Watch “Animal Motivation | OVERCOME | Rob Hall” on YouTube

Just Grumpy Cat

Mike O’Hearn has apparently been training at Mandrill’s while he’s filming a movie here in New Mexico. The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre is being filmed somewhere around here. I thought it was proof I’m focused in the gym and stay on track when a 4x Mr. Universe can waltz in and I don’t even notice. Too funny.

Watch “Like a Boss..GYM COMPILATION 2018” on YouTube

“Committed to Becoming Something Different”

Jeremy Hoornstra’s 700lb Bench Comp Prep

Gracie

She rocks people… she rocks. I love her.

But did you die?

Sunday night I was seriously sleepless. Because of that, I just went in yesterday to do abs and skipped the after work cardio to sleep. I came home yesterday and went to bed at 5:30pm and slept until this morning. When my alarm clock went off for work, my eyes still felt like they were filled with lead. I wanted to call in and sleep more because I felt so drained. You know what got me out of bed? Eddie Hall.

•|• Eddie Hall… STRAIGHT BEAST •|•

Today was deadlift day and there was no way I was missing after Hall just set a historical deadlift record and didn’t die!!! He’s a straight beast! I told myself “get your ass up!” I went to work feeling like a tired mess, but got a lot of work done regardless. When workout time came I told myself… “wasted or not, you are deadlifting today!” I focused my mind and music on a replay of the first few seconds of “Till I Collapse” by Eminem x Nate Dogg.

“Cause sometimes you just feel tired. You feel weak. And when you feel weak, you feel like you want to just give up. But you gotta search within you. You gotta find that inner strength and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you want to just fall flat on your face and collapse.”

It worked and I didn’t die even though I didn’t feel good! Our minds are powerful. It has taken years of experience for me to master my mind in the gym. I’m so glad I went today. 5 days ago I posted about hitting a 185 dead and my plans to hit a 1RM at 205 soon. I figured by the end of the month. Half of July is left and I hit a 205 dead today for not 1RM, but for 2… *completely* raw, double overhand with a tight lockout. I got that 3 more times for 1, but failed to lockout the last.

That brings my 3 lift total to 575 lbs. Now I know I’ll get to 600. I’m going to bench 205 soon!! Goals on goals.

Poolside RnR

•~•~• RnR •~•~•

It was really nice to spend three days by the pool this weekend. I got my fill of sun for sure. It was super relaxing. On Friday afternoon, members of the Jackson-Winkeljohn camp were at the pool when we were. It was interesting! They were staying in a penthouse right across the pool from us. They left the pool, then I watched them all leave to go train… bags and jugs of water in hand.

I assumed they were around to pay a visit to King of the Cage, but I didnt see any of them there that night!?! They were at the pool though. That included Albuquerque’s own… Holly Holm in her tiny bikini and Alistair Overeem, the one MMA fighter to hold three championship belts simultaneously. The “Blackzilian” is a 6 ft 4 in, heavyweight, Dutch man who fights out of Amsterdam.

Fight

Well… today the little man played in the championships for 1st and 2nd. It was such a close game. There were several fouls and several injuries. I think my every nerve was racked until the last second of the game. My number 21 played his heart out. It was a fight. He really tried in this game. The Coyotes took 2nd after they were kicked into overtime and then lost by 2 points in the final minute.

“You become a champion by
fighting one more round. When
things are tough, you fight one
more round.”
~~James J. Corbett

•Final countdown to overtime.•

•OVERTIME•

•Taking a Knee~ photo by Gilbert... ma dad.•

•The Team takes 2nd.•

BRAINS and BRAWN

I absolutely loved this article that I recieved in my inbox today. Down with stereotypes. We can be many, many things… never limited by the box that is drawn around us. ~~•Felicia
×××××××××××

BRAINS AND BRAWN: HOW SMART (OR DUMB) ARE WEIGHTLIFTERS?
Posted on: February 22, 2016
Posted by: Physical Culturist
Article by: Dresdin Archibald
for Breaking Muscle

Stars and Stripes Christmas

On December 6, one of the personal trainers from my gym went to Albuquerque to help welcome Holly Holm home. There was a parade in honor of “Holy Holm Day.” These two photos of the new UFC Champ were a Christmas gift from him. Gotta love the stars and stripes. Awesome gift for sure!!!

••Knock Out Xmas Gift~ Holly Holm~ UFC Champ from Albuquerque, New Mexico••

Holly Holm: A Burqueñia Who Knows How to Get It

The established champ went down like a little rag doll (I felt kinda sorry for her) during UFC 193 and crowds all over the world went wild!

~Photo of the cover of one of my local newspapers the day of the fight.~

Holly Holm was focused with the intent of taking the women’s Bantamweight title from Ronda Rousey last night. I’ve been a Rousey fan since way back (see all my posts), but I was for the underdog from my home state this time. I had a feeling about the New Mexico native since I saw how much muscle she put on for this fight (check out her thread on my site to see why).

In March of 2014, Holm made the “ABQ’s Fittest People” list in Albuquerque the Magazine. I remember being rather disappointed when I saw her physique in that issue. But after seeing her in interview footage about a month and a half ago, it became clear to me that she was intent on taking that belt. She had really put on muscle!

I’ve been following Holly for a few years now, and have posted about her a good handful of times. I felt so inspired by her in 2012 when I posted video footage of Holly’s training program, which includes her running in the Sandia Mountains. I could feel her heart and drive through that footage. I felt so proud of her last night and got teary eyed when she took that win.

All of Holly’s training paid off. Take that… to all the haters and doubters who saw no chance for her. Her secret weapons in that fight were not only her deadly fists, but her monstrous quads! Much of her super power came from those stems. That woman put in WORK since I saw her spread in Albuquerque Magazine in the first quarter of 2014. It so paid off.

`Watching the fight! Living Room on fyYah!~

We had a big fight party last night. The party was complete with gloves by the TV, beer, good food, and the candles and fire ablaze. Our living room was seriously on straight fire with ravenous cheering as we watched the beat down of a champ in amazement. I don’t think I’ve ever stomped my feet so hard in my life!! Every single second of that fight was awesome.

Holly Holm broke the mold by setting a new standard for women and men in the UFC, champions, and for everyone else. She made international history last night. Most importantly, Holly Holm made New Mexico history. This notable New Mexican made the fight to become champ seem effortless.

(P.S. Now go hit those legs if you want to be as tough as a soon to be 35 year old Burqueña with killer quads! Rousey is 28.)

(P.P.S. Holly’s shoulders, abs, and biceps looked hella tight too. Really doe.)

(P.P.P.S. What did I hit today? LEGS!)

Dana Linn Bailey and Rob Visit Mandrill’s Gym

Well… Today was the day. It was total mayhem in my gym with a working visit from Dana Linn Bailey, her husband Rob and their team. We are always hitting it on Sundays at the time the Flag Nor Fail tour was scheduled to visit. Early reports pegged her visit for Monday, but they showed today. The regulars were training hard as usual, but there were plenty of new faces just lurking around the gym today like muscle groupies. There were lots of cameras snapping. It was packed.

I finished up my workout just as they arrived at noon. It was fun to hang out after for a few and watch her team train chest and back. I drank my protein shake and took pics. She benched 225 for two reps. Dana unsuccessfully attempted a third and her husband pulled it off her. While she psyched herself out to push two plates, I looked at my friends and said “how many do you think she’ll push?” They weren’t sure, but I called three and she almost got it up as crowd watched and cheered her on. 

Here are some recent posts from her Instagram page and photographs I took at the gym today. She is pretty awesome, aside from all the stone faced hoopla, but I get it!

•💪The Bailey's Flag Nor Fail adventure rig parked outside Mandrill's Gym💪•

•💪Felicia (me) and my friend Elaine💪•

•💪Felicia (me) and my friend Cheryl💪•

•💪A big ole crowd behind Dana and the Bailey's training back💪•

•💪Dana preparing to bench 225 and her nice ass💪•

Overheard in tha Gym

•Overheard in tha Gym (Mandrill's Gym in Santa Fe, New Mexico)•

I always hate to listen to the sounds of the gym. Not even clanking iron drives enough encouragement for me to listen to conversations about break-ups, overeating, fishing tackle and pointless training tips. My headphones are on 99% of the time and I literally can’t hear a thing when they are on. A lot of people go to the gym to talk. Those are the ones who demonstrate the fitness disease specifically referred to as “No Gainz.”

I leave my headphones on blast because who wants to hear tired songs on the radio? I don’t want to hear men grunting to push a sorry plate or kill my endorphin rush listening to endless chatter boxes. There really is a time and place for socializing and well… the squat rack isn’t it. Even though all this talking people do makes me crazy, I gotta love it when I do happen to over hear something good. There are those times when I have to change to a new song, and sometimes I actually hear what is going on around me.

♥♥NICOLE CAPURSO♥♥

Today two guys were chatting it up for like a half hour instead of lifting weights. They were basically in the way. I had to love the apparent last words between the two though. It made me wonder what conversation I missed while For Whom the Bell Tolls was blaring in my ears. One guy told the other… “It is really hard to find a chick who gets into this shit.” Well~ of course he meant lifting weights silly!! Poor dude.

Yup… We are hard to find. If you do find a chick who lifts, maybe you should know what you’re in for and then please stop talking!!! Read this post by Hannah Bass on BuzzFeed… 21 Secrets Girls Who Lift Won’t Tell You: Do you even lift, bro?

Friday Night Pump

Tonight I’m getting pumped up for tomorrow by watching my favz train (♥Lindsey Valenzuela, ♥Bradley Martin, ♥Joey Swolls and ♥Devin Physique) and listening to music. Starting tomorrow, my workout schedule begins on Saturday instead of Sunday. I’ll be hitting back/tri and chest/bi on the weekend days. The Saturday return will be a great way to allow more time to focus on my new bi workout plan.

•Bradley Martin (Dat Bi Doe)•

An article by Clay Hyght titled The Complete Guide to Biceps Training was recently published on my favorite web site (Physical Culturist). For 6-8 weeks, I will hit my biceps three non-consecutive days per week to see if I can grow them more. This means tons of hammers, preachers, reverse, and barbell to the nose curls. The article is a good read and discusses the importance of the brachialis to maximize the peak.

When I found this gif tonight on Lindsey Valenzuela’s Twitter media feed, I got pumped. She is working out while she’s jamming Truffle Butter by Nicki Minaj x Drake and Lil Wayne. That song has been working for me too. I do warn that it is explicit, but it works! Zero to 100/The Catch Up by Drake rocks too!! Can’t wait for tomorrow!! I’m gonna wreck my back and triz.