Muscle Talk

Bailey Warhouse Gym Camp
A once-in-a-lifetime experience you must experience

The July 18 camp date was released around the time of the Arnold at exactly 3:00 p.m. EST. By 3:03 p.m. EST, all 125 spots were sold. In June, they announced that an extra 50 spots would be up for grabs for the same date. Within 40 seconds, those were sold out. The last time I remember waiting by the computer (or phone) for something to go on sale was in 2001 when the Backstreet Boys announced their Black and Blue Tour in Toronto, Canada. Even then, at the pinnacle of their career, they didn’t sell out in 40 seconds. DLB > BSB.

I went to camp for two reasons: First, because ever since 2011, I’ve looked up to Ms. Bailey. I watch her daily YouTube videos, I stalk her on social media, and I purchase as much Flag Nor Fail paraphernalia as I can. She’s my idol in the sport of fitness. Second, I wanted to see what the hype was about regarding the WHG. Why do people pay USD$125? Why do they go back more than once? What do Dana and Rob have that can attract such a consistent crowd, that other pros who run camps don’t have? I had to find out for myself.

Schedule for the day:

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Doors open. Shopping at the Flag Nor Fail store. Only slightly less impressive than Dana Linn’s stellar competition history is the way she and Rob have diversified their presence in the industry. They have a clothing line, a music studio, a supplement line, and now a “Speed Warehouse” where they soup up and race cars semi-professionally. There’s nothing they don’t do, and they want you to explore all their avenues. People shuffle in, receiving a hefty bag of free swag from companies Dana and Rob trust. They make their way upstairs to the store, where FNF/DLB merchandise is on sale.

10:00 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. Seminar, covering aspects of the Baileys’ biographies, their coming up, and an open Q&A. One participant likened this part of camp to sitting around a campfire; the Baileys are nothing if not genuine, authentic, honest, down-to-earth, and virtuous. They were asked everything from how they cope with running so many different businesses, to when they make time to train, to how to become a FNF sponsored athlete, and they answer with a no-holds-barred approach every time. Rob says they’ll probably never sponsor an athlete because he doesn’t trust people—it’s that simple. These are the kind of honest people they are.

LUNCH BREAK

2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Workout with DLB. Well, not exactly. She didn’t run through an entire workout; she went from station to station in the WHG and showed us what a typical body part workout looks like for her, what exercises she loves/hates, and some tips and tricks that she uses to bring up certain body parts.

• Shoulders: Shoulders are one of Dana’s favourite training days. She believes in keeping the blood in them as long as possible; therefore, lateral raises are her go-tos—on a machine first.

• Chest: Sticks to the basics. Presses and flyes. For flyes, she’ll usually use cables at different angles, and do 10 to 15 reps, and then back to dumbbells and barbells for presses, using a 3- to 5-rep range. Dana’s goal is to eventually bench 250, so she always goes as heavy as possible.

• Back: Lots of pulleys—high, middle and low pulls (e.g., lat pulldown from above, seated rows, and low cable rows), and she’ll use two or three different grips for each level (wide, narrow, neutral, underhand, overhand, etc.).

• Arms: “I don’t really train arms. I’m not into arm training because you touch on them on back day, shoulder day, and chest day. I don’t want my arms any bigger. If I do train them, I’ll train them DTP style, so using supersets and a ton of volume in a short period of time.”

• Abs: Abs are important, according to DLB. They’re 90 percent diet, so she emphasizes that they’re made in the kitchen. She only trains abs when her diet is on point. She said there’s no reason to train them if you eat like crap, because you can’t see them anyway.

• Legs: She goes by feel. She hasn’t found out exactly how to train them, but she knows that twice a week works, usually hitting them every three days. For her Arnold 2015 prep, she started with squats every single session, and would go super-heavy for all the compound movements (two or three exercises). After that, she’d superset the isolation exercises. Her favourite machine for legs is vertical leg press on a Smith machine.

Conclusion

At the end of camp, as Dana and Rob were addressing the attendees, and someone asked her about her competitive plans for 2015, her answer was simple: “I need a break. I was nervous that I wouldn’t be relevant if I didn’t compete. I wanted to hold my title and not disappoint people, but I need a break.” After spending a day with the Baileys, I don’t believe DLB could ever disappoint her fans. I don’t believe her accomplishments or her personality will ever become obsolete. When your resume reads “first-ever IFBB Physique Pro” and “first-ever Ms. Physique Olympia,” you’ll always be relevant.

Dana Linn Bailey: “Losing the 2014 Olympia was the best day of my life.”

“Four months of my life was based around the Olympia. My whole life stopped for that prep. It wasn’t just my life though, it was everyone’s life. Everything I did affected seven businesses. There was so much pressure to hold the title of Ms. Olympia. So much pressure on me to keep it. When you win, you get a lot more negativity and more flak. People hate on you more when you’re on top. And then in 2014 I placed second. After that, everything was just gone. All the stress. All the pressure. It was such a relief. It made me realize, “What the f— was I doing?” I wasn’t training for me leading up to the Olympia. I was training for the judges. I was training for what they wanted to see. It wasn’t fun training for the Olympia. I forgot about myself. I didn’t love lifting anymore. Remember, at the end of the day, it doesn’t f—ing matter what you’re training for. Remember what matters.”

Rob Bailey sound bites:

- On Business: “There’s no way anything should fail if you give enough of a f— about it.”

- On Relationships: “You have to be on the same page. Working for the same goal. As long as I have Dana, everything could burn down tomorrow, and I’d be like, f— yeah.”

- On kids: “When kids come in the picture for me, I’m going to focus on raising the dopest f—ing kids. Our Facebook will dis-a-f—ing-pear.”

- On their upcoming supplement line: “We’ll have a fat burner, a pump formula, a pre-workout, and a joint formula. At first, we were happy with ONWARD, but so much more has come up. We have really big plans this year.”

- On lack of support: “People not believing in you is the f—ing coolest ever. It makes you have to believe in yourself harder.

- On burning out: "Just f—ing deal with it. Have people check up on you to make sure you’re not just whining. Just deal with it and don’t be a b—ch.”