alfresco
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Iabadman, those are very thoughtful and generous words. Thank you. But your
life experience makes me look like I have been locked in solitary confinement
for my entire life. Our long conversation last weekend made for the shortest,
most enjoyable trans California road trips in memory. Thank you again for
being there. Looking forward to more quality time with you..
Now . . . I thought I was, had been, taking the lid off so to speak
I'll see what I can do in that department.
Yes, I have been fortunate to have done a few things, been a few places and
spent some time with some interesting people, many of which had absolutely
nothing to do with bodybuilding which in my opinion, in many ways, is a good
thing.
I'm not a big science fiction reader, but one such book I truly did enjoy was
called Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein. The protagonist in the
book was a man called Lazarus Long and one of his most famous quotes
is "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate,
act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program
a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization
is for insects."
I have always been fond of that quote and have believed that a wide variety of life
experiences is preferable to being outstanding or specializing in any one particular
thing. There is a real synergy in that, how totally unrelated things or activities
can contribute in unsuspected ways.
Many of the things I have done are impossible to do now due to the political
climate or they are just too plain dangerous. Many of the places have been
spoiled by the influx of tourists (technically speaking, I was one) or by the governments.
And many of the interesting people I have been fortunate to know and spend time
or either dead or so near death that their passing will surprise no one. And those
that are still alive, well, I'll get around to them in due course . . .
As hard it may be to believe from my posting here, I am very guarded with
most people about my life experiences, and prefer to be under the radar. And in
particular is my relationship Arthur Jones which started back in the early 70's
and continued, grew closer and stronger, up until the time of his death. I was
very fortunate to spend a great deal of quality time with him and his wife
during the later years of their lives and in doing so was told many things in
confidence, and many things would just not be appropriate to discuss in a public
forum.
While I am more than happy to bring him into the mix now and again or answer
questions, I would also be a fool not to be aware that he had a very polarizing
personality and while his accomplishments were legion (not just in the field of
exercise), many bodybuilders I believe feel betrayed, angered that his "inventions"
and his philosophy about exercise, bodybuilding especially, and the results that
many, if not most failed to achieve were not in concert with all the marketing and
publicity that was afforded them. Enough said.
When I was much younger, I aspired to transform my physique into something
that I soon found out I did not have the genetics to achieve. Though I certainly
had the will and the desire, but all I had to really do is climb up into the
family tree and look around. It just wasn't in the cards. At one point in time
I achieved what some may call spectacular results; was told I was too big,
people that had not seem me for some time did not recognize me, others said
that I had grown "shorter", (an illusion created by my different bodily proportions)
and a bunch of other things, some true, some false, some nice, and some not
so nice. That was truly a magical time in my life as far results were concerned;
all the stars must have aligned in my favor.
I was 22 years old when I made the best progress in my life by training to failure,
3 time per week. I could and did finish my workouts in under 30 minutes. It was
a pre-exhaust routine; 2 sets of 2 exercises per body part. (I have outlined my
routine in great detail in prior posts here.) We used no supplements of any kind.
My workout partner and I grew so fast that we both were simply amazed. We
couldn't believe it, and so couldn't the people that saw us during that time. But I
was never quite satisfied.
Then things changed, it's called life.
Weight training has been one of the few constants in my life. As somebody once said,
if you have ever achieved meaningful results as a function of weight training, you
will always gravitate back to it. Well, I never left and in retrospect, I believe that I
have always been trying to duplicate the results of some thirty plus years past,
trying about a million different things and without a satisfactory degree success I
might add (though some might argue with that). Being old enough now to realize
it just isn't going to happen, I none the less keep trying, enjoying the process and
benefits that can be derived from it.
