I cringed in pain as I watched two college aged kids deadlift a couple weeks ago at the gym I’ve been training at in Cali.

“Dude, it feels like my back is gonna break.”

And indeed it was coming close.

I continued writing in my training journal and prepared for my squat workout but I couldn’t look away from the car wreck happening just off to my left.

After a few more sets I snapped out of high intensity pre workout mode and got into coaching mode.

“Can I help you guys out here?”

“Yeah, man. Please do.”

I introduced myself to Luke and Billy and proceeded to explain what they were doing wrong and went on to coach them on deadlift technique for the next thirty minutes. I’m always hesitant to do this because I don’t want to come across as a douche or insult anyone. But I couldn’t stand by in all good conscience and let these poor guys destroy their spines. They were more than receptive and couldn’t be more excited with how much better they felt after I gave them a couple of pointers.

“Oh, man, that made a huge difference! My back feels way better.”

“Good, good. Now let’s just stick with 135 and have you do more five or six more sets of five. And for the next month or two I don’t want you going above five reps per set. Just add about five pounds per workout. Maybe ten if your form is improving rapidly.”

“Ok, cool.”

This is NOT the deadlift technique I recommend

“Again, get the proper foot placement under the bar that I showed you, fill your belly with air, squat down and set your arch, load those hamstrings up with tension, squeeze the bar as tightly as you can and feel the tension radiating up through your arms and spreading throughout your entire upper body. Don’t start pulling until you maximize the tension. At that point, slowly grind the bar off the floor. When it clears your knees you can than forcefully drive your hips through. The deadlift is one of the only lifts that doesn’t start with an explosive contraction. If you do that you’ll get hurt. And you guys were well on your way there.”

“Got it. How’s that looking? Any better?”

“Much better. You got it now.”

After they finished up I finally got started on my squat workout. Unfortunately there was a mirror in front of the squat rack. Anyone who knows anything about training knows that’s a big no-no. And of course we don’t have any mirrors at Renegade, so I was a little thrown off. In fact, I was a lot thrown off. I just couldn’t get the groove right and didn’t know where to look. I kept falling forward and I could just see an injury coming at any second.

“Man, I really hope those kids aren’t still here witnessing this debacle,” I thought to myself. I coach them for thirty minutes and then can’t even squat right, myself. That would’ve been a bad look.

“Fuck it, I thought. I can’t squat til I get back to Renegade. Not worth the risk. Plus, even if I get used to squatting with a mirror I’ll be out of sorts when I get back to squatting without a mirror.”

So I decided to front squat. Why? Simple- because I never do. So I figured that I wouldn’t know the difference. I never front squat because I hate to front squat.

A lot of “functional” strength coaches prefer the front squat to the back squat but in my opinion they may be a bit misled.

One of the arguments for the front squat is that they are safer for the spine. Funny but I see just as many people, if not more, rounding forward on front squats as I do on back squats. Just as easily as you could argue that they are safer for the spine you could argue that they are more stressful to the knees just because the knees have to travel much further forward. Case in point- front squats with just 225 will bother my right knee. But I don’t feel a thing in my right knee until I hit a slightly bad rep with over 400 pounds on a back squat.

Front squats are also supposedly somehow more functional. I don’t see it.

I’m not saying the front squat’s a bad exercise, however. Not at all. In theory I like the exercise a lot. It’s just that I base my conclusions off real world observations. And most people find front squats tedious and uncomfortable. If you do them correctly the bar will be resting on your front delts and nearly crushing your throat. If you have little muscle mass this will not be fun. That means they will pretty much suck for skinny hardgainers and many females when the weights start getting somewhat heavy. They can also be stressful on the wrists and elbows as well, especially if you have big arms. Another problem is that with heavier weights form breaks down on front squats before it does on back squats and not due to the legs being fatigued.

Having said that, I still think the front squat is a good exercise in theory. One of the biggest problems, however, is that people use horrible form when performing front squats. If you want to front squat make sure you are doing so properly.

Proper front squat technique

First thing is the bar placement. It should be high. Really high. Like almost crushing your throat and choking you. Like I said, it aint comf.

The next thing to cover is how to hold the bar properly. A lot of people hold the bar like they are doing a military press. That is completely wrong and will lead to a horrible performance on the exercise.

When you grab the bar do so with only the tips of your index and middle finger. Some people will be able to get a ring finger on it as well. If you have the bar down too low on your fingers buried down near the palm of your hand you’ll be in trouble. The wrist stress will be more than you need in your life and it will be difficult to hold the bar up throughout the set. So just the tips of two or three fingers.

When you set your fingertips on the bar elevate your elbows as high as you can, so that they are about parallel to the floor. If you have big arms you can expect this position to be pretty irritating. Another option is to use wrist straps attached to the bar and just hold onto those. That works for some but it aggravates the hell out of other people’s elbows and wrists.

So if your arms are over 16 or 17 inches this may not be the exercise for you.

If you have elbow issues this is definitely not the exercise for you.

If you have wrist issues this is definitely not the exercise for you.

If you play a sport such as baseball this is definitely not the exercise for you.

Since I fall into three out of four categories there it should be obvious why I don’t front squat and why after doing them last week my left elbow is still throbbing in pain.

The other option is the crossed arms style. This is more of a bodybuilder way of doing them versus the lifter way of doing them. Personally I’ve never felt right doing them like that so I’m not a big fan. If it works for you, so be it. Dave Draper did them like that so who am I to argue?

There’s also something called the Sting Ray which is a plastic device that goes over the bar to make the arms crossed version easier. That might be something you’d want to try if you were going to start front squatting.

Anyway, if you CAN front squat let’s move on to the next step. Now that you have the proper set up it’s time to unrack the bar and start the descent. Just like with back squats you want to take a huge breath and fill your belly with air before going down. You don’t sit as far back on the front squat; it’s more of just a quick break at the hips and down. Like I said, the knees will travel further forward than they do on a back squat which will target the quads more. This is a good thing if you lack quad size or just need to strengthen them.

A few years back it seemed like all performance based training was all about focusing on the posterior chain and people forgot about the quads. Since the quads are very important muscles for acceleration and deceleration this was a big mistake. You need strong quads to perform well and the front squat targets them very effectively. That’s why you will see bodybuilders doing them after back squats or leg extensions sometimes; albeit with lighter weights in the Smith machine with their arms crossed.

When you’re coming out of the hole it’s very important to keep your elbows high. If they start dropping down that will pull you forward and you will either dump the weight or make the rep significantly harder than it should be.

As much as I personally dislike front squats I still do think they are an effective exercise for some people. There are front squat harnesses which look pretty cool and although I haven’t tried one yet I would definitely like to. Obviously, enough people hate to or can’t front squat otherwise there would never have been a front squat harness invented. If you have any experience with the harness I’d like to hear your feedback.

For the most part I will stick with back squats. But if you want to play around with some front squats here and there make sure your technique is tight, as described above. Also be wary of the problems I mentioned.

As for when to do them goes you have a few options. You could just replace back squats for a few weeks and see how you like front squatting. If you like it, feel free to stick with it. If you are already someone who loves front squatting don’t let me talk you out of doing them, either. These are simply my opinions on the lift.

Another option for those new to front squats, and what I would probably do myself, is add them in during a hypertrophy phase as a second or third exercise. Maybe start with backward sled drags or lunges and then go into front squats. That way the quads are pre exhausted so you wouldn’t have to use as much weight which would make the exercise slightly less uncomfortable.

You could also start with kettlebells and progress to a bar after a few weeks or month. The kettlebell front squat is a great assistance exercise, although it does get a bit difficult to hold after a while when you start working up to heavier weights.

Front squats alone won't build big glutes

Of course, if you replace back squats with front squats on a long term basis you need to remember to include some more posterior chain work because the front squats won’t hit those muscles as effectively as the back squat. That means for big, powerful glutes you will need to add in some extra deads, glute hams and glute bridges.

One last thing is to make sure you don’t do more than six reps on front squats. That’s because the front delts and upper back will fatigue long before the legs do.

Whichever option you choose remember that perfect form and stopping shy of failure are crucially important.

I ran into Billy and Luke yesterday at the gym right before they were heading back to school for the semester. It looked like they had each gained size since I’d seen them last and I told them so.

“Yeah, man. I’m up five pounds. All that stuff you told us about the form and holding back on our weights, not going to failure; that helped so much on every single lift. We both just set new records on everything our last week here.”

Train smart.

Please leave your comments below and let me know what you think of the front squat and if you have tried the Sting Ray or front squat harnesses.

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2) Psyche yourself up on the way to the gym by visualizing the workout in your head. See yourself going through each of your exercises and dominating the weights.

3) If you train at a public gym, where it’s more thank likely that they will be playing Usher and similar R&B tunes that will make you wanna clean out your ears with a gun, make sure you have some good training songs loaded on your iPod.

4) Train 3-4 days per week. Which one is optimal? Three always works best for beginners. For everyone else you need to determine what your schedule and recovery ability will allow. If you play a pick up sport regularly throughout the year or participate in kickboxing or surf a few days per week, three days is probably your best bet. If you do no other physical activity outside of the gym (no sprints, no walking, biking, nothing) than four days might be a better idea for you.

5) Whichever option you choose, always limit your workouts to an hour, tops. Excluding the warm up, the main strength training portion of the workout should never take more than 45 minutes. Use a stopwatch or GymBoss Interval Timer to keep yourself in check.

6) Stick with a muscle building workout plan for 12 weeks, minimum. The best way to see zero results is by jumping from one routine to the next from week to week.

7) Start each workout with a full body dynamic warm up to fire up the CNS, lubricate the joints and activate the muscles; especially those that might not always fire properly or in the right order.

8] If you have nagging injuries stay covered up and dress warm for your workouts. I always wear a few layers unless it’s over 80 degrees in the gym.

9) Knee and elbow sleeves can also be a great friend to the older beat up lifter.

Spend most of your time inside this box.

10) The bird dog is an underrated but awesome exercise to include in a pre workout warm up. Give it a try.

11) Foam rolling before a big squat or deadlift workout can be a great thing.

12) Don’t over use the foam roller, however.

13) The less experienced you are the fewer exercises you should use.

14) The more advanced you are the more exercises you can use. But you don’t have to.

15) Spend a large portion of your gym time in the power rack. This is your temple, where the greatest amounts of size and strength are built.

16) Don’t skimp on your warm ups. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make. Do a good number of warm up sets, always being sure to explode each and every rep. If 405 is your starting weight on deadlifts, doing 135×5, 225×3, 315×1 and then starting is not an effective warm up. Multiple sets of low reps will better prepare you for the task at hand.
17) Beginners should use “straight weight” or “sets across.” That means that you pick a weight you could do comfortably for whatever the set and rep scheme calls for (3×10, 4×8, 5×5, etc.) and stick with that same weight throughout.

18) Advanced lifters are usually better off “working up.” That means you do a bunch of warm up sets and “work up sets” until you get to one or two heavy sets and maybe some back off sets.

19) Rarely will I have advanced guys do more than one hard work set at the same weight in the same rep range.

20) If you want to develop explosive speed and power, begin your workouts with some type of throw, jump or Olympic lift for 3-10 sets of 1-6 reps. Even if your goal is just size and strength, doing this is a good way to fire up your CNS and make the rest of your workout more effective.

21) Speed work should usually precede maximal strength work but not always. There are situations when the rules can be broken.

Captain Kirk used linear periodization with great success.

22) To develop maximal strength, use a big compound barbell lift and work up to 3-5 heavy sets across of 5 reps (beginners) or a top end set of 1-5 reps (advanced lifters). Advanced guys can even go as high as eight reps for maximal strength work at the beginning of a long cycle a la Ed Coan or Kirk Karwoski. I have used this system with many clients and have had great success- starting with eights and working down to singles.

23) Linear periodization still works. But you have to know how to do it properly. A lot of people screw it up.

24) One way to make linear periodization more effective is to make sure the cycle doesn’t last more than 12 weeks and don’t have too drastic of a reduction in reps from week 1 to week 12. Rep range for assistance exercises doesn’t necessarily have to be periodized the same way the main lifts do.

25) Don’t train for more than 4-8 weeks straight without taking a deload week.

26) There’s a difference between grip work and forearm work. Grip work is very stressful and can not be done all the time. Forearm work is not very stressful at all and can be done quite frequently. Of course, there is some overlap so you need to pick and choose the right methods and exercises.

27) Using Fat Gripz helps you get both grip and forearm work in without adding any extra training time.

28) Try to use as many bodyweight exercises as possible for assistance work. Instead of cable rows do inverted TRX rows. Instead of leg presses do split squats. Instead of pushdowns do dips.

29) Incorporate odd objects like anvils and sandbags, and strongman type exercises to build real world, functional strength and stability. If you could only pick one farmers walks would be the best.

30) Always strive for maximal muscle stimulation with minimal joint stress.

31) In theory you should be able to do full body workouts forever and make great gains. But there will come a time when the joint stress simply makes it impossible. At that point you have no choice but to reduce your frequency to twice per week instead of three times.

32) Having said that, some muscle groups or body parts will always be able to tolerate higher frequency, no matter how advanced you are.

33) For example, if you are doing an upper/lower split four times per week it would be perfectly feasible to include some type of pulling/back exercise in there each day for 2-5 sets. The guys at Westside do this quite often.

34) Heavy pressing with big weights, three times per week for months on end, however, would set you up very nicely for shoulder surgery within the year.

35) If you were advanced and dead set on pressing three times per week you could do something like 30 degree incline barbell or dumbbell pressing on Monday, high rep pushup work on Wednesday for just a set or two, and a standing barbell or dumbell press on Friday. That could work. I wouldn’t do it year round, however. And I would probably be prepared for the joint stress to creep in somewhere around the four to five week mark. When that happens you have to cut back to twice weekly, immediately. Don’t try to battle through one more week because at that point it will be too late.

36) Speaking of joint stress, be careful to avoid elbow pain. When your elbows get screwed up you will most likely have to deal with it for years. And whenever you think they have healed you will find some exercise that causes excruciating pain.

37) Never go heavy on extensions and save them for after you have done some dips, close grip benches or pushdowns.

38) Focus on compound movements but don’t be afraid to use some isolation movements if you’re a more advanced lifter. Dips and close grip benches are great but if you need more triceps work you can’t rely only on compound exercises for the simple fact that your shoulders will get destroyed. For this reason you need to add in some pushdowns and extensions from time to time.

39) The main benefit of assistance exercises is they allow you to get in some volume and train the muscle without destroying your joints or your CNS. Sure, the deadlift is a better exercise for your posterior chain than the glute ham raise. But you can’t do more than a few sets of deadlifts per week. If you’re really strong you might not be able to do more than a couple of  sets of deadlifts per month. With the glute ham you can hit it every day if need be and there is minimal joint or CNS stress.

40) If you want traps like the late, great Road Warrior Hawk you have to shrug heavy. Whatever you can deadlift for ten reps you should be able to shrug for ten reps; maybe more. I’ve never seen anyone with big traps do light perfect, extreme full range shrugs with a peak contraction. Load the bar up and heave plates.

41) Do high intensity conditioning either immediately after strength training or as a separate workout on the same day, 4-8 hours later. Low intensity conditioning methods can be used on off days. Too much high intensity training is never a good thing, so try to keep it all on the same day and give the body and CNS a chance to rest in between.

42) Before doing anything in the gym always ask yourself a couple questions. Will it help you? How? If you can’t come up with a good answer don’t do it.

43) Your goals and what you do during training should always coincide. If your number one goal is to gain 30 pounds of bodyweight and add 50 pounds each to your bench, squat and deadlift you have to ask yourself how a twenty minute circuit of battling ropes, sled and kettlebell work at the end of each workout will help you.

44) Have fun. At the end of the day most people will not continue to do something for the long haul if it’s not fun. So get a training partner or group, challenge each other, get strong and have fun.

PS. For a complete muscle building workout program check out Triple Threat Muscle.

Please leave your comments below.

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2. 12 Simple Muscle Building Tips
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Question: Are there any natural supplements that could raise my testosterone levels? What about lifestyle choices?

Maca is a cruciferous vegetable grown in Peru that contains plant sterols which have been shown to block and control the production of estrogen as well as boost testosterone production. In the past I would have told you that for maca to be effective you need to use 3-6 tablespoons per day of the whole maca root powder, not the extracts and not capsules. However, Dr. Wong, who I have great respect for, has recently come up with an awesome new maca product in capsule form which I have found to work quite well in everyone I’ve tried it with. And taking the capsules is a lot better than choking down six tablespoons per day. You will need to stick with this regimen for at least four weeks to see a positive increase in testosterone production.  Click HERE for Dr. Wong’s new high strength maca supplement.

Zinc has also been well researched and proven to boost testosterone production. The most absorbable form of zinc is zinc citrate. To see positive effects you need 50-100 mg per day. Again, I like Dr. Wong’s zinc. Click HERE for more info.

High dose Vitamin E has been associated with an increase in male sexual hormones as well as several other positive health benefits. The problem is that all Vitamin E is made with soy. The trick is finding a brand of vitamin E that has had most of the estrogen removed and is placed in a non estrogenic oil. To see noticeable results you will need 1500-3000 mg per day. The best Vitamin E is Toco 8.

As far as lifestyle goes the following things will help: 

• Get 8-9 hours of sleep per night.
• Get to bed by 10:30 or 11 every night.
• Eat an adequate amount of healthy fats; both unsaturated AND saturated.
• Minimize your stress levels (meditation can help).
• Avoid all processed foods.
• Avoid all factory farmed animal products and non organic produce (the drugs and chemicals contained in these foods can negatively affect your hormone levels).
• Compete (competition elevates testosterone levels).
• Keep your workout short and intense.
• Focus on big compound lifts like squats and deadlifts.
• Lift heavy weights.
• Run sprints.
• Don’t do a ton of medium to high intensity, long duration, steady state cardio. This will boost your cortisol levels. Stick with short duration, high intensity conditioning methods for the most part.
• Stare at scantily clad women.
• Have sex more often.

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Deload weeks are when you want to take plates OFF the bar

Once you’ve been training more than a few years the need to deload on a somewhat regular basis becomes more and more prevalent.

How often you do so depends on your training age, strength levels and injury history. Eastern Bloc countries and countless other successful lifters have had great results by training hard for three weeks and deloading on the fourth week.

It’s a pretty widely accepted formula and has been proven time and time again. So there’s really no need to try and reinvent the wheel. Three weeks hard, one week deload is my standard go-to-recommendation.

There are other options, however, and if you have only been training for a couple of years you won’t need to worry about deloading just yet. Beginners can go a few years without deloading. Eventually you’ll want to start with 12 weeks then work your way down to 10 and so on. When you get a little more advanced some people might be able to go 6-8 weeks hard before deloading. If you’re more of an early intermediate lifter, eight weeks may be a better option for you. If you’re more advanced and go eight weeks you might want to consider deloading for two weeks.

But to keep things simple let’s assume everyone is following the three to one rule. That’s the easiest thing to do since it fits nicely inside of a month.

I usually recommend reducing the total training volume per workout by 40%. So say you normally do 20 sets per workout; on your deload week you would do 12 sets at each workout.

On big barbell exercises that you do for maximal strength like a bench, squat, dead, military I recommend cutting the weight to 50% of your one rep max and just doing two sets of five. So lets say your 1RM on the bench is 315 and the previous week you were doing 255 for sets of 6-8, the deload week would be 155 (or technically 157.5) for 2×5.

The other option is to remove the lift all together for that week. I like this option for experienced guys who have a mastery of the lift and/or are also beat up from years of heavy training. The removal of the big barbell lift all together helps their joints recover. You also may kind of “lose the groove” if you do this, if you are more inexperienced, so it’s something you have to decide for yourself. But I think the benefits of taking that week off of heavy barbell lifting usually outweigh the negatives. You’ll get back in the groove in not time the following week.

For assistance exercises you have two choices. Intermediates should just do fewer sets but keep the intensity the same. You could do the same weight as the previous week or even try to go up. However, the intensiveness (not what some people mistake as intensity) should not be as high as the previous week . This means that you need to give your CNS a break on your deload week and shouldn’t be going to failure or getting overly psyched up on anything.

For guys who have been training a while and are a bit beyond the intermediate level I  recommend cutting the intensity by 20-40% on assistance exercises. So just take 20-40% off all your weights. If you did incline db presses for 10 reps with the 100′s on week three you would do 60′s- 80′s on your deload week. The stronger/more advanced/more beat up and further along in a training cycle you are the greater the drop off % should be. It also depends on the exercise. If you’re normally using 150lbs on a 1 arm row I would want to drop that down by a full 40%. But if it was just something like a face pull or curl you could easily get away with just dropping it 20%. You would do the same number of reps as the previous week but just cut the sets.

The other option is to just take the week entirely off from heavy lifting. I first did this back in the mid 90′s after a phone conversation with Ian King, and my results were awesome. My recovery dramatically improved, my testosterone went up, I was sleeping better and I had fewer nagging injuries. Like any good American I wanted more and got suckered into other stuff and got away from that for a while.

Be sure to lighten your weights on deload weeks

That was until I went to Nazareth Barbell one day for a visit and big Mike Miller told me that that’s what they did. Three weeks on of balls to the wall training, one week off entirely. They went at it hard and absolutely killed it for three weeks, then they rested. They were all monsters and I’m pretty sure Mike was the first guy to squat 1200. So it was hard to argue.

I went back to it again and had some of my over 35 year old clients doing it and they were making great progress.

Like the stubborn, glutton for punishment knucklehead that I am I have yet again gotten away from that schedule but it does work incredibly well and should strongly be considered by all those over 40 who like to go heavy and balls deep like we do. If all you do is some light bodyweight training or kettlebell stuff, deloading won’t be as important for you. But if you like moving iron and do stuff that stresses your shoulders, spine, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles regularly (like military presses, squats, farmers walks, tire flips, deadlifts- ya know, all the fun stuff) then  I would highly suggest deloading regularly.

If the over 35 crowd doesn’t want to take the week off entirely they should definitely at least reduce both the volume AND the intensity on their deload weeks. Not doing so really isn’t even an option, in my opinion, because it will keep you in the game and healthy a lot longer. Either you take the deload week and truly deload or you will be forced to deload due to an injury sooner or later.

Also, for the over 35 crowd I can’t recommend going more than 10-12 weeks without taking a complete week off entirely; with once every 8 (or fewer) weeks being an even better option. During these weeks you can stay active- walking, swimming, hiking, stretching, etc. But no lifting.

Hopefully that gave you some good ideas about how to deload properly without being too confusing.

To sum it up…
- Reduce total # of sets by 40%
- Reduce intensity on big lifts to 50% of 1RM or just eliminate them all together
- Reduce intensity on assistance work to 80% of the previous weeks weight (if that doesn’t allow enough recovery drop the % down to 75% the next cycle, and so on and so on until you decide what % works best for you)

Leave me a comment, if you liked this post, do me a favor and hit the FaceBook “Like” button for me, and let me know if you have any questions.

PS. For a complete program with the deloads built in, minus the guess work check out Triple Threat Muscle.

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We’ve known for years that muscle tissue is highly active metabolically, and it helps us burn more calories during the day. So more muscle equals better fat burn, right? Unfortunately that’s only partly true — and not to the extent we once believed. A pound of muscle is now thought to burn an extra 6 calories per hour (as opposed to the 25 or more per hour we once believed). You’d have to pack on an awful lot of beef to make much difference.

But that’s only one side of the equation. Muscle mass provides a number of other important benefits, foremost of which is better management of insulin. Insulin is your “storage” hormone. Its job is to transport fuel into your cells. The higher your ratio of fat to lean tissue, the less sensitive your lean tissue becomes to insulin. Basically, when your body fat percentage creeps too high and insulin comes knocking, your lean mass stops answering the door. If you see a vicious cycle in all of this, you’re right!

One way to encourage your muscles to start answering the door again is through resistance exercise aimed at growth. Why is it important to improve insulin sensitivity? Well, if your muscles don’t answer the door, guess who will… Yep, your fat cells are always ready with a warm welcome.

To top it all off, long slow cardio can actually cause you to LOSE muscle because it increases your level of cortisol. If you focus instead on short bursts of high intensity effort using exercises that target the entire body in all its ranges of motion, you can actually BUILD muscle while you do your cardio! Fat burning just got easier, and a lot more fun.

Turn Your Body Into A Fat Burning Machine ( for 51% off until Thursday)

To check out Scott’s Tactfit Commando program Click HERE.

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Traps- If you want huge traps like UFC champ, Brock Lesnar you need to deadlift. That will always be first on the list. Hang cleans and snatches would be next followed by shrugs.

Shoulders- To build big cannon ball shoulders you need to incorporate either dumbbell or barbell military press into your program. No other exercise can compare.

Chest- For chest development you can’t beat pushups. That is, provided you do them right, of course. For most guys pushups will be too easy after your first few months of training. That’s why you need to learn advanced variations or load them by wearing a weight vest, having a friend hold plates on you back, performing them on straps or rings.

Aside from pushups you will get your most bang for your buck from some type of flat or incline dumbbell press. The bench press is a good exercise but I prefer bodyweight or dumbbell variations first and foremost.

Back- Chin ups, rows and deadlifts. Chin ups can be done with a variety of grips. Rows can be done with dumbbells, barbells or with your own bodyweight on a fixed bar, ropes, straps. Deadlifts can be done from the floor or from the rack with a straight or trap bar.

Biceps- The biceps will get a pretty good growth stimulus from chin ups. When you’re a little more advanced and want more direct isolation work, the barbell curl and dumbbell curl are your best choices.

Triceps- The parallel bar dip is the king of triceps building exercises. The other exercise that packs the most muscle on the back of the arm is the close grip bench press.

Quads- For massive quad development there is no exercise that compares to the almighty back squat. If you want big legs you have to squat.

Glutes and hamstrings- Again, the back squat reigns supreme. Deadlifts also smoke that entire region as well. And if you have access to it, a glute ham bench is a must use piece of equipment.

Abs- Hanging leg raises, power wheel rollouts, Turkish get ups, planks

Calves- Sprinting, jumping, weighted hops, donkey calf raises

Make sure some or all of these exercises are a part of your program.

Keep training hard.

Oh, and before I sign off, I wanted to share something with you that I got from my colleague and body transformation specialist Tom Venuto…

He’s been working on a pretty cool new program for quite some time now trying to make it possible to burn fat and build muscle at the same time.

Is it possible? Click HERE and decide for yourself.



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2. Eliminate The Useless Crap
3. How to Build Big Traps

2. Train for performance increases from workout to workout. It’s very hard to see size gains or even fat loss gains from day to day but you can see performance improvements on a regular basis, if you train properly.

3. Set PR’s as often as possible. You can’t do the same thing over and over and expect to see any results. Setting PR’s ensures results and fun.

4.    But know when to back off. Deload weeks should be taken after 3-8 weeks of intense training.

5. Do fewer things better. ADD is a very bad thing. Pick the most productive exercises and methods and get good at them. It’s the best way to make long term progress.

6. Foam roll or use a PVC pipe before training. Hit the quads, hams, IT bands, glutes, inner thighs, calves, lower and upper back.

7. If you are going to static stretch because you need to in order to get into certain positions, the best time to do it is after you foam roll and before you start your dynamic warm up.

8.    Use a lacrosse ball on your piriformis and upper back. You’ll hate me at the time but will thank me later.

9.    Do some type of dynamic warm up for 5-8 minutes before you start lifting heavy. This should include low intensity hopping drills, leg swings, isometric bridging exercises, activation drills, etc.

NOT the way to do hurdle drills.

10.    Do hurdle mobility drills. Hip mobility is very important and goes quickly as you age.

11.    Jump or throw something after your warm up and before you start your main lift. It fires up your CNS and better prepares you to move some heavy shit.

12.    Be explosive on every set; even your warm ups (to a point, you don’t have to explode the empty bar so excessively that you dislocate your shoulder).

13.    Don’t cause excessive fatigue on your warm up sets. But don’t rush them or neglect them either. Find the balance.

14.    When working up to a heavy triple, double or single it’s best to use smaller jumps and take about 8-12 sets to get to your max. You will find that your top end sets feel lighter when you do this versus if you just jumped right into them after only a few warm up sets.

15.    Squat.

16.    Always squeeze the bar as hard as you can, trying to crush it, on every lift you do.

17.    Squeeze your glutes tightly and brace your abs like you’re about to be punched on every standing exercise you do.

18.    Always maintain optimal posture throughout your sets. Never let your shoulders slouch forward or your lower back round out.

19.    Do more moving and supporting on your hands. Practice handstands against the wall, do Power Wheel hand walks, lateral hand walks, alligator pushups, partner assisted wheel barrow walks, etc. This is great for building up strength and stability in the shoulders.

20.    Use thick handles or Fat Gripz and ropes as often as possible.

21.    An awesome workout template goes like this- some type of jump or throw for power development, big barbell lift for maximal strength development, bodyweight exercises for assistance work, strongman finisher. Try it.

22.    Don’t train to failure on a regular basis.

23.    Don’t do slow, grinding death reps. They fry your CNS and slow down or even reverse your progress.

24.    Don’t use less than 70% of your max on any exercise. The resistance won’t be enough to stimulate any size or strength gains and will serve very little purpose. (There are some exceptions but this is a pretty good rule to follow)

25.    Jump rope.

26.    Do the majority of your exercises in a standing position. You sit or lie down to relax; not to train.

27.    Pick heavy shit up off the ground.

28.    Always carry or drag heavy shit as part of your program (farmers walks rule).

29.    Press, support or carry heavy shit overhead more often.

30.    Do more pushups. If you are beyond the beginner level figure out creative ways to load them (weight vests, plates on back) or make them harder (suspended, 1 arm, etc.).

31.    Decrease your rest periods.

32.    Do something active at least 4-5 days per week. Three 45 minute heavy lifting sessions will get you strong, but you won’t necessarily be in shape or healthy. Try to find the balance of both.

33.    Take one day completely off. The body needs a break once in a while.

34.    Don’t train for more than an hour, max. Your testosterone levels will plummet and cortisol levels will skyrocket.

35.    Run, jump, climb and crawl. It’s what your body was designed to do.

36.    Work up to advanced levels of planks and side planks. Your spine will thank you later.

37.    Listen to your body. When you have nagging pains it’s almost always better to train around them than through them. Trust me.

38.    Take a week off when your body needs it. The older you get the more frequently you will need to do this. There’s no shame in doing so. It will keep you in the game longer.

39.    Don’t do more than 10 reps on most upper body exercises and 15-20 reps on most lower body exercises.

40.    Play.

41.    Get at least 20 minutes of sunlight per day.

42.    Do hill sprints.

43.    Go to bed by 10:30 every night. Eleven at the latest.

44.    Get 8-9 hours of sleep. It’s very difficult to get bigger, faster, stronger or leaner on minimal amounts of sleep.

45.    Get up at the same time every day.

46.    Take naps. It’s an awesome way to boost recovery and get a little surge of growth hormone.

47.    Get Active Release.

48.    Take contrast baths or showers after training. Hot as you can handle for 1-3 minutes. Cold as you can handle for 30-60 seconds. Repeat for 10 minutes. This really helps with recovery.

49.    Get massages. Being dedicated to this on a regular basis lately has made a tremendous difference in how I feel. The key is to find a really good masseuse who really knows what’s up.

50.    Train outside from time to time. Bring a bunch of stuff outside and get after it. Or just go to the park and do a bunch of bodyweight stuff on the monkey bars. But do something.

51.    Meditate.

52.    Pick up a copy of Triple Threat Muscle. It’s an awesome athletic based program that I’ve used with a lot of people to achieve very impressive results. Plus, your contribution will help me buy more cool stuff for the gym

53.    Or, if you’re a hardgainer-  Muscle Gaining Secrets. I’m just sayin…

Start incorporating any or all of those tips today and pretty soon it will be impossible for you to walk into a room without people stopping to note, “That dude’s fuckin awesome.”

Let me know what you think of this list and feel free to add to it in the comments section below.

Related posts:

1. 3 Ways to Build Muscle Fast
2. Optimal Program Design For Muscle, Strength & Power
3. How to Build Muscle on a Tight Schedule

Today’s guest post is from David Jarzebowski, a member of the Renegade Inner Circle.

Ok, so a high school friend of mine got married in Buffalo, NY, over the weekend. When I was booking the ticket, the only option from London was to fly via Newark. Given how close this was to Renegade Gym, I decided to extend my trip by a day and try to squeeze in a training session at Renegade. Jay was kind enough to agree, and so I booked the flights and hotel at Newark airport.

I arrived from London at 1pm local time (6pm UK time) and got to my hotel around 2:30pm. I was starting to get a little nervous about the training session, and also about how I was going to get to Watchung itself.

I spoke to the hotel staff and they told me it was not possible to walk to 0.75 miles from the hotel to the bus stop. So I had to order a taxi. This was a mistake, as apparently there is a flat $20 fee from the hotel to Newark. The hotel told me about this in advance, but I didn’t know what else to do, so I paid the money and shut up.

Also, I was originally going to train at Renegade at 7pm, but decided to train at 6pm based on the fact that it might be easier to get back to the hotel if I trained at 6pm. However, I ended up getting on a non-express bus in Newark, which took over an hour to get to Watchung. Still, I got off this bus at 6:15pm, and walked for about 25-30 minutes to the gym. This was fine, except for having to run across a 4 lane highway. But it was all worth it when, over 2 hours after leaving my hotel, I crossed the highway and saw the Renegade Gym sign.

As I approached the front door, I was pretty nervous. Was this beast of a man known as Jason Ferruggia going to look me up and down, laugh at my 185lb squat and send me back on my way? I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I walk in the door and recognise AC, the guy who I had been in touch with prior to my arrival to try and sort out a ride after training. He greeted me with a big smile and a hand shake, and I instantly felt better.

I stood around for a bit, and then Jay came over and said hello. We shook hands and he commented that I looked bigger in person. This put me at ease instantly. We exchanged a few more bits of small talk, and then he got back to training the 6pm group.

I glanced around and figured that rather than stand around, I’d better do something so that I was ready to train. Being too nervous to talk to anyone, I just started doing some mobility work that I’ve been doing lately based on the Asses and Correct DVD. After a few minutes, Jen came over, introduced herself, and had me sign a waiver.

I asked Jen where I could do some foam rolling, and she pointed to the far end of the gym and pointed out the location of the foam rollers. I started foam rolling and began to feel a little more relaxed, although not very much more.

After rolling, Jay informed me that I would be training in a group with 3-4 other guys at 7pm. Mike (the guy who did the recipes in Triple Threat Muscle) helped me through the warm up.

After warming up, we did some kneeling medicine ball throws. I’d never done these before in my life, so I was nervous. However, I tried to copy Mike as best as I could, and they were pretty fun. I was still feeling a bit nervous, and had a hard time focusing on anything other than throwing the ball (like counting how many reps I’d done; thankfully Mike was taking care of that).

After the medicine ball throws, we did squats. I did a few reps of the wall squat drill, and also stretched my hamstrings and hip flexors. We then started to squat.

I was still nervous at this point, as I wanted to do my best and show that all the work I’d been doing over the last 8 weeks, since I knew I was going to train at Renegade, had been worthwhile. My first warm up set went fine, no real drama. Jay was watching my form, and had a few pointers after I was finished. He watched me do an overhead squat, and commented that my tight hamstrings were causing my lower back to round at a certain depth. He suggested I go not as deep. He also told me to point my toes out slightly wider.

At this point, I was starting to feel much more relaxed. I had remembered all of the names of the people I was training with, and I had figured out when I needed to put weights on the bar for the other guys, and when I could rest.

After squats we did deadlifts, and this was pretty cool. Basically, Jay just had me do a bunch of sets of 135lb and kept giving me pointers on how to improve. I still have a way to go, but this was a very cool experience and really hammered home to me how cool of a guy Jay is. He was giving me 1-on-1 instruction (in between coaching the other guys, who were doing rack pulls), despite the fact that I had paid nothing to be there (and I wasn’t even a potential client who might join the gym in the future).

Finally, we finished with a few sets on the bench. Jay gave me a bunch of tips that really made my bench feel more solid. I hit 205lb I think for a single (but not an all out 1RM), which was great.

Once we were done training, I bought a couple of t-shirts (one of which Jay gave me for free, again proving what a sound bloke he is). I said goodbye to everyone, and Jay gave me a lift to the bus stop so I could begin my journey home.

The bus ride home was fine, involving a change in Elizabeth and at the airport. I did learn that I pronounce “Newark” in a way that is confusing to NJ residents, after the bus driver got confused when I asked if he went to Newark (“new-uk”, not “nu-uk”). Good times

Conclusions

Overall, training at Renegade was a brilliant experience. The 4+ hours on the bus were well worth it. Here are my highlights/conclusions:

1) I train on my own, so I am not used to receiving any coaching or encouragement whilst training. This was the best thing about Renegade. Everyone is encouraging you to get the weight up, and people are shouting the cues you need to keep your form in check.

2) Everyone was very friendly, and focused on helping you do better.

3) It was great not having to search around the gym for weight plates, pull 25lb plates out from behind 45lb plates etc. Training around people who actually care about their environment was nice.

4) Jay is no where near as scary as he seems (at least as scary as he seemed to me). I don’t mean to kiss ass, but he was friendly and a great coach. I can see why Renegade is so successful.

5) The guys (and girls) that train at Renegade have a lot more responsibility than I was expecting. I thought Jay would be telling each person how much they would be lifting and for how many reps. However, everyone knew how much weight they would be lifting during their warm up sets, and how much they wanted to hit in their work sets.

6) I need to make notes in my training journal about what cues to think about when I am training. Since I am training on my own, I need to review the cues before each set. I think this will help me progress much better than I have of late. Being at Renegade made me realise that my progress has been pretty poor, and I need to do something about that. This is the start.

Ok, I think that is it. This is quite a marathon post, so if you managed to read it all, well done and I hope it was entertaining. I had an amazing time, and I can’t thank Jay enough for letting me train at Renegade.

If you get a chance to train at Renegade, TAKE IT. If you have to go out of your way, then DO IT! It will be worth it.

Cheers,
Dave

Related posts:

1. What it Takes to Train at Renegade Gym
2. How We Do It At Renegade Gym
3. Training: Renegade Style

We hit North Street and Oak Street Beaches, where strangely you are only allowed to swim out til the waters at mid chest level and then some guys in row boats stop you. Weird.

We caught a Cubs game at Wrigley on Sunday where I got to see four former Yankees playing (Soriano, Abreu, Matsui, Nady) and actually witnessed a Cubbies blowout victory. An afternoon at Wrigley is a must have experience for any true sports fan.

Then we went up to the top of the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower, unfortunately), ate at some good restaurants (an underrated but great little spot that had fresh, organic food was Big Bowl around Rush & Division), hit some good bars (I especially liked the area around North/Damen) and saw as much of the city as possible on foot. I had to have walked 30 miles if I walked a step this weekend.

Before I left, my buddy, Brad Pilon had mentioned that he was putting the finishing touches on a new system designed to reverse anabolic slow down and that I should be expecting a copy waiting in my inbox when I returned.

Knowing Brad and how thorough he is with his research and how well thought out everything he does always is I was pretty psyched to see what he had cooked up this time.

Every time I read something from him I always have to go back and rethink and reevaluate some of the things I am doing. He is definitely the thinking mans fitness expert.

I just spent the last two hours going through his entire program and am thoroughly impressed. Yet again, I had to stop and think and go back to reread certain things he had written because they were that eye opening and interesting.

Like anyone who has trained for more than 5-10 years I have experienced many of the things he discussed and have been a victim of anabolic slow down myself. As many of you may know from first hand experience, this can be incredibly frustrating. You train hard, month after month and you seem to get nowhere. It’s enough to make you want to put your fist through a wall.

Unfortunately, anabolic slow down is all too common in guys who have trained for more than a few years. However, through a lot of trial and error Brad came up with a plan to halt and even reverse anabolic slow down in advanced lifters.

It’s called Anabolic Again.

The whole thing is extremely cool and looks like an outstanding plan for experienced guys who have been training for a few years and have hit a plateau. This 12 week program is designed to help you break through that and get you back into an anabolic state again.

This program is unlike anything I would have ever come up with on my own, which is why I always continue to learn from guys like Brad and try new things. It definitely looks like something which could provide awesome results for experienced guys who have hit anabolic slow down.

Brad launched this new program while I was away and is offering it at half the normal price until midnight, tonight (Thursday, June 24, 2010).

If you’re bored with your current routine, are experiencing frustrating plateaus or are just looking for something new and exciting to try Anabolic Again just might be the program you’re looking for.

Check it out by clicking HERE now.

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Here is the final installment of my interview with the God of Turbulence Training, and one wacky Canuck, Craig Ballantyne.

Craig Ballantyne: Let’s discuss some more muscle building stuff. You can talk about what you’ve got going on in terms of how you work with your guys to build muscle. You talked a little bit about it so far, but what are your main philosophies?

Jason Ferruggia: Always get stronger.  That’s the main theme no matter what the goal is.  Again, we stick with big basic exercises and I do a lot of bodyweight stuff or bodyweight plus external resistance.  I’ll have one to three big barbell exercises a week where we’ll usually work up to one top end set for the day. Usually always trying to set PR’s, unless it’s a deload week or we are cycling the weights back down, as you need to do from time to time.

For the maximal strength exercise I cycle it in a number of ways and I often wave the reps, so maybe three weeks we’ll work up to an eight rep max, a six rep max, a four rep max, and then we’ll deload on week four.  Then, the following month we’ll go seven, five, three and deload.  The next month we’ll go six, four and two. Then, the following month we’ll do five, three, one.

I’ll do that with a few big, basic exercises like presses, squats, and deadlifts. These are great exercises to use this template on. Rows are hard to do for maximal weights with low reps, and I find loaded chin ups for heavy sets of 1-5 to be a little dangerous for some people. Some can do them. Others can’t.

The standing press is far superior to the bench press for a variety of reasons; probably the two most important being it doesn’t beat your shoulders up as much and it is far more functional and involves more muscle from head to toe.

But guys love to bench and many athletes get tested on, so I use it at the gym. For a while I eliminated it all together for everyone but the football guys who were getting tested on it. Unfortunately the mainstream has brainwashed everyone into thinking it’s the be-all, end-all upper body lift so everyone is always begging me to do it. In time many lifters will find that is indeed the end-all lift. Meaning it will end all training for you if you are not careful and don’t use picture perfect technique and smart weight selection. Even then it’s a big risk. The older you get the riskier this lift becomes. A much smarter option would be to stick with floor presses or even better- incline presses.

Now back to the cycle- guys who are getting tested on a lift or guys who just want to improve a certain lift will usually stick with it longer than that 16 week cycle.

I would stick with the squat longer because you don’t adapt to a lower body exercise as fast as you do an upper body exercise. And people need to keep an exercise as complex as the squat in their routine for long sretches to really get good at it and to make significant progress.

We might switch the upper body max effort exercise a little bit more frequently, depending on how we are cycling the weights. So each month we might rotate from an incline press to a floor press to a military press, or something like that.

After the big lift the majority of the assistance stuff is going to be all bodyweight or bodyweight plus resistance. For this we will use TRX Straps, ropes, etc.  Then we also do stuff with kettlebells and nontraditional implements and strongman equipment.

All the assistance work is going to be in the 5-12 rep range for the most part.  If it’s a beginner, I’ll keep them lower in the 5 to 8 range. We also try to minimize the rest periods on assistance work as much as possible; usually taking no more than 60 seconds. If it’s a big exercise we’ll go longer, but generally we try to keep the rest periods down.

I like to use a lot of alternating super sets.  Let’s say you do a set of dips and then you alternate it with an inverted rope row, you’re working antagonistic muscle groups to get more results in less time. When you do that you can keep the rest periods lower without having any negative impact on your performance.

Craig Ballantyne: Very nice. Let’s talk about nutrition. How many extra calories do you recommend for someone that wants to build muscle and still try and lose fat at the same time? How many extra calories do you recommend for the real skinny guy who needs big transformation?

Jason Ferruggia: I wish I could give you an exact number.  I’ve never been an exact number and formula kind of a guy.  I find that everyone is different.  I know that some guys do have complex formulas that work pretty well, but it depends on exactly on how much body fat you’re carrying, how much extra activity you’re doing outside of the gym, how old you are and how fast your metabolism is.

I basically just take someone’s starting weight and their body fat.  I see where they’re at and I kind of just know, based on a variety of factors.  I can ballpark where they should be. I know for people listening or reading this, it’s kind of frustrating because I’m not giving you an exact formula.  But, through experience I can tell when I’m working with someone.

For Sean Hyson’s transformation, I kind of just ballparked it.  I saw where he was at, did a couple of calculations in my head and then I said, “Let’s start with this.” We basically stayed in touch every few days and he told me what was happening. I said, “Okay. We’re going to drop your calories by 250 a day for the next three days and then we’re going to jack them up by 500 the next day.  Let me know exactly what you see happen during those days.” It always worked out pretty well. And he was giving me constant feedback so were able to adjust on the fly. Then if anything didn’t work, I knew how to change it to make it work.

So, I can’t give exact numbers.…

You could say an extra 500 a day above maintenance would be an average for someone looking to gain weight, and try to keep those calories clean.  If it was someone skinny with a fast metabolism, you could really eat anything.  You could eat pizza and ice cream and burgers all day. It’s really hard to get 4,000 and 5,000 calories just from clean sources like chicken breast and sweet potatoes and broccoli.

So, skinny guys, definitely don’t be afraid to add in some junk food.  I wouldn’t go to McDonalds, but you can eat some pizza here and there, some coconut milk ice cream, throw down a couple tablespoons of olive oil after every meal, things like that.  Just keep the calories clean and obviously, minimize the processed food, the fast food and the fried food.

Craig Ballantyne: Very good. Just to finish off, is there anything else that you want to bring in and recommend in terms of everybody’s whole life holistic transformation? I know that you talked about the Center Pointe stuff, the Holosync CDs. Is there anything else that you recommend people get in their life, whether it’s yoga, stretching, anything at all?

Jason Ferruggia: Yes, definitely.  I do love the Holosync Meditation Program.  That’s helped me out a lot. I’m a pretty intense person, so it helps me mellow out.  I do that for a half hour a day.

I’ve also been turned on to Eischens Yoga by my buddy Jon Hinds. It’s pretty good for a warm up or cool down and for overall alignment. When you’re out of alignment nothing works properly. I always used to have a real negative impression of yoga, but this stuff that Jon does is completely different than anything I have ever seen before and the only type of yoga I would actually admit doing. You have to experience it to try it. I recommend people try using the beginner sequence on his DVD for eight weeks to see how they feel. It makes  a difference.

I do believe that everyone should get outside  in the sun and fresh air as much as possible. That’s crucial for Vitamin D production and optimal hormone levels and overall health and sense of well being. I can’t recommend that highly enough. That’s critically important. You sleep better, you feel better, you think better… fresh air and sunlight are very, very important.

People spend so much time inside and that is a lot worse for you than being outside, no matter how polluted the air may be.

You always read reports of all kinds of toxins and chemicals leaching from your cabinets and whatnot.  Plus the fact that sitting in front of a computer all day is not the healthiest thing in the world either. Far from it.

So, get outside, get your vitamin D levels jacked up to adequate levels with some sunshine.  Definitely, breathe in fresh air. Go outside and play, run, or even just do some deep breathing exercises outside.

People may argue that effective cardio, like a walk every morning doesn’t burn a ton of calories, but for me I do it just because it clears my head and I got a lot of fresh air.  That way, first thing in the morning, I’m out in the fresh air breathing deeply, and then I just feel so much better throughout the day.  I can think more clearly and I have more energy.

Those things really have made a huge difference for me and I think they’ll make a huge difference for everyone.  Get some fresh air, practice deep breathing, get adequate sunlight and practice meditation.

Craig Ballantyne: Very good.  Well, thank you very much doing the interview. I really appreciate it. It’s a completely different way of looking at transformations and especially at nutrition.

Jason Ferruggia: Thanks for having me.

Please leave your comments below.

PS. In case you missed any part of this interview click the links below to read them:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

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2. How to Gain Muscle
3. Optimal Program Design For Muscle, Strength & Power