My First Gym Mentor

I was a pudgy kid who grew into a chubby adolescent struggling with body image and eating disorders. I didn't understand how my body worked. I knew nothing about fitness or working out and less about eating right. I never dreamed in a million years that I could have a strong, healthy, athletic body like the gymnasts or figure skaters that I grew up watching on TV. And then Jane Fonda hit the market with her series of work-out videos. So I joined a "women-only gym." I hated being fat and thought this was the path to get the body of which I'd always dreamed.

But as the weeks turned into months my frustration increased causing me to question my desire to stay in the gym. Even though I was literally killing myself jumping around in the aerobics classes and listening to the aerobics instructors' (off the record) advice about nearly starving myself or listening to the other gym members' advice about one whacky diet after another my body didn't change. My weight would fluctuate, no question. But I wasn't seeing the changes in my physique that I'd always dreamed about. Why on earth should I stay in the gym? As luck would have it just before I gave up and quit I saw a girl who had the kind of body I wanted. I'd never seen her at my gym before so I seized the opportunity and approached her. After I'd expressed my frustration to her and confessed my feelings of giving up she offered me enlightenment. She told me, "You are doing the right thing by staying in the gym. The problem is you are wasting your time by going to the wrong gym. You won't learn what you need to here."

I was stunned. I thought to myself, "Aren't all gyms the same?" So I asked her what kind of gym I was supposed to join. She told me that I would have to go to a gym where body-builders train. She could see the look of horror wash over me and said, "Well you say you want to look more like me, don't you? In order to do that you are going to have to learn how to lift weights properly and you are also going to have to learn the right way to eat."

She recommended a local body-building gym called Apollon Gym. We used to call them "dive gyms" back in the day. It was hard for me to work out in such close quarters with well-muscled young men who could move massive amounts of weight, grunting and sweating while wearing very revealing gym clothes. The owner of the gym (an old-time body-builder named Mike Clemente) could see how embarrassed and clueless I was so he made me this offer, "If you come to the gym every morning when I open at 6AM then I will train you, free of charge." When he saw my eyes wide with appreciation he joked, "I don't want someone as small as you getting hurt in my place." And so it began that I would show up in the gym parking lot every morning at 5:45AM so as not to be late for fear that he would rescind his offer for feeling disrespected. Mike took the time for many, many weeks to show me everything I needed to know to give me a solid foundation for proper weight resistance training. He also gave me guidance about how I should eat so that I could grow stronger and drop excess body fat.

There were no such things as a personal trainers or fitness professionals back then. Working out was considered fringe and all anybody ever cared about was "getting skinny." I owe a tremendous debt to Mike for sharing everything he knew about gym safety, proper form, training routines, good eating habits and appreciating the feeling of being strong and healthy. If it weren't for him I am sure I would have quit. But because he took the time to mentor me I have stayed in the gym for over 26 years and now I take great pleasure in paying his kindness forward to all of you.

Don't quit. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. Find proper mentors and do whatever you need to do in order to stay in the gym.