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, change of direction… continue reading.

I always advise all beginners and hardgainers to concentrate on making linear progress (either by adding more reps or more weight) at each and every workout. Add a rep or a plate and you will make pretty consistent gains for quite a while. This is one of the key components to the Muscle Gaining Secrets program. Eventually, however, you’ll no longer be a beginner or a hardgainer and then the whole game changes. It will become more and more difficult to make linear progress on a consistent basis. This can be hard to accept at first and become quite… continue reading.

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 guys a set of chins is a… continue reading.

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 reps. You may see speed reps, grinder reps, death… continue reading.

Broccoli and Pine-Nut Soup FromPaleo Cookbooks Ingredients 1 onion, diced 1tbs oil 3 cups broccoli 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock ¼ cup pine-nuts Instructions Fry onion in a large pan with oil on medium heat until slightly browned. Add broccoli and stock and simmer for 10-15minutes or until broccoli has softened. Cool slightly. Place in a food processor or use an electric blender to form a smooth texture. Heat to serve. For over 300 more awesome paleo recipes check… continue reading.

“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 by training for just 10 minutes a day, twice a 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… continue reading.

Originally written For Elite Fitness Systems in 2004 When Part One of this article was written a few years ago the focus was on college strength coaches. Unfortunately the unmaking of an athlete begins long before college. It starts at a very young age with uninformed but well intentioned parents. By doing what they think is best for their kids; many parents actually end up destroying their children’s athletic futures. For this story to be complete we have to go back to the beginning. The father of three high school aged boys I used to coach is one such example… continue reading.

Today I have a guest post from my friends Mike Roussell and Alwyn Cosgrove who just launched Warp Speed Fat Loss 2.0. Mike: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. First so we all have some perspective, how long have you been a trainer? Alwyn Cosgrove: I started training people in 1989. Actually 1987 if you count teaching martial arts classes. In 1995 (after college) I went full time. Since day one I’ve been very particular about what I do. I track and tweak everything. When we opened Results Fitness in 2000, we really started to… continue reading.

This is an old article from 2004, originally written for Elite Fitness.  Since it was quite popular and many of you may have missed it, I figured I would reprint it here today… **** I sometimes wonder if there are any prerequisites at all to getting a job as college strength and conditioning coach. As the owner of my private athletic training company (Renegade Strength & Conditioning) I have had the opportunity to work with athletes from numerous colleges and universities across the country and have witnessed their disgust with their schools strength and conditioning programs. Some athletes, such… continue reading.

While everyone’s busy searching for the perfect rep scheme or newest miracle supplement, one of the greatest progress boosters of all is constantly overlooked. The concept of taking an afternoon nap is foreign to most of us yet it can do more for your training than 90% of the other minutia bullshit people waste their time obsessing on. There’s a popular MMA t-shirt that reads “Tap or Nap.” While the intended meaning of the t-shirt is obvious, this slogan can also be applied to your training. Taking naps is so important that if you don’t find the… continue reading.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions the last few days about my opinion on Mike Boyle’s video claiming that the back squat is dead. Like I said, I don’t agree with everything Mike says. Nor do I agree with everything Alwyn  Cosgrove or Chad Waterbury say. But they are smart guys who know their shit. I learn something from each of them and I like a lot of what Mike has to say about warming up, rehabbing and staying injury proof. But I’m never just going to throw out what I know works based on one guys theories. So here… continue reading.

Hey Jay I’ve been following your newsletters for a long time; you give some great advice. Wanted to run an idea by you. I’ve been following your lifting routines for a while and was thinking of breaking it down so that instead of doing 4-5 different exercises 3 days a week, I’d do like 2 exercises each morning. Reason being is that time is a little precious for me; I’m a doctor and I’m in my surgery residency and, as you could imagine, time isn’t exactly a commodity I have a lot of. I was thinking that either before going… continue reading.

By Dave Ruel, “The Muscle Cook” Makes 6 Servings Ingredients * – 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts weighing about 6 oz. / 170 g each * – 1/4 cup / 60 ml of oat bran * – 1/4 cup / 60 ml of wheat germ * – 1 Tbsp / 15 ml coarsely ground flaxseed * – 1/4 cup / 60 ml coarsely ground almonds * – 1/2 tsp / 2 1/2 ml sea salt * – 1/2 tsp / 2 1/2 ml white pepper * – Pinch… continue reading.

Q: Jay, everyone thinks they know how to build muscle mass. But as you and I know, most people never really even get close to their true potential. What is the biggest mistake people make when trying to get big and strong? A: They follow the same old, traditional bodybuilding routine. That means they are training each body part with too much volume, not enough intensity, probably too much intensiveness, and not enough frequency. Just so everyone is on the same page, when I say intensity I am referring to percentage of one rep max. That means that they… continue reading.

“We got the results back from the doctor today. It’s pancreatic cancer. There’s no cure… It’s terminal.” My heart stopped and tears welled up in my eyes. Even though he and my mom never decided to make it official and tie the knot, he was, for all intents and purposes, my step dad. That’s what we referred to him as, and Edward Liebman was one of the greatest friends I had ever known. “Whattaya mean? Are they sure?!” I asked as cold sweat started to roll down my back. “Yes.” I couldn’t speak and began to weep like a baby. continue reading.