Training schedule

People can’t believe it when they hear I spend four or five hours a day training. They say that only in Russia do weightlifters train every day, or sometimes even two or three times a day. Americans and Englishmen train three or four times a week. In my case, after three or four hours I recuperate. My muscles do me a favour and get back their energy, so I can take exercise four or five times a day.

Even now, from the bottom of my heart I hate weightlifting. This morning when I was running, I was getting such joy. When I run, there is fresh air, beautiful trees and the smell of flowers. The day I can lift up 100 pounds from the ground and 200 pounds in the one-arm lift will be the end. Then no more weightlifting!

— 19 January 1986