July, 2003
The Art of Iron
Previous Issues
In our dojo, there's a large stone with this inscription,
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." To that,
I'd add, "And that teacher probably won't be anything like you were
expecting."
For quite some time, I had been looking for someone to
help me with my weight training. I figured, I have a great instructor
at Aikido. I once had a very good teacher in writing. But though I'd been
lifting weights for a few years, I'd never had someone teach me the best
methods for doing it. So maybe I should. I imagined finding a smart and
inspiring guru of iron. A Maruyama Sensei with biceps.
So while I was shopping for a piece of exercise equipment,
an employee at the store suggested I give a trainer he worked with a call.
A fellow by the name of Art DiAntonio who ran a small gym called Twins
Training Room. He gave me a brochure.
A few days later I called the gym and asked to speak
to Art. The reply was yelled into the phone, over a TV—and maybe
a stereo—in the background: "This is Art! What can I do for
you?!" I told him I was looking for someone to teach me more about
lifting weights. Art yelled back at me, "Come on in! We'll talk!"
A few days after that, I walked into a small neat, gym
with a distinctly un-sweaty smell. There I met Art. He was huge. Six feet
tall, and around 250 pounds. He looked like the big gym teacher you feared
in Junior High. And he was still yelling at me. "Come on in, Jim!
Let's talk!"
Art led me into his office. And I thought to myself,
"Great, another guy professing to know a lot about lifting because
he's naturally huge." I figured he probably didn't know half what
I had learned in reading a dozen good books on the subject. It didn't
help when he turned the TV in his office down—not off—and kept
glancing up at it as I told him what I was looking for.
But then, he started to talk. And though I don't remember
the exact words he said, I got a strange, pleasant feeling that things
were turning out a whole lot better than I ever thought they would. Because
this big man in front of me not only seemed to know his subject backwards
and forwards. He had a boundless love for it. It seemed there was nothing
he'd rather be doing than sitting there, talking to me about lifting iron.
Art, it turns out, had benched, squatted, and deadlifted
weights that I'd struggle to roll across the room. And he'd scolded those
who had chosen to do it with drugs. (Once, after a powerlifting victory,
he told the crowd, "What really makes this sweet is that I did it
without using drugs like some of you losers out there." Another competitor
smashed his own trophy on the ground in disgust.) He'd held drug-free
national and world records. And while he's helped the elite become the
elite (the morning after his team's victory, recent Stanley Cup winner
Brian Gionta call Art to thank him for his help), he said his real interest
was in helping regular people become their best.
So I decided that maybe this big, yelling gym teacher
was just the guy I had been looking for.
In a few weeks of training, now, Art has revamped many
of my lifts. But in one moment, he revamped my whole approach to lifting
weights—and reminded me of Maruyama Sensei in the process. Let me
tell you how that happened.
Art spent my first few workouts hovering over me like
a mom with a new baby. Watching my every move. Making adjustments. Cheering
me on when I did something well, looking concerned when I didn't. I could
feel my form clicking into place. I moved through the sets with more pleasure
and confidence than ever, imagining the progress to come.
After a couple of weeks, I happened to be in the gym
on a day Art was going to do his own workout. I watched him out of the
corner of my eye as he did a few warm-up sets. But I wondered, would he
really practice what he preached?
Art put some real weight on the bar, enough 45-pound
plates that I had trouble counting them from across the room. And in one
repetition, I got more education than I had from those dozen books I had
read, and then some.
Art picked the weight off of its supports. He set his
feet in place and took on a calm, concentrated look I hadn't seen on his
face before. He deliberately lowered the weight to the bottom. He paused.
His eyes were glued to a beam on the ceiling. Then, as though the weights
were filled with helium, he raised them easily, gracefully, perfectly
to the top.
He did more reps, to be sure. But my mind was stuck on
that one. What was it about it? How was it so different from mine? Finally,
my mind cleared and I realized: There, in the midst of the pain and the
effort and the fight against gravity, was total pleasure in the
moment. He wasn't trying to escape it, or avoid it, or be done with it,
or use it to achieve something else. He was reveling in it. He
loved it.
That changed everything for me. Before, I had been blasting
through the workouts, zooming through the sets, flying through the reps,
chalking up one more workout so I could get to my goal. But Art, he was
just doing that one rep, like it was the only one he would ever do. Like
it was the best thing in the world.
We've all heard that we should stop and smell the roses. But watching Art reminded me that we should enjoy the sweat and toil that goes into digging the hole, planting the bush, and carrying the water, too. Who knows? Those may even be the very best parts.
See
Jim sweat—for a change.
You come to Jim's classes, work hard, get thrown around. But have you ever wondered, "When is Jim going to have to sweat?" The answer is, July 13. All dojo members and newsletter recipients are invited to Twins Training Room on Sunday, July 13 at 10 AM to see Jim put through his workout by strength coach Art DiAntonio. Take this opportunity to learn from Art, one of the very best in his field and an all-around terrific guy. Twins Training Room is located by the Crystal Barn restaurant on the corner of Clover St. and Jefferson Road. If you need more information, e-mail Jim at jlahue@saatchibiz.com
Thank
You
We greatly appreciate all the effort that went into making Jonathan Bannister Sensei's visit a great success. The dojo looked beautiful, the food brought into the dojo was great, the picnic was perfect, and the enthusiastic participation in the seminar was inspiring. As always, Jonathan Sensei brought along many new and exciting ideas. If you have any questions about the material covered, be sure to ask your instructors. We may not have all the answers, but further discussion of Jonathan Sensei's insights will certainly be helpful to everyone.
Recent
Testing
The following people recently tested: Tony Latore and Tom Atwood for 6th kyu, Eric Chesley, Ed Laird, Bob Leschingski, and Tina McCann for 4th kyu, and Bobby Stearns for 3rd kyu. Those testing provided some solid technique demonstrations and exciting freestyles. Congratulations to all on attaining your next rank.
Upcoming
Events
Test Prep Class, Wednesday, July 2 at 7 PM.
Open Mat, Friday, July 11 at 6 PM.
Test Prep Class, Wednesday, July 16 at 7 PM.
Open Mat, Friday July 18 at 6 PM.
Summer Camp with Maruyama Sensei, July 25-28 at Villanova University.
Maruyama Sensei in Rochester, Saturday and Sunday, August 2-3.