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TODAY’S TRAINING INSPIRATION:
SYLVESTER STALLONE

Today’s training inspiration, the first in a hopefully long series of figures to inspire some pretty grueling workouts, is a man who has probably inspired more workouts than anyone else in history…Rocky Balboa a.k.a. Sylvester Stallone.

For the moment, I’ll set aside the legendary process by which a down-on-his-luck 30-year-old Stallone was living in a studio apartment with his brother Frank, alternating each night as to who would sleep on the bed and who on the floor…came to be the biggest star in Hollywood by taking his future into his own hands and writing a screenplay that won the 1976 Oscar for Best Picture.

In addition to these creative exploits (the man has written most of the films he has ever appeared in and directed a large proportion of them as well), he has gone a long way toward setting the standard in Hollywood for his virtually inhuman level of fitness.

The man’s workouts are legendary, going far beyond the seemingly-impossible exploits that characterize his training montages in Rocky through Rocky 6, and so they must have been for a 60-year-old Stallone to get into the kind of shape where he could step into a ring and believably throw punches with a world champion in the other corner.

The man studied the science of bodybuilding, became workout partners with fellow legends Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu, pushing others and being pushed to greater heights. In an unprecedented fusion of acting and bodybuilding, Stallone created a whole new breed of Hollywood character, the emotionally vulnerable physical superman. Such is the manner in which greatness is achieved.

Oh yeah, and this bio would not be complete without one of the many timeless Rocky Balboa quotes… It’s not about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It’s about how much you can take…and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!

ON TO TRAINING…

I am beginning this post before I even do my workout, because I am hoping that by starting the writing process beforehand, I will be forced and shamed into making my body live up to the expectations I will create for myself with this post.

I am under the weather today. I would love to just drag a blanket onto the couch and watch hockey highlights or pre-Superbowl analysis or catch up on movies…pretty much anything but run. I’m letting myself off the hook for the bench press to failure today. But I am doing the 5K training run.

You can either give in to the body or teach it that it has to conform to the demands you will place on it. Time for this achy machine to be taught a lesson. I’ll be back when I’ve finished the 5K.

So, let the drum roll begin. And… (ugh, this is going to hurt)

TODAY’S PERFORMANCE

5K Run Time: 19:46
Bench Presses: 17

iPod songs during the training run (custom):
1. Pat Benatar – Love is a Battlefield (Instrumental Remix)
2. Fort Minor – Remember the Name
3. Fort Minor – Remember the Name

TRAINING NOTE

That’s more like it. Definitely surpassed expectations for a sick day. And I don’t want to overreact, but I may get to the point where I’m gunning at 10 mph for the entire 5K on the treadmill a little sooner than I had originally planned. Then again, I could pull a hammy tomorrow as punishment for my audacity.

I actually did the first 1.5 miles with no music at all, for the sole purpose of knowing that the worst would be behind me at the halfway point. I figured with the way I am feeling, I would need a little reward / pick-me-up about 9 minutes in, and such was the case. I had done the first 1.5 miles at 10 mph and hoped to go for 2 miles, but at the 1.75 mile mark, I had to ease it down to 9 mph.

Although Love is a Battlefield is one of my favorite 80s songs (yeah I said it), it is a good but not incredible running song, so I stuck it out, knowing that Remember the Name was coming up and would be able to get me through a half mile or so without expending any mental energy. Sure enough, the song came on and did the work for me. So much so that with about 0.4 miles left, I restarted the song and sped back up to 10 mph. I am dreading the day that this song wears out and I have to shop around for a new source of adrenaline.

I finished strong and for the second straight day, lowered my 5K time.

Oh yeah, and I decided to man up and do the bench press as well, later in the day. I expect my total there to start increasing nicely in a couple weeks.

INSPIRATIONAL CLIP

And for a little inspiration for those in training, here is an old German special with some behind-the-scenes on Sylvester Stallone’s rigorous training program for Rocky III back in 1982. The German voice-over dude talks over Sly quite a bit but the essence of the commitment is there throughout.

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