Maximal Strength

If you want to know how to get brutally strong while keeping your body feeling great, this episode with Matt Wenning is for you. Matt is a beast and one of the most knowledgeable trainers on the planet. He owns three world records in powerlifting, a bunch of state and national records, and an equipped total of 2,665 pounds. He works with US Army Infantry and Ranger Divisions on strength, conditioning and wellness and has over 10,000 hours experience training elite athletes from the NFL, Divison-1 college sports and Olympic Competitors. Scroll down for show notes:… continue reading.

Most of you know by now how much I love the old school pioneers of the Iron Game. One of those legends I always pay my respects to is “The Iron Guru” Vince Gironda. Today I’m gonna give you an awesome way to combine the  Renegade Method with Vince’s training principles. First, start your workout with some type of explosive power exercise like a jump, throw or Olympic lift. This is pretty much a Renegade staple. Three to five sets of 1-5 reps will be sufficient for most people. After that move on to your maximal strength exercise. That will… continue reading.

Choose Your Goals and Train Accordingly I like kettlebell snatches. Only I don’t do too many of them because my workouts already include a lot of overhead work in the form of handstands, presses, barbell snatches, carries, chins, etc. When I throw in too many kettlebell snatches on top of all that my injured, surgically repaired shoulder gets a little flared up. So I’d rather jump rope, push the prowler or run hills like I have since ’84 when Walter Payton inspired me to start doing so. That’s not to say that I won’t do a… continue reading.

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 the wheel. Three weeks hard, one week deload is my standard go-to-recommendation. There are other options, however, and if you… continue reading.

Jungle Gym XT– There are countless exercises that can be done on the Jungle Gym XT; many more effective than using a machine or even free weights, such as pushups, flys, dips, assisted handstand pushups, leg curls, hip thrusts, ab fall outs and many more.  At Renegade Training Center we use big, basic barbell lifts as our main maximal strength exercises and then supplement with bodyweight, kettlebell, dumbell and strongman type lifts for accessory work. The Jungle Gym XT gets used at every workout, without fail. It’s also great to travel with because it’s small and light and… continue reading.