My Story

Been there done that, got the t-shirt, outgrew the t-shirt then had to buy an even bigger t-shirt!

It all started back in school in Hackney (East London) when I was a skinny kid! I think a lot of guys can relate when I say that I wanted to be the hero, score the winning goal in the big match and ride off into the sunset with the girl! Well for me, in order to do that I needed to get on to the football team. The guys that were already there were so much bigger and more athletic than me but I instinctively knew even at that young age that athleticism and greatness can be achieved through hard work and discipline. It was at this point that I created my very first training program (back in 1979 - that’s why its in my logo).

I constructed a very simple routine of push ups, sit ups, air squats, box step ups, and triceps dips and I did this 3 days a week without fail. At the week ends I would meet my cousin early in the morning to go for a run in Springfield Park just by the River Lee. I would then use the remainder of the week-end to practice my football skills (dribbling, penalty practice, free kicks etc) and then play a game of 5 a side with various groups of kids who fancied a friendly match.

I kept this up week after week religiously and within two years I was on the team. This was my first major sporting achievement. I never had great genetics for sport but something inside of me truly believed that if you put enough effort into a task you will eventually succeed.

I became hooked on the physical training and the endorphins that were being regularly released into my system (I of course didn’t know what this was as i was only 14). I wanted to take things a step further and considered weights. My dad was against it as he said that i was too young. He let me use his bullworker which was like a giant shock absorber with two heavy cables on either side that you can pull much like a bow and arrow.

It was after I left school that I joined my first gym called the Britannia Leisure Center in Shoreditch. This is where my love affair with the iron began.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the gym when I first walked in as there were giant men with enormous muscles doing some very strange things with even stranger equipment. I think it was fair to say that they had muscles in places where I didn’t even have places!

Although they were monsters, once you took the time to talk to them they turned out to be quite nice chaps really. The largest man in the room was also the quietest. He apparently trained his arms every day

To be Continued…