“I’ve Been Hit by a Train”: Dorian Yates’ Former Training Partner Reminisces on Their Painfully Intense Leg Workouts

Dorian Yates and his training partner from his peak days, Paul Baxendale had shared several challenging phases during workout sessions. Years after their retirement, Baxendale still shares old photos and snippets from his memories through social media.

The six-time consecutive Mr. Olympia winner, Dorian Yates has maintained his reputation as a master bodybuilder. After finding his passion for bodybuilding and fitness from jail, the bodybuilder has always been disciplined in his routines no matter how painful it had been. Paul Baxendale shed light on one such leg exercise that was hard on everyone training together that day.

Paul Baxendale and Dorian Yates’ extreme leg day

Baxendale recalled their moments from the 1993 Temple Gym when he was working out with Yates and Kenny. He stated, “Two exercises into our leg day, that’s two working sets in and I feel like I’ve been hit by a train!” Then he pointed out how they did not stop even when the fitness routine seemed brutal. He remembered, “With Smiths machine squats done it was a few painful steps back into the ‘leg room’ towards the Hack squat.”

Furthermore, the bodybuilder also stated how they still went beyond their limits. He said how humor had no place when they were working out on those days. He recalled that even as they felt like they had “been to hell and back,” this feeling made way for a “surge of power” once the hack squat machine was loaded with warm-up weight. “You’ve no idea how heavy this thing is,” he reminisced about the machine at the Temple Gym.

Earlier, Yates himself had talked about the consistency that helped him gain the mental strength to put in the utmost physical labor for his fitness regime.

Dorian Yates’s fitness Mantra

In one of his earlier posts, Yates commented how there had been a point where his life was changed because of bodybuilding. According to the Englishman, the only way he managed to hold on to it was by consistency. He stated, “Consistent in training, consistent in sticking to my diet, consistent with the whole lifestyle that comes with being a professional athlete. I knew that for me, it was bodybuilding taken as far as I could possibly go… or nothing!” He also pointed out how he preached consistency because it was a sink-or-swim situation for him.

READ MORE: “Each Week Aim to Beat It”: Known to Drive the Mass Monster Era, Dorian Yates Spills the Beans on the Importance of Progressive Overload in the Gym

Moving forward even when one is dealing with extreme pain is not an easy ask. Yet bodybuilders like Paul Baxendale and Dorian Yates still looked past their pain and gave their all to the fitness world. As they recall the past, it definitely serves as motivation to those on their fitness journeys.

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