-
Upon my arrival in Colchester in 1995 one of my first missions was to seek and find a hardcore Gym to suit my purposes. Bearing in mind that I had been training in gyms all over the world, from the back streets of Central America to the most up to date training empires, including the most brutal of Army Gyms.Consider this, if you will, a gym is just a room with kit in it and a bench press is just a bench press whether or not you do it in your bedroom, your garage or anywhere else. So what is the winning formula for a gym? Basically, you have to walk in and feed off of the atmosphere; it has to stimulate you and inspire you and make you want to train. It is a place that you really want to be with people, that you really want to be with, and despite its fairly run down condition, I found the place I was looking for when I found what was then known as Bodyshapers.Bodyshapers was built and founded by Ron Brett and Len Brown in the late seventies. Both men themselves were in their late sixties/early seventies and had a huge knowledge and background in the health and strength industry, in particular Ron, who came to be both my best friend and mentor. Ron Brett would give the lads the benefit of all his worldly experience in much the same way that I attempt to do now, and I would sit for hours just listening to some of his adventures and planning more of our own. At the time all of the local bodybuilders trained there and there were some great physiques around including many title winners, one of which was Terry Fisher. Terry had won just about everything there was to win including the Universe, and for the next few years the pair of us teamed up together and lived the bodybuilding lifestyle. We trained hard and played hard and would always be at competitions supporting each other.I was due to be released from the Army in 2000 AD and the plan was that Terry and I took over the Gym together as partners during my last serving year so that the transition would be nice and smooth when I finally left.Unfortunately, this was not meant to be at the time and after a substantial financial outlay and countless hours of our effort including friends and family, we lost the Gym. Undeterred Terry and I converted a local office block to a Gym and thus the first Hercules Gym was born. In the first 2 years we did not look back; right from the word go we got plenty of support from everybody and with long hard days and plenty of enthusiasm and passion we started to gain a great reputation.Ron and Len used to promote the NABBA East Britain, which I was fortunate enough to inherit, but with no disrespect to NABBA, of which I am a big fan and supporter, I needed to inject my own ideas and call my own shots so I struck out alone as an independent contest promoter.After our first 2 years we converted an old servicing bay and moved to our new Hercules Gym, thats not to say we went upmarket, we just needed a bit more space for people to leave weights on the floor! The new place had a different feel to it with a very industrious atmosphere. After another 2 years of intensity and immensity it was time to return home. Terry and I remain friends to this day but decided to go our own ways; I however returned to and bought the Gym formerly known as Bodyshapers and now known as the famous Hercules Gym.Hercules Gym is predominantly a mans gym with my personality firmly stamped upon it. It attracts some colourful characters from both ends of the social scale, but is considered neutral territory and everybody is always made welcome. If you want my help, I gladly give it to you, but if you dont then that is fine with me. Hercules Gym is my second home and thats the way I like it, I cannot start to list the amount of people who make the pilgrimage to Hercules to train.The gym has been described as many things by many people, but when you enter Hercules Gym for the first time you are entering the heart and soul of bodybuilding and power; this is what it is all about and this is the place to do it. If you are not inspired or excited then you might just as well go home and take up knitting because this is not the place for you.Everyone is welcome to come and swap a few stories and add to our heritage, if you want a workout then your first one is on me, after that it is £30.00 a month or £3.50 a workout and it doesnt get any better than that.If you just fancy a coffee and want to shoot the breeze then that is cool; if I am not available then you will be hosted by Stu the Muss, Dave ONeil or Pete.I look forward to seeing and meeting you, check us out on our website by clicking on the banner bellow while your there have a look at our webcam.Scott