Heavy metal is blasting through the stereo behind the front desk. The air is thick with desire, determination, and drive. You can smell the sweat and blood in harmony with the pleasantly pungent odor of camphor and capsaicin liniments. Beasts of men move through a cloud of chalk dust. Egos are reserved for those very few who have earned the right to brag, though they rarely do. Everyone is here for a purpose. Everyone has the same goal. Get stronger. Put more weight on the bar. Do whatever it takes to add five more pounds to that knurled steel bar. Forget what you know about strength. This is where strength breeds.

I first walked into Southside Gym 2 weeks after my 27th birthday. I had been personally invited by Vinny, a world champion bench presser who has lifted 800 lbs in competition. How could I refuse? I swallowed my ego, laced up my Converse Chuck Taylor high-tops and made the trip after work on a Friday night. Admittedly, I was nervous the first night. I have built a reputation as being a “hardcore” lifter..

and I was about to find out if I could live up to my own hype. What followed was an education in strength and power; in shutting the hell up and just getting stronger. The first night humbled me to say the least. There was much work to be done.

I first walked into Southside Gym 2 weeks after my 27th birthday. I had been personally invited by Vinny, a world champion bench presser who has lifted 800 lbs in competition. How could I refuse? I swallowed my ego, laced up my Converse Chuck Taylor high-tops and made the trip after work on a Friday night. Admittedly, I was nervous the first night. I have built a reputation as being a “hardcore” lifter and I was about to find out if I could live up to my own hype. What followed was an education in strength and power; in shutting the hell up and just getting stronger. The first night humbled me to say the least. There was much work to be done.

When you bench press 275 lbs, your friends think you’re pretty strong. Your mom worries about you and your family is impressed by you. When you bench press 275 lbs in a power-lifting meet, you feel weak. I had a myriad of excuses. Torn rotator cuff, old shoulder injury, weak wrists, the list went on. These would no longer be acceptable. It was time to shut up and get strong. On a recent training night, I missed the same weight 3 times and quit for the night. There was pain in my shoulder and it was causing a lot of fear and doubt in my mind. One of the veterans, an Arizona State Football alumnus, asked “Are you going to see a doctor about it?” I replied in the negative. His response was direct and to the point: “Then shut the fuck up and do it right next time.”

The day rate at Southside is five dollars. This earns you entrance to the facility. Training with the crew is a privilege. You do not buy your way in, you earn it. And you can easily lose it. “We don’t need more lifters” is a common phrase spoken within the crew. There is no room for screwing around. We live for 3 hours every Friday night. The bullshitting is gotten out of the way as everyone filters in and begins to stretch and prepare for battle. Once the bar is being lifted there is no more time for bullshit. Nothing is taken for granted. The list of discussion topics from 6:30 – 9:30 is as follows: bench press technique.

If you hadn’t already guessed, this is not your typical gym. There are no neon lights. There is no Justin Timberlake on the stereo. The “cardio section” begins and ends with one stationary bike that looks to be 40 years old and probably hasn’t been used in as long. The walls are cinder and adorned with photos of old time boxers and lifters. There are no fancy machines or smoothie bars. There is a cooler filled with RedBull and Budweiser behind the front desk. There is no locker room, no shower, no tanning beds, no racquetball court, and no swimming pool. This is a place to get strong. It is a very small space. There is no room for useless equipment. There are bars, tools and racks that you have never dreamed of. Huge lengths of chain and giant rubber bands hang from racks and walls like some kind of primitive torture devices. Dumbbells line the wall ranging from 10 to 200 lbs and all are battered from years of use. And the chalk bucket is always full. Oh, and if your main purpose for joining a gym is to look at girls, I’m sorry, you won’t find any here.

From outside, you wouldn’t know this was a gym except for the simple white board with red lettering at the front entrance. In fact, you probably wouldn’t come here unless you were looking for the place. You certainly wouldn’t bring your kids into this neighborhood. If you actually have the guts to walk in the door, prepare to lift heavy or be ridiculed. If you plan to do dumbbell curls while looking at your biceps in the mirror, you WILL get laughed at. Do not flex your 14 inch “gunz” in the mirror; you will be made fun of… loudly. When you walk in here, you ain’t shit. The biggest guy here is well over 400 lbs and he could crush you with one hand. (He’s also the nicest guy in the gym.)

Glance at the records board, you will see what I mean. The biggest all-time squat is 942 lbs and the biggest all-time bench press is 800 lbs. The owners of both lifts are always here, training hard, getting better. I always take a look at the bench press record for my weight class: 468 lbs. The owner of this lift is a few years my junior and a great guy, I just hope he moves up a weight class before bumping his own record. I left my last gym being one of the strongest, and now I am one of the weakest. By the way, if you’re giving everything you have it doesn’t matter how much weight you lift. If you can only squat 95 pounds but have the desire and the hunger to get strong, then everyone will be behind you. If you’re going to give a half-assed effort, kindly get the fuck out. You’re not welcome.

Anyone who isn’t lifting is spotting, coaching and watching. The most important thing I can tell a new lifter is to watch, pay attention, and learn something. I had a young protégé come in to lift one night. At 14 years old and 148 lbs, his best bench press is 160lbs. He was not allowed to spot that night. His job was to watch everything. Pay attention to how we warm up, set up, lift the bar off, spot and coach each other. Watch the placement of our feet, hips, shoulders and hands. Make note of where we bring the bar and how we breathe. Watch the elbows tuck on the way down, and flare on the way up. Most importantly, see the struggle when the weight gets very heavy. Watch us fight a weight up for 5, 10, 20 seconds and never quit. Watch guys attempt the same weight over and over until they get it right or almost die trying. Watch a guy pass out with 500 lbs in his hands and see how we keep him safe by catching the bar. See how we make each other better. See the attitude.

Getting strong is all about attitude. I remember the first time I admitted to being scared. I was holding 385 lbs for the first time and I began to panic. I’d never felt such a heavy weight. One of the guys, a 770lb bencher, pulled me aside and told me to get over it or I’d never get anywhere. That from here out I would have to decide who the bitch was, me or the weight. He then told me to stop being such a pussy and gave me a well-placed “WAAAAAAAHHH!!!” I haven’t feared a weight since that night.

On December 9th, I made a trip to Vermont to compete in a regional power-lifting meet. At my previous meet, I benched a personal best 275 lbs. For my first attempt, I would bench 316 lbs, and it was easy. I finished the day with a 356 bench press; still not impressive by power-lifting standards, but a lot closer. By the way, an eighty pound increase over 10 weeks is almost unheard of. I could never have accomplished this in a regular gym. I had to seek out a new resource and I had to have the balls to expose how weak I really was. I will be competing again this Saturday in my home town in front of my family and friends. As always, my main goal is to improve on my previous effort.

As we begin another new year, I look back on where I was last year at this time. I once thought it would be amazing to just bench press 300 lbs. Now, I’ve added over 125 lbs to the lift and have my sights set on 500 lbs. I truly believe there is NO reason not to bench press 500 by the time 2008 rolls around. I see it happen every Friday night. I exist with guys who press 500, 600, 700, 800 lbs. If I hope to continue training here, I had better add some more weight to the bar. That’s all that matters here. Train hard and heavy. Get bigger and stronger. Make your training partners better. These are simple rules to follow. Don’t like the rules? Then get the fuck out!

This is just a small taste of what it’s like to train in a real gym. There’s no way to know what really goes on inside without coming in and finding out. I won’t discuss some of the things that happen in here even with my best friends. I take abuse that would send most people running. I listen to more shit about my small arms, weak back, and bad technique. Are these things true? YES! My arms could be bigger, my back could be stronger and my technique will never be perfect. There’s no such thing as “good enough” here. You can always get better. You can always get stronger. You can always improve. We don’t believe in excuses. You want to know how we train here? HEAVY. This is where hardcore lives.