What does it mean to train hard? Branch Warren thinks he trains hard—screaming “yeah mother fucker” and throwing down old rusted weights in Metro Flex has to count for something. What about those CrossFit douche bags? Ever try doing 8 ass-to-the-ground front squats, followed up by 10 pull-ups, no, wait, kip-ups, or was it a muscle-up—then run a 400-meter sprint around the track and immediately down a gallon of whole milk? It makes me want to puke just thinking about it. They must be training hard.
For almost 4 years I ran a daily morning boot camp. Usually 8-10 women in their mid to late 30’s would be gutting out these grueling workouts in the 90 degree Florida heat. I would have them flip tires, push sleds, run sprints, use kettlebells, and do burpees. These women would wear those wrist watches that tracked how many calories they would burn each workout. For most of them, if they didn’t burn 600+ calories per workout, I wouldn’t only take shit, but I’d also see them doing extra exercises after the hour session was over. These chicks were off the chain. Talk about training hard!
Think about IFBB pro Ed Nunn. Ed trains in a gym that would make Planet Fitness look intense. He’s from Anderson, Indiana which is about an hour away from Indianapolis. For those of you who don’t know much about Indiana, well, it’s farmland—one of those places where History Channel’s American Pickers find most of their junk at. To say Ed is the biggest guy in the entire state would be an understatement. None the less, ‘2nd to Nunn’ has managed to pack on 250+ pounds of contest ready weight on his frame training next to a bunch of senior citizens and listening to easy listening on the gym speakers. Keep in mind his legs are some of the freakiest on the IFBB scene while training at a gym that lacks a basic power rack. Seems to me, Ed knows how to train hard.
As much shit as we all love to give those Vibram 5 Finger wearing gym-hipsters known as Crossfitters, a lot of them are in great shape. I’ll admit I have been sucked into watching 10 minutes on ESPN when it comes on TV from time to time. Some of those women are flat out built and their athleticism actually backs up their physique. Sure, they might spend more time at their chiropractor, A.R.T. specialist, and orthopedics office than the new-aged IFBB pro bodybuilder, but their results are pretty awesome.
After my football career ended, people from all over the country that had followed me as a player were certain I would have a future in Pro Strongman. I had an 800lb deadlift and 500lb+ bench among my best lifts. I experimented with several strongmen events like the Yoke Walk and Squat for reps with added weight each rep. Let me tell you about a group of guys who have lost their minds: pro strongmen. Take a look at the 2012 World Strongest Man Super Yoke. Each guy had to carry 1000lb on his back down a 30 yard walk lane. After two reconstructive surgeries on my right knee and left ankle I knew strongman trained a little bit harder than what I was willing to give anymore. The thought of having to lift maximal weights year around would have landed me hip and knee replacements well before my time.
Looking at all of the different kind of trainers, nobody trains harder than a contest prep bodybuilder. You think strongman is tough? They’re not starving. You think CrossFit is hard? Try spending 3 hours in the gym every day. Middle-aged women doing boot camp might be borderline masochistic, but hey, most of them have a few cocktails every night to wind down the day. But training for a contest is hard fucking work.
You’re up at 5am for cardio while the rest of the house sleeps. You start another bland egg white breakfast while you wake the wife and kids up for work and school, then head to the gym to train 4 clients and sit through an hour staff meeting discussing sales goals and strategies. You squeeze in your meals exactly when your iPhone alarm sounds off. Mid-afternoon, you have managed to shuffle your training clients around so you have a 3 hour window to train, eat, and clean up before training more people in the evening. Finally, you make it home around 8pm only to read an email that your guru expects another hour on the treadmill before going to bed. Fuck! I haven’t spent time with my wife and kids enough and for Christ sake my libido is in the shitter. Life would be so much better if George Farrah was my coach, because he’d give me a God Damn carb! How am I going to get through another 12 weeks of this prep? This local show better get here soon!
That’s a bodybuilder for you. Willing to sacrifice time, money, mental stability, all while living a monk’s existence and busting your ass in the gym to hold onto every last ounce of hard earned muscle gained in the off season.
Bodybuilders know how to train hard. They experiment with Dorian’s H.I.T. program. They scour the forums of Intense Muscle to read every “Sticky” Dante Trudell has written on DC Training. They sometimes even resort to looking at Bodybuilding.com when their Google search, “Arnold’s Favorite Exercise” comes up with nothing relevant.
I recently read a forum post by Dianna Dahlgren talking about her 600 calorie – 3 hour of cardio daily routine as she prepped for the 2012 Ms. Olympia Bikini competition. Certainly Dr. Layne Norton wouldn’t recommend such extremes to his female listeners on Muscle College Radio; however, it is somewhat of the norm amongst the top competitors. And you can’t say it didn’t pay off. Dianna finished 4th place and looked absolutely incredible on stage; sure, her metabolism might be permanently screwed, but she was better than 25 other women.
Brain function can’t be firing on all cylinders when calories are that restricted and training is that overboard, but guess what? Going to the extreme is just par for the course in bodybuilding.
What I’ve learned after 16 years in the gym is that it is much more productive to train smarter than it is harder. Nobody can beat their body up 365 days out of the year. Those that think they can will eventually break down the way all of the sports greats have. Do you have to bring an almost drunken intensity to the gym in order to get results? You bet your ass you do. But to think you have to bring that unbridled 17-year-old passion to every session is completely false. Those that really train hard know when they have to bring the pain and when they can ease back.
Bodybuilding is Zen-like—being one with your body. Understanding what and when it needs something. Listening to that inner voice telling you to grind out another 2 reps beyond failure or when to back off and live to fight another day. Those who really train hard understand that this game is about longevity. Nobody ever won the Mr. Olympia with only 5 years of training under their belt. This game is about who can out last the other man. Bodybuilding is chess, not checkers.
Train hard, but train even smarter.
