GYMS & THE CELEBRITIES THAT GO TO THEM

When I was a kid and I joined my first gym, not only were there no celebrities but there was a sparse number of gym members. Weightlifting and bodybuilding was not an IN thing to do. If you wanted to develop muscle, you were weird or off center. Not that that's bad...I think being a little weird says that a person has some creativity. Certainly a bodybuilder is creative as he/she sculpts his or her body into an artistic form. The same can be said about celebrities and actors. They must be able to go over the top to perform in front of an audience or on film. How else could they achieve their character?

Well, one day in my local YMCA weight room in my small town USA were two Professional Wrestlers. The ones you see on TV! "Wow...they're actually here," I thought. I was a wrestling fan and had a desire to become a wrestler. Since I was already a bodybuilder and had won a few titles, including Mr. California and Mr. Jr. USA, I introduced myself and we became friends. They brought me to Los Angeles and hooked me up with a promoter and a place to train. This was only the beginning of my contact with celebrities in gyms.

When I moved to Santa Monica, I joined Gold's Gym, which at that time was owned by Joe Gold, the man who developed the mecca of bodybuilding. Training there were bodybuilding stars such as Frank Zane, Dave Draper, Ken Waller, and all the guys that I'd seen in the Muscle Mags. I quickly made myself known and became good friends with them. Shortly after that ARNOLD arrived at Gold's Gym, and we started training together. Arnold was in tight with Joe Weider, who came to the gym on the weekends and would take us all to lunch. So here I was with these stars. One day, Joe asked me if I would do photo layouts for his products, and the next thing I knew, I was in almost every issue of Muscle & Fitness, running on the beach, holding weights, beautiful girls feeding me grapes on the beach and then some! I was actually in the same arena with the stars. What a great feeling. Since then, I've had a lot of contact with celebrities. One day, Clint Eastwood appeared. He came down to buy some gym equipment that Joe Gold had made for him. He was a nice guy and easy to talk to. Rock Hudson would come in from time to time. A few years later I bought a house and moved to Venice. I started training people out there and I managed to get Jeff Goldblum. What a funny guy he was. But he was also focused. He trained hard and got in real good shape just before he did THE FLY. Jeff would often come in with Gina Davis, who is now his wife. Chuck Norris came in daily. When I had a beard, I was always mistaken for him and when we finally met, I told him this. But I said, "Now that I've seen you, I'm much better looking." We became friends from that point on. I guess I'd better not leave out Hulk Hogan because he was in the gym all the time and I also knew him from wrestling. He's an awesome sight.

These days I'm training at Gold's Gym in North Hollywood. This gym is at least 85% actors and musicians. And I mean BIG names. One of the biggest names that I've trained, and also worked as bodyguard for, was Gene Simmons of Kiss. He shows up when he's in town but when it comes to training, he hates it and he looks for ways to kill time in the gym. I trained Eric Estrada for close to a year. He liked to train hard but dieting was not for him. In his kitchen, I found a drawer full of candy bars.

Here are a few more celebrities that I will see in the gym on any given day: Helen Hunt, Paul Reiser, Alissa Milano, Tracy Gold, Katie Segal, Sandra Bernhart, Lauri Metcalf, Tim Allen, Daman Wayans, Adrienne Barbeau, Lou Gossett Jr., Samuel Jackson, William Katt, Cory Everson, Bobcat Goldwaith, and plenty more that I left out, but I'd like to thank the Academy...just kidding! All of these actors know how important it is to feel good and look good as they are in the public eye. Keeping in shape isn't easy for a lot of them because of their busy lives and traveling and also because TV and movie sets have tons of food and it's easy to snack on garbage. I love working with these people - they are my friends and associates and, to me, they are just everyday people. But when I think back to when I was a kid meeting a Wrestler in the gym, I remember how excited I was. And I feel so fortunate to have experienced life like this.

Arnold, Dave Draper and myself were pioneers of bodybuilding, but we were considered freaks at that time. Actually, we were way ahead of our time and now the world of fitness has caught up. Maybe we knew the way bodybuilding was going to explode -- and I would never have it any other way.

Ric Drasin 'The Equalizer'