Mike Zylinski
03-28-2008, 11:41 PM
I just got back from a training day like no other: 10,000 miles from home. Forum member Ben Ho invited me into his training group and home afterwards, and I had a great morning trying out his equipment and meeting some strong guys.
I'll post my workout in my journal later, but I wanted to share the dedication of Ben and his group, Jen Li aka Singapore's strongest man, and their friend Goi.
Ben lives in a flat on the 7th story of his building. He has a 12" log, farmers, a sled, and a couple hundred pounds of weights in his place. The flat has an elevator, but it doesn't stop at his floor. So, they cary all the equipment and plates up to the ninth floor and load the elevator. Then they go to ground level, and carry it past a strip of outdoor restraunts, getting lots of strange looks from the patrons as they pass. They then setup in a community square outside the housing complex, and begin outdoor training in Singapore. Singapore is so close to the equator, that the length of the day only varies by 7minutes throughout the year. It is typically 90 degrees with 80-90% humidity, nightime temps are 70-75F.
Anyways, they lift, and then pound water, and repeat it again and again for 2-3 hours. I've been in my air conditioned hotel for an hour now and can't stop sweating :confused:
Finally, Singapore is a small island at the southernmost tip of Asia, so they don't have the luxury of a Jackyls gym or Pitbull to cheaply ship strongman supplies to them, even protein powder is $3x what I pay. You'd never know Ben's equipment wasn't Pitbull though, very nicely made and hopefully they will be able to setup a gym someday to keep spreading the sport.
I'm glad Marunde Muscle is around as well, pretty cool that I can take a 10minute cab ride halfway through a business trip and train with such dedicated guys on equipment I know well :marv:
Thanks again Ben for your hospitality today :YR: Hope to see you in the future.
I'll post my workout in my journal later, but I wanted to share the dedication of Ben and his group, Jen Li aka Singapore's strongest man, and their friend Goi.
Ben lives in a flat on the 7th story of his building. He has a 12" log, farmers, a sled, and a couple hundred pounds of weights in his place. The flat has an elevator, but it doesn't stop at his floor. So, they cary all the equipment and plates up to the ninth floor and load the elevator. Then they go to ground level, and carry it past a strip of outdoor restraunts, getting lots of strange looks from the patrons as they pass. They then setup in a community square outside the housing complex, and begin outdoor training in Singapore. Singapore is so close to the equator, that the length of the day only varies by 7minutes throughout the year. It is typically 90 degrees with 80-90% humidity, nightime temps are 70-75F.
Anyways, they lift, and then pound water, and repeat it again and again for 2-3 hours. I've been in my air conditioned hotel for an hour now and can't stop sweating :confused:
Finally, Singapore is a small island at the southernmost tip of Asia, so they don't have the luxury of a Jackyls gym or Pitbull to cheaply ship strongman supplies to them, even protein powder is $3x what I pay. You'd never know Ben's equipment wasn't Pitbull though, very nicely made and hopefully they will be able to setup a gym someday to keep spreading the sport.
I'm glad Marunde Muscle is around as well, pretty cool that I can take a 10minute cab ride halfway through a business trip and train with such dedicated guys on equipment I know well :marv:
Thanks again Ben for your hospitality today :YR: Hope to see you in the future.