Showing Off at Muscle Beach

We were playing the Los Angeles Lakers in a playoff series and dropped a heartbreaking game on Sunday afternoon on NBC.  Coach Pop had already decided that we were gonna head to LA after the game for our next two games in the series which wasn't until Tuesday late night on TNT and Friday night to limit the distractions and get some controlled downtime and practices in out there.  On the flight we had a coach's meeting and Pop being the master of player management WITHOUT any fancy devices just his "Coach's Eye" told us that once at the hotel we would announce to the players that we had a breakfast meeting and then they were free all day Monday until shoot around on Tuesday morning.  YES!!! That means that from 8-10am myself and my boss Brungy had to be in the room to talk with players and report back to Will our Athletic Trainer with any nagging injuries or player concerns then we were free for the day!! 

I swear I ate the entire 2 hours down there... soon as I'm done I grab my trusted IronMind gym bag and head on a nice cool walk to The Pit at Muscle Beach and of course I'm in Spurs gear and getting hell from every local that I pass.  It's a $5 fee for the day and I bought a shirt and of course proceed to cut the sleeves off and even though it's Monday there are people walking around.

I drop my gym bag at at open squat rack (imagine that) and go in search of 45 pound plates.  After a good stretch I start squatting working up to a few easy sets of 5 at 495 pounds, that's 5 plates a side and to answer your question... YES I was too lazy to go in search of a pair of 2½ pound plates to make it an even 500!!! 

I take the bar back down to 225 and begin to do Behind the Neck Push Press ... WOOSH the bar goes up and BAM it comes crashing down on my traps. Well now some of the folks training stopped what they were doing and started to watch me so 275 is next then 315 and before long there's 365 on the bar and I'm feeling good so I take a few small jumps and now I'm at 405 and I'm just sitting on a bench watching people go by and getting ready when some big old man goes walking by and slaps me on the back and just walks off!!! 

Well I get up and tighten my belt, put on my wrist wraps and just stare at the bar sitting on the racks and as soon as I feel some rage grow inside of me I chalk my hands and grab the bar standing there I take a huge breath and BAM I drive it overhead then let it come crashing back down on my traps.  I return it to the rack and when I look up there is a crowd of people that have stopped to watch me when some lady walks up the fencing surrounding the lifting area and says... "Do it again we want to get a picture!!"

Holy shit lady that was tough BUT sometimes you just gotta give the people what they want!!!  So I tell her sure but I'm gonna go down in weight and do some reps (doubt she understood or even cared) so as I sat there for a moment and more people gathered I spotted a couple Spurs players standing there watching me ... Yeah remember that notion of going down in weight ... that just flew out the window!!!  So its 405 once again just to show off a little ... say what you want but that's exactly what I was doing... so what!!  What would you have done? Gone down in weight or gone down in glory at least that was my thought as I gathered my stuff and readied for another go at it!!  Now this time I thought I'd have some fun and play a little to the crowd while I'm putting on my belt and wraps and as I walk back with the weight I let out a nice big yell and to my surprise it went up easier than it did before and as soon as it crashes back down on me I decided to make it a double and I hold that second rep at 405 pounds at the top for a few extra seconds and show off a little!!!   

I think about this and all the other times when we were in LA where I'd go to Muscle Beach or my friend's gym The Yard to train and in reality every road trip I took with the Spurs because I always had my IronMind gym bag and Powerlifting belt with me and I'd find a serious gym to train at Every. Damn. Time!! 

I love to train and I really love to lift heavy and freak folks out especially when I start to do jumps, medball throws or other explosive lifting and YES sometimes its just damn fun to show off a little!!! 

Great thing was by the time I got back to the hotel several of the players were there in the lobby waiting for me wanting to take me to dinner since they had heard about what I'd done and wanted to hear the whole story and of course give me some shit!!!  Loved those guys to death, they always cheered me on and like most thought I was absolutely crazy .... which ain't too far from the truth!!