Since I visited home home, I did have time to reminisce on how my bodybuilding “career” started.
It happened during a time when Yugoslavia was still a thing and the wall had just come down…yes, I am that old. After watching enough Terminator, Rambo, and Rocky movies, I had decided that the path to happiness and riches was paved with muscles. Hence, I need to workout. The problem was that the gym situation in my hometown was rather unsatisfactory (think random opening hours, and the like).
So my dad bought me the machine you see in the picture: a Kettler Kraftstation. Pecdec, lat pulldown, flat/incline bench, leg curl/leg extensions (never used because we did not train legs. Ever.). All-in-one, along with dumbbells, and an EZ bar for even bigger biceps. Eventually it create a rather decent physique…
As for theoretical knowledge, we were rather limited. Bits and pieces were gathered from the magazines, bigger dudes, and Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Nutrition fell into the same category; we knew we had to eat lots of chicken, yoghurt, and milk. In terms of supplements, there weren’t any. Protein powders were awful; you needed an industrial mixer to make a shake and bars were out of our price range.
What we were missing in theory, we made up for through unbridled enthusiasm! We had great workouts in the basement, supported by a cassette player with two tapes: Guns N’ Roses and Metallica.
Why am I tell you this? This is not a story of overcoming hardship, but I want to point out that you do not need to wait until everything is perfectly lined up. We did not start at Gold’s Gym with perfectly prepared meals and yet we build some great physiques down there.
What are you waiting for?
All this in a video here https://youtu.be/gRmG0NIW0WY (https://youtu.be/gRmG0NIW0WY)
Many thanks!
Maik