at the expo for the Fitness Factory.
He needed help setting things up and asked me if I could go.
Knowing my father could be a complete azzhole Kevin actually drove me home and asked to speak with my father 1:1.
“I’ll drive him there and back, pay for the hotel, and pay for his food. I just need your permission to borrow your son for a few days and I’ll have him back on Sunday morning.”
My father, God bless his soul, said yes and was beaming ear to ear. His son was coming into his own.

Little did I know I was about to learn more about the business of bodybuilding than I ever had before, but would not actually see the show.

We drove to Medecine Hat, Alberta, just south of Calgary.
My burger eatin’ ass was a little worried being stuck in the confines of a chicken and broccoli eater for 2.5 days but I made it out alive.

We leave Friday afternoon, arrive Friday night, and check into one of the swankiest hotels I’ve been in. Keep in mind I have not been very far in life at this point.
In the lobby all sorts of grimacing Pro-tanned folk in track suits are kicking around and lugging suitcases.
They look quite b*tchy too.
Screw this, I’m sticking with Kevin.

There’s an athletes meeting with the judges and promotor.
I am not allowed to attend and hunt down Big Mac from McDonald’s with my own money.

And then ALL of the judges have dinner together, this I was privy to.
A bodybuilding judge often does not look like a bodybuilding judge should look like.
Stereotypes were broken for me that day, expecting a 6-7 old jacked dudes who couldn’t cut it on a bodybuilding stage and now taking out on the youngin’s was completely false.

There was a French husband/wife couple officiating, in super good shape but not jacked.
They used to compete and decided to kick back to the community by judging.
Well educated (teachers) and full of class.-no pun intended

Between time and a limited memory space I cannot accurately recall the others. It does stand out they they were not at all like my gym rat brothers and sisters...they wore suits and were business people.
They had manners and went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and to help the athletes do what they needed to do, inlcuding helping them secure rooms in the hotel at the last minute.

During dinner (thank God for Big Macs because this was all chicken and veggies) was where they went through their scoring mandates.
Every contest I went to at the time all the audience members were given a little booklet telling them about the comp, listing the judges and the competitors, and the qualities they were being judged on.

The judges went over those same qualities in that meeting.

1st and foremost.
Shape.
The silhouette of the athlete should resemble an “X”.
Wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and sweeping legs.
-details aside, this is where the athletes get the 1st nod of in the top spots or not

2nd
Muscularity
-In the 90’s you simply did not compete if you were a beanpole, being just shredded wouldn’t cut it.
They wanted muscle, plain and simple.

3rd.
Conditioning
Having a low percentage of body fat to properly display the muscularity.
Key points to look at are the intercostals, lower back, and glutes.
Good old Rich Gaspari changed the game here and striated glute expectations had trickled down to the amateur level.

4th
Proportion
All body parts should be in proportion to one another, meaning the upper body should match the legs and not one body part should be too big or significanly smaller than others.
-‘nuff said

5th
Symmetry
The left and right sides of the body should be of equal size.
-you won’t be penalized for an inch or 2 difference, genetics aren’t perfect but if it’s ugly to look at you will be marked down

6th
Posing
The long forgotten art of displaying the physique in an artful and creative expression to music.
-from a judges perspective, IF everything is equal according to the requirements above then it would get down to the better routine.
It rarely ever gets to that, even on a pro level.

Those are my juicy tidbits from that dinner!

After dinner Kevin tells me all the judges showed up and there is no need for an alternate, him.

“What are we doing now then?”-I ask.

“You and I are going to man the Fitness Factory booth at the expo.”
Sounded kinda cool and boring all at the same time.
Either way, I get to watch a bodybuilding show, a win for me.

We get up early, thank God bb’ers love eggs and so do I, could finally eat something of substance.

We get to the show “arena”.
A pissy little high school and we’re using their gym area for a stage.
“Booths” were rickety folding tables with no banners anywhere.

Now I see it, this is the difference when you have a crappy show promoter vs. a good one like my friend Kevin.
No one looked happy.

There was one guy from the Northerns that was competing in this one too, he noticed the whole thing and talked to Kevin on the side...very sure I heard “what the hell is this sh*t?”

I’m sitting at my rickety table besides one hyoooge behemoth from a local gym.
Kevin is pissy.
No need for an alternate, a sh*tty venue, and a booth outside his gym city to sell memberships at.

We were at that show for a grand total of 30 minutes before he decided to pack it all up and go home.

A waste of time he says.
Not for me it wasn’t, I learned a boatload about the business of bodybuilding and the people behind it.

Not for him either.
We went in June.
By July Kevin is asking me to be his training partner as he’s “prepping” for a show.

“Which show are you doing?
What about your legs?”-me

“It’s new.
The Fitness Factory Classic.
I’m promoting it and going to do a guest poser appearance.
It’ll be held in October and no one has seen anything like this ever before”




He was right, oh so damn right

[Vytis]

Fun read, thanks Brian.

Don't make us wait so long....

[ArchAngel'73]

Fun read, thanks Brian.

Don't make us wait so long....

another on it's way in less than 30 min..

[ArchAngel'73]

Show #3
The 1st ever inaggural Fitness Factory Classic


I’m sure by now you’ve got the gist of it, the Northerns, the Southers, then the Provincials...if you’re good the Canada’s.
But Alberta never had a show in Fall.

Kevin changed that.

“I’m going to have a show for all the amateurs in Alberta who couldn’t make the Southerns or Northerns. I’m going to have more prize money than both combined, I’m going to bring back those comedians as MC’s, and I’m going to give away a MOTORCYCLE!”
“From now on all athletes from my gym are sponsored, we’ll give them track suits with our logo on it, and I’ll help them get to the stage personally if I have to.”

Up until now our shows were held in high schools (some better than others) or in the University of Alberta.
Kevin booked the Citadel theatre-a tradition that stands to this day for all but the Canada’s, they get a bigger theatre.

Also up to that point only the overall winner received a cash prize, I’ve seen $500 and $1,000 rewards.
For this show all top three in each class received monetary awards and the overall winner walked away with $2k, a thousand dollar ring, and $12k Harley Davidson motorcycle (1993 dollars brahs )

Unheard of.

Guest poser was Alberta’s own IFBB pro, and friend of Kevin’s Dave Fisher and his IFBB pro wife Sue Price was there as well.



I saw Dave in the expo signing pics.
He was wearing a suit of all things.
What struck me is that you know how the pants on a guy in a suit tend to flow and rustle as they move?
Dave’s did not.
When he walked he his legs stretched out those suit pants like they were spandex.
Dave did not do a regular posing routine, he lifted for us instead during intermission.
It started with incline bench Dumbbell Curls (harder to do than many other forms of curling).
We started cheering when he picked up the 50’s (all equipment was from the ‘Factory too, so I ended up lifting on the same bench as he did )
He peaked with the 80’s with 10 reps/arm.
We never saw anything like that, and we brought the house the down with applause.

The 80’s ffs...

The ‘Factory had 4 competitors that show.
A husband/wife combo doing the couples part (another long forgotten form of competing that is rarely done), Cory the stripper (the male bb’er I 1st met with crazy leg seperation), and a dude unknown to me, a junior.
All had 'Factory track suites.

Lighting and background settings can make or break a show.
Kevin hired professionals.
The lighting was perfect, when Dave Fisher came on we had fog and fitting tunes.

Kevin opened the evening show with flare.
Being Alberta’s former poster boy for bodybuilding there were many people who knew him, being a judge, an athlete, and now a promoter all of the Alberta Bodybuilding Association was watching for him.
He came out riding that motorcycle he was about to give away amongst a stream of lazers set to Motley Crue.
Full riding leathers were worn and stripped off for the ladies (causing one of many uproars that night) so he could showcase he wasn’t just another outsider promoting a bodybuilding show.
He was peeled, literally.

And I helped get him there.
Oh yes, we trained for his appearance together for months but that is another tale.

Banners, booths, sturdy tables, pro’s walking around the lobbey, happy judges, happy competitors, and business entities, they were all there.
Kevin was not my only friend in the fitness industry, the other was his fierce competitor Bernie from Popeye’s.
Yes, this is the same Popeye’s that now competes with bb.com (I want this thread left up so no more about that). I was at the 1st store opening day.
I’ve seen a lot here.
Anyways, Kevin and Bernie HATED each other.
Kevin invited him to the show, and he went.
A few years later Bernie took over this competition, a few years after that Bernie’s competitor “Muscle Beach” took the reigns and it is now called the “MuscleBeach Classic”.
The owner tries to tell me he’s had the comp since day 1.
But I know different.

I was there.

Later when Popeye’s got big and became a chain, Bernie sold it.
I hate corporations anyways.



Kevin knew how to take care of people.
After he gave me a copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” from Dale Carengie it all made sense.
1. Bodybuilders are bodybuilders, if you give them a show they will compete.
2. However, if you treat the athletes like crap they will never come back. So he treated the athletes like they were kings and queens.
3. The families of the bodybuilders will come to cheer for their own and not care about other competitors. Keep them entertained and enagaged and you might win them over when a loved one is not competing. Hence the comedians “Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_D...ls_in_a_Baggie
4. The Freak Factor.
As a bodybuilding audience member dishing out (then) $18 for pre-judging and $25 for the night show, I wanna see some freaks.
If I can’t see any freaks from the competitors themselves (some shows are just blasé) then the guest poser better give us what we want.
Dave Fisher covered this.
5. Sex Sells
Let’s face it, you can see some VERY attractive people at a bodybuilding show. Women bb’ers back then weren’t as big as they are today and these ladies looked so damn fine.
That covered the males, and if not you could always call in a guest poser like Denise Masino;

And that’s why Kevin did the routine at the start of the show, to get the ladies craving more.
6. The judges
Nothing a judge hates more than to be stuck in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end, hungry, dehydrating, and straining their eyes because the lighting is so bad they can’t see the competitors.
Keep ‘em fed, drinking, comfy, and have good lighting.
7. The booths/expo
Bodybuilders had no class back then.
None.
Business people demand it.
What happens when you mix the two?
You get a sh*tty little show like my last tale and everyone is pissed.
So you let the business people do their own thing as they are used to and you let the bodybuilders do theirs.
Some where along the line this came to fruition on a international level, the current Arnold Classic and it’s international off shoots are a prime example of this sport evolving...or de-evolving, depends how you look at it.

Take notes from what others not in your field have to offer and maybe at the end of the day everybody can make some money.

My how far we’ve come.

Now the Fitness Factory Classic was not the best show I’ve attended, that would have to be the one where Dave won.
But it was the best damn put together bodybuilding show I’ve ever been witness to.








1 or 2 more tales before I begin with the downfall of the gym and the man behind it.

[Dr.Griefo]

Awesome reads!

[djflex]

Outstanding

[ArchAngel'73]

The End of Life as We Knew it


Come December after the October ‘Factory Classic I find myself doing door to door delivery, dropping off scratch and win ads for the gym.
The “inner circle” is keeping me company as we slog through the snow laded sidewalks freezing our asses off.
There’s “the kid”. A new front desk employee with red hair, freckles, and a physique from the before pics in the Charles Atlas ads in comic books.
He’s around 18 or 19, being in my early 20’s and going to university made me feel like he was “a kid”.
Then there was Rob and his hottie girlfriend. Rob was with the gym for a while now but recently bought shares in it. He was now co-owner.
He lived to train, the crazier the better.
The same man who once told me “if someone told me dog sh*t would make you big, I’d be eating dog sh*t all day.”
I’ve seen Rob gobble down 50 grams of Glutamine powder in one sitting. Also the same man who pulled his pick up truck with a rope to train to get into firefighting school.
He later went on to compete in Strongman and the FireFighter Games.
He’s tamed since then.

Anyways, I’m delivering scratch and win ticketes for my gym...and know that every ticket is designed to win something and to get them in the gym doors.-so says Kevin
I was naive back then.
Everybody won, but first you had to buy a membership.

We got extra business from that, lots.
By January Kevin is doing more reno’s and changing the logo of the gym, all to something more “publicly appealing”.
We got black and white stripes in the gym, new lockers, new bathrooms, and a cardio area with more machines.

Kevin now has 2 other co-owners. Him, Rob and Dave.
That I know about.

In January I walked in the door and was greeted with an automated card scanner, told my membership dues would come out of my bank automatically, and although “the kid” was still scanning my card he had like 5 other people behind the desk to help him.

Now, this, this felt like a slap acrosss the face for some reason.

So, I went to talk to Kevin, who was now living IN THE GYM upstairs where had more reno’s done.
Full kitchen, living room, EVERYTHING.
But I had to keep it a secret as he didn’t want the members knowing he lived there.

“I’ve hired a promotional group to boost up sales fo the club”
Club, this used to be a gym?-shhhhhhhhh Brian, think it, don’t say it

“There’s 5 of them and they will be working on sales promotions.”

Okay not much to do about it but I sure didn’t trust these folks...especially with my gym.

All the regulars still came.
Igor and his stupid phucking t-shirt, Bo looking swole but also like walking death, even picked me up a gym rat competitor/friend whom I schooled on leg days.
He had went into the same program in University that I was getting into, gave me his books and saved me a few hundred bucks.
Made him puke numerous times.

But then the outsiders came along with these sales gimmicks.
Thank God most who went to a gym back then weren’t into toning and many fit right in with us.
Earned my first ever compliment from Rob during this time as he told me I had a lot more muscle than I did 6 months ago.
I was natty, he was not, I took that as a compliment amongst compliments.

By February sales had slowed, the promotional company let 3 of their staff go work on other projects.
Kevin hired 2 full time on his own.

Now, I’m no dummy and I know the gym business does not make one millions and the rate in which cash was being laid down and things changing was alarming.
All on the exterior was the same and good, but there was the hidden vibe I just couldn’t put my finger on.

Something was wrong.
But I stuck by my friend and accepted everything he told me.
The “club” was doing well.


“We” now make smoothies for the gym members with protein powder and all sorts of adds to it, like a scoop of creatine etct. etc..
“We” have a clothing line.
“We” now serve flavoured coffee to our members (1990’s, no StarBucks in sight )
“We” now have a hot fitness kinda girl scanning cards


As “We” were warming up for leg day at the front counter, chatting up the aforementioned hot fitness girl, “We” encountered a loud, obnxious, red faced, short, older man in his 50’s.
Claiming to be an out of work truck driver he was here to get some muscles.

Within a few days his ego went to work and his guard fell while sitting at our new juice bar.

“Oh yeah, I keep $50,000.00 cash (Fifty-Thousand) in the trunk of my car at all times, unlocked.”
Bold claim newb.
Better back it up.

He didn’t even need prompting from any of the 4 of us around, he marched outside to his car, no keys, opened up the door and brought us a briefcase.

I don’t know how much money was actually in there but Canadian $100 bills have a distinct color to them being brown.
The briefcase was filled wth stacks of brown $100 bills.

10 minutes later and I’m changing, the old guy walks in and starts changing too.
Being younger and curious, I quietly ask him why he has $50k in his car, unlocked.



My name is Robert.
I am a loan shark.
And I keep $50,000.00 unlocked in my car because I’m daring anyone stupid enough to steal it.
I’m just looking for a reason.

[ironwill2008]

A great read, Brian. Thanks.

[ironwill2008]

Undoubtedly, OP is on a roll today.

This Tale will be FINISHED by the end of today.





Happy New Year!

Good deal on finishing the story, Brian, and Happy New year to you too!






BTW, your PM box is full.

[GuyJin]

Vids or it didn't happen.



Great story. "I'm just looking for a reason."

[ArchAngel'73]

There he was.
As a young man brought up in a strict Christian household I had been warned but did not think it was possible that I would meet the face of one of Satan’s minions.
Robert.
As this pudgy, unassuming figure disrobed in front of me he revealed flesh laden with tatoos.
Tatoos of the number 666, swastikas, 4/20/89 (Adolf Hitler’s birthday), and a demon with his sword stuck in the neck of what I assumed to be an angel. (no relation to my username).

Of all things, his belt buckle was also a testment to his beliefs.
Being somewhat of a World War 2 historian I recognized it immediately.
It had the Death’s Head, setting it apart from other military German units, making it SS.
The SS were Hitler’s private army during World War 2 and responsible for many of the atrocities committed, not the German army themselves.
The SS considered themselves Aryans and all others sub-human or “UnterMensch”.
Gott Mit Uns- God with us


Robert
was a Nazi Loanshark
and that is what my nick name for him was/is.

He owned a cafe downtown, tucked away where you actually had to look to find it.
He hung out there and conducted business. Cops paid off with a promise of no publicity, 6-8 guys in the place at all times, another 5 on the street collecting.
Why do I know this ?
Because he asked me if I wanted a job as an enforcer.

I explained to him I was in university (counter agrument from him was easy money) and that I intended on being a psychologist and they cannot have criminal records (here he backed off, giving me some respect).

Robert was a conundrum to me.
He was a Nazi, yet hired our gym’s first ever personal trainer...whom was black.

Not only was he black, he was studying to become a preacher/minister.
To this day I cannot figure this one out...
nor how the PT (whom I ran into a few weeks ago, looking older and not remembering me whatsoever despite I remember all of this)
accepted this into his life.
The PT is still alive though, as of December 23, 2013 anyways. So all must have worked out despite Robert lending him money.

It’s winter, there are no shows coming up. No one is training for any thing.
I’m still a newb doing my thing (training hard and eating like a piggie) and going to university.
Went down on a girl for my very first time and felt like telling the gym I ate pussy-but I didn’t.
Thought you should know that, it’s part of my fond memories there.

1 of the promtion guys Kevin hired is also of African-Canadian, Eve was his name.
Never saw Eve after meeting Robert.

The last promotional guy is also now co-owner, we now have 3 besides Kevin.
That I know of.

Kevin and Robert seem awfully chummy lately, and I’m growing more distant from Kevin...which is all cool because I’m heterosexual and whatnot but something doesn’t seem right..
Besides, I got problems of my own as I get into adulthood.

A woman is breaking my heart (ironically, she’d do it again 18 years later), problems with my old man, live at home because of money while I go to university and eat tuna and insta noodles.

University is awesome, the gym and my lifting are still awesome (wait until you hit 30 bucko and you’ll see you did most of it wrong), and I may not like my real home but I can call the gym my home.

We just coast until next Fall, October, the 2nd Fitness Factory Classic.
No one does the Northerns.

A few minor things like;
-we had a visit from 3 WWF Wrestlers (now WWE)...Razor Ramone, Big Show, and some blonde dude Hulk...Hogan? Yep, pretty sure it was him.
-Kevin promoted the Northerns and brought it DORIAN YATES! In his prime, shortly after those pics in FLEX magazine
(I missed the opportunity of a life time as I had to work...but Kevin took Dorian out to eat here, he had 6 chicken breasts and a double order of pasta with veggies...the people at the restaurant ALL stared but no one knew who he was)-sorry. Damn work.
-witnessed a guy standing overhead press 405 lbs. for 8 reps...just some random jacked dude
-saw a newb sumo deadlift more weight then he could handle...blood shot out of his eyes and then he passed out...and smashed his nose on the bar breaking his nose

-I dislocated my hip leg pressing but refused to see a Dr.. After 2 agonizing weeks it popped back into place while I was leg pressing giving me the dumb belief that if could fix things the same way I broke them.

The 4th owner, I’ll call him Doug. He still might be alive and capable of doing me damage, the others are not.
Doug was a former competitive bodybuilder who had moved here from British Columbia.
He moved here because he got into some trouble, was shot, and came here to friendlier Alberta.
To the point, Doug was running from a gang.
Doug was training for a show, getting bigger and then saw him stop shortly before that years Northerns.
Turns out that one of the bullets that hit Doug’s leg caused artery problems and he could only carry so much weight before having a heart attack.
He had the heart attack first but lived to learn his lesson.

One day while working behind the front desk Doug asked me if I wanted to take something that would really work for burning fat. He knew this was the bane of my existence and I simply asked him if it was illegal.
It wasn’t but apparently it wasn’t legal either.

Dumb me I took this stuff without asking any more questions.
Ephedrine was currently in one of it’s many legal stages here and temporarily banned...although I simply went to a chinese herbalist for ephedra...I was desperate to get rid of the fat.

It was a liquid, and it tasted like sh*t, I was warned to mix it with juice.
The stuff put me in such a deep sleep 4 hours of sleeping felt like 10.
I was dropping some fat too.
One day, awoke at 3:00 A.M. Couldn’t get back to sleep so I decided to drink a swig, straight up to get back to sleep.
Well, my God, that stuff tasted so bad I was looking around desperately for something to down it with, but I’m in my room in my parents house and they’re sleeping.
I spot Buckley’s cough syrup on my dressor.
I down it.
No word of a lie Buckley’s cough syrup tatsed better than this!

It’s summer and I’m taking this stuff, doesn’t work wonders but I am getting leaner.
I go to my home city of Winnipeg to see my friend and we end up drinking a little.
Like the good bodybuilder I am I remember to take my supplements before crashing, I mix it with 1 ounce of vodka.
Lights out, game over, don’t open my eyes for 12 hours after.
I go back to Doug and ask him what he sold me, he tells me.
That night I see on the news about seizures of a drug bodybuilders use but is now used for something else.
The date rape drug.
Works for nefarious purposes when mixed with alcohol.

Geezus, I was self administering the date rape drug to get lean.
Ain’t that fawked up??

Good old Doug.
Hoped he made it.

[ironwill2008]

Some awesome posts ITT.

[ArchAngel'73]

You keeping tabs?
We’re at 4 owners besides Kevin, plus the essence of Robert in the air.
Originally there was just Kevin.
He also has a new house, a new car, and a new friend called Crazy Jay.
Crazy Jay will turn out to be owner #5 as the soap opera continues.

A little about Crazy Jay...he was frikkin’ crazy.
He was really big with zits all over his back , was going to university and used methamphetamine to study, if it would burn, he would smoke it.
He also later became a very successful businessman owning “2 Guys with Pipes”;
http://www.google.com/webhp?nord=1#n...pipes+edmonton
Rumor is, now his brain is so fried his mother runs his stores.

#5
5 owners.

Now in the gym there’s rumor, Robert and Kevin are business partners.
EVERYBODY else has been bought out.

Life long friendships ruined and betrayed, handshakes that meant nothing, and lies.
Those were the rumors.

We’re now sitting at 3 days before the 2nd Fitness Factory Classic.
The gym has been going for a little over 2 years.
It is my refuge, my solace, my therapy...but not for long.

Wednesday after class and I’m going to the gym.
The bus stops as usual, I get out as usual, and make my way to my personal slice of heaven as usual.
There people standing outside the door way, big, angry people.
The notice on the door says foreclosure, we spy into the window and see already our home has been torn apart.
The card scanners removed with only wires left, the fridge emptied, the signs with the prices down, even the lightbulb fixtures were removed.
Thank God we could not see further in to see the mockery of what once was.

This was not just a gym, or a club.
It was my home.
My home.
Along with all of the other misfits out there who didn’t have a place to belong you could come here.
The requirements were simple, work hard and you were one of us.
My family.

We literally bled here.
We poured our souls into our training trying to make what we could better.
We unleashed our own demons upon that iron so to not take it out on another.
The gym floor, the great equalizer.
It cared not for your race, ethnicity, nor creed.
But cared how much effort you put in yourself.

I almost break down writing this memory of that night
For all of the miscreants and characters that place had
I have yet to find another gym with such...

SOUL.

So what happened?
Years after, many a chance encounter including the man himself, Kevin, I finally did get the truth.

The Fitness Factory Classic proceeded as planned, even with the gym shut down.
They had yet to go after his promotor business and that was safe until after the weekend, after the show, after the profits had been made.

Unlike any other show I’ve been at where Kevin was involved, he could barely be seen

We had the comedians as MC’s again (they never got old tbh) , the competition still was awesome but sadly not much new to add to my other tales.
Except ½ the audience were Fitness Factory members and they were ALL looking for Kevin.
Me for different reasons, he hadn’t ripped me off.
There was security at the venue for back stage, probably for him.
He never came out once, fulfilled his contract, and took the cheques for a job done.

Robert was there.
The Nazi Loan Shark wanted to see Kevin real bad, asked me where he lived and it was a good thing I had not been to his new place.


Turns out Robert found out anyway.

[ArchAngel'73]

Kevin has a new fiance, a good woman who has a sister.
The sister is living with them at his new place.
Kevin and the fiance are out of town, the sister is home.
Some people break in.
Puts a gun to the head of the sister demanding information on Kevin’s location.
She tells them what she can and is not harmed.

Robert has bought out all the other owners and has majority of the share in the gym.
What he doesn’t know is that Kevin has screwed over every one including his landlord, the power company, the machine leasing company, and the company he has boughten equipment from.
And the reno people, and many members, and everyone is ending with legal action against the gym.
Whom Robert is now the majority owner of
And responsible for.

I’m sure the Nazi Loan Shark did not take to kindly to getting screwed over since he thought he was the one doing the screwing.

Rest assured, he found Kevin, despite being in another city.


Now, if I had not followed my dream of competing after many years and not gotton my fat ass in shape I would not have been able to tell you how this ends.
I now compete in drug tested bodybuilding competitions.
At one of my competitions (and well after I started writing this thread) I spotted my friend, his wife (then fiance), and her sister.

He lives elsewhere, in a quiet city in one of the 2 provinces next to mine (he is real after all and confidentiality can go a long way).
He has paid his debts, done well for himself, and is a proud father.

He seems in shape.
But to be honest, I am in much better shape now than I was back then and am happy to report I have surpassed my mentor.
A changed man I would guess. Years and responsibility tend to do that.
To me, he was back to where he should have been before all this big mess happened.
A good man.

I do still consider Kevin my friend.
He only helped me, never ripped me off.
When I met him and he saw a lean me instead of the fat kid trying...there was pride...a pride that filled my heart.
Through a look in his eye he told me;

“Thank God you made it out of there, unscathed, with honor...like we knew you could”

He was and is my brother
Ever since the day I told him I couldn’t get my hamstrings to hurt.
I do not need words but just see it in the eyes.



Take my Tales for what you will.
Tales about a gym, the characters in it, and lessons we learn.

Or

It could be how 2 men made themselves better by following two different paths.


However you perceive it
This thread has been my secret pride and joy, I’ve let it all out, bared my gym soul to you.

My sincerest appreciation for taking your time to read this.





R.I.P
The Fitness Factory
-someone had to tell the tale and I’m glad it was me

[GuyJin]

Well done, Brian. This is a piece of work.

Happy New Year...and write that book about it all. I'd buy it.

[ArchAngel'73]

I have not replied to many in this thread, desiring to keep a little distance between the author and the reader.
The less you knew bout me ITT the better.

Now is your chance.

If you have any questions, comments, or other wise sociable words to write I invite you to.


I do plan on visiting the building (which is now another gym) soon and taking pics if they allow me.
Kevin's former residence in the gym is still intact for the most part.

I may not be done with this thread yet but I have no more Tales to tell.


*Thank-you*

[djflex]

Well , that was riveting. Although sorry to hear about the end . Thx for this thread. The beginning reminded me of my youth when every lift was an adventure and there was no end to my energy or enthusiasm.

[djflex]

So what happened to robert the loan shark?

[Phattso]

Great read, Brian. Glad you made it out alive.