I was a Teenage Gym Rat- Part 3

The most exciting time at Ryan’s Gym was always when Ron Teufel was in town training there. By this time he splitting his time between training here and training out at Gold’s in Venice with all the big pros. When he was home he would usually train during the day when I was there and we were all kind of star struck by him at first.  I was shocked that one day he came up to a few of us younger guys and introduced himself and was so cool and really laid back. He was just so calm and never seemed to get too excited about anything. He was super strong too, he would squat and deadlift six plates and bench four, that was the first time I ever saw a human being that strong throwing around weight like that in person. Even at a young age I knew that there were certain protocols to be followed in the gym, this was a place that you definitely had to shut up and pay your dues at or else you’ll get your lights punched out for being a smart ass. I used to just say ‘Hi” to Ronnie and watch him train while I was there but I had enough respect not to must his balls or bother him. As time went on we got to talking more and one day he actually asked me if I wanted to train with him the next day and said “hell yeah!” I felt like the ugly girl that the coolest guy in school just asked to the prom. We made a plan to meet up after I got out of school the next day. To a kid like me that was just amazing, here was an established professional, he actually knew me by name and wanted to workout with me! I had a hard time sleeping that night nor could I concentrate at school the next day, not in a gay way but more in a, “I hope I can somehow not embarrass myself in front of this guy” kind of way. We met up and did a tough shoulder workout together, I was just happy to soak in some of his knowledge and busted my ass to keep up with him. I’ll never forget that day, it’s events like this that propel your confidence and make you realize that you are destined for the next level.

Ed Ryan's Gym modern day

“Teuf” (nicknamed that because he had it tattooed on his knuckles was always really cool to all the teenage lifters in the gym, I guess because he was a local guy and was one of us not too long before so he always helped us out. One day me and a friend of mine had finished up a workout with Ronnie and he asked us if we needed a ride home. Oh man, how awesome is this, Ron Teuful is going to drive us home in his brand new ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ Trans-Am. My buddy gets in the back and I’m riding shotgun and I remember thinking “how fucking cool is Ronnie, he’s so chilled out that he his eyes are barely opened, he’s all leaned way back in his seat, he’s driving twice the speed limit into the oncoming lane a lot and even went up and drove a half a block or so up on the sidewalk, he’s the shit, he’s taking the bull by the horns and owning the road!” Somehow, despite the total lack of obeying any laws pertaining to motor vehicles or even opening his eyes all the way he got us home in one piece. Of course it wasn’t until much later that what we all mistook for Ronnie being cool and laid back was actually a drug and alcohol problem that would eventually take Ronnie’s life at an early age.

Ryan’s gym was nothing at all like the big chain gyms you see today, it was a throwback at best. It had the fake wood paneling walls, one broken window, old, torn up, carpet remnants on the floor, a few rubber mats that were scattered around in case you wanted to deadlift or drop dumbbells. It had a few pieces of old, original, blue Nautilus machines, but mostly everything else appeared to be a hodgepodge of homemade stuff. The bars and plates were old York sets that were from the forties, the 45’s were the old deep dish plates and the dumbbells were York solid globes that went up to 100lbs. All of which are very collectible today. The bars were pretty worn out, very little knurling left, rusty and pretty bent.  I think in the six years I trained there I maybe saw three women set foot in the place and they were certainly nothing to look at and didn’t last long there at all. At one point there was actually a cute girl that started coming down there for a while, she was a high school volleyball player with a great body. She would always wear these short shorts and drove all the guys, most of which was former convicts, nuts. One night the place was pretty full and a thunderstorm was raging outside. All the sudden the power goes out and the lights went off for maybe fifteen seconds, just long enough for one of the perverts there to run over to the cute girl and rip her shorts down to her ankles. When the lights came back on again there she was struggling to pull her shorts back up with her face all red, this would have been all well and good if I didn’t happen to be the closest guy to her when the lights came back on! She looked right at me, assumed I was the phantom perv, belted me and ran out the door and we never saw her again. If this happened today it would be considered a sex crime and be all over the news but we all just pretty much agreed that she really shouldn’t have been there and it was only a matter of time, so the whole incident was justified. Two things still bother me about that situation though; one was that the guy who did the act of de-pantsing must have been lying in wait for weeks for an opening to attack this chick and just pounced on her the split second the lights went out. The other thing is I’m sure to this day she thinks I’m a total scumbag pervert. The sound system was not exactly the booming systems you see in health clubs today, well it wasn’t even a system at all. It was an old beat up clock/radio that I think Ed Ryan found in the trash at some point, needless to say it wasn’t throwing out much power or inspiration. The older more established members usually controlled what radio station we listened to, we had two choices, the rock station or the top forty station. So any given time I could be training to Led Zepplin or Cindy Lauper depending on which big dog was in charge at the time. A lot of times there would be two big dogs in the gym at the same time and a fight would ensue as a result. I’m not talking about a polite argument I’m talking about two adult men going out in the gravel parking lot and only one of them returning. The loser would usually spent the rest of his workout outside trying to find his teeth in the dark. Ok, Cindy Lauper it is!

Me with Ed Ryan today at 79 years old (Ed, not me)