Bill Keyes' Best Workout
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Bill Keyes' Best Workout Memory
<<Tell us about your all time BEST workout memory>>
This one led me through a lot of very nice reminiscences. The best memories are from a period of time vs. a single workout. If you're in a rush for time, pass on this one. I'm going to do this memory justice.
I was living in Thika, Kenya at the time staying in a phenomenal company house -- 10 acres of manicured gardens surrounding a 6,000 sq. ft. plantation house made of stone walls, moorish tile roofing, and hardwood floors.
My workout area was a 3-car garage close to the main house. Picture a corrugated tin roof painted white, cinder block side walls extending eight feet high, with heavy duty wire from that point to the roof line, cinder block back wall four feet high with the same wire to the eave. The entrance to the garage was secured by barred iron gates. If you've ever seen the film "White Mischief" you've got a decent mental image of what I'm referencing.
My equipment was a bench press bench with removable uprights I had purchased from Russ Warner 13 years earlier, a 310 lb. BFCO Olympic set I had purchased at the same time and supplemented with 2 more 45's, 160# of Sears cement weights, about 200# of standard weights, bars, DB handles I had purchased here and there over the years, a leg extension/thigh curl bench I had made in the Philippines, and the most massive squat racks I have ever seen (I've never been to Zuver's).
In May of '86, the company sent out a new trainee to train in pineapple agriculture. In a classic small world scenario, this trainee happened to be the son of a friend. Marco was also a competitive powerlifter with an 1,750 total as a 242 lber to his credit *and* he was one big bundle of injuries.
After a month or so of becoming acclimated, we mapped out a program to get Marco competitive again. The first thing we did was have the plantation machine shop make 300# of additional weights for the Olympic bar out of Caterpillar D-6 flywheels. We then embarked upon the most productive 10 months of workouts I have ever experienced. We lifted 5 evenings a week. Eventually everything was heavy -- benches, squats, deads, behind-neck-presses, 1-arm rows, etc.
The climate could not have been more conducive to quality lifting. At about 5,000 ft. elevation, it was always cool and pleasant in the evenings. I had three dogs and they would lay around the entrance to the garage and observe. My kids were always running around and cheering us on during limit attempts. Even the torrential downpours during the July and August rainy season when the noise on the corrugated roof was so loud you could hardly hear the other person only served to add to the productive atmosphere. I set yet-to-be-broken PR's in literally every exercise. Marco followed my 'less is more' concepts and healed his shoulder injuries to get back almost to where he had been BP wise, but set new PR's himself in the squat and deadlift.
The food we ate was simple and plentiful -- beef, chicken, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden, home-made bread. Marco became just like one of the family and ate most dinners with us. We were working hard during the day (6 day work weeks standard), lifting hard in the evenings, and progressing all the time. On the usual rest day, Sunday, I could almost feel my body growing and getting ready for Monday.
It was from this period where I realized what Vince Lombardi meant by saying success is assured if you are "brilliant on the basics." We didn't have lots of equipment -- no cables, pulleys, incline benches, preacher benches, Smith machines, Nautilus, Hammer, etc. We didn't calculate grams of this, that or the other thing. We didn't worry about food combinations and insulin responses. It was just two guys lifting hard on the basic exercises, pushing each other to achieve, eating large, and loving life.
As the song goes, "... it was all so simple then..."
Bill2
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