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AT THE RISK OF SOUNDING LIKE I AM BRAGGING, IT IS IMPERATIVE
THAT YOU KNOW MY PERFORMANCE STATISTICS
If you read my statistics....I can understand why anyone would
think that I was bragging. I can understand that this would be a
turn off to most people. Braggarts often have the same affect on
me. Not always, but often and I will explain this a little
later.
There was a time that I
workout only in the privacy of my home and I never, never told
anyone how much I could lift in any given exercise. I was
secretive for several reasons. One reason, by nature I really
don't like to toot my own horn. Another reason is that a lot of
people get shitty or jealous, or even confrontational if they
see that you are performing better than them.
This was not the type
of energy that I wanted to be around. A lot of my friends were
not shy about lifting in front of me, and lots of people like to
regal anyone that was within the horizon what they could do. The
third reason was that I was doing quite a bit of experimenting
with a variety of workout methods. I wanted to check out my
theories before disclosing them to my friends and there was the
quiet pleasure I felt knowing that my true strength was secret.
Because of my small size and light bodyweight, everyone
underestimated what I was capable of doing and this was a secret
source of pride for me.
Eventually, I was
training alone with poundage that was just too dangerous to be
fooling with alone. I knew that I needed to find a hardcore gym
out of the area. I wanted to keep my abilities secret from
people in the area I resided. The gym I went to was run by two
huge brothers from Brooklyn, New York. Previously they trained
at the same Gym as Lou Ferrigno, a former Mr. Universe and actor
in the Incredible Hulk.
The Younger and much
larger brother was the first person I have ever seen bench press
five hundred pounds. He was six foot tall and despite having
average looking legs his massive upper body had him tipping the
scales at two hundred and fifty pounds. They were also
admittedly steroid users. They were nice guys but always more
than a little edgy.
The majority of the
guys in this gym were hard-core bodybuilders and everyone tried
to lift as heavy as they could. Steroids ran rampant in the gym.
Not everyone took them...I, along with a handful of other guys
stayed clear of them. I loved this gym and I hated it. I love
the hardcore "lift till you puke" philosophy but I hated how many
of the steroid users or really big strong guys put on superior
airs and treated those lifters that were average with barely
veiled contempt. These pea-brained behemoths acted as if they
were the only men alpha enough to corner the breeding rights to
all females.
Because of my strength,
I managed to escape this treatment. In fact, despite only
weighing in at One hundred and sixty pounds I could out lift
practically most of the gym rats except for the big owner.
My eccentric training
routines and equally eccentric personality made me quite the
subject of speculation at the gym. It was in this gym that at
the end or a very high volume workout I benched pressed four
hundred and ten pounds. This was seventeen pounds under the
world record held at the time for my body weight (back before
bench shirts were invented). Of course I bounced the weight and
in competition you are required to pause...which can take twenty
to fifty pounds off your bench depending on the lifter. With me
it is twenty. Everyone at the gym was quite impressed and since
they knew I did not take steroids and that my training was
unconventional, my strength just had to be genetic.
Yes, that's right, the general
consensus at this gym was that since my training program was for
shit and so wrong that my performance could be the result of
only superior genetics. After all, they brutes tried to tell me,
you have to lift in an X, Y and Z fashion if you wanted to train
the way champions trained.
Of course my head was
swollen with pride from everyone's assurances that I was
genetically superior. It was especially pleasing to me since For
years during childhood I was considered a woefully inferior
athlete. Now I too, could also claim breeding rights to
all available females. My stuff was worthy.
I wasn't welcomed into
the behemoth club with open arms however, but I did manage to
garner some respect or at least I was left alone unmolested.
After the clouds of
self-satisfaction cleared, I looked around and it was then that
I noticed that most people may have lifted in the same rep
ranges and performed the same number of sets....but, there was
often a huge discrepancy as to how they performed these sets and
reps that got me interested.
Ironically, the guys
who seemed to cheat more often by forcing the weights to move
quickly or by bouncing the weights seemed to make the most progress
in strength and size.
What I also observed in
the gym was that most of the monsters...especially
the ones that took steroids were motivated to become big and
strong by an emotional diet of fear, self-loathing, anger and a
whole host of insecurities.
I am like most humans,
in that I also have suffered from a host of generic insecurities
for much my life. I still struggle with a few that seem to pop
up their ugly little end from time to time. However, unlike many
of the leviathans at the gym, I dealt with my shortcomings by
trying to improve in the areas that I felt to be weak. I also
dealt with my weakness by helping other people to deal with
theirs.
I did not suffer from
feelings of inadequacy of being small or weak, even before I
lifted. I have often focused more on not being as bright a I would have
like, or being a touch cosmetically challenged, or being
un-athletic in my earlier years, or feeling as odds with the
world, because as of yet...not all of the attractive women in
the world want to have my child, and that REALLY bothers me.
I noticed that the
biggest obstacle for many people to be happy is having a healthy
self-image. It became apparent to me that people adopt all sorts of reasons for
feeling out of sorts. I have found that when people feel all
around competent they tend to be happier well adjusted people
who are much easier to get along with.
The oddest thing I
noticed: many men, regardless of how handsome, popular,
educated, and how successful they are... if they lack in
physical prowess they tend to focus on that and may actually be
jealous and resent the slob that is bigger and stronger, despite
having nothing else going for him.
I knew that I was not
equipped to help anyone to achieve success in life, but I could
damn well teach them to be as proficient and successful in the
gym in their quest for size and strength. I realized, that in
the scheme of things, how big you are or how much you can bench
is really not that important. It is nothing more than a amusing
pastime to learn discipline and help the body to feel good. I
have learned that the true payoff from proper lifting is far
more rewarding than most people even suspect (CLICK HERE TO FIND
OUT). Yet,
this was ultimately satisfying knowing that my advice and
encouragement helped others to achieve a level of development
that they previously doubt could ever be achieved without
steroids....if at all.
In the past thirty-some
years I have studied the art and science of weight training. and
I have observed people that train in gyms. I use to only respond
to giving advice when asked. Then if I saw that a person was
being steered into taking steroids by some misguided lifting
guru....then I would feel compelled to interject my two-cents
worth.
Of course, in the final
analysis, the questions always came down to: "Why should I
listen to you?
A very good question. Another was: What can you
do to show me that you know what you are talking about?
I still did not like to brag...and the fact was,
if a person did not see me performing at my best, then I was not
one to go around telling people what I could do. Many times
people would see me lifting only fifty percent of what I do on
my heavy day and they would mistakenly believe that was all that
I was capable of. Not bad they mentioned, but, nothing worth
writing to
Muscle and Fitness about.
For example; what most
people would see me do on my light days might have been 150
pounds in the bench press for 25 reps...with a pause on the
bottom of every rep. Then they would see me do 175 pounds for
ten reps and maybe 200 pounds with 10 sets of 3 reps done in a
very light and fast manner.
By most people's
estimation, each one of these
weights lifted for the reps I am using is nothing to sneeze
about. However, in the hardcore world of lifting, I was not going to win any
prizes for my performance on these light days.. Many of the lifters would see what I was doing on the
light days thinking that was all that I got. When they overheard
me give my eccentric opinions to some starry-eyed new comer,
they would also listen and be intrigued enough to ask a few
half-hearted questions.
One day, three guys
came running over to me. They were all excited and treated me as
if I was Arnold Schwarzenegger walking the red carpet promoting
a movie
Their words jumbled
out, "Vince! Vince! "Holy Shit, and then they point up to the
record board that had been displayed for years. "Why didn't you
tell us that you were THAT Vince?"
They were pointing to
my full name that verified that I had benched 420 - 430 pounds
at the bodyweight of well under 200 pounds. They also pointed at
the weight of 510 pounds that I had done squats with...which in reality I
was working out and performing 15 reps with that day, and one of the owner's sons wanted
to post that to put a higher weight up on the board.
Both of these records
still stand to this day.
All of a sudden, in their minds
the "Vince" that was listed on the record board had credibility,
whereas the previous "Vince" was just so-so and not really worth
listening to. Since that day, a lot of the people started to
hang on to every training conversations as if I was E.F.
Hutton. A lot of young guys in the gym who had been thinking
of taking steroids decided against it.
So there it is. I had
to prove I was knowledgeable and credible. To do this, I had to
set records that were witnessed and sanctioned, or I had to
constantly show people what I could do. I also had to be able to
point to people that I trained so that they could see how they
have progressed. I was able to demonstrate that I have taken
people who were less than average in development and strength
and middle-age attain generous size and strength gains in place
of the dead-ends previously endured. One guy "My friend and
mentor by the name of Phoenix" went from benching
90 pounds, weighing in at 145 pounds and eventually benching
twice his bodyweight, a weight of 330 pounds. He eventually tip
the scales at 190 pounds of defined body weight.
Some people call that bragging and showing off.
Me? I call it advertising and marketing to educate everyone what
they are capable of achieving without steroids.
Does all of this sound like outlandish
exaggeration of the truth?
Well it is not!
Instead, it is in the words of the famous Jack
Webb, "Just the facts Ma'am, just the facts!
Why Steroids are overly
regarded!
My Favorite types of People
that I love to Train the Most!
COMING SOON: Big Sam and his
boys at Superior Athletic Club
HOMEPAGE |
