Adm. Mike Mullen is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a pretty strong dude. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
So I’m flipping through the print edition of the Washington Post this morning, skimming the front-page article about the daily lives of our top-ranking national security leaders. After the jump, on page A10, there’s a picture of a guy working out, bench pressing 100-pound dumbbells. Pretty impressive, I’m thinking. I glance at the caption and — holy hell, it’s Adm. Mike Mullen, the 63-year-old Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff! Dude is a beast!
The caption says Mullen wakes up every day at 3 a.m., and heads to the Navy Yard gym by 4 a.m., downs a protein shake (old school, baby!) and “bench presses 255 pounds.” Dayummmmmmmmmmmmm!
See the picture here (Pictures 4-7 are of the chairman’s workout). Making it more impressive is that fact that in the picture, Mullen is crushing the 100-pound dumbbells with no help from a spotter. As a man who bench presses every once in awhile, I can tell you with certainty that if Mullen throws around 100s, he certainly maxes out at more than 255 on the barbell bench. I’m guessing he might be closing in on 300 pounds.
This guy is my new hero. I mean, sets with 100-pound dumbbells probably aren’t that unusual for stronger troops in their 20s and 30s, but Mullen is 63! He’s so old school he wears a belt when he benches! Awesome!
The money quote from the article:
Big Dave, his trainer barks: “The baddest chairman ever!”
Big Dave? Hell yea.
Happy 4th of July, al-Qaida. I guarantee caveboy bin Laden can’t even get 185 off the rack, so eat it, suckers. Mullen will break you.
