Iron and the Soul

February 28, 2009

Henry%20Rollins Iron and the Soul By Henry Rollins

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like you parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes.

Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn’t think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my adviser. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard.

Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.’s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing.

In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in. Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say **** to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body. Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live.

Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Motivation | 14 Comments

My Thoughts on A-Rod and Bonds

February 24, 2009

A Rod%202 My Thoughts on A Rod and Bonds I am a huge New York Yankees fan. Have been since the day I was born. But I honestly don’t want to hear another word about Alex Rodriguez as long as I live. I’ve had enough of it. And you know why? Because it’s all nonsense.

The fact that most people are failing to realize is that there is no drug or chemical substance in existence that can help you hit a baseball or throw a perfect strike. Everyone who is crying about A-Rod and Barry Bonds has probably never stepped foot on a diamond before and has no idea what it takes to excel at that level.

These are the excuse makers. “I could have been that good (ripped, lean, muscular, strong, big, fast, whatever) if I only had better genetics or had taken that pill.”

If all it took were brute strength then you would see powerlifters and strongmen competitors dominating the Major Leagues. Instead, guys like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle were able to drink a case of beer and still come to Yankee Stadium the next morning and dominate the game. Daryl Strawberry said he used to have relations with females in the dugout between innings, for cripes sake! Baseball, unlike a lot of sports, is a game of skill more than it is a game of athleticism. It’s closer to golf than it is to football or basketball. Its hand eye coordination, timing and decision making.

When you don’t swing at bad pitches and always put the bat on the ball, racking up hit after hit, like Bonds does, you are a great baseball player, period.

Was he taking something illegal? I have no idea. Did it help him become the all time leading home run hitter? Maybe. But as someone who understands the game of baseball, and more importantly, what the human body is capable of, I will argue ‘til the day I die that what Barry Bonds did could have been done with or without chemical assistance. If he knew how to train, eat and recover properly, the gains he made over the last twenty years would actually be considered below average for my clients. He gained a pound or so a year for two decades.

Big deal! I have guys who gain that much size in a single summer.

“Yeah but look how much better a baseball player he became!”

And your point is what? People can’t improve over the course of twenty years? Michael Jordan didn’t continuously get better? Tiger Woods isn’t always improving? Kobe Bryant is no better now than he was six or seven years ago? It’s an absolutely asinine argument and the only way someone could make it is if they haven’t improved in any aspect of their lives for the last twenty years. And then you could see where the bitterness stems from…

There is nothing out of the realms of reality about what Barry Bonds did. It was all very, very possible, in fact.

While drugs will not help you hit a baseball, they will probably turn some warning track fly outs into homeruns. The more strength you have and can transfer through your bat and into the ball, IF you are a great hitter already, can definitely lead to the ball going further.

If the great Hank Aaron’s record fell due to drug usage I would be very disappointed, as I am a huge fan of Hammerin’ Hank and not particularly fond of Bonds (or A-Rod for that matter).

Although I too, long for the days of The Babe and The Mick, the fact remains that those days are gone. As a baseball fan I say it’s time to move on. So A-Rod used Primobolan for three years. Being a professional strength coach, it’s my job to know about every performance enhancing substance there is and believe me, this one would have had very little effect. But that’s beside the point. He is a great baseball player. And I haven’t seen all of the other guys who tested positive put up his kind of numbers.

I am not condoning cheating or using banned substances at all. I have trained professional baseball players and some of them were chemically assisted when they came to me. The first thing I did was get them off drugs. When I taught them how to eat and train properly, and naturally maximize their bodies own hormone production they got even better results naturally than when they were on something.

It’s really not that hard to do when you have the right plan to follow with unrelenting dedication and bust your ass every day in pursuit of your ultimate goal.

Let the excuse makers continue to whine. Let the drug users continue to cheat. But never let their negative attitudes creep into your psyche or stop you of doing what you are capable of. Anything is possible.

Train hard,

Jason Ferruggia

PS. To see how I get guys bigger and stronger in 12 weeks than a lot of steroid users get in 12 months click HERE now.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Strength & Conditioning | 5 Comments

You Have Got to be Kidding Me…

February 21, 2009

NoShameLogo You Have Got to be Kidding Me... I had to post this email that I got this morning because it was beyond belief. My response follows below.

I wanted to write you to inquire if you would help me make a dream come true. This spring My wife and I have put together a great program that will truly bless some football players. It is a 4 month program that will give 16 kids an opportunity to train with me, learn discipline, learn nutrition, the importance of character, and learn the benefits of hard work. I was talking to a friend of mine that played D 3 football in the same conference I did and we talked about how a lot of kids do not learn the necessary tools to succeed in athletics, life, and work.

I can remember growing up in a single parent home with my mother and just playing sandlot football to perfect my skills on the field. We did not have the knowledge about a well structured training plan, knew nothing about nutrition, and did not have a system in place to teach us about character. It took many years for me to learn and test many training philosophies. We have been fortunate, but many kids are still in the stage where they cannot afford quality training, but need an extra push to become superior athletes and of good character.

I believe in the bible verse that says give and it shall be given unto you. I am asking that you tap your resources to help mike the biggest difference there is and that is help change a life. The program cost $1200 for 4 months of training. You may not be able to sponsor an athlete, but you know someone that can. Please do not let another athlete miss out on their potential even if it is just sixteen. We hope to make this program year round and help as many kids as possible. We all want to be successful, but in the end only the impact you had on other lives will be remembered. Please help with this sponsorship or any other tools you feel will be of value to this program. All sponsors will be featured on our website and in our promotional material. Please take a look at our link at ShamelessBastard.com and make a difference. Thanks in advance for your help.

Jerry

Jerry,

I don’t know who you are and what your story is but I must tell you that I am utterly disgusted and appalled by this email.

This is something that you do for free. You do not request that other people pay you to do charitable work.

You have seriously got to be kidding me and should be completely ashamed of yourself.

“Give and it shall be given unto you.”

I’m not religious but if you’re going to live according to this principle and want to do something for underprivileged kids you do it out of the goodness of your heart. Not to make an extra twenty grand for the summer.

Thanks for giving me some extra motivation for my workout this morning, as I am completely enraged right now.

If you honestly can’t think of any other ways to make money you should find a different line of work or do some business consulting with my friend Alwyn Cosgrove.

And in the meantime take a good hard look in the mirror.

I hope you’re proud of what you see. Because you make me sick.

Jason

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Can You Lose Fat & Gain Muscle Simultaneously?

February 17, 2009

so175 Can You Lose Fat & Gain Muscle Simultaneously? It has often been said that you can’t lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously. That statement is actually incorrect. Beginners can do it. Even guys who have been training for a long time who make drastic changes to their diet and their workout programs can do it. You can’t do it for extended periods of time, but it can be done.

For example, if you are currently doing traditional steady state cardio, switch to sprints. Sprints have an anabolic effect and do not produce cortisol at the same rate that traditional cardio does. Not only that but they burn twice the fat. So you will build muscle and get leaner at the same time.

If you are currently using light weights and high volume workouts, increase the weight and reduce the sets and reps. This will help you get stronger, build muscle and avoid unnecessary cortisol production.

If you are currently eating 2500 calories per day, jack it up to 3500 calories per day. This will ignite your metabolism and you will start building muscle and burning fat faster than you have in months. You will notice that your temperature increases and you are hot even in the dead of winter. This is a sure sign that your metabolism is jacked. But be careful because this magical effect will only last for a few days or weeks at most. Then you will have to start employing some nutritional trickery to keep the effect going without getting fat.

What can’t be achieved on a long term basis is MAXIMAL muscle gain and MAXIMAL fat loss AT THE SAME TIME. You can do both simultaneously on a long term basis, but neither will be maximized. That is the key difference that many people often overlook. So if you want to be ripped like Georges St. Pierre or Terrel Owens you can’t also hope to add 30 pounds of muscle in the next 12 weeks. It’s one or the other. At the same time, if you want to get jacked like a strongman competitor, you can’t be trying to maintain a single digit bodyfat percentage for the next 12 weeks.You’re going to have to accept the fact that you will gain some bodyfat on a massive bulking cycle. You won’t become a fat slob (if you eat right) but you may soften up a bit. This can be dieted off later.

If you want to gain as much size as possible you need a program like this:

http://tinyurl.com/aphyye

If you want to get shredded at warp speed, in 28 days or less, you need a program like more like this: http://tinyurl.com/agqphe

Choose one. Kill it. Then move on to another goal.

Be relentless,

Jason Ferruggia

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Muscle Building | Leave a Comment

What Makes an Athlete Great?

February 16, 2009

shaq kobe insult blog What Makes an Athlete Great? In a dream come true I was able to spend my Valentine’s Day at home with my girlfriend eating an amazing dinner, and dessert consisting of homemade chocolate coconut pudding (made with the best protein powder on the market) while watching NBA All Star Saturday Night. Now that’s my kind of Valentine’s Day. I text messaged a few friends and told them to enjoy their price fixed dinners with the crappy holiday menu and that they could catch the highlights on Sports Center in the morning. I used to never miss this event but haven’t been as into it the last few years. Let’s face it; things haven’t been the same since MJ retired. But I did find this years festivities very entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed the All Star Game last night as well.

Seeing guys like Lebron and Dwight Howard dominate the court really emphasizes the point of how important strength training is for almost all sports. When I was growing up most of the guys in the NBA weren’t half as jacked as the guys today. When you’re bigger and stronger than everyone else you are hard to stop.

Unlike some strength coaches, however, I am willing to admit that although those qualities help a lot of the guys on the court, they wouldn’t do much for other guys. I honestly don’t think that a guy like Tony Parker or Ray Allen or any other back court players would benefit as much from a serious strength training program.

Look at a guy like Allen Iverson. He’s one of the best players of the last ten years. And also one of the most injured. Would bulking up a bit have helped AI stay healthy? He plays very aggressively so maybe it would have helped him withstand some of the collisions he was a part of. Or maybe the extra weight would have just been more wear and tear on his knees and lower back. What about if he just increased his relative strength without getting bigger? Maybe… maybe not.

AI has the incredible body control that is a commonality amongst all great athletes. That is not something he trained for. It is the ability to contract the muscles at just the right time with just the right amount of tension and then immediately relax. Maximal contraction, dynamic relaxation. Ali had it. Montana had it. Pele had it. Mantle had it. Jordan had it. AI has it. Slashing, cutting, crossing over, spinning, launching a fade away while changing directions in mid air; these are not things that most forms of traditional strength training can help you with.

How about a front court player who’s skinny as a rail, like Kevin Garnett? If he bulked up to Dwight Howard’s size would he be any better? I doubt it. In fact, I would argue that the extra weight would have been a detriment to his game.

And what of the greatest of all time, Michael Jordan himself? He played the majority of his career at 195 pounds and then in his later years beefed up to 215. That’s when he started getting injured and having the lower back problems. Running up and down the court, jumping and landing with an additional twenty pounds on you takes a toll. If you don’t believe me go put on a twenty pound weight vest and play hoops for 48 minutes. Let me know how you feel tomorrow.

When you have a guy like Jordan or Iverson, there is very little you as a strength and conditioning coach can do to help them improve. They are great and will be great no matter what. At that level your job is really “not to fuck them up,” like Pitt and former Cleveland Browns strength coach Buddy Morris has said.

But what about the high school point guard who has potential but needs work? This is a guy that can be helped. Training for a 500 pound squat is not always the answer, however. He needs to be fast and he needs to be loose. He needs incredible body control. To better grasp what I am talking about picture Ali or Bruce Lee dancing, hopping, shuffling around, light as a feather. Float like a butterfly and then BAM! Sting like a bee. In the blink of an eye every single muscle is maximally tensed and the force is transmitted from the ground up through an incredibly powerful core into a jab that could knock out the mighty Sonny Liston or into the famous one inch punch that Bruce Lee could send guys across the room with.

This has nothing to do with maximal bench presses or anything of the sort.

For the young athlete who has potential, maximal strength work is only a part of the equation. There needs to be more. For skills position players and athletes you need to think more Ali, less George Foreman.

How do you do that? Stay tuned…

Jason Ferruggia

PS. If you can’t wait any longer and are a field athlete or coach who needs to learn more about improving speed ASAP, check out Complete Speed Training.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Strength & Conditioning | Leave a Comment

How to Build Big Traps

February 12, 2009

bill goldberg How to Build Big Traps Ever since I first discussed the importance of “the power look” and how important it is to earn respect and separate you from the pencil neck, I am repeatedly asked about how to build big traps. The best trap building exercise in existence is the deadlift. One need look no further than the massive trap development of elite powerfliters to see how effective this exercise is at building these intimidating muscles. But pussyfooting around with light weights will never get the job done. You need to deadlift heavy weights (with picture perfect form) for sets of 3-10 reps. A good goal for most lifters is to be able to pull double bodyweight for five reps. If you want traps like Brock Lesnar aim for 2.5 times your bodyweight for a set of five. Deadlifts should be performed once a week for 1-3 sets of 5-10 reps.

Any discussion about how to build big traps would not be complete without discussing the Olympic lifts and their various pull variations. Utilizing Olympic lifts and their pull variations such as snatches, cleans, high pulls and clean pulls are another great way to build huge traps. A great advanced trap building routine involves working from the top down and combining Olympic pulls and deadlifts into one workout. Below is an advanced workout that will build enormous traps on just about anyone.

1) Hang Clean- 4 x 3-5 x 90sec rest

2) High Pull- 3 x 5-6 x 60sec

3) Deadlift – 1 x 6-8, 1 x 10-12 x 120sec

4) Neck Extensions with Harness- 2-3 x 12-20 x 90sec

Finish up the workout with some calves, abs and grip work. Do this workout once per week and do no other back work, besides a few sets of chin ups one other day per week. Follow this program for 4-6 weeks and add weight as often as you can, as long as you maintain perfect form.

If you can’t deadlift perfectly from the floor with pristine technique, it is recommended to pull from rubber mats, blocks or pins in order to prevent lower back injuries.

Now you know how to build big traps. So go get after it.

Jason Ferruggia

PS. If you want even more routines for the traps and every other body part, check out http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com now. Summer is only a few months away. Don’t waste time…

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Raison d’etre

February 11, 2009

jack%2Blalanne The Raison detre

By Alwyn Cosgrove

I presented on Real World Fat Loss at the 2007 Perform Better event in Rhode Island and the 2008 NSCA conference. As part of my presentation I talked about my “story” – why I became fascinated with fat loss and effective fat loss training — and the need to destroy the myths that surround the topic — and why it keeps me up at night scouring journals for new information.

I believe that behind every person who is trying to change something — or present something new — there is a passion – an overwhelming why – that drives them to find the answers. It’s become something that I look for before really listening to coaches or trainers. The why. The Raison d’être.

When I was in Rhode Island I called my long time friend Jason Ferruggia (Jay and I first met about eleven years ago)to invite him to the seminar. Jay couldn’t make it, as he was busy putting the finishing touches on his muscle building course. I was surprised that he hadn’t mentioned it to me before as it was a big project.

But then when I thought about it a bit more I wasn’t surprised at all. you see Jason looks at building muscle in the same way as I look at fat loss — he’s always looking at research, reading training logs, testing methods and refining his ideas.

That’s his passion.

And that’s why guys like myself, and a bunch of other trainers are always asking his input on how to gain muscle. I flew him out to California to conduct a staff training for my team because he’s not only one of the best there is – he’s constantly improving his methodology.

I mean – we’re talking about a guy who took himself drug-free from 147 to 231lbs.

We’re talking about a guy who has tried every training method under the sun and confesses to spending $60,000 on worthless supplements to try to gain size.

This is a guy who would email me in the middle of the night when I was going through my chemotherapy treatments with ideas on halting muscle breakdown and using different nutrients to enhance my immune system. His desire to find the solution to muscle growth problems drove him.

And it continues to drive him today.

Some of you may be aware that I used to have a column in Mens Fitness magazine called Hardgainer. I was a skinny kid who gained muscle (fought my first mens black belt event at 136lbs) and the editors felt that a regular column would be a great idea.

I did it for a year before I gave it up and handed the reins to Jay. You see – his passion for the topic, and to be brutally honest, his knowledge on how to gain muscle was ahead of mine. I pride myself, and have always done so – on honesty and integrity – and felt that he would make a great resource for the magazine.

Jason’s Muscle Growth course is available here . I spent last night re-reading it. Even reading the information you can almost feel the passion behind the words — and you’ll see why Jay is one of the best in the field at this.

I think the overall message when you’re looking for information in any field is to find the most passionate individuals – those with a Raison d’être and an incessant desire to find out why… and a primary question of “how to make it better”…

Maybe one day I’ll know all the answers. Until then I’ll keep studying

–
Alwyn Cosgrove
PS – If you want to read Jay’s story – get over to Muscle Gaining Secrets from Jason Ferruggia

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

How to Build Big Calves

February 5, 2009

188370682 a190bcdab8 How to Build Big Calves Question: I have a question about how to build big calves. Mine are like string beans and can’t get them to grow. Got any good suggestions?

Answer: Whenever people ask me how to build big calves, I immediately check their training volume. High volume works great for calves. They are probably the hardest muscle to build. I have always had calves like string beans. Just doing a few sets for them never did anything for me. Since I had no desire to train them and preferred to focus on strength, athleticism and bigger compound lifts they stayed that way for years.

The only time they finally responded was when I hit them with very high volume. I usually do this for about a month and then I am bored to tears and stop training calves again for another year. Also, you can’t really tolerate the high volume loading for too long before you will start to develop some ankle/achilles problems. If you are an athlete and run or jump a lot, don’t even consider doing high volume calf work.

If you just want to get them jacked then you need to really increase your volume and frequency. I have put two inches on my calves in just over a month! Now, don’t get me wrong, my calves are still small, but the point is you can add significant size to your calves if you really want to.

They were Arnold’s worst bodypart and he dedicated all his time and effort to bringing them up. He even cut all of his pants off at the knee so he had to suffer the embarrassment of having his calves exposed wherever he went.

One option is to do a set of calves between every set of every exercise you do at each workout. Be sure to go heavy, get a good, deep stretch and hold it for a second (and up to ten seconds) at the bottom and get all the way up on your big toe at the top while flexing your calves hard. When you do standing calves your knees should be slightly bent on the way down and then locked out on the way up.

Another option is to start each workout (or each lower body day) with calves. One day per week would be heavy standing calf raises for 5-10 sets of 5-8 reps and the other day would be seated calf raises done for 4-5 sets of 15-30 reps.

You should also consider training the tibialis anterior muscles. These are the muscles that run down the front of your shin. Some people develop imbalances from too much ankle extension and not enough ankle flexion. When this happens and becomes a problem, the calves will not grow. So train these muscles by hanging your feet off the end of a bench and holding a dumbbell or DARD device between them and flexing your feet up toward you for a few sets of 10-20 reps, twice a week.

After you finish up with standing, seated and donkey calf raises and the tib raises, try doing farmers walks for up to five or even ten minutes while remaining on your toes the entire time. This will absolutely smoke your calves.

Finally, finish up your workouts with 10-20 minutes of jumping rope.

The above strategies should definitely get anyone’s calves to grow rapidly in a couple of months. Just be sure to ease into the extra volume slowly and gradually and take a step back if your ankles start to bother you.

If you are currently doing only 3-4 sets of calves twice per week you should slowly add a set or two at every workout until you get to about 10 or so. Ten hard, heavy sets plus the farmers walks and jumping rope should be more than enough for most people to add an inch or so in a month.

Good luck.

Jason Ferruggia

PS. For more great information about how to build big calves and every other body part, visit http://www.MuscleGainingSecets.com/

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

9 Moves for Abs of Steel & Zero Back Pain

February 2, 2009

zf54 9 Moves for Abs of Steel & Zero Back Pain Although the majority of people continue to rely on exercises like sit ups and crunches when it comes to training the abdominals, research has proven that these movements place excessive loads on the lower back, leading to a lot of pain for a lot of people. Repeated, loaded spinal flexion is one of the leading causes for disc herniation. In fact, the traditional old school, slow speed sit up has been shown to place 730 pounds of compression on the spine! Other commonly used ab exercises place over 1,000 pounds of compression on the spine!

Boy, do I wish I knew all this in my teens and early 20’s when I did thousands of spinal flexion exercises per week, eventually leading to two herniated discs.

Not only are you risking long term back problems by doing all those sit ups, crunches, and all their useless variations but you are not even providing optimal stimulus to the abdominals. Research has proven that bracing actually trains the abs much more effectively than spinal flexion. To properly employ this technique you need to brace your abs as hard as you can like you are preparing to take a punch. You don’t push your abs out and you don’t suck them in. In fact, sucking them in and trying to activate your transverse abdominis is one of the worst things you can do. You simply want to tighten and flex the abs as hard as possible. Be sure that there are no energy leaks and that your entire core is braced tightly. You can have a partner poke you or lightly whack you with a stick from different angles to ensure optimal bracing.

Never in real life will you consciously flex your spine and contract your abs like you do in a crunch, so why bother doing it in the gym? If you are on your back in most athletic endeavors, it’s usually because someone put you there. It’s usually not where you want to be. So why try to train your abs in that position?

Starting today, you are going to stop wasting your time and destroying your lower back with traditional ab training and instead focus your energy on the exercises listed below and their many variations.

Be sure to train without a belt, brace the abs and contract the glutes as tightly as possible when doing these movements. This will lead to optimal abdominal development and the avoidance of lower back injuries.

Plank

Side plank

Bird dog

Deadlift

Military press

Pushup

Walking on your hands with the power wheel

Farmers walks

Squats

Train smart and stay healthy,

Jason Ferruggia

PS. For more great ab training info check out HowToGetRippedAbs.com now.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Strength & Conditioning, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

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