Sig Kleinīs gym- Does anyone know somebody who trained there?

[tom67]

never trained there but heard it was one of the smallest commercial gyms ever. will give more detail when more time.

Here is another gym about the same size as Sig Kleins gym.  Loloyd's Gym, San Diego, about 20x40 feet.  See Mr. America, May 1963, page 74.

Tom

[tom67]

Sig would sometimes ask a client who was making progress if he could take some measurment.  Well, actualy he would say come over hear I want to measure you.  So he said to me one day.  Sig would take his tape and first lay it on a yard stick to make sure it did not shrink over time.  He then told me to flex my arm and he would slip the tape around, adjust it to get a precise measurement.  He then pulled it snugly around my arm and said what the hell.  The measurement was almost 20 inches!  I smiled and started to laugh. At first he didn't see I had slipped two fingers inside the tape.  He then pulled the tape off and said lets do it again the right way. I was going to put three fingers between the tape this time, but thought better of it.  Now he got the true measurement of 17 1/4 inches.  He was satisfied.

Tom

[tom67]

On another post I talked about Sig's beer stein collection.  I recalled a conversation I had with Sig one day about his collection.  He said most people think the large steins were the most valuable, but most people would be wrong.  He pointed to a very small grayish stein and said that is the most valuable and favorite one in his collection.    He said he would never sell it and planned to take it home when he retires.  If you want to see it there is a photo of Sig in Muscle Builder Nov. 1963 page 7.  Sig is hoisting a large stein as if drinking, in front  is a table of many steins with the small one in front of the others.  When the gym closed Sig did take that stein home with him along with many others.               

[funk51]

 

[tom67]

That is a great photo of Sig and his steins.  Many of them I don't remember seeing in his gym.  The photo I mentioned in above post I only saw in Muscle Builder, Nov. 1963, page 7.  I looked on the net for the same photo but no luck.  I do not see the small stein in question in the above photo.

Tom

[tom67]

An incident involving Sig, myself and my mother.  Yes, fellows my mother!

One day Sig showed me a rubber mat that we would use to prevent slipping when doing squats etc.  The mat was well worn and crumbling.  Sig was down to his last couple of mats and could not find them in the stores in his area.  I said my mom uses them in the house to kneel on.  Sig said really!  Could your mom buy them for me I will gladly pay for them.  A few days later I arrived at the gym with about a dozen new mats.  Sig was pleasantly surprised and promptly paid for them.  He said to convey his thanks to my mom.  Mom said he was very welcome.  Leave it to moms to come thru in a pinch, even for the gym!

Tom

[Montague]

An incident involving Sig, myself and my mother.  Yes, fellows my mother!

One day Sig showed me a rubber mat that we would use to prevent slipping when doing squats etc.  The mat was well worn and crumbling.  Sig was down to his last couple of mats and could not find them in the stores in his area.  I said my mom uses them in the house to kneel on.  Sig said really!  Could your mom buy them for me I will gladly pay for them.  A few days later I arrived at the gym with about a dozen new mats.  Sig was pleasantly surprised and promptly paid for them.  He said to convey his thanks to my mom.  Mom said he was very welcome.  Leave it to moms to come thru in a pinch, even for the gym!

Tom

Ha, ha...
That's great, man. Mother really does always know best!

Glad to see you're still on the board, Tom!!

[tom67]

I recall another occasion Sig was talking to three members about his time on stage.  He said he would bend spikes and throw them out to the audience.  Well one time he said someone in the audience was straighting them out and throwing them back.  I made a smart remark at that point and said maybe Grimek was in the audience.  That drew a stare from Sig so I shut up and just listened.  Sig said from then on he would close the spikes as much as he could and then with one in each hand squeeze them so nobody could get his fingers between the closed spikes.  Then he would throw them to the audience.  Problem solved.  He also mentioned that when he met Hackenschmidt he told him he had the same problem and solved it the same way.Must have been a problem for all strongmen back then.      

[Montague]

I recall another occasion Sig was talking to three members about his time on stage.  He said he would bend spikes and throw them out to the audience.  Well one time he said someone in the audience was straighting them out and throwing them back.  I made a smart remark at that point and said maybe Grimek was in the audience.  That drew a stare from Sig so I shut up and just listened.  Sig said from then on he would close the spikes as much as he could and then with one in each hand squeeze them so nobody could get his fingers between the closed spikes.  Then he would throw them to the audience.  Problem solved.  He also mentioned that when he met Hackenschmidt he told him he had the same problem and solved it the same way.Must have been a problem for all strongmen back then.      

That's funny!
Sig and Grimek were friends, correct? But, John spent most of his time at Hoffman's?

[funk51]

That's funny!
Sig and Grimek were friends, correct? But, John spent most of his time at Hoffman's?

grimek was hoffman's right hand man, reports say hoffman thought of grimek as a son, but wrote him out of his  will at the last minute.

[tom67]

grimek was hoffman's right hand man, reports say hoffman thought of grimek as a son, but wrote him out of his  will at the last minute.

That's funny!
Sig and Grimek were friends, correct? But, John spent most of his time at Hoffman's?

Yes Sig and Grimek were friends and close friends in my opinion.  They went to many meets together and Grimek visited Sig at his gym on many occasions.  Grimek was Hoffman's deliver of messages to Sig not all freindly messages.  i got the impression Grimek was afraid of Hoffman.  Maybe because he was in Hoffman's will.  Just speculation on my part.

Tom

[tom67]

I remember one fellow member in Sigs gym.  He had 18" arms powerful shoulder and a good chest and back.  One problem was he had very poor legs.  He never did squats!  He could bench press 405 lbs. but not in good style.  The one part of his body that stayed in contact with the bench was his upper back.  He got the weight up with a good bounce off his chest and a big arch.  I don't know what he could do if he stayed in contact with the bench and used the touch and go method.  Another interesting thing he did which surprised me was he would take cigarette breaks.. He would go in the locker room a couple of times during his workout and sit by the open window with his cigarette!!  I mentioned this to Sig and he smiled and shrugged.  I was surprised Sig allowed this!

 
Tom

[tom67]

An odd incident happened one afternoon at Sig's Gym.  A 77 year old man and his 40 year old son came in.  The son wanted to workout, so Sig explained the rules.  The son was mentally challenged and the father never workout before.  Sig said OK and charged them a day by day fee.  The father said the son could at times be very disagreeable.  Sig was now concerned.  He said the father had to be there when the son worked out to calm any situation.  The son said to me one day can I get big and strong as you?  I said yes, but you must do as Sig says.  The son said he would.  Sig heard the conversation and smiled and winked at me.  The father while watching the son tried a pair of tenlb dumbells on a bench.  He sat down with them. I paid no attention to him for a few minutes, then noticed he had not moved, dumbells still on his knees.  I looked at Sig and pointed to the father.  Sig went over to him, bent over looked at his face.  He was asleep!  Sig woke him and said he cannot sleep in the gym and that the dumbells could fall on his feet.  Father and son were gone in about a week.  I felt sorry for both father and son.                                                 Tom

[tom67]

I recall a incident silly, annoying and became funny.  A member had the habit of forgetting how many sets he had done.  He would talk to himself and count on his fingers his sets.  It got to the point he would ask other members if he did three or four sets.  People would smile and say they didnot know.  This went on for some time.  Then one evening Sig came out of his office with a pencil and small pad and said write down each set as you complete them.  Sig turn to go back to his office and as he passed me he rolled his eyes and said something that I didn't quite catch.  I guess all gyms have there characters.

Tom

[tom67]

I remember an actor named Jay Gerber who would use lines from a movie an apply them to something or someone was doing in the gym.  One evening Jay saw a member doing situps on the incline board.  He went over to him and put his hands over the guy doing situps and recited the lines from a old mummy movie.  "Rise Kharis rise Kharis seven tana leaves gives you life."  He said this three or four times and the fellow doing situps never laughed, but kept doing his situps.  Everyone else was laughing tho. Sig watched with a smile shook his head and walked away!  Unusual for Sig!!

Tom

[tom67]

I've talked about a lot of other people in Sig's Gym.  Now a little  about me.

One evening I was in the locker room weighing myself on the scale Sig was behind me looking at my weight and said "you gained alot of weight."  I explained I was bulking up. Sig said it was too much weight  for my frame and height.  I then said I am drinking  four quarts of milk a day.  Sig said one word "WHAT."  He then said that is much too much.  I explained that I would stop and reduce my weight when I gained more strength.  Well I went up to 201 lbs. and was huffing and puffing going up the subway stairs.  I then reduced to 193 lbs and felt much better.  I didn't gain much strength at 201 and retained my gains at 193.  I could never loose the weight that gathered around my middle.
and I received the nickname little budda for obvious reasons.  I am now 70 and weigh 170 lbs and still the nickname would apply.  And yes I still lift weight 4 days a week.  
Tom

[Montague]

I've talked about a lot of other people in Sig's Gym.  Now a little  about me.

One evening I was in the locker room weighing myself on the scale Sig was behind me looking at my weight and said "you gained alot of weight."  I explained I was bulking up. Sig said it was too much weight  for my frame and height.  I then said I am drinking  four quarts of milk a day.  Sig said one word "WHAT."  He then said that is much too much.  I explained that I would stop and reduce my weight when I gained more strength.  Well I went up to 201 lbs. and was huffing and puffing going up the subway stairs.  I then reduced to 193 lbs and felt much better.  I didn't gain much strength at 201 and retained my gains at 193.  I could never loose the weight that gathered around my middle.
and I received the nickname little budda for obvious reasons.  I am now 70 and weigh 170 lbs and still the nickname would apply.  And yes I still lift weight 4 days a week.  
Tom

Ha, ha...

That's awesome, friend!

[Erik C]

Questions for tom67: I see in photos of Sig Klein's Gym that he had a Roman Column there. Was it still there in the 1960s, and did you, or anyone else, use it? Did Sig Klein have any exercise routines for the Roman Column, and if so, can you tell us what they were, or provide a link to a source of that info? Great stories Tom, thanks for the posts. Very informative, as so much of the Physical Culture past has been forgotten. Thanks again.

[tom67]

Questions for tom67: I see in photos of Sig Klein's Gym that he had a Roman Column there. Was it still there in the 1960s, and did you, or anyone else, use it? Did Sig Klein have any exercise routines for the Roman Column, and if so, can you tell us what they were, or provide a link to a source of that info? Great stories Tom, thanks for the posts. Very informative, as so much of the Physical Culture past has been forgotten. Thanks again.

No Roman column in my time. It would have been used for ab work tho. I cannot find any photos of Sigs  gym for the 60's.  During my time Sig had a Roman chair, which was used by many patrons as a place to rest out of the way of others, that is when Sig was not sitting on it.
Tom 

[Erik C]

Thank you tom67. I heard that Sig Klein got rid of the Roman Column at some point, just don't know when. During the late 1950s, early 1960s, the country in general became much more litigious. Sue the bastard became the rule. As more unskilled, out of shape, people hit the gyms to only pretend to exercise and were basically screwing around, they were bound to get hurt. The Roman Column was a tort lawyers dream.

Thanks again Tom.

[tom67]

After posting about the Roman Column I was thinking about it and realized that there was a device in the gym that probably was the Roman Column.  It was a metal (probably iron) column bolted from floor to ceiling with what looked like steps on each side. It had small round balls on the ends of each step.  When I was there it was used as a lat pulldown machine. I didn't think any more about it.  I rarely used the lat machine as I prefered chins with weights.  I remember a incident that involved this devise and will relate it now.  One member was using the lat machine, he was adding weight and had to reach around the back.  When he stood up he hit his head on one of the steps causing a huge bump on his head the size of a egg. It went up and down.  Sig put ice on it and said no more exercise today. The member recovered and was back to the gym in two or three days.  I believe this was the Roman Column.
As far a law suits in the gym, I never heard  Sig speak of one or any rumors of such.

Tom

[Erik C]

Yes, Tom, that sounds like the old Roman Tower was converted, by Sig, to a less dangerous piece of equipment. That post would have been on the left hand side of the gym if you were standing looking out the front windows of the gym.

I wasn't saying Sig was sued, just that gyms everywhere in the country started to get sued in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Before then it was considered your risk if you went somewhere, such as a gym, where you paid to be there. About that time tort lawyers started claiming the owners were negligent, by not making it a safe environment, and therefore had liability. Many gym owners didn't even have insurance, so they started getting rid of risky equipment and exercises. Vince Gironda banned back squats, as so many people were getting hurt, as the weights used increased for weight lifting contests.

I doubt that even one percent of the gym goers today could use a Roman Column without getting injured. That was a real old school device, that won't ever again be in a gym opened to the general public.

Thanks for the extra thoughts Tom.

[tom67]

.

[Montague]

Beautiful!!!
 

[tom67]

The preceeding photo is from Muscle Builder Nov. 1963, Vol. 13, page 7.  I have never seen this photo anywhere online!
Sig told me that the small mug in front of the others was his favorite and the most valuable and he would never sell it.
The mugs above Sigs head are a reflection of some of the many mugs displayed around the gym.
This picturewas taken before I became a member, but remained the same until the gym closed in 1973.

Tom