Training With Wrestling Icon Kurt Angle
A man follows a dream that millions of people around the world have daily. He works relentlessly to stand on one of the greatest stages in all of sports. He trains and studies for hours on end to perfect his craft.
The hard work pays off. In 1996, he captures gold in the 100-killogram (220-pound) class in freestyle wrestling at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad in Atlanta.
Then he moves on.
Only the fire still burns. Time to pursue another dream. He wants to become a top draw in the biggest professional wrestling organization in the world, the WWE. He debuts in November 1999, and less than a month later, he's won every singles title there is to be won, including the world heavyweight championship. He headlines Wrestlemania XIX for years.
Then he moves on.
What else? What next? Nowadays, he's helping to establish Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, or TNA, as a major wrestling company throughout the world. He's already held every championship there, too. He's muscling in the film business and the nutrition industry, and the dietary supplement business is now in the crosshairs as well.
Is there anything this guy can't do?
Bodybuilding.com was able to sit with Kurt before he hit the ring at a TNA House Show. He told us how he's training, wrestling and what he has in store in the years to come.
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Is there anything this guy can't do?
I like the site and am a fan of Bodybuilding.com myself so this is cool. Thanks for coming to see me.
My training for the two are worlds apart. When I was getting ready for Atlanta, I treated training like a full-time job, because that was the only way to do it if I was going to win. I trained more than eight hours a day between weights, cardio, mat wrestling and isometric exercises. I also only took one or two days off a month.
When I got to WWE, I trained more like a bodybuilder. I had different splits so that I could train every body part in a week. One day was back, one was legs and so on. I never trained longer than an hour after I started in WWE, and normally I trained 4-to-5 days per week.
Now that I'm a little older, I have to think more about function and health. I try to get as much done in as little time as possible, so I do everything in superset or giant-set fashion. By not resting between sets, I get that cardiovascular benefit. I may do up to 30 sets plus cardio in an hour, but those 30 sets cover all my muscle groups. I still train 5-to-6 days a week, but I feel like I'm getting so much more done.
Since I've already traveled the country so much, I know where to go when I am in this town or that town. Now if someone reading this is new to traveling, I'd suggest calling the hotels and seeing which ones have gyms or fitness centers. You can also take small things with you. I take a band like powerlifters use, and if I have a tight schedule, I do bodyweight stuff and use the bands to still get in my workout for that day. The bands are great for a fast workout. You can also get the different levels of resistance so you have more options depending on your strength levels.
I take a pre-workout product now, but I only take it before weight training. I also take a multivitamin and recommend a multi for everyone in general.
I used to rely heavily on whey protein supplements. The one I have now contains 60 grams of protein per serving. I don't need that much at once, so I take partial servings that give me 20-30 grams at a time.
My daily goal is 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. At one time in my life, I drank up to six shakes a day, mainly because it would be so hard to find healthy food when I was on the road. Now that I have these meals by Kurt Angle Foods, I can get good meals without relying so much on my shakes.
Former bodybuilder Dave Hawk, my nutritionist, lives in the Pittsburgh area, where I am from. We've been friends for years. He played a role in me getting involved with Angle Foods. They're great products. Dave had access to this great ingredient called Ultra Fiber DX.
It was originally designed for diabetics. It actually slows down digestion so your food can be processed through the body better. It has both soluble and insoluble fiber, as well as whey and soy protein. Another benefit to the fiber is that once it hits your stomach, you'll feel more full, so you eat less. Diabetics have actually gotten off of insulin thanks to Ultra Fiber DX.
So Dave and a local chef who makes a lot of my food for when I am home got together and started adding this Ultra Fiber DX to my meals. I now get enough protein that I don't have to drink so many of them shakes a day.
Nothing beats eating actual food, and the fact that there are these high-protein, high-fiber foods that I can eat has made life much better for me. So we got to thinking that we had something that the public would be interested in. They can eat healthy, would eat less because of the fiber and they actually taste good.
There are a lot of food options, too. We have a breakfast pizza containing 28 grams of protein. There's chicken and broccoli, chicken and brown rice, high-fiber pizza and so many other options. If you haven't tried them, you need to.
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