A sequel to "Concentration and Muscle Control."
If you read my previous piece, you'll already know that my use of the gym is closely linked to my sexuality, my love of hard masculine muscular bodies.
Following the closure of the first gym I had used and where I had learned so much about training, about myself and what triggered my attraction to sex with men, I had to find a new place to train.
I saw a big guy getting into a builder's van, his body was so far beyond the beefiest of natural physiques it was obvious he was a serious, probably a competitive, body builder. In those days, that kind of body was rare enough to be really obvious in the street. I was near enough to walk over and ask him where he trained before he drove away. He was good enough to answer me in a civil way although his bristling manner let me know quickly that my intrusion in his daily business was not welcome. He wasn't rude but he wasn't at all friendly. At nineteen, it was an important lesson in Gym etiquette. I'd see him quite often at this next venue and I'd been right about his competing in shows. He was no oil painting but carried an an amazing, ripped muscle mass, a wonderful body when he didn't shave it. : ( I learned his name from other senior members at the St.Mary's who spoke to him or trained with him but I never addressed him again. Bob was not at all approachable.
I made a mental note of the name of the Gym, simple enough to remember, and I was able to locate it easily. A big place. A converted church and vestry in a run down, de-populated industrial part of town. Odd approaching the gym through an old grave yard but it was obvious, setting foot in the place for the first time that this was a much more serious training environment.
I was shown around by the owner and his son who was about my own age, the younger, I learned was looking forward to an Olympic trial in clean and Jerk. Competition weight lifting and power lifting were important features of the club and there was a stage permanently set up for those purposes at one end of the main gym. At the opposite end, another stage with a permanent "Circuit" set up and I was to learn that in order to use the free weights area of the main gym I would need to satisfy the owner of my cardio vascular fitness. The test for which was 3 circuits of this routine with set weights in a set time. At my first session, I almost passed out after the beginning of the second set which proved that my CV fitness was way below where it needed to be in order to move on at this club but it also made me realise that I could not maximise my potential without that high impact training.
During the next 6 months I worked exclusively on the circuits. Pounding away at the routine of small weights and simple body weight exercises, first just getting through the 3 circuits without having to stop, then shaving off the time to get down to what was required. I had changed my shift pattern at this time and was only able to get there at peak times. To begin with, I had to be very careful not to get in the way of much fitter guys. Many of whom had developed short cuts to cheat the exercises and be able to complete the circuits far quicker and with less strain, however, there were many supremely fit guys working that circuit and I could see the benefits.
I was losing body mass and even the biggest of the guys that could do the circuits were athletic rather than powerful, it became obvious that gaining muscle mass and increasing CV fitness could be conflicting and I also saw that very few of the guys on the free weights bothered with any warm up beyond a few stretches and lighter reps.
When I was finally given approval for use of the main gym, I determined that I was not going to neglect my CV fitness regime but periodically I have done in order to put some bulk back on. My shift pattern had changed back by this point and I missed the competitive nature of the circuits at busy times even though, by nature, I am not a natural competitor. In that one case, it had really helped.
I avoided eye contact with people at busy times and there were a lot of driven men with serious deficiencies in social skills. It was one of the premium clubs in the city for the big guys. No frills no luxury facilities. Serious men, big kit, working out. It's not that there was only macho, anti-social behaviour, at busy times you didn't hang about, there was no resting on the benches between sets. I'm sure, even then, hormone supplements were being used there by some of the heavyweights and it showed in their attitude as well as their ability to pile on lean muscle and cut to corded sinew at the same time.
When I got back to afternoon workouts there was a much more relaxed atmosphere. Friendlier crowd because there was no pressure to get use of benches, squat stands etc. There were no cable machines except one leg bicep machine but there was always someone knowledgable around to coach exercises and the safe control of free weights. Good technique and good breathing, right from the start. It was here that I got some great coaching in squats particularly. The next year was like a finishing school for weight training for me. I was making big progress in all aspects of the workout. Eventually, I got to know a few regulars who trained at the same time as myself. We'd spot for one another and I'd learn new exercises or get corrections from these guys sometimes.
It was a busy place, even at down times. People always coming and going. It was also a serious workout environment so the opportunity for any kind of recognition of like minded individuals with a view to man on man sex was next to impossible to imagine. Although there were fantastic looking men working out there, it was not the place to be known for your admiration of male sexuality even though the admiration of and perfection of the male body was what the place was all about. Competitive body builders posed naked in front of the big mirror in the changing room discussing areas for improvement, how to segue between poses etc. So discussions could take place, men could check out other men at a distance but it was all within carefully monitored boundaries and not to be confused with sexual attraction.
One afternoon, after a leg workout, two men whom I saw regularly and who'd been friendly and helpful with their advice and whom I'd admired discretely for months, approached me after a workout in the changing room. Danny, the shorter, more muscular and more classically handsome of the two, praised my progress, I had been pleased by the work I'd been doing and it was great to hear that from one so strong and experienced as him. His workout buddy, another John, Big John or sometimes just "Big" was taller and had obviously piled muscle onto a skinny body instead of the compact, big boned shape of Danny, a natural for powerful development, John had long limbs and an altogether more difficult task to get good proportion. John introduced himself first, we'd never shared names previously, greeting with just a "Hi" or even with an "Excuse me" in my case, trying to be as respectful and careful as possible. John sat on the bench quite close to me our backs against the lockers, then introduced Danny, who offered his hand, clasped mine warmly and very firmly and smiled that kind of Greek /near Eastern twinkly charm that melts me instantly. They were both in their late twenties.
My whole body tensed a little when Danny sat the other side of me. There was no-one else in the changing area, one large room with exits to the reception and shop one way and the showers the other. I didn't have any unease about either their intentions or my personal safety but because people didn't group this way in that place and it was obvious to anyone walking in, by these guy's presence in my body space, that something untoward, i.e. more than friendly, was taking place here.
I jumped when John put his hand on my bare thigh, not because I feared his touch but I didn't want to risk our use of the place and our reputations as club members by word getting around, even among the staff that their was more to our association than being friendly training buddies. That tension almost put them off. John removed his hand sharply as if scalded and made an apologetic gesture. Danny abruptly got back to his feet and moved away.
I immediately felt really bad. I admired the two and had had a lean time sexually since my baptismal session with Ed and John at my previous gym, almost a year previously.
