Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Capacity For Strength, Technoviking, & The Predator Handshake


Lately my only consistent workout has been Friday Night Arms, an obscurity from the One on One/10 Minute Trainer series where Tony works his biceps, triceps, and forearms into oblivion in ten minutes. Why an endurance athlete, where strength to weight ratio is vital, would do this is a fair question. For the answer I present Technoviking.


No one is quite sure what the Technoviking is capable of but with arms like that do you want to find out? He’s the definition of capacity for strength.

Seriously, since my mtn bike crash in July the guns have become even smaller than the spaghetti arms I generally walk around with; not only because I focused on racing but that I was also unable to use my right hand. Coming back to climbing I’ve been feeling undo stress in my tendons because my arm muscle breaks down quicker than normal. Some added girth, especially when it’s trained for power, will alleviate stress on the tendons. All in all weight worth having.

Plus, if you don’t work your arms how else will you do the Carl Weathers/Arnold handshake from Predator? Barry Bonds may have hit more home runs than Mark McGuire but, when you think of that era, you’ve got to admit the Big Mac’s arms are what you visualize. Actors know it. The Shat, to prepare for his time on the bridge of the Enterprise, did nothing but curls. Ricardo Montalban, as his nemesis Khan, requested that he be scanity clad to show off his guns. And my friend Elijah, a very strong climber, once did an entire training program for his biceps and triceps and nothing else. Arms matter.

The name of the video comes from a time when Tony and his buddies would spend Friday nights in the gym training nothing but arms to “get girls”. And while Tony claims it didn’t work back then it does now. Late one night, while we were working on a training routine in a hotel gym a drunk girl stumbled in, mumbled something about Tony’s arms being “kind of a turn on,” and hung around staring until her wine glass had apparently been empty too long. We laughed but there’s a reason both Tony and Elijah love to kiss their biceps. It’s because they know that when one day Carl Weathers appears before them in a third world jungle bar, they’ll be ready for a proper greeting.

11 comments:

Josh said...

I'm considering dedicating my entire 2012 fitness year to technoviking.

Jesus, you can't make that kind of thing up.

-josh

Andy Chance said...

So how can you get a copy of Friday Night Arms?

Reed said...

Let's do a round of actors so we can always shake hands like that when we see each other. I just need to go buy some bigger weights.

Steve Edwards said...

Andy, it's on the link on the page but that is part of a set. I've asked if it's possible to get it alone but have not heard back (which probably means no). Basically it's just one long super-dooper set of: biceps, triceps, forearms. Repeat. Repeat. No reast. 10 minutes. Insane pump.

It's all bands in the vid (it's TMT) but I've done it with weights, too. Good either way.

Steve Edwards said...

Funny commentary on F/B. Will paste it in for you non social networkers.

Steve Edwards said...

Mike Redpath, Cindy Bennett and 2 others like this..

2 shares

Ginger Jones Sillery I would not mess with Technoviking!
Yesterday at 8:47am · Like.

Marc Elgort holy shit! technoviking! strong work steve...
Yesterday at 8:47am · Like.


Angelo Ghiglieri Predator handshake! I like it!!
Yesterday at 9:10am · Like · 1.

David Justus I bought Friday Night Arms last year to do as an Overtime workout along w/ it's companion Chest & Back. Ja & Da!
Yesterday at 9:27am · Like.

Bruce Anderson Awesome.
Yesterday at 9:33am · Like.

Brian Cabe Curls for the girls... Technoviking is kinda scary lookin'...
Yesterday at 9:38am · Like.

Phil Requist Unquestionably your best blog ever.
23 hours ago · Like.

Micah Elconin Do you think John Brzenk ever trains arms?
21 hours ago · Like.

TH said...

Can't wait to see those Friday night arms of yours.

Steve Edwards said...

We'll turn FNA into a cult workout.

Josh said...

I think BB should re-shoot P90X2 with Technoviking as the talent.

j

Steve Edwards said...

He wouldn't have to talk. When someone wasn't working hard enough he'd just point and stare and they'd then knock out 10 more reps.

Trainer T.s Fitness said...

Great post and videos.....memories, sweet Arnie memories ;-)