The Tables Turn – Russian “Fitness”
A recent article in the New York Times called “O.K. Russia, Time to Work It,” talks about a trainer in Moscow, Alex Reznik, who is in charge of the gym in the Moscow Ritz Carlton.
When I was a kid, when the Soviet Union still existed, and Communism was still the Red Scare, the Russians were terrible monsters of strength, crushing opponents in the ‘80 Olympics, and in movies like Rocky 3.
I must break you, Comrade.
The Ruskies Are Coming!
Granted, the US didn’t participate in that Olympic games, protesting the USSR’s involvement in Afghanistan. But (after the Russians boycotted the ‘84 games in Los Angeles) they crushed the 1988 games.
As long as I’ve been around, though, the Russians have had a reputation for toughness. Even in the recent past, guys like Pavel Tsatsouline have guided American fitness enthusiasts by a tough-as-nails rubric, and fighters like Fedor Emelianenko have shown what slugging it out with sledgehammers pullups and pushups can do in the Octogon.
The Russian Experiment
Wah Happan…?
The article points out the old Soviet value of physical education and fitness. This new gym culture, it says, is really only representative of the ultra-elite. It also says that even some of Reznik’s ultra-rich clients still show up with alcohol on their breath (and that some of them are seeking additional “supplementation” still legal in Russia).
But what has happened?
I imagine it’s the same thing that’s happened over here, in the Capitalist US. With prosperity comes laziness. Is that true? When calories are cheap, it doesn’t really matter how long you hit the treadmill.
What I wonder most about, is the “newsworthiness” of the story itself. What are supposed to learn by reading this piece of journalism? What is being communicated? Why is it important?
You tell me.
Mr. Reznik’s services don’t come cheaply. Gym membership fees are as high as $23,000 a year; a one-hour private session at home costs $200 to $300
This is fucking bullshit. I have boxed for years, 12 in fact, and I see this shit all the time. One guy I used to train with spent $5000 on a fitness course (he’d only had 18 months of training himself and trying to get fit prior to this) and then next I hear he’s charging clients $70 per hour LMAO
My trainer (a guy with 45 years experience) and I were talking these matters over one day and we come to the conclusion that with a bit of heart and some desire you could get up to speed training under a fucking tree if you had to.
An article like that seeks to create a mystique and feeling of ’specialness’, and well I’m afraid there is nothing mysterious or special about people like that, they just add more to the online noise pullution.
I couldn’t agree more!
In fact, it’s one of the most frustrating things about the personal training industry – that the good marketers are the ones who get the highest pay/most clients, not the ones with the best techniques/most experience…
Tells you something about the way human beings work, I think.
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