View Workout (Aaron Lin)
account of ARNOLD CLASSIC 2014
March 2, 2014 (Afternoon)
Exercise Type: Weights
Comments:
First, an ccount of my workout today. I've been bulking for a week now so I decided to work up to 3 sets of 5 with 195lbs on the bench. All reps were touch and go, no pauses, I think it was heavy enough that I didn't feel confident enough to pause any of them. 3rd set i used a spotter and he helped a bit on the lockout of rep 5 but i didnt need it. I'll repeat this weight again next week before going onto 200lbs.
This next exercise is the bent-over barbell row which ive done quite a lot but I'm gonna call it the Rubish Row from now on, after seeing the video of him rowing 315lbs and 500lbs for reps. I did 225lbs for a set of 6 then 3 more sets of 8. First time hitting 225 again since bakc in the fall cuz it was irritating my injured glute. Quite a bit of leg drive and momemtum but fuck all of you form nazi hippie motherfuckers. Having perfect form is important for understanding how an exercise works. But as that quote I heard about music, learn the music theory, then forget everything and just fucking play. When I first started lifitng I would do rows but not understand how it works and never learned to activate my lats. When I read that BB rows work ur lats I was like wtf thats gotta be bs. but since then I've learned how to properly do it so I can do what I feel like is best for me. This is a power movement for me and I wanna use heavy weight for better carry-over onto the deadlift. So I rowed with rage. Rowed with belt and straps. i think next time I may try without either, and use chalk instead.
OHP aka Ogus Press. Biggest improvement on this exercise. successfully hit 5x5 with 120lbs. probably 125 next week.
dumbbell rows. 100lbs! hit like 3 by 6 i think. and then a set of 70 for 15 reps per side.
Arnold Classic
I hadn't been this excited for something in a long time. The night before I couldn sleep. I remember this would only happen to me when I was really little, and felt exicted about a trip the next day like a ski trip or somethign that i'd have trouble sleeping.
I planned to go the Arnold primarily to meet the famous bodybuilders, powerlifters and members of the youtube fitness community that I've been following so closely for the past year or so. I would have liked to watch the IFBB pro bodybuilding show, but it turns out that costs like $60 for a ticket with shitty seats so I didn't do it. And honestly I wasn't bummed at all. My philosophy/perspective in lifting has changed. Before, I was primarily interested in bodybuilding. Lifting weights for the ultimate purpose of building a physique. Now I am a fanatic of powerlifting and strength, lifting for the ultimate goal of improving strength and performance. Not that I hate on bodybuilding, but the "aesthetics" are just not that important to me anymore. I prefer having a little extra body fat and not be super lean. because dieting fucking blows and makes you lose strength. i get the biggest high from being able to move some heavy ass weight and being lean is counter productive to that. Anyways.
We got to the Expo like between 10-11AM. pretty crowded, and I had a list of all the people at the booths I wanted to meet. Right off the bat, we made our way around through the crowd and what appeared was LOA - Legends of Aesthetics!!! I love this youtube channel because the two guys Matt Ogus and Chris Lavado made excellent videos on their daily lives, the gym and have great tips on exercises etc. These are the guys I learned the push/pull/legs routine from and the truth about nutrition. IIFYM If It Fits Your Macros and the stupidity of "post-workout window" and the fact that nutrient timing and dosing is irrelevant. Matt and Chris both signed my belt and took pictures and I asked them questions and even told Matt that I now changed the name of the exercise of standing overhead press to "Ogus Press" since hes such a fucking beast at it. pressing 225lbs standing for reps at a body weight of under 180. Its just so unreal to see someone in real life that you've seen so many times on a computer screen.
We walked around and got like a bunch of free shit. so many supplement samples pre wokrouts, protein powder, including a full 10 serving tub of Dymatize Xpand.
We walked towards the Animal Cage. I knew that Pete Rubish was gonna be there. Pete Rubish is a young powerlifter around my age and came to fame mostly for his videos of him deadlifting in his parents basement, music blasting and him just raging out of his fucking mind. Lately, he's been a huge source of inspiration to me in powerlifting. hes currently pretty well known in the powerlifting community for his achievements. he's also known for doing ridiculous and "stupid" attempts on lifts during training, like trying to pull a deadlift PR every week cuz of his incredibly hardcore mindset when it comes to training. I watch a video of him doing his thing if i'm about to lift and need to get pumped up. So when I walked to the Animal Cage and I saw Pete Rubish standing there immediately i was like HOLY FUCK and literally ran towards him for fear of losing him in the crowd. but he was chatting with some chicks. turns out, pete is quite the asshole lol. that's to be expected. his mannerisms in the videos and him being young jacked and cocky all adds up. but it was literally crazy that I got to meet him and talk to him and get his autograph. He's cut down from 240ish to 225 shredded. His current plan is to cut down to 210-215 and compete in the 198 weight class in july. Him and Dan Green, who I will talk about later are two examples of people bringing life back to RAW powerlifting, trying to bring some aesthetic physiques to make powerlifting more accepted mainstream. Pete deadlifted today (Sunday) at the cage and supposedly worked up to a beltless 750lb deadlift. Sucks I couldnt watch it but I will see it on youtube when it's uploaded. His traps are as big as they look in his videos. I had a real tough time wrapping my arm around his back for the picture. it was just thick as fuck.
Next, I visited the iSatori booth. and saw Marc Lobliner and Jerry Ward of Bios3Training!!! Marc Lobliner was former CEO of SciVation that sells the most popular BCAA supplement on the market and basically started the "Intra-workout" category of supplements. He now owns tigerfitness.com and is affiliated w/ iSatori. He is a pro bodybuilder not in the IFBB though. People online always says he isn't as big as he looks. but thats because hes actually shorter than me. but he does weight 250lbs at under 6% body fat. thick as fuck front and back, 18inch arms that actually look small on him. Hes got the most hilarious commentary ever in his videos.
Bios3Training has awesome videos of stories of his steroid use, earlier training days and things going on now. hes an old school bodybuilder with a ton of experience and wisdom and I've learned a lot from him over the past few months about steroids etc. Met him and he was an awesome dude. we talked about his experience with iSatori Bio-gro, which I just purchased and will be trying out and I asked him what he thought about Jason Blaha of formerly IceCreamFitness, now Juggernaut Fitness. he said blaha is a good guy who helped him out when he first started youtube and as to whether or not he's full of shit, Blaha just tells what he knows.
Next I went to the BSN booth. I wanted to meet Dallas McCarver, the youngest IFBB Pro bodybuilder. but he wasn't there and it turns out Scott Herman was!! which was even better and I didn't even expect that! Scott has made a lot of videos that I watched when i first started lifting, hes taught many things and is very nice and viewer oriented in his videos and cares a lot about his subscribers, Hermanites of Hermanation. He was very nice and asked me about my training, injury etc. Turns out he's getting ready to compete in Men's Physique in april. I'd like to see how he does.
Next I went to the Animal Cage. The highlight of my day at the Arnold. Animal is a bodybuilding supplement company. Actually it's called Universal Nutrition, but Animal is their brand and trademark. The majority of their athletes are actually powerlifters. like Dan Green, Pete Rubish, the Lillibridges, Brandon Lilly, etc. Dan Green. The first time i saw a video of him doing a deadlift, I was mesmerized. he had a profound set up, and pulls sumo with an extremely wide stance, something I wouldn't normally associate with a raw lifter. and hes incredibly strong, currently holds pretty much all the raw powerlifting records for the 220 and 242lb weight class. he squats like 800, benches about 500 and deadlifts 850ish. Awesome humble guy from his videos and is everything I aspire to be. Him and pete rubish are the 2 guys that are pretty much legendary in my book and that I would have been completely satisfied just meeting them and no one else. I didn't even know Dan Green was gonna even be at the arnold. but holy shit when i saw him not only in the cage but lifting, I lost my shit. It was like a teen girl seeing Justin Bieber. This is the most jacked dude ever. he was working his way up in deadlift. with his signature set-up that I had memorized from countless videos. he pulled 865 pretty easily. and actually asked for 905 on the bar. i was surprised because I had never previously seen a video of him pulling anything more than about 850, but i guess he currently weighs 250 so his strength should be up a bit. Misgrooved the first attempt at 905 and failed the second. but whatever, he's still a monster. His wife Sparkle Green was there too helping him put baby powder on his shins. I learned baby powder reduces bar friction as it scrapes against the shin. Brandon Lilly was in the cage. He's an outspoke pro PL who recently suffered a huge injury broke both his knee caps when he fell w/ 750lbs on his back. too bad, he had so many records in his weight class too. Never thought I'd see him in person either so it was crazy. Then there was richard Hawthorne, 125lb dude who deadlifts 600. thats 5x his body weight. wtf. Then there was Ed Coan, considered the greatest powerlifter of all time. Then there was Andrey Malanichev, recently set the world record raw total highest ever. The number of legends in this cage was just incredible. It was like the most hardcore thing Ive ever seen. Loud rap and metal music, metal plates, heavy ass weight hardcore powerlifters, the whole 9 yards. Next I saw a guy forgot his name work up to a heavy bench press of 645lbs. goddamn. thats almost Eric Spoto/Scot Mendelson level. His delts were so off balanced though. front delts huge, rear delts way underdevloped.
The Animal Cage was just so inspiring. not that I lacked any motivation beforehand, but this made me extremely motivated to dive into powerlifting and train hard. I purchased a Dan Green edition of the ANIMAL shirt. I didn't like that it was white but I had to do it. its Dan Green man. how could u not? bought a Large. itll fit better in 20lbs from now. then ill buy the red and yellow! I'm like in love with the ANIMAL brand. just everything about it seems cool. Especially Animal Rage preworkout - PR in a can.
Lastly, I met Hidetada Yamagishi. A japanese IFBB Pro. probably the only asian to have stepped on the Olympia stage. He actually is there like every year, one of the top IFBB pros. Not the biggest, low 200s but hes good. This year he competed at the first ever 212lb division at the Arnold and placed 4th. I think he needs to do 212 from now on at the Olympia. Although Flex Lewis is probably gonna hold the crown for many years to come, he could place higher at 212 than at the open division. He was def not as big as he looks online, since I was taller than him but he was very well conditioned and hard, which makes sense cuz he just competed. Also I saw Rich Piana, Ronnie Coleman, and Rich Gaspari. Rich piana is a fucking giant mutant. Met Steve Kuclo, who was very nice and signed my belt. Looking forward to another Olympia stage appearance from him.
Oh and STEVE COOK!!! i fucking love this guy, hes such an amazing role model in every way. Didn't get to shake his hand but saw him working a huge line of fans. God he's so handsome lol.
Another thing. I read an article a few months back about physiques. The differnece in physiques between bodybuilders/people who do a lot of chest and biceps vs powerlifters - people who do a lot of movements more natural to the body. The glycogen inflated arms of a bodybuilder make their physiques look so artificially enhanced and look unnatural, as if there was something wrong with them or they have a disease. Meanwhile you see a physique like Pete Rubish, who actually gives off an impression of true natural strength. Well balanced physique with a large thick wide back as opposed to blown up arms. Rich piana probably has the biggest arms in teh world, but he didnt look strong to me. despite doing skullcrushers with 275lbs. It just looked like he had a disease or something. while Rubish and all the guys in the Animal Cage actually made you subconsciously think that these guys are fucking tanks with their physiques.
So yeah, in conclusion, the Arnold Classic was fucking amazing and I am very excited to powerlift hardcore. I pray that I stay injury free.