The OG's of High Intensity Strength Training in My Home Town
Lawrence mentioned that James T (James Biddle) was an OG of HIT in my home town. Actually the OG was a chap by the name of Paul Dickens (who went on to be the chief fire officer for the area). Paul had been living in America and trained at a Nautilus Gym over there. When he came back to the UK he introduced me to the "pleasures" of HIT at Sugars Gym around 1977 or 78. Mentzer was gaining momentum around the same time and my interest had been piqued by Paul. A number of us followed the Mentzer path including me, a guy I only ever knew as "Big" John and my subsequent training partners Rossie and Mark (who is sadly no longer with us). There was also a chap called Craig who had found a Nautilus Gym which was so good that most of the HIT group left Sugars and took to making a 70 mile round trip to train there usually three times a week. Craig is featured on James T's insta page and absolutely transformed his body using HIT. Very inspirational. Eventually we all moved to a much more local gym that was stacked with Gen 2 Nautilus kit and that is where I met James who worked there as a trainer. James eventually left and set up United with the help of Mark and Craig before selling it and moving to his current set up. All our paths have criss-crossed many times over the last 50 years. This clip is the late Mark being trained by James and filmed by Craig. High Intensity 5-Minute Miracle Workout Arthur Jones