I Still Remember That Guy
I still remember that guy, even though I met him when I was only 14 years old, a freshman in high school.
Back then, the YMCA was ending the era of “old school”. Believe it or not, The Metuchen Y was very much like the Y that Golden Era greats trained out of like Dave Draper did when he was a Jersey boy.
I remember AC/DC being played LOUD on the radio tape recorder. Yep, I am THAT old, I used to listen to tapes! ha ha
Anyway, George was the biggest guy in the Y, and, most importantly, the Strongest.
Everyone else followed the rules of lifting but George never did. Looking back, I realize that he simply learned what his body wanted and gave it exactly that. Instead of reading the fabricated workouts in the muscle magazines, George did what he knew was best.
He trained old school, basics all the way.
And although I rarely saw him in a t shirt (most of the time he wore a sweat shirt), his muscles stretched the limits of his sweat shirts.
His traps pushed the limits of his sweat shirt.
His chest and shoulders protruded like boulders under a shirt.
His sleeves tried to hang on for dear life as his arms stretched through.
How does one get so big and strong?
BASICS.
I mostly recall George performing 2 exercises per workout. NEVER counting sets OR training to failure.
Instead, he seemed to train for time, each exercise would go on for a solid 30 – 45 minutes. I will never forget showing up to train and BIG George was already training.
I finished my workout and he was still NOT finished.
In my mind, I questioned myself, asking myself, “How come he’s not done yet AND he was here before me.”
I tried to do more, tried to drag my workout on and on, but I couldn’t keep up.
George kept on benching…. using only a shoulder width grip, moving the weights very fast even though Joe Weider told me to move the barbell slowly and never lock my limbs, BIG George locked his arms out on every rep.
I almost told him about The Weider Continuous Tension Principle but feared getting my 14 year old a** kicked inside a spooky weight room and then having to call my Mom to pick me up because some BIG Dude just beat me up.
I recall the one day I saw George take his sweat shirt off. He was wearing a Bat Man T shirt and his upper body was PUMPED.
He grabbed the weight belt for dips and strapped on a bunch of 25 lb plates – he probably coulda gone heavier but it seemed as if he only grabbed all the 25s that were close to him and no further, seemed as if that was his strategy: If I see the weight I will dip with that weight.
He did set after set of full range dips, with lock out.
Son of a Bitch! I was gonna send a letter to FLEX Magazine if this behemoth kept locking out and disobeying the Weider Law!
I was 130 lbs of twisted steel and sex appeal so I didn’t think he would listen to me if I told him about The Weider Principles. Smart move, right? Fast forward close to a decade….
I started packing on muscle like nobody’s business when I was around age 22, when I started listening to my body and I stopped reading all the lies and myths. I learned what REALLY worked for me, not my training partners or others.
It took me a while to learn my lessons from George, although he rarely spoke. But, to this day, whenever I do weighted dips or workouts with only 2 or 3 exercises, I think of George and what a Bad Mother F**er he was!
The man was a BEAST and he knew what it took to become one, the question was, why didn’t anybody listen to him or try to learn from him back then as he was way ahead of ALL of us?
They all remained weak and skinny because they remained in their own comfort zone.
Are you willing to learn?
Are you willing to leave your comfort zone?
Peace
–Z–
PS: Modern day George, I often tell myself, may very well be the man I recently interviewed for Underground Strength Nation.
* He follows NO rules
* He is stronger than any other man I know
* He trains like a Man
How RARE!
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Filed under Articles, Strength Building, muscle building, old school strength by on Oct 18th, 2011. Comment. 
Comments on I Still Remember That Guy
Awesome post Zach. Hard work and consistency are what bring results. Only once I began ignoring all of the “breakthrough” scientific advice on training, did I start to make real substantial improvements.
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admin Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
@Kyle: ha ha – funny how things go full circle! Basics ALWAYS WIN!
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Man, I neverrr get tired of this story.
I read this story several times now and no matter what, this story always inspires me. This George…
Zach, you were one lucky son of a gun to have seen this guy living and kicking ass.
People like George reminds us…stick with the basics, hit it hard n heavy and listen to what your body tells you, you will get results. F**k the power-puff workouts that are advertised in magnazines. Hit the basics, go heavy, go hard, smash your PRs each n every time, repeat….check yourself out in a year.
That’s another thing, far too manby people look at short-term progress (which is a greatttt thing for motivation purposes) but if one really learns to stick with it..day after day, week after week, imagine the progress you can make in a year from now.
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admin Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 10:34 am
@Dustin M.: Dustin, I just snagged a bunch of OLD York Dumbbells and they reminded me of the Y and BIG George!!
F**ing Dude was a HOUSE!!
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Great stuff Zach. Makes me want to hit the gym and train in a whole new way like I never had before. Keep up the great posts.
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admin Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 10:34 am
@Kevin Walker: Tear it up, brutha!
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Brutal honesty. Love it.
Jim
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admin Reply:
October 21st, 2011 at 11:34 am
@Jim Cutler: Jim, thnx my brutha, das how I roll!! ha ha
These times are embedded in my head!
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A couple of quotes that really stuck with me is
“Get Brilliant at the Basics” and do
“Simple Things Savagely Well”
and the last one is something to the effect of
Be afraid of the man who does one move 1,000 times instead of the guys who did 1,000 moves one time! This is a BIG one for our wrestlers!
Keep spreading the word and building the UNDERGROUND NATION!
Awesome read Z! Keep up the good work my man and see you soon!
The basics are what WIN!
-Coach Gaglione
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I love this quote: ”Be afraid of the man who does one move 1,000 times instead of the guys who did 1,000 moves one time!”
How true is that, I wish I had an influence like George earlier in my life. For years I could bench press more than I could squat WTF! It wasn’t until a mate at the gym poked fun at me about it that I realised how mixed up my training was. I can now squat well and truely more than I can bench and the results speak for themselves.
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