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Can You Fix a “Masterpiece?”
Spending a day in the gym with Chris Masters.
Written by Joe Timlin

On the morning of December 29th, 2007 Chris “The Masterpiece” Masters arrived at Sweat Gym in Eldon, MO to begin an eight week program of his rebuilding phase. Chris suffered a dislocated elbow overseas in the UK working a tag match teaming with Finlay against Undertaker and Kane a few months ago and has been recovering ever since.
“This is the first day of my eight week program, which means I’m going light and staying within the 13-15 rep range. I’m starting with 40 lb. dumbbells on the incline press, depending on how that feels I might finish out with the 60’s,” said Chris.
When it comes to resting in between sets, Chris doesn’t rest for a specific amount of time. Chris will wait for his breathing to return to normal and then hits the weights again.
Pre-injury, it would not be unusual to see “The Masterpiece” knocking out five to six reps with the 120 lb. dumbbells on the incline press at Gold’s Gym in Venice, CA. But for now he’s going to be using these eight weeks to slowly get comfortable with heavier weights again. For the last couple of months, Chris has been working with light weights and just going through the motions. Chris stated, “I can go right back to where I was prior to the injury. I’ve got to listen to my body and take my time, if I don’t I’m just setting myself up for re-injury, which I don’t want to do.”
About four weeks ago, Chris was lucky to be able to use the 25 or 30lb dumbbells on the incline press without having some discomfort in the elbow. For him to be able to finish with the 60lb dumbbells would be a step in the right direction. “If I wake up tomorrow and I have a lot of soreness, I’ll back off a bit next workout. You have to train smart and that’s what I’m trying to do.” Chris reached his goal and managed to knock out fifteen reps. Now it’s time to move on to the next exercise.
The next exercise we moved on to was lat pull downs. Chris didn’t have much discomfort on this exercise as he was able to three sets of 13-15 reps with the entire weight stack. “Today I’m doing lat pull downs, next time I work back, I’ll do seated rows. With this program, you are hitting the muscles from different angles in each workout. One workout I’ll do a compound movement, the next an isolation movement,” Chris said. After Chris finished up his third set he graciously posed for a couple of pictures with fans that were in town to see him wrestle later that night.
When Chris first started working out, he would stretch before he worked out. He still tries to stretch and will often stretch between sets. In the past, yoga has played an important part in his flexibility program. “After my injury, my arm was in a removable splint. I didn’t straighten my arm for a good two months. Getting those muscles stretched back out is a big part of my therapy.”
Chris stated, “When you stop training for a few months, if you’ve had an injury, you don’t know how much volume you need when you get back into it. My first few workouts after my lay off, I did three sets of extensions for my quads. Just doing three sets was enough to be make me extremely sore the next day.”
I asked Chris if he has a specific energy drink to keep him going at full force in the gym, his answer, was yes, water spiked with Crystal Light. You’ll only find that top secret info here on harleyrace.com.
Standing EZ bar curls, a classic, were next on the list. “I know guys who come to the gym just to do this exercise. You know who you are out there”. “The Masterpiece” performed three sets of 13-15 reps slowly concentrating on the both the concentric and eccentric portion of this exercise.
We then moved on to calves raises on the leg press where Chris pumped out three sets of 15 with 200 lbs without any hesitation. “Calf presses – you bring the balls of your feet down to the edge of the leg press and you are extending right off of the balls of your feet. It is all you have to concentrate on, coming back slow and contracting those calf muscles,” Chris stated.
The last exercise of the day was abs on the decline bench for three sets of 20.
To keep in “Masterpiece” condition, “You constantly want to eat protein throughout the day for muscle recovery and growth. You also need carbs. Your brain and body feeds off of carbs for energy. For those trying to gain weight, carbs is what you need. A good rule is to consume two to three grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight per day when trying to add mass. Also, at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. Before you go to the gym, you want slow-digesting carbs. After a tough workout in the gym you want to throw in some fast-acting carbs. Before today’s workout I had a couple of pancakes, coffee and cream. If you don’t have something for your body to work off of, you won’t have the energy to work-out. I can’t stress enough how much you need carbs and protein as an important part of your dietary program. If I am not eating well, I won’t train. If I am stressed or sick, I don’t work out. Everything has to be intact for me to perform at my top level in the gym,” Chris said.
“Rep ranges are so important. It is all about variety and shocking the muscle. A lot of people find a routine that they like and stick to it. That is okay but the only way to grow is to change things up – be spontaneous. If you are new to working out, you need to learn the basic presses, squats, and curls before you get crazy.”
Chris has been training for what it seems like his whole life. A lot of his knowledge about training has come from reading magazines and simply watching people in the gym. “I trained by myself up until this past year when I was injured. I was able to take my body to the point it’s at today without a trainer or training partner. What it comes down too is working out hard and being disciplined. There is not a magic pill that you could take and instantly be in fantastic shape. I’ve known people who have taken that route and didn’t know how to train and they look no different than anyone else.”
That’s a workout with “The Masterpiece”. During today’s workout Chris did chest, back, biceps, calves and abs. Now he’s going to head back to the hotel to take a nap!
“The Masterpiece” visits WLW and “The King” Harley Race