Plague of Strength

Plague of Strength Infecting those who require it. Superhuman strength of body, mind, and spirit, infused with the pow

Mona Kimura kicks people in the face for a living & has developed the most unique method for delivering those kicks the ...
09/14/2026

Mona Kimura kicks people in the face for a living & has developed the most unique method for delivering those kicks the world has ever seen.

Often called "the real-life Chun Li," is a 1.66m (5'5.5") kickboxer who fights at 52kg (115lbs) & is 5-0 (2KOs) as a professional despite the fact that all of her opponents know that they're going to be fighting an opponent hopping on one foot & spamming side kicks with her lead leg like a little kid playing a fighting video game.

Kimura's style is bizarre & amazing- fighting from a southpaw stance, she bounces constantly & uses side kicks from her lead leg in the place of a jab & fights primarily with kicks you'd typically see in traditional karate.

The 25-year-old Japanese fighter practiced Sakurajuku Karate from ages 4-14 & Kimura won 7 straight Junior National Kyokushin Karate contests based largely on her kicking skills.

She started boxing at 10, set her sights on the Olympics, & boxed until age 21.

Kimura took 2nd at Japan's amateur 55kg (121lbs) boxing championship in 2021, but transitioned to kickboxing after failing to win a match at the world championship tournament in 2022 & won her 1st pro fight via KO from a right hook.

She trains almost every day with a K-1 kickboxing team, lifts weights almost every day in an effort to silence internet trolls who mocked her lack of muscular development, plus she does this stuff for kicking:

- does everything on 1 foot, from grocery shopping to walking the dog, hopping on 1 foot with her leg chambered & ready to fire
- hangs agility ladders from wall to wall & kicks through the gaps while hopping on 1 foot
- does kicking drills while standing on a wobble board or balance disk
- trains kicks on the treadmill while hopping on 1 foot
- jumps rope on 1 foot

Kimura has also become a big eater since she started lifting- she eats ~4x week she eats >.5kg (~1lb) of steak in 1 sitting, & eats 10 cups of rice per day, with lots of miso soup & veggies.

Every problem has a solution- sometimes you just have to think WAY outside of the box to find it! Bang that link in my profile & grab Herd of GOATs to get inspired by out-of-the-box thinkers who kicked ass at life!

Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu became a champion by out-working everyone, training 3 hours a day after working 12 hour days in a ...
09/12/2026

Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu became a champion by out-working everyone, training 3 hours a day after working 12 hour days in a mine, 5 days per week- if you haven't achieved your goals, it might be due to insufficient effort.

is 37-years-old, the former champ at 66kg (145lb), & has a 14W-4L (3KO) record.

He's 1.67m (5'6") tall, mostly fights at 66kg (145lbs), & walks around at 73kg (161lbs), which is what he weighed on as a member of the 2nd place-winning Team Mongolia.

Baatarkhuu wrestled as a kid but fell in love with Tae Kwon Do due to a steady diet of martial arts movies & the knowledge that because Bökh has no weight classes- small guys have little success in Bökh.

His original goal was to win an Olympic gold medal, but shifted his goal to MMA after becoming inspired by Georges St-Pierre, who also made the jump from traditional martial arts to MMA.

Baatarkhuu is much more cerebral than you might expect from an MMA champ who looks like a barbarian warlord, & his ingenuity enabled the Team Mongolia to make the finals in Physical:Asia- day job is in the Logistics Department of Oyu Tolgoi, the 4th largest copper mine in the world.

He began his career at the mine as a fitness trainer after studying bodybuilding & fitness coaching at university, then worked his way up to platform operator & then logistics.

Baatarkhuu's long & often grueling workdays mean he basically trains anytime he's not working, & his fellow competitors on Physical: Asia noted that he jumped on the bike to train cardio immediately after finishing events on the show.

As he says,

"people make time for things they love. I really love martial arts, so I find time to train. I use training to relieve the stress & frustration of working all day."

That means the champ gets up extra early to run before putting in a 12 hour shift at the mine, then trains for 3 hours after work & weekends are just massive blocks of time for more training!

Find out what your training is missing with Plague of Strength's Lifting Method! It synthesizes all of my writing into 1 easy-to-read, historically-based resource for info on cardio, mobility, strength, & aesthetics!

Lenny Kravitz is the ultimate example of growing gold instead of growing old, because this 62-year-old rock star looks b...
09/10/2026

Lenny Kravitz is the ultimate example of growing gold instead of growing old, because this 62-year-old rock star looks better than most of our physique idols did when they were 10 years younger, & Kravitz seems to just get better with age.

The 1.75m & 70kg (5'9" 153lb) 4x Grammy-award-winning American predicted this would happen back in 2020, when Kravitz explained to an interviewer that “My best shape is not behind me, it’s in front of me right now. We keep moving that bar as we get older,” but it's unlikely most people expected him to look like he's going to play the lead role in a reboot of Rocky 3 (Stallone looked similar at 35-years-old, 1.75m, & 74kg / 163lbs).

Born into an entertainment family, learned early on that one's appearance can take you a long way, so he's been a workout fanatic since the 1990s.

Kravitz is so fitness-obsessed that he moved to the Bahamas so he could spend every day outside, exercising in the open air- his daily routine involved cycling around the island, swimming, paddle boarding, & going for walks on the beach, making sure to exfoliate his skin with sand before heading so his skin is gleaming with youthful vitality.

At age 49, he decided to step it up & lived with for 6 months so he could train with a boot camp vibe, & got into the best shape of his life.

Now even more fit at 62, he trains 6 days per week in the gym, focusing mostly on upper body & abs, mostly sticking to complexes that blend exercises together into stuff you generally don't see in the gym, like a pull-up & leg raise combo done hanging from gymnastics rings & a barbell pullover decline sit-up, with an overhead press at the end.

Although obsessive dieting & money helps, it's straight up discipline that got him jacked:

“Fitness is the house; discipline is the foundation. It’s the work you do when no one is watching. It’s figuring out how you’re going to squeeze in a workout no matter what else you have going on that day or night.”

Bang that link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to learn how to get shredded & strong using old school, pre-steroid methods that require nothing more than discipline to succeed!

Priyanka Chopra Jonas might be the most badass beauty queen of all time- she won the Miss World beauty pageant, then a f...
09/09/2026

Priyanka Chopra Jonas might be the most badass beauty queen of all time- she won the Miss World beauty pageant, then a few years later started working out, learned a bunch of martial arts, & became Bollywood's 1st female action hero & Hollywood's most successful Bollywood actor.

is 44-years-old, ~1.65m & ~55kg (5'5" 121lbs), India's highest paid actress, & the 1st South Asian to win a People's Choice Award for her work as the star of the US action-drama TV show Quantico.

Chopra's career began at age 18 with her victory at the 2000 pageant & she started starring in action films at age 21, but her career didn't really blow up until she started working out, learning martial arts, & doing her own stunts for Don (2006).

In Don, she played a woman who joins the underworld to avenge the death of her brother, & because it was a remake of a beloved movie, Chopra threw herself into training for the role so she wouldn't disappoint. It culminated with a month of intensive hand-to-hand combat training, during which she learned Tai Chi, which she credits for her career success because it taught her to focus on what's important & shut out the little annoyances & distractions that keep people from reaching their goals.

“the most important thing to focus on is my craft, not your relationships..., not how you behave on set, but what you do between action & cut.”

Chopra liked that she "tasted blood a little bit with the action sequences" & said "I looked really good with a weapon in my hand,” so she learned Gatka (Indian stickfighting) & Karate for Drona (2008), & then spent 2 months training for Don 2 (2011), after which critics declared "she may be the first proper female action hero in Bollywood."

In 2015, she moved to the US & became a TV & film star, training in Kajukenbo (a hardcore Hawaiian streetfighting style) for Baywatch & spending several months in intensive swordfighting training for The Bluffs.

Bang that link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to learn about why learning stuff like Tai Chi (Bolo Yeung is a Tai Chi Grandmaster) & Pilates might be the missing key to achieving your ultimate form!

JJ Watt is a legendary NFL Defensive End who was bigger & stronger than peak Lou Ferrigno & faster than some collegiate ...
09/08/2026

JJ Watt is a legendary NFL Defensive End who was bigger & stronger than peak Lou Ferrigno & faster than some collegiate sprinters- if any athlete deserves their own comic book, it's Watt.

is retired, 37-years old, & still jacked, but had the following stats as a future Hall of Fame player:
- 1.96m / 6'5" tall
- 133kg (288lbs)
- 4.84s 40 Yard Dash (~5.23s 40m sprint)
- Bench Press: 102kg (225lbs) x 34 reps; uses 181-227kg (400-500lbs) for reps in workouts
- Squat: uses 318kg (700lbs) in workouts
- Power Clean: reps 172-181kg (380-400lbs)

Considered one of the greatest Defensive Ends of all time, Watt:
- was 3x Defensive Player of the Year
- holds the Texans franchise records for both sacks & forced fumbles
- has 3 receiving touchdowns as a Tight End (an Offensive position)

To develop his crazy strength & speed, Watt made Core & Legs his priorities. He does a 20-minute core workout every day that has no set routine but would include exercises like:
- Planks
- Glute Extensions
- Side Planks with Leg Raises
- Lateral Leg Walks with Bands
- Bird Dogs
- Dead Bugs

Watt trained legs 2x per week, with a Heavy day for strength & power followed a couple days later by a Volume day for the muscular endurance to last a full football game. His leg workouts vary week to week, but usually include some type of lunge, single-leg Romanian Deadlifts, & Bulgarian Split Squats to work agility & coordination.

According to Watt, eating is the hardest part of his job. He had to eat for function as well as size, & managed to stay bigger than the Incredible Hulk at his peak for all 12 years- Ferrigno said in 1981 that his best weight was ~116kg (255lbs), his weight in the 1974 Olympia, & his competitive weight swung between 100-125kg (220-275lbs) from 1971-1992.

On an average day, Watt ate 10 eggs, 6 Chicken Breasts, Lamb Chops, & Filet Mignon along with Oatmeal, Toast with jelly, Fruits & Veggies, & Whole Wheat pasta.

If you bulk while maintaining your athleticism, the results can be spectacular! Go outside & touch grass, then bang that link in my profile & grab the Monstrosity Bundle to get everything you need to bulk & build a badass, yoked-out physique.

Chinese staircase porters are some of the most muscular laborers on Earth, an amazing reminder you don't need a gym memb...
09/07/2026

Chinese staircase porters are some of the most muscular laborers on Earth, an amazing reminder you don't need a gym membership to get jacked, & my way to low-key call out any lifter who's ever avoided helping someone move- if you want to get jacked, there's few better ways than picking up heavy stuff & moving it around in ways you don't normally move.

Xiangxi, the guy in Pic 1, would probably be jacked as hell even if he did nothing but the workout he had to do in order to get his job as a porter, & is an amazing idea for a home workout for anyone with access to a stairwell:

Carry a 50kg (110lb) sandbag up & down 4 flights of stairs 10x in under 40 minutes

Xiangxi's physical endurance is just as impressive as his physique- he worked 8x 12hr days in a row transporting construction materials & building waste up & down stuffy stairwells in Guangzhou in the middle of the summer, when the combination of heat & humidity makes it feel like it's 42-47°C (108-116°F)

With people literally collapsing around him from heat exhaustion & injuries, Xiangxi showed up early & stayed late every & carried double the average load when possible (they were paid by weight of the load), & the effects of working like that have benefitted his physique & wallet.

Xiangxi is extra jacked because he works extra hard- due to high levels of competition, the only way to make truly good money in Xiangxi's line of work is to to carry heavy, odd-shaped objects long distances, like carrying two 90kg fire doors up a narrow fire escape for 9 hours.

Francis Ngannou built his strength in the sand mines of Cameroon & it was well known in the early 20th century that hard manual labor built the strongest people.

The hardest punchers of that era, like Barbados Joe Walcott, Bob Fitzsimmons, & Henry Armstrong, built their immense strength with brutal jobs (porter & piano mover, blacksmith, & railroad construction worker,) & 2 of the best built & strongest wrestlers, George Hackenschmidt & Gustav Frištenský, apprenticed as blacksmiths.

Muscle is built by stressing it in uncommon ways- find out why you need to get weird in order to get jacked by reading Plague of Strength's Lifting Method!

Ahmet Taşçı is arguably Türkiye's greatest wrestler of all time & a walking master class in masculinity who stood 1.75m ...
09/06/2026

Ahmet Taşçı is arguably Türkiye's greatest wrestler of all time & a walking master class in masculinity who stood 1.75m & 95kg at his peak (5'9" 209lbs) & doesn't look too far from that at 66yo (Pic 2).

Taşçı didn't start competing until he was 25, but by 31 he'd won the 3 biggest belts in oil wrestling, Kırkpınar (held since 1347), Elmalı (held since 1352), & Kurtdereli.

He also:
- is the only modern champ to win the Kırkpınar 5x in a row & between 1990-2004
- finished 1st or 2nd in the Kırkpınar 13x
- destroyed the competition in the other 2 major tournaments
- took 3rd in the world in sumo at 115kg (253lbs) in 1995 with very little training & weighing only 95kg

Taşçı was able to toss bigass sumo wrestlers because he's insanely strong from using traditional Turkish training methods. He lived like a monk from 1985-92 so he could do nothing but train all day, every day; is a vocal advocate of eating a 100% natural diet heavy on yogurt, eggs; & honey, & insists oil wrestling is even harder than boxing.

He's such a beast at wrestling & a national hero that he's already had 2 huge statues erected in his honor-1 in Edirne Palace & another in his hometown Karamürsel (Pic 4).

For context, Edirne Palace was erected in 1450 & was the capital of the largest empire in the world until 1703, which means Taşçı was so dominant in wrestling that his statue is among statues of the most powerful rulers of the 15th & 16th centuries!

Taşçı is an ethnic Laz, a Caucasian people who are mostly found in Türkiye & Georgia & are essentially the Scottish highlanders of the Caucasus. In addition to sharing a love of line dancing & wrestling (the Scots compete in Scottish backhold) they both play bagpipes at every possible opportunity (Pic 5).

Where Scots lift rocks, Turks lift kettlebells- Sultan Murad IV (who lived in Edirne Palace) was such a fanatical lifter he carried a 102kg (224lb) KB everywhere he went & did swings with it for an hour to warm up before battle.

Bang that link in my profile & grab The Monstrosity Bundle to get the diet & training routines you need to build a massive, hulking physique with a huge yoke, plus dope international recipes to help you pack on mass!

Claudia Gadelha won the 1st 52kg (115lb) fight in UFC history, has some of the greatest abs in MMA history, &:- is the U...
09/03/2026

Claudia Gadelha won the 1st 52kg (115lb) fight in UFC history, has some of the greatest abs in MMA history, &:

- is the UFC BJJ Senior Director of Jiu-Jitsu Strategy & a UFC Director of Business Development
- was the 2013 Women's MMA Fan Favorite of the Year
- won Brazilian nationals in BJJ 2x
- is 18-5 in MMA, with 2 KOs & 7 Subs

The 1.60m (5'3") Brazilian badass has an origin story pulled right from a 1980s karate movie- she was a rebellious, trouble-making teen whose life was transformed by martial arts. Soon after her dad moved into the same building as , Gadelha quit doing drugs & dedicated her life to martial arts.

was trained by 66kg (145lb) UFC champ & became the youngest black belt in the history of , one of the most prestigious teams in BJJ.

She became legendary for her abdominal development during her fight career, & it was on display year-round. Gadelha walked around weighing only 5kg (11lbs) over her weigh-in weight, because she stayed in near-fight-ready condition year-round from 2008-2021.

Out of camp, she trained with varying intensity 2-3x per day, 6 days per week, then upped it to 3 hard sessions per day before fights.

She mostly focused on skill work & cardio (especially Running & BJJ), & Gadelha estimates she only spends about 25% of her training time on strength.

As to her abs, she:
- highly recommends an occasional 72-hour fast (like GSP)
- eats clean year-round
- loves the X3S Abs Bench
- spends her downtime skateboarding, doing yoga, & hanging out at the beach: "I like to always keep my body & my mind in motion.”

Bang that link in my profile & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to get over a dozen badass training routines so you can follow Gadelha's lead & train with as many different methods as you can! It's got programs like Contrast Bath, which combines 3 weight workouts filled with heavy sets of triples on big movements like Hang Cleans & Deadlift Burpees & high-rep volume stuff like Barbell Uppercuts, alternated with days of stretching & calisthenics training! Plus, it explains in plain English why cardio & stretching are essential parts of every day!

Mijaín López is the greatest Olympic wrestler of all time & living proof that all you need to become a GOAT is indomitab...
09/02/2026

Mijaín López is the greatest Olympic wrestler of all time & living proof that all you need to become a GOAT is indomitable will, because he did it by out-working everyone on earth while training on antiquated equipment in a poorly funded program in an impoverished country.

López is now 44-years-old & coaching the Chinese Greco team, but the 1.96m (6'5") Cuban wrestling god competed at 120kg (264lbs) from 2002-2013 & 130kg (286lbs) from 2014-2024.
legenda:
- is the 1st person in Olympic history to win 5 consecutive gold medals in an individual event (2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, & 2024)
- took 1st 5x & 2nd 3x at the World Championships
- didn't lose a single point in the 2020 Olympics

López is massively strong & just generally massive- he reportedly had to cut from his off-season weight of 145-150kg (320-330lbs) to make weight for competitions, & did so by training 3x per day at the beginning of the season & gradually ramping up to a peak of 5 training sessions per day, 6 days per week:

Early AM: 1-hour Run
10:00 AM: 2-hours Wrestling
Noon: Soccer or Basketball
Afternoon: 2-hours Wrestling
Evening: Strength Training

Though the details of his workouts aren't published, López used 200kg (440lbs) & 170kg (354lbs) for Squat & Bench Press in training, & was able to do sets of 20 reps on pull-ups because he did 30x Rope Climbs every day in sets of 2 or 3.

“I stick to what I do. My strategy is to train like hell, sweat every day, & always try to be happy with what I’m doing, with my state."

Training constantly doesn't mean he training sloppy, though- López is an absolute perfectionist who only gave up 1 point in his 5 Olympic gold medal matches, & he trains the way he competes- "I like my sport & what I do has to be perfect. I can’t stand making mistakes."

López' training ensures he's able to perform at the highest levels even when his body is in unfamiliar position, which is basically the opposite of how most modern lifters train.

Read Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to find out why you need to stop listening to fitness influencers & start listening to underfunded & old school athletes- those are the athletes who truly show you want's essential!

Donnie Yen is indisputably the toughest dude in Hollywood- if you want to argue to the contrary, you can do it against ,...
09/01/2026

Donnie Yen is indisputably the toughest dude in Hollywood- if you want to argue to the contrary, you can do it against , , & , because all say Yen is that guy.

Now 62, is ~1.73m (5'8") tall & typically keeps his weight between 66-75kg (145-165lbs) depending on the role, but it's possible you think think he's skinny because he dropped to ~55kg (120lbs) to play Ip Man in the 1st 2 films in that series.

Yen got into bodybuilding because of Arnold & Sly, but looks & performs better than they did at the same age because because his obsessive dedication to fitness extended well beyond simply looking good.

He worked out for hours per day on a near-daily basis, using a mashup of Bruce Lee's training, Arnold's Encyclopedia, Franco Columbu's "Training Rocky" book, & old school Shaolin techniques.

Yen began training at his mom's Wudang Tai Chi school at age 4. At 9, he added Wushu & Taekwondo, & by the time he was a teenager, he was training martial arts around the clock, doing stuff 10k Side Kick Challenges, training at a boxing gym, & lifting.

“I was training to be in action movies before I even knew it was a possibility

I would be out on the street wearing boots & my winter coat, kicking signs & lamp posts.

I would do a jump kick, then drop down to a full split, on ice, just to test how well my body was able to control the motion. It wasn’t just about all the kind of movements I could do- it was also about what kind of conditions I could do them under.”

In the evenings, he enjoyed testing out his skills in the street, & spent so much time in Boston's red light district known as the "Combat Zone" that Yen's parents sent him to China to join the Beijing Wushu Team.

Yen was cast in his 1st film 2 years later, & spent the next 43 years quietly being the most capable fighter of all living actors & 1 of the best built lead actors in martial arts history.

Bang this link & grab Plague of Strength's Lifting Method to discover why you should master Tai Chi like Bolo Yeung & Donnie Yen, & incorporate as much weird stuff as you can into your daily routine! Plus, it's got over a dozen different training routines!

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