Lunges for Gainz

*Originally published in 2021

Always testing the limits

To be honest, I pride myself on being half nuts in the gym. My mindset constantly revolves around testing my limits, whether it’s getting ready to lift on the powerlifting platform or just getting as ripped as possible on stage. I’m not here to just hang out or adhere to the norm. There’s nothing that causes me to lose interest quicker than sticking with the status quo and going through the motions.

After my last Fitness RX shoot, which was featured in the last issue, I decided right after to make an appearance and compete at a local bodybuilding show. I came out of a 5-year retirement to jump on stage and I had three weeks to continue my diet after the shoot.

I was poised to make the 165-pound class, which is light as hell for me by the way. But I was determined to do it because I wanted my family to come see me in action, and it gave my children a chance to see me on stage for the first time and the show was literally five minutes from my house. I was already lean, so I decided just to push for three more grueling weeks.

Walking lunges began

I did have one issue, though, when stepping on stage. I had been battling some knee tendinitis from my journey earlier this year of trying to dunk a basketball again.

With that in mind, I decided it get a little crazy… and this is where my half-nuts, outside the box mindset came into play. I had to figure out the craziest thing I could do to bring my legs in quick for the show to give me a chance to win the overall.

So I settled on one of the most uncomfortable exercises that nobody really likes to do – walking lunges. Lunges are a great way to bring up your entire leg development for a show when you consider the glutes, hamstring tie-ins and quads.

But that was just step one of my crazy idea. I came up with the grand plan of lunging ½-mile to 1 mile per day as a way of combining cardio and leg training to get ready for the show. Guess what? I found out it was hard as hell but that it also worked wonders.

Not many people want to lunge 800 meters to 1 mile a day, but it’s now something I’ve adopted into a 5-6 day a week practice. I have made it real clear that I really don’t like cardio, but now I’m killing two birds with one stone while also sending my metabolism through the roof.

Application to lifting

Now that I’m back to lifting heavier weights, the difference is incredible. All of that leg conditioning has carried over into all of my lifts in a major way, and I feel sturdy and strong under big weights even at a lighter bodyweight. Plus, it’s really made a difference in my conditioning, which leads me back to the bodybuilding show.

I ended up winning the 165-pound weight class, losing the overall by one point to a gigantic heavyweight. All in all, it was a massive success and I gained a huge weapon in my workout arsenal by pushing myself to the limit with the lunge routine I developed.

It has completely jumpstarted a new aspect of growth in my weight training and it has completely changed my metabolism. None of it would have happened had I not taken a chance on doing something a little wild and a little different. So that’s what I urge you to do when it comes to your own training. Take some risks, be a little crazy and think outside the box and open yourself up to an entire new opportunity to progress.

To get a crazy result, sometimes you have to do some crazy shit. But when it’s all over and you see outcome, you’ll know it was worth it.