Want to Train Here? I Need to See Your Resume First

Recently, I had several inquiries about training and memberships at my gym. I own a home gym that is built specifically around powerlifting. If you don’t need it to get a stronger squat, bench, or deadlift, then you probably won't find it at my place. I have two monolifts, two competition benches, a deadlift platform, a power rack, a leg press, GHR, reverse hyper, a lat machine, a few dumbbells, and a preacher curl. Okay, I lied. You don’t need a preacher curl to get a higher total, but it does help to rehab my elbows.

I need to get back to my original purpose. I have my gym at my home, therefore I’m a little more cautious about who comes out. It’s not a large place, so on top of being cautious for the obvious safety reasons (I’m married with two kids), I want to make sure the people I invite will mesh well with my current guys. It’s not like you can hide from each other like a commercial gym. My team needs to be like-minded, have the same goals, and be of personalities that work well together. That is what I have now. To insure that continues, I implemented a resume policy. Before you get an invite to train with us on what might be a regular basis, I want to know about you. I wont go into the whole article again, here’s the link if you’d like to read it:

http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/powerlifting-articles/should-anything-be-off-limits-when-it-comes-to-a-training-partner/

Since I’ve implemented that plan, we've accepted three new guys to train with us. I haven’t been unhappy with any of our choices thus far. It has worked. We all have input on who comes out. We all have input on who goes. Although that hasn’t happened to anyone who went through this process yet. So far it’s working and at this point, I’m continuing it.

This week, I have a new guy starting. He’s a former marine and new to powerlifting. We took a look at his information and we decided he should have a shot. Plus, I don’t think he’s going to murder anyone. I received a second resume from a guy wanting to train just tonight. I’ve looked it over and decided it should also be sent to the rest of the team to see if they want to give him a shot as well. We’ll see how that goes.

To sum it up, I like the new process. It gives me some info about the guys both powerlifting-related...and not. It helps me to know if I’m going to like them or hate them. It really just saves a lot of time and aggravation.