Chapter 23

 IT WON'T HAPPEN HERE

 A number of years ago, the situation at Muscle Beach in California finally degenerated to the point that the city was forced to close the whole thing down -- at the moment, an even more famous mecca for weight-trainees is apparently undergoing a similar degeneration, is rapidly becoming a haven "of and for" drug freaks; but it won't happen here -- and I think that some people, at least, know it won't happen, now. "That which is necessary" will be done to stop it from happening -- WHATEVER that may prove to be.

 We have -- in the past, we have had -- and in the future, we expect to have large numbers of sincerely interested trainees from all over the country, and we welcome them, and will do everything reasonably possible to help them; but we have also had -- if briefly -- a few outright kooks, who were neither welcomed nor helped very much. Such people would be well advised to stay away.

 If you are using drugs -- of any kind -- don't bother to come to DeLand, Florida, hoping to train; and please don't be foolish enough to think you can fool us on the subject -- even though you might, briefly.

 But if you are sincerely interested in weight-training -- for any worthwhile purpose -- then you perhaps should consider at least a brief visit to DeLand; primarily for the purpose of learning just what proper training consists of, so that you can then apply the proper style of training with any available tools, anywhere.

 We are not seeking "guinea pigs" for research purposes -- at this point we already have so much research data that it will take years to reduce it all to a concise printed form; we know what is required in the way of equipment -- and we know how to use this equipment in at least very practical, if perhaps not perfect, ways. We are also clearly aware that most trainees will not soon have -- perhaps may never have -- the use of Nautilus equipment, but the important thing that can be gained by any trainee is a knowledge of the proper style of training, and this seems to be something that cannot be clearly reduced to the written word, something that must be seen and experienced to be understood.

 Even one or two weeks in DeLand will usually provide at least a working knowledge of the involved principles -- if the individual trainee is intelligent enough to understand, and unbiased enough to abandon previously-formed misconceptions formed as a result of prior experience and reading, and willing to practice a style of training that certainly is NOT easy but just as certainly is very productive.

 But I want it clearly understood that we are looking for, and willing to help, only members of a "new breed" of weight-trainees -- and not at all interested in average members of the "old breed". How big you are, what your potential may be (good or bad), or your financial or social position -- none of these matter to us in the least, so long as your attitude is reasonable and your actions are acceptable by our standards; but keep it clearly in mind that they are "our standards" -- and since we are offering cooperation and help on a free basis, we can certainly continue to dictate standards, and we will.

 As of the moment, Sergio Oliva plans to spend approximately two months training in DeLand in preparation for the Mr. Universe contest in London in September, 1971 -- and Sergio uses the so-called "grow drugs", and he will continue to use them during his period of training here, because he is now at least temporarily "hooked" on them, if he stopped using them now he would undoubtedly lose muscular size for at least six months, until such time that his body was able to return to a normal chemical balance; but Sergio is an exceptional case -- we don't approve of his use of such drugs but we will at least permit it under the circumstances. However, there will be no other such exceptions; so if you have been using these drugs, I would advise you to cease their use at least six months before even seriously considering coming to DeLand to train -- and if you are using any other types of drugs, then don't bother coming at all.

 The parents of any young trainees should be well aware that we will do everything possible to maintain a good training environment -- and that we will not permit trainees to use our facilities if their actions or statements are such that we feel they may be a bad influence on other trainees, in any way; but it should also be obvious that we can neither be responsible for, nor police the actions of, anybody when they are not on our property -- so if your son is interested in coming to DeLand, but if you are aware that he is "out of control", then don't send him here hoping for a miracle, as some parents have rather obviously done.

 While the overall environment in this part of Florida has not yet reached the point of outrage so plain in many other places, it is still easily possible for anybody to find just as much trouble as they may be seeking -- and sometimes they find types of trouble that they aren't seeking, and that they can't handle.

 We try to fit our actions to the situation, we "don't shoot sick children and we don't pet mad dogs", but we can do rather nicely without either -- although we have had a few of both.

 If the above is too strong, if it serves only the purpose -- not my intended purpose -- of keeping away reasonable people in some cases, then sobeit; but it seems to be an actual requirement to speak very plainly to unreasonable people -- and we will do whatever becomes necessary to discourage them, even if it finally results in keeping everybody away. This whole thing started out as a hobby with me, and I devoted thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars to it long before I had any slightest intention of turning it into anything more than a hobby -- and I will turn it back into a very private hobby if it becomes necessary to do so in order to prevent the formation of another Muscle Beach.

 There are certainly more than enough football players available for my purposes and my private interest, and I have no intention of letting bodybuilders -- or anybody else -- misuse or distort something of real value to large numbers of people, something that could and should be of value to almost literally everybody. Since becoming openly involved with bodybuilders approximately two years ago, my impression of the whole field of body building has steadily become worse -- and it was pretty bad at the start.

 While it is neither my desire nor my intention to attempt to force my opinions -- or my standards of conduct -- onto anybody, it is clearly my right to pick my associates, and I will; and if people feel that they can benefit from an association with me, then it is up to them to conform to my standards.

 And while it isn't quite true, as I told an associate on the telephone recently, that I "live on an island in a lake full of crocodiles," I probably would if I could; but it is literally true that I was the first man in the world (at least in modern times) to capture an adult crocodile alive, and that I did so at a time when it was considered impossible -- and it is also true that I had dozens of adult, formerly man-eating crocodiles eating out of my hand within a matter of weeks after I captured them, and by that point they were being very careful about the hand, too.

 The paradox of technocracy seems to be that survival presupposes the ability to attract crowds -- which crowds make survival unacceptable.




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