Today I present another sample of my playlist for the grueling weight days in the gym. This one is a fairly obscure song by one of the masters of rap and, more importantly, a master of weightlifting-inspiration rap.
This is Pain by 2Pac. And if you are doing your job right in the weight room, your pain will run deep! Share it with me!
Today’s training inspiration is a woman who could out-lift, out-bench and pretty much out-anything 99.9% of the male population in the world.
Regardless of your own personal views on the aesthetics of female bodybuilding, it is impossible not to admire the dedication and focus that goes into the sport from the perspective of the female competitors.
Not only do they have to work equally as hard and smart in the gym as their male counterparts, but much like the men a few decades ago, they are doing so in the face of a stigma that has yet to be fully alleviated.
Iris Kyle is presently the queen of female bodybuilding. Her victories have accumulated in a string worthy of Ronnie Coleman, Lee Haney or Arnold Schwarzenegger himself.
Iris has won four Ms. International titles (including the most recent one in 2009) and four Ms. Olympia titles, including the last three. To this, she has also added three 2nd place finishes at Ms. Olympia, making her the most dominant female bodybuilder of recent times.
Today I’m actually working on one of the strong points, so I feel very little pressure. Even if it ended up being a beeyatch workout, I can afford to just hold ground between the neck and the abdomen while my back and calves play catch-up.
FLAT BENCH PRESS (5 sets)
115 x 8
165 x 5
165 x 4
165 x 4
185 x 2 / 105 x 3
FLAT DUMBBELL FLYES (5 sets)
25 x 10
30 x 8
30 x 7
35 x 6
50 x 3 / 35 x 2
LYING DUMBBELL OVERHEAD RAISE (3 sets)
25 x 10
30 x 8
30 x 7
INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
35 x 6
35 x 5
50 x 4
FLAT DUMBBELL PRESS (3 sets)
50 x 5
50 x 5
50 x 4 / 35 x 2
It felt like a pretty decent workout by the end of it. I have to say, my five-count is turning into a seven or eight-count. I actually sometimes have to focus on doing the reps faster of all things. And with the sloooow reps, I find myself doing some quasi-embarrassing light weight – but such is the nature of working out for results rather than for your ego. As much as I don’t really want to go public with a first set of 115 pounds on the bench press, if I want to do 8-10 reps with essentially a 12-count on each one, that’s the way it has to be.
Just don’t tell Iris Kyle how little I benched today. She might kick sand in my face.
Total Sets (Chest): 19
BACK TO Index of Inspirational Role Models for Training
Today’s training inspiration is a man who has overcome a great deal in life to achieve some pretty remarkable things, and who will tonight be attempting something that may blur the line between courageous and farcical.
There was nothing farcical, however, about Kyle Maynard achieving what almost everyone would have likely thought impossible when – being born without arms below his elbows and with legs barely formed below his knees – he entered the realm of high school wrestling and succeeded.
Despite having to compete without fully formed limbs, Maynard went on to a 35-16 record on the mats and competed in the 2004 Georgia High School wrestling championships, also winning himself the ESPY Award that year as the Best Athlete with a Disability.
The feats for which we turn to him for inspiration do not stop there, however. Maynard also took up powerlifting and has been renowned as one of the premier performers in modified bench press and other strength feats in exercises made possible by equipment that allows him to display his deceptive strength.
Tonight, Maynard takes on a challenge that many consider inspiring and many consider ridiculuous. Time will tell whether it, too, is yet another reason we should aspire to emulate men like Maynard, but when he makes his mixed martial arts debut this evening, he will be fighting with no hands and no feet.
Much of the world does not know what to think about the upcoming match or whether it will be competitive or ill-advised. There is little disagreement, however, that Maynard has stones the size of Plymouth Rock and that he has the type of iron will that will not allow him to be told what not to do.
At first blush, allowing a man to fight in front of a crowd when he doesn’t have forearms or hands to defend punches, legs to stand on, hands with which to attempt submissions, or the ability to throw proper punches or kicks…sounds like a bad idea. But then again, if you had asked the same question about his taking up high school wrestling, you would have probably got the same answer at the time…and look at how that turned out.
ADDENDUM:
Well, now that the fight has occurred, we have even more evidence that Kyle Maynard is a man who is not going to back down from anything. Maynard lost a three-round fight by decision, but went the distance in his debut MMA match. What is particularly notable about this fight is that (apparently due to humidity in the arena) Maynard was unable to get his MMA gloves to stay on, and thus had to enter the cage without gloves.
This meant that during the match, he would not be allowed to throw strikes with his arms. Since Maynard is not exactly going to be pulling off any slick submissions with his incomplete limbs and inability to grab hold of his opponent to manipulate joints, that meant he was essentially left without his primary means of mounting an offense. He entered the cage to fight nonetheless, which basically means Kyle Maynard’s balls are bigger than your head. I am waiting to see what challenge this man takes on next.
It is time for a dedicated back day. The weak points shall become strong points…
WIDE GRIP LAT PULLDOWN (5 sets)
150 x 7
120 x 6
- Switched to 1-1-2 Tempo
210 x 7
225 x 5
225 x 4 / 165 x 5
CLOSE GRIP LAT PULLDOWN (MACHINE) (5 sets)
150 x 8
150 x 7
170 x 5
170 x 6
200 x 4 / 150 x 2
BENT OVER BARBELL ROW (5 sets)
- 40-Second Rests and Fast Reps
135 x 10
135 x 10
135 x 10
135 x 10
135 x 8
CLOSE GRIP CABLE ROWS (3 sets)
100 x 7
100 x 6
120 x 5
SUPINE BODYWEIGHT ROW (SMITH) (3 sets)
BW x 5
BW x 4
BW x 4
VERTICAL-GRIP BACK FLYES (PEC DECK) (3 sets)
70 x 8
85 x 6
100 x 4 / 70 x 2
HORIZONTAL-GRIP BACK FLYES (PEC DECK) (3 sets)
70 x 7
85 x 5
100 x 4 / 70 x 2
ABS
Decline 45 Degree Sit-Ups x 20
Decline 45 Degree Sit-Ups x 20
Decline 45 Degree Sit-Ups x 16
Suspended Twisting Crunches x 20
Suspended Twisting Crunches x 16
Suspended Twisting Crunches x 16
Early on, I decided to take the 5-0-5 tempo out of some of the exercises. Two sets into wide lat pulldowns, all I was doing was burning out my biceps, so I went for quick reps and mass the last three sets. I also opted to do quick reps and short rests for bent-over barbell rows.
Otherwise, it was long slow reps and business as usual.
Total Sets (Back): 27
BACK TO Index of Inspirational Role Models for Training
When a 40-year-old hockey player is put on waivers by his team (translation: we have so little use for you, that any team can take you and we don’t want anything in return) then that is generally all she wrote for his career.
Early in the 2007-2008 season, when Mark Recchi’s third go-around with the Pittsburgh Penguins came to an unceremonious end with his placement on waivers, that seemed to be the end of a storybook career that had seen Recchi rise to become one of the NHL’s greatest scorers of all time, while picking up a few Stanley Cups along the way. Hall of Fame? Perhaps. But certainly not a Hall of Fame end to the career. With 2 goals and 8 points in 19 games, it seemed that Recchi had finally run out of gas.
Mark Recchi had different plans. The Atlanta Thrashers claimed him on waivers and Recchi went on to score 40 points in 53 games for them over the remainder of the year, finishing with 48 points in 72 games and earning him another year in the NHL. He signed with Tampa Bay in the summer and split the year between Tampa Bay and Boston, who acquired him at the trade deadline to help them in their playoff push. It is currently late in the season with about 10 games left, and Recchi already has 53 points in 72 games, proving that even in his 40s, he is still a notable force on offense.
Sure, he isn’t scoring 123 points in a season like in his younger days. But in the year and a bit since he was placed on waivers and written off by most of the NHL, Recchi has gone on to pass such legends as Brett Hull, Guy Lafleur, Jari Kurri, Dale Hawerchuk and Bryan Trottier in career scoring. He now sits at 14th on the all-time list. And it doesn’t seem to be over yet.
Be careful about counting a winner out before his time is done.
Back to legs. And why not, since we’re looking to a skater for inspiration today.
SEATED LEG PRESS (10 sets)
310 x 10
500 x 15
500 x 15
500 x 12
500 x 15
500 x 10
500 x 15
500 x 10
500 x 10
500 x 10
HAMSTRING CURLS (5 sets)
80 x 8
80 x 8
80 x 7
80 x 7
80 x 6 / 60 x 6 / 40 x 10 (drop set)
SEATED QUAD EXTENSION (5 sets)
200 x 10
180 x 10
180 x 10
180 x 10
180 x 10
SEATED STRAIGHT LEG CALF PRESS (10 sets)
210 x 15
310 x 10
310 x 8
310 x 5
270 x 10
250 x 10
250 x 12
250 x 10
250 x 10
210 x 15
SEATED CALF RAISE (1 set)
90 x 15 (tempo training 5 count)
ABS
Crunches x 85
Crunches x 50
Crunches x 50
Crunches x 50
Crunches x 50
Supersetted Quad Extension and Hamstring Curls
Total Sets: 31