The first gym I ever joined was Walker’s Gym in Hopewell, Virginia.  The gym is run by Mr. Walker and his son Barry.  Walker’s was where I learned to train.  Mr. Walker and Barry taught me everything about training and how to get as strong as an ox.  They taught me to get in there, go heavy, rely on big lifts like squats, deads, heavy presses and rows.  This was an intense place to train.  There were champion power lifters all around me.  Mr. Walker was a master’s world champion and Barry won numerous events and held many records.  This was a no nonsense place.  There was no A/C, little heat in the winter but you never noticed because the atmosphere was electric.

This isn’t Walker’s but you get the picture…

But, when I got to college I lost the INTENSITY.  I got sucked into “college lifting!”  You know, curl and bench everyday to impress the chicks.  You try every muscle mag workout because you want to get ripped!  There was absolutely no atmosphere in that gym, which I now know is no excuse for the way I trained.

You see, I had also ballooned to over 250lbs.  I was fat!  And of course, to get ripped and get chicks you have to follow the workouts the ripped guys did right and put in tons of time on the elliptical and stair climber!  Never mind nutrition (which we’ll get into a later date).  I was depressed and wasn’t getting any girls!

I did drop all the weight and got some girls but my training still wasn’t right.  I now know that although I got the weight off, it could’ve come off much quicker had I remembered those lessons Mr. Walker taught me when I was in high school.

About a year ago I decided to go back to those old lessons and some new ones I learned over the past few years training clients.  I quit doing only high rep, high volume workouts thinking that was the best way to add size.  I quit doing endless, mind numbing, 30 minute plus cardio sessions.  I started lifting heavy again and man did it feel great.  I started piling on the weight doing squats, deads, heavy dumbbell press, barbell rows that got me size and strength in high school.  I starting doing interval conditioning sessions with sprints, hill sprints, body weight circuits, and sled pushing for no longer than 20-25 minutes.  I brought the INTENSITY back into my training!  And you know what happend?  I put on more size, added more strength, and trimmed more body fat than I had in the previous years of training.

PLEASE DON”T DO WHAT I DID!  Lift heavy, use intervals for conditioning, eat clean and you’ll get the results you desire.  Above all — train with INTENSITY in all you do!