Minimalist trainers I have known: Ken Fantano
19 May 2006If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Ever see a man bench press 625-pounds casual like, wearing a tank top? Ever seen a man strict incline press a pair of 200-pound dumbbells for 5 reps then on the next set press the same pair of 200’s but have two training partners each balance a 20-pound dumbbell on top of each 200 in order to create a 440-pound payload? Ever seen a man bench press with such explosiveness that he snapped the rivets off an Inzer powerbelt? This with his initial blast off the chest; literally explode the buckle right off a 4-inch powerbelt with a violent chest and waist expansion? In addition, this same guy, Ken Fantano, could squat a low, legal 940-pounds in a ridiculously loose squat super suit. Kenny was an oddity: like Mark Challiet, Ken was a fantastic powerlifter who really wasn’t interested in powerlifting. We would spend countless hours playing cards on the glass top counter in his gym, The Muscle Factory, in West Haven Connecticut, Fat Pat, Jean, Danny and a revolving cast of Pirate-like characters…amongst the card players the talk would range far and wide, sports, women, TV, movies – yet as soon as the talk turned to power Ken clammed up like a Mafioso being grilled in front of a senate subcommittee. He was not the slightest bit interested in power talk and while the rest of us would babble on about this or that person, place or event, Ken would study his cards and stay silent until another topic more to his liking arose. He stood 5-9 weighed 365 in top condition and had not a single once of flab anywhere on his massive body: his muscle mass and gut mass stretched hard against his skin in every direction. True, his gut was large (“Big Pot, Big Squat Mart”) but to poke it or punch it was to poke or punch concrete.
Athletic and explosive, physically Ken was nimble and agile. He reminded me of the nimble athletic ability of comedienne Jackie Gleason when Gleason would break into a frantic, incredible dance routine. Ken had dancer athletic agility. Every day when the weather was right, the gym rats would play savage wiffle ball games out back in the parking lot, often ten or fifteen monster guys playing a child’s game, loud and profane. Neighborhood kids would hear the swearing and flock to participate, it was a surreal blending of motorcycle thugs and innocent kids all playing wiffle ball with incredible competitive intensity. Ken batted “cow-handed,” he was a lefty yet batted with his left hand over top of his right while in a left-handed batting stance. Once a 12-year old boy new to this game, oblivious to how powerful an adult with 600-pound bench press is, acted stupid. The kid playing 3rd base and would continually crowd home plate in a batter-intimidating move. When Fantano came up to bat Danny D yelled “BACK UP KID!!” But the overly aggressive tweeny was looking to impress – CRACK! Too late, the kid ate a 200-mile per hour wiffle ball, a line drive blast right to his skull. He lay on the parking lot pavement, bleeding a little. No one rushed to his aide. Ken got a single out of it and as he stood on 1st base he yelled to the prone youth, “That’ll TEACH YOU KID!” Once Mic G, coached by Ken using a bench program Ken devised, was scheduled to hit 220×6 paused in the bench. Ken was working the counter and looked over and saw that young Mic was being lazy. The schedule called for 220×6 but Mic simply jumped the scheduled poundage to 225 – that way he could load 4-45-pound plates on each side and be done with it instead of loading two 35’s, two 5’s, two 2.5-pound plates on each side. Ken notes this from his stool behind the counter. Mic completes his top set and Ken comes off the stool. He’s hot about something.
Ken rhino charged across the gym floor and Mic sees this and back peddles, Ken keeps coming and sumo butts Mic into the wall, Mic starts bobbing and weaving but Ken takes a bear paw and grabs the first piece of Mic he can. Ken comes up with a handful of hair and proceeds to drag Mic to the front door by the hair; then through the front door where Ken gets two handfuls of Mic and throws him into a snow bank. He walks back inside and locks the front door. Mic recovers and stands up fixing his hair, “Jeeeezus Kenny! What was that about?!” Ken stands inside the glass door and wags a finger and says, “When I go to the trouble to write a freaking program for you I expect you to stick with what’s scheduled and not be making wild-ass poundage jumps all on your own! It’s disrespectful!” Mic pulled on the door, “Let me in Ken it’s freezing out here! Besides – it was only a 5-pound bump and I made it – easy!” Ken turned and said over one shoulder, “Get lost – you ain’t coming back in here today!” Tough love cubed. Another time four of us sat and the counter on a slow day, we were playing cards and drinking beer at around 5 on a Thursday when a very well dressed businessman enters and starts walking towards the counter. Ken looked up from his hand and with a stone face says, “Not for you!” The businessman in the $1,000 suit with the $200 silk tie stops dead in his tracks and says, “I was told you were the finest personal trainer in the area and I wanted to enlist your…” Fantano slammed his cards down on the counter top and yells, “And I told you – NOT FOR YOU! Are you deaf?”
The businessman was NOT used to being talked to this way – in his world everyone said, yes sir and no sir and may I bring you something else sir and thank you sir and please come again sir. He made the mistake of raising his voice in anger to Ken, “Now you look here – I don’t know who YOU think you’re talking to…” Ken came off the stool and Jean D went, “Uh oh!” Ken is walking fast towards the businessman, waving a finger menacingly and saying “I’ll tell you exactly who I’m talking to – I’M TALKING TO YOU! YOU *&%$-FACE and this is MY WORLD!” The guy got it and turned white, it was now a full out rhino charge and he beat an amazingly quick retreat out the front door, back into his Mercedes…he burned rubber out of the parking lot. I was new to all this and said, “Damn Ken – couldn’t you just have charged him like $1,000 for an annual membership?” Ken was calm and relaxed as if nothing had occurred. “You let one guy in like that and they start bitching and moaning and demanding this and that, whining, never really willing or able to commit so they never progress but with this type that becomes YOUR problem – the worst is if they start bringing their lawyer friends or spoiled wives and children and sooner or later some freaking incident happens and you bitch-slap someone and they sue you…” I took it all in and said, “Damn, you got a point there – I hadn’t thought it through.” Ken said, “Whose play is it.”
Next: Two Fantano Workouts….
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