Ralph V. That's Dr. Ralph V Ph.D. That's Dr. Ralph V. Ph.D. and 80 years old participant in my program for the last 13 years. Other than all the cool alphabet that follows his name and being 80 years old, Ralph wanted to train with me to pick up his wife's oxygen tank, which weighed 40 lbs.

We surpassed that goal on Day 1 when he exceeded 140 lbs on his first time Deadlift.

Rut-roh, what goal could keep this graduate of Alfred University, Clemson, and THE Ohio State interested enough to "stick with it"?

For him, it is to work the daily program on my gym training board without having to "customize" it.

Which he has done EXCEPT for the dreaded "Chin-up".

The Chin-up is an exercise that you can either DO or not! Yea, you can put bands on and get help that way, but if you can't pull your fat ass up over the bar without aid, then you CAN'T do a Chin-up.

Dr. V has been working his ASS off trying and failing only to try again and again and fail and fail each time.

Well, guess what? NOT TODAY!!!

When Ralph asked me what I wanted him to do in place of the chin-up, I told him, "NOTHING! Do the fucking chin-up because today is YOUR day, Sunshine"

Ralph grabbed the bar, stepped off the box into a "dead hang" position, and with a mighty grunt and maximal effort hauled his body up and got his chin OVER the bar!

I don't know who was happier, him or me. All I know was a lot of hoot'n and holler'n going on, with fist bumps a plenty.

How many 80-year-olds do you know banging out chin-ups? I will go out on a limb and say, "Not Many".

Milepost:

Squat a 1000 lbs (Still chasing)

Bench a 1000 lbs (Still chasing)

Deadlift a 1000 lbs (Still chasing)

Get an 80-year-old to do a chin-up without help. (Done!)

Today's Training:

Cycle: Commute

Stretch: Calves, Hamstring and hips

Incline Cable Fly: 4x12;1x24

Incline DB Chest Press: 4x12;1x24

Heavy Band Tricep Pushdown: 5x25

Dynamic Bench: 10x3. Doing it in this order made the DE Bench seem almost Maximal effort. Holy BUCKETS was this hard! (Good fun though)

Suspended Knees to Elbow: 4x12

Cycle: Commute.