Down in the Basement: Introduction
Most people call me Solution. Partly because whenever I encounter a problem I can become obsessed with finding the solution. And even when I find one my mind will still not be content with any solution, it will then need to be the only solution. Anyways, I'm a UK Competive Bodybuilder. I heard about Animalpak.com through a friend, who is also the owner of the gym that I am currently training at over here in foggy London called 'The Basement', my man big 'O', I believe you may have known him on here as 'Orthodox'.
But yeah, O, gave me the forum address, told me to read Machine and G diesel's articles, said it would give me some spiritual strength, which of course was also the name of the thread he once started on here and he wasnt wrong, straight away i was hooked. Actually just touching on 'O'... I understand that he had his deferences with some other users on here which resulted in him being banned and yes while it is also true that he is a dear friend of mine, I would ask that you please give me a chance to contribute to this amazing bodybuilding forum and community. You all seem like a great bunch of lads and more importantly, your a family. I ask that you judge me on my merit as a bodybuilder contributions to the forum. I am in no means on here to course any type of problem. As my name indicates , I'm only interested in finding solutions. This is not just a chosen user name, this is a name that I am known as in my personal life because its how i am in my nature. I am a Bodybuilder, and thats what your know me as, if i can form friendships with anyone then even better. My purpose for my thread is just to journal my thoughts and feelings as i begin to get ready for my 2018 shows and the daily goings within the Iron Realm in general. Because all, we all share one thing in common... the Iron.
Solution
Joining The Basement Gym (prt 1)
I been training at The Basement, as in O's gym, a little over a year now and this is not some shameless plug but tbh, unless i had to relocate, i can't see myself leaving. Like with most people and there gyms, its become home. If you noticed i didn't say 'second home' and I'll explain why later.. When I first met 'O' at a show I was competing in last year, he gave me an invitation and said look him up if i was ever local and stuck for some where to train. Which of course i did. Tbh, when i first saw him from a distance i thought he was a fellow ompetitor competiting but obviously of a higher weight class, either that or a quest of some sort, you know like with most competitions, your have a Pro guest posing or handing out prizes etc so i asked him. His response amazed me and still does. A simply smiled and replied, "Nooo Im just a Husband and Gym owner!"
He then went on to explain that he was just there to support one of his customers who was also competiting but at 75 kg in the juniors. So my head got ticking lol "Finally, a solution to my problem" I thought and I was right. Fate stepped in. Anyway this junior competitor ended up winning his class, 'O' then introduced us back stage. Omg this guy looked amazing! He was only 16 then. A year on now and he looks even better. His only small but wow is he put together. Infact we were joking about that day we met only a few weeks ago, just before he left for Bulgaria, as his just signed a great suplement deal with 'Spartan Pro Athelets', an upcoming supplement company over in eastern Europe. But yeah, because often at these competitions, if there are very little competitors in your weight class, its not uncommon for you to move up or down a weight class depending on wether your physique can carry you. So yeah, i recently joked with him about that saying that, "I thanked God, that that hadn't of happened that day." Lol
I miss that little fella already. He was an awesome posing partner.
Joining The Basement Gym (prt 2)
After receiving that very kind invitation from 'O' to go and train at his gym, i think it took me like a milli second to accept lol I'm gonna be honest with you, over here in the UK, bodybuilding is dying. No disrespect to any of the great UK nationals competitors who are currently standing on stage because some of them i met thanks to 'O', but it is. We have to look on those stages to the left of us in Europe or to the right of us which is you course is yourselves. Here there's nothing. So when I saw this junior's champion that was using O's gym, it inspired me. When you look like that at 16, with that type of conditioning. I mean he even had that maturity of muscle that i have. He literally wiped the stage clean. I think 'O' walked away at some point to call his wife and I asked him who his trainer was and he said 'O'. Suddenly I became so excited because I knew finally I've found my trainer. I had turnt down many great opportunities to work with people up until then because this might sound strange but my spirit just didn't take to them for some reason. But here you got this ' Gym owner' who is willing to traveling half way up the country just to support one of his 16 year old customers. It really impressed me, the vibe between them and I wanted that. It became clear to me that day that i needed that. Suddenly i could see a possibility of developing my own physique further. My only concern was how i was going to be able to manage training at The Basement. Because I lived on the other side of the river and I didn't drive. I was already becoming anxious anticipating a problem and as I told you previously in my intro, I don't like problems. "2 cardio sessions per day, 2 weight sessions, Posing session and a stretch down, omg" i thought "how am gonna do this?" At that time i was actually homeless but a friend came to my ade and let me sleep on his couch, how embarrassing. I didn't know how to tell 'O' tbh. Here you got this guy who looks well, great. His very successful and yeah my bodyfat level is always under 9% i tell myself for confidence but so is his. I didn't have anything to other him other than my friendship. Its horrible when you meet someone with say, bigger arms than you. Especially when you pride yourself on having them. But yeah, i saw this great opportunity which ultimately could change my entire life, not just my physique. But... I've got to come at it naked. You know, with a pure heart.
Anyways i think i left it a few weeks before I contacted 'O'. My body and mind, was just shot to he'll after that show and I really wanted to be on form when I got there. As I walked up to the main entrance I saw a guy standing up against the wall, he was eating Tuna out of the can with his fingers and I thought, "Yes! Im home!" Lol
Theres a reason why the gyms called 'The Basement gym' because your literally training underground. Infact, when Dorian Yates came to visit a few years back, as he reached the bottom of the stairs he said, "Fook mee! This place is insaine man. It's like working down in a fooking Coal mine!" Lol
He then said , "How the fook can you lads breath down here."
As I carried on walking down the tunnel to get to the gym floor, my chest began to tighten because of the pressure i guess. The tunnel just kept going down and the lower I went, the darker it got. I thought, "Ok...?" I began to get abit nervous lol. All l I could hear was these echo's of clanging and banging. I began to envision all these cast iron plates, just scattered around everywhere. The atmosphere was intense. You got machines made out scaffolding poles. I reached the bottom, I looked up and there was these words which had been chiselled in the stone. 'O' had some of his friends who where Stone Masons carve the words:
"You will out grow your body before you out grow this gym"
Joining The Basement Gym (prt 3)
After reading what was chiselled above me as I reached the bottom of the stairs. A guy walked passed me and no lie, I thought it was Dexter Jackson lol seriously i had to sort of double look, then triple. The gym floor was amazing. Guys of all shapes and sizes working out but what baffled me was that all there bodyfat levels were extremely low. Later I found out when I met some of them, that they were all competitors, they even got on stage together. Which felt strange to me. Ok, training with each other is one thing but letting each other know what your proggess is etc was another. I just felt that kind of information was scared and should be kept secret.
Anyway, the gym floor was just crazy lol I still can't quite get my head around it. Even after a year of training there it still baffles me. Its definately my prefered gym out of the two. 'The Alley' which of course is the other is a completely different buiding structure. Tbh, I saw alot of health and safety issues when I first visited and I was surprised that competitors getting ready for shows would feel comfortable training there. I asked 'O' about this later on in the evening, he invited me over to his home to meet his wife. His 'Pride and joy' as he put it lol and have some a dinner. He just said, that the insurance was a little bit of a pain and that the the gym is done on an invitation basis, whereas 'The Alley' is open to the public. The gym equipment in 'The Basement' is made using heavy duty comercial scaffolding poles. You know like the squat racks because the ground is very uneven. Not as in a slanted, i mean bumpy. Once you get down stairs its all untouched rock, its like training in a massive cave. Its crazy man. I love it. It's really simple and it's also genius in a way because O use to do bricklaying, his got alot of friends still in the construction industry so he just had some scaffolder friends assemble some frames for say shurgs, pull ups and for hanging sit ups etc. Weve recently had another frame assembled for dips, but if I'm honest i prefer the Dip station over in 'The Alley' the Lengend 3113, i think its called. The other gyms called 'The Alley' because half of the gym is indoors but it then extends out into this long narrow Alley. Which is really cool if you like to train out doors. I train there every now and then, i like to switch it up. Its funny because you go from two sort of extremes. In 'The Basement' you can sometimes struggle to breathe and in 'The Alley' your a slave to the outside climate conditions. But some of the guys love training there. Especially outside in the summer. Youve got guys doing lunges up and down the alley, flipping tractor tyres. It's a real trip training out in there in the winter too because where it's got this sort of half roof going down the alley, your still shielded from the rain. I love training training in the rain actually, i find it pheraputic. I hope that's spelt right lol
But yeah on the walls back at 'The Basement' people have scatched thi gs on the walls like these messages to other lifters, or their lifts and routines, even diet plans and above this like 40-50 foot long dumbell rack, is the coolest of all things. It's another engraving done by those same Stone Masons, which stretches along the dumbell rack. It says:
"So a man thinketh, in his heart, so is he"