They say all good things must come to an end and such is the
case of my gym of 20 plus years. The Bally's Fitness Center in
the Merriman Valley closed it's doors after 30 years. This may
not sound like a big deal to you, but to this diehard gymrat it
was a devastating blow.
I, pretty much owned that gym. I was there more than anyone. My
killer ab routine was infamous. One old man once counted my reps
on the ab crunch machine and asked "Did you know you just
did 3,400 of those?" I didn't, but who's counting? Oh yea,
HE WAS! I was also the one who started the grass roots movement
to save one of our ab machines.( Abs are VERY important to us
cover models.) I told all the members to complain to the management
not to get rid of the machine after the mantainance guy told me
they were getting rid of my favorite and still perfectly good
machine. He took great pleasure in telling me they were getting
rid of the machine, since they no longer had parts to fix it if
it needed repairs. I said "It's not broken NOW! Why get rid
of it BEFORE it breaks down?" Kind of like shooting the horse
before it breaks it's leg. He came up to me later irate asking
if I had given gym members his phone number. It seems people were
calling him at home telling him to keep the machine. Long story
short, they kept the machine and almost 4 years later it never
needed repairs. I felt a little like Norma Rae!
I had also made life long friends there. We laughed together,
cried together. Celebrated births. Mourned deaths. Comiserated
over illnesses. Consoled each other over the loss of loved ones.
And every year for the past 5, my beautiful friend, Carol Dullen
brought me in a cake she made to the gym for my perpetual "29th
birthday". Believe it or not we ate cake at the gym. The
first year she did it my fellow iron pumpers were apprehensive
about having any. But, after they saw the Black Forest chocolate
cake with cherry filling decorated better than any bakery cake
I've ever seen they all changed their minds. People from all over
the gym came up to me saying "I heard you have cake?"
with a hungry look in their eyes. I never had any to take home.
I guess that was a good thing.
We were one big family, although it was a tad dysfunctional. So,
when I heard they were closing the place I couldn't let it go
quietly. My friend, Jen and I planned a bon voyage blow out at
a local bar the Saturday night before the gym closed it's doors.
A good many of the gym rats showed up and we drank watered down
booze and ate more cake. I didn't get the memo about what wear
and seemed to be the only guy who wasn't in a white T-shirt or
a plain black shirt and jeans. Instead, I wore the green embroidered
shirt I paid way too much for in Germany earlier this year. Jen
wowed the guys who had never seen her before in "regular"
clothes. A lot of "Holy S---t! That's Jen?" could be
heard all evening. We told raunchy stories and laughed until we
cried. Another gym "glamazon" named Jennifer, 5'10 showed
her physical prowess by picking me up in her arms for a pic. So
much for the weaker sex. I weigh 195 pounds!
The last day at the gym was bittersweet. They were liteally tearing
down the walls around me as I worked out for the last time. A
new gym was coming in and they were remodeling, but it wouldn't
be a Bally's affiliate. I was determined to go down with the ship,
like the Titanic and my heart would go on! I took one last look
and was out the door.
The people I used to see everyday gave me their e-mail addresses
and home phone numbers. We vowed to keep in touch.
I went to another Bally's affiliate not too far from my home in
the other direction. It was like I was 10 years old going to a
new school, thinking "Will the kids like me?" They didn't.
I found the people there to be cold, distant and not at all friendly.
My work outs started to become just that, WORK. There is something
to be said about going someplace "where everybody knows your
name".
So, I did something I said I wasn't going to do. I joined the
new gym, RP Fitness, the one that replaced the Bally's. My first
day there was like reunion and it had only been a week since I
had seen some of these people. The entire gang from the party
was there on the first day. There were hugs, kisses (kisses with
the women, that is!) and a lot of high fives. I felt at home with
my big, extended be it dysfunctional family. We all talked more
than worked out.
Now, we all keep in touch. If somebody isn't going to work out
that day I will get an e-mail or a vocie mail saying "I won't
be there today. Tell everyone not to miss me too much!" It
may sound sappy, but it's great.
I'm home.......and still working on my abs.
