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oldfella
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Ok so we left off at getting out of High school and finallly following some reasonable training advice. Eating was whatever my Mom put in front of me and anything else I could scrounge up. So far So good. I was getting bigger and stronger. But there were still guys my age that were lot's bigger and lot's stronger. I was questioning this all the time. Back then AAS was seriously frowned upon, so to get a straight answer was like getting a 7 year old to sit still for the barber or dentist. I mean I was training consistantly, eating plenty of good wholesome foods, getting rest.....well as much rest as a teenager needed lol. Why wasn't I as big as these other guys?
I did find my answers but chose not to go down that path for more than one reason. My dad was a cop, my mother was a cop, so it kind of put the fear in me of getting caught. The other reason was not enough money.........still a young lad fresh out of HS and no real good job yet. So I plugged away at it for a few more years, still making progress just not as fast as some of my other buddies.
Fast forward to about 19-20 years old. Had a good job by now, working for Ma Bell. Pay was great for a guy my age. So gym membership was no problem. Hooked up with some very large powerlifters. I mean these guys were fucking big and strong.....OMG they were lifting freakin houses. They let me train with them and did what they didin a reduced capacity of course. Training was so0mething like this..........
EOD was the norm. Chest and back on one day Legs and shoulders and one day for nothing but deads and benches. usually around 7-10 sets for bench doing 5's 3's and singles. Deads was just fucking lift as much as you could for an entire training session. Same rep scheme but the emphasis was on heavy singles. So we never counted sets and took some pretty long breaks in between lifts, usually up to 5 minutes. So needless to say we were in the gym for a long time. Occassionally we would throw in some good shoulder sessions with chest but it was really focused around the big three Bench, deads and squats. I never was a huge number squatter but I did the best I could. My deads were respectable but nothing like some of our bro's here. AH but I was still not enhanced. So I kept at this style of training for a few years. All I can say to you younger guys, if you are not in a hurry then devote a couple to three years of disciplined power lifting and see were this puts your muscle mass. You will take on a whole new look. It adds a density that pumpers just do not have. Have a look at guys like Ronnie, Dorian, Lee Haney and others that did some serious iron slinging... They all have that thick, strong look. Now I had the opportunity to hook up on the juice but still had my reservations. Was not sure about all the talk. Saw big....I mean BIIIIG guys in the gym with nose bleeds, bad attitudes, big bloated puffy look, and blood pressure issues. Kind of scared me out of it really. Besides at this point I was not going to compete..........or so I thought. So again I kept pounding away, making plenty of mistakes but still, made progress. By now I am 6 feet tall and weighing in at a not too shabby but not too hard 225ish. So I was not big but bigger than the average guy. I continued to lift like a powerlifter for a few more years but mixed in some arm training and other body building type stuff as well.
SO I switched to four on one off and picked up training in the am instead of after work. The four day split gave me a day to work the guns.........hahaha the ever so important guns!! The lady slayers.....LMAO. I will say this much. I gotta thank all the powerlifters I hung with over the years. They gave me an insight into the world of heavy iron, helped me get my legs (grown out from sticks) and taught me the meaning of true training partners. Guys, if you go through your entire time in the gym and have a great training partner.....treat him or her like gold. To this day my closest friend, mentor and training partner in body building holds secrets that no one would ever find out. They were between me, him and god. Big Bert will always be the one role model I will always love, respect and honor. He was a true friend, great trainer, a Big fucking guy, But first and foremost........My training partner. We shared our iron, our food, our laughs and our tears. Through each of us suffering marriage bust ups and heartache the call of the iron held a bond for us that to this day will never be undone. I was very fortunate indeed to meet this man. He taught me how to train and eat like a body builder. He helped transform me from a soft powerlifter into a Body Builder. I will finish this chapter with something funny from Bert...............................
When I actually met this guy for the first timetwo things stuck out in my mind. The first was the sheer size of the man. All 6'2.5" inches and had to weigh close to 300 @10% or less all the time. I am not exagerrating this guys. He was an impressive individual. Strong as two Ox's. The second thing that really got me was his hair..........(Phidias this one's for you buddy). He had a blonde mullet that rivalled our boy Phidias's any day of the year. No one was game to make fun of it..........He was too fucking big! LOL. So here I was new to town and there actually was no commercial gym in the whole town. I asked around about were to train. Everyone in town kept saying this name......Big Bert! SO finally someone told me where he lived and I went around to see him. He had a three car garage that ws his gym. As well equipped as any dungeon I have ever trained in and all of it was hard core, rusty and smelled of an iron gym. it was open and breezy so no musty damp smells. Plenty of weight, good d/bells and some home nade shit that was really awesome to use, like his smith machine. I introduced myself by standing at his big double iron gates avoiding being eaten alive by his German Shephard and the Rhodesian ridgeback. He came ambling down the slight incline driveway (great for walking lunges
) and shook hands over the fence. After the pain in my hand subsided he let me in telling his dogs not to eat me! He said I could train there as long as I put my shit away and at the end of the year contirbuted towards any repairs, recovering of benches etc. All he asked was to run the broom over the floor once in a while and be careful. He never asked me for a penny to use his gym. I offered but he kept saying "Later, Later". So I began my training there. I went five days a week having Sat and sun off. Bert already had a training partner named JIM. Big Jim we all called him. Seems like everything out there was called Big something or other. So the weeks turned into moths and then Big Jim was to leave town for his work. Bert would now have no training partner and still did not have one. SO I approached Bert and asked him if I could be his training partner.......................Bert's reply..."We'll see about that". SO I kept at it. I was on a mission, I was tired of looking like a powerlifter and wanted to look more like a Body Builder. I overtrained but was religious about it. One day in the gym as I was finishing up my last sets and putting away the shit I used Bert came up to me and asked....."Still want to train"? My reply was......"I'm still here aren't I"? He smiled at me and said with a chuckle....."We'll see about that one". "Be here tomorrow at about 5 o'clock". All I said to him was "no problem, see you then". So it began, a five year relationship that turned out to be a one in a million oportunity. You see Bert was a former IFBB Pro and NABBA pro. How lucky could I get?
Now after some time had passed (maybe about a month from first starting with Bert) he used to call me "Kinder"! One day I asked him WTF was that about? He says....."You'll find out"! This went on for about a month. Until one day I saw a TV ad for a chocolate here in OZ called Kinder Surprise!! Well I was not terribly amused but did have a grin when I saw it. The next day in the gym I was waiting for Bert to get home from work so we could train. He came in the shed, said hello and went up the house to change. All this time I was silent. Didn't even say hello! He comes back in eating an apple and all I said to him was "YOU ASSHOLE"! He looked at me with a surprised look and also started to laugh and replies "WHAT???" I then told him I saw the ad and knew what a fucking kinder surprise was!!! He tells me "What are you pissed off about, I actually like kinder surprises!!" Well I nearly fell of the bench laughing. W ethen trained. In the next installment I will outline the training we did, some of the diet i used and mistakes I made. I hope this part was not too boring but it is an important part of my path through this maze we walk. And also because Big Bert deserves a lot of recognition here. This really is one special man. A some of you would say "NO HOMO". LOL. I love this guy like my brother. He actually was much more than that too me. Sorry for the long read but it is a part of my life. Thank you Big Bert! Thank you Pro Muscle!
I did find my answers but chose not to go down that path for more than one reason. My dad was a cop, my mother was a cop, so it kind of put the fear in me of getting caught. The other reason was not enough money.........still a young lad fresh out of HS and no real good job yet. So I plugged away at it for a few more years, still making progress just not as fast as some of my other buddies.
Fast forward to about 19-20 years old. Had a good job by now, working for Ma Bell. Pay was great for a guy my age. So gym membership was no problem. Hooked up with some very large powerlifters. I mean these guys were fucking big and strong.....OMG they were lifting freakin houses. They let me train with them and did what they didin a reduced capacity of course. Training was so0mething like this..........
EOD was the norm. Chest and back on one day Legs and shoulders and one day for nothing but deads and benches. usually around 7-10 sets for bench doing 5's 3's and singles. Deads was just fucking lift as much as you could for an entire training session. Same rep scheme but the emphasis was on heavy singles. So we never counted sets and took some pretty long breaks in between lifts, usually up to 5 minutes. So needless to say we were in the gym for a long time. Occassionally we would throw in some good shoulder sessions with chest but it was really focused around the big three Bench, deads and squats. I never was a huge number squatter but I did the best I could. My deads were respectable but nothing like some of our bro's here. AH but I was still not enhanced. So I kept at this style of training for a few years. All I can say to you younger guys, if you are not in a hurry then devote a couple to three years of disciplined power lifting and see were this puts your muscle mass. You will take on a whole new look. It adds a density that pumpers just do not have. Have a look at guys like Ronnie, Dorian, Lee Haney and others that did some serious iron slinging... They all have that thick, strong look. Now I had the opportunity to hook up on the juice but still had my reservations. Was not sure about all the talk. Saw big....I mean BIIIIG guys in the gym with nose bleeds, bad attitudes, big bloated puffy look, and blood pressure issues. Kind of scared me out of it really. Besides at this point I was not going to compete..........or so I thought. So again I kept pounding away, making plenty of mistakes but still, made progress. By now I am 6 feet tall and weighing in at a not too shabby but not too hard 225ish. So I was not big but bigger than the average guy. I continued to lift like a powerlifter for a few more years but mixed in some arm training and other body building type stuff as well.
SO I switched to four on one off and picked up training in the am instead of after work. The four day split gave me a day to work the guns.........hahaha the ever so important guns!! The lady slayers.....LMAO. I will say this much. I gotta thank all the powerlifters I hung with over the years. They gave me an insight into the world of heavy iron, helped me get my legs (grown out from sticks) and taught me the meaning of true training partners. Guys, if you go through your entire time in the gym and have a great training partner.....treat him or her like gold. To this day my closest friend, mentor and training partner in body building holds secrets that no one would ever find out. They were between me, him and god. Big Bert will always be the one role model I will always love, respect and honor. He was a true friend, great trainer, a Big fucking guy, But first and foremost........My training partner. We shared our iron, our food, our laughs and our tears. Through each of us suffering marriage bust ups and heartache the call of the iron held a bond for us that to this day will never be undone. I was very fortunate indeed to meet this man. He taught me how to train and eat like a body builder. He helped transform me from a soft powerlifter into a Body Builder. I will finish this chapter with something funny from Bert...............................
When I actually met this guy for the first timetwo things stuck out in my mind. The first was the sheer size of the man. All 6'2.5" inches and had to weigh close to 300 @10% or less all the time. I am not exagerrating this guys. He was an impressive individual. Strong as two Ox's. The second thing that really got me was his hair..........(Phidias this one's for you buddy). He had a blonde mullet that rivalled our boy Phidias's any day of the year. No one was game to make fun of it..........He was too fucking big! LOL. So here I was new to town and there actually was no commercial gym in the whole town. I asked around about were to train. Everyone in town kept saying this name......Big Bert! SO finally someone told me where he lived and I went around to see him. He had a three car garage that ws his gym. As well equipped as any dungeon I have ever trained in and all of it was hard core, rusty and smelled of an iron gym. it was open and breezy so no musty damp smells. Plenty of weight, good d/bells and some home nade shit that was really awesome to use, like his smith machine. I introduced myself by standing at his big double iron gates avoiding being eaten alive by his German Shephard and the Rhodesian ridgeback. He came ambling down the slight incline driveway (great for walking lunges
) and shook hands over the fence. After the pain in my hand subsided he let me in telling his dogs not to eat me! He said I could train there as long as I put my shit away and at the end of the year contirbuted towards any repairs, recovering of benches etc. All he asked was to run the broom over the floor once in a while and be careful. He never asked me for a penny to use his gym. I offered but he kept saying "Later, Later". So I began my training there. I went five days a week having Sat and sun off. Bert already had a training partner named JIM. Big Jim we all called him. Seems like everything out there was called Big something or other. So the weeks turned into moths and then Big Jim was to leave town for his work. Bert would now have no training partner and still did not have one. SO I approached Bert and asked him if I could be his training partner.......................Bert's reply..."We'll see about that". SO I kept at it. I was on a mission, I was tired of looking like a powerlifter and wanted to look more like a Body Builder. I overtrained but was religious about it. One day in the gym as I was finishing up my last sets and putting away the shit I used Bert came up to me and asked....."Still want to train"? My reply was......"I'm still here aren't I"? He smiled at me and said with a chuckle....."We'll see about that one". "Be here tomorrow at about 5 o'clock". All I said to him was "no problem, see you then". So it began, a five year relationship that turned out to be a one in a million oportunity. You see Bert was a former IFBB Pro and NABBA pro. How lucky could I get? Now after some time had passed (maybe about a month from first starting with Bert) he used to call me "Kinder"! One day I asked him WTF was that about? He says....."You'll find out"! This went on for about a month. Until one day I saw a TV ad for a chocolate here in OZ called Kinder Surprise!! Well I was not terribly amused but did have a grin when I saw it. The next day in the gym I was waiting for Bert to get home from work so we could train. He came in the shed, said hello and went up the house to change. All this time I was silent. Didn't even say hello! He comes back in eating an apple and all I said to him was "YOU ASSHOLE"! He looked at me with a surprised look and also started to laugh and replies "WHAT???" I then told him I saw the ad and knew what a fucking kinder surprise was!!! He tells me "What are you pissed off about, I actually like kinder surprises!!" Well I nearly fell of the bench laughing. W ethen trained. In the next installment I will outline the training we did, some of the diet i used and mistakes I made. I hope this part was not too boring but it is an important part of my path through this maze we walk. And also because Big Bert deserves a lot of recognition here. This really is one special man. A some of you would say "NO HOMO". LOL. I love this guy like my brother. He actually was much more than that too me. Sorry for the long read but it is a part of my life. Thank you Big Bert! Thank you Pro Muscle!
