I joined the gym. I lived in Glendale so three times a week I would drive the thirty miles out to Venice. There were times I also would workout at the Glendale Y. They had a real hard core weight room in the basement, iron Olympic barbell sets, a squat rack, bench and a Universal weight machine. Those had once been toughted as the big deal in gyms. When at Gold's I used the Nautilus machines for my lat and arm work and did a basic barbell routine at the Glendale Y. In 1972 I began studying Taekwondo in Burbank at Young Suhs Taekwondo. I always made sure I hit the weights though. In 1973 I had a training partner for a while during the last couple of months that I would spend in LA. Jim Hendshaw. He was a big kid who I had begun teaching. We would hit the Glendale Y and Gold's. At Gold's I showed him how to use the Nautilus machines. One afternoon we decided to drive over to Pasadena to Bill Pearl's Gym. Bill Pearl was one of the greats in bodybuilding having won the Mr. America title and the Mr. Universe five times. When we arrived at the gym we emerged into a carpeted health spa type of gym with lots of chrome preloaded barbells and dumbbells and lots of chrome equipment. It didn't look like a real bodybuilding gym at all, more like those places where businessmen trained. We walked up to a staff member on the floor. “Where's the real weights?” Jim asked. The guy looked us over and said,“Follow me.” He led us through a door and down a ramp. “This is where you guys belong,” he said. He was right. We were in a real hard core weight room. No chrome. Olympic barbells, squat rack, benches and weight stack loaded Nautilus pullover and bicep and tricep machines. We had a great workout. I went into the office afterward and talked to Bill Pearl. He was a great guy. Warm and friendly. It had been a great afternoon. In August of 1973 I returned to my home town of Mill Valley in Northern California. There I had a back room setup, weights Squat racks and bench. I began studying martial arts at Gus Johnson’s School of the Dragon, I eventually moved my setup to the back room of Gus Johnson's school. It was called Pat Deu Pree's Gym.
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I trained more than 200 students during the two years I had my gym, from 1976 to 1978. I would often tell them of the time I spent at Gold's Gym. No one had ever heard of it unless they were serious bodybuilders. I also would tell them about the Nautilus machines and the principles. No one up in Marin had ever heard of them. In 1976 the movie PUMPING IRON came out and the popularity of bodybuilding boomed. But there was still no mention of the Nautilus machines even though Gold's Gym Venice was the main gym featured in the movie. In the summer of 1978 I disbanded my gym and returned to Southern California. A new chapter of my life had begun.
