"The Heroes & Weirdos of The Gym World": Part I
Over the years many of us ha
s met these characters, and they made marks in our minds and will probably live there forever. I am talking about the weirdos of the gyms. This article is reminiscing over my encounters with them and the gyms over the last years. I must confess that it was really amusing and uplifting to write this article and take a look in the rear mirror back in time.
I began training in autumn 1994. I bought my first membership at a gym called “Empire” in Gothenburg, Sweden. I was a young kid at that time and wanted to put on some muscles, weighing around 138 lbs. This place was very popular at the time and it was a “real deal gym”.
When I started training it was like a whole new world opened up. And I could feel the adrenaline kicking in, just as I set my foot in the place for the first time. Loud music, a lot of big guys with either “MacGyverish mullets” , “flat tops” or “shaved heads”.
Clothing fashion at the time was, for example, the classic baggy pants with patterns of wind-surfing boards or stars and stripes. To match the 80s - 90s style, a big low-necked XXXXL in the color purple or pink was not uncommon to see.
Luckily, there were timeless icons to refer to as well, such as Sergio Olivia and Dorian Yates and Lenda Murray portrayed on the walls.
This gym had a bunch of unique characters. It was a really inspiring place to train at. And many bodybuilders trained here. The camaraderie was present. You could feel that people enjoyed the gym atmosphere, with more openness and people who socialized in a different way compared to the standards of many gyms today.
Even if there was
many of them who had a troubled backgrounds with criminality, many took more care of the new beginners by giving advices and instructions how to use the free weights or machines. But there were a lot of weirdos here too.
I remember one peculiar character that looked like Quasimodo doing the Stairmaster the wrong way with his back to the display. He stood there, gray workout jumpsuitand a broad training belt, smiling at everyone like he had seen freedom for the first time in his whole life. He exercised like this for at least one hour. He also always brought a container of milk every time he worked out, which he drank during his workout causing a milk mustache. He was a very strange dude, but a happy character at the same time.
One other time I came in the gym after training maybe 3 months. I had to take the bus to the gym, it took me like 45 minutes and it was late evening. I saw a guy resting on the leg curl machine. He was wearing a dirty, meant-to-be-white t-shirt and see-through tights. He looked like a thinner, serial killer version of “Weird Al Yankovic” with stripy hair. And when he stood up you could see his entire package. He looked like he was about to maybe kill someone or himself at any time.
Later on, the owner decided that Empire should have their own small hair salon. All the bodybuilders and any other gym members who wanted to cut their hair had one option of cutting – shaved head or nothing. Wanted something else you had to go someplace elsewhere!
Another time, I saw a guy coming out from the stylish hair salon while I was working out, he was shouting to his friends, “Look guys, look, my whole side burn came offand I was just going to trim it a little bit”. There he was walking around all goofy with only
one big sideburn, military cargo pants, and Caterpillar boots. He was very tanned also, so now there was, a big white spot on the side of the face instead of the sideburn. His nickname was “Connie Coke”.He later got convicted due to robbery. I never saw him again.
The owner of Empire was odd. He had been to prison some years earlier on a murder charge. At that time the rumor was that he had killed two enforcers over money. This guy was trying his hardest to become the Cesar of the gyms in Gothenburg. He decided that his “Empire Gym” was going to be the biggest one ever, so he went berserk adding space.
No more office, no more hair salon, and good bye to all unnecessary rooms. From his perspective, toilets inside the area were included! Well, he reached his goal because it was a really big place in the end.The end result was positive for his wallet, but that carpenters were never paid for their work. Later on he got arrested again over tax fraud. So his Empire only lasted for like three years before it fell apart forever.But keep in mind it was a hell of a good gym that many people miss today.
One gym outside of town was called “Royal Gym”. I don´t know why it was called this because it smelled like a barn with too many pigs on MiraLAX. The gym was good besides the smell, and, man, they sold the best protein shakes ever, at least when it comes to taste. MET-Rx Chocolate with milk and banana in the late 90s was the thing and Paul Demayo was their poster boy.
The owner of this place was so tight with a penny that he was nicknamed “Cheap Carl”. He actually picked up shampoo and soap bottles and emptied the leftovers and made his own collection of shampoo/soap bottles and sold this to customers. He also rented out towels, and, yes, you can imagine were they came from. His old father was working there as well. He was surely 70-plus and sneaked around with his glasses tipped on the end of the nose, looking like he never touched a dumbbell in his whole life.
The years went by really fast and I’m grateful to have a lot of memories left over the years. Stay tuned for part two!
