DELOADING, excelente artículo de quién más? FERRUGIA

De paso guerreros, porfin entendí el concepto y como aplicarlo a partir de este artículo, lo recomieond totalmente, así como cualquiero otro de Jay:

How to Deload Properly… And Why It’s So Important

 Deload weeks are when you want to take plates off the bar. Once you’ve been training more than a few years the need to deload on a somewhat regular basis becomes more and more prevalent.

How often you do so depends on your training age, strength levels and injury history. Eastern Bloc countries and countless other successful lifters have had great results by training hard for three weeks and deloading on the fourth week.

It’s a pretty widely accepted formula and has been proven time and time again. So there’s really no need to try and reinvent the wheel. Three weeks hard, one week deload is my standard go-to-recommendation.

There are other options, however, and if you have only been training for a couple of years you won’t need to worry about deloading just yet. Beginners can go a few years without deloading. Eventually you’ll want to start with 12 weeks then work your way down to 10 and so on. When you get a little more advanced some people might be able to go 6-8 weeks hard before deloading. If you’re more of an early intermediate lifter, eight weeks may be a better option for you. If you’re more advanced and go eight weeks you might want to consider deloading for two weeks.

But to keep things simple let’s assume everyone is following the three to one rule. That’s the easiest thing to do since it fits nicely inside of a month.

I usually recommend reducing the total training per volume per workout by 40%. So say you normally do 20 sets per workout; on your deload week you would do 12 sets at each workout. On big barbell exercises that you do for maximal strength like a bench, squat, dead, military I recommend cutting the weight to 50% of your one rep max and just doing two sets of five. So lets say your 1RM on the bench is 315 and the previous week you were doing 255 for sets of 6-8, the deload week would be 155 (or technically 157.5) for 2×5.

The other option is to remove the lift all together for that week. I like this option for experienced guys who have a mastery of the lift and/or are also beat up from years of heavy training. The removal of the big barbell lift all together helps their joints recover. You also may kind of “lose the groove” if you do this, if you are more inexperienced, so it’s something you have to decide for yourself. But I think the benefits of taking that week off of heavy barbell lifting usually outweigh the negatives. You’ll get back in the groove in not time the following week.

For assistance exercises you have two choices. Intermediates should just do fewer sets but keep the intensity the same. You could do the same weight as the previous week or even try to go up. However, the intensiveness (not what some people mistake as intensity) should not be as high as the previous week . This means that you need to give your CNS a break on your deload week and shouldn’t be going to failure or getting overly psyched up on anything.

For guys who have been training a while and are a bit beyond the intermediate level I  recommend cutting the intensity by 20-40% on assistance exercises. So just take 20-40% off all your weights. If you did incline db presses for 10 reps with the 100′s on week three you would do 60′s- 80′s on your deload week. The stronger/more advanced/more beat up and further along in a training cycle you are the greater the drop off % should be. It also depends on the exercise. If you’re normally using 150lbs on a 1 arm row I would want to drop that down by a full 40%. But if it was just something like a face pull or curl you could easily get away with just dropping it 20%. You would do the same number of reps as the previous week but just cut the sets.

The other option is to just take the week entirely off from heavy lifting. I first did this back in the mid 90′s after a phone conversation with Ian King, and my results were awesome. My recovery dramatically improved, my testosterone went up, I was sleeping better and I had fewer nagging injuries. Like any good American I wanted more and got suckered into other stuff and got away from that for a while.

Be sure to lighten your weights on deload weeks

That was until I went to Nazareth Barbell one day for a visit and big Mike Miller told me that that’s what they did. Three weeks on of balls to the wall training, one week off entirely. They went at it hard and absolutely killed it for three weeks, then they rested. They were all monsters and I’m pretty sure Mike was the first guy to squat 1200. So it was hard to argue.

I went back to it again and had some of my over 35 year old clients doing it and they were making great progress.

Like the stubborn, glutton for punishment knucklehead that I am I have yet again gotten away from that schedule but it does work incredibly well and should strongly be considered by all those over 40 who like to go heavy and balls deep like we do. If all you do is some light bodyweight training or kettlebell stuff, deloading won’t be as important for you. But if you like moving iron and do stuff that stresses your shoulders, spine, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles regularly (like military presses, squats, farmers walks, tire flips, deadlifts- ya know, all the fun stuff) then  I would highly suggest deloading regularly.

If the over 35 crowd doesn’t want to take the week off entirely they should definitely at least reduce both the volume AND the intensity on their deload weeks. Not doing so really isn’t even an option, in my opinion, because it will keep you in the game and healthy a lot longer. Either you take the deload week and truly deload or you will be forced to deload due to an injury sooner or later.

Also, for the over 35 crowd I can’t recommend going more than 10-12 weeks without taking a complete week off entirely; with once every 8 (or fewer) weeks being an even better option. During these weeks you can stay active- walking, swimming, hiking, stretching, etc. But no lifting. Hopefully that gave you some good ideas about how to deload properly without being too confusing.

To sum it up…

- Reduce total # of sets by 40%
- Reduce intensity on big lifts to 50% of 1RM or just eliminate them all together
- Reduce intensity on assistance work to 80% of the previous weeks weight (if that doesn’t allow enough recovery drop the % down to 75% the next cycle, and so on and so on until you decide what % works best for you)

Excelente Articulo de Ferrugia Incluye a uno de mis idolos

Hill Sprints For Fat Loss 

 If you know me you know I like to keep things simple. I’m a big believer in the 80/20 rule. Focusing on too many things and making too many changes at once is always a recipe for disaster and will undoubtedly lead to lackluster results. So when people ask me for some tips on how to get lean I tell them two things- diet and sprint. Pretty simple stuff.

Diet is really 80% of getting lean but that’s another topic entirely. Today we’re simply gonna focus on hill sprints for fat loss. Mainly because not enough people are doing them and many of those who are, are doing them all wrong. If you are new to sprinting you need to take it easy. I mean reeeeaaaally easy. If the last time you ran a sprint was the week before senior prom you need to be very cautious or you’ll probably get hurt.

If this describes you I’d start with hill sprints. Why hill sprints? Well, firstly, because Walter Payton did them. And most of us should strongly consider doing whatever Walter Payton did just because he was that awesome. Because he was my favorite athlete growing up (along with Michael Jordan) I started running hill sprints way back in the 80’s when I found out that that’s what “Sweetness” did (and that poster, pictured above, was on my bedroom wall for years. You see how ripped Payton was?). When I found out a few years later that they were a major part of Jerry Rice’s off season training regimen, their greatness was reaffirmed in my mind.

Hill sprints place your body in a safer position because of the angle, so there is far less impact. The risk of pulling a hammy or popping an Achilles or something in your knee is greatly reduced. So, for most of us, this is the way to go. Another great thing about hill sprints versus other fat loss methods is that they also build muscle at the same time. Can’t really say that for the stairmaster, can you?

Now, before you get started you should warm up properly. Wearing some neoprene knee sleeves might be a good idea just to keep the knees warm. I recommend starting with about five to ten minutes of low intensity drills to get the body ready for the task at hand. A good warm up might consist of:

•    Jumping jacks •    Flings •    Seal jumps •    Ali shuffle •    Low pogo jump s•    High pogo jumps
•    Prisoner squats •    Gate swing s•    Wide out s•    Leg swings- front, back, side to side
•    Walking lunges•    High knees •    Butt kick s•    Tuck jumps •    Lateral shuffling •    Skipping
•    Etc.

The nice thing about sprinting up a hill is that you don’t require as much of a warm up. After hitting 5-10 minutes of the drills listed above start with some lower intensity sprints. Do one at about 60%, then 70%, another at 80%, one more at 90% and then you’re ready to go. For the most part I recommend that your sprint work be done at around 95-97%. Very rarely should you go all out at 100%. I realize that the difference between 95-97% and 100% may seem very small but an athlete in tuned with his body can tell the difference. And keeping the intensity just that much lower makes a big difference in overall recovery and CNS fatigue.

Again, if it’s your first sprint session in years you need to start way easier than you think. I recommend no more than FIVE sprints of no more than 40 yards the first day. Some times I see coaches or trainers recommend starting with ten 40-50 yard sprints. When I see this it’s immediately obvious that they haven’t trained too many people and haven’t done this themselves. Or they have been sprinting for years and forgot what its like to be a beginner. Beginners need to be extremely cautious and should start at only about 85-90% for the first week or so and keep the total number of sprints very low.

See how you feel after the first session and give it a go again in about five days. Slowly increase the intensity over time. Rest periods can be as short or as long as you need them to be. You want to keep your heart rate elevated but you don’t want to rest so little that your form starts getting sloppy and you risk injury. If you were training for speed you might be resting up to five minutes between each set. But since today’s topic is hill sprints for fat loss try to keep the rest periods a bit lower. We don’t need complete CNS recovery here.

The next thing we need to discuss is proper running mechanics. This is where most people get it all wrong. A couple weeks ago I went down to the field with my long time friend, Mike DeSanti (the creator of the recipes in the Triple Threat Muscle nutrition guide and our upcoming recipe book) and we ran some sprints. Since a qualified coach had never taught Mike how to sprint before he was just running like he always had without much thought involved.

I wanted him to feel the difference so I let him do about five or six sprints the old way. Then I taught him to run properly. His speed increased dramatically on the next one and when he hit the 50-yard line he broke out into hysterical laughter.

 

“I can’t believe I just learned how to sprint at thirty years old!”

“That was awesome!”

“I never moved like that in my life!”

“I was like a gazelle!”

He could barely get the words out through the laughter and since he was cracking up so hard I started dying, myself. We laughed uncontrollably the entire way back to the goal line and it continued throughout the rest of our workout. Mike was so blown away by the difference that proper running mechanics made that he couldn’t contain himself. So what did I show Mike that most people don’t know?

Since this is not a discussion on maximal speed training or mastering the 40 yard or 100 meter dash we won’t concern ourselves with the start so much. Instead, to be safe, we will use flying starts, meaning you start by running at less than your maximal speed and work your way up to top speed over the course of 15-20 yards.

•    Starting from the top down, the face must be relaxed. Do night clench your jaw or make any crazy faces. Relax.

•    Keep the chest up and shoulders back and down.

•    No side to side rotation of the pelvis, torso, shoulder girdle is allowed.

•    Hips remain forward toward the finish line at all times.

•    Arms should be bent ninety degrees with the hands open (no clenched fists or flailing, limp wrists).

•    When you are running the arms must pump vigorously, forward and backward. NEVER LET THE ARMS CROSS THE MIDLINE OF THE BODY. Only forward and backward. Little kids run with their arms side to side. Don’t do that or we will all make fun of you.

•    Think of pulling yourself through the air by driving your arms back as fast and hard as you can. The hands come up to a level even with the face and they come down and cross your pocket on the way back (but no further; don’t have them swinging way behind you).

•    Drive the knees high and be sure that the foot strikes directly under your body; not out in front of you (although, on a hill this may be slightly different depending on the incline).

•    Only the front portion of the foot should strike the ground; the heel should never make contact.

•    When the ball of the foot makes contact with the ground think of yourself as an animal pawing at the ground and rapidly pulling it behind you.

•    As Charlie Francis said, running takes place on the ground, sprinting takes place above it. If you do it right you should feel minimal impact or stress and should feel like you are flying effortlessly. If you’re taking a lot of pounding and it feels like a lot of work, you’re doing something wrong and should consider having someone watch or video tape you for some feedback.

What I listed above are basically the instructions for flat ground sprints but can easily be applied to the hill. A few angles will change here and there but for the most part, if you follow those recommendations you’ll be ahead of the pack and your sprints will be a lot safer and faster.

Just in case you aren’t convinced that hill sprinting isn’t the way to go just yet, consider that the current 49ers  head coach, Mike Singletary, who played most of his career with Walter Payton and had several outings against Jerry Rice, has taken a page out of the legends books and added hill sprints to the teams off season training regimen.

“There’s something about the hill,” Singletary told reporters back in mid-March 2009, after the 49ers first minicamp and the hill was on full display for the first time. “It’s beautiful to look at but what it’s going to do for our guys is it’s going to bring about something that you can’t really get in the weight room, something that you really can’t get on the track.”

“All the guys that I know that worked out on a hill, they were a cut above some of the other competition around the league and they had a long playing careers,” Singletary said. “So I’m excited about the hill and it just adds another dimension to our workout.”

So make like Payton and Rice and the entire current 49ers team and go find yourself a hill and start sprinting…

REvisen sus programas yo ya estoy revisando el mio!!!!!

MMA Workout Program Basics

By Eric Wong, BSc, CSCS

 

Strength and conditioning are keys to MMA success. Your MMA workout must develop all of the components you need for mixed-martial arts. In the past many athletes could get away with mediocre conditioning if they were highly skilled martial artists, but if you look at today’s UFC champs, they’re all highly skilled and in great shape.

So if you’re training MMA, to get the most out of your mixed-martial arts classes, you need to be in good shape. If you’re not in top shape, you’ll be more focused on your fatigue and breathing than on perfecting the details of the techniques you’re learning. And without good technique, you’ll waste more energy, creating a vicious cycle. If you’re out of shape, you need to focus on your base conditioning, before you can get the most out of your skills training. And if you’re in OK shape, getting into great shape will further enhance what you already know.

 

The 9 Key Components an
Effective MMA Workout MUST Have
(or you're just wasting your time and energy)

1) Workouts to develop all 3 energy systems: aerobic, anaerobic lactic (glycolytic), anaerobic alactic (ATP-CP)

• The Anaerobic alactic system gives you high-power for 10 seconds - that's the energy system you need to train to knock your opponent out or get an explosive takedown
  
• The Anaerobic lactic system gives you that burning feeling - it's what you need when you're in a heavy clinch or doing a lot of grappling
  
• The Aerobic system helps you stay fresh and recover between rounds
  
  
   2) Exercises designed to enhance movements specific to mixed-martial arts
  

Example #1 - Many people hate on bicep curls but they’re necessary to hold underhooks when standing or to defend an armbar, so they must be a part of the program
Example #2 – Powerful strikes come from having a high level of dynamic core stability in the rotational (transverse) plane of motion, so exercises like medicine ball side tosses are necessary

3 planes of motion

3) Exercises that work all 3 planes of motion: sagittal, frontal, and transverse

• Most exercises that you do are predominantly in the sagittal plane: Bench press, Squat, Deadlift
• Examples of frontal plane exercises include Side bridges and Turkish getups
• The transverse plane is where you earn your bonus for Knockout of the Night: again, Medicine ball side tosses are a great exercise for pure development of this plane

4) A workout program that doesn’t make you too sore so you can effectively train their MMA skills. If you're following a standard bodybuilder or powerlifter routine, you're going to get sore and it will hurt your ability to perform MMA techniques with proper form because the body always avoids pain when it can.

5) An effective MMA workout program must not put on too much muscle mass (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, like bodybuilding) – instead the focus must be on strength and muscle density (myofibrillar hypertrophy)

6) A progression scheme that peaks your conditioning level for the fight, taking into consideration the typical volume and intensity of MMA training leading to the fight

7) A workout program that doesn’t demand more than 3 days a week of strength and conditioning. Anymore than this will surely detract from MMA skills training

8) Exercises that will train all 8 biomotor abilities: strength, power, endurance, speed, agility, co-ordination, balance, and flexibility

9) Exercises that will help prevent common injuries to fighters:

Example – the shoulder is often a problem with fighters, especially those who rely on their boxing, which causes overdevelopment of the anterior deltoid and demands a lot of anterior acceleration of the humerus in the capsule – so to minimize the impact on the joint itself, the muscles that are responsible for deceleration (external rotators, posterior deltoid, scapular stabilizers) must be strengthened eccentrically

All of these points are essential to the complete physical development for a mixed-martial artist. There are many basic strength programs out there, like the 5x5 and Starting Strength programs, but they leave out some crucial elements such as training the transverse plane that is responsible for developing KO power.

Not to say that these programs are not beneficial, they definitely are better than doing something randomly or not doing anything at all, but they are not specific to MMA athletes, they are generalized strength programs.

Then there are the general conditioning programs, like CrossFit. Although they can be very challenging, they are random workouts with no goal in mind other than to make you sweat, again providing a more general type of fitness instead of the specific requirements needed by a mixed-martial artist as outlined in this article.

If you’re currently working out, look at the points in this article and add in what is missing and you’ll surely feel the impact on what matters most – your MMA performance.

REtomo actividades con un artículo de Ferrugia

 

Fat Burning Tips:

An Interview with Chad Waterbury

 

About three or four years ago Chad Waterbury and I connected for the first time through our mutual friend, Alwyn Cosgrove. Over several Jack & Red Bulls at a bar in Santa Monica, we discussed training for hours on end.  Despite the fact that we went into the meeting with seemingly very different views and theories, we concluded that we agreed much more than we disagreed. Since that night Chad’s become one of my good friends and we discuss training on a weekly basis. He’s one of the guys I trust most and I’m always interested in hearing what he’s been experimenting with as of late.

Since summer’s in full swing and a large number of people are in fat loss mode I grabbed Chad last week for a few minutes to sit down and share some of his top fat burning tips.

Here’s how it went…

Jason Ferruggia: Chad, the majority of people reading this site want to get bigger and stronger but many of them would also like to be learner as well. The problem, however, is that when most people embark on a fat burning phase the first thing that happens is they start losing muscle faster than King Kong Bundy pinned S.D. Jones at WrestleMania I (which I was at, BTW) How can this be avoided?

Chad Waterbury: You’re right. I’ve lost count how many guys I’ve seen who’ve lost almost half the muscle they gained once they try to get six-pack abs. It’s not easy to build muscle, but it’s definitely easy to lose it.

There are three keys to avoiding this. First, stimulate as many muscle fibers as possible with full-body workouts comprised of strength and cardio strength exercises that are performed at top speed.

Second, follow a systematic progression plan in order to make your body do more work over time.

Third, feed your muscles the nutrients it needs at the right times.

JF: What are the three biggest mistakes you see people making when trying to lose fat?

CW: The first mistake is performing long duration cardio at a low intensity. Nothing wastes muscle tissue faster than jogging for an hour. When muscles are forced to continuously contract for 45 minutes or an hour, that energy has to come from somewhere. The body is very stubborn and doesn’t want to use fat for energy because it’s much easier to break down muscle tissue instead. This is why marathon runners are skinny and weak.

Second, when people try to lose fat they drop too many calories, too fast. Your anabolic hormones are fed by certain, key nutrients. When people go on a low-calorie diet they end up giving their muscles fewer nutrients for support and recovery. This quickly puts the body in a very catabolic state.

The third biggest mistake guys tend to make is choosing the wrong exercises and workouts to lose fat. Most people end up lifting light weights for a ton of reps. This is the exact opposite of what they should be doing because they’re not recruiting the muscle fibers they’re trying to keep: the biggest, strongest ones.

Think about it. When people try to burn fat they instinctively do the three worst things possible to maintain muscle. I’ve seen guys lose 10 pounds of muscle in a matter of weeks when they combine low-intensity cardio, high rep weight training, and a low calorie diet. This is a travesty.

JF: What are your top three fat burning tips? Actually, let’s start with three for training and then we’ll go into three for nutrition.

CW: The first step is to make your cardio training short and intense. Tabata’s research taught us that high intensity cardio is the way to go because you’ll boost your anaerobic and aerobic power at the same time, and you’ll stimulate your metabolism to burn calories long after you leave the gym. Low-intensity cardio only burns calories while you’re doing it. High intensity cardio stimulates your metabolism to keep burning calories long after you stop.

Next, for every other workout it’s important to lift weights that are heavy enough to recruit your biggest, strongest muscle fibers. A 6-10 rep maximum is enough to get the job done when you accelerate the lift. There are two reasons why this is important. First, you’ll keep the muscle you have because you’re recruiting all of your muscle fibers. As I’ve mentioned in my books and articles, when you recruit the largest muscle fibers you’re also recruiting all of the other muscle fibers because of the size principle. As the saying goes: if you don’t use it, you lose it. Second, when heavy weights are performed in a full-body circuit with short rest periods, it drastically increases the metabolic cost of a workout. That’s essential for burning fat. But you can’t do much heavy training while cutting fat, so that’s why the next step is so important.

Third, you must perform cardio and cardio strength exercises at top speed.  There are no typical cardio exercises in my world. Instead of jogging on a treadmill I have my clients perform a circuit of, say, split jacks, jumping jacks, and burpees for multiple rounds as fast as possible. Then I have them do exercise pairings that don’t require a lot of weight, but still recruit all your muscle fibers when performed at top speed. I call this “cardio strength” training. A good example is the kettlebell swing and push-up pairing. Start with 13 swings, then immediately drop to the floor and do 13 push-ups. Jump back to your feet and do 12 swings followed by 12 push-ups. Then do 11 swings and 11 push-ups. Continue with this sequence until you reach one rep of each exercise.

Tomorrow I’ll be back atcha with part 2 where Chad discusses his top fat burning nutrition tips, shares some real life examples of what he’s doing with his current clients and reveals who won when he and I raced in a hundred meter dash…

Fortaleza mental en todos los aspectos

En estos tiempos ando en el rollo de a preparaci´øn mental y en este posteo les comparto un artículo de Vince Palko que en realidad trasciende el umbral deportivo y encuentra aplicacion en la vida diaria, aprovechenlo...

What do John Elway, Hines Ward and Brian Pruitt 

all have in common?

First, a lil diddy: Back in college it came down to the biggest game of my collegiate career - BG vs Central Michigan, the winner went to the Mac championship. Central had a top rated running back that year name Mike Priutt. Nothing did I like better than having the challenge rest on the dee to stop this guy. The first play from the line of scrimmage was a sixty yard scamper to the end zone by Mr Pruitt. After that, he was lucky to get fifty yards total.

On one play, I remember drilling Mike into the ground with everything I had. He let out a gust of wind emptying his lungs.... "Umph!" "Ya come on my side a-gain and yur gonna get more of dhat," I whispered in his ear hole.

"Vince, May God be with you!" "What?!?!?!?!" I thought. How can this be? I leveled him and his response was "May God be with you." My strategy for mentally messing with his head was trumped.

People who practice mental toughness have a knack for never letting you know an ounce of their pain inside. Theyre tough as nails. They eat thunder and crap lightning.

John Elway was another example of this. No matter how hard a linebacker would thump him he always stood-up displaying that cheshire grin. In fact, no matter if the Bronchoes were behind or ahead

he alwas seemed to have the same expression. As a fan on the opposing team it was frustating as heck to watch.Can you imagine being an opposing player and seeing that when you line up for every snap.

 Heines ward is another example if you want a more recent person who practices this "smile into adversity" principle. After every jaw rattling tackle he pops up off the ground with that cheesy smile. It almost looks fake if it were not plastered on his face - all game long.

So is this another one of my many ole football stories that I mindlessly pound out that have zero to do with your life. Hardly.

There are many folks who are in a world of hurt. Maybe not physically but mentally. If you are unemployed. If you are facing foreclosure. If you are at odds with your employer. Basically, if you are living life... chances are you are being challenged now more than ever.

So my advice is smile into adversity. Smile when it hurts most. Dont let the circumstances get the best of you; less you give your power away to people, places and things that dont count in the grand scheme of things. Or the big picture.

When you smile when you dont feel like it, you instantly change your energy. You change the way people respond to you. In essence, you activate your FAITH muscle trusting everything will be alright in the future. And FAITH is one of the key components to success and turning your life around.

La sabiduría de Cus D´Amato

On November 4th, it will have been 21 years since the death of Cus D'Amato - a man who helped alter the future of the sport and who developed some of the greatest fighters in history. To remember this legendary trainer we would like  to give you some of Cus D'Amato's words of wisdom and remember the great man and brilliant trainer/manager he was. 

Cus D'Amato on how the recognition and acknowledgement of fear is the crucial lesson he taught and was ignored by other trainers:

 
Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning in any area, but particularly in boxing. For example, boxing is something you learn through repetition. You do it over and over and suddenly youve got it. However, in the course of trying to learn, if you get hit and get hurt, this makes you cautious, and when youre cautious you cant repeat it, and when you cant repeat it, its going to delay the learning process.

When kids came up to the gym and say I want to be a fighter, the first thing Id do was talk to them about fear would always use the same example of the deer crossing an open field and upon approaching the clearing suddenly instinct tells him danger is there, and nature begins the survival process, which involves the body releasing adrenalin into the bloodstream, causing the heart to beat faster and enabling the deer to perform extraordinarily feats of agility and strength. It enables the deer to get out of range of the danger, helps him escape to the safety of the forest across the clearing, an example in which fear is your friend.
The thing a kid in the street fears the most is to be called yellow or chicken, and sometimes a kid will do the most stupid, wild, crazy things just to hide how scared he is. I often tell them that while fear is such an obnoxious thing, an embarrassing thing nevertheless it is your friend, because anytime anyone saves your life perhaps a dozen times a day, no matter what how obnoxious he is, youve got to look upon him as a friend, and this is what fear is. 

Since nature gave us fear in order to help us survive, we cannot look upon it as an enemy. Just think how many times a day a person would die if he had no fear. Hed walk in front of cars, hed die a dozen times a day. Fear is a protective mechanism. 

By talking to the fighters about fear I cut the learning time maybe as much as half, sometimes more, depending on the individual.

More words of wisdom:

"They say I 'mold' a fighter, but no. I help him mold himself. I bring out with him qualities that he has buried deep down, that many times he doesn't know he has. My job is to discover and uncover, bring 'em to the surface slowly or quickly, dependin' on how much dirt is layin' on top of 'em. When I bring 'em to the surface, I not only become fully and completely aware of 'em, but the fighter does too."

"The first lesson I teach these kids before I teach them to box is a lesson about Fear, about what Fear is and why we have it. Fear is like a fire. If you control it, as we do when we heat our houses, it is a friend. When you don't, it consumes you and everything you do and everything around you."

"I am a professional. My commitment demands of me... my pride. Everybody sets his own limitations on himself. I set no limitations on myself, except to do the job that I commit myself to do."

"I deal in minds and emotions."

"There is no such thing as a natural puncher. There is a natural aptitude for punching and that is different. Nobody is born the best. You have to practice and train to become the best."

"A boy comes to me with a spark of interest and it becomes a flame. I feed the flame and it becomes a fire. I feed the fire and it becomes a roaring blaze."

"Mike's (Tyson) punch is like an atomic bomb in that it is relative to nature. Both have no value unless you have a means of conveying it to the target. He is boxing-smart."

"When a fighter no longer wants to fight, he finds a convenient corner to lie down in. It's all psychological."

"Any kid coming here (Gramercy Gym) for the first time who thinks he wants to be a fighter, and who makes the climb up those dark stairs, has it 50% licked, because he's licking fear."

"People who are born round don't die square."

"No matter what anyone says, no matter the excuse or explanation, whatever a person does in the end is what he intended to do all along."

"Heroes and cowards feel exactly the same fear. Heroes just react to it differently."

"There are no stupid people. There are only uninterested people."

"People, especially if they come up in a rough area, have to go through a number of experiences in life that are intimidating and embarrassing. These experiences form layer upon layer over their capabilities and talents. So your job as a teacher is to peel off those layers."

"People talk about boxing as a 'brutal' sport. If fighters got hit as often as people think, they'd all quit."

"With fear, a man becomes emotionally tired and when he is afraid, he has no faith in himself."

"I believe nature's a lot smarter than anyone thinks. During the course of a man's life he develops a lot of pleasures and people he cares about. Then nature takes them away one by one. It's her way of preparing you for death.

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.