2009 December | How to Build Muscle, Gain Strength & Become a Better Athlete

Archive | December, 2009

You Already Knew That

28. Dec, 2009 25 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle, Motivation, Strength & Conditioning

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 [...]

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

22. Dec, 2009 8 Comments How to Build Muscle

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 [...]

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20 Holiday Gifts That Don’t Suck

14. Dec, 2009 24 Comments Uncategorized

Jungle Gym XT- There are countless exercises that can be done on the Jungle Gym XT; many more effective than using a machine or even free weights, such as pushups, flys, dips, assisted handstand pushups, leg curls, hip thrusts, ab fall outs and many more. At Renegade Training Center we use big, basic barbell lifts as our main maximal strength exercises and then supplement with bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbell and strongman type lifts for accessory work. The Jungle Gym XT gets used at every workout, without fail. It’s also great to [...]

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High Protein Fudge Bars

10. Dec, 2009 0 Comments Recipes

By Dave “The Muscle Cook” Ruel

Makes 5 Bars
Ingredients
* – 8 scoops chocolate protein powder
* – 1 cup oatmeal
* – 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
* – 3 tbsp honey
* – 1/2 cup 1% milk (Jays note: preferably raw. If not an option go with almond or coconut milk)
* – 3 tbsp crushed peanuts

Directions
* 1. Mix together the protein powder, oatmeal, peanut butter, honey and milk.
* 2. Form into 5 bars and then roll in the crushed peanuts to finish.
* 3. Place in the fridge for about 30 mins

Nutritional Facts (Per Serving [...]

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5 Killer Conditioning Drills

08. Dec, 2009 15 Comments Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning

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 [...]

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3 Great Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting is a Good Idea

07. Dec, 2009 13 Comments Fat Loss, Nutrition

Guest Post By Brad Pilon

You may not have heard of intermittent fasting, and so you may not know why it can and should be a part of your workout and fat loss plan. Intermittent fasting is the practice of abstaining from all but water for a period of usually 24 hours to help with the goals associated with fat loss and weight loss in general. The way in which it helps in this arena is by cutting out a full days caloric intake, while still being able to maintain a [...]

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How to Run Faster and Jump Higher

04. Dec, 2009 3 Comments Strength & Conditioning

Here’s an interview I did with my buddy Craig Ballantyne that many of you may have missed the first time around:

CB: What do athletes need to work on most?

JF: Most athletes are too weak. I don’t care what sport they play or at what level they are playing at, most athletes, in general, need to get stronger.

I think that if most athletes just focused on properly getting stronger, they would improve their performance and be a lot better off.

I am not downplaying the importance of running mechanics, flexibility, agility, [...]

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Linear Progress?

03. Dec, 2009 6 Comments How to Build Muscle

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 [...]

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How to Improve Your Chin Ups

01. Dec, 2009 26 Comments Bodyweight Training, How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning, Videos

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 [...]

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