You Already Knew That

December 28, 2009

KB girl You Already Knew That It just wouldn’t be Christmas if I didn’t get at least a dozen random fitness related questions per week from strangers, family members or long lost pals at holiday parties. Kinda like the exchange I had with my old friend Kevin last week…

“Hey Jay, good to see you, buddy. Glad you’re here, I have a couple questions for you.”

“I probably don’t have the answers, but fire away.”

“My shoulder’s been killing recently right here, when I bench press. Here, feel this clicking thing it’s doing,” he says as he places my hand on his shoulder.

Another holiday party; another guy placing my hands on his body. For once I’d like to meet a lingerie model with a supraspinatus tear. Or a pulled pec.

“Feel that? What do you think I should do?”

“How bad does it hurt?”

“Pretty bad.”

“I’m gonna go with stop bench pressing, then.”

“Oh man… I was hoping for another answer. I love benching.”

“But obviously it’s screwing up your shoulder. You can probably go back to it eventually but for now you have to eliminate whatever is causing you pain. That would be the first logical step. See how it feels when you drop the bench and we’ll take it from there.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Kevin already knew the answer but he needed to hear it from me.

At another recent holiday soiree I was approached by a young guy named Rick who I hadn’t seen in a year. At the 2008 version of this bash he asked me how he could get bigger. He said he’d been training for the last six months but with little to no progress. I inquired about his current training program and he said he had been following some of my stuff online and in the magazines.

“Well, that’s a start. What exactly are you doing?”

“I do bench, curls and pushdowns three days per week. For legs I run on the treadmill when I’m done.”

I sat with a puzzled look on my face, trying to recall when exactly I had written such an inefficient training program. Finally, I concluded that I hadn’t and it was he who was mistaken… at least I hoped.

I told him to drop the pushdowns and add in chins, dips, military presses and cleans or rows for upper body work. I allowed him to keep the curls because I’m nice like that. He was done with the treadmill and was going to learn how to squat and deadlift, I insisted.

“Train three days per week with an upper body pull, an upper body push and squat or deadlift variation. Finish up each workout with a few sets of curls or shrugs and you’re done. Eat an ample amount of healthy food three to five times per day and report back to me in a year.”

Had he done what I said he would have gained an absolute bare minimum of twenty pounds. Yet, here he was standing before me, the exact same size as last year.

“So what’s been going on with the training?” I asked.

“Uh… it’s good.”

“Have you been doing squats and deads?” I obviously knew the answer.

“Well, I tried them, like you said. But they were just so hard, ya know? I like to look forward to going to the gym and getting a good pump. I wasn’t really getting a great pump from them. And I felt them in my back a lot. So, ya know, I didn’t want to get hurt.”

“Yup… I know.”

“I mean, I trust you and all, and I’m sure I would have gotten much better results if I did what you said, but… ya know.”

“I do… I do.”

Later that night a guy named Chris approached me and asked me how he could get ripped for a trip he had planned to Hawaii in March. His training was pretty good. He was actually running sprints instead of jogging. The only problem, I concluded, was his diet. When probed, he admitted that there were tons of starchy carbs being stuffed down his pie hole on a daily basis. I very simply told him to cut those out and he’d lose the fat.

“So you really think it’s the diet, huh?”

“Yes, it is. You can’t out train a bad diet. And you’re proving it to yourself right now. Change the diet and your body will transform.”

“Yeah, you’re right; I know that.”

You see, most people know more than they think. They have at least half of the answers. They just need me to confirm it for them.
Don’t believe me?

Try this 10 question pop quiz and prove it to yourself…

What’s the best thing to drink all day?
A) Water
B) Soda
C) Coffee
D) Irish car bombs

Which foods help you get leaner?
A) Green vegetables
B) White rice
C) Bread
D) Chocolate mousse

What’s the best exercise for your triceps?
A) Dips
B) Pushdowns
C) Extensions
D) Kickbacks with soup cans

Which exercise helps you get leaner, faster?
A) Sprinting
B) Jogging
C) Walking
D) Knitting

Which exercise helps you build muscle faster?
A) Deadlifts
B) Concentration curls
C) Leg extensions
D) Ankle inversion/eversion with stretch bands

What’s the optimal amount of sleep you should get each night?
A) 8-9 hours
B) 5-6 hours
C) 3-4 hours
D) Who needs sleep

Which exercise will help you get faster most efficiently?
A) Sprints
B) Speed ladder drills
C) Over speed training
D) Watching Carl Lewis sing the national anthem on YouTube

Which exercise will have the greatest transference to the playing field?
A) Power cleans
B) Smith machine presses
C) Donkey calf raises
D) Double biceps curl thingy while standing in the middle of the power rack and holding a cable in each hand and holding each rep for a three second peak contraction

Which food helps you build muscle fastest?
A) Eggs
B) Oreo’s
C) Twizzlers
D) Butter

What would help you make faster progress in the weight room?
A) Adding more weight to the bar
B) Going from training four days per week to seven
C) Doing tri sets and giant sets
D) Doing drop sets and running the rack all the way down to the 5’s on every exercise you do

If you answered A on the majority of questions you are on your way. You know what you need to do and what it takes to get great results.

Deadlifts

Squats

Sprints

Chin ups

Water

Lean protein

Vegetables

Sleep

Lots of the above will lead to tons of muscle and strength being built and fat being lost.

But you don’t need me to tell you.

Because you already knew that.

Now you just have to do it.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Motivation, Muscle Building, Strength & Conditioning | 22 Comments

How to Avoid Elbow Pain… And Keep Your Wrists & Shoulders Happy Too

December 22, 2009

001 How to Avoid Elbow Pain... And Keep Your Wrists & Shoulders Happy Too I wish I had a guide about how to avoid elbow pain when I first started training, because I certainly have had my share of it. Although this is not my main area of expertise, and guys like Bill Hartman and Keith Scott know a lot more about this than I do, I’ve trained a lot of people for a lot of years and have seen almost every injury you can imagine. I’ve also experienced quite a bit of them myself. So today I’m gonna share some tips and tricks with you about how to avoid elbow pain. And since no discussion about the ‘bows would be complete without addressing the wrists and shoulders we’ll cover that a bit as well.

First on the list of exercises that cause elbow pain is the straight bar curl. When you go heavy enough, long enough, this exercise will probably bother your wrists and lead to some tendon issues in the elbow. You can avoid that by not keeping the barbell curl in your routine for more than three or four weeks straight, rotating it in and out every other week or just avoiding it all together. Another way to make this movement less stressful is to take the most comfortable grip on the bar possible, which is usually a bit wider than shoulder width. Don’t worry about what some bodybuilder said about the optimal grip width for biceps development. You can’t train if you’re injured. Stick with what’s comfortable.

The fully extended position is usually the most stressful so you may want to cut the range and not extend the elbows fully if you experience pain on this exercise. You may even want to cheat out of the bottom position just a bit with some body English. Yup, I said don’t do full range and told you to cheat. Call the form police.

A better option would be to curl with the EZ bar or dumbbells. Even better would be to do alternate dumbbell curls where you lean and sway a bit in a natural, non rigid motion. This will usually lessen the stress on the wrists and the biceps tendon and help you work around any possible elbow issues.

However you do them you should adhere to what I have always said and that is that curls should not be done heavy. Beginners and weak guys can do fives but everyone else should stick with six reps or higher. If you’re strong, make it 8-20. You’ll thank me later.

When I was young I hired a Canadian personal trainer to write me programs for a while. One of the workouts had me doing called for preacher curls supersetted with skull crushers for six sets of three reps to failure. Needless to say, my elbows were shot for a few months and I nearly needed an IV drip of Vitamin C and megadoses of Ashwaganda (if you don’t get this joke consider yourself lucky).

The next exercise on the elbow and wrist fuckers list is straight bar chin ups. This is very similar to the barbell curl. The fully extended, fully supinated position causes unnecessary stress and is not a natural movement. Ideally, all chin up bars should be zig zagged, like you welded an EZ bar on top of a power rack. I tried to get those custom made years ago but couldn’t find anyone to do it for me. Now I see them a bit more frequently. This grip is much less stressful on the wrists and shoulders than straight bar chins. An even better safer option is the parallel grip chin up.

Pull ups with a straight bar may or may not bother the elbows but they can definitely be hard on the shoulders. Again, a zig zagged bar would be a much better option when going pronated but some people with shoulder or wrist problems may want to avoid the pullup altogether and stick with parallel grip chins.

The best of all options would be to do chins on handles that rotate or on rings. The handles that rotate allow you to start pronated or semi supinated, or semi pronated, or however the hell you want. As you pull yourself up you can supinate to whatever level is comfortable. Doing this on rings is great also, but be prepared to be significantly weaker (due to the fact that the rings swing and you have to stabilize your body).

Unless you weigh 165 or have tremendous grip strength, towel chins might be something you want to avoid altogether. That’s not to say that it’s a bad exercise, but if you aren’t prepared for it you could be in for some unwelcome elbow shredding from this bad boy.

Before we go any further and I get my inbox flooded with hate mail I must reiterate what I always have, and that’s that there are very few exercises better than chin ups. They are one of the best measures of relative strength and are basically the upper body squat. I’m just telling you how to make them safer.

Finally, let’s cover direct triceps work. Extensions, if done heavy enough, long enough, will probably ruin your elbows; especially if you bring them to your nose or forehead. The best option is a dead stop triceps extension which is like a pullover/extension combo. Lie down on the floor and lower the bar behind your head until the plates hit the ground. Pause briefly and then rip the weight up off the floor and directly overhead to lockout.

Pushdowns are safer but shouldn’t be overdone. A large volume of direct triceps work could lead to serious issues down the road. Four to eight total sets of direct triceps work a week should be enough to stimulate hypertrophy while keeping you pain free.

There are plenty of other ways to avoid elbow pain but following my advice above is a good start. You can’t “throw dem ‘bows” when you’re injured, so train smart.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building | 7 Comments

20 Holiday Gifts That Don’t Suck

December 14, 2009

TRX Suspension Trainer- There are countless exercises that can be done on the TRX; many more effective than using a machine or even free weights. At Renegade Gym we prefer to use the big, basic barbell lifts as our main exercises and then supplement with bodyweight, TRX and strongman type lifts for accessory work. The TRX is great to travel with because it’s small and light and will fit in your suitcase or backpack with ease. When you have a TRX you can always get a workout on the road no matter where you are.

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Fat Gripz- These little suckers instantly turn any standard bar or dumbbell into a fat bar. This increases your grip strength and stimulates arm growth beyond what a normal bar or dumbbell can. They easily slip on an off and are made of extremely high quality, heavy duty rubber which is hard as a rock and doesn’t wear out or compress. These would make a great stocking stuffer for the meathead on your list.

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Sun Warrior Protein- While a bottle of wine or Scotch might make dealing with the in-laws a little easier, a bottle of Sun Warrior will help you build size and strength and recover from workouts faster. And like Uncle Eddie said, “That’s the gift that keeps on giving.” Sun Warrior is made from all natural 100% organic ingredients, is a complete protein with a great biological value, mixes easily, doesn’t cause any of the digestive problems or allergies associated with when and milk based proteins, and tastes great.

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High Powered Blender- To mix up the Sun Warrior with some frozen berries, bananas, nuts, cacao nibs and whatever else you can think of you are going to need a high powered blender. This always makes for a good gift for the busy, fitness conscious crowd who likes to blend up their nutrition once or twice a day. Personally, I always start my morning with a big, nutrient dense shake and would be lost without my blender.

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Vibram Five Fingers- These are by far and away the best shoes to train in as they allow you to simultaneously strengthen your toes and feet with the rest of your body. This often leads to fewer ankle, knee, hip and lower back issues. The Vibrams are also great for sprinting, hiking and walking. Best given to those who are not slaves to fashion, as you may get some funny looks and annoying comments while wearing them. The benefits make it all worth it, though.

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Head Harness- As I’ve said several times before, nobody should walk around with a stack of dimes holding up their head. Do everyone on your list a huge favor and get them a head harness. Owning one should be mandatory for all males. It will protect you from injury both physical and emotional. Use this 3-6 times per week for 1-3 sets of 15-50 reps. Make it part of your routine. Like brushing your teeth and putting on your shoes.

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Power Wheel- This is definitely one of the best ab training tools on the market and would make an awesome gift for the athlete or meathead on your list. If anyone you know is still asking for one of those silly ab rockers or whatever other gimmicks they sell on late night infomercials, I suggest you do them a favor and surprise them with something that actually works the abs properly.

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Captains of Crush Grippers- These make a great stocking stuffer and forge a killer grip, which is a huge benefit for all lifters and athletes. A strong grip is like a big neck; it’s mandatory, commands respect and greatly increases your status as a man.

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Holosync Meditation CD’s- Meditation has been around forever and isn’t some gimmick that will be going away any time soon. It’s proven and it works. I can’t say enough about the benefits of the Holosync Meditation program. I have been using it for nearly two years now and it has made a huge difference in my life. I’m happier, calmer and more productive. I also sleep better. All these benefits can be seen in only 30-60 minutes per day. Last year I gave out quite a few of these for Christmas and will be doing the same again this year.

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The Prowler- Nothing will kick your ass and whip you into shape faster than the Prowler. We use it daily at Renegade Gym and I guarantee that any fitness enthusiast or strength coach would love to find one of these waiting for them under the tree. There’s still time to get one shipped. Tell Dave and Jim I sent you. You may also want to get a bucket to go with the Prowler in case the dreaded Prowler Flu sets in. Which is always a strong possibility…

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Kettlebell- If you know someone who trains at home or outside on their own, a kettlbell would be a great addition to their workouts and would make for an awesome gift. Males could start with somewhere between a 35 and a 53 pound kettlebell (depending on their size and strength) and females could start with an 18 or a 26. Instead of jogging or riding a stationary bike try swinging a kettlebell for sixty seconds alternated with sixty seconds of jump rope for ten minutes straight.

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GymBoss Interval Timer- This is a great way to time your rest periods during strength training or conditioning and makes a cool little stocking stuffer for all the fitness enthusiasts on your list.
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The Rotater- This is a cool little tool that was sent to me recently which is great for shoulder rehab and prehab. Anyone you know with shoulder problems could benefit from incorporating some work on the Rotater into their regular program.
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Stainless Steel Food Containers & Water Bottles- The dangers of plastic are widely known by now. Do everyone you know a favor and help them eliminate man boobs and other estrogen related issues by picking them up some stainless steel containers or water bottles.
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Bands- High tension bands can be used for dozens of productive exercises such as pushdowns, face pulls, pull aparts, assisted chin ups, pulldown abs, side bends, ankle walks, resisted pushups, resisted sprints and many others. They make a great addition to any home gym and are an effective weapon in every powerlifters arsenal (for adding to squats, deads and bench presses).
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Elbow & Knee Sleeves- These are great for keeping your elbows and knees warm during training. Not of as much benefit to young, healthy guys, but for the older, more beat up crowd these can be a big help in avoiding injuries and will keep you feeling good (and safe) throughout your workouts.
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Superfood Snacks- Foods like goji berries, cacao nibs and maca are all known as superfoods and have tremendous health benefits. Before you thinking about stuffing a stocking with junk food, I highly recommend you pick up a few bags of these tasty treats.

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Sandbags- Sandbags are a phenomenal strength and conditioning tool that make a great addition to any training program. If you think you’re in shape, just try doing a high rep set of heavy sandbag shouldering. Talk to me afterwards. Any hard training athlete or meathead on your list would be thrilled to find one of these waiting for him under the tree.

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Jump Rope- We have still yet to develop a conditioning method more effective than jumping rope. Not only does jumping rope burn fat and improve your conditioning but it also works wonders for foot speed and coordination. Your ankles and calves will also get a great strengthening workout from jumping rope which will help prevent injury. It worked for Ali and it will work for your mom, brother or goomah.

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Renegade Barbell Club & Renegade Gym T-Shirts- These bad boys will make an impression wherever you go. The RBC skull in plate logo is a hardcore original. The Renegade Gym t-shirt has an old school Arthur Saxon inspired silhouette depicting the way real men used to train before the world was over run with metrosexuals and pretty boy fitness centers. Available in black only.

Happy Holidays.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Tiger Woods

December 10, 2009

tiger woods3 Tiger Woods I’m very proud to say that I don’t really know too much about the whole Tiger Woods thing. I don’t watch the evening news because I choose not to hear about an 88 year old grandmother getting beat up in the subway. That has zero positive impact on my life. And I like to keep it positive. So I instead watch CNN, MSNBC and SportsCenter to keep up on what’s going on. But I haven’t caught a lot of the Tiger story, nor do I care.

So he likes to sleep with hot chicks apparently. Join the club. Who doesn’t? And who cares? If you started liking Tiger Woods for any other reason than you grew up together it was most likely because of his ability to hit a golf ball. And that’s what he should be judged for. You can’t like him any less now or it would be hypocritical. I personally never liked him that much because, A) I hate golf and B) I always thought he came across horribly in interviews, had zero personality, was a little smug, and just not my kinda guy.

To be that good at something means you have to be somewhat selfish. And that’s not a bad thing; it’s just how it is. Tiger is no different than Michael Jordan. Both were great athletes, both were only interested in themselves, and both were in a position to do a great deal of good for the black community and chose not to. I’d be more pissed at that than the fact that he was shtooping the waitresses at his favorite restaurant.

Michael Jordan was one of my childhood idols. But did you see his Hall of Fame speech? I cringed throughout the whole thing. I liked him for what he did on the court and always will. Since I’ve grown up a bit between his rookie season and today I realize that he is a bit of a douche off the court. However, he’s still MJ and the greatest of all time in my eyes.

Next to Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor was my favorite football player of all time. But talk about a mess of a human being. Even worse than MJ’s hall of fame speech was LT’s interview with Michael Kaye on the YES network a couple months ago. Painful to watch.

Tiger’s the greatest golfer of all time. You knew that. He’s also a d-bag. If you ever watched his interviews with an open mind without being blinded by hero worship, you probably already knew that too. So what’s the big deal?

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Uncategorized | 21 Comments

5 Killer Conditioning Drills

December 8, 2009

fat kids Riding a stationary bike sucks. Sure, it’s convenient and often the only option for a lot of people, but let’s be honest; enduring 30 minutes of water boarding would probably be more fun. If you can ride a stationary bike, you can ride a real bike; and that would be a much better choice. Sprinting would be far superior to either of those. Doing so on a hill or with a sled or Prowler is often even better. Below are some of my favorite conditioning drills that I do myself and with all of my clients.

All of these can be done at the end of your strength workouts as a finisher for 10-15 minutes. Most of them can also be done on off days; either alone or in a circuit with one or several of the other conditioning drills. If you choose that option you would train for 15-30 minutes and be sure to choose exercises that won’t interfere with your next day’s workout. Therefore you probably wouldn’t want to do band sprints the night before a heavy squat day, for example.

Battling Ropes- There are several different ways to do the battling ropes- alternate, double arm snaps, side to side, windmill style, with a squat or reverse lunge between reps, etc. Whatever ways haven’t been done yet will be invented, tested and tried at Renegade Gym sometime in the near future; you can be sure of that. The benefit of this exercise is that it causes zero joint stress or soreness. This is huge! Because of this it can be done frequently and on days between heavy training sessions without fear of it interfering with your size or strength gains. This is also great for anyone with any kind of knee or other lower body injury.

Prowler Sprints- I say Prowler sprints and not “pushes” because when we load the Prowler up heavy I consider that strength work or strength endurance. For conditioning I like to keep it a little lighter and do a large volume of work with minimal rest periods, or until the Prowler flu strikes and vomit appears.

Sled Sprints- These can be done forward or backward and with a belt attached to your waist or by grabbing the handles. Again, if you do these heavy, I consider it strength or strength endurance. For more of a grueling conditioning workout I keep the sled light and recommend doing 40-100 yard sprints. If you have limited distance, as we do at the gym, just do more sets with less rest.

Band Resisted Sprints- This one is awesome if you have limited space. The lactic acid build up in the legs is enough to drop anyone to their knees after thirty seconds if it’s their first time doing this. Use two to three bands (average or strong, depending on the weight and strength of the athlete) and keep constant tension while using short, choppy steps. Be sure to use spotters in front in case someone slips or you have any mishaps with the bands. Always resist on the eccentric portion and then fire out as quickly as possible when you return to the start position. A spotter in the back is a good idea as well, just in case some takes a wrong step or misjudges something and gets slingshotted through the wall like Elmer Fudd. If you are not used to these, start with 15 seconds per set and work your way up to 30 or even 60 seconds. Rest only long enough for the lactic acid to clear and for you be able to perform the next set with good form.

Farmers Walks- This is one of those conditioning drills that can also be a great strength exercise as well. Load it up heavy and it will increase your grip strength and build and iron core and stability in your lower body like nothing else. In the process it will also improve your conditioning. That’s one way to do it- heavy for short distances. Or you can go lighter on it and walk longer and further. You could bring a pair of 72-97 pound kettlebells out the field with you and walk 100 yards down and back with them. In between you could run sprints or push the Prowler and then grab the bells and go for another walk. You could also do two arm/two kettlebell swings and immediately at the end of the high rep set, walk as far as you can without dropping them. The options are limitless.

With all of these methods weather is never an excuse. If it’s 95 degrees in July or 5 degrees in January, any of these can be done by anyone who actually has some balls and is willing to work.

Get after it.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning | 14 Comments

News About Members Section

December 7, 2009

The members section is now up and live for all of those who have purchased Muscle Gaining Secrets in the past. For the next few weeks all MGS customers can get their memberships at 50% off the normal monthly rate and will be grandfathered in with that price for life. Look out for an email from renegadegym[at]gmail.com explaining the details. If you don’t receive it please contact us through that email with your name or receipt number and we will hook you up with the details.

The members section will be going live for everyone else in a few weeks.

In the new members section you will get a brand new workout each month from me, a private message board where I will answer questions daily, members only videos and audio, and all that fun stuff.

Hope to see you on the other side.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Announcements | 5 Comments

Linear Progress?

December 3, 2009

arnold12 Linear Progress? I always advise all beginners and hardgainers to concentrate on making linear progress (either by adding more reps or more weight) at each and every workout. Add a rep or a plate and you will make pretty consistent gains for quite a while. This is one of the key components to the Muscle Gaining Secrets program.

Eventually, however, you’ll no longer be a beginner or a hardgainer and then the whole game changes. It will become more and more difficult to make linear progress on a consistent basis. This can be hard to accept at first and become quite frustrating if you let it. But you have to take a step back into reality and accept facts. If you were able to add five to ten pounds a week to your bench ad infinitum you would be pressing 1,000 pounds in a few years. Obviously this isn’t possible.

You also have to accept the fact that you will have off days. You won’t always be able to set PR’s. This doesn’t mean you haven’t made progress or haven’t gotten stronger. It could just mean you haven’t been eating or sleeping properly, you’re too stressed out or it could be hormonal. It could also be one of fifty other things. The point is it happens. On days like this just do your best for the day and know that you will come back stronger at your next workout. If you set a new five rep max squat of 365 two months ago and today you can only do that weight for five reps again, that doesn’t always mean you failed. Tomorrow or yesterday you may have gotten it for eight. Your strength levels will vary from day to day. As long as you are able to go up at most workouts and on a long term basis you are getting consistently stronger, that’s all that matters.

As you get stronger variety becomes more important to your long term success as do planned deloading periods and extreme variances in volume and intensity. This will be explained in further detail in Triple X Muscle, which I will be unleashing on all you mofo’s some time in January.

As always, thanks for reading.

Train hard.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building | 6 Comments

How to Improve Your Chin Ups

December 1, 2009

Franco+Columbo How to Improve Your Chin Ups The last post I wrote about how to improve your chin ups detailed how to get from zero to one. Once you get to one you will, in time, work your way up to sets of five or even ten reps. But again, you will hit a wall at some point and be unable to make any more improvements. So today I am going to offer a very easy, completely unscientific method that will help you add more reps to your chins.

One of the major problems is that for most average guys a set of chins is a five rep max. Therefore it is true CNS draining Max Effort work. And they repeatedly do this time after time, workout after workout. There is no other exercise that you would continually max out on and take to near death failure like you do with chin ups. You would know better than to do that with squats and deads. But everyone is fine with doing it on chins. And I truly believe that to be one of the major reasons why more people don’t improve on their chins with any regularity.

The other problem is that there isn’t enough variety in the rep ranges and when you continually do those five rep max sets you are never doing anything to improve your endurance in that movement pattern. To get better on the 225 pound bench test you would do things like strap pushups, ascending board presses or pushups, high rep dumbbell presses, etc. on one day to build your endurance and some heavy pressing on another day to build your strength. But most people don’t take this approach with their chins; they only work on the lower end of the rep scale trying to improve strength, but do nothing to improve endurance. And obviously this doesn’t always work too well.

So the simple solution is to throw in more high rep work; which would again involve the use of the bands. The bands got you from zero chins to one and now they can help get you from your current plateau up to a new PR.

Exactly how, you ask…

Any way you want. Simply using more variety will be enough to do the trick and help you break out of a rut. Some workouts you can use the light band, some workouts you can use the mini bands, some you can use the average bands, some you can do with bodyweight, and some you can do weighted. Just mix it up each program and keep getting stronger on each variety of chins you do.

But remember not to go to failure and let your form break down. Again, most people are smart enough not to let their squat turn into a good morning, but everyone is ok with climbing up the invisible ladder, swinging, rest-pausing, severely protracting their shoulders and doing whatever else they can to make their final reps on chin ups look as ugly as possible. Don’t do this if you want to get stronger.

Below is a video from this past summer that we shot at Renegade Gym of Jen doing chin ups. She bangs out 13 picture perfect reps with no band. That’s something that most guys can’t do. In the video in the previous post about how to improve your chin ups she did 15 WITH the band. That was less than eight months earlier. The way she made such dramatic improvements was through variety and building up her endurance in that movement pattern with higher reps sets. She always did a variety of different grips and we varied her reps from 3-20. Some months she did chins twice per week (one day heavy, one day light), others only once. This is another way to boost your chins. Hit them 2-5 times per week for a month and then cut back to only once per week for the next month. The supercompensation effect from the reduced loading will often lead to improved performance in the second month.

Waving the reps up and down is more effective than just trying to make linear improvements; which only beginners can do. While a linear approach of starting with strong or average bands and working down to no bands worked well in the past, it won’t work so well now that you can do eight reps or so. You need to use a form of undulating or alternating periodization to get the best results.

But again, remember that you need to improve your strength endurance in that movement pattern. Having the arms extended overhead (as in a military press) makes it more difficult to breath. You need to get used to that. So even throwing in an exercise like the monkey bar climb, seen below, can be helpful as well.

Hopefully that gives you some good ideas about how to improve your chin ups and you’ll be setting some new PR’s real soon.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Muscle Building, Strength & Conditioning, Videos | 23 Comments

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