WarriorFX

A creative mind is a horrible thing to waste, so long as good judgment supersedes inventive initiatives. Certain lifestyle choices can enhance intellectual creativity in people – by altering environmental perceptions and allowing for more open-minded attitudes. When reaching for the mountainous peak of innovative design, it’s important to know when you just fell off the summit. This concept is important in bodybuilding.

Mary Jane is a creative genius. Her habit of smoking marijuana is coupled with unique, often resourceful, cleverness. Anyone submerged in a pot-smoking social atmosphere has seen examples of this in action. According to Mary, smoking devices can be constructed from almost anything – soda cans, tool sets, spare parts, housewares – water bongs further extend the range of possibilities. Mary once constructed a bong that incorporated a 12-foot PVC pipe and a 55-gallon fish tank. She hosted some great parties with it. Unfortunately, the school of Clownfish eventually gave in to the chemical shift in their salt water habitat.

Creative mindsets are most certainly seen in bodybuilders, individuals with a relentless desire to build their muscles to skin-splitting dimensions. Occasionally trainees end up performing some pretty obscure movements in an attempt to shape their bodies into superhero proportions. In all their extreme efforts, underlying principles tend to get lost in the wind – progressive overloads, intensity versus volume, specific adaptations to imposed demands and the law of diminishing returns.

Willie Workout was in the gym yesterday. To train legs, he balanced himself on top of a Swiss ball. He stood in a position that seemed to command the hands of God for support. Nonetheless, he repeatedly attempted full-range squats on the inflatable sphere – while using elastic bands wrapped around an adjacent power rack for resistance. Everyone’s curiosity peaked, staring in awe as if a bull-riding rodeo was unfolding in the gym. Unfortunately for Willie, the only growth stimulated were bruises, from falling on the rack and getting slapped by flying rubber.

Like always, he breezed past the owner’s brand new t-bar row. Willie prefers to pivot a barbell in the corner of the gymnasium walls. After loading one side with two 45-pound plates, he straddled the bar and started pulling. Meanwhile, the bar’s opposing end wiggled against the wood work – each repetition threatened Willie’s manhood. Some sounds are hard to replicate. Willie getting his nuts suddenly slammed by an iron bar is one of them.

Next, Willie stood facing a wall-mounted mirror with a Kettlebell in his hands. Like a demolition wrecking crew, he repeatedly swung the iron ball. He finally stopped once the associated tenderness in his neck seared in like a hot cattle brand.

His final routine on the Smith machine is not easy to explain. In Willie’s case, pain is intelligence leaving his body.

“What about basic compound lifts, like barbell bench presses?” I asked.

“I don’t bench, it hurts my shoulders,” he replied.

If muscles grew from creativity alone, Willie would be an enormous bodybuilding success.