Search results for pushups

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 a big, thick, strong upper… continue reading.

For those who haven’t been following along, I destroyed my right shoulder in September of 2007. My rotator cuff and labrum were both torn and surgery was required. Of course, being the meathead I am I plowed through for another 12 months, during which time I trained with the likes of Dave Tate, Matt Rhodes, Smitty from the Diesel Crew, Craig Ballantyne, John Alvino and some other strong dudes, whose names you may recognize and some others you wouldn’t. As a man, I am required to go balls to the wall when training with others who may be as… continue reading.

All too often I walk into public gyms and see skinny guys plugging away, doing set after set of the worst, time wasting exercises possible. That’s why, today, I’m going to show you the most effective exercises per body part starting from the traps and working our way down to the calves. Remember that the most important factor in all of strength training is progressive overload. So forget about all the other confusing nonsense and work to get brutally strong on these exercises. When you can move head turning weights for ten reps you will be big. continue reading.

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 and drills that involve the entire body… continue reading.

It’s funny, but these days, with all the advances in science and technology that have been made over the last few decades, an average skinny guy has far less of a chance of ever getting significantly bigger, stronger and faster than he did twenty or thirty years ago. Why? Because there is far too much information out there and society as a whole has developed an incurable case of ADD. The Baltimore Colts won Super Bowl V while training under the watchful eye of legendary strength coach, Bill Starr. You know what their program consisted of? Bench, squat, clean-… continue reading.

If you want to know how to build a bigger chest you’re in the right place. I’ll give you all you need to know including the best chest exercises and the ultimate chest workout. Let’s start by discussing some anatomy basics about the pecs. There’s an upper head of the pecs known as the clavicular head, and there’s a lower head of the chest known as the sternal head. There’s also a pec major and a pec minor. What you really need to know are the following two facts: 1) You can definitely target the upper pecs and… 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

You’re busy and have little time to spend researching how you should be training and eating. So let me make it super simple for you. First, let’s cover your workouts. You’re going to strength train three days per week and you’re going to get in and out of the gym in 45-60 minutes. This helps to keep your testosterone levels high and allows you to maintain maximum focus throughout. You’re always going to choose big, compound exercises for each body part. Starting from the top down you will do the following movements: Traps- Deadlift, high pull, clean, farmers… continue reading.

Question: Coach, What is the difference between using chains around your neck on dips versus using a traditional dip belt? Thanks, Keith Connel Answer: Keith, chains around your neck will force your body forward. This will place more stress on the chest. Hanging weights from your waist on a dip belt will keep you more upright and thus put more stress on the triceps. Question: Hey, I’m finding it hard to get eight hours sleep, six if I’m lucky. With my job and my body clocks all over the place. I have’nt been able to progress these last… continue reading.

Since Memorial Day Weekend, which is the unofficial start of summer, just passed, I have a question for you… Did you meet all of your goals that you had set? Did you live up to those New Year’s resolutions? Did you gain all the size and strength that you vowed you would? Were you as lean as you hoped? If the answer is no then you need to ask yourself why. And you need to step it up a notch. Where I’m from the beach season doesn’t really get into full swing for another month. Make it… continue reading.

Here’s a quick list of a dozen simple muscle building tips that you can start using immediately. 1)  Do Full Body Workouts as a Newbie As a newbie you need frequent exposure to strength training for two reasons. The first is that you will be too weak to do any kind of damage that will demand longer recovery. The second is that you need to learn the lifts. When learning anything you want to do it more often than less. Three workouts per week consisting of a lower body compound movement, an upper body push and an upper body pull… continue reading.