What happens when muscle heads team up? You would think a royal battle. Well, I’ll tell you what happens when muscle heads get together for a workout. It is a day filled with intense balls-to-the-wall training with non-stop verbal abuse and long talks about bodybuilding – Good times!
This is about a time when I was in the area of Boston, Mass., and I had to get ahold of Ron Harris and that we should get together for a workout. It was going to be very exciting to say the least for all of us to get together. Ron has known about me when I was a bodybuilder and of course I know Ron as a writer and now fellow competitor. Prior to our meeting Ron was getting ready for a bodybuilding show and I my first Sanctioned Bench Press meet. Since it wasn’t bench day for us, Curtis (my husband) and I decided we’d follow Ron through his workout. I know as a bodybuilder you like doing what you like, especially during contest prep. Though we all thought this workout to be more of a social workout ended up being intense! Have you ever heard of two hard-core bodybuilders getting together for a ‘social’ workout? Yeah, right. Egos take over and it ends up becoming who can out do who? After the preliminary introduction hugs we took off to find our battle zone, Gold’s Gym, Woburn, Mass.
As soon as we walked in I thought the people behind the counter we’re not going to be too happy having all this muscle in their gym but to all of our surprise the gym is borderline hard core. But, they charged us $15 bucks apiece. Multiply that times four and that’s a nice hunk of change. I thought I was at Gold’s Gym Venice. But, I use to get into Gold’s Gym Venice for Free. Ron and I are accustomed to getting in free into most establishments because we are somewhat of celebrities and the bodybuilding gym community usually knows us. But, that’s OK, it’s hard now a days to find a gym with people behind the desk that know anything or anyone associated with bodybuilding.
So, you could amagin to our surprise when we noticed that the gym was filled with other bodybuilders and some powerlifters making the atmosphere great for lifting - A perfect environment for muscle heads to collide. The equipment was abundant and diversified. They had all types of machines, power racks, platforms, and dumbbells up to 130 pounds. So here we are, ready to do battle, surveying the land getting prepared to pound the iron hard. Ron and Curtis ended up doing Smith Machine Shoulder Presses together while Janet and I did seated Dumbbell Presses as I had a slight shoulder issue at the time. A word on Janet Harris, she’s a mother of two, muscular and Ron and Janet make a great looking couple. I was also shocked how strong this little Cuban was. Janet is one tuff cookie, and she has to be to keep that muscle head hubby of hers in line.
We all moved over to the Icarian Side Lateral machine. Before we could begin on the machine we first had to all get the thing adjusted for our different height ranges, we’re all kind of short so we had to get a STEP to stand on. We also stacked another 25-pound plate onto the stack to add extra weight and then we all proceed to do 4 sets of 15 repetitions. Then we did dumbbell rear delt raises. I did them seated and Ron and Janet did them single arm while Curtis went off and did Snatch Hang High Pulls. Ron was watching Curtis and then commented to me: “If I did that my shoulders would come out of their sockets!”
We all finished off with Biceps. Ron trains like a typical bodybuilder. Like I used to. Wow, did I say that? Yes, I did. I think Ron wasn’t ready for us though. We made sure he pushed the reps and, at times, we pushed him to cheat to get extra reps. But, it was all to end soon as Janet had to get back for work. There will be another time and we will get another workout in and next time we’ll make sure Ron isn’t dieting so we can all go out for food and then out on the town.
I really enjoyed meeting another bodybuilding legend; yes Ron is a legend in this game. He’s been around this industry as long, if not longer then me. He reminds me of a very old friend, Don “The Ripper” Ross. Janet and Ron are two really genuine people. Ron is better looking in person then his pictures do him justice and his physique is outstanding, with great shoulder and leg development and he was hard as a rock. Maybe next time Ron will follow us through our workouts and see if he can hang with the big boys and girls. So, when you get a chance to workout with a muscle head don’t skip it; get it done.
Anita Ramsey CSCS, CPT, SPARQ
Anita Ramsey won the Overall at the 1998 NPC Southern States and placed 3rd in the heavyweights at the 98’ IFBB North American. www.anitaramsey.com
Ron Harris
Ron is top contributor bodybuilding publications, and a competitor. You can see more of Ron at www.ronharrismuscle.com.
Leave Comment