"Bigler's Gym"

In addition to the high school weight room, Dave Rudy and I trained in some gyms that have left lasting memories with me. The first gym was Dave's basement.He had a York Barbell set with an adjustable weight bench. The bench had that narrow rack, so when you took the weight off the rack or reracked the weight, you never quite knew where to put your hands. There were plenty of smashed fingers between the two of us. This York Barbell weight set came with weighted shoes for doing leg extensions. Once we started to grow out of the beginner weight set, we would hang those weight shoes on the ends of the bar to squeeze every bit of weight out of that York set.

Everyone knows that the music selection has a lot to do with the success of your weight lifting program. Dave and I listened to three different eight tracks... Yes, I said eight tracks. Led Zeppelin, The Doobie Brothers and Van Halen were our music of choice.

Good times!

Even though all we did was bench and curls, those times training in Dave's basement, helped to solidify our strong interest in strength and conditioning. Eventually we grew out of that beginner weight set, and Dave and I started to train at "Bigler's Gym" in Millersville, PA. Sam Bigler was a student at Millersville University in the early 70's, where he earned four NCAA weightlifting championships. In 1976, he was a member of the USA Olympic Weightlifting Team. Sam placed tenth in the 182 pound class, with a combined snatch, clean and jerk, of 677 pounds. Not too shabby! Sam was inducted into the Millersville Hall of Fame in 1995.

Sam Bigler's gym was amazing. It was a turn of the century barn, located in Millersville. Every piece of Olympic weight lifting equipment that you could imagine was jammed into this incredible training facility. There were no frills, no windows, no air-conditioning, and no heat. I remember training there in the middle of winter, with the only heat coming from a small space heater in the center of this huge barn. When we came in from the outside, you just kept your jacket on and trained. What an incredible experience. When you became a member of Sam's Gym, he would give you the combination to the lock on the barn door. You could train there any time of the day or night.

These are great strength training memories.

Let me know about the weight rooms you trained in and the lasting memories that these gyms have left with you.