I have a new client who came on board 2 weeks ago so I spent 4 days last week in the Bahamas because she was competing.  

I only had to train once while I was there because I arrived on a Thursday and had already trained M-W before I left, so the only workout I needed to get done was legs on Friday.  I anticipated that I would kind of putz around at the resort's gym, but I was losing time on Friday and decided to see if there was a different gym off the resort that might work.

I am SO glad I did.

It's funny how gyms have changed so much over the years.  Back in the 80s it was common to have most gyms be small-time, "mom and pop"-type places that really didn't make much money.  The people who owned them, did so because they loved working out and were usually bodybuilders or ex-bodybuilders.  It was just something that you did when you were passionate about the gym lifestyle - you bought a gym and then lived in it every minute it was open for business.

Since those early days when I started training as a teen, those types of gyms have been slowly disappearing and being replaced by corporate gyms with neon lights and bright colors.  These gyms are several times larger and much better equipped.  However, with the addition of added equipment, the atmosphere began to get lost and you had huge, well-equipped, sterile gyms that you felt like you could take a nap in at any time of the day.  

When I grabbed a cab and headed out from the resort in Nassau, my expectations, honestly, were pretty low.  I figured that the gym would suffice, but likely wouldn't be anything that I would see in the US.  I was pretty much right - but in a good way.

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I felt like a dumbass because I couldn't stop smiling when I walked in.  The lady thought I was weird and I wouldn't shut up about how great I thought the gym was and I hadn't even been out of the lobby area.  I am pretty sure she was just a teenager who figured this was her job and she was going to be leaving in 1 hour and 53 minutes and couldn't have given a shit about what I thought of the gym.

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It sounds silly or maybe melodramatic, but I was already dreading the fact that I only had just under 2 hours to train because had it been open 4 hours, I might have found a reason to stay the entire time.

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It is too hard to describe, but the best I can do is to say that it really was like I had been teleported back to the Y-Center where I started training when I was a teenager.  It was absurdly nostalgic to the point of almost being euphoric.  I was giddy.  I just kept smiling and people were looking at me like I was looking for a window to lick.  

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You have to TRY to understand that if you aren't as old as I am, you aren't going to have any idea of what this felt like.  I was 20 again and feeding off of the 4 young 20-something guys who were trash talking each other while training legs.  It was testosterone, machismo and nonPC barbs being throw between them while laughing and training their asses off.  It was an intensity that the gym and this group of kids provided me and almost guaranteed that I was going to destroy this leg session. 

I provided nothing, really.  I showed up.  I had my belt and my knee sleeves.  I hadn't eaten in well over 2 hours.  I was probably not as hydrated as I should have been due to being at the pool and I didn't even bother to stretch prior to training legs because I didn't have time.  You might laugh, but when I don't stretch, I open myself up for a back injury.  There was no way I was going to injure myself today.  It was just not going to happen.  I could have done everything wrong and I was going to win today.

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I sweat like I had turned on a faucet.

I was breathing like a fat man on his fourth trip to the buffet line.

I felt nauseous from training so hard and yet I was trying to hit it even harder.  I mean, I did have kids watching me.  I wasn't going to look "old" - or any older than they already thought I was.

And then, just like that, it was 9pm - closing time.  I had spent almost 2 hours as if I was 20 again and it felt like 15 minutes.  I want that back, but I won't find it.  I can't find it because I live in the US where corporate gyms are the norm.  

World Gym?  Used to be badass, now corporate bullshit.

Gold's Gym?  Used to be badass, now almost all of them are corporate bullshit minus 2 or 3 in the entire country.

Powerhouse Gym?  Even PowerHouse is now more like a Lifetime Fitness than what any of us would recognize as a PowerHouse Gym from back in the day in Michigan.

Slowly, all of these little gyms have been swallowed up.  Sure, the occasional Armbrust Pro Gym still survives, but even Armbrust Pro Gym isn't a throwback in time for me.  It's a great gym, but it's a great gym for the 2000s.  Titan Gym here in Fort Lauderdale is my home gym and I love it.  Still, it isn't anything like the old days, either - not close.

I can't open a gym like this gym in Nassau because it won't generate enough money to make it worthwhile.  

I had a really good workout today at my gym here in Fort Lauderdale, but it wasn't anything like that workout last Friday and tomorrow's won't be, either.  I wish I could replicate it, but I can't.  Maybe that's a good thing.  The past isn't a place you are supposed to live, but rather a place to visit every now and then if you are lucky enough.