Plague of Strength, Philadelphia, PA (2026)

06/21/2026

Lito Adiwang is the most jacked & aggressive 57kg (125lb) fighter on Earth, & this human wolverine is also definitely at the top of the list of all-time greatest most muscular poses by u60kg (132lbs) athletes.

is 33 years old & now has a a 18W-6L record (10 KO, 4 Submission). He was personally scouted by Hall of Famer to fight in & is:

- 1.62m (5'4") & walks around at 64-66kg (140-145lbs)
- a 2x Philippine Wushu champ
- primarily a striker whose base is a mix of Boxing, Wushu, & Sanda, plus lots of BJJ & Muay Thai

Adiwang grew up on a farm & started boxing in high school in an effort to follow Manny Pacquiao to greatness & riches. While studying to be a physical education teacher in university, Adiwang switched his focus to Wushu & became a 2x national champ.

When Adiwang struggled to balance his studies & competition, he chose the latter, so after an international competition tour with the national team netted him no trophies, Adiwang made the switch to MMA to earn a living.

Initially fighting out of the Philippines, he soon made the jump to Malaysia, where he won BJJ tournaments. After that, Adiwang spent 1.5 years in Thailand honing his skills before returning to Manila to join .

He won 7 of 9 fights before his ACL tore in the middle of his 10th. Because he's so incredibly aggressive, Adiwang pushed his rehab a little too hard & hurt himself again- learning to back off the intensity was the hardest lesson of his career.

“I can admit that this experience was a lot more psychological than anything else. Physically, I could overcome it relatively easily, though this one was really more focused on the mental aspect of it all for the past 18 months.”

“I needed to balance out my positivity and eagerness since there really is a process that needs to happen. That’s what I went through for this recovery.”

Drop the dogmatism in your training & draw inspiration from lots of different sources- absorb what works & discard what doesn't!

Bang the link in my profile to grab 365 Days of Brutality & get tons routines from of the GOATs of every strength sport, from powerlifting to arm wrestling!

06/18/2026

365 Days of Brutality is Plague of Strength's Anti-Programming Manifesto designed so you can open it to any page & find a hardcore workout from a historic badass from all sorts of strength-related sports, plus it's got advice for dieting & bulking & a bunch of recipes to help get you there!

This gigantic 361pp workout bible contains workouts from Bodybuilders like (but not limited to):

- Lee Priest: Demigod-Level Arm Training
- Freddy Ortiz: Add a Couple Reps? How About You Add A Couple Sets If You Want to Grow
- John DeFendis’ Intensity or Insanity Routine
- Rob Colacino: Psycho-Burst Training
- Harold Poole: The Full Body Bloodbath of the First Black Mr. America
- Dorian Yates: Blood and Guts
- Jeff King: Train Legs Twice a Week and Get Twice the Gainz

Strongmen like (but not limited to):

- Zydrunas Savickas- It’s Hard to Out-Great the GOAT Strongman
- Manfred Hoeberl- 26” Arms are Useful in Strongman
- Hoeberl’s Once Per Week Arm Workout
- Jesse Marunde: Training Like a Strongman Phenom
- Magnus Samuelsson- Legendary Grip Strength

Hybrid Athletes like (but not limited to):

- Pillow- The Insanely Shredded She-Beast of Bodybuilding and Nerdlesque
- Jon Cole- King of the Supertotal and the First Collegiate Strength Coach in History
- Chuck Sipes- the Natty AF Bodybuilding Paratrooper With a Bench That Shocked the World
- Chet Yorton- the Father of Natural Bodybuilding (And the Only Guy to Beat Arnold)

Powerlifters like (but not limited to)

- Stefi Cohen- The Deadlifting GOAT’s Squat Training
- Doug Young- The Bench Press Badass Who Proved the Internet Loves as a Muscle Bear
- Roger Estep- If You’re Gonna Lift Big Weights, You Might as Well Look Good Doing It
- Jeremy Hoornstra- Sometimes Benching More Than You Squat is Cool as S**t
- Terrible Ted Arcidi, Bench Beast and Utter Maniac

Weightlifters like (but not limited to):
- Ike Berger- The Odd Lift Virtuoso and Beast-Mode, Pocket-Sized Weightlifter
- Coach Fang, Tian Tao, and Squatting Like a Fu***ng Monster with the Chinese Weightlifting Method
- Bob Bednarski- 100% American Built Muscle

Bang that link in my profile & grab 365 Days of Brutality to begin the 1st year of the rest of a badass life!!

06/16/2026

Jade Henderson is a total badass- she's the holder for pull-ups in an hour by a female (733) &:

- a Senior Constable in the Queensland Police Department
- an aspiring stuntwoman
- a athlete
- the female alternate for Team Australia on
- 1.62m & 60kg (5'4" 132lbs)
i_jaded set her world record as a fundraiser for mental health services for police officers. She'd originally planned to set the record for pull-ups in 24 hours, but tore her bicep in training after 8 months of training.

Bowed but not broken, Henderson decided that the 1 hour record was still somehow within reach. She explained:

"I had to have a couple of weeks off to recover- it was around 5 weeks - & then I thought, 'Why not attempt the one-hour record instead?' Because… that prevents me from re-injuring myself & it's more manageable for my body."

The key to the entire thing turned out to be confidence.

"I know it sounds corny, but the mental aspect of it makes such a huge difference, & the saying is, 'Believe you can & you're halfway there' - & I think that's very true."

Henderson's training methods for building her record are brutal & brief. Focusing on the density of her workouts rather than sheer volume, she does 3 weekly pull-up sessions (in addition to her weight workouts) that look like this:

1) 6 reps every 20 seconds for 3 minutes (54 reps)
2) 8 every 30s for 2 mins. Repeat 3x with 5 mins rest between sets (96 reps)
3) 6 every 30s for 10 mins (120 reps)

Click the link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method for 350pp of lifting tips, programs, & methods! It's a synthesis of everything I've written over the last ~20 years, & includes:
- a massive update of my powerlifting book Destroy the Opposition
- my bodyweight training book Bodyweight Blitz
- newer programs like Super Soldier Serum & Juicy Delts
- statistics for pre-steroid bodybuilders to compare against
- a timeline of lifting history, including technological innovations like the invention of the barbell
- over a dozen programs
- a timeline of PED history

Or get hyped to train with Herd of GOATs- it's got profiles like this on 160 athletes from 52 countries!

06/08/2026

Vinesh Phogat is the most jacked member of India's Congress, one of India's all-time most successful Freestyle Wrestlers, & the only active elite athlete currently serving in their nation's legislature ('s political career ended last year).

is 1.68m (5'6"), won the the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, & Asian Championships at 48, 50, & 53kg (106, 110, & 116lbs) & was ranked #1 in the world in 2020 & 2021 at 53kg.

She usually walks around at a very lean 57kg (125lbs) & really struggled to make the 50kg weight limit in the 2024 Olympics. After cutting her hair short to help drop extra weight she still couldn't make weight for the finals (which she was predicted to win), which was another setback after previously having an ACL tear, elbow injury, & other weight cut issues, so she retired.

Phogat had already been at the forefront of politics due to her advocacy against the corruption & abuse endemic in the Indian wrestling system, so she was immediately recruited into politics after retiring.

Now a staunch advocate for women's rights & social welfare, Phogat returned to wrestling in 2026 at 53kg & is working to make the Olympic team after a ridiculous legal battle against to bump up a weight class.

Phogat built her legendary physique with incredibly varied & brutal daily workouts & a plant-based but not strictly vegetarian diet (occasionally eats fish & chicken).

Warm-Up: Lot of traditional Indian calisthenics & yoga
Workouts: 2 week blocks of aerobic or anaerobic focus using everything from robe climbing to machines & heavy compound lifts

Breakfast: Eggs, tomatoes, toast, & oatmeal
Pre-Workout Snack: Tomatoes & toast
Lunch: Bean-based, chili-style stews like rajma & chana with Indian yogurt & salad
Dinner: Flatbread, salad, & more eggs.

Bang that link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to learn how to combine mobility, cardio, strength, & aesthetics all into the same workout program! It's got over a dozen programs & detailed explanations of how & why you should be doing the exercises beloved by old school lifters & modern athletes, but are totally ignored by modern lifters!

06/07/2026

Mike Tyson was the undisputed baddest man on the planet in the late 1980s & is one of the few boxers in history who no fighter in any style at any weight could have defeated at his peak.

Between 1985-1990, racked up 37 consecutive victories with 33 knockouts- 19 of those knockouts were consecutive, & 13 of them happened in the first round.

Tyson was a small heavyweight, fighting at 1.78 & 96-100kg (5'10" 212-221lbs), but there was no fighter on the planet more powerful or intimidating at the time, & Tyson is still jacked in his 60s (he's ~100kg / 220lbs at 59 years old in Pic 4).

Iron Mike is unique in that it's unlikely anyone could have beaten him in a fair fight under any ruleset at the time- there were no heavyweight fighters in any style who could beat him.

The world's greatest P4P mixed martial arts fighter in that era was undoubtedly , who beat a kickboxer Tyson's size in a 1974 MMA tournament called the World Series of Fighting, but it's unlikely the 1.68m & 66kg (5'6" 145lb) god of unarmed combat could have managed to hurt Tyson, who is also an accomplished street fighter & was so strong & fearless he slept with a full grown tiger for 16 years.

Tyson:
- has a 50W-7L-2NC record (44KOs)
- is the youngest heavyweight champ in history
- is 's Hardest Hitter of All Time & Most Intimidating Fighter of All Time
- has become a legendary American pop culture figure.

Tyson's training routine changed over the course of 40 years, but at his peak he trained every day but Sunday & sparred 5-6 days per week. Sparring days looked like this:

Morning Cardio:
- 5-8km (3-5mi) Run
- 10 x Sprint Intervals

Strength Session:
- 400-500 Push-Ups
- 500 reps of Abs (Sit-Ups, Leg Raises, Crunches
- 20 mins of Side to Sides
- 400 Squats
- 6 mins of Neck work
- 6 min Sp*ed Bag
- 9 min Jump-Rope (non-stop)

Sparring:
- 15 mins of Mental Focusing with Trainer
- 15 min Stretching
- 3 x 3 min Shadow Boxing
- 4 x 3 min Focus Pads
- 10-15 min Sp*ed Bag
- 12-15 x 3 min rounds of sparring

Bang that link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to learn how to build your own badass body by following the lead of natty GOATs!

06/06/2026

Takemaru Wakagi was Japan's answer to Eugen Sandow, but he was no pretty boy- he a mass monster who trained 10+ hours per day & was so big that only US servicemen would speak to him unprompted.

At 1.63m & 69kg (5'4" 152lbs), Wakagi wasn't huge by modern standards but was enormous compared to the average Japanese man in the 1930s, who was 160cm & 55kg (5'3" 121lbs), which meant Japanese women were terrified of him & men avoided the "Monster of the Showa Era."

When he died at age 88 he was still so jacked that people joked there were no coffins in Japan that would fit his body. Wakagi famously gave himself a stroke while training early in his 80s- obsessed with trying to keep his arms at or over 40cm (15.75"), he trained until the effort broke his brain.

You might think that's impossible, but Wakagi's training methods were widely publicized because of his physique, strength & the people he trained- Kyokushin founder Mas Oyama & Judo demigod Masahiko Kimura.

Wagaki was so strong, he:
- was invited to the 1932 Korean Weightlifting Championship despite never having touched a real barbell
- he never lost a match in Arm Wrestling
- Floor Pressed 212kg (468lbs)
- Strict Overhead Pressed 110kg (242lbs)

Wakagi started working out like a maniac at age 14, using mostly calisthenics because the 1st barbell wasn't imported into Japan until 1934.

He trained 10-15 hours per day until he was in his 80s using an an iron bar, homemade cement plates, & cement filled buckets.

Wakagi created Japan's 1st strength training tradition by combining Western bodybuilding exercises taken from Eugen Sandow's book with arm wrestling training done on home-made equipment & ridiculously high-volume & high-intensity calisthenics like Fingertip Pushups, Pistols, & Dips between Chairs.

A genuine maniac very few people liked being around, Wakagi slept hugging a heavy bag & left dumbbells by the bathroom because he would do sit-ups & curls when he awoke at night to p*e.

Bang the link in my profile & get hyped with Herd of GOATS! It's the ultimate zero-caffeine preworkout with profiles on 160 jacked AF athletes & entertainers from 52 countries & every sport you can imagine!!

06/04/2026

Weili Zhang is more brains than brawn (which is crazy because she's so jacked) & she credits her ability to think, not her ability to punch, kick, or wrestle, with all of her success in MMA & life.

It's her ability to follow Bruce Lee's advice to "be like water" that she's been able to become one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, because she learned at an early age that she could overcome any "obstacle that had seemed insurmountable" by "slowing down. By thinking. By adapting to the world in front of me."

has been using a combination of 2 traditional styles (Shaolin Wushu & Shuaijiao, which is the Manchurian & Chinese version of Mongolian wrestling) along with modern Chinese kickboxing (Sanda), dominated MMA's 52kg (115lbs) division for 12 years & became the 1st Chinese champ in the .

Zhang started training in Shaolin Wushu at age 6, then started seriously training in Sanda & Shuaijiao at age 12.

At 17 she took up BJJ & before long, she was training in an MMA gym & beating people down using a wild combination of everything from Muay Thai to 5 Element Fist.

Now 36 years old, Zhang is ranked #3 in the pound-for-pound rankings after dominating the rankings for 5 years. In 2025, Zhang bumped up a weight class to fight at 57kg (125lbs) & lost on decision after a titanic battle of the GOATs.

Zhang hasn't said if she's staying at 57kg or dropping back to 52kg, but she:

- is 1.63m (5'4") & walks around at ~61kg (135lbs)
- won the UFC title 2x at 52kg (115lbs) & had 4 successful title defenses
- has a 26W-4L MMA record (11 KOs, 8 Subs) & a 2-2 record in pro Kickboxing.

Zhang trains so much that she literally lived in the gym for 2 years so she could train anytime she wasn't working, & her training includes a lot of Shuiajiao & Tai Chi (because they develop a calm mind & finesse), along with bodyweight training, balance work, running, & weightlifting, to develop her body & skills as an MMA fighter.

Bang that link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method for a Bruce Lee-inspired, 350pp text containing everything you need to become a one-person wrecking crew!

06/02/2026

Tiger Shroff doesn't take days off from exercise- he became one of Bollywood's most jacked & badass actors by managing his recovery with sleep, saunas, ice baths, & massage so he never loses his edge.

At ~1.71m & 70kg (5'7" 154lbs), is no mass monster, but he might be the ultimate action hero- he's built like peak & has the physical skills & flexibility of at his best.

Due to his physical perfection & the fact that many of his films seem to be heavily inspired by Rambo 2 & 3, you might think he was grown in a lab & raised on nothing but American action films, but Shroff is the son of barrel-chested action star Jackie Shroff & the 1980 Miss Young India Ayesha Dutt, which makes him Indian action movie royalty.

Now 36, Shroff started training Wushu & Taekwondo at age 4, then added Kalaripayattu (the Indian martial art thought to be the basis of Wushu), Krav Maga, Silat, & Sanda at 26 to develop his practical fight skills.

Much like Jason Statham did while in Hollywood, Shroff got seriously into MMA by training for his films, so much so that he's the co-owner of , owned a team in India's 1st MMA fight league, & essentially India's MMA ambassador to the world.

Footwork has never been a problem for Shroff, whose dance moves in his films occasionally outshine his action sequences. All Indian films contain at least one dance sequence, which means their stars essentially compete on Dancing With the Stars while prepping & filming & they can't utilize extreme dehydration or glycogen compensation to look ripped.

To ensure he's always in shape, Shroff trains daily:

AM: 45 minutes of stepmill or treadmill followed by kickboxing or dancing
Early PM: Lifting (currently benching 60kg / 132lb dumbbells for 5)
PM: Parkour, Cricket, Basketball, & is on a 5th tier Indian pro Football team

Training daily becomes a habit when you start at age 4, but probably seems impossible to modern trainees steeped in the fitness industry's propaganda.

Click the link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to learn why you need to look back to the pre-steroid era to see we're all training too little, not too much!

06/01/2026

Serge Ibaka is relentless discipline in human form, which is why this Congolese-Spanish badass was able to overcome serious hardships to become one of 's top 100 NBA players of the 21st century.

is a 36 year old, 2.08m & 107kg (6'10" 236lbs) Olympic silver medalist (with Spain) with the rare distinction of being an , champ (Germany), & (Spain) champion.

One of the 1st wave of the new breed of centers who can shoot from the outside as well as dominate in the paint, Ibaka's ability to adapt to his environment & unbending work ethic made him a dominant force in the NBA despite having none of the advantages enjoyed by his competition.

Born in Congo in 1989, Ibaka lived through 2 civil wars, the death of his mother, & the politically-motivated imprisonment of his father before he was 10, so he practiced his craft incessantly because everyone saw basketball as his only way out of the chaos he was living in.

Ibaka taught himself Spanish & started playing professionally in Spain at age 17, became the 1st Congolese player to be selected in the NBA draft a year later, & had set the record for blocks in a single playoff game (7) during his rookie season.

From to 2009 to 2014, Ibaka was primarily a defensive center who used his physicality to dominate his opposition with blocks & rebounds, so his playing weight was closer to 111kg (245lbs).

He got that way not simply by training hard, but training as hard as possible with the best possible form- he only tests his ability to lift weights with perfect form.

Ibaka's off-season workout (basically every day for 2 months):

AM: Mountain Run & Basketball
PM: Boxing, Yoga, Lifting

Ibaka's attention to detail forced him to replace some of his lifting with skills work to achieve his final form, because although he loves lifting & would love to be bigger, he wanted to be more than a defensive juggernaut.

As a result, Ibaka nearly doubled his scoring in every game while maintaining his rebounding dominance & cemented himself as a legend on 3 continents.

Learn how to identify your weak points & fix them with Plague of Strength's Lifting Method! Link in profile & highlights!

05/28/2026

Fernando Pimenta is a 5x Sprint Canoeing World Champ who has been training 2-4x per day, 7 days a week, 11 months out of the year for nearly a decade.

At 1.79m & 81 kg (5'10" 179lbs), 36-year-old has the perfect condition to dominate Men's Physique but is much more than a pretty physique- he's competed in the World Championships in all 9 canoe races, as well as in all 4 of the Olympic races.

Demonstrating unreal versatility & bodyfat is so low it looks like a papercut might kill him, Pimenta:

- won the World Champs in the solo 1000m (3x) & solo 5000m (2x)
- took 2nd at the World Champs in the solo 500m, 1000m (2x), & 5000m (3x), as well as 3 more 2nds in the 2-man 500m & 2-person 500m, & the 4-man 1000m
- has 6 bronzes at the World Champs
- won Olympic silver (2-man 1000m) & bronze (1000m)

There's really no analogue to Pimenta in track & field or any other sport- he's equally good at distance & sprints, competes with men & women, & seems to have no off button, which is probably why he's been knighted & granted the Portuguese Order of Merit.

If you wanna match Pimenta's berserk year-round condition, make exercise your entire existence because fitness is a canoeist's "greatest ally."

“We don’t have a standard training routine; every day is different."

AM Workout: Canoeing

PM Workouts: Rotate between Running, Cycling / Mountain Biking, CrossFit / Lifting, & Swimming

You have to build up gradually to that level of volume, which Pimenta has been doing for 25 years after starting sprint canoe at age 11. By age 26, he was was training 2-3x a day (some workouts 2+ hours) & he only took 2 weeks off per year along with "1 or 2 special days/dates" "to rest & take the opportunity to recover energy."

To fuel his training schedule Pimenta eats 5-7 meals per day, but none of it's junk- he mostly sticks to lean meats, salads, fruits, & veggies, with pasta & rice for carbs & doesn't even eat cold cuts "because they are harmful to the health of even the average person."

Wanna read about more jacked badasses from every conceivable sport & region of the world? Grab Herd of GOATs, my newest ebook, which features 160 jacked athletes from 52 countries!

Plague of Strength

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