The first gym I ever trained in

[p.s.]

So here ya go.....This pic not only shows the first gym I ever trained in but the guy doing curls is/was my mentor and the owner of the gym....

[HARDCORE]

Great photo! Looks like something out of Pumping Iron.

Where and when was this photo taken?

[p.s.]

The photo is taken at Victoria Health Club around 1979, and Pete (guy doing curls) was competing in the North Americans during this time. He eventually went on to compete in the NABBA Universe and attained a pro card with that federation.

[Bad Bob]

Great photo!

[Jack Tragic]

Looks good mang! Gyms like that are the best for a solid foundation and mass!   My first "real" gym was the YMCA. The power-lifting racks were on raised wooden platforms and i remember the staff would have to replace them every 2 months because we would just tear 'em up with the weights! Best workouts though! At times I still go to an old school/bare bones gym just to change things up a bit.
                http://brickyardgym.com/

[muscle_n_blood]

My first real gym was a YMCA also, Jack. The administration were marathon runners, so us lifters were stuck in a little room down in the basement. Brick walls. No windows. One little mirror. The bigger dumbells had round balls of iron on each end like you picture in strongman side shows at the circus. They were so beaten up you couldn't read the numbers... just heavy, heavier, and heaviest. A homemade vertical leg press. The row/pulldown apparatus used what looked like heavy bicycle chain instead of cable.... nothing like that available up here. The Gold's down in Carson City has a section that suits us dinosaurs...
By the way... I clicked on that brickyard link. If anyone ever tries to spot me on dumbell presses by grabbing my wrists, he has dumbells headed for his toes. I can't stand that.

[Bad Bob]

My first gym was a European Health Spa.
Then it was Howard's Gym in Maryville.... great gym!

Hey Jack, nice lookin' place. I'd workout there!

[Jack Tragic]

By the way... I clicked on that brickyard link. If anyone ever tries to spot me on dumbell presses by grabbing my wrists, he has dumbells headed for his toes. I can't stand that.

Indeed! That IS a very old link but the spotter was actually only giving a finger assist on the back of the hands of the young man doing the db presses. But on the other hand...that's what WE do! Educate the youngsters on the proper way to roll! As we have been here, there and everywhere else in between!         How's life in your new land going buddy? Always good to hear from you!...OOps...prolly should have started a new thread here...wtf...     J.

[Jack Tragic]

So here ya go.....This pic not only shows the first gym I ever trained in but the guy doing curls is/was my mentor and the owner of the gym....

Cool! Kinda resembles a young Mike Mentzer. But after doing the math...that WOULD have been cool!

[Jack Tragic]

My first gym was a European Health Spa.
Then it was Howard's Gym in Maryville.... great gym!

Hey Jack, nice lookin' place. I'd workout there!

     Wowsers dude! European health spa?...what was that like? And if you liked THAT link that I put up, i have an even OLDER place w/a longer history. Very cool. Always meet cool peeps. How's YOUR training going buddy?   J.
 

[p.s.]

That Brickyard is one cool looking gym!! All they need is longer hours! Euro-health Spa.....Ewwwww!!! We had a Euro close to my house way back when so being dumb and uninformed I checked it out and even though I knew jack about gyms I knew that was not the place for me and to add fuel to that decission the salesman/closer was such a dick that I wouldn't train there even if had of been the greatest gym EVER!!

[muscle_n_blood]

We had a Roman Health Spa... It looked like a trailer park version of Ceasar's Palace with statues and fountains and stuff. I trained there a few times. It was owned by a powerlifter who also owned a few night clubs in town. He wanted to hire me as a bouncer once. Glad I didn't. His people got into other activities, like setting fire to competing clubs, killing his ex-wife's boyfriend, stuff like that. They are all dead or in the pen.

[Jack Tragic]

We had a Roman Health Spa... It looked like a trailer park version of Ceasar's Palace with statues and fountains and stuff. I trained there a few times. It was owned by a powerlifter who also owned a few night clubs in town. He wanted to hire me as a bouncer once. Glad I didn't. His people got into other activities, like setting fire to competing clubs, killing his ex-wife's boyfriend, stuff like that. They are all dead or in the pen.

  LOL!

[p.s.]

We had a Roman Health Spa... It looked like a trailer park version of Ceasar's Palace with statues and fountains and stuff. I trained there a few times. It was owned by a powerlifter who also owned a few night clubs in town. He wanted to hire me as a bouncer once. Glad I didn't. His people got into other activities, like setting fire to competing clubs, killing his ex-wife's boyfriend, stuff like that. They are all dead or in the pen.

And who says there's a dark side to bodybuilding/powerlifting!?!?!

[muscle_n_blood]

He had done some Olympic lifting too....  he was into everything. When things were going good, he was at the top, at least locally. He had a house built on top of a ridge with a spectacular view. It had a huge living room with a pool and waterfall. The pool was shaped like the Playboy Bunny head, with the ears extending into 2 of the bedrooms. His parties were beyond imagination... but the house mysteriously burned. Never knew for sure if he had it done himself for the insurance, or if one of his several enemies did it.
They finally got enough evidence on him to put him in the pen for ordering the arson of one of the competing clubs (he had 3 torched, only one was a total loss). Served 7-8 years, then died of a heart attack a few months after getting out.
One of his henchmen was a good friend of mine back in the old heavy drinking/arm wrestling/cockfighting days from 1974 to about '78. He was supposed to turn state's evidence against the boss, but backed out on the witness stand. Not long after, he was caught with 18,000 Quaaludes in his trunk, planted there. He wasn't surprised, he knew it was just a matter of time before he was set up. He was in the pen a long time.....