Blonds have more guns: Craig Titus and Lee Priest face off in a last-man-breathing "curldown"

Flex, August, 2003 by Julian Schmidt

In the world of the finite, much is impossible, but when the crushing power of LEE PRIEST and the blistering intensity of CRAIG TITUS join forces for a few dumbbell curls, everything is possible--even more so when their competitive natures clash. Their training styles contract, but not their results. These guys don't get blond and blonder, they get big and bigger.

GUN FETISH

I once read an interview with Craig where he said, "What's the facination with Lee Priest? He shouldn't have placed that high. His legs are smooth." I'll tell you what the fascination is, Craig. It's these guns, baby. People can't take their eyes off them. It's like a David Copperfield act: sleight of hand. My arms are so enormous that attention is drawn away from everything else. Who'll notice that my legs are missing a cut? People are mesmerized by my arms. All I have to do is pop a biceps shot, and I can lead people around like the Pied Piper.

Lee Priest

Pumping Armani. (Training)

Craig Titus

I don't know why I agreed to this. Imagine how embarrassing it will be when people I know see me working out with a wart hog who wears an Armani do-rag and a necklace while he trains. He'd better be able to hang with me, but so far no one has. I use my own version of the blood-volume training principle: high reps but with lots of weight and very high-pressure muscle pumps. So if Lee's balls aren't as big as his biceps and he fades from the pace, I won't allow him in the same building with me.

FREAKIER THAN MICHAEL JACKSON

All joking aside, Lee looks like a cartoon character, and that's a heck of an inspiration in itself, but even more, he's a competitor of mine. That's what really drives me. When I train by myself, or with someone who's not competition, my inspiration comes from trying to make myself better, but here I have to be better than Lee, so I have to push myself harder than ever. I want to beat him the next time we're onstage, and that will take more than freaky arms. Sure, he has some of the biggest arms in bodybuilding, but the next time he looks, mine will be more complete.

Craig Titus

MENTAL CASE

I don't play mental games with myself for inspiration, I just love the process of training arms. I've been doing this all my life, It comes naturally, and anything that feels so natural, you love doing. Some days, I hate the prospect of it, like getting out of bed on a cold winter's day. Poking that foot out of the covers is the tough part, but once I'm up, I absolutely love it. During the workout, motivation is no problem. When I reach the point where I think I'm tired, I look over at Craig's arms and realize I don't ever want to look like that. That's enough to get me going, out of panic.

Lee Priest

SWINGING AND MISSING

Since I do only six to eight reps per set and use such heavy weight. I cheat slightly, not to make the movement easier but to add stress to the muscle. The most I do for cheating is to progressively lean backward to counterbalance the weight when it starts getting awkward on later reps, but I never swing the weight. I don't even start the rep with a swing. When the muscle fatigues to the point where you can't power smoothly through the rep from start to finish, then you might as well stop. The muscle is dead.

Lee Priest

LET IT BLEED

The great thing about this workout is that Lee and I have the same philosophy about biceps: Don't think that just because it's a small bodypart you should do only six to nine sets. You have to fill that muscle with blood. I challenge you to try Craig Titus' blood-volume training: four different exercises, four sets each, 15 to 20 reps per set, and don't worry about the weight. Just worry about how much blood you can get into those biceps. Keep that tension going. Don't squeeze at the top if that means relieving the downward pull on your biceps.

Craig Titus

TROUBLE WITH STUBBLE

Unlike Craig, I try to get a good squeeze at the top of each rep, but that's it for fancy techniques. My intent is to rely on biceps contractions alone to curl the heaviest weight possible, reaching failure at six reps or, at the most, eight. What's more, I do that for double the sets Craig uses. That's why my arms become so pumped that I cannot splash water on my face. I'm serious. It's all I can do to just barely touch my cheek with my fingertips. My wife has to apply my shaving lotion. My razor has a handle extension, because I have to shave at arm's length.

Lee Priest

CURLY MAN

I actually prefer concentration curls to standing alternate dumbbell curls. I can lift damned near as much weight with concentration curls as I can with the standing alternates, and I get a better contraction. You have to be careful, though, to maintain constant tension. Concentration curls make it easy to fall into the bad habit of using leverage against your thigh, or using your elbow as a pivot for resting at either the top or bottom of the movement. Use a good range of motion, but keep the tension in the biceps belly.

Craig Titus

RING MY 'BELL

A dumbbell is the ideal piece of intensity equipment. It's heavy, isolated, totally controllable with only one hand, and free--so it places all responsibility for lifting its dead weight on you and your muscle, unassisted by a bar (which helps balance the weight) or by a machine or cable (which makes the movement smoother). With a dumbbell, you can focus that pinpoint burning deeper into the muscle. Bottom line: The dumbbell's versatility, freedom and naked gravity resistance is the purest form of muscle torture.