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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
ARRHICHION

Today’s inspiration is a man who is, quite simply, the toughest mother f**ker that ever lived. Sports has been filled with many a legitimate tough guy, from Bob Baun scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal on a broken leg, to the supposed “Baddest Man on the Planet” Mike Tyson, to in-the-ring warrior Evander Holyfield. And make no mistake, these were tough men. They would fight and play through pain…

But Arrhichion could kick the sh*t out of you when he was already dead.

Today’s mixed martial arts, and leagues such as the UFC, are descended from the sport of pankration at the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece. In these matches, two men would battle to submission (or to death) with their bare hands.

By the end of the Olympics, one man would emerge as the champion. One such man was Arrhichion.

In the final match of the games, Arrhichion was caught in a chokehold and was literally on the verge of death from lack of oxygen. In the ultimate real-life Rocky-and-Mickey moment, Arrhichion’s trainer cheered him on, inspiring a last gasp effort from the fighter. Arrhichion applied an ankle lock on his opponent, who submitted from the pain, making Arrhichion the victor.

As the referee went to raise Arrhichion’s hand, it became clear that he had, in fact, died from the chokehold and had applied his own successful submission just moments before his own death.

If anybody ever needed a literal example of leaving nothing in the ring or on the field, you should look no further than this man. In today’s athletics, there is a great deal of trash talk, before during and after matches. The staredowns at boxing and MMA weigh-ins sometimes are more emotional and action-packed than the fights themselves. Fighters will release YouTube videos calling out and insulting upcoming or potential opponents…

But if there was ever a man who had earned the right to look his opponent in the face and say, “Man’s game, bitch!” – it would most certainly be Arrhichion.

REBUILDING THE MACHINE…

Okay, when I rolled my ankle yesterday and said it didn’t seem like much of a problem… Um, yeah. I am now basically walking around like I have a clubbed foot, so I am thankful that despite yesterday’s stupidity, I at least had the good sense not to push calves in the late workout. They were going to be due up today, but there’s no way that’s happening. So it’s biceps and I don’t think I can even do any standing curls, which does make it interesting because I have to get a little creative and mix up my exercises. It will basically be a lot of seated, preacher and incline-suspended curls.

TODAY: BICEPS
…5 COUNT UP, 5 COUNT DOWN

SEATED PREACHER STRAIGHT BARBELL CURLS (5 sets)
82 x 10
82 x 7
92 x 5
92 x 4
102 x 3 / 82 x 3

SEATED PREACHER DUMBBELL HAMMER CURLS (5 sets)
30 x 8
30 x 6
30 x 6
35 x 5
40 x 4

MACHINE PREACHER BICEP CURLS (3 sets)
70 x 4
70 x 4
80 x 3 / 50 x 2

INCLINE SUSPENDED-LEGS TWISTING DUMBBELL CURLS (3 sets)
20 x 8
20 x 7
20 x 6

TRAINING NOTES

Well, I succeeded in not involving my legs or ankles in anything. I was hopping around the gym like a pirate but I got through the workout and felt pretty good from the waist up. The reason for the odd weights on the barbell curl is the 32 pound bar.

Total Sets (Biceps): 16

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