A Workout with Ell and Jim

Bigger Stronger Leaner Ellington Darden HIT Coaching
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Here’s how it ended:
Thirty-five minutes lying face down on the cool floor trying not to throw my breakfast up. It wasn’t completely unexpected. I’d just been pushed though a workout by Dr. Darden and Jim Flanagan at Jim’s home in Florida.

The Workout
They hadn’t held back. “Let me know if you need a break” Jim had said to me during the routine. “I wouldn’t tell you if I did” I’d replied between strained gasps. Truth? Absolutely! Bravado? Probably. Jim and Ellington took me at my word. No holding back. No playing on phones. No chatter. No music. Only me, the clanging of weights, the panting of my breath and the two of them pushing me and pushing me HARD!

Here’s the outcome exactly as recorded by Ellington:

  1. MedX Prone Leg Curl: 140 pounds and 10 reps
  2. MedX Leg Extension: 280 pounds and 12 reps
  3. MedX Avenger Squat: 220 pounds and 12 reps
  4. Nautilus Plateloading Pullover: 120 pounds and 9 reps
  5. MedX Pulldown: 320 pounds and 9 reps
  6. MedX Overhead Press: 200 pounds and 9 reps
  7. MedX Biceps Curl: 110 pounds and 8 reps
  8. MedX Triceps Extension: 100 pounds and 10 reps.

Three lower body exercises and five for the upper body. A tough workout for anyone!

Aftermath
After it was over Jim looked concerned. Apparently I’d gone white as a sheet. Ellington just grinned at me. “I think you’ve outdone both Boyer and Casey” Ellington said in his soft Texan drawl. “The only thing I’ve got similar to Boyer is lack of hair” was all I could muster in reply.

24 Hours Later
The next day Ellington sent me an email. “Are you getting some soreness yet? That was a superb workout you performed yesterday. Jim Flanagan will be talking about it for many months.” My three word reply? “Yes. I hurt.”

A visit to remember. Thanks again Ellington and Jim. Now… where did I put my post workout chocolate milk and my banana?

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Love it…was this recent

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Last week… Tues May 27th

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Sounds like a blast! At least after you get off the carpet lol. What was the occasion? Have you trained with them personally in the past?

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It was just to catch up face to face with Ellington. I’ve trained with Ell before. This was the first time I’ve met Big Jim.

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How long did the workout take jeff?

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About 25 minutes or so. Less time than I spent lying down afterwards :smiley:

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Great picture of the nautilus legends

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Curiosity question

Other than the nautilus pullover…why was MEDX equipment used

and were any of these exercises performed with 30-10-30 or 10-10-10…or were they just straight normal sets?

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Jeff Shaw. I’ve trained thousands of people and many athletes, such as Casey Viator, Boyer Coe, Ray Mentzer, and many more you’d recognize. But I’ve never in all my days trained someone like Jeff Shaw. And it was unexpected.

Jeff’s breathing was on-target, his face was relaxed, he showed no stress. He lifted and lowered under control, and went to failure. And then moved to the next exercise, which Jim Flanagan and I had ready for him.

Through it all, his form was absolutely perfect – perhaps the best I’ve ever seen.

Just this morning, June 1, 2025, I read an article in the New York Times, a lengthy interview of Miley Cyrus. Related to her singing success, her answer was: “You gotta be comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Well I’m telling you, Jeff Shaw was comfortable being uncomfortable. So much that Jim and I failed to recognize his ability.

Only one other trainee I’ve seen had that ability and that was ARTHUR JONES. Arthur could train extremely hard and show no emotion, no stress, no strain. But then his muscles were pumped and remained pumped for 30 minutes.

Jeff showed that same ability to pump – although Jim and I didn’t really notice that until later.

When I was at the Munich Olympics in 1972, I remember watching Dave Wottle win the 800-meter run. He was dead last with 200 meters to go and all of a sudden he passed everyone and seemingly jogged to an stress-free win.

And who can forget all those times that Tom Brady rallied his team in the last quarter of many games to make winning look easy.

Jeff Shaw has a lot in common with Dave Wottle and Tom Brady.

Jeff, it’s a pleasure to work with you. Come back again soon.

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I just did what Jim and Ellington set up for me. Every exercise was a 4/4 cadence.

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Thanks Ell. I’m extremely flattered.

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I hesitated to post this, but , I simply tire of adorations given to workouts that exceeded what Arthur Jones recommended.

Arthur Jones never recommended excessive severe intensity . He repeatedly suggested a workout should be repeatable in 20 minutes. More intensity is not always better. Intensity should be like volume and frequency………Less may be more!

I too am an “alpha” trainee. My workouts are short , brief and frightening to observe. That said, there is a lot to be said for frequent lower intensity workouts. Even more can be said of cardiovascular conditioning. A combination of ReHiT and alpha SuperSlow seems more palatable to consistency.

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@atp_4_me
What is alpha super-slow?

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Pages 151-152
Super Slow
The Ultimate Exercise Protocol
Ken Hutchins

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I agree with all your assertions here…GENERALLY speaking. But, in defense of the OP, Big Jim’s ‘super’ workouts were never intended as regular sessions. They are typically performed once/month to fire the engine full blast and burn-off any carbon deposits.

As a regular workout? Hell No.
As an occasional “let’s see what this baby can do”? Why not?

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