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Assistance Lifts to Build the Big 3

23. Oct, 2010 10 Comments How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

Recently Bret Contreras asked me for my top three assistance lifts that bring up the bench, squat and deadlift. I’m not a big fan of the barbell bench press by any stretch of the imagination (the military press is a far better, more functional, safer lift) but if someone wanted to bring it up and asked for my help here’s what I would recommend, along with three lifts to bring up the squat and deadlift as well…

Bench Press

Rack Deadlift/ Inverted Row- To bench press a lot of weight you need [...]

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Kelly Bagget on Quickness & Becoming a Better Athlete

12. Oct, 2010 8 Comments Strength & Conditioning

I’m really psyched today to have an awesome interview with my colleague, and performance enhancement expert, Kelly Bagget (that’s him dunking to the left). Whenever I read any of Kelly’s work I always find myself nodding in agreement and am sometimes shocked by how much we agree on almost every subject training related. Today Kelly’s going to be dispelling some myths and talking about improving your quickness and overall performance. Check it out…

Jason Ferruggia: Kelly, could you give our readers a quick glimpse into your background as a coach and [...]

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Bigger, Stronger, Leaner, Healthier- At The Same Time?

21. Sep, 2010 21 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

By Eric Cressey

I’ve loved reading Jason’s stuff ever since we first connected back around 2003 because his roots – like mine – are in training athletes. Getting guys bigger and leaner was always great, but at the end of the day, it was about improving performance and keeping guys on the field, ice, or court.

That’s not to say that athletes can’t have their cake and eat it, too, though.

In other words, gaining muscle mass, dropping body fat, improving performance, and staying healthy aren’t mutually exclusive goals. We do it [...]

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How to Deload Properly… And Why It’s So Important

28. Jul, 2010 25 Comments How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

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. Countless 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 [...]

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Hill Sprints For Fat Loss

19. Jul, 2010 30 Comments Bodyweight Training, Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning

If you know me you know I like to keep things simple. I’m a big believer in the 80/20 rule. Focusing on too many things and making too many changes at once is always a recipe for disaster and will undoubtedly lead to lackluster results.

So when people ask me for some tips on how to get lean I tell them two things- diet and sprint. Pretty simple stuff.

Diet is really 80% of getting lean but that’s another topic entirely. Today we’re simply gonna focus on hill sprints for fat loss. [...]

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53 Ways to Build Muscle, Gain Strength & Be F*ckin Awesome

01. Jul, 2010 46 Comments How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

1. Have a clearly defined goal. You can’t put 50 pounds on your squat, lose 50 pounds of fat and gain 50 pounds of muscle at the same time, while simultaneously training for a bodybuilding contest and a world record in the hammer throw.

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. [...]

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My Trip to Renegade Gym (Guest Post)

28. Jun, 2010 6 Comments How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

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 [...]

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Why Grip Strength Is So Important

17. Jun, 2010 5 Comments Strength & Conditioning

Probably my biggest weakness is my grip strength. That’s why I always check out anything Jedd Johnson has to say on the subject. He is the master when it comes to this topic and today I have an awesome guest post from the man, himself. Check it out…

Grip and Forearm Strength is an important aspect for anyone who trains with weights or competes in sports. This is true for many reasons.

Grip Strength helps your other lifts go up, in turn improving your weights lifted. The way this happens is by [...]

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“When Was The Last Time I Overdid Anything?”

16. Jun, 2010 13 Comments Strength & Conditioning, Videos

Training’s been going pretty well lately. The shoulder still bothers me but has been feeling a lot better and is coming along. Now I have a new injury to deal with. I’m a big fan of overdoing things. Well, lemme rephrase that actually… I am not so much a fan of it as I am someone who routinely overdoes things. It’s one of the many things I have in common with Clark Griswold.

I’ve been doing a lot of running lately. Hill sprints, flat ground sprints, sled sprints and cone/agility drills. [...]

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Optimal Program Design For Muscle, Strength & Power

13. Jun, 2010 6 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

In part 6 of my interview with Craig we discuss how I set up programs in order to maximize muscle building, strength & power development, conditioning and overall tissue and joint health.

Craig Ballantyne: Can you walk us through a typical Renegade style training session. Is it always goingto be total body training with conditioning at the end?

Jason Ferruggia: More or less. We don’t really isolate muscles and every workout involves the total body. There may be an upper or lower focus on certain days but we are still using exercises [...]

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