Workout of the Day: Dolph Lundgren's Maximum Potential

It's been a Dolph-centric week around here with viewings of I Come In Peace and Masters of the Universe; posts on their significance and contribution to humanity coming soon.  Today was not about Dolph Lundgren the movie star but Dolph Lundgren the fitness enthusiast.

Hot off the success of Rocky IV, Swedish karate champion and chemical engineer turned big screen icon Lundgren put together a workout video for the ages.  In Dolph Lundgren's Maximum Potential, Ivan Drago designed a comprehensive wellness routine to school you in the ways of getting swole in the privacy of your own living room.  Throughout the 52 minute running time, Mr. Lundgren puts you through mental, physical and spiritual training set to a rocking synth soundtrack.

The video opens with Dolph working as a lifeguard reflecting on the importance of keeping fit in order to reach our full or Maximum Potential.  His workout is broken into five parts:

1)  Warm Up - Let's get hot and loose.  This consists of Dolph on a rotating platform looking buff and tan in tight short shorts stretching.  As a heterosexual man you feel a little weird watching but inspired at the same time.
2)  Cardiovascular - Because the best things for your heart are pumping and humping.  2 minute rounds of running in place or outside sprinting, jump roping or shadow boxing.  Today you could do jumping jacks, mountain climbers, burpees, etc.


3)  Body Sculpting - Being yoked is strength perceived which is strength achieved.  Dolph does 15 reps of squats with different feet placement with little rest between sets followed by lunges then push ups with five different hand positions.  Abs and lower back are worked with a variety of crunches, leg lifts, twists and hyper extensions.
4)  Stretching - Get that lactic acid, outta my muscles!  AKA Dolph in a white leotard with a bunch of chicks stretching.  Allegedly the park they're in was the site of Quentin Tarantino's first Production Assistant job.  Legend has it the director frequented the video store QT worked at and offered him the gig.  Further myth recites that his job was to clean up dog poo and he quit.
5)  Stress Management - Putting the hit on the silent killer.  Dolph helps you chill out.

This was probably a very popular video at the time with many demographics.  There's a lot of shirtless, tanned and toned Dolph stretching and bending over for the boys and girls while the workout itself is pretty intense for any nay-saying gym rats.  Today I found myself spontaneously jumping into the lower and upper body workouts as well as abs.  The moves are basic but worthy; squats and lunges for legs, push ups using five hand positions for chest and several crunch and leg lift exercises for abs.  The pace is pretty fast so the burn builds quick.  The soundtrack is also that great 80's rock synth so you just feel like moving.

Since the video only has you doing push ups to cut down on need for equipment, I threw in 4 sets of chin ups with 10 seconds rest between sets to work the back, biceps and shoulders.  Wow, my biceps and lats started to spasm a couple sets in!  Then it was 3 sets of bench dips for triceps with 10 seconds rest in between followed by 3 sets of face pulls to work the bi's.

15 minutes of jump rope and I called it a day.  A little stretching and cool down followed and my Sunday workout with Dolph was complete.  Like the big man himself, I took a few minutes to run through my mantra, find positive affirmations and center myself for the start of a new week.

Getting in shape may seem like a daunting task but if you educate yourself, experiment with workouts and make fitness a habit, it will happen, I guarantee.  Jean-Claude Van Damme wasn't built in a day and neither will you be.

Until then, keep pouring apple juice on your cereal and training hard.