I train people from all over- England, New Zealand, Australia, and all over the United States. I have noticed some qualities that these folks have in common: they all train in less than opimal facilities and they all get the training done.
I don't believe that I train anyone who trains in a "Performance Palace" or something like that. They train in their garages, in the police station gym that is as big as a a closet. Garage gyms are popular also.
The point is that they get it done. They work shift work building transmissions, they take care of their kids, they protect and serve, they live the working life. Then they come home from church on Sunday and run hills. They train at 4am when they get off of work. They push the prowler in the rain. They WANT to train, because they HAVE to train. Paying someone to write their programs for them and to write their diets is a big deal to them and is not something I take lightly. It's hard earned money and they use it for the love of training. I respect the hell out of that-priorities are in order.
Seeing these folks make gains and hit personal records means a lot to me because I see what they go through everyday just to get a workout in. Move the car out of the garage, it's time to squat. Mow the grass out back so the sprints can get done. Put the crib in the basement so that the deadlifts can get done.
Its silly to some, I know. But those folks who think that it's silly have never felt the exhilaration after running hills. Or completed a set of squats that is 10 pounds over their all time best. Or walked out of the garage when the sun was coming up and had a massive pump in their arms, chest and back from a superset of chins and dips... and felt like they could conquer the world.
Maybe it is best that people, most people, don't understand. It keeps it like an underground cult, where only a few privileged hearty souls understand. That is the way it should be... leave the gyms with ferns in them(run away if you see that in your gym) and the cardio kings and queens pedalling to nowhere fast...I'll stick the undergound lifters any day.
