Poderosa Reflexión:

ADVERSARIO

Tú eres mi adversario, pero no mi enemigo…Porque tu resistencia me da fuerza, tu voluntad me da coraje, tu espíritu me ennoblece. Y a pesar de que quiero vencerte si lo logro, no te humillaré En lugar de eso te honraré, porque sin ti sería nada.

Para fuerza y resistencia estan los 300 y para crecer estan las 100

100 Rep Sets For Muscle…A KILLER Mass Training Strategy

By Nick Nilsson

100 rep training is pretty simple: 1 set of a hundred reps. You do just one set of one exercise per bodypart and do a total-body workout each time you train. Very simple but VERY challenging. So what could possibly be useful about this technique for muscle-building, I can hear you ask? Isn't the resistance you'd have to use in order to get 100 reps in a set be way too light for building muscle?

And the answer to that is ABSOLUTELY. The main purpose of this training is not to build muscle directly (though it does have some potential to build your slow-twitch, Type 1 endurance-oriented fibers). The purpose of 100 rep training is to improve what I call "microcirculation" in your muscles. I'll explain…

In your circulatory system, you have blood vessels…arteries to carry blood to the tissues of the body and veins to bring it back to the heart. Where the real action happens is in the capillaries…the tiny blood vessels that are so small only one red blood cell can fit through at a time. THAT is where oxygen and nutrients get delivered to the muscle cells and THAT is absolutely critical for building muscle.

 So think of microcirculation as those little blood vessels where food and oxygen feed your muscles. Now think about this…the more of those little blood vessels your muscles have to feed them, the easier it will be for those muscles to GROW. Think of the muscles that you have a hard time building…do you find it hard to get a "pump" in those muscles? THAT is poor microcirculation at work.

So the idea with 100 rep training is to increase capillary density and basically improve the food and oxygen supply to your muscles, setting the stage for better muscle growth when you go back to heavy training. And as sore as you get from 100 rep training, that soreness ain't gonna result in a whole lot of muscle growth….we're just improving the plumbing, which will in turn help you supply your growing muscles with more nutrients to build with!

It does this by literally FORCING blood cells through the cracks, meaning you're going to force so much blood into the target muscles for such a long period that the traffic jam of blood cells will cause the body to CREATE new capillaries in order to deal with the overflow.

 Think of yourself in a traffic jam on the road and think of how cool it would be just go off the road and drive through that field beside the road. THAT is what your body is doing…creating a new road where there was no road before, which helps deliver more food and oxygen to the muscles (and remove waste more efficiently, too!). And the bottom line is, it WORKS.

HOW TO DO IT:

This is where the rubber meets the road. 100 rep training is just what I said…one set of a hundred reps done straight through. Sounds simple but there are a few technical details I want to give you to help make it workable. I recommend doing this training as a total body workout each time. Each workout will take about 45 to 60 minutes to get through. Take 90 seconds rest between each set/exercise. You can take a bit more time when using bigger exercises that generate more lactic acid (like leg press, for instance).

Train every other day with this style of training (you can add in an extra rest day if you need it) - it will result in a LOT of soreness the first few times you do it. When I used this program, I trained through the soreness - I find that actually helps decrease it. As long as soreness doesn't compromise training form, you'll be fine to train while sore. Here are the exercises I used and the order I used them in. I've found certain exercises are better to use with this style of training than others, but feel free to experiment to find what works best for you.

You'll notice that these are more "bodybuilding" type exercises than "functional" type exercises. With this type of training, we want to just focus on cranking the reps out, not on having to balance and constantly adjust so it's actually BETTER to use more traditional movements…that's why I've listed leg press instead of squats here (more on that later, though - I've got a variation for you with squats that works GREAT).

Seated Cable Rows
Leg Press
Dumbell Bench Press
Lying Leg Curls
Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press
EZ Bar Preacher Curls
Seated Calf Raises
Pushdowns
Crunches

(on a side note, I haven't done regular floor crunches in literally YEARS - I usually do low reps and added resistance…this was a BIG change of pace!) So to repeat…just do ONE set of each exercise and take 90 seconds rest (a minute and a half) between exercises. This will give you enough time to get to the next exercise and get it set up.

The first time you do 100 rep sets, you will basically have NO idea what weight to use. Start lighter than you think you'll need to (trust me). After you do your first set, you'll have a better idea of what it's all about. I HIGHLY recommend keeping a log of your sets and weights so you know how to adjust for the next workout. I'll give you examples of how I adjust things and how to know when to increase or decrease the weight you're using.

 Seated Cable Rows - in my first workout the first set I did was with 80 lbs. I managed to get a full 100 reps all the way through with no stopping. So in the next workout, I increased the weight to 90 lbs. I got 100 reps again in the next workout so I increased the weight again (to 100 lbs).

In THAT workout, I was able to get only to 70 reps before lactic acid got me and I had to take a brief rest. What that happens, set the handle down, shake out your arms for a few seconds then immediately grab the handle again and keep going (maybe 3 to 5 seconds rest). You might get another 10 reps before you have to set the handle down again and give the lactic acid a chance to clear.

Repeat this pattern until you get the full 100 reps, even if you're only getting a few reps at a time towards the end. The key is to just give the lactic acid a chance to clear a little then go right back at it. This gets you past what I call "chemical failure" and allows you to really push the muscles harder. It keeps the blood in the muscles and really builds that microcirculation without letting lactic acid totally limit you.

And yes, before you ask, this style of training IS good for fat loss. The lactic acid you get from this style of training boosts GH release and can be used very effectively for fat loss. But here's the only problem…it also results in a LOT of muscle damage (especially the first few times you use it). If you're on a low-calorie diet, your body doesn't have ample nutrients and energy to recover from it so it can longer to recuperate from.

The other issue is that when you're on a diet, your glycogen levels (and potentially water levels) are lower. This means you may not get the same volume of blood pushing through your muscles to help build that microcirculation.

Leg Press - in this exercise, you actually have a moment at the top of the movement where you can lock out the knees and release the tension in the muscles, which allows for some clearance of lactic acid. Take this into account when doing the exercise. The first set I did of this, when I hit 80 reps, I felt like I need a break but instead of setting the weight down, I locked out my knees and shook my quads out a bit and kept going.

Dumbell bench press - now we get into how to know when to adjust the weight you're using. On the first set of this, I got 50 reps. Then I used the short-rest technique to continue the set all the way to 100 reps. If I would have gotten UNDER 50 reps, I would have kept going but decreased the weight in the next workout in order to go straight through as much as possible.

As it was, because I hit the 50, I decided to remain at the same weight for the next workout and see how I improved. In the next workout, I hit 70 reps with the same weight and 80 reps the following the workout, before having to take brief rests. When I would have hit 100 reps straight through THEN I would have increased the weight and taken it from there.

*** So the rule of thumb is, if you get less than 50 reps on the first attempt, reduce the weight next time. If you get more than 50 reps, stick with the same weight next time. If you get 100 reps, increase the weight by the smallest increment possible next time.***

 On exercises like leg press and preacher curls, you'll find there are points in the exercise where you can release the tension in the muscles and rely on skeletal support for a moment. This is a good way to keep the exercise going and keep the reps going straight through. That's 100 rep training!

It's not too complex but these tips should help you make it work in your training. If you've hit a plateau in your muscle building, this could be just what the doctor ordered to get yourself back on track.

This type of training should be done for at least 2 weeks (or 6 to 8 workouts) but not any more than that, if you're looking to build muscle. It'll help build microcirculation but because the weights are so light, you don't want to use it for too long. It'll take you probably at least a week to get past the soreness…once you do, then you'll really be able to see what your body is capable of for endurance.

SQUAT TECHNIQUE - Delaying Fatigue

I mentioned that technique for doing squats with this 100 rep technique. Here's what I did… 20 sets of 5 reps with 5 seconds rest between sets, using 135 lbs on the bar.

I basically took a weight I could get probably 30 to 40 reps straight through and did 5 reps with it. Then re-racked the weight and took a few seconds then got back under and did 5 more reps with it. Naturally, the first 50 or so reps with this technique were fairly easy. The brief rests with an easy weight allowed me to keep going strong for a lot longer than if I tried to go straight through.

With an exercise like the squat, which is so demanding on the whole body and which requires good form and balance, this meant I could KEEP that good form and balance for longer than if I tried to go straight through. Then the NEXT 50 reps is where it got harder…and those last 20 reps were BRUTAL.

 This brief rest (if you've used EDT or my Time-Volume Training, this will be familiar to you) allows you to delay fatigue and keep going. You can use this style of training on other exercises, too, especially ones that are more demanding, like deadlifts, etc.

I can promise with this technique you'll either love it or hate it (or love it THEN hate it :)

Te guste o no Ferrugia la canta como la ve...y sabe lo que esta diciendo

Why Some Skinny Guys Will Always Stay Skinny

 

It’s funny, but in 2010, with all the advances in science and technology that have been made over the last few decades, an average skinny guy has far less of a chance of ever getting significantly bigger, stronger and faster than he did twenty or thirty years ago. Why?

Because there is far too much information out there and society as a whole has developed an incurable case of ADD. The Baltimore Colts won Super Bowl V while training under the watchful eye of legendary strength coach, Bill Starr. You know what their program consisted of?

Bench, squat, clean- three times per week, for five sets of five. It aint sexy or exciting and it’s not what you watch Brock Lesnar do on UFC All Access.

But it’s effective for building muscle and gaining strength.

Brutally effective.

If you’re a hardgainer/beginner then that is the type of program you should be doing.

And don’t tell me it’s boring or ask me how long you should do it for. Get your squat up to at least 1.5 (and preferably 2) times your bodyweight for five reps and then we’ll discuss another option or maybe add in another exercise here and there.

If it worked for the greatest team in the NFL way back then what makes you think something like that wouldn’t work now?

Ideally, before you even start that type of program, you should do a few months of bodyweight only training and be able to do at least 40 pushups before you can even touch a weight. Again, these should consist of an upper body push, an upper body pull and one lower body exercise. No abs, no curls, no kettlebell swings, no box jumps.

If you’re a skinny hardgainer and you hire me or join my gym, that is what you will be doing for the foreseeable future. If you don’t like it and are more interested in being entertained than getting results I will refer you to a trainer at Gold’s down the street for a nice machine based bodybuilding program that will get your little heart pounding.

In fact, I’ll save you the money and write you the program right here for free:

Monday:
Machine incline press- 4 ×12-15
Machine flat bench press- 4×12-15
Incline Cable Crossover- 4 x12-15
Pec Dec Fly- 4×12-15
Cable pushdown- 4×12-15
Rope French press- 4×12-15

Wednesday
Leg press- 4×12-15
Hack squat-4 x12-15
Leg extension- 4×12-15
Leg curl-4×12-15
Standing calf raise- 4×20
Seated calf raise- 4×20

Friday
Front pulldowns- 4×12-15
Behind the neck pulldowns- 4×12-15
Pullover machine- 4×12-15
Seated cable row- 4×12-15
Cable curl- 4×12-15
Machine preacher curl- 4×12-15

Come see me in a year. If you’ve gained more than a couple pounds I’ll shave my eyebrows and get a toupee permanently sutured on like Sol Rosenberg. Or perhaps you want to do what you saw GSP or Nate Marquardt do in preparation for their last fight. That looks like more fun than what those silly old Baltimore Colts did, doesn’t it? Besides, you should really be sweating buckets and near nausea when you’re training for size and strength, right? Ok, here’s your “fun, UFC inspired” mass building program on me, again…

Box jumps- x5
Walking lunges with heavy sandbag- x10
Towel pull ups- xAMAP
Kettlebell swings- x20
Bear crawl- x50 yards
Prowler push- x50 yards
Keg clean and press- x20

Repeat five times with no rest between sets.

Looks more fun and exciting than a few sets of five rep squats and presses, right? You’ll be massive and inhumanly strong in no time, I’m sure. Don’t get me wrong, the tools and exercises listed in the workout above are all very effective and  I’ve used them all on a frequent basis since the early 90’s. But if you’re a hardgainer who weighs 138 pounds and your main goal is to gain muscle and  get stronger you need to steer clear of this stuff for a few years.

 

Stick to the big basic exercises and get progressively stronger while shoveling food down your throat every few hours. Don’t miss meals or stay up past 10:30 at night. Do this for two years and we’ll seewhere you’re at. I’ve seen people go from 130 pounds to over 200 in that time frame doing just that.Too many people want to do something completely wacked out and exciting every time they walk into the gym. Occasionally clients used to ask me, “Rack pulls (or 1 arm rows, incline presses, whatever) again? Didn’t we just do those a month ago?” (these people never lasted long) Yup… we did.

And although I would like to feign empathy for you the fact is that I have been doing rack pulls, military presses, squats and pull ups for 23 years straight. Not juggling kettlebells while standing on a Swiss Ball in the middle of rush hour traffic. And I haven’t gotten bored yet. If you want to be entertained book a trip to Vegas or buy the Seinfeld box set (“It’s gold, Jerry…Gold!”)

If you want results you need to get over the ADD and the obsession with doing everything you see your favorite fighter doing and realize that getting big and strong requires a commitment to short, intense training sessions with a limited amount of basic exercises. And no, they won’t leave you drenched with sweat or sick to your stomach. If you’ve been brainwashed into thinking those types of workouts are “too easy,” then get stronger. This will no longer be a valid complaint at that point.

To recap, for beginners and skinny hardgainers to get bigger and stronger they need to do the following:

•    Use big, compound lifts- Squats, deads, pull ups, rows, pushups and presses

•    Do an average of 3 (and no more than 5) exercises per workout- Usually a push, a pull and a lower body exercise. Do not add in work for the calves, bi’s, tri’s, or abs.

•    Do no more than 8-15 total work sets per workout- Any more than this will only be cutting into your recovery ability.

•   Train three times per week- Guys with limited recovery ability can’t afford to do more than three workouts per week.

•    Limit workouts to 30-45 minutes, max- Anabolic hormone production peaks a half hour into your workout and is down to nada at the sixty minute mark. Cortisol production also rises during this time. Get in, hit it hard and get out.

•   Limit the amount of conditioning- Again, unless you have a fight coming up in a few weeks you need to make sure you stay focused on one goal at a time. If that goal is size and strength and you don’t have the genetics of a Mr. Olympia on your side, you need to resist the urge to add in extra conditioning work.

Like Dan John said, “The goal is to keep the goal the goal.”
–

Como andan de fuerza?

Excelente punto de referencia!

How Does Your Strength Compare to D-I Football Players? The purpose of this chart is to set evaluation standards for each athlete giving him an idea of what is a superior strenght level versus a marginal strength level for a specific position.

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN AND DEFENSIVE LINEMAN
Position Levels		Bench Press	Parallel Squat	Incline Press	Power Cleans
Superior	100%	400	500	350	310
Excellent	90%	380	480	330	290
Very Good	80%	355	455	310	270
Good	70%	330	430	290	250
Average	60%	300	400	270	230
Marginal	50%	260	360	250	210
LINEBACKERS, TIGHTENDS, AND SNAPPERS
Position Levels		Bench Press	Parallel Squat	Incline Press	Power Cleans
Superior	100%	360	460	310	280
Excellent	90%	340	440	290	260
Very Good	80%	315	415	270	240
Good	70%	290	390	250	210
Average	60%	260	360	230	190
Marginal	50%	220	320	210	170
OFFENSIVE BACKS
Position Levels		Bench Press	Parallel Squat	Incline Press	Power Cleans
Superior	100%	330	430	280	250
Excellent	90%	310	410	260	230
Very Good	80%	285	385	240	210
Good	70%	260	360	220	190
Average	60%	230	330	200	170
Marginal	50%	190	290	180	150
DEFENSIVE BACKS, QUARTERBACKS, RECEIVERS & KICKERS
Position Levels		Bench Press	Parallel Squat	Incline Press	Power Cleans
Superior	100%	305	405	250	220
Excellent	90%	290	390	230	200
Very Good	80%	270	370	210	180
Good	70%	250	350	190	160
Average	60%	225	315	170	140
Marginal	50%	190	290	150	120
Did you find this chart interesting? See how your bench press measures up compared to your body weight using this chart from Dale Harder's book "Strength & Speed Ratigns".

Sin dolor no hay Gloria?

Training through Pain

‘NO PAIN NO GAIN’.

The common mantra you hear across ‘hardcore’ gyms around the world.Especially in the MMA world.

According to some, if you can’t put up with a little pain, you’re not a man. Well, it’s all B-S-.Kinda.

Here’s the thing… There are different types of ‘pain’ that can happen when you’re training… There’s the burning pain you get in your muscles when you’re pushing yourself through an extra few reps of bench presses or bicep curls that’s a result of excess ‘lactic acid’ buildup in the muscles. This is the type of pain that you want to train through and go beyond, as you know there’s no unwanted damage occurring and you’re not going to cause an injury.

With intense focus and determination, you can often gut out a few more sets compared to when you’re easy on yourself and you don’t have a partner urging you on. One thing to remember is to ALWAYS TRAIN IN PERFECT TECHNIQUE. That means you immediately stop when form breaks down.

If you’re in a fight and you start getting a bit tired, do you think it’s acceptable to have sloppy form?

Obviously not!So train the way you want to fight. Another little tip I always tell my fighters when we’re training hard is to keep a ‘poker face’ (unlike the pic below).

Even if you’re exhausted, don’t let your opponent know it by making faces like you’ve been constipated for the last 7 days and you’re about to unleash the fury! Keep a calm, collected expression and you won’t energize your opponent by looking like you’re almost done.

This generally comes at the end of a hard set or during an intense interval type workout.

Yes, you’ve gotta go hard, but think of it as a controlled aggression, not an all-out, uncontrolled fury.

Other types of pain that you’re going to experience sooner or later include sharp, stabbing type pains where you just know something’s not right. These are the things you want to avoid during training for two reasons.

One - you’re likely causing more damage to already injured tissues, which will lead to a more severe injury and lost training time.

Two - the pain will likely be causing changes in movement and motor patterns, which will lead to compensation injuries in the future.

Here’s an example…When you sprain your ankle, your body wants to stay away from weight-bearing on your left leg.Do this over and over and your body soon starts to avoid using the left leg during all different types of movements. So say you start squatting heavy and because your body is trained to avoid the left leg, your body deviates to the right, putting damaging stresses on the lumbar spine and hips, resulting in an injury whenever you try to squat heavy!

You’ve got to avoid these compensatory movement patterns at all costs, because it takes a lot of specific exercise and rehab to break these patterns. If you’ve had any injuries from training or anything that you think may be disrupting proper movement patterns, leave them in the comments section below and let’s analyze them to see if they may pose a problem for you:

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.