Laying the Foundation: Paying it Forward - Part 1

It all stared the day I walked into Gold's Gym in Somerset, Massachusetts. I was so in awe of all the weights and machines, and even more in awe of the competitive bodybuilders there training for their shows. These guys were just HUUUGE to me. All 145 lbs of me.

I trained there for a few months, watching them, trying to figure out how to train, and reading everything I could get my hands on about diet and working out. Then one day I saw a sign on the wall that said, "The Cape Cod Natural", with little words on the bottom" "See Al for details." Ok, so Al, huh: Let's find him.

What I found was a five foot ten inch, two hundred and thirty pound lean bald guy who was very intimidating. I was kind of scared to talk to him. I said "Hi, Are you Al?" He responded with a simple, "Yes." I manned up and said "I want to be a bodybuilder, and I want to do the Cape Cod show". He just looked at me and told me to follow him. In his office, he turned on the computer and printed my out a Gold's Gym Nuritionalysis program for training, diet, and cardio, and told me to follow it. I did.

This is Al Thurston. He now owns the N.A.B.F. Natural Organization.

I'm not sure why he helped me, but he did. And I got better and bigger and really started to change. It was around this time that my training partner (who was a year younger than me) and I met Eddie.

Eddie was everything we wanted to be. He was as big as a house, ripped up, strong, had cool clothes, drove that black 240sx, and ladies loved him. He would walk in a room and everyone would look at him. Donnie and I started talking to him. We were now bodybuilders. Just teens and skinny, but bodybuilders, nonetheless. He answered all our questions. He didn't have to, but he did. We became better bodybuilders, and as a result (though we didn't know it at the time), also became better men too.

Guys like Al and Eddie saw us as new, raw, fresh, and in need of direction. By taking the time to help us, they were paying it forward to the next generation (us) all that bodybuilding had done for them. They knew that if they had not helped us, someone else would have, and it might have sent us down the wrong road.

Eddie Depina

Things I learned from Al and Eddie:

1. Train hard. There is no substitute for the work you need to do.
2. Drugs are not the answer to being a champion!
3. You need to eat, eat good foods, and eat often!
4. You need to do cardio to get really lean.
5. You must be consistent.
6. There are NO SHORTCUTS!

It's been 20 years since that time in Gold's. The gym shut down long ago, and everyone went on their way. The wild, striped spandex, tiny string tanktops, and hip sacks are all but gone now, ecxept for the few guys not willing to let that era go. Now they just look goofy!

So Eddie and Al, if you read this, I am 20 years late on this, but thank you for helping us and paying it forward!