On top of that we also had a visit from one of my favorite guys in the entire fitness industry, none other than the owner of Monkey Bar Gym, Jon Hinds. For those that don’t know, Jon is a 46 year old white dude who can dunk a basketball, walk on his hands and perform numerous other displays of supreme physical fitness. He’s also a Pan Am games winning BJJ black belt, and one of the all around coolest, nicest guys you’ll ever meet.

While he was in town he was staying in Brooklyn and yesterday morning just decided to buy a bicycle, on a whim, and ride it from Brooklyn, through the Bronx to meet us at Yankee Stadium, while wearing flip flops, no less.

And no shirt. He just bought a Jeter shirt from a street vendor and threw it on to get in to the Stadium.

Dude is the definition of chill.

And he eats twelve bananas a day.

TWELVE BANANAS!

Back to Sean Hyson…

Ten weeks ago he decided he wanted to get really serious and do a transformation story. So I put together a 12-week training and nutrition program and we got started. So far Sean has lost 30 pounds of bodyfat, while simultaneously putting a half inch on his arms and improving all of his lifts.

This Saturday he was attempting a new PR in the squat, looking to put four plates on for the first time ever. Again, I will repeat the fact that he has lost thirty pounds over the last ten weeks and is running sprints, jumping rope and doing fasted cardio several days per week. Still, he was able to increase his strength dramatically in ten weeks, through an incredibly high level of dedication, discipline and attention to detail.

We will cover his transformation and training/nutrition program in more detail when it’s all done and we have the before and after pics in two weeks. But for now I think the video below speaks for itself:

While Sean was squatting, a bunch of us were doing pin pulls at the next rack down. I worked in with my brother, Jared, Hinds, and my good friend and Renegade Gym member, Lieutenant Paul Miller of the NJ State Police.

I’m still doing my best to stay smart and not go too heavy on anything. I need to just get healthy and stay healthy. However, the cameras were rolling and the adrenaline was pumping so I jumped up almost 200 pounds from the last time I did rack pulls a few weeks ago. None of these sets were incredibly hard, though, so I told myself it was all smart and safe. Even though a 200 pound jump is never remotely smart or safe.

Again, I am keeping the reps high on my warm up sets in order to ensure that I am totally warm and ready for my heaviest sets and also to induce fatigue (the opposite of what I recommend for most people) so that my heaviest sets aren’t as heavy as they would be had I done less warm ups. Right now it’s working quite well and I feel good.

I worked up to 545 with the following progression:
135 x 10
225 x 10
315 x 10
405 x 8
455 x 8
495 x 10- I think. Maybe I got 8 or 9. I can’t remember. This was going to be my heaviest set so I pushed it.

But then Paul did this weight for five reps:

This was a huge milestone for Paul as it was the first time he’s had five plates on the bar. At 46, he’s bigger and stronger than he’s ever been and has been making insane gains in size and strength the last few months. So congrats to the big man for that awesome new PR.

Anyway, after watching Paul do that I couldn’t NOT do another set So I threw on another quarter and did 545 for a few reps:

Without all the warm ups, and if I was really going all out I think I would have had 600 in me. Which isn’t great, but isn’t bad for where I’m at right now and I’m happy with it.

Probably the most impressive performance on the rack came out of Hinds. Until Saturday he hadn’t touched a barbell in 15 years, as he does the majority of his training with bodyweight only.

Still he worked up to 405 for 12, which I thought was awesome. I know that if I hadn’t touched a barbell in 15 years I’d probably only be doing 225 or so.

For some reason we didn’t catch it all on video, but trust me; he got 12 reps.

Finally, Jared finished up with 495 for 12:

After that we messed around on the glute ham and did some tire flips:

After that we had a challenge on the log clean and press.

I wasn’t going to train at all on Saturday since I had already trained three times that week and done a couple days of hill sprints. I also woke up at 4:44 in the morning so I didn’t have a ton of energy. But once I felt the intensity and the adrenaline I made a last minute game time decision to get in on it.

However, I really had no intentions of pressing the log, considering that I had pressed on Friday, and my injured shoulder and all…

But, of course, I continue to make testosterone influenced decisions in the heat of battle.

Paul beat everyone on the log with 20 reps so I had to jump in and see if I could beat my buddy. That would only be the right thing to do…

After that a round robin style tournament of tug of war broke out, with the finals coming down to me and Sean vs. Jared and Brian.

All in all it was a great day, tons of healthy competition and a lot of fun.

And that’s what training should be all about.

Please leave your questions and comments below.

Related posts:

1. Mens Fitness Interview Part 1
2. How We Do It At Renegade Gym
3. My Top 5 Muscle Building & Fat Loss Tips

Although I am incredibly happy for the city of New Orleans I am also a big Brett Favre fan. I thought it would have been a cool story to see Brett come back and lead his team to the Super Bowl after having the greatest season of his long career.

I particularly liked the post game press conference when Brett said that no matter what anyone else thinks he’s going out on top. To dominate like he did at forty years old is very impressive. Think about that for a second… The guy is forty…and a professional athlete… in one of the most brutal, physically demanding sports on the planet… and dominates. It’s amazing when you put it in perspective. Especially since most average guys in their forties are fat, lazy, weak and out of shape. Hell, most average guys in their thirties fit that description.

I often run into former high school or college athletes who are in their thirties now and have long since stopped doing any sort of physical activity. Their reasoning is that they are “too old, “over the hill,” or “washed up.”

“Dude, I can’t do heavy squats or deads anymore. I haven’t done that since college. I don’t need to be doing that stuff at my age.”

I point them in the direction of Brett Favre, Randy Couture or Louie Simmons and tell them to listen to some old Ice Cube; particularly “Check Yo Self.”

Speaking of which, a forty five and forty six year old guy main evented a UFC pay per view Saturday night. If that’s not motivation to get off your ass and train harder I don’t know what is. It definitely got me thinking about where I want to be in ten years.

As usual, we did a good twelve hours of cooking yesterday and my friend, the master chef, Mike DeSanti was at it again. Mike’s family has a history of recipes that go back several generations and he has taken cooking classes and worked as a chef in restaurants around the world. Red quinoa salad with string beans, chick peas, and peppers. Green pea salad with artichokes. Some kind of wacky mushrooms on toasted French bread. I’ve been twisting Mike’s arm to get these recipes together in some kind of format that will allow me to share them with all of you guys in the near future. Hopefully he complies. You wouldn’t believe the creations he comes up with.

We found a new vegan cheese that they sell at the deli counter at Whole Foods which really stepped the pizzas up a notch. One plain pie, one with “meat,” and one with roasted garlic. Jen made the world’s greatest escarole and beans with some vegan pesto and a few incredible desserts like pumpkin pie, brownies and coconut quinoa cookies. I didn’t realize until recently that you can replace eggs in a dessert recipe with tapioca starch. Good to know. But then again, I’m usually on the couch while Jen and Mike man the kitchen. Every so often I wonder over to spill something, break a glass or suggest that the first pizza could have been cooked a few minutes longer or used more cheese. I like to think of myself as more of an idea guy. I think…

It’s been a while since I have posted anything about music and there have been lot’s of requests so stay tuned for that one day this week. Until then…

Please leave your comments below.

Related posts:

1. Sunday Cheat Meals
2. UFC Fighter Mac Danzig’s Vegan Diet
3. A Pathetic Excuse

“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.

Related posts:

1. Eliminate The Useless Crap
2. Power Wheel Pushup
3. The Main Ingredient

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.

Related posts:

1. When to do Conditioning For Fast Fat Loss
2. Eliminate The Useless Crap
3. Optimal Program Design For Muscle, Strength & Power

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

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%.

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?

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.

Related posts:

1. The Best Gains of My Life- by John Alvino
2. The Physical Follows the Mental
3. The Main Ingredient

Did you meet all of your goals that you had set? Did you live up to those New Year’s resolutions? Did you gain all the size and strength that you vowed you would? Were you as lean as you hoped?

If the answer is no then you need to ask yourself why. And you need to step it up a notch. Where I’m from the beach season doesn’t really get into full swing for another month. Make it your goal to make dramatic improvements between now and the Fourth of July.

Write it down and be specific.

Post it on your refrigerator.

I don’t care what your goal is. To get bigger, stronger, leaner, faster… whatever. Just pick one or any combination of those and get after it with a vengeance.

Only you can decide what goal is worth pursuing. For me, I am still trying to gain back the weight and strength I lost from having shoulder surgery and that is far more important to me than getting ripped right now.

You may have the same goal, and if so you should be force feeding yourself by the clock.

Then again you may be trying to get down to single digit bodyfat. And if that’s the case your diet should be absolutely perfect.

Throw out the junk food and go to the super market today and stock your kitchen with fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods. Fruit is in season so take advantage and load up on it.

And whether you are trying to get bigger or trying to get leaner doesn’t matter. Junk food isn’t part of the equation.

Some really skinny hardgainers with lightening fast metabolisms will need to eat some junk food once in a while to gain a lot of weight but it shouldn’t be a staple in your diet. Try to get used to eating as much clean food as you can and add in the junk for extra calories when you need it. But first add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to every meal before you reach for the cookies.

Summer is here, my friends, and it’s time to really step it up. The weather is beautiful and there is no excuse for you to not be outside running hill sprints, pushing the Prowler or your car, swimming, surfing, playing beach volleyball, riding your bike, hiking or rock climbing. All of these activities will make you healthier and leaner.

And don’t worry about overtraining and losing size and strength from playing too many recreational sports over the summer. It hasn’t hurt the thousands and thousands of jacked up college and professional athletes that we’ve all watched on TV every year for the last several decades and you won’t be the exception. Just be sure to eat and sleep enough to maximize your recovery ability.

Some of you may want to ditch your stuffy, corporate gym memberships and train outside for the entire summer. This is something I often do and highly recommend. The increased sun time will jack up your Vitamin D levels and you will feel great.

Get a pair of TRX Straps and you have your entire gym right in the palm of your hand. A great workout in the park could be as simple as a few sets of rows and pushups on the TRX Straps and a bunch of sprints. Another day you could do dips, chin ups and pistol squats. If you get a sled or Prowler or have access to a good hill you have even more options.

Summer will come and go before you know it and you will be kicking yourself that you either weren’t in the shape that you wanted to be in or didn’t take advantage of the great weather.

No regrets.

Train hard, play harder.
Jason Ferruggia

PS. To build muscle as fast as possible click HERE now.

If  Warp Speed Fat Loss is your goal and you want to get ripped in 28 days, click HERE now.

Pick a goal and let nothing hold you back.

Please leave your comments below.

Related posts:

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Since I have gotten worked up like this a million times in the past only to burn myself out come workout time, I tried my best to keep calm. I did some work and talked to people who have a calming effect on me. But no matter how hard I tried to suppress it I couldn’t hide the fact that I just wanted to get my hands on some heavy iron and rip the bar in half.

One of my training partners arrived at the gym early and said, “Wow, you’re already reeeeally pissed off, huh?”

“I wanna rip your fucking face off right now.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear. This is gonna be fun.”

After over two hours of visibly shaking in anticipation I finally started mellowing out and crashing about five minutes before the workout. Luckily I got the rage back and went on to have a great workout that consisted of a bunch of chins, military presses, pushups on the TRX Straps and neck work.

I only started being able to press overhead with kettlebells or dumbbells about a month or so ago. Started with a bar about a week or two ago. Tonight I did 135 for 10, which I was happy with. I have to take these slow and be careful not to reinjure myself. But I have my sights set on 225 for the summer. We’ll see how the shoulder holds up. But it’s feeling pretty good so far. The band dislocations definitely make a big difference and are highly recommended.

The training mix, listed below, which was blasting on the stereo definitely helped me reignite the intensity that I nearly lost and kept it high throughout the workout.

Prelude: NWA

Son of a Bush- Public Enemy

Take the Power Back- Rage Against the Machine

Just Another Victim- Helmet & House of Pain

Metal Storm/ Face the Slayer- Slayer

I Fuckin Hate You- Korn

Mob Scene- Marilyn Manson

Psycho- System of a Down

Step Up- Drowning Pool

Bastards of Bodom- Children of Bodom

Street Fighting Man- Rage

Gone Inside the Zero- Rollins Band

Zero- Smashing Pumpkins

I’m With Stupid- Static X

The Way I Am- Eminem ft/ Marilyn Manson

The Nigga Ya Love to Hate- Ice Cube

Night of the Living Baseheads- Public Enemy

I’m slightly stronger than my mom.

So don’t fuck with me.

Please leave your comments, questions and music recommendations below.

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- We’re Back- Bobby Creekwater, Cashis, Eminem, Obie Trice & Stat Quo

- Renegade- Hed PE

- Bleed it Out- Linkin Park

- PscyhoSocial- Slipknot

- War Within a Breath- Rage Against The Machine

- Fish Out of Water- Mudvayne

- Davidian- Machinehead

- Zero- Smashing Pumpkins

- Survival of the Streets- Cro Mags

- 99 Problems/ One Step Closer- Jay Z & Linkin Park

- Freedom (live)- Rage Against The Machine

- Butcher Knife Bloodbath- Jedi Mind Tricks

- What a Day- Nonpoint

- You Don’t Know- 50 Cent, Cashis, Eminem, Lloyd Banks

- Undead- Hollwood Undead

- Prophets of Rage- Public Enemy

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If I demonstrate an exercise and someone can’t do it fairly well, no matter how complex the movement, within five minutes of me teaching it, they are probably never going to be a good athlete nor will they ever be one of the big dogs in the gym. That’s just how it is. This has never been proven untrue during the 15 years that I have been training people.

If they don’t have incredibly high levels of kinesthetic awareness and really understand what we are doing and why we are doing it and how the body functions their results will always be less than optimal. The successful ones know how to arch their backs, brace their abs, tighten their glutes, drive with the hips. The tell tale sign of someone who will never get anywhere in the gym is when they can’t arch their back properly. If they can not get into the correct position for a bent over row or a Romanian deadlift the first time we attempt that drill, I know that there is very little hope for that person in the long term. That may sound harsh, but it’s a stone cold fact. If they can’t understand the difference between flexing at the hip and flexing at the spine within five seconds, I immediately know we are looking at someone who will always get subpar results. More and more high school kids come in with the flexibility of a conference table. I didn’t tell you to sit around on the couch and play Nintendo for all those years while allowing your hamstrings to become tighter than shoe leather. And now you want to earn a scholarship? Good luck.

For 15 years, the smartest guys I have trained have almost always gotten to be the biggest, fastest and strongest. They are highly attentive when I explain something for the first time. They don’t miss a word of it. They intently study what I am doing. They are inquisitive and they ask the right questions. Unlike what your first grade teacher might have taught you, there are stupid questions. Lots of them. The successful athletes and lifters never seem to ask them, though. These are the guys who watch every other person in their group perform every single rep of every single exercise that they do. They never miss a beat and try to learn from and help each and every other lifter in the gym, because they understand that you learn from both teaching and being taught. They are always looking for ways to improve their own technique, trying to figure out what the stronger guys are doing that they are not. They are quiet and introspective. The only conversation they engage in during the workout has to do with improving their strength or technique or helping someone else. They are thinking not about the girl they met this weekend or what happened at work today but rather exactly when to open up their knees at the bottom of their squat. Small talk and trivial conversation is something they don’t engage in. They realize that all of that can be turned off for an hour and they are working toward a bigger goal here; one that requires the utmost attention to detail. In fact that is one of the great joys of training; taking an hour to shut off the outside world and go to battle with yourself, your training partners and the iron. All the problems will still be there for you to dwell on and make yourself miserable with an hour later.

When I see a guy wandering around the gym, wishing I allowed him to check his cell phone or that a really hot girl would walk by the window I know his progress will always come at a snails pace. If I see someone not watching his partners do their sets and trying to either help them or pick up a tip to improve his own performance I know that I am looking at someone who just doesn’t get it. A year from now they will only have made slight improvements; or at best, something far from what they could have been capable of.

Usually after addressing a problem I would end an article with the solution. Unfortunately I don’t really have one here. You either get it or you don’t…

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