BACK DAY: Parrillo Style

Ted Arnett had been lifting weights for the past six years and felt he was ready to move up to the next level. Secretly he wanted to be a competitive bodybuilder. Ted trained at Ron Johnson’s Steel Pit Gym in suburban Pittsburg. Ted approached Ron about training with an elite squad of lifters and bodybuilders that gathered together three times a week. Informally known as “The Big Boys,” this motley assortment of bikers, pro bodybuilders, top notch powerlifters and bouncers would gather together to “sling the big iron.”

As those in the know know, lifting really big poundage requires serious spotting. The Big Boys would spot each other and keep each other safe when attempting monstrous squats and bench presses. They offered each other profane encouragement and when they gathered together it produced an electrified atmosphere that took everyone’s game up to the next level. Regardless if they were pro bodybuilders seeking to add quality size in the off season, or professional athletes, or powerlifters preparing for national-level competition, when these super serious Iron Men trained together, everyone’s performance soared. The elite athletes trained in a separate section of the schoolhouse gym. Ronnie’s Steel Pit was a converted elementary school that had been shut down by the school system a decade ago during a reconsolidation. Ronnie was a multiple winner of Mr. Pittsburgh and one of the nation’s top ‘raw’ lifters. He had cut a deal with the county and basically got three gigantic classrooms for next to nothing. In return, the monsters that habituated the gym (including a sizable contingent of law officers) kept the building from being vandalized.

Ted approached Ron about his training with the iron elite and Ron was dubious, ambivalent and to the point. “Kid you cannot hang with these guys on squat or bench press day – no way – your 300 bench press is a warm-up weight for most of these guys. Ditto the squat: your 440 pound max squat is terrific for a normal person but these guys are handling 750 for reps.” Ron saw the disappointment cross the boy’s face. “Look, how about this: you’ve got a really good deadlift, 540. So I tell you what: how about I get you into the rotation on ‘back day.’ In return you’ll become our ‘weight changer.’ On every set you’ll be responsible for loading and unloading the bar. The junior-most lifter is given this job. Raphael has been our weight changer for the last year. So maybe it’s time he moves up. So is it a deal?”

Ted didn’t hesitate. “Oh hell yes!” Ted was ecstatic.

“Okay be at the gym at 12:50 sharp on Sunday. We’ll be doing deadlifts, heavy rows, high pulls, power cleans and some lighter stuff. When you arrive, keep your mouth shut and do not talk unless someone addresses you. You take orders from me. Do not be late. You are on probation.” Ted thanked Ronnie profusely. “Be careful what you wish for Ted.” Ron said flatly. That jarred Ted a bit. The two men parted company.

At 12:30 on Sunday Ted showed up decked out in his best gym clothes ready to do as he was told, ready to lift and ready to keep his mouth shut. Ronnie was working the counter, talking to a new client, as Ted entered the gym. Without breaking his conversation with the businessman he motioned for Ted to come around the desk and enter into the private backroom. Ted’s heart was pounding as he walked into the classroom: he’d only glimpsed it in passing and had never ventured inside. It was a well lighted room with one wall of glass windows. The centerpiece was a chalk covered lifting platform comprised of two-by-four boards turned sideways and sandwiched between two, four-by-eight sheets of plywood. Two rubber mats set atop the lifting platform and atop the mats sat a York Barbell loaded to 135 pounds. This would be the starting weight for the deadlifts. Ronnie had explained the round-robin lifting to Ted ahead of time. “The procedure is always the same regardless the lift: the barbell will start off at 135 and anyone in the room that wants that weight will step onto the platform and do his set. The deadlift weight will then be moved upward. You will be the guy loading and unloading the bar. At each “bus stop” anyone that wants that particular poundage will step up and lift while the others watch. We critique each other after each set.” Next to the lifting platform a “chalk box” sat on a cylindrical pole. The men would stride to the box and chalk up prior to an all out attempt. The magnesium carbonate improved the grip. Today there were nine gargantuan men lollygagging around the room; some sat on picnic table benches that lined the walls; other sat in one of the half dozen orange plastic chairs arranged in a loose semicircle around the platform.

No one acknowledged Ted’s presence. He stood around awkwardly until an ebullient Ronnie entered the room and yelled, “What’s up Boys?” Time to slam some IRON! This is Ted – he’s loading and lifting – Ted you’re up first. Go ahead and take your first warm up set with 135. Who else wants 135?” Ron would act as expeditor for the session. “Ted, the next poundage will be 185 and then 255. Let’s get rolling!” Before he could get his bearings or figure out which way was up, Ted was lifting and loading. When Ted put the 100 pound plates on the barbell most of the monster men took their first deadlift warm-ups. Ted pulled 275, 345 and 435, all for three reps. When Ted deadlifted 505 for three perfect reps, the group attitude towards Ted seemed to shift from unfriendly to friendly. It was as if he had passed some unspoken rite of passage. The men collectively thought “Hey, 505 for 3 – not bad for a nerdy kid!” A few minutes later Ted told Ronnie that he wanted to try a 550 deadlift for a new personal record. After he loaded the barbell for his attempt, Ron explained to the group that this would be “a new PR for Ted.” The lifters went from indifferent to engaged. A boisterous Italian named Arturo Availino, a 300 pound powerlifter with a 1000 pound squat, stood up and walked over to Ted as he was chalking up. In his heavily accented English, Arturo began to verbally incite Ted…“C’mon schoolboy! You gotta pull this freaking weight! Tight back! Push off your heels! Rip this bird-weight up!” Arturo was yelling. He helped Ted cinch his lifting belt. The men clustered around the platform began yelling encouragement. Ted caught their vibe and became so jacked up on adrenaline that he felt he could run through a concrete wall. He couldn’t believe it; 45 minutes ago these men wouldn’t acknowledge his existence; now, a few short minutes later, they were yelling for him and rooting him on. It was like a magnificent dream come true.

Arturo slapped Ted on the back – hard! This was an insider tactic the men used to fire each other up. Ted literally ran up to the barbell, set himself, and quickly tore the bar from the platform. It felt like a feather! He locked out the 1^st rep with 550 and decided he would try and double the weight he had never done for a single rep. As he lowered the barbell to the platform, the men grocked that Ted was going to try a second rep. Ted lowered the barbell to the wooden platform with perfect control. He immediately fired the weight upward and locked out the second rep! Suddenly he thought the unthinkable: he would attempt another rep! As he slowly lowered the bar for a 3^rd rep, the lifters sensed that Ted was about to attempt a third rep: unconsciously they all stood up. Tripling a PR was Fantasy Island territory and as Ted rebounded the 3^rd rep off the platform, the bar stalled badly as it passed his knees. He felt his grip start to fail. Suddenly above the din he heard Arturo’s voice…“KEED! THROW YOU’RE HEAD UP! LOOKA UP ATTA THE CEILING!”

Ted had been looking straight ahead. Hearing the booming Italian voice that sounded like the voice of God, Ted did exactly as instructed; he threw his face upward and ended up looking at the ceiling; magically the stalled barbell began moving up his thighs. He locked the 3^rd rep out and the room erupted. Ted replaced the bar none to gently and Arturo gave him a huge bear hug and laughed. “Now that’s a the way to go rookie boy!”

Ronnie looked him straight in the eye and said, “Great set kid!” Every lifter in the room took time to congratulate him. Then it was back to business. Ted loaded the barbell to 635 pounds. Smitty was up….Arturo is on deck…then Ross, Ronnie and finally the Massive James Jackson. Ted had had the best deadlift session of his life and was energized beyond anything he’d ever experienced. Arturo pulled five excruciating reps with 635, Ronnie pulled 655 for an easy five reps and the 330 pound James Jackson ended the deadlifts with 745 for five reps. Ted was blown away. Ronnie announced that power cleans would commence in five minutes. The boys all took out Tupperware shakers full of Parrillo 50/50 Plus™ and Ronnie motioned for Ted to come closer, “You need some of this stuff: 50/50 Plus™ not only builds muscle it provides
energy for what is coming.”

Arturo chimed in, he talked like Pavarotti: “Pa-rrill-O is like Fer-rar-i or Lamb-bor-ghin-i. Parrillo is that to supplements – like a da Rolls Royce! Drink! Drink Teddy! You gonna need it schoolboy!”

Power cleans went quickly: 135, 165, 185, 205, 225, 245, 265, 275 and finally James Jackson pulled an awkward but powerful 315 for five reps. Ted made 205 for 5 reps in the power clean and felt great. But the Pain-Train was just leaving the station: 5-rep high pull sets were next. Ted pulled 275 pounds to the top of his lifting belt for five tough reps…done with the high pulls, it was now time for bent over rows. Teddy was running out of gas. He rowed 225 for five reps. Ronnie announced it was time to start the chins and pull-ups. Ted managed four sets of chins and four sets of pull-ups. The heavy guys did lat pulldowns with massive poundage. The back session took two hours to complete. Afterwards the group sat or stood around for a few minutes as they gathered their gym gear, ate Parrillo bars™ and talked. Ron came over to Ted and shook his hand.

“Good job today. I want you to put all the plates back on the weight tree and sweep the platform. We’ll see you next week. You passed the audition.”

The next day Ted was so sore he couldn’t raise his arms above his head. He stayed that way until Wednesday. He didn’t care. He was exhilarated and elated. He was invited to train three times a week with the Monster Squad: in four months his squat zoomed from 455 x 1 to 550 x 1. His deadlift shot up to 635. His pathetic bench press zoomed from 300 to a respectable 365. His bodyweight shot up 22 pounds and best of all he actually got leaner during his mass building phase. At the end of six months Ted tipped the beam at a rock solid 222 pounds sporting a 10% body fat percentile. He had been completely accepted by the Monster Men and now he was a Monster Man.

One day Ron cornered Ted. “Look kid, Junior Mr. Pittsburgh is being held in three months. You should enter. In twelve weeks time we could get you ripped to the bone: If you step onstage weighing 195 pounds carrying around a 6% body fat percentile, you could win. You would need to drop 2 pounds of fat each and every week for the next twelve consecutive weeks and you would need to start doing tons of cardio. So how does that sound? Your progress over the past six months has been insane: you are packing a ton of muscle. To become Junior Mr. Pittsburgh, you would need to head off in a completely different direction. Is this something you’d want to commit to?”

Ted didn’t hesitate. “If you’ll guide me and work with me, I’ll throw myself into this bodybuilding thing with complete and utter commitment. I’ll make you proud.” The two men shook hands. In his mind, Ted envisioned himself ripped to the bone. He smiled a faint smile and felt a surge of adrenaline course through his body. Ron said, “The first order of business is nutrition: you are going to have to square up your eating and supplementation.” Ron took out a pad of paper and began outlining a nutritional game plan. “This is a template: you can substitute whatever foods you like as long as you clear them ahead of time and I tell you that they are acceptable.”

• Meal I 6am – Egg white omelet with veggies, oatmeal mixed with whey protein: Sauté eggs in CapTri®, oatmeal w/one serving of Optimized Whey™
• Meal II 9am – Parrillo Muffin™, Parrillo Energy Bar™
• Meal III noon – Baked chicken, green beans, yams, CapTri®
• Meal IV 3pm – Parrillo Cupcake™ or Parrillo Protein Bar™, All-Protein™ shake
• Meal V 6pm – Shrimp or fish, rice, garden salad: Butter-flavored CapTri® over shrimp/fish
• Meal VI 9pm – Parrillo All-Protein™ Shake, Parrillo Ice Kreem™

With each meal: Liver Amino Formula™, Bio-C™, Natural E-Plus™, Mineral Electrolyte™, and Essential Vitamin Formula™; after every workout: 50/50 Plus™, six Muscle Amino™ caps.

That Monday Ted ordered his Parrillo supplements. Ronnie set up his weight training and cardio program. Ron used the Parrillo BodyStat procedure to keep Ted on track. By redirecting grocery money previously spent on chips, dip, ice cream and beer and by curtailing his weekend bar hopping, Ted recovered enough money to pay for a huge stack of Parrillo supplements. As the weeks rolled by, Ted gathered more and more momentum. Each week he melted off more body fat and each week he added more muscle. Arturo cornered Ronnie and asked how “The Schoolboy” was doing. “We’re going to have to change his nickname from The Schoolboy to The Terminator: this kid is a crazed fanatic on a search and destroy mission. He’s scary and getting scarier.”

Next Month: Ted unveils the goods.