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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
KIM CHIZEVSKY

Today’s Colin Timberlake Training Inspiration is a woman who ascended to the very peak of a field that is often looked at oddly by the mainstream, but requires an undeniable and superhuman degree of focus, effort and dedication: female bodybuilding.

Kim Chizevsky enjoyed an impressive four-year reign as Ms. Olympia between 1996 and 1999, marking herself as the undisputed queen of mass and definition.

She would add to these titles a 2nd place finish at Ms. Olympia and two Ms. International championships, all of which followed victories at the IFBB North American Championship and NPC Junior Nationals.

While Chizevsky is viewed as a force that pushed female bodybuilding into an excessively masculine and massive sphere, one cannot help but admire the commitment involved, regardless of one’s own personal opinion on the aesthetics.

Following her bodybuilding career, she came out of retirement to place well in a handful of fitness and figure competitions, including 6th place at the 2001 IFBB Fitness Inernational.

She also parlayed her intimidating physique into a frightening role in the 200 film The Cell, opposite Jennifer Lopez.

TODAY: BICEPS (Fast Tempo, 60 Second Rests)

STANDING UNDERHAND DUMBBELL CURL (5 sets)
35 x 10
35 x 10
50 x 5
50 x 4
50 x 4

STANDING HAMMER DUMBBELL CURL (5 sets)
35 x 10
35 x 10
50 x 5
50 x 4
50 x 5

STANDING TWISTING DUMBBELL CURL (3 sets)
35 x 8
35 x 8
35 x 8

TRAINING NOTES

Total Sets (Biceps): 13

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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
IRIS KYLE

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.

HAMMERING THE ANVIL…

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.

TODAY: CHEST (5-1-5)

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

TRAINING NOTES

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

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