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A result of your environment

I could do my usual laundry list of athletes that have trained alone if you like but you'll probably be satisfied by the word "many". Happens a lot in track and field
Quit Fuzzy's gym, go to Fitness First for 12 months. Then go back to Fuzzy and compare.
 
Quit Fuzzy's gym, go to Fitness First for 12 months. Then go back to Fuzzy and compare.

No idea what point you're trying to make here, please elucidate. I trained for more than 3 years in a public gym before going to Fuzzy's twice a week and do the rest of my training at an Anytime
 
If you look at the history...

Before the internet and before the, Weider muscle and fiction magazines, most learnt how to safely biuld a body by going to gym and learning via other dudes, "in the gym".

Gyms were pretty dirty dungeons, and not too popular with many.

in the mid 70's Dr Kenneth Cooper, introduced aerobics, this gave gyms what they needed to generate money, and they did, it started the "fitness" boom, and the environment for the worse, sort of gone full circle hadn't changed much until crossfit arrived, still not much better.

There is a lot of garbage on the internet to confuse a young bloke that wants to look strong and healthy.

Most gyms are a poor environment, and shit, there are too many experts trying to make a buck, writing there own interpretation of how to biuld muscle, thousands of them.
 
No idea what point you're trying to make here, please elucidate. I trained for more than 3 years in a public gym before going to Fuzzy's twice a week and do the rest of my training at an Anytime


It it could be easy for someone to say; but if you trained at a "fuzzy" type gym your "gains" could have been better.

But the environment is moot if you have the skill, the work ethic and most important the slow and steady progression.
 
My squat would be better
But I am catching up to where it "should" be pretty fast
 
Back in the early to mid 70s, my young eyes were opned to this:

638x479xfor_making_of_homemade_weights_out_of_concrete_we_will_ne_71.jpg

Yes, it's cement filled empty food cans. Gym! What gym! All you needed was a will that was married to passion, and off you went. I did not lift a weight until the age of 15 back in 1980, but in the 70s back in Lebanon, people were making their own barbell weights etc.

Why am I sharing this with you? To reinforce my point that one can (and does) create one's own environment. I never said that top gyms with massive and knowledgeable bodybuilders were a bad thing or anything of that nature. I trained at Australia's best facilities in the AIS, and I was blessed and grateful to have been part of the weightlifting squad there. One thing people here have not mentioned is the fact that the same exact environment they are claiming is needed to reach the world's best, can in fact work in the exact opposite way with some self-doubting athletes.

There are two types of athletes (and people in general): the one who gets inspired by others who are far ahead of him, and the other one who becomes terribly demoralised because of the same exact elite level athletes. He allows himself to become intimidated, reinforcing his already low self-esteem, leading to a possibly early failure and /or even quitting altogether,

So a top gym can serve two purposes depending not on its own environment,but on the attitude of the athlete that chooses to be part of it.

PS: We're always hearing about the pros and how they would have been champions with or without the aid of AAS. The same thing applies here. Of course it goes without saying, that one needs the proper tools to build muscles, and by proper, I do not mean some fancy machines.



Fadi.
 
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So everyone here that trains in their backyard or garage is wasting their time by not achieving the maximum results possible?

Not wasting time but not likely to become a champion.

People that believe that being in the correct environment and having the right people around has little to do with success are in denial.

I train at home as I train for my own reasons, I have gone to a PTC gym and hit PB's every time I trained there being guided encouraged and motivated by the people around me. I am 110% sure if I trained at a PTC gym full time my lifts would be a lot better than what they are are with me training at home by myself.

No one is saying you can not train at home or in a chrome and fern land heath club and have success, but I can guarantee that your success would be bigger if you were training in a hard core lifting gym surrounded by hard core people with a common purpose in mind. I remember training in commercial, gyms and topping out the machines many years ago, ie using all the weights on any given machine for reps and getting stares. And I still had no idea what I was doing, I just used the machines.

No one did dead lifts or squats, I was told by the 'gym istructors' that they were bad for you and not to do them, my brothers gym is the same, no one dead lifts and if they squat they use a smith machine or 30kg bar bells for ¼ reps as full reps will injure you. If you go down too far someone will pull you up telling you to correct your form to ¼ reps.

I remember coming to this forum squatting 70 or so kg, I had no idea that a 'normal person' could squat 100kg as I had never seen it before in real life, it was Fadi on this forum that encouraged me to add weight to the bar and he had me squatting 100kg in a couple of weeks if I recall correctly, I went to a PTC and saw people squatting 150kg for reps and I knew that I too could do it and I started adding weight to the bar more aggressively.
 
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Back in the early to mid 70s, my young eyes were opned to this:

View attachment 9893

Yes, it's cement filled empty food cans. Gym! What gym! All you needed was a will that was married to passion, and off you went. I did not lift a weight until the age of 15 back in 1980, but in the 70s back in Lebanon, people were making their own barbell weights etc.

Why am I sharing this with you? To reinforce my point that one can (and does) create one's own environment. I never said that top gyms with massive and knowledgeable bodybuilders were a bad thing or anything of that nature. I trained at Australia's best facilities in the AIS, and I was blessed and grateful to have been part of the weightlifting squad there. One thing people here have not mentioned is the fact that the same exact environment they are claiming is needed to reach the world's best, can in fact work in the exact opposite way with some self-doubting athletes.

There are two types of athletes (and people in general): the one who gets inspired by others who are far ahead of him, and the other one who becomes terribly demoralised because of the same exact elite level athletes. He allows himself to become intimidated, reinforcing his already low self-esteem, leading to a possibly early failure and /or even quitting altogether,

So a top gym can serve two purposes depending not on its own environment,but on the attitude of the athlete that chooses to be part of it.

PS: We're always hearing about the pros and how they would have been champions with or without the aid of AAS. The same thing applies here. Of course it goes without saying, that one needs the proper tools to build muscles, and by proper, I do not mean some fancy machines.



Fadi.

How many Olympic weightlifting champions in the last 20 years are there that trained by themselves out of a backyard gym.
 
How many Olympic weightlifting champions in the last 20 years are there that trained by themselves out of a backyard gym.
Zero that I know of Bazza. I don't know of any weightlifter who has a weightlifting platform in his backyard, or a weightlifter who doesn't have a coach to monitor his technique. That's the reality as I know it. Having been a weightlifter, I can assure you that weightlifting is far from being bodybuilding. Not better or worse, just different requirement Sir.

I hank you for your input Bazza, it's always great and brain stimulating to have an opposing view from one's own.



Fadi.
 
funny-guy-bike-gym-weird.jpg
 
Vasily Alexeyev trained by himself ever since 1968
There are many more examples but it's late

Lots of throwers as well trained solo as well as swimmers and runners. Many powerlifters, even if you don't consider it a real sport (it is a real sport in Eastern Bloc countries)
 
Vasily Alexeyev trained by himself ever since 1968
There are many more examples but it's late

Lots of throwers as well trained solo as well as swimmers and runners. Many powerlifters, even if you don't consider it a real sport (it is a real sport in Eastern Bloc countries)

In the west Blaine Sumner, one of the current greatest squatters in the world of powerlifting, largely trains alone in his shed performing +400kg squats regulary without a spotter in sight. Our own WR holding SP as mentioned also largely trains alone. And I know there were quite a few great powerlifters from the 60's and 70's who trained in garages or basements.

And I too have read of quite a few athletics greats who also trained alone. Most don't now because they get more support and sponsorship these days but that does not mean they could not have become great on their own either, it just would have been harder.

I agree that you do not have to be a product of your environment, you can make your own environment if you have the drive. Where you train is only an obstacle if you let it be.
 
Yeah, some are motivated, some are not, some are easy to coach, some are not, some are strong and intelligent, some are strong and dumb as dog shit.

For those that don't know yet, a barbell in FF, IS EXACTLY the same as a barbell in your garage, or a PTC.
 
Yeah, some are motivated, some are not, some are easy to coach, some are not, some are strong and intelligent, some are strong and dumb as dog shit.

For those that don't know yet, a barbell in FF, IS EXACTLY the same as a barbell in your garage, or a PTC.

I would really hope that the barbell in PTC, isn't 1)bent and 2)made of butter steel like most in my gym :p
 
Vasily Alexeyev trained by himself ever since 1968
There are many more examples but it's late

Lots of throwers as well trained solo as well as swimmers and runners. Many powerlifters, even if you don't consider it a real sport (it is a real sport in Eastern Bloc countries)

Lol. Great laundry list.

Powerlifters. Lol. Let's list a sport full of blokes that failed in real sports. It's almost a perfect example of training alone not working.
 
At the end of the day you got it or you dont - a HUGE % of people dont got it - the right environment though for some can def draw better results.

Really out of the millions of people that train prob only 5%-10% maybe will ever truely achieve the results/goals they are after or even train/eat correctly and it all comes back to the person they are - you either got it or you dont.
 
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