Workout

I’ve been in the Iron Game for over 30 years. But I still like to experiment. Strength training is my #1 obsession and there’s always more to learn. I recently ran a little 90-day test protocol. In this episode, I’ll tell you what I learned, what I liked, what I hated, and what my conclusions are. After that, I’ll give you some of my best arm building secrets that will help you pack on some size for the summer. The weather’s getting warmer so you know what that means…suns out, guns out. Finally, I’ll give you some of the best… continue reading.

When I was growing up you had to put in work to get a girl. You couldn’t just go to the club and stand there like lummox. You actually had to know how to dance. Needed some moves. So you’d be in there doin your little two step, smiling and having fun. Waiting but not creeping. Once you got the eye contact you’d wait just the right amount of time… and then you might start dancing with her. But at an appropriate, safe distance. Ya didn’t just go mount her… continue reading.

There are thousands of people who read this site every day who will never make it to Jersey to train at Renegade. So I debated even posting this since it won’t really apply to most of you. But then I realized that no, that’s wrong. It will apply to anyone who trains hard, takes this stuff very seriously and expects the same of all around them. I’ve mentioned my close friend, Mark Crook plenty of times before. He would be a great addition to any serious gym or group of training partners anywhere in the world. He brings it each… continue reading.

Being big and strong is great. But how to become more explosive is a question all athletes need to be more concerned with. Being big, strong and explosive makes someone a bad motherfucker. In most sports strength without speed is useless. Strong, slow athletes usually don’t make it to the top, unless we’re talking bout sumo wrestling. But even then, being explosive would give you a huge advantage. There are countless ways to develop explosive power but I like to keep things simple so here’s the easiest way to do it. Simply add jumps to your workout 1-2 days per… continue reading.

Aside from your neck, the muscles that get exposed to the world more than any other are your forearms. So it’s a probably a good idea for them to be jacked, or least look halfway decent. A lot of guys with average to above average genetics will never need to do any direct forearm work and their forearms will grow just fine from presses and pulls. The rest of us won’t be so lucky. It’s funny because the common message preached to skinny hardgainers is to forget isolation training and only focus on compound lifts. This is… continue reading.

A perfect snatch is a beautiful thing. It seems that more coaches prefer the clean when it comes to Olympic lift variations for power production. But I’ve always preferred the snatch and have been obsessed with it for as long as I can remember. Before I even started lifting weights, actually. Cleans are a great exercise but they are also significantly harder to teach/learn than snatches are. The other issue I have with cleans is that they can lead to wrist and elbow injuries. There are certain athletes, such as basketball players or baseball players, that I wouldn’t want… continue reading.

Here’s a quick way for coaches and trainers to get more out of their athletes and instantly earn their respect. Train with them. It’s that simple. Of course, you can’t do this all the time but once in a while, even if it’s a very rare occasion you should jump in on a workout to show them that you practice what you preach and lead from the front. Athletes will always respect a coach more if he is willing to suffer with them. My advice would be to join in on a grueling conditioning day. Because, let’s face… continue reading.

I’ve spent the last two and a half decades pounding the shit out of my shoulders. While that sucks for me it’s actually good news for you. Why, you ask? Because when you’ve torn traps, rotator cuffs and labrums you develop a pretty keen interest in avoiding shoulder injuries. You also develop a pretty good MacGyver instinct about how to work around them. And today I’m going to share some of that information with the Renegade Army. Here is a list of 27 tips that will help you keep your shoulders strong and healthy. 1) Do YTWL’s as a Warm… continue reading.

1) Always Start Too Easy Whenever you have a new client always start them out with easy exercises and light weights. If you do group training have them do the easiest progression of whatever the rest of the more advanced members of the group are doing. Any nitwit can create a hard workout. That doesn’t make it effective, though. You don’t want them struggling or getting down on themselves or thinking that your training is too hard. Nor do you want them throwing up during their first session or getting too sore from it. 2) Don’t Introduce Too Many Complicated… continue reading.

Question: I’ve read that the best way to get bigger and stronger is to train exclusively in the 8-12 range like bodybuilders. Then I turn around and someone is telling me that I should go heavy and only train in the 1-5 rep range for the best gains in size and strength. So which one is it? Answer: Before I answer your question I have to preface it with the fact that beginners should always stick with basic programs and reps in the 5-8 range. Nothing higher than 8, and nothing lower than 5. Do that for at least… 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.

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.

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.

Question: I have a question about how to build big calves. Mine are like string beans and I can’t get them to grow. Got any good suggestions? Answer: Whenever people ask me how to build big calves, I immediately check their training volume. High volume works best for calves. They are probably the hardest muscle to build, and if you chose the wrong parents getting them to grow is gonna be a bitch. continue reading.

Question: Coach, can you give me a quick overview of how you implement plyos, speed and agility work with your athletes? Answer: Ok, just so everyone is on the same page here, plyos consist of jumping, bounding and hopping exercises. These can be done off of one or two legs. Some of the simplest and most effective plyos are vertical jumps for height, box jumps, hurdle jumps, and broad jumps. Speed work consists of short sprints from 10-50… continue reading.