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Archive | Strength & Conditioning

Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Pull Ups

20. Feb, 2010 48 Comments Bodyweight Training, How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

The pull up is quite possibly the ultimate measure of strength. It’s also one of the greatest muscle building exercises in existence, which is precisely why it’s been called the upper body squat. Lat pulldowns can’t even come close to comparing. Whenever you move your body through space the level of neuromuscular activation is dramatically higher.

People all too often ask, “How much can ya bench?” A more appropriate question would be “How many pull ups can you do?” The pull up measures your strength to weight ratio better than almost [...]

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IYCA Summit

15. Feb, 2010 3 Comments Strength & Conditioning

I got back from Louisville yesterday after spending a great weekend at the IYCA Summit with friends and colleagues like the incredibly knowledgeable Mike Robertson, nutrition expert, Dr. Chris Mohr, one of the greatest college strength coaches in the game, Joe Kenn, speed expert, Lee Taft, and my brother from another mother, Brian Grasso. It’s always a pleasure to hang and interact with these guys. I also got to finally meet Pat and Holly Rigsby for the first time, along with Westside Barbell Club’s AJ Roberts and high school strength [...]

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Simplify Your Program, Amplify Your Results

11. Feb, 2010 22 Comments How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

Like Lynyrd Skynyrd advised, I have always tried to be a simple man. Mainly because I have a simple brain and am left with no other choice. But I have always believed that the more you can simplify things, the happier and more productive you will be.

On any given day there’s a good chance that I’ll sell all of my material possessions and move into the wild. Or at least I dream I will. I imagine a life with no TV, no internet and no cell phones, where I am [...]

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Kickboxing

08. Jan, 2010 5 Comments Strength & Conditioning

Question: Jason,
I bought Muscle Gaining Secrets a couple of weeks ago and so far I am incredibly happy with the results, however there is one thing that I haven’t been able to figure out. I am following the Maximum Mass in Minimum Time workout plan. What is the best timing for hour long Kickboxing sessions? I typically do Kickboxing on Tuesday evenings, Thursday evenings, and Saturday afternoons. Should I be lifting weights on the same days as Kickboxing (before or after?) or should I be lifting weights on Monday/Wednesday/Friday?
Thanks for [...]

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You Already Knew That

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

It just wouldn’t be Christmas if I didn’t get at least a dozen random fitness related questions per week from strangers, family members or long lost pals at holiday parties. Kinda like the exchange I had with my old friend Kevin last week…

“Hey Jay, good to see you, buddy. Glad you’re here, I have a couple questions for you.”

“I probably don’t have the answers, but fire away.”

“My shoulder’s been killing recently right here, when I bench press. Here, feel this clicking thing it’s doing,” he says as he places my [...]

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5 Killer Conditioning Drills

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

Riding a stationary bike sucks. Sure, it’s convenient and often the only option for a lot of people, but let’s be honest; enduring 30 minutes of water boarding would probably be more fun. If you can ride a stationary bike, you can ride a real bike; and that would be a much better choice. Sprinting would be far superior to either of those. Doing so on a hill or with a sled or Prowler is often even better. Below are some of my favorite conditioning drills that I do myself [...]

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How to Run Faster and Jump Higher

04. Dec, 2009 3 Comments Strength & Conditioning

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

CB: What do athletes need to work on most?

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

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

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

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How to Improve Your Chin Ups

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

The last post I wrote about how to improve your chin ups detailed how to get from zero to one. Once you get to one you will, in time, work your way up to sets of five or even ten reps. But again, you will hit a wall at some point and be unable to make any more improvements.

So today I am going to offer a very easy, completely unscientific method that will help you add more reps to your chins.

One of the major problems is that for most average [...]

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Reps: How to do Them Properly

19. Nov, 2009 9 Comments How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

Now I know what you’re thinking; “What a boring ass blog post topic.” But it’s a topic I feel needs to be addressed because some people just don’t seem to have a clue what they’re doing. Or maybe I just feel that way because I’m so OCD and incredibly analytic that I see and think about things that most people never do. But I promise I will do my best to make this worth your time.

Go to a public gym and watch ten different people perform a set of ten [...]

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The Main Ingredient

16. Nov, 2009 83 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle, Motivation, Strength & Conditioning

“Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay its price.”
– Sun Tzu

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

Eight minute abs. That’s right folks, in just eight minutes a day you can get the abs of Cheik Congo (pictured). All it [...]

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