Heavy Metal : Whittier Gym Attracts Hard-Core Lifters With Their Hard Rock Music, Smell of Sweat, Look of Steroids

An intimidating aura, absent in plush health spas and fitness centers, suits the aspiring Arnold Schwarzeneggers who inhabit the Uptown Gym in Whittier.

The mirrors that wrap around the gym’s walls reflect no elaborate machines and beautiful people socializing, but ponderous barbells and drably dressed weightlifters grunting and grimacing their way to exhaustion.

The lifting is done to rock music--as hard as the muscles on display.

Even when the front door of this building--which a decade ago held a light fixture store and before that, a bank--is open, the smell of sweat does not dissipate.

John Franco, 25, whose build bespeaks an addiction to weight training, ducked out the door for fresh air one morning last week. “The atmosphere here definitely sets us apart from the spas,” he said. “And the equipment is old and practical.”

The gym gained notoriety recently when it was mentioned in Sports Illustrated as the workout spot of 315-pound Tony Mandarich, a Whittier resident and former Michigan State University lineman who was the second player selected in the NFL draft.

“The Uptown is a bare-bones pit for serious metal junkies,” the magazine reported in its story on Mandarich. “There is nothing here but bars, plates and primitive machines. Fly strips hang like stalactites from the dirty ceiling.”

Dick Gill, 48, the gym’s co-owner, was not pleased with the description of the ceiling, which does not look dirty.

He admitted that there had been a problem with flies: “Every year about this time they come in to get out of the wind. We did have some strips up over in that corner.”

Gill, who wore a white undershirt that revealed a weightlifter’s body, said the magazine wanted to depict Mandarich as slaving in a sweat shop. Gill had no quarrel with that, but pointed out that the place is brighter and cleaner than any dungeon.

The gym, fronted by plate-glass windows, is decorated with photos of flexing bodybuilders. Among them is Rory Leidelmeyer, an Uptown regular and former Mr. America who is Mandarich’s trainer.

Tanning accelerators, protein powder drinks and a bottle (for $30) of Pro Super Juice, which helps produce testosterone--a male hormone that enhances musculature--are exhibited in a case.

Yearly Memberships

“This is a typical hard-core gym,” Gill said of the Uptown, which is similar to the famous Gold’s Gym in Venice, offers memberships for $250 a year and has about 700 members.

“We’re not like a health spa dealing with Johnny Joe Average. These are hard-core lifters. The average guy doesn’t want to take it this far. He wants to get rid of his pot belly and tune up, but he’s not the type who wants to get 18-inch arms or a 50-inch chest. And he doesn’t care if he can’t bench-press 400 pounds.”

The bodies that are developed at the Uptown--some enlarged further by steroids, according to Gill--are thicker than the bodies at health spas.

“It’s common knowledge that bodybuilders use steroids and that steroids are around gyms and that they are available in gyms,” Gill said.

He said steroids aren’t sold at the Uptown because it’s illegal, and because drug agents sometimes come around gyms.

“(But) I know there are members here who sell them,” he said. “I find needles lying around all the time. There was one up on one of the tanning beds the other day. Some of these guys are heavily into ‘roids, some dabble in them and some don’t touch them.”

Some Are Intimidated

Throughout the day, the bodybuilders arrive, slapping their gym bags on the front counter and pulling out huge weightlifting belts.

“Some people are intimidated about coming in here,” Gill said. “They see these big guys and are afraid they’ll come in and be mistreated. Or have someone say how wimpy they are.

“But we have the best bunch of guys. A lot of gyms are cliquish. We rarely have a fight. I’ve kicked out two guys in eight years.”

Women work out at the Uptown, too, though not in colorful spandex outfits and leg warmers.

“You don’t see Heather Locklear or Cher here,” said Jon Bailey, 39, who works behind the front desk. He was referring to the actresses who are often seen promoting health clubs.

You do see Lisa Wernli, 24, of La Mirada. A Los Angeles police officer who trains for strength, she wore gray sweats and hoisted heavy weights with gloved hands. She described spas, which she avoids, as dating services.

“Everybody here trains hard,” she said. “The people are knowledgeable.”

“We offer instruction,” said Gill, who with partner Rick Weaver bought the gym seven years ago. “In health clubs there are mostly young kids working who don’t know anything about weight training or anatomy.”

Although the Uptown has a mixed clientele consisting, Gill said, of people from all walks of life, there are popular jokes about bodybuilding gyms and the people who would rather hang out in them than do anything else.

Bailey, a former power lifter, is fond of saying: “I think there are two guys in here who have a job.” Or, “We even had a guy in here who was a high school graduate.”

Gill said there is some truth to the gym-rat image: “All some of them want to do is pump iron; they work just enough to pay for supplements and other things they need. Their status is their size, not money.”

After straining through incline presses, squats, standing dumbbell shrugs and lateral pull-downs, the lifters check the mirror, viewing through hopeful eyes their biceps, triceps, deltoids, quads and other muscles shown in the anatomical chart on the wall.

Amused by their insecurity, Gill said, “They’re always saying, ‘Do I look good?’ ‘Do I look a little smaller today?’ ‘Is he bigger than me?’ ”

On one side of the room there was much clanking of metal and gritting of teeth.

“C’mon, man! Go! That’s it, push!”

One More Repetition

Eric Lopez was encouraging his workout partner, Bob Earlywine, to grind out one more repetition.

Lopez, 21, a computer college student, has a massive chest and 17-inch arms that overshadow his 5-foot-5 height. Gill said he remembered when Lopez was skinny.

Earlywine, older than most of the lifters at 32, is a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He rarely misses a day at the gym.

“I’m into health and nutrition,” Earlywine said. “I don’t put the mass on like they (steroid users) do, but I’m healthier.”

And Lopez maintained: “I don’t believe in steroids; I don’t take any drugs, just good supplements.”

Gill said that many of the lifters want to be like Schwarzenegger, but added, “A lot of guys have the little-man complex; they want to be bigger.” He noted that the average bodybuilder is 5-foot-6.

Always Wears a Hat

Strong and tall. Mike Zendejas of Montebello, a veteran of bodybuilding shows, was doing squats. His outfit included a gray sweat shirt and an old hat. “My uniform,” he said. “You never see me in anything else.”

Of steroids he said, “If you’re doing it just (to look good) for the summer, you’re an idiot. But if you’re going to make a career out of this, as long as you know the risks, go for it. If you’re not willing to die for the sport, you have no business sticking a syringe in your ass. I’m willing to endanger my health to get what I want. I’m only 21 and willing to face the consequences.”

Gill said he knows another lifter who uses steroids “to the point that it scares me--but that’s his business. Young people think they’re going to live forever.”

After a brief break, Zendejas went back to the weights. He would soon end his afternoon workout, but probably would return early in the evening. They all come back then, crowding the place with their bodies and energy. The noise will be deafening.

And out on Philadelphia Street, passers-by will look in cautiously and see not a gym but a zoo.