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

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

The Main Ingredient

November 16, 2009

cheick kongo The Main Ingredient “Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price.”
– Sun Tzu

Did you know that you can get down to single digit bodyfat and look like an elite level pro athlete in just three easy, twenty minute workouts per week? And you can do it while eating whatever you want? It’s true…cuz I heard it on the radio… and read it on the internet.

Eight minute abs. That’s right folks, in just eight minutes a day you can get the abs of Cheik Congo (pictured). All it takes is a quick crunch workout. No need to worry about your diet or doing any exercises that actually jack up your metabolism and burn fat.

Six minute muscle. Jay Cutler look out. Because some lazy schmuck is gonna embarrass you right off the stage next year by training no more than 18 minutes per week.

Four minutes to super strength. Wait til Chuck Vogelpohl and Louie Simmons find out that they wasted all those years and could have gotten so much stronger with significantly less time and effort.

Two minute conditioning. Poor Tito Ortiz. All those wasted trips to Big Bear in the high altitude. If only he had known that hard work was out of style and that he could have been in even better shape if he cut his training time down to two minutes per day.

That’s what people want. Because not only do they not have the time to train, but they just don’t wanna work that hard. I mean who wants to push the Prowler 25 times straight? Who wants to do high rep squats? Or heavy deadlifts? In the same workout? That sounds really hard…

A marketing guy once sent me an unsolicited email offering me his services. He told me that if I wanted to double my business I had to stop being honest. I had to make it seem like my workouts were easy, that getting in shape didn’t require much work and that the whole process would be painless and effortless.

To his point I put very little time and effort into my reply…

Fuck.

Off.

Getting in shape is brutally hard work. I don’t give a shit what all the scam artists and marketing scumbags tell you. If you can’t handle the truth then you’re destined to be soft and weak forever.

If you’re twenty percent body fat right now and desperately want a six pack you had better be prepared to diet your face off and work harder than you ever have in your entire life. When everyone is drinking beer at the football tailgate party on Sunday you’re drinking a gallon of water. And when the hot dogs go on the grill, you’re gonna have to pull out a steamed chicken breast and broccoli, which you prepared that morning, just like you do with all your meals for the day, every morning of every day. And you’re going to do that EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR SIXTEEN WEEKS STRAIGHT.

Don’t have time to do hill sprints after work? Then you gotta set your alarm clock a half hour earlier and get up while it’s still dark out. And when your strength training workout ends at night, the fun is just beginning for you. Because now you have to do a conditioning circuit of kettlebell swings, jump rope, mountain climbers, squat thrusts and sled dragging.

And let me tell you something else… NOBODY gets ripped in three workouts per week. If you want to see really significant fat loss you need to be putting in a minimum of five sessions per week . For some of you 8-10 would be even better. That could be three weight training workouts, three brutal conditioning sessions and two or three easier cardio/conditioning workouts.

Sucks, I know. But you said you wanted to get ripped. Be careful what you wish for. Because now you gotta earn it, or be looked at as a failure in the eyes of everyone you told.

I’ve seen fat fucks get on a bodybuilding stage in 20 weeks. But they didn’t say they “wanted” to do it. They said they were “going” to do it. And they did all that was necessary to achieve that goal. Which means, in the eyes of most people, their lives were pretty miserable for five months. It means no unplanned cheat meals and undying, round the clock dedication. But these people had the drive that most people don’t and were actually willing to work for something.

Wanting and doing are two completely different things. We all want a lot of things. But how many of us actually achieve our goals? How many are willing to put in the hard work necessary to reach the top?

“Twenty weeks?! That’s a lot of dieting and hard work. I can commit to twelve weeks but not twenty.”

Then go fucking play PlayStation and watch another episode of CSI. What do I give a fuck?

No matter what anyone tells you there is no replacement for hard work. No training system, no diet, no machine, no gimmick and no supplement.

But most people fear hard work more than they fear death. They simply don’t have it in them.

How many times have you gone to a public gym and seen someone squat or deadlift? About as often as you see hot chicks during day light hours I bet.

Better yet, when was the last time you saw someone do a good morning? Now that’s a hard, uncomfortable exercise. Who wants to subject themselves to that? Bent over rows? They hurt your back. Standing military presses?! Who wants to stand? You need to be comfortably seated with lumbar support while “working out.”

Plus, all these exercises take too long to perfect and the learning process can be very frustrating. Much easier to just jump on a machine, right? I mean, you’re at the gym to burn some calories, not learn a new skill, after all. Power cleans? Only a genius with the mental acuity of Albert Einstein could possibly learn to do those properly. Who has the time for that?

What “hardgainers” are actually willing to turn off The Real World and go to sleep an hour earlier to accelerate the muscle building process? Or have what it takes to force feed themselves at the most inconvenient times of day and sneak protein shakes in between classes?

Very few.

Unlike getting shredded, building muscle doesn’t require 6-10 workouts per week. Most hardgainers can get great results in three workouts and everyone else will do great with four sessions per week. But it’s still a 24 hour a day job that requires a monumental effort.

We are all brainwashed to believe that you can get bigger and stronger and leaner in a very short time, with very little effort and even less dedication.

But nothing could be further from the truth, my friends.

The only way to achieve physical greatness is through brutally hard fucking work.

End of story.

No go earn it.

Please leave your comments below.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Motivation, Muscle Building, Strength & Conditioning | 72 Comments

The Death of Intervals

November 9, 2009

MMA The Death of Intervals Today I have a guest post from my friends Mike Roussell and Alwyn Cosgrove who just launched Warp Speed Fat Loss 2.0.

Mike: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. First so we all have some perspective, how long have you been a trainer?

Alwyn Cosgrove: I started training people in 1989. Actually 1987 if you count teaching martial arts classes. In 1995 (after college) I went full time. Since day one I’ve been very particular about what I do. I track and tweak everything. When we opened Results Fitness in 2000, we really started to gather a lot of data. We currently have 250 members and we track all their workouts and body comp changes week in and week out.

Mike: So it is like you run your own fat loss studies at your gym?

Alwyn: Exactly. We had read all the studies showing interval training to be superior for fat loss than steady state training. This confirmed what we were seeing with our clients. But I am a big belier in that there is no physiological limit to the amount of weight a person can lose in a week, month, or year so I kept tweaking and tracking the results.

Mike: What has been one of your biggest breakthroughs lately?

Alwyn: One day it hit me — cardiovascular programming is an ass-backwards concept.

I don’t know when I first thought this – but it was confirmed to me when viewing Lance Armstrong’s performance in the New York Marathon.

I’d been taught through my college education and countless training certifications and seminars that cardio vascular exercise was necessary to improve the cardio vascular system and subsequently aerobic performance.

But there seemed an inherent flaw in that argument….

Why didn’t Lance Armstrong – with perhaps one of the highest recorded VO2 max levels in history – win the New York Marathon? Or beat people with lesser aerobic levels than himself?

The greatest endurance cyclist (and possibly endurance athlete) of all time – the seven time Tour De France winner – finished 868th and described the event as the “hardest physical thing” he had ever done.

Runner’s World Magazine actually examined Lance’s physiology (and VO2 max which was tested at 83) and compared them to the numbers of Paul Tergat (the World Record holder and defending NYC Marathon Champion at the time).

They concluded:

“This figure wouldn’t mean much if it weren’t for the pioneering research of famed running coach Jack Daniels, Ph.D., who first published his Oxygen Power tables in 1979– According to Daniels, who’s rarely off by more than a smidgen or two, a max VO2 of 83 is roughly equivalent to a 2:06 marathon”

Based on his other physical qualities the magazine suggested that Lance was capable of running 2:01:11.

The world record at the time was 2:04:55

Lance ran 2:59:36 (and don’t misinterpret me – that’s still a great time). But it’s clear that the physiology didn’t transfer the way event he running community expected.

The flaw in this thinking was looking solely at aerobic capacity — VO2 max – the “engine” as it were. And it’s fair to say that Lance had a “Formula One” engine.

But he didn’t have the structural development for running. Lance was a cyclist – his body had adapted to the demands of cycling. But NOT to the specific demands of running (in fact Lance had only ran 16 miles at once EVER prior to running the marathon). Lance had developed strength, postural endurance and flexibility in the correct “cycling muscles” – but it didn’t transfer to running the way his VO2 max did.

From this example we know that cardio training doesn’t transfer well from one activity to another – and it only ‘kicks’ in because of muscular demand – why don’t we program muscular activity first – in order to create a cardiovascular response. Makes total sense.

So how does this relate to fat loss? We have found that our most successful fat loss programs center around stimulating the muscles to burn more calories not ramping up and down the cardiovascular system. What matters is total calories burn and how much you can increase the person’s metabolism. It is a total shift in thinking.

Mike: Wow. So it is this the death of intervals and cardio? How to you put this into action with clients?

Alwyn: What we have found is so great about this approach is that you burn more calories, lose more weight, while putting a lot less stress on your joints.

Here’s how I like to think about it. Let’s look at traditional interval training which uses running.

Depending on stride length – walking a mile takes about 2000 repetitions and running takes 1000-1500 and will burn on average 100 calories or so.
So if we use an interval training model of running and walking – we’re looking at around 1500 reps to burn 100 calories.

If we take traditional models of caloric burn – this means we’d need to do 35 miles to lose one pound of fat from our interval training efforts discounting the metabolic afterburn for now).

So we have a problem. It’s a very poor “rate of return” on our “rep investment”.

Additionally – running applies a vertical force of 2x bodyweight on the joints of the lower body.

So now we have a dilemma.

Let’s choose a 180lb deconditioned overweight client.
1500 reps x 360lbs = 540,000lbs of force to burn 100 calories. (The 360lbs is 2x 180lbs)

That’s a lot of stress on the joints. Now no one was getting injured, but it seemed like there had to be a better way.

So — we started to think of how we could use different interval training methods other than running to get the same metabolic effect without stressing the joints so much.

We used the airdyne bike, other bikes in order to create a training effect with less load. But whenever you take the bodyweight out of the equation in cardio – you have to work harder to burn the same calories. So this usually needs more reps. So that didn’t seem like a much better idea.

At this point we started using metabolic training with weight training implements/kettlebells and bodyweight in the same interval format.

So a circuit of five exercises, performed three times round (15 total sets) would actually burn more calories than the same time spent doing traditional cardio. That was a plus.
But we could also do sets of 10-15 reps. So we’re looking at 225 total reps (with a force LESS than your bodyweight) as opposed to 1500+ reps at double bodyweight.

We gave it a try. Clients loved it (which was a plus), and actually started to get better results than we were getting with intervals.

So we get more fat loss, less stress on the body, and happier clients. It is a win-win-win. Currently we don’t program traditional interval training our regular fat loss clients anymore.

So, yeah…it is the death of traditional intervals.

Check out the brand new Warp Speed Fat Loss 2.0 HERE.

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss | 14 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

Eliminate The Useless Crap

June 25, 2009

squatqd3 Eliminate The Useless Crap Let’s face it.

You’re busy.

And you have very little time to spend debating what you should do in the gym or what you should be eating.

So I’m going to make it easy for you.

First, let’s cover your workouts. You’re going to train 3-4 days per week and you’re going to get in and out of the gym in 45-60 minutes. This helps to keep your testosterone levels high and allows you to maintain maximum focus throughout.

You’re always going to choose big, compound exercises for each body part. Starting from the top down you will do the following movements:

Traps- deadlift.

Shoulders- dumbbell or barbell military presses.

Chest- dumbbell presses, weighted pushups or barbell bench/incline presses

Back- chin ups and 1 arm dumbbell rows.

Biceps- barbell or dumbbell curls.

Triceps- dips and close grip benches.

Lower back, glutes and hamstrings- more deadlifts.

Legs- squats, squats and more squats.

Simple, right?

Don’t waste time searching for 739 other fancy exercises that won’t work any better than what I just listed. Eventually when you have more time and have made some very solid, impressive gains we can expand the list a bit. But for now stick to the list above and get brutally strong on those movements. Unless you can turn heads with the amount of weight you can use on those exercises you don’t need anything else.

What about cardio? Your head is probably spinning from all the cardio recommendations you read about regularly. So let’s cut through the junk and simplify it.

You’re going to do hill sprints.

That’s it.

That simple.

Twice a week to start, for a total of 15-20 minutes. Over time you can work up to 30 minutes and add an extra day if you want.

Why hill sprints? Well first of all because it’s summer and you should get off the bike or treadmill and get outside more often. And mainly because there is nothing any simpler or more effective that you can do.

Sprints on flat ground are great but require some technique and a long warm up; something which people may not always have time for. Sprints with a sled or Prowler are awesome but not everyone has one. Everyone can find a hill somewhere. And don’t worry about the distance. If your hill is only 30 yards you will do 30 yard hill sprints with as little rest as needed for 15-20 minutes. Over time you will simply try to do more sprints and decrease your rest periods. If your hill is 100 yards, then you sprint 100 yards.

Don’t over think it. That’s a one way ticket to Keyboard Warriorsville, a place where the population is small, fat and weak.

How about diet? Can anyone really tell me they don’t know that Big Mac’s and candy aren’t healthy? You know what’s healthy. You just have to commit to eating those foods. Today I want you to throw out everything in your house that comes in a bag or a box. Straight to the garbage. Now!

You’ll only eat foods that a caveman would have been able to eat. Organic meats, fish, fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts and seeds. That’s it. Its summer time and everyone wants to look good with their shirt off. Trust me, nobody’s getting fat on that diet.

If you’re trying to bulk up I will make an exception and allow you to eat oats and brown rice. But nothing else.

See how easy that was?

Get started today and keep me posted on your progress.

Jason Ferruggia

PS. Want all the guesswork removed from the equation? Get your fully detailed muscle building workout, meal plan and cardio prescription at MuscleGainingSecrets.com

PPS. You see the quads on that girl?!

Written by jasonferruggia · Filed Under Fat Loss, Muscle Building | 56 Comments

Men’s Fitness Interview Part 2

June 14, 2009

By Sean Hyson

This is the second half of my interview with MF training adviser, Jason Ferruggia. It’s kind of like The Godfather, Part II, only more violent.

Sean: What makes you stand apart from other trainers?

Jason: I think the fact that I have logged thousands of hours training hundreds of clients. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, 10 of which saw me spending 8-12 hours in my training facility, five or six days a week, and sometimes seven. Everything I do, I tend to do to the extreme. I always want to be the best and I knew that to become the best trainer/coach I could be, I would have to put in a lot of time and work with a lot of clients. I started with regular, everyday people but progressed to training a lot of athletes. To date, I have worked with over 700 athletes from numerous college and pro organizations. I also continue to work with members of the armed forces, Hollywood stars, and tons of regular guys who just want to get bigger, stronger, and leaner.

I’m also not married to any one concept or training style and am willing to adapt and try new things. In fact, I am always experimenting and trying to find a better way to get faster results. While some guys think kettlebells are the only tool and others live and die by Olympic lifting or body-weight only training, I try to use every useful training implement I can find and combine them into the ultimate training system. There is a time and place for everything.

Another thing that separates me from a lot of trainers is that I believe everyone should train like an athlete and chase performance goals, first and foremost. When you train with performance in mind, you always end up with a better physique (as long as you are eating right and recovering properly). The same cannot always be said when you train strictly for aesthetics. That goal is too vague. You need to have something you can measure, like your strength going up. When you do that and focus on the type of training that an athlete would do–heavy lifting, body-weight conditioning, sprints instead of time on a stair climber–you will end up with an incredibly impressive physique.

Sean: Ok. Give us five ways to get stronger.

Jason: In training, you need to focus on big compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and presses, and you need to continually add weight to the bar. While you can also make progress by doing more sets, decreasing your rest periods, or using set-extension techniques like forced reps, the fact remains that the fastest way to force a muscle to grow is to make it stronger. Do this while training no more than four days a week for 45 minutes per workout.

Hit each muscle group twice a week or once every five days. Train hard but finish all your reps on your own–never let a spotter touch the bar and help you grind out extra reps. That is never necessary and is actually counter productive.

As far as nutrition goes, you have to eat to grow. Studies have shown that sumo wrestlers have more muscle mass per square inch than elite bodybuilders. And they don’t even lift weights! That is because overeating in itself is highly anabolic. Other studies have been conducted where people were fed an additional 1,000 calories per day for 100 days and, without any training whatsoever, one-third of the weight they gained was muscle mass.

Of course, you don’t want to get fat, but I think that illustrates how important it is to eat big. The simplest advice I can give anyone looking to get bigger and stronger is to make sure that breakfast and your post-workout meal are the two largest feedings of the day. That should keep you lean, too. Eat more calories and carbohydrates on training days, and fewer calories and carbs on off days.

Another thing that needs to be considered is the hormonal response to training. If your testosterone and growth hormone levels are high, you will get bigger and stronger a lot faster than if they are down. Here are a few things you can do to maximize anabolic hormone levels.

•   Get around 30% of your diet from fat, primarily healthy unsaturated fats. They increase testosterone.
•   Try to drink red wine instead of beer whenever possible. Beer elevates estrogen levels. Red wine, on the other hand, is anti-estrogenic.
•   Get 8 or 9 hours of good sleep per night. This is one of the best ways to increase testosterone and growth hormone while reducing levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.

Sean: Wow, that’s a lot more than five! And I know you can go on and on if I let you. On a lighter note, I happen to know that you have had a number of hilarious incidents in your gym. Tell the good people out there one of those crazy stories.

Jason: Too many fun times to list here. One time, about eight years ago, my brother was giving me a lift off on the bench press and we were jawing back and forth at each other. He was screaming at me as he handed me the bar before my set, trying to fire me up, and he inadvertently spit a loogie on my face. I threw the bar back to the rack and got right up and went after him. We ended up brawling on the floor… Good times.

Sean: Anything else you want to add?

Jason: I just want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to the readers of Men’s Fitness, and invite them to check out my site and MuscleGainingSecrets.com for more information.

I’ll add that Jason is a helluva guy, on top of being a great trainer. He lives what he preaches (give or take a Friday night, here and there), and everyone should check out his column, The Hard-Gainer (advice for skinny guys trying to get bigger and stronger), in the magazine every month. Check out some of his training videos here.

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

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