PARA REHABILITAR LOS HOMBROS

7 Ways to Fix Your Shoulders

 As you may know by now I suffered a torn rotator cuff and labrum that required surgery. The injury was a long time in the making and the destruction of my shoulder began many years ago when I was doing stupid things like isometronic training in the power rack and other high risk, low reward methods.

Before surgery I was sitting at about 227 pounds. After several months of being incapacitated and eating like a normal human I was down to 179! Like I’ve always said, my hardgainer genetics are freakishly bad. Hell, my wrists don’t even measure seven inches around.

Anyway, the comeback has been long and frustrating. Because I have the undying urge to go heavy whenever I get near iron and the fact that rational thought processes go out the window after I start warming up, I have reinjured my shoulder a couple times throughout the rehab process. Needless to set these setbacks have been incredibly stressful and annoying to deal with.

While training together at CJ Murphy’s gym in Boston once, my friend Dave Tate commented, “You think Jay’s a smart guy until you see some of the stupid shit he does when he’s training.” And he was 100% right. I do stupid shit. Often and with reckless abandon. It’s my greatest downfall in life. Has been for as long as I can remember. Whether it be flipping dirt bikes, jumping off cliffs or trying to do heavy cleans with an injured shoulder, I just lose control of my rational thought processes when the adrenaline kicks in.

Anyway, the purpose of today’s update is to let you know that after 20 plus years of training I seem to have finally smartened up and have been a bit wiser with my decision making in the gym as of late. As a result my shoulder is feeling a lot better and I’m regaining size and strength pretty quickly.

I’m now back up around 220. It’s a little smaller and softer 220 than how I used to look at this weight but I’ll take it for now. At the rate I’m going I’ll be gaining a lot more size back over the next few weeks and months and I can lean down when I decide the time is right.

After I completed the Triple Threat Muscle program and made great gains, I decided that I was back closer to an advanced level and needed to change my training back to what I used to do pre-surgery. The only difference was that there would have to be major modifications due to the shoulder injury.

So what have been the biggest changes that have made all the difference as of late?

1)    I always do a general warm up lasting at least 10 minutes. This consists of various mobility drills and isometric holds for injury prone areas. Years ago I might have walked into the gym in a rush and skipped my warm up entirely. Now I would never dream of it.

2)    I do more specific shoulder warm ups. After my general warm up, on an upper body day, I do specific shoulder warm ups. These consist of YTWL’s or something similar. Instead of that sequence I may just do bent over Y-raises, lateral raises, bent over rear delt raises, standing front raises, standing external rotations, all in a row for ten reps each with a pair of fives. After that I will always do two sets of external rotations lying on my side for 12-20 reps. Another great one is to take a medicine ball and place it against the wall. With your hand pressed against it you do the alphabet. I got this one from my friend,  Keith Scott and it works like a charm.

3)    Shoulder dislocations with a broomstick. These are part of number 2 but are so important that they need an individual mention. Nothing has helped my shoulder more than these. I do 25 reps before every workout and 25-50 reps another couple days per week even when I’m not training. I can’t recommend this drill highly enough. I only wish I had known about it years ago.

4)    I do higher reps on my warm up sets. In the past when I was ready to start my work sets I would minimize the reps on warm up sets only because I couldn’t wait to get to the heavy sets. I just wanted to get my warm ups over as fast as humanly possible and load the bar up with heavy weight.

Big mistake. Let’s say I was going to pull 455 for 10. My warm up sets would look like this:

135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 1-3
405 x 1
455 x 10- work set

In retrospect that just seems silly to me now. There’s no way you’re adequately warmed up doing that.

Last night I did barbell military presses. I know I probably shouldn’t even be pressing a bar at this point in my life but I love it and need it. It’s an addiction. My warm ups went like this:

45 x 20
75 x 10
95 x 10
115 x 10
135 x 12- work set

The difference this made was immeasurable. I can’t even begin to tell you how much better I felt doing this than I would have had I done my old style warm up where I got zero pump or blood flow and felt the sets more in my joints than I did in the belly of the muscle. Does this limit the amount of weight I can do on my heaviest work sets? Maybe a bit. But I don’t think the extra few pounds is worth the risk of injury. The body will adapt.

5)    I don’t go below eight reps on upper body exercises. And most of my sets fall in the range of 10-12. I will actually only go down to eight reps only after an adequate warm up and maybe a few work sets at a higher rep range. Now, this isn’t to say I will never go below eight reps because I’m sure eventually I will. But right now I have no intentions of doing so. It’s just not worth it. Having said that, what I do is not necessarily what you should do. Hardgainers who try to train solely in the range of 10-12 reps will remain skinny and weak forever. This rep range is better suited for advanced, stronger lifters.

6)    I stay far away from failure. I have always recommended this and have practiced what I preached for the most part. But in all honesty, I would let myself get a little out of control in the heat of battle. I rarely ever miss a weight in training but in the past I have come too close too many times. I never, ever allow this anymore. All of reps are piston like, smooth and fast, with control and picture perfect technique, and I never come near failure.

7)    I use a limited range of motion. I know, I know you are always supposed to use a full range of motion on every exercise you do. Except for the fact that it’s unnatural and dangerous I guess that old rehashed advice makes some kind of sense. Do me a favor. Hold your hands up in position to do a barbell military press. Now draw an invisible line connecting your two hands. I’ll bet the invisible bar is not sitting on your upper chest. If it is chances are you’re incredibly skinny. Which isn’t a bad thing if you’re a beginner. I’m just making a point here.

For most of us the invisible bar will a couple inches above your chest. If you hold a broomstick in this position, without intentionally trying to bring the bar to your chest, it will probably be around chin level, and that’s where you should be pressing from. Why? Because it’s natural. Bringing it down to your chest would place a lot of undue stress on your shoulders.

Now if you want to count a strict press and compete against someone or whatnot you would technically have to touch your chest. But since there aren’t too many military press contests around I would opt for the safer range and keep the bar somewhere around chin level in the bottom position.
Dead hang chin ups and full extension barbell curls have the same type of destructive effect on the joints. This discussion in itself requires a full article but for now we’ll leave it at that…
No extreme, unnatural ranges of motion.

One final point I would like to make is that I always start my workouts with long sleeves or a hooded sweatshirt unless it’s a minimum of 80 degrees in the gym (and preferably closer to 90). I don’t peel a layer off until near the end, when all the heavy lifting is done. If it’s in the 60’s or 70’s in the gym I stay bundled up throughout. This is nothing new as I’ve always done that. But I thought I’d mention it because it’s a great way to stay healthy. Sometimes people are scared of sweating and want to open the door or turn on the fan or complain about the heat. Little do they know it’s actually helping them stay injury free.

UNO para mi gente "Pinchada"

How to Lose those Ridiculous Looking Man Boobs

By Jason Ferruggia

Seinfeld fans will undoubtedly never forget the episode in which Frank Costanza and Kramer invented the mansierre, which was a bra for men with excessive breast development. While we all laughed hysterically some people were just the slightest bit uncomfortable because the reality is that an inordinate number of men have “moobs,” or man boobs. If you want to lose man boobs then read on.

Having man boobs is often due to excessively high body fat levels. But it can also be due to high levels of estrogen. Having high estrogen can not only cause you to gain body fat in the chest and lower abdominal area but it can lead to numerous health issues and diseases. Unfortunately more and more males are suffering from increasingly high estrogen levels and this is leading to the continued feminization of the male species as we know it. It has to stop now before it’s too late. How do you do that, you ask?

Simple. Follow my advice below and you will start to get your estrogen levels in check immediately and hopefully eliminate your need for ever having to call up Kramer and Frank for one of their prized inventions.

1) Don’t eat fake foods. If a cavemen couldn’t eat it, you shouldn’t eat. All the chemicals and artificial junk that they put in most foods these days can lead to increased estrogen levels and numerous other health problems.

2) Avoid eating and drinking out of plastic as much as possible.

3) Eat only organic, pesticide and chemical free, organic produce, preferably purchased from a local farmers market.

4) Avoid all meat and dairy unless you are 100% sure that it is drug free and organic. All of the drugs and hormones that go into most animal and dairy products will wreak havoc on your body, dramatically boost estrogen levels and lead to heart disease and cancer.

5) Limit your consumption of fish to no more than once or twice per week. Fish is loaded with PCB’s and dioxins that you should really avoid as much as possible. You should also support clean water laws and organizations like Waterkeeper.

6) Only drink purified water. Our water quality continues to worsen all the time and is filled with numerous toxins and estrogenic compounds.

7) Consume citrus fruits regularly.

Eat lots of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower.

9) If you must drink alcohol try to avoid beer as much as you can because it is highly estrogenic; thus the acclimation of a beer belly. Red wine is a far better choice and may actually be anti estrogenic.

10) Eat a good amount of organic nuts and seeds. A high intake of organic nuts has been linked to increased virility in men.

11) And finally, be sure to only train with short, high intensity workouts that actually boost testosterone levels and decrease estrogen. This includes resistance training and energy system work. Unfortunately, the wrong training program can actually make things worse instead of better.

Be relentless,

Train hard,

Jason Ferruggia

25 razones para entrenar con bandas...ustedes decidan

 

25 Lessons I have Learned from 

training with bands

I recently read a blog from my good friend Pat Rigsby about lessons he has learned as he evolved inhis

fitness business career. It made me think about what lessons I have learned as I developed  Resistance Band Training Systems and www.resistancebandtraining.com

1. Band training changes how the body deals with  force reduction and production.  Understand that initially it will show up more on the neurological side of things rather than in the mirror.   The engine must be running before we can add the horse power.

2. Putting function first.  Band training  is about improving functional movement and functional strength.  I love seeing adults eyes light up when they get athletic and do a feat they thought was impossible.  Don’t isolate them, integrate them.

3. As I age, being able to stay functionally young and functionally healthy becomes a higher priority.   Looking good is important but being able to play my children on the driveway is top priority these days

4. Performance isn’t just for athletes, it’s for everyone.   Band training keeps  you athletic which means you get all the benefits in the mirror while creating a higher performance body  regardless your age or gender.  

5. I love training young athletes because it’s like painting on a new neurological canvas.  Fortunately kids love band training,  which makes it even easier to get them moving and training well. 

  

6. It takes about 3 weeks for a young athlete to recognize how band training is making a difference.   From that point they want to train everyday. 

7. Building on success is the only way to get athletes, clients and patients motivated. 

8. Don’t knock it until you try it.  The people that train in bands, understand what band training does for them but it takes a 2-3 week commitment and not 1 session.  Trust me I know, because I use to think that about bands.

9. Muscles are dumb.  They react to band training just like they react to dead weight training.  What you need to understand is the effect may be different but equally as important to you getting better.

10. Many adults think band training  is a last resort.  In reality, band training is a necessity not an option if the goal is to create a high performing body that allows you to do what you love to do everyday.

11.  Coaches love bands but hate to wait.   I have found that coaches just need to understand the importance of progression and not be tempted to jump to the most advanced exercises on day one. 

12. The body is unlimited in what it can do.  It’s simply a matter of providing it the correct driver.

13. Band training is unlimited in what  can be accomplished, but you need to master the basic band exercises before you can evolve into the sexy ones.

14. Band training is perfect for boot camps, but like anything you need to learn yourself before people will trust your teaching. 

15. Bands break if you over stretch them.  They are tough but not invincible.

16. Band links don’t get tight by themselves, people take them their most of the time. 

17. Most fitness tools can deviate from their traditional exercises but make sure you are doing the standard stuff first.  Hybrid ideas are great but make sure you know your tool and its capabilities.

18. I don’t believe in teaching anything I don’t test out and see a personal change with first.  I keep getting changes every week as I train in bands, which is why I  keep bringing it.

19.  Just because I get great results with band training doesn’t mean you will.   However  if it works for my patients, athletes, children, and clients…. it works.  

20. Don’t put blinders on to any training tool but make sure the bang is equal to the buck when it comes to exercising the body the way it was designed to work.

 21. How our body functions is pretty simple, just wind it up and let it react.

22. We can learn a lot about training from individuals that sustain injuries.  Resistance band training is totally built around getting people better off injury and now before injury.

23. I use to love fitness centers.  Band training has taught me about how exciting it is to train anywhere, anytime, and in any direction.   Most fitness centers are 1 plane training facilities that simple don’t get it done.

24. Passion must come before anything else.  I love training myself and others with bands.   Resistance Band Training Systems was a wonderful bonus and allows me to do what I am passionate about.  Getting better.

25. Nothing is more powerful than suffering an injury and having to rehabilitate yourself back to where you were better then before.   That happen to me and thank god bands were part of my life at that time.

Get BETTER with BANDS!!

Dave Schmitz

COMO RECUPERAR LA FORMA DEPUES DE UN DESCANSO

Training Layoffs Pt 2
From: Stephan Kesting

Last time I tried to reassure you that occasionally taking breaks from your training is NOT the end of the world. Injuries need time to heal, priorities can shift rapidly, and sometimes life just plain gets in the way of training. But there ARE things you can do to make it a little easier when you do eventually get back to training.  My recommendations are based on a mix of scientific research and my own personal experience.

Hopefully you'll come away from this lesson with a couple nuggets of practical advice.

PHYSICAL FACTORS:

BJJ is a physical sport, and so it should come as no surprise that physical factors have a strong effect on your performance. These physical factors include strength, power, flexibility, aerobic / anaerobic endurance, muscular endurance, coordination and balance. The trouble is that when you stop training your performance in all these areas drop off...

Some of the first things to go are aerobic and anaerobic endurance - for the sake of this lesson I'll lump them together as 'cardio.' When someone has been off the mat for a month or two and then come back to training they often do OK in the first few minutes of sparring. 

 As they get a little deeper into the sparring match, however, things start to go wrong.  They're suddenly exhausted and their grappling level drops precipitously. That's because when you get tired you're not strong.  When you get tired you're not fast.  When you get tired you're not even smart.

So cardio is critical!!!

There's a lot of research on endurance, and it turns out that a simple concept like 'endurance' isn't actually very simple.  To dig into this research you have to become comfortable with terms like VO2 max, exercise stroke volume, respiratory exchange ratio and ventricular wall thickness...

The bottom line is that if you stop training your endurance will start going down within a week or two.  At first the effects might be relatively small, but in a close match a few percentage points of VO2 Max can sure make a difference.

You also lose strength, power, explosiveness and muscular endurance, but usually this takes a little longer than the relatively rapid decline in cardio. So when a layoff is inevitable try not to become a complete couch potato (or desk jockey). Try your best to stay active and do something physical.  If you have a choice, then give priority to activities that get you out of breath. Even it's only a 20 minute jog, every little bit of cardio helps.  You can look at it as crosstraining. 

 

 Anything is better than doing nothing.  Running.  Lifting.  Climbing.  Swimming.  Soccer.  Yoga.  Biking.  Boxercise.  Hiking.  Skiing.  Rollerblading.  Pushups.  Crunches.  Pull-ups. Once you start training again you'll start regaining what you've lost.  If you took 2 months off of training then it will take at least 2 months to get back into the shape you were in before you stopped.

One final thing to consider: if you just don't have the time for physical activities, or if you're injured, then pay attention to your diet and don't let that slip too! It's hard enough to get your heart and lungs back into shape without having to lose an additional 20 lbs of bad body weight...

MENTAL FACTORS

In BJJ the mental game is at least as important as the physical game (that's why small BJJ black belts eat larger, stronger opponents for breakfast). Mental factors include creativity, sensitivity, perception skills, the ability to remember techniques, the ability to make quick decisions, willpower, self discipline and mental toughness. All of these factors are important, and all of them decline with detraining.

However the ability to make quick decisions is one of the first things to go when you stop training. Here's an example. When you're sparring after a long layoff you still know what you should be doing and how you should be reacting to your opponent. The problem is that your thoughts move like molasses. 

Your opponent does something, and it's up to you to pick the correct response.  But you're like the ship's computer in the old Star Trek series: "... processing ... processing ... processing..." You haven't forgotten all the BJJ you ever knew.  It's just taking you longer to make decisions.

Back at your peak you could choose the right technique in the blink of an eye.  Now the same decision takes three or four seconds, by which  time your opponent has moved again and the situation has already changed.Your old sparring partners are now one or two steps ahead of you all the time. So what can you do about this?

I'm not going to go into the actual research here, but there's a ton of evidence that VISUALIZING activities and WATCHING activities then helps you PERFORM those same activities. So the bottom line is that anything you do to keep your brain actively thinking about BJJ will keep your mental skills sharp.

Go drop by class and watch your friends spar.  Watch some instructional DVDs.  Study how a high level player competes by watching youtube.  Read a book.  Visualize using your favorite techniques.  Daydream about new techniques. All these things help.

And finally I have to point out that ALL your mental processes get slower when you're fatigued. So work on your brain and your body, and you WILL see the effects of it when you get back to the mat.

Stephan Kesting

Que es eso de la mitocondria?

100 Rep Giant Set Training 

By Mike Westerdal

 

Nutrition and training expert John Parrillo is an innovator who has been on the cutting edge of bodybuilding for more than two decades. His ideas go against conventional wisdom and have been hailed as revolutionary by some and dismissed by others. Some people think he’s an exercise and nutrition genius who knows more about maximizing muscle growth and losing body fat than just about anyone else around, while others think he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. In any case, John was among the first to embrace the idea of Super Hybrid Muscle. In fact, he was really the first one to develop the first hybrid training system.

More than 15 years ago he caught on to the idea of Super Hybrid Muscle and began having his bodybuilders doing really high intensity cardio. John realized that by doing this, his guys were actually altering the composition of their muscle fibers. He called this form a resistance training the “100 rep extended set,” saying that it helped the body to construct more mitochondria—the muscles’ “cellular blast furnaces,” while also increasing muscular growth by developing the circulatory pathways that provide nourishment to the muscles. As the cellular blast furnaces, mitochondria are extremely important to muscle because they’re the energy-supplying systems of the muscle cells.

Every muscle has a certain number of mitochondria–the more mitochondria in the muscle, the greater its potential for growth. So by forcing the body into creating more mitochondria, you’re setting the stage for big increases muscle strength, stamina and endurance. Ordinary muscle fibers are either built for strength or endurance–not really for both. By forcing the body to increase the number of mitochondria in the muscle cells, you’re also causing a metamorphosis that converts ordinary muscle fiber into Super Hybrid Muscle fiber. And not only that, but a human body loaded with mitochondria is far less likely to accumulate body fat than a body with fewer mitochondria.

While researching ways in which to reconfigure the composition of muscle fiber, John realized that the answer could be found in the past. Looking back, he realized that prolonged, intense physical effort causes a working muscle to build additional mitochondria, resulting in big gains in muscle strength and stamina. Part of this realization came from looking at railroad workers from the 1860s. These guys would lay track all day long using a 4-pound sledgehammer developing powerful arms, forearms and shoulders loaded with mitochondria, strength and endurance. But because their legs weren’t being exercised as intensely, they stayed the same.

 

So basically, John’s 100 Rep Giant Set training routine 

recreates this kind of super intense, prolonged workout.

Here’s how it works. You start by picking a single muscle group, doing 20 reps of an exercise, then launch right into 20 reps of the next exercise. Immediately after that, you do 20 reps of another exercise, followed by 2 more sets of 20 reps each of two different exercises. There is no rest allowed between the 20-rep sets. At the end of all this, you’ve done a total of 100 reps, almost sequentially. Now you can rest for no more than 1 minute before starting the whole cycle again, repeating it at least 2-3 times total.

That is one hell of a tough workout–especially when you realize that you’ve just done 200-300 reps for a single muscle. In a normal workout, even on a high rep day, most guys aren’t going to even hit 100 for a single muscle. The important thing to remember here is that the workout needs to be intense. You don’t want to be screwing around wasting time by not making it challenging. At the same time though, you don’t want to start out with a weight that’s too heavy because once you start, you need to commit to finishing with the same weight. No drop sets here.

You can do 100 Rep Giant Sets for any body part–you’re not limited to just certain muscle groups. You can also do it whether you use machines or free weights but you’ll always get the best results from free weights because they force each limb to carry its fair share of the total weight, requiring each muscle to perform equally, making free weights far better muscle-building tools than machines. You should do the 100 Rep Giant Sets once or twice a week, rotating body parts for about eight weeks.

If you tell most bodybuilders that you’re going to be doing 100-rep sets to build strength, stamina and size, they’re likely to ask if you’ve gone out of your flipping mind. Most hardcore bodybuilders reject this philosophy entirely because it runs directly contrary to the all-known logic – fewer repeats, bigger weights – equals bigger muscle growth.

Even though the path to getting there is a bit different, the underlying principle and ultimate goals of 100 Rep Giant Sets and Lean Hybrid Muscle training are the same. Both rely on grueling workouts that combine resistance training and cardio activities to force the body to increase the number of mitochondria to build Super Hybrid Muscle.

Interesante Artículo de Grapplearts

So You Want To Train BJJ in Brazil?

An Article by Mark Mullen

 

 Introduction

 As I lay gasping on the cold pavement of the Trans Canada Highway, the 18 wheeler that had just plowed me over belching diesel exhaust into my face, my life essence slipping into the next plane of existence, my last thoughts were "Shit!! I never made it to Rio de Janeiro" I bolted upright, awake out of that feverish dream, heart pounding. I had daydreamed about going to Rio to train jiu-jitsu for over 10 years, but never found the right circumstances, time or money. I resolved right then and there in the darkness that I would go to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the next year of my life. 

Aged 41, living in Canada, I have a brown belt in Judo and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu - I had been training rather recreationally (and truth be told - sporadically) over the last few years. I planned to do some jiu-jitsu while in Rio, but the focus of my trip was to sample what life was like for those fortunate carioca who had grown up in the "cidade maravilhosa". I had always envisioned the idyllic life as a jiu-jitsu / beach bum down on Copacabana Beach, training jiu-jitsu in the morning and spending the afternoons at the beach with friends, watching the world famous brazilian girls while sipping agua de coco.

The trip was 6 weeks in length - with a laptop in my apartment, I could stay in touch with my webdesign clients and even work a little. Through a website that offered to rent apartments to gringos - I booked a simple bachelor apartment with an ocean view of Copacabana Beach and less than a block from the infamous Help Discotheque. I received a 20% discount for booking longer than 30 days and for $150 - I had a maid every second day for the entire 6 weeks. I saw some arrangements of staying in a house near an academy with a bunch of other foreigners - but frankly, staying in a big dog pile and sharing a room with a bunch of sweaty, stinky guys didn't have much appeal.

The Academy

I told the guys in my home academy (Gracie Barra Calgary with instructor Josh Russell) that the main focus of my trip to Rio was to enjoy the beach, food and garotas - but if you were a Catholic in Rome, you had to visit the Vatican. When in Rio, I had to visit "the Church of jiu-jitsu" - the Carlson Gracie Academy. There were several small academies within blocks of my apartment and the Gracie Barra Academy was way too far from where I was staying in Copacabana. The famous Champion Factory - where my first jiu-jitsu instructor, Marcus Soares had come from - had produced many of the greatest MMA fighters and his stories had fuelled the dream of someday myself stepping onto the mat. 

Took me 3 attempts to find the academy (no signs). I stopped at a sucos bar, frustrated and exhausted from the heat and in a last ditch effort asked the juice jockey where the academy was - he had never heard of it. Fortunately, a businessman overheard and offered to point me in the right direction "but I think it closed when Carlson passed away?". And there it was,..non descript, the entrance on a side street above a beachwear shop. Ari Galo is the morning instructor at Carlson's Academy - 150 reals (approx $100) for a month of classes. The Carlson Academy was far smaller and humble than I had imagined. There is no air-con in the academy and I had sweat running down the tip of my nose as I put on my gi. It was the realization of a long held dream to cinch up my belt, bow and step onto the mat at the Carlson Gracie Academy :-)

I trained at the 8am class - I can't imagine how sweltering the temperatures would be inside the academy under the midday equatorial sun. The instruction was in Portuguese and I did my best to keep up and nod and smile alot. Most of my friends in Canada had expressed some apprehension that the Brazilians would try to headhunt the gringo. I found the exact opposite to be true. I was matched up with one of the very best brown belts - who dispensed advice and tapped me out in equal measures, but I never felt like I was getting my arms cranked. Obrigado to Fernando. 

Most classes there was usually maybe 1 bluebelt, no white belts with the majority of the 12-15 students at any class being purple through black belts. Few of the students appeared to do any weight training with average looking physiques. One slim individual came in to class one morning with no muscular definition to speak of; I immediately evaluated him as a soft beginner. He put his worn blackbelt on and was an absolute monster on the mat with a relaxed rolling style until the timing was right and he would explode into a submission. A few guys who fought MMA professionally would come in and roll with everyone in gi - I saw zero no-gi grappling my entire stay.

Most of the guys back home wanted to know about the differences between the North American and Brazilian academies. a few observations:

• Far fewer techniques demonstrated in Brazil. Maybe 2 per class and it was not uncommon after a brief warm up to hear "ok,..today we go to training". The emphasis was on rolling in 7 min timed rounds.
• No stand up. The blackbelts explained that the only time they performed sparring from standup was in a week or so before tournaments. They felt that standup grappling was more likely to result in training injuries.
• I found the jiu-jitsu much more "feint" oriented as opposed to straight ahead pressure. The majority of the techniques were explained in the context of setting it up with pressure to one direction and then reversing to take advantage of your opponent's reaction. The softer, more flowing style of jiu-jitsu was described by Ari as more pure jiu-jitsu - that is to say in Brazil, there was less influence of other arts like wrestling in the jiu-jitsu.
• No one had stripes on their belts. The majority of the blackbelts were not competitive wunderkind - rather, guys who just had been training for a long time.
• You don't pick your own sparring partners - the instructor always matched me up.
• I felt that people were less concerned with "who tapped who" or needing to establish the pecking order than in North America.
• The atmosphere was very relaxed - some guys dropping in, having 1 roll and then getting back into their street clothes to go back to work!

When I returned home there were the inevitable questions about "How did you do down there? Did you tap everyone out?" I laugh and respond "I didn't bring anything down there that they hadn't seen before or know how to deal with!"

Conclusion

The trip to Brazil was a life changing experience. It should come as no surprise that a trip to Rio would re ignite ones passion for jiu-jitsu. I resolved to do less weight training and more attention to smooth jiu-jitsu based on leverage, timing and reading my opponent's energy. And more importantly, I changed my attitude towards showing up at the academy back home. Whereas before I frequently would be too serious about training - all or nothing mentality - don't tap to this person or self flagellation at missing a class or getting your guard passed.

The Brazilian blackbelts seemed to have a different approach: it was part of their lifestyle and they just went to the academy because it felt good. Instead of intense pressure on having to improve all of your game immediately, they just got on the mat, enjoyed rolling with their friends and along the way,...managed to develop some great jiu-jitsu!

I experienced some perfect days down there in Rio. Wake up hearing the surf crashing outside your window. Grab your gi and flip-flop your way along the beach down to the academy; looking out at the ocean mentally running through your techniques. Have a few laughs and practice my Portuguese on some new friends while learning my favourite art in one of the world's best academies. Acai or fresh squeezed juice at a street side sucos bar before heading to the beach all day. The lifestyle down there is fantastic.

One of my travel buddies put it best: in his broken english "All the time in my life before I came to Brazil was wasted!"

Mark Mullen is a Calgary-based web programmer and BJJ purple belt.

Entrnamiento en todos los niveles, un artículo de Ferrugia

Muscle Building Workouts: The Difference Between

Beginners and Advanced Lifters

By Jason Ferruggia

Many people often ask me how a beginners and/or weak hardgainers muscle building workouts should differ from the programs of strong, advanced lifters.

There are four important things that differentiate the training of a beginner or hardgainer and an advanced trainee. Firstly, beginners and hardgainers who want to build muscle fast need to do fewer exercises than advanced lifters. A basic upper body push, an upper body pull and a compound lower body movement makes up a great beginner/hardgainer workout. The more exercises you are doing the more difficult it becomes to master them. So keep them to a minimum.

Secondly, a beginners muscle building workouts need to include more sets per exercise. While advanced lifters can get away with working up to one or two heavy sets per exercise it is much more beneficial to the weaker newbie to do multiple sets at a lower intensity in order to perfect their technique and improve intramuscular coordination. Instead of the 1-3 sets per exercise that I recommend to advanced lifters I recommend 4-6 sets per exercise for the weak newbie.

Thirdly, they need to train each body part and exercise or movement pattern with a higher frequency than advanced trainees. Again, this has to do with improving intramuscular coordination and perfecting technique. It also has to do with the fact that when you are weak it takes you a lot less time to recover between workouts because the training is far less demanding on your muscles, your joints and your nervous system. So while an advanced trainee may be able to wait 7-10 days between squats and make improvements, a weak newbie would actually get weaker by waiting more than 48-72 hours. Squatting 500 pounds takes a lot more out of your system than squatting 95 pounds does and thus requires a lot more recovery time. 

 The fourth difference between the training of weak newbies and advanced lifters trying to build muscle is that the beginners should keep most of their training on the lower end of the rep scale. Despite what you may have been told or read, high rep training is a waste for beginners. Not only that but it’s dangerous and only teaches you poor form on your exercises. An advanced lifter may be able to make tremendous size gains by doing one arm rows with a 130 pound dumbbell for 20 reps or squatting 315 for 20, but a beginner wont have anywhere near the same success. 

 Weak newbies don’t have the control or the stabilizer muscle strength to maintain the proper postures need to safely perform a high rep set. Nor do they have the strength to get anything out of high reps. If you can only squat 95 pounds for five, squatting 65 for twenty isn’t going to elicit much of a growth response. You need to keep the reps low in order to perfect your form, keep yourself safe and place the maximum possible overload on your muscles. This can only be done with sets consisting of five to eight reps and no more than that.

El componente mental, el arma definitiva para vencer

Este es de Eric Wong,  BSc, CSCS, MMA Performance Coach y me gusto mucho por el contenido sobre el elemento mental, clave para esforzarse más botar barreras y alcanzar nuevos niveles de desempeño,  pónganle coco!

 Your Most Powerful Weapon

Joe and I were working together preparing for his first MMA fight which is coming next month… He’s been training hard and he started training with me because he wanted to be 100% confident that he was in top shape going into this tournament… By doing so, he feels that whatever the outcome, he’ll be his best come fight night…Atta boy Joe!!

So we started the session off doing strength training and finished with some intervals on the Airdyne… if you don’t know what an Airdyne is, it looks like this: It’s an awesome tool for interval training because the harder you push, the more resistance is created since it’s driven by a fan…. plus it’s virtually indestructible… Anyway, this is NOT the most powerful weapon for MMA…

The most powerful weapon was revealed to me as Joe was in the middle of the 5th 60 second hard interval…

The interval started off like every other one, nice and strong, lots of power.

But about 20 seconds in, Joe cried,  "My legs feel like Jello!"

Right after he finished saying the ‘o’ in Jello, his speed dropped dramatically and it looked like all of the gas was sucked right out of his body with a shopvac. The rest of the interval was a bit of a drag, despite my coaching and cheesy motivational lines "Come on man, it’s all you!!" (just kidding, I don’t use ‘it’s all you’)

Once the hard interval was done, I asked Joe if he realized that right when he said "My legs feel like Jello" his speed completely dropped. He noticed it too and for the next and final hard interval, I coached him to get ready to give 100% for the entire minute and stay positive, only thinking about the next pedal stroke.

I told him to imagine that it was the last minute of the fight and push as if the title was yours if you just gave 100%.

Guess what? Joe killed the last interval. Absolutely KILLED it! It was his fastest one of the entire session! After he finished up, we sat around and talked about it, and it’s like a new skill was revealed to him (and me)… Now, he knows what he’s got to do to make sure he’s at the top of his game when it comes time to fight.

Here’s the truth about what it takes to be a champ in MMA: You don’t win the fight during the fight, you win the fight in all of the little battles you have with yourself, day in, day out.

If you can harness the power of your mind to be at your best everyday, you’ll go far. It’s making it to all of your training sessions instead of tapping out to some lame excuse…

It’s pushing yourself through grueling workouts even though you want to quit…

It’s eating properly and fighting the urge to pig out on junk…

It’s getting to bed on time instead of dicking around on the internet so you’re fully recovered for the next day of training…

And everything else that goes into being a champion. So I’m wondering, how are your day-to-day battles going? Are you winning, or are you losing?

Every choice you make is either getting you 1 step closer to your goals, or 1 step farther. So start making the choices that will get you closer to your goals today!

Your pal,

Eric Wong

click here to get the Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program today.

Si vas a entrenar, hazlo como un atleta, Elliott Hulse toma la palabra

5 Big Reasons Why Everyone Should Train Like Athletes 

By Elliott Hulse Co-Creator of Lean Hybrid Muscle 

If you’re like me, you probably want nothing more than to feel like a ’super-stud’ every time you take your shirt off in public. You want to have the confidence to say, ‘Boy, this sweaty shirt is chaffin’ me’, then reach over your shoulder and tear your shirt off like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. When you know that your pecs look like two soup bowls inserted beneath your skin, and your abs are as hard the asphalt you stand on, it’s tough to keep your shirt on!

Today you are gonna learn the top 5 training principles that you MUST implement in order to make your physique and performance goals… a reality. But, before I open the info-floodgates, there is something you’ve got to understand. Men… all men, should recognize that we are athletes and our training programs must reflect this.

Even if you’re a ‘pencil pusher’ or a ‘white collar crook’, the essence of your being is athletic. In order to see any type of fitness results it is essential to recognize that Squats, Power Cleans, 40 Yard Dashes and Vertical Jumps are not only for NFL Combine participants… they are for you!

1. You’re An Athlete By Design

The foundation principle of everything that I teach all begins with one extremely powerful phrase: “We are primal beings living in a modern world”

Our physical bodies have been unchanged for thousands of years. In fact, today, our bodies are an exact expression of what our ancestors were over 100,000 years ago. It is believed that it takes about 100,000 years for 0.001percent of a genome to change… so yourself and Primal Man are for all intents and purposes… the same.

What has changed is how WE have chosen to live, if you can even call it that. As we have ‘advanced’ in technology we have regressed in physical strength and stature.

We function at a much lower capacity than were inherently capable of. This is analogous to those people who buy off-road vehicles that will never see anything but concrete! You’ve been given the ultimate athletic tool… use it.

2. Short, Hard and Intense Workouts Yield Lean, Hard and Muscular Bodies

When you spend over an hour in the gym sitting on useless ‘fitness machines’ while you’re waiting to do your ‘next set’…your nervous system’s primal response is to release Cortisol and Glucocorticoids - which are stress hormones, (these make you sick, sad, fat and, stupid) in response to your body thinking… “Holy Cow, we’ve been training for over an hour… perhaps we’re being chased by a tiger and need to preserve body fat”, then it begins sacrificing muscle tissue for energy! This is called The Catabolic Effect. Also, workouts exceeding 1 hour have been shown to be associated with a rapid decrease in androgen levels.

This is why marathon runners look so emaciated… id much rather look like one of those Lock, Stock & Ready Sprinters with muscles rippling across their backs and abs.

3. Aerobics and Cardio Training Is Boring & Ineffective

Strength coach Charles Poliquin has coined the phrase “Chunky Aerobic Instructor Syndrome” (CAIS). You’ve seen them, they do cardio all day long… don’t you think that they would be a bit leaner? Well, there is a scientific reason as to why they are cubby even though they bounce up and down on those colorful blocks all day long. In fact research has shown that aerobic instructors who taught an average of 3 hours a day maintained a body fat of 22-24% - mind you, that Olympic athletes hover around 9%.

Especially with repetitive exercises like aerobics the body adapts quickly to the stimulus and ceases to respond to the stimulus. Also, you begin to become very fuel-efficient… Listen, think of a metabolism that has adapted to long treks of cardio as being a Honda… it burns very little fuel (i.e. fat) but can go miles and miles. Think of a metabolism that is roaring with increased mitochondria activity (as is present in someone who weight trains with circuits) as a Hummer, large fuel combusting metabolism!

Here’s Why this is so important! You want a stronger heart, without the fat saving response of long boring cardio treks. That is why I teach my clients how to do work capacity sets. We take 4-6 exercises and complete them back to back with no rest and aim to complete them all with in about 2 minutes… if your heart is not ready to pound out of your chest after that, then maybe you should visit your veterinarian!

Here’s a simple circuit that you can do at home - first 20 squats, then 20 lunges, then ’step ups’ on a bench 10 each leg, finally do 10 squat jumps and get it all done in less than 90 seconds! Kick-ass workout!

We begin every session with Plyometrics and then get right into 3-5 “work capacity” sets for upper and lower body.

4. Get High on Oxygen & Sunshine

Besides the fact that training on treadmills and ’sit down’ exercise equipment is less effective than getting your feet on the ground and learning how to use your own bodyweight, training indoors can be detrimental to your performance and fitness results.

As ‘primal beings’ we are in need of several vital elements and forms of energy. The suns rays are nourishing to your mind as well as body. It is well documented that those who live in the cooler northern climates that enjoy less sunshine through out the year are several times more likely to suffer from depression.

Also, if you’re like most Americans you work and live indoors (maybe). In fact, the average person spends 90% of their time indoors. Several health experts have propounded that our homes and workplace are the most toxic environments in our lives. Many studies have stated that toxic particles and fumes found in your home and workplace include: air fresheners, spray starch, paints, mothballs and even ‘new car’ smell kills more people every year than automobile accidents!

So, what do you do? Train in the great outdoors! When I train my Strength Camp clients at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg Florida, not only do we benefit from the sweet bay breeze but also the scenery is beautiful enough to give a nun spring fever!

5. It’s Gotta Be Fun!

Drop out rates for exercise programs are almost as high as the drop out rate in my old middle school! The bottom line is, if you don’t enjoy it - you wont do it. The most effective way to ensure that you stick with your training program is to change it often. This doesn’t mean hop from one modality to the next before you get any results. It means stick with your weight-training program for a minimum of 90 day but change the exercises you use for each body part at least every 3 weeks.

This not only keeps you interested but also, your nervous system will be challenged with the new exercises and be forced to adapt. This yields fast and long-lasting results!

Lean Hybrid Muscle is the World’s Fastest Way To Furn Fat & Build Muscle.
** Learn More here => http://www.leanhybridmuscle.com/build-muscle.html

De vuelta a los dias de gloria con De Franco

DeFranco's Training Rules for Washed-up Meatheads  by Nate Green

Dear Washed-up Meathead,

Look, I've got nothing but respect for you. You gave me Playboy, bourbon whiskey, and barbells. You taught me how to pick up girls, when to flip the burgers, and why I should always wash my hands immediately after using Icy Hot. (Worst ball scratching experience ever.) You took me to the gym, handed me a program, and told me to bust my ass. And it worked. Over the years, I've gotten bigger, stronger, and more confident. 

But then I noticed something. I noticed you're still doing the very program you handed me years ago. Well, let me tell you, sir, it's gone stale. You've gone stale. You may be a washed-up meathead, but that doesn't mean you should be doing a program that doesn't hold water. 

So I've decided to pay you back. I want you to be in the best shape of your life. I want you to grow some bigger muscles, shed some fat, and start performing like the badass you once were. That's why I contacted self-proclaimed washed-up meathead Joe DeFranco to help whip you into shape. He's got five rules for writing your own badass program and even included a sample program at the end of the article. You can thank me later.

Sincerely,

A Young Punk

  

A quick note from DeFranco

"I've received a lot of hate mail over the past few years from the 30 and older meathead crowd. 'Your programs are just for athletes,' they say. 'I don't have time to do all that stuff.' And I know how they feel. You get older and take on more responsibilities. You have a career. Your joints hurt. The days of college, eating shit foot, getting hammered, sleeping for a few hours, and waking up refreshed are over. You don't want to train six days per week.

The guys who email me or show up to my gym have been lifting weights their whole lives. It's nothing new to them. And that's the main problem. Without variety, you won't gain muscle. But really, what good is gaining muscle if your joints hurt all the time or you can't even wipe your own ass?

What these washed-up meatheads need is functional muscle. No, I'm not talking about any bullshit Bosu balls. I'm talking about benching heavy weight without your shoulder hurting. I'm talking about coaching your son's football team and running a few pass patterns to show the little suckers how it's done. I'm talking slabs of muscle, no fat, with lungs of steel.

I've got five rules for these guys. And if they follow them, I have no doubt they'll be built like a badass."

DeFranco's 5 Rules

  

Train Three Days Per Week

"Recovery is the key to strength and looking good," says DeFranco. "You can't come into the gym sore because you won't have the strength or endurance you need for the workout." But is three days really enough? "If you're busting your ass and doing the right things, it is. Even if I had a guy who won the lottery and told me he could train as much as I wanted him to, I'd still keep him on the three-day schedule." Here's how DeFranco sets up his training week:

Monday — Upper Body
Wednesday — Lower Body
Friday — Upper Body

Why only one lower-body day?

"You'll get enough muscle stimulation from that one day to carry you through to next week," says DeFranco. "Besides, I've got some fun "finishers" that'll hit your legs, too."

Use the Max-Effort Method (With a Few Slight Twists.) 

Yeah, you probably know the old-school Westside max-effort method. Well, DeFranco has made a few alterations. "First off, squat and deadlifts are interchangeable," he says. "We're not gonna force-feed these guys."

According to DeFranco, both of these exercises will accomplish the same thing, more or less. "All we need is a main lower body exercise that you can go heavy on. Some people are built to squat because they have the right leverages. Some guys like to pull heavy stuff off the ground. Doesn't matter to me."

And it's not like you're replacing squats with leg extensions.

"We're definitely not letting them cop out," says DeFranco. "But I want to give them something to look forward to. My favorite moment is watching my guys come in to look over the logbook with the day's training. They're nervous and excited, like 'Oh, shit, what do we have to do today?' That's how it should be."

Next, of course, is the bench press. "What washed-up meathead program would be complete without it?" asks DeFranco. "Guys like to see how much they can bench. They like to brag about it. And, hell, they're gonna do it anyway even if I don't recommend it. We might as well program it effectively."

Fair enough.

Now here's the interesting part: DeFranco includes the chin-up in his max-effort work.

"It's key. Not only is the chin-up a great upper back exercise to counteract the bench press, it's the relative strength exercise that will make you clean up your diet."

What's that mean? "Well, if your bench and squat are going up it doesn't mean much other than you're getting stronger. That's cool, but you could still be a fat-ass, you know? But if your chin-up strength is still the same or going down, it means you need to get some conditioning in and keep your freakin' hands off the Haagen Dazs because you're getting too fat to pull yourself up."

One last point about the max-effort work: DeFranco is a huge proponent of using percentages of your one-rep max. "I'm all about steady progress," he says. That means you actually have to test all three of your lifts. Testing your bench press and squat or deadlift is straightforward—just load a bar with 60 percent of your "perceived" 1RM and build up from there.

To test your chin-up, grab onto the bar with an underhand grip and do as many as you can with perfect form for one set. That's your max. You'll see how DeFranco programs it in a bit.

Your training week should now look like this:

Monday — Bench Press
Wednesday — Squat or Deadlift
Friday — Chin-up

The purpose of the max-effort work, explains DeFranco, is to ramp up the nervous system. "After the first exercise you should be fired up and ready to train," he says. "That's because it's either going to be a heavy movement or a jump (on lower-body days), which will excite the nervous system." The stimulatory effect is nice, but the key point DeFranco makes is that by exciting the nervous system, you'll be able to recruit more muscle fibers in the exercises that follow. Which brings us to our next rule.

  

Use Bodybuilding Methods

If the first exercise is neural, the second one is "muscular." "I like to get into some high-volume work for the guys so they can build some muscle," says DeFranco. While he usually recommends between six and twelve reps, he sometimes gets into the very high-rep sets. "I like to bump it up to 20 or 25 reps every now and then," he says. Hello, lactic acid. But what's the point? "I don't feel there's too much correlation between getting a pump and gaining muscle, but let's be honest, it's fun as hell," he says. "Why not get a pump while your nervous system is jacked up? The more blood that floods into your muscles, the more nutrients you get. It's a great environment for growth."

DeFranco likes to divide his bodybuilding methods into movement planes that correspond with the max-effort exercise for that day. So if you did the bench press, you'd do other horizontal plane work like dumbbell presses and rows. If you did chins, you'd do some overhead pressing and lat pull-downs. If you did legs, you'd do, well, more legs. One thing DeFranco is adamant about is not doing forced reps or going to complete failure. "Always leave a little something in the tank," he says. "No one wants to pull a bar off you."

Use "Finishers" 

This is both "show" and "go.""Too many guys avoid any type of cardio, but it's usually the finishing touch that can really burn some calories and strip the extra fat," says DeFranco. Another reason, naturally, is to increase your athleticism. And since DeFranco is best known for his work with college and pro athletes, he knows a thing or two about conditioning. "Look, every guy should be doing barbell complexes, push-up and squat ladders, jump rope, or at least be able to run a mile. They act like it'll kill them or they'll lose all their muscle mass. Bullshit."

Warm-Up, But do it Quickly

Yeah, he saved this rule for last since he knew most of you would skip right over it if it were at the top.

DeFranco has a simple warm-up routine dubbed The Agile Eight. "It's helped powerlifters, washed-up meatheads, and other anti-mobility dudes really feel better," he says. The Agile 8 will make you sweat, prepare your joints, stretch your muscles, and best of all, it'll only take ten minutes. "Hell, I even do it on the days I don't train," says DeFranco.

The Agile 8 

1. Foam roll your IT band — Start just below your hip and roll up and down to your (outer) mid-thigh ten to fifteen times, focusing on any tight spots. Then perform ten to fifteen "rolls" starting at your (outer) mid-thigh and rolling all the way down to the outside of your knee. Again, focus on the tight areas.

2. Foam roll your adductors — Start just below the crease of your hip and roll up and down your (inner) mid-thigh ten to fifteen times, focusing on any tight spots. Then perform ten to fifteen "rolls" starting at your (inner) mid-thigh and rolling down to the inside of your knee. Again, focus on the tight areas.

3. Glute/piriformis myofacsial release with a tennis ball — Take the tennis ball and sit on one your left butt cheek with a slight tilt. Cross your left leg. Roll for 30 seconds or so. Switch cheeks and repeat. Feel free to cry.

4. Rollovers into "V" sits — Perform ten reps.

5. Fire hydrant circles — Perform ten forward circles and ten backward circles with each leg.*

6. Mountain climbers — 20 total reps.

7. Groiners — Perform ten reps. Hold the last rep for ten seconds. Make sure to push your knees out with your upper arms while dropping your butt down.

8. Static hip flexor stretch — Perform 3 sets of 10 seconds on each leg. Complete all three sets on one side before moving to the other. 

You've read the rules, but now it's time to see what the program looks like with everything in order.

DeFranco's Sample 3-Day Program

Monday — Upper Body

Max-effort
1) Bench Press: 72.5% of your 1RM x 8, 77.5% x 6, 82.5% x 4 or more
Bodybuilding
2) Flat DB Press: 2 x Max Reps using the same weight for both sets. (Choose a weight that you can get around 20-25 reps with on the first set.)
3A) Seated Overhand-Grip Cable Rows: 4x15
3B) Cable Triceps Pushdowns (straight bar): 4x15
4A) DB Shrugs (2-second hold at the top): 3x15
4B) DB Lateral Raise: 3x15
Finisher
5) Barbell Complex (Deadlift, Bent-over Row, Hang Clean, Push Press, Back Squat) — Do two sets of 10 reps on each exercise. Rest 90 seconds between sets.

Wednesday — Lower Body

Excite the nervous system
1) DB Squat Jumps, holding 10-pound DB's: 4x6
Max-effort
2) Squat or Deadlift: 72.5% of your 1RM x 8, 77.5% x 6, 82.5% x 4
Bodybuilding
3A) 45-Degree Back Raises (hold weight plate over chest): 3x15
3B) Seated Medicine Ball Twists (feet off ground): 3x20 each side
Finisher
4) Timed one-mile run: You can do this on a treadmill or outside on a track. If you're unable to run due to injuries, you can substitute this with two miles on the exercise bike or elliptical. Whatever you choose, make sure you try and complete the distance in the least amount of time. Record your time!

Friday — Upper Body

Max-effort
1) Chin-ups (total reps) — Chin-up max + 50%
Note: If you got 20 reps when you tested your chin-up max, you would take 50 percent of 20 (10 reps) and add that to your total to make it look like this:
20 reps (max) + 50% (10 reps) = 30 total reps of chin-ups.
Break it into as many sets as you need but make sure every rep is perfect.
Bodybuilding
2A) Lat Pull-down (Wide, overhand-grip): 2 x Max Reps using the same weight for both sets. (Choose a weight that you can get around 20-25 reps for your first set.)
2B) Standing DB Military Press: 2 x Max Reps using the same weight for both sets. (Choose a weight that you can get around 15-20 reps for your first set.)
3A) "Rolling" Triceps Extensions — 4x8
3B) Hammer Curls (both arms same time) — 4x8
4) Core Circuit: x 2

a. 20 Toe Touches
b. 30 Bicycles
c. Side Plank x 30 seconds each side

Finisher
5) 100 push-ups as fast as possible. Record the time it took you to complete all 100.

Wrap-up 

To DeFranco, the term "washed-up meathead" isn't derogatory. "It just means you've been around the block a few times," he says. "It's a sign of respect. It means you've put in the work, gained some serious muscle, and know your way around the weight room." It also means you're probably a little stuck in your ways. "The older meathead guys are stubborn," says DeFranco. "I should know because I am one. Still, one of the best things you can do for you body is surprise it. And this is the best way I know how."

Now get to work, sir.