My 3 Favorite Meat & Dairy Free Recipes

July 30, 2009

lettuce lingerie 01 My 3 Favorite Meat & Dairy Free Recipes People often ask me how I have so much time to prepare meals for myself all day and the answer is… I don’t. I’m super busy, and when it comes to food preparation I’m super lazy. That’s why I’ve become a master of quick, healthy, plant based meals that anyone can make in no time.

Today I want to share three of my favorite recipes with you that I eat on a regular basis. All of you that want to eliminate or at least minimize the practice of consuming unhealthy meat and dairy products are going to love these.

Muscle Building Shake:
16oz sugar free almond milk
30-50gms (depending on bodyweight) of Sun Warrior Protein
1 cup organic mixed frozen berries
½ cup frozen spinach (sounds gross but you can’t taste it)
1 banana
1 cup raw oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cacao nibs
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Add more water if thinner consistency is desired.
Pour and top with one tbsp goji berries.

I usually start every day with that.

==> Easy Veggie Meal Plans

Lentil Stew: this is incredibly easy to make, healthy and packed with protein.
1 carton veggie broth
1 carton of soup starter fresh from the grocery store (or just dice up a 2/3 cup each of carrots, celery and onions)
1 bag lentils
1-2 cups sliced mushrooms
3 cups of finely chopped kale
Diced garlic to taste (I usually go light with the garlic)
Sea salt to taste
Red pepper (better for you than black pepper)
Bring all ingredients to boil in large pot then reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 90-120 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more water if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Personally, I prefer mine to be thick and not thin and soupy.

If you’re in a rush, just throw in the broth, soup starter veggies, lentils and spices and cook it for an hour. Easy as could be.

If you need more carbs you can dice up some potatoes and add it to the stew or simply pour the lentils over some brown rice pasta when they’re done.

==> Easy Veggie Meal Plans
Mexican Beans & Rice
2 cups organic brown rice
2 cans organic black beans
2 cups frozen mixed peppers
1 sliced avocado
½ cup frozen diced onions
Sea salt to taste
Red pepper to taste
Organic salsa
Cook rice in a pot by itself or if you’re pressed for time get the frozen pre cooked bags of brown rice from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. That’s what I usually use when I’m too lazy to cook. Put beans, frozen peppers in onions in a pan and heat them to desired temperature. Combine all ingredients into one big bowl when hot. Add spices and top with sliced avocado and organic salsa.

This is another staple in my diet and is incredibly fast and easy to make.

For even more great meat free, vegetarian recipes that will help improve your energy levels, reduce the stress on your digestive system and help you burn bodyfat get your copy of Craig Ballantyne and Kardena Pauza’s Easy Veggie Meal Plans right now by clicking HERE.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Nutrition | 15 Comments

Training: Renegade Style

July 29, 2009

Here’s a quick interview I did recently with my wacky Canadian buddy, Craig Ballantyne.

Craig Ballantyne: What was your workout yesterday?

Jason Ferruggia: I ran a dozen forty yard sprints in the morning, about two hours after breakfast. That was, of course preceded by a pretty good warm up.

At night, six hours later, we did a heavy lower body workout. Before squatting and deadlifting I like to foam roll for about ten minutes and then get in a pretty good dynamic warm up. I like to be dripping with sweat and feeling very loose and “safe” before getting under a heavy load. That’s not a problem at Renegade Gym as it usually gets up to ninety plus degrees during summer workouts and you’re sweating like Patrick Ewing in the fourth quarter after your first warm up set.

We started with five sets of hurdle jumps. After that we worked up to a five rep max on a box squat and then finished with a back off, death set of 20 reps. Then moved on to some shrug pulls for sets of 8-10. Finished up with the neck harness and a few sets of with the Torque Athletic Macebell. At the end of a squat or dead day I lay face down on the floor, resting on my elbows, with my spine in extension for about ten minutes. The Russians believed that doing this helps realign your spine and set everything back in its proper place. I always feel better when I do it.

CB: Remember how that 40 year old guy schooled us in the sled row? What was up with that? How do you train that guy?

JF: That’s my buddy Mark Crook. He’s actually 46, which makes it even more impressive. The thing about Mark is that he never even thinks about his age and would never consider using it as an excuse or a reason why he shouldn’t be in there outworking and out lifting kids twenty years younger than him. And that is one of the reason he has had such great success in the gym.

While he doesn’t think about his age I do. The reality is that his recovery ability isn’t going to be what it used to be. So I try to keep his volume relatively low and stay on him aboot not going to failure and overtraining. He lives to train as hard as humanly possible but I have always tried to instill in him that doing so isn’t always the smartest approach and won’t always yield the fastest results.

I have him do two upper body days and two lower body days and he trains three days per week, so his fourth day spills over to the following week. This system allows for plenty of stimulation while providing an optimal amount of recovery time and you rarely feel beat up or experience any kind of joint stress. He has a bad back from some old injuries so we only load his spine on one of the two lower body days. This gives him a full nine days between squat sessions which is usually enough.

Whatever we are doing, he hits it hard and gets done in 45 minutes.

CB: What is renegade cardio? You know how much I hate that word. Now why’d you have to go and do that?

JF: I know, I know. I hate it as much as you. The only reason I use that word in the title is because most people recognize it whereas they might not know what conditioning or energy systems training means. But the fact of the matter is that Renegade Cardio is not cardio at all. I am showing people what we do at Renegade Gym, where we have never had a treadmill, stationary bike or stairclimber since 1994, yet have always gotten people absolutely shredded time and time again. We prefer to use sleds, Prowlers, sledgehammers, sandbags, battling ropes, jump ropes and bodyweight circuits. Now I know not everyone has access to those implements so I have given you plenty of other options to choose from as well.

Of course, my favorite way to get lean is sprinting which doesn’t require any equipment at all. In Renegade Cardio I cover my favorite sprint workouts and exactly how and when to do them.

Having said all that I realize that some people may still end up being relegated to a stationary bike for one reason or another. So I’ve created some killer workouts with the stationary bike that will help you get ripped without sapping all your strength.

See, here’s something a lot of people don’t realize… The worst thing you can do for your fast twitch muscle fibers is drown them in a pool of lactic acid. Let me explain… When you do intervals on a bike the way most people do and get that intense burning sensation in your legs, you are accumulating a large amount of lactic acid. This is the worst thing you can do if you want to be fast and explosive. Lactic acid turns fast twitch fibers slow. Since the majority of my clients have always been athletes and those that aren’t are usually weekend warriors, I need to avoid this at all costs. So here is how you can do intervals on the bike without getting slower and decreasing your vertical jump and overall power…

Get on the bike and warm up for a minute or so. Then sprint as hard as you can for ten seconds. After the sprint, drop the bike down to the lowest level possible and cruise very slowly until you are up for your next interval. One mistake people make is that they keep the intensity too high on the bike during their active rest interval. This is fine, as are any other interval recommendations, if your main goal is simply to lose fat. But when you need to maintain power you need to keep the hard intervals short and the easy intervals veeeerrrrry easy. Just high enough to keep your heart rate up above normal.

Over time if you want more variety you can work up to twenty second intervals but the second you start accumulating lactic acid you need to immediately hop off the bike and jump rope or do jumping jacks for a minute until you flush the lactic acid. If the gym you are in allows it I prefer to sprint for ten seconds on the bike then jump rope for a minute and continue in this fashion for 15-20 minutes. This is far more effective than typical steady state cardio and will not decrease your speed or jumping ability.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Strength & Conditioning | 2 Comments

Life Wasted

July 27, 2009

“You’re always saying you’re too weak to be strong.”
– Life Wasted by Pearl Jam

Another summer weekend just came and went and now here we are yet again, on a Monday morning…

With yet another opportunity to change things for the better; to make the dramatic improvements that you have been planning to make for so long.

Maybe you thought about it over the weekend when you drank too many beers or ate too many hot dogs at your neighbors’ barbeque.

Or maybe you were ashamed to take your shirt off at the beach or your friends pool party and you promised yourself that life would be different come Monday morning. That you would finally step up and make the changes you have thought about for so long.

While some of you were nursing your hangover with coffee and a greasy, fried sausage biscuit yesterday morning, the dedicated were doing fasted cardio before sitting down to a healthy breakfast of green tea, organic eggs and fruit. Others slept off the booze lying around on the couch all day while the driven were running hill sprints in the hot sun.

Just like every Monday, you have a choice today. You can realize that weakness is a sin and you must now repent for a life wasted. Or you can continue on the path of mediocrity and continue to let others pass you by.

“I have faced it… a life wasted…
I’m never going back again.”

Sure it sounds good. Who wouldn’t want to be strong , jacked, fit and healthy?

But the question is do you have what it takes to commit to one goal and see it through to the end? Because most people don’t. Those people are the 95%. The disciplined make up the 5%.

Only 5% of all the people on the entire planet have what it takes to achieve greatness in any realm of life.

Be it in their job, their personal lives or a physical endeavor of any sort. Think that’s an exaggeration? Take a look around you. Go to Major League ballpark tonight. Tell me I’m lying. The 5% are on the field (and are represented in the pictures in this post) while the others are sitting in the stands stuffing their faces. After observing closely you may even think I’m giving more people more credit than they deserve. Maybe it’s one percent.

Where do you fall?

Each and every Monday morning represents a new beginning and a chance to turn things around and finally join the 5%.

erika prezerakou pole vault 02 Life Wasted We all know that only the strong survive. We know that to get bigger or leaner or to become a better athlete or stave off illness and disease we need to get stronger. But what steps are you taking to get stronger every day? What are you doing to escape your life wasted?

“I escaped it…a life wasted…
I’m never going back again.”

Did you get enough sleep last night? Or is late night TV more important than high testosterone levels, improved insulin sensitivity and enhanced overall health?

Did you avoid inflammatory foods this weekend? Or is the taste of sugar, wheat, soy, corn, dairy and saturated fat worth a life of pain, disease and incredibly slow recovery?

Did you order a foam roller or at least use the one at your gym religiously several times last week? Did you get a massage recently? Ah, what’s a little scar tissue, right? Let it keep building up. Moving freely and without pain is overrated anyway.

Did you throw out your posture destroying, injury causing Nike Shox and get a pair of Free’s or better yet, Vibram Five Fingers? Did you trash your fancy Italian loafers and replace them with something like a Sanuk? Or maybe your knees, hips and spine just aren’t that important.

Have you been taking 6-12 grams of high quality, pharmaceutical grade fish oil every day? Or maybe it’s too expensive. Besides you need money for beer on Friday nights.

Did you eat fruits and/or vegetables with every meal this week?

Have you been doing mobility work every morning? It’s probably the most important factor in musculoskeletal health and you’ll miss it when it’s gone; replaced by arthritis medicine and a walker.

What about cardio/conditioning? How many times did you push the prowler or run sprints this week? Being big and strong is great but not if your cardiovascular health has to suffer.

Did you order a jump rope to use at home on your off days?

What about a band or strap to help you stretch with at home? Stretching is boring and tedious and nobody likes to do it. But without it many of you will never get out of pain or even be able to perform a single rep of squats or deadlifts properly. Who needs those lifts anyway, right? Let me know how those leg extensions and leg curls work out for you.

Have you been eating by the clock, force feeding yourself when you’re not hungry? Choking down tablespoons of olive oil at the end of every meal to get more healthy calories? Counting protein grams and total calories? Drinking a gallon of water per day religiously? Cutting carbs at night and on off days?

Have you been taking advantage of the nice weather and walking several mornings per week while everyone else is still asleep? And if you have what will you do in a few months when the winter rolls around? Put your fitness on hold until the spring or put on a few layers and brave the cold weather while everyone else gets an extra half hour of sleep?

Did you throw out all the junk food in your house yet?

Have you started meditating on a regular basis?

arnold1 Life Wasted The 23 hours per day that you spend outside of the gym are just as important, if not more so, than the hour you spend in the gym. Dedication is a 24 hour a day commitment. There are 168 hours in a week. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever gotten even remotely decent results from being dedicated for only three to four hours per week.

But those three to four hours are crucially important. You need to make sure you are keeping a training journal and tracking your progress; always trying to beat your previous best. Every workout is a battle; you against your log book and you must do all you can to emerge victorious and lift more weight or do more reps than you did last time. If you train with partners your job is to crush them and be the top dog at each and every workout. Competition is a healthy part of life and without it you are an organism that is not truly living, but slowly dying.

Do you have what it takes to get under a bar loaded with so many plates that it actually scares you? A weight that could crush you with one wrong move? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to move that weight and make it your bitch? And add five pounds to the bar next week?

Do you have what it takes to really fully commit to that goal? To stop questioning what you’re doing and wondering if there’s a faster, easier way? To realize that brutally hard fucking work is the only way to achieve greatness?

Because if you don’t you will never be among the 5% and you will be the one who has to live with your regrets. I know I have mine, and they eat away at me. I have made many mistakes over the years and know I could be a lot further along in my training then I am. I could have made better strength gains than I have but I slipped up and made mistakes along the way. But I take full responsibility for that. And I know I have to accept those mistakes, move on and promise myself that I will never make the same mistakes again.

It’s up to you to do the same. Don’t wait til tomorrow because it will be too late.

“Having tasted… a life wasted…
I’m never going back again.”

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Motivation | 71 Comments

What it Takes to Train at Renegade Gym

July 21, 2009

Question: Jason, I just wanted to let you know that I have been following your stuff since 2003 and am a huge fan of your work. I am thinking about opening a small, hardcore gym like yours and had a quick question for you. Would you mind sharing with me what kind of application form you use and how you determine who gets to train at Renegade Gym? From what I understand you don’t just accept anybody off the streets, correct? Thanks for all that you do and keep up the great work.
Andy

Answer: Andy, thanks for the comments and the support. Years ago I had a formal application sheet that potential gym members/clients had to fill out as a pre screening measure. After looking over that we would arrange for a sit down interview with them. If I liked what I saw and heard the applicant was granted a short term membership to prove their self. If that worked out they were invited to stay.

Nowadays, in an effort to be more time efficient, and just because I have done this so many times over the last 15 years, we have whittled the application process down to this…you come in and you train. That’s it. Your “application” is your first workout. I know within one training session if someone is Renegade material and if they are someone we want at the gym. After that first session I will invite someone to train with us or bluntly let them know that it isn’t going to work out. At this point in my career it usually doesn’t even take a workout any more. One two minute conversation is usually enough. But I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

At Renegade we want and accept only the most dedicated, disciplined hardest workers around. There is absolutely zero tolerance for anything less than 100% commitment. I don’t say that to be cool or hardcore or tough. Because I am none of those things. I say it because I take this business very seriously and am not in it for the money. I do it because I eat, sleep and breathe this shit. I am obsessed with it. I love getting people bull fucking strong and jacked out of their minds. I love helping guys run faster and jump higher. I live to help people hit goals and do things they never thought possible.

Gym Pics 316.1 The majority of people, however, just don’t have the level of commitment that I expect and demand. That is why I have turned down more clients than I have accepted and will always continue to do so. It’s why I have always thrown an average of probably half a dozen people per year out of the gym. From a business perspective I highly recommend that you do the same. When you’re starting out it can be tempting to just take money from everyone that comes your way. But doing this will ruin your business in the long run. Your clients/ members need to be walking billboards for your company. And if they are lazy, whining schmucks, how is that going make you look when they get zero results and then tell people they train at your place? Never mind the fact that these types of negative, weak minded people will ruin the atmosphere in the gym, bring others down of and basically make you hate your very existence.

At Renegade we demand that if you are going to be a part of the team, you bring something to the table and make the entire group better. If you are not making the atmosphere better you’re only making it worse and just taking up space that we can’t afford to give you. At Renegade it’s not just about you; it’s about everyone else you train with as well. You need to not only elevate your game but also bring everyone else up with you. And if you are the low man on the totem pole, your job is to get to the top fast.

Like the great strength coaching legend Louie Simmons said about his world famous Westside Barbell Club, “I don’t have room for poodles in my gym; I only want pit bulls.” I am not comparing myself to Louie or Renegade to Westside, because there can not and will not ever be any comparison. But like Louie, I want guys (and girls) who are fiercely competitive and will do whatever it takes to constantly set PR’s and be the top dog in the gym.

Gym Pics 289.1 I expect that every member of Renegade not only “brings it” each and every time they are in the gym but also that they do whatever is necessary to enhance their results outside of the gym like eating more (or less), getting enough protein, sleeping more, foam rolling, stretching, meditating, doing mobility work, sprinting, conditioning, etc. And if they don’t do it I always know. And soon I lose interest in them. We all do. Renegade is similar to the animal kingdom in that once you fall behind the pack you’re on your own and left to die. The rest of the group will move onward and upward and those who are not doing what’s necessary to excel will be forgotten about. In the jungle, the weakest and slowest water buffalo are left behind to get eaten by the lions. Things are no different at Renegade. When you get to the point that people stop caring about your results and your lack of progress you are all but dead. And your complaints and excuses will fall upon deaf ears because nobody gives a shit.

Gym Pics 356.1 Yesterday was a max effort squat day, and longtime Renegade member Jeff D’Annunzio walked into the gym with a fire in his eyes and approached me like he was going to punch my teeth out. He told me he couldn’t sleep last night nor could he think about anything all day long at work except hitting big numbers on his squat last night. He had his fists clenched and was nearly foaming at the mouth before we even started warming up.

THAT’S the way it should be.

Some guys walk in and don’t even know what we’re training that day and are more concerned with what they are doing after the workout is over than the task at hand. Those are the guys that won’t last long and will never achieve greatness. I’ve always said if I had a 100 guys like D’Nunz and Doyle I would never leave the gym all day long.

For 15 years people have walked through the doors of Renegade Gym and have left their blood, sweat and tears on the floor. And those people have all become family. I have formed some of my closest friendships and bonds inside those four walls and I love many of those guys like brothers.

In all the years since I first started doing this, I have never once tried to sell myself or the gym. I have read almost as many business books as I have training books and I have helped many people in the fitness industry increase their yearly income to six figures. I know all the rules of business and have taught them to many people. But I don’t follow too many of them. It’s just not in me to do so. Like Sinatra, I have to do things my way.

Many of my friends and clients joke around about my salesmanship, saying it’s the worst they’ve ever seen. One of my oldest clients, Mike Schwalb, brought his friend Andrew Slater in once about six or seven years ago, and on the way to the gym repeatedly told him, “Don’t expect any sales pitch whatsoever from Jay. In fact, don’t expect him to say much of anything. He really doesn’t give a shit if you train there or not. If anything you’re gonna have to prove to him why he should let you train there.”

Gym Pics 352.1 Andrew is now one of my close friends who I go to concerts and party in Vegas with. Something neither of us would have guessed that first day. But when you go to battle with a guy you develop a level of respect and mutual admiration that you can’t get in any other way. And if he starts slacking in the gym I’ll be the first person to get on his ass and let him know it.

I couldn’t possibly count the number of people who have trained at Renegade over the years. The weak fall out rather quickly; the driven often become lifetime members.

My friend and longtime client, Joey “Styles” Scott told me recently that winning the Big East Championship with Seton Hall University and playing professional baseball in the Oakland A‘s organization both paled in comparison to the times he had training at Renegade. He said it was the best time of his life and many have echoed his sentiments.

To create something that special that people love so much is an amazing feeling that no words can describe. There is no amount of money in the world that can replace that. That is why I will never accept payment from just anyone who walks in my door. It’s not about the money.

It’s about creating a place where guys can excel beyond any and all expectations and be the absolute best they can be. And if you’re not prepared to do whatever it takes to be the best… you’re not prepared to train at Renegade.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Business, Strength & Conditioning | 74 Comments

Burning Fat While Gaining Strength

July 14, 2009

Question: Jay, I just lost 25lbs of bodyfat and now my main focus is on getting strong and lifting heavy weights. I still want to continue getting leaner but the main focus is on strength right now. What kind of adjustments do I need to make in my training and diet?
Mike Flynn

Answer: Mike, if you want to keep burning fat the diet needs to remain tight. The majority of your carbs (50% or more) should come from veggies, about 25% from fruit and the remainder from brown rice, sweet potatoes and oats. I would either limit the starchy carbs to the early morning and afternoon or only have them on training days. Still I would cut them off at 6pm. I would also recommend keeping your sodium levels high. This will help you maintain strength while dieting.

Training sessions should be short, intense and heavy. Train hard and to the point of near failure but never train to the point where you literally fail and miss an attempted rep. That is the worst thing you can do for strength gains. This makes you weaker and like the saying, “success breeds success,” failure also breeds failure. Never attempt a set with a weight you’re not sure you can get. Also, remember that training hard and training smart are two different things. You can get fired up and hit smelling salts and head butt the wall for your main max effort lifts but you should probably turn it down a notch on assistance exercises or you risk burning yourself out. Of course, this is dependent upon your total volume, but in theory, it’s a good general idea to get nuts at the beginning and back off the intensiveness a bit toward the end of your workout.

Another thing that is important to note is that you need to be patient and be happy with small consistent increases over time. While it would be nice to add ten pound per week to every lift ad infinitum this is simply not possible. If it were we’d all be squatting 2,000 pounds after a few years of training. If you are on a streak where you can add 10-20 pounds per workout by all means ride it out. But after many years of training you may need to start making smaller jumps. This is completely fine and will actually lead to more consistent long term gains than huge jumps over a three week period that lead to a complete dead end plateau before you know it.

Use conditioning methods that will not interfere with strength gains. This will either be sprints done in the morning, six hours prior to your weight training workout or walking. These two methods will have the least impact on your strength gains. Sprints can be done three times a week and the total volume of the session should be 1000 yards or less. This is not speed training, because if it was the volume would be less than half that. It’s conditioning, with the goal being to lose fat without losing strength. Something like ten 100 yard sprints would fit the bill perfectly.

But if getting lean is a serious priority then I would also add in one or two steady state sessions on off days at about 70% of max heart rate for 30 minutes. Too much high intensity cardio (sprints, prowler, etc) will slow down your strength gains as well. Walking can be done every day for an hour if you like. This is best done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning | 40 Comments

Power Wheel Pushup

July 10, 2009

This is a great exercise that works the upper body pushing muscles as well as the abs and lower back, which have to contract forcefully throughout the movement. We use this as an upper body finisher or rep challenge exercise. The key points to look for are a full range of motion and no sagging of the hips or collapse of the lower back… which of course, sometimes goes out the window in the heat of competition. But do your best.

What I love about this exercise is that it requires more athleticism than a regular pushup so it serves multiple purposes.

You can get your Power Wheel HERE. It’s a great piece of equipment that I can’t recommend highly enough. And nothing works your abs any harder.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Muscle Building, Strength & Conditioning, Videos | 6 Comments

Yams, Squats, Sleep & Freebies

July 8, 2009

Question: Coach,
If you had to pick one best carb for lean bulking what would it be?
Jonathan

Answer: Jonathan, this one’s too easy; yams (essentially the exact same as sweet potatoes) win hands down. It’s been argued that the human body hasn’t adapted to eating grains like oats and brown rice. This is debatable and may or may not be true. Some people may have issues with grains, others may not. But I have never known anyone to have a problem with a root vegetable like sweet potatoes or yams. This is the ultimate “clean” carb and should be a staple in any muscle building diet. There is a place for white potatoes immediately after training but most of the time you should be focusing on sweet potatoes. Many of my clients follow a carb rotation diet and sometimes I have them eat nothing but lean protein and sweet potatoes at every meal on their carb days. They always wake up lean, full and vascular the next day. My colleague, nutrition expert, Tom Venuto, is a huge fan of yams and routinely walks around at low single digit body fat percentage.

Question: Hi Jason…

Thanks for sharing all your wealth of information. 2 Quick questions:

1.) Is it possible to lean out without losing weight?

2.) How gentle is Sun Warrior Protein on the stomach?

Thanks a lot….
John Garrozo

Answer: John, it’s possible but that would mean you were gaining muscle at the same time you were losing fat. The more advanced you are the harder this is to do. It’s usually best to pick one goal or the other if you want the fastest results.

Sun Warrior is incredibly easy on the stomach. That is one of the best things about it; no bloating or digestion problems of any sort. It’s one of the many reasons it’s the only protein I use or recommend.

Question: What’s the best way to develop the inner chest? I feel like that area is lacking compared to the rest of my chest. My training partner has the same issue.
Enzo

Answer: Put down Flex Magazine.

Question: In your article eliminate the useless crap you have for legs,squat, squat and more squat..

How would you set up the workout….3 sets of 5 reps and then a few sets of high reps??

Free Squat or box squat?

Thanks
Danny Martel

Answer: Danny, it depends on the level of the trainee. Beginners and weak guys would probably squat three times a week for a few sets of 5-8. When they get more experienced we would add some more variety to the loading parameters. Eventually I would reduce the squatting frequency to twice a week, and then once every 5-9 days over the course of a few years. Advanced guys would do heavy sets and high rep sets. Beginners would steer clear of high reps.

Free squats are the exercise of choice but box squats are good for variety.

Question: Hey, I’m finding it hard to get eight hours sleep, six if I’m lucky. With my job and my body clocks all over the place. I have’nt been able to progress these last couple of weeks. Do you think lack of sleep plays a big role in not progressing as my diet and training could’nt be anymore solid. I would appreciate it if you could get back to me as this is the one thing I’m desperate to acheive. Cheers
John Brodie

Answer: John, lack of sleep will kill your progress faster than just about anything else. You will not recover, your testosterone levels will drop, your cortisol will rise, your insulin sensitivity will go to shit and you will just be an absolute mess. Now, six hours isn’t horrible but the reality is that almost no one can make maximal progress on only six hours per night. I would try to get at least one more hour. Go to bed at the same time every day, don’t eat or drink too much at night, keep the lights low during the hour or two before bed, get rid of all electronics from the bedroom (TV, cell phone, radio, iPod, etc.), and keep your room cool (68 degrees is optimal) and as dark as possible.

Question: Hey Jay..another Yes No Question and answer as I know you’re a busy guy…Do you use and/or recommend the TRX?
Doug Willick

Answer: Doug, I love the TRX and we use it a lot at Renegade Gym. My philosophy is to go heavy on the big barbell lifts and then do your assistance work with dumbbells, strongman implements and bodyweight as much as possible. We use it for pushups, flyes, ab work, rows, curls, face pulls, assisted pistol squats, stretching, etc. I highly recommend that everyone get a TRX and add it to their workouts.

Question: Hello Jason,

Could you recommend a similar gym to your Renegade Gym in the Philadelphia area?

Thanks,

Ankit Shah

Answer: Ankit, I don’t know of one, unfortunately but perhaps one of our readers could chime in and help you out.

Question: Hey, I looked over the website that has your book and other muscle building guides on it but I can’ afford the $ 77.00 that it costs to buy your book, is there anyway to get that for free, please send me a message back.
John Bryer

Answer: “You want me to trash your lights? You want me to fucking trash ‘em?! Christ, you’re amateur… Me and you are done professionally, man…”

Kidding, kidding. I just love to reenact the Christian Bale rant. Of course you can have it for free. What size t-shirt do you wear? I will send you a dozen of those as well. And I have an entire collection of Air Jordan 1’s, size ten and a half. If they fit, they’re yours too. And if you’re really nice, there’s a handjob with your name on it.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Muscle Building, Nutrition, Supplements | 21 Comments

Warp Speed Fat Loss

July 1, 2009

sn573 Warp Speed Fat Loss Today I have a short Q&A I did with my good friend and world renowned fat loss expert, Alwyn Cosgrove.

JF: What are some of the biggest time wasters when it comes to training and dieting for fat loss?

AC: The biggest ones are very low calorie diets (they just slow metabolism down too much) and low intensity steady state aerobics. You need to keep the “furnace” (your metabolism) cranking. The goal as I call it is “metabolic disturbance” – burn as many calories through training as possible but use a system that will elevate metabolism through EPOC significantly for several hours. Low intensity cardio (even on an empty stomach) just doesn’t fit in there.
JF: How does the weight training that you prescribe for a fat loss client differ from that of some one who is trying to get bigger or stronger?

AC: It depends on the client and the amount of fat to lose really. With the beginner/ intermediate client I have NEVER seen these massive amounts of muscle loss that everyone is afraid of on fat loss programs. With these groups I use upper-lower supersets with slightly higher rep brackets.
With more advanced clients muscle loss can be a problem – but it is easily offset by doing 1-2 heavy sets of 4-6 reps as your first couple of exercises and then moving into a similar program as described above.

JF: What are your favorite methods of cardio/energy system work for losing fat?

AC: Interval training is obviously the way to go, but I like to use non-traditional methods of doing so – i.e. bodyweight circuits, sled dragging, barbell complexes etc. Again it’s all about creating that metabolic disturbance that I was talking about. Walking on the treadmill has its place – but it’s not in one of my fat loss programs.

JF: What kind of diets do you prefer for fat loss and how do you determine what to prescribe to a given client?

AC: I like to use a low-JUNK diet for fat loss. It ends up being low carb, as most of the crap people eat come from refined carbs, but in reality I never restrict fruits and vegetables, or good carbs. A lot of stuff gets written about how many grams per pound etc, and how many calories pre and post workout…..and to be honest – most of the people writing this stuff are clearly not working with anyone real. An average fat loss client arrives at my gym typically eating 2 meals a day and about 30g of protein (and no breakfast). So am I supposed to cut their calories? And add training to it? No way.

I just recommend that these people eat 4-5 meals per day from a list of “approved” foods (ie proteins, vegetables, oatmeal etc) and try to hit a higher protein intake. The diet then builds itself without having to focus on numbers. Calorie control is important, but it’s rarely an issue with beginners in my experience.

JF: Thanks for the info, my friend. Your 28 Day Warp Speed Fat Loss is one of the best fat loss systems I have seen and I can’t recommend it highly enough to my readers.

AC: Coming from you that means a lot. Thanks Jay. The results people can get in just 28 days are quite astounding.

Click HERE now to check out the Warp Speed Fat Loss system.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss | 10 Comments

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