Training Log, Day 1

In the beginning the powerlifting gods said ‘let there be squats’. And they looked down and saw that it was good, so let’s start this training log there.

 On my first day in the gym, I did not feel worthy or strong enough to step into the sacred free weight room. The base gym on Lackland, AFB had one of those universal training machines that was the centerpiece of the gym’s ‘machine section’. It had six training stations orbiting the machine’s core. As with all young men I was drawn instinctively to the bench press station. Over the first few weeks of my training career I worked that machine until I could bench the whole stack. Feeling a primal sense of accomplishment I then ventured into the free weight room, where I was quickly humbled. 

There were, however, no such training wheels for the squat. I learned to squat from a body builder named Johnny E. Paine. In the history of the world there has been no better named trainer, coach, or mentor. When I crawled out of the gym that day and as I wailed and gnashed my teeth for the next week, crying as I lowered myself to the toilet, I knew that life had taken an important turn.

In the intervening years since Day 1, I have taught many a lifter to squat and I have passed on those important early lessons. Some of these lifters, whom we now call 'preppers', have kept a bucket handy near the squat rack for high volume training days. Many have stood on shaky legs and shook their fists at the heavens, crying out ‘Curse you Ken Gack’. 

But they have stood.

So let this log begin...