Posted By: Donna
Date: Friday, 8 November 2002, at 3:28 p.m.

The owner of my gym is a female who has managed the gym but really has no lifting experience of any kind. The gym is a franchise facility and has that typical "chrome palace" feel to it. No chalk is allowed. While many members dislike the owners (it's her and her husband) and the gym, I can never seem to get an answer from them as to why. Granted, they don't know anything about lifting. They don't understand that if you buy good bars the first time, you won't have to replace them over and over again. They don't understand that a bent bar is a hazard to their members. They do maintain the facility and equipment well. It is always clean and well kept. When the present owner managed the facility for someone else, that someone else was very against powerlifters. The manager managed the facility as such, if you were a powerlifter you weren't exactly welcome. I remember asking the manager if they would consider letting me hold a meet there sometime. She told me that they weren't interested in attracting "THOSE" kinds of people. After talking to her further that day, it became obvious that powerlifters were steriod-crazed, low intelligence, foul-mouthed, crazed madmen in her eyes. I got the impression she felt this way because of some former "powerlifters" that had belonged to the gym. It was a disappointing conversation to say the least, not so much because she wouldn’t let me hold meets but because of her preconceived notions of what powerlifting was about. I did not try to change her opinion. I left it alone. I continued to lift there with my husband and we now had 2 other people training with us. We were always cordial and from time to time we started to get asked some questions by her, why we liked some pieces of equipment better than others, etc. If people came to her asking “serious” lifting questions, she would bring them to us to help them. After about 3 years as manager, she bought the gym. Our “group” as she calls it, was now up to 6. The minute she bought the place, her attitude changed. The owner had started asking me to post pictures and our results from the meets we competed in for all the members to see. She became very friendly and asked for more and more of our input. They opened up a separate room as their “Power Room”. Here you could squat and deadlift without being afraid you’d accidently catch someone’s thong as they walked by. I asked her one day if she would consider my holding a meet for just the gym members. We would take care of everything, offer very low entry fees, have nice awards on hand, advertise it, setup and clean up, we’d take care of it all. She agreed and was excited about the idea. Now the problem was getting gym members interested. They had never seen a meet, didn’t know the rules but knew that we competed in the sport.. By this time, my “group” as the gym owner calls it, had grown to about 5 and we assisted many more members who were interested in lifting for strength. The members knew we were serious about our lifting but we also always went out of our way to answer any questions or to lend a hand. They also noticed another thing and they would mention it from time to time in the form of the question, “how can you work so hard and look like you all are having so much fun?”. For weeks we talked to members about the meet. Some entered right away, others were leary but after demonstrating the rules and judging them in the gym, they also entered. We stressed the meet was about having fun and competing against themselves. Meet day came and I entered the place bright and early, dreading I would find a few lifters and little else. Instead, I found the place buzzing with excitement. Many members who were afraid to enter came to watch and support those that did. We had a great time. The lifters put on a great show and the crowd loved it. Many of the lifters had never competed in anything before, nevermind in front of a large audience. They came away proud of themselves and highly motivated. Their training now had a purpose to it, they had goals. The owner was thrilled and couldn’t have been more grateful. The “Members-Only” meets became a part of their sales pitch as they showed new potential members around. The environment continued to change, I asked for permission to keep a piece of equipment there if I bought it myself and they ended up buying it for me. Our “group” grew to 7. People from out of the area and out of state started coming to catch a workout with us from time to time and it wasn’t unusual for us to have 10-12 people on the occasional weekend. We started bringing in equipment that the gym didn’t have for our use, specialty bars, bands, chains, and the owner gave us a locked closet to store it in. She had no idea what the stuff was for but we were always careful to only use them in the Power Room, so as to not disturb any members and we would always leave the room spotless. After the 3rd Members-Only meet, I got up enough nerve to ask her again, in addition to the Members-Only, would she consider hosting a “real” meet at the same time. Without a moments hesitation she said yes! I explained we would need to close a part of the gym the day before for set-up and that on the meet day, the majority of the facility would be completely closed off to members. I explained what would take place and how it would affect the facility, the good, bad and the ugly (chalk?? Oh no!). Just tell her what I needed and she would make it happen was what she said. Here was my one chance to show her who powerlifters were and I was determined to make it a positive impression. The meet went off without a hitch with over 80 lifters. We had 13 yr. olds and 74 yr. olds, men and women, school teachers and doctors, great lifters and those working to be great. Whole families, including Grandma in her wheelchair (we gave her the best spot in the house), came to cheer all the lifters on. It was powerlifting at it’s best. Throughout the meet lifters and spectators alike kept telling the gym staff what a great facility it was, how great the meet was and how much they were enjoying themselves. The staff just about burnt up their blender mixing protein drinks. It was a long day and it took quite a while to clean up the place after (I know why gym’s don’t allow chalk :^)). I was afraid of what the owner thought. She had stayed in her office most of the time and once the meet started, she was the last thing on my mind. We finished cleaning up the facility and feeling like I was headed for the Principal’s Office (okay, MAYBE I know what that feels like :^)), I stopped by her office to thank her and to (gulp) see what her reaction was. The minute she saw me she jumped up and ran to shake my hand. She was as excited as a competitor on the platform for the first time. She couldn’t thank me enough and said she had never seen anything like it. She gushed about seeing a 100 lb. 13 yr. old boy out there lifting his heart out and a 68 yr. old woman doing the same, about how the members who competed in the Members-Only meet were thrilled to be on the same platform as the champs and were cheered on by the crowd just like they were one (they were!) and she marveled at the great bodies of some of the 50+ yr. old lifters. I don’t think she has ever looked at powerlifters and powerlifting the same again. Now if I can just stop her from wanting to host meets so often…..

D.