With your ongoing history thread and and replies in this thread I'm just so in awe of you. How you seem to have managed to be everywhere and know everyone.
It was not so much the claims made by Jones that impressed me. Even at a young age I knew hyperbole when I saw it and took it with a grain of salt. It's his training principles and the design of his machines: full range motion, variable resistance (due to the cam design), isolation of the muscle.... that resonated with me.
When I was in the 11th grade (I had already graduated from High School when I met Hank and through him joined his gym) a friend of mine from school, Ron Johnson (who I believe became an attorney in Hawaii), who told me about this new type of equipment and training method that a coach he knew told him about. He wanted to take me to gym and take me through a workout. The "coach" was Dan and the equipment was all Nautilus. As I remember it, it was a long and narrow room with Nautilus equipment of each side position in order of how you were to perform the workout. As I watched, I was instructed that after a brief over all body warm up I am to move from exercise to exercise without stopping. The set is not to terminate until I cannot do another rep which was termed "failure". And you are to make a concerted volitional effort to take yourself to that limit and there will be a coach to make sure you are pushing yourself to that limit.
I was not the least bit intimidated and even motivated watching the other trainees grunting, groaning and moaning in pain. Seeing them dragging themselves outside after their session to get outside for some fresh air made me think that this was my kind of place.
I was put through the paces, was totally spent after only 25 minutes, and joined the others outside gasping for air. I smiled to myself seeing people just sprawled out on the ground heaving for air with one lying on the hood of a car.
After that training session I was sore all over but I then, surprisingly, quickly forgot about my experience there and went back to my old barbell traditional training (six days a week, body part twice a week). I simply wasn't able due to convenience to make the trip consistently to train at that gym. BTW, I didn't consider it as a gym per se but more of a casual training facility because it was so small. It was like a garage type gym similar to what, say, Black Perry, use to have in his yard (I mention names now on the likelihood that you might recognize it).
Oddly, I never made the connection with that gym and the equipment when I was introduced, re-introduced, to Nautilus and Jones by Hank a couple of years later. My 25 minute workout was so brief and I was so caught up in the training session (due in no small part to the vigilant coach pushing me on) that I didn't pay much attention to the equipment I was using or even recognized the equipment when I joined Hank's gym as the one in that little shack on the campus.
I'm sure to the general public a diet of raw fish seems like quite a disciplined one. But sashimi as you know is quite a delicacy and it's a dream to be able to eat sashimi everyday. Things just worked out well for Ernie. Eating a healthy diet that he loves.
I moved back to Hawaii in 2006 and never got to reunite with Keith. I also rarely venture out into town and never checked out any of the other gyms. The only gym in my area is the 24 Fitness in Kaneohe. Not too happy with the gym especially when compare to the mainland. But I understand that shipping equipment across the Pacific is a huge cost so we don't get the most up to date stuff and what we have is so worn and old although they have recently got some new stuff ("Hoist" equipment which I am not impress with).
It's truly a pleasure and an honor reminiscing with you like this.
