You can be the nicest guy in the world outside, but you should be intimidating as fuck when you are on the floor.
Today we are going to talk about an aspect of the workout that is overlooked far too much and is right up there with form and intensity in terms of importance. I call it the gorilla walk. How do you walk into the gym? How do you hit the floor? We talk a lot here about mind muscle connection, but today we are going to add some depth to it. Let me start by saying this, if you want to do something truly special on that gym floor you can’t be half in. Moreover, you can’t think about going to the gym simply as going to exercise. You need to bring a level of intensity, focus and passion with you that makes each rep a fight to the death. You are not just there to lift the weight. You are not even just there to win. You are there to kill. The gorilla walk will help you get into this mindset.
Let me start by talking you back to June 27th, 1988,. I will never forget this day as long as I live. I was with a few guys and we were going to watch the big fight. Mike Tyson had unified the heavyweight championship of all three major sanctioning organizations (WBC, WBA, IBF). This was rare. Tyson was 34-0 with 30 knockouts with his average fight length being only 3.5 rounds and was only 22 years old. There was a problem though. Michael Spinks had come off a fight where he beat Larry Holmes who was the lineal champion stemming from this 1980 win over Ali. Because of this Ring magazine and a lot of boxing experts considered Spinks the lineal champion.
Spinks, at this point, was 31-0 and not only hadn’t lost but had never been knocked down in his professional career. This was, at the time, the biggest fight that the world had ever seen. This was THE championship fight. Spinks, introduced first, came out in normal boxing attire. A long satin robe with his name on it, white trunks with black trim, tall socks.
Tyson, back in the locker room, went through his routine which was much different than most. He did hard shadow boxing for five
This is not the look of someone who is going to lose.
minutes to build up a sweat. Tyson didn’t wear fancy trunks. Just plain black. Also, just plain black boxing boots with no socks. He didn’t wear a robe. He didn’t even wear a shirt. Tyson’s entrance music was just loud banging chains. His focus was intense. If he noticed that tens of thousands of people were screaming he didn’t show it. About halfway to the ring everyone, myself included, knew that Spinks had no chance whatsoever. About 30 seconds into the first round Tyson dropped Spinks to the canvas for the first time in his career and at 91 seconds knocked him out cold. This was the moment where the argument over who the best boxer was ended. Tyson was the best, Tyson was and remains GOAT.
I want you guys to watch this short video of Mike talking about coming out to the ring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV8v_nDNmlQ
Tyson was the strongest, fastest, most deadly accurate, most intelligent and most technically proficient boxer that ever lived, but there was more. His gorilla walk was the king of gorilla walks. We need to channel this bit of the GOAT and use it in our routine. So let’s talk about how to do this. The first step is our song. You need to pick your gorilla walk song. You can change it up now and then, but you need a set gorilla walk song. This song is not in your play list to come on while you are working out. This is your entrance music. Mine, at current, is 6 Foot 7 Foot by lil Wayne. I change it every few weeks. You listen to this song when you walk out from the locker room and when you take a break from your weight and gorilla walk the gym (we will get back to this).
Next step is to prepare. You are dressed for the gym. You read over your book or your app. You need to know where you are going. Don’t walk out onto the floor looking for where you are supposed to be. Now get up and do some jumping jacks. Get a little light sweat going. If you are wearing a hood put it up. Focus. You got problems at home? Fuck that. Problems at work? Fuck that. You need to be here. Stamp your feet. Focus. Now put on your gorilla march music. Get up and start walking. I’ve noticed that my stride in the gym is much better than my walk in real life. One of my goals is to have my gym walk all the time.
IT IS STILL YOUR MOTHER FUCKIN SET
Lift like CT Fletcher is there.
Now you walk out onto the floor. Look around. I want you to absolutely fucking hate everyone there. They are weak and pathetic. They are in your way. Now the gorilla walk. Music blasting. Go and take a walk around the gym. Keep your eyes like steel. When you pass people stare them in the eye. Stare into their fucking soul. Look at them like you want to start a fight. Grunt. Be angry. Walk slow. Whatever you do, do not get out of the way of anyone. If some idiot doesn’t get out of your way do not break your stride walk into them and growl, literally growl.
Walk around the cardio machines. Feel the eyes on you. Walk over past the benches, the machines, the racks. Walk through the whole gym. Do it twice. Be aggressive. Walk past a trainer in such a way that his amygdala fires. I want you triggering the fight or flight reflex of the people you look at. After you have had a good walk around, go over to your first station. Yesterday mine was squat. Walk to the bench. Throw your shit down. Set your safety bars. Set your bar height. Load your weight. If your gorilla walk song ended, you should have restarted it. Do a few stretches. Get ready for your lift. Now stand in the rack and stare and the bar. You are ready now. Now is the time to put your working play list on and start your set. You will see the difference.
In between very heavy sets when you need a break do not just sit there on the bench looking at facebook. Put the gorilla walk song back on and go take another gorilla walk around the room. Keep that mindset. Keep that intensity.
I really don’t have any other way to say this other than the straight and blunt truth. You will NOT get inhuman results without inhuman work and intensity. Over the course of your workouts I want you to incorporate the gorilla walk. So here it is, watch Tyson gorilla walk into the ring to face Michael Spinks back in 1988. Without exaggeration, the 31-0 lineal champion was scared shitless and you could see it right on his face. Watch this video and give a long hard bit of thinking to how you walk out onto the gym floor. I made you guys a promise that I would turn you into gods or corpses, but I can only show you the way. You have to bring the intensity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjK3BGDhais