When I began going to the local YMCA as a kid, I rode my bike there. Unlike the kids of today who get a ride to The Underground Strength Gym, even if they live 2 blocks away. My bike ride was a good 15 minutes and I loved it. The fresh air, the excitement of heading to the gym to transform my body and to feel that pump. To me, there was nothing better in life than getting the pump and seeing my body transform in front of the mirror in what seemed like a daily occurrence. Spring and Summer … [Read more...]
Chuck Sipes Inspired Workout: The 1-10-1 Method
It was a Friday and I was feeling inspired to go through a tough training session with an old school feel to it. I dug up some old muscle mags with Chuck Sipes, one of the strongest bodybuilders ever from the 60s. He favored heavy lifting and I have written several articles on Chuck Sipes (Find them HERE). Chuck's home gym is where he trained most of the time. The other times he trained was at his work when he was a Youth Officer for The CYA / California Youth Authority. Chuck had a … [Read more...]
Strength & Conditioning Thoughts: “Perfect” Training vs DOING THE WORK
Above: The Dumbbells at Diamond Gym. To get to the heaviest weights, you must do all the work to get them from the bottom! In sports, you can be a Coach or even a fan watching practice or competition and there will be stand out athletes. If you don't know that athlete, then you have NO clue how that athlete achieved his or her skill. he may have worked his ass off for it or, he might be gifted and lazy. But in the weight room, ahhhhhh, that's a different story. You can stand against the wall … [Read more...]
You are NOT Special
I've got NO time and ZERO TOLERANCE for excuse making lazy folk. Seriously.... Shut Up and get INTENSE. Do some Research & STOP telling me you don't have time. People seem to have PLENTY of time to WASTE endless hours every day on Instagram & Facebook. Do NOT get fancy on me. Do NOT tell me about YOUR special program. YOU are not Special. … [Read more...]
STRONG Life Insider: The Development of Muscular Bulk & Power
From Anthony Ditillo's Book, The Development of Muscular Bulk and Power There is something about bulk and power training that invades your very soul. It is extremely hard to put into words. The exercise movements themselves are quite simple to perform. The routines one must utilize in order to gain rapidly that much sought after strength are not especially interesting or dynamic in appearance. All in all, powerlifting and bulk training is a rather mechanical robot like procedure, which is … [Read more...]
5 Garage Gym Workouts For Strength, Size & Mental Toughness
I began training in my garage during my 5th year as a teacher. It was the Fall of 2002. Time was of the essence as I was balancing the following: A new teaching position at the Middle School Middle School Wrestling Coach BJJ Training Finishing my MA in Health Education Commuting 1 hour each way for Graduate School Adjunct Professor at Community College Training (Finding time to Train) I started my home gym equipment set up by picking up some odds and ends from … [Read more...]
Training For ‘The Obstacle Is THE Way’
'The Obstacle Is The Way' Book Sketch by Sacha Chua I had a horrific night of sleep. I was up around 1 AM and stared at the ceiling until 3 AM until I said F--K it, time to get out of bed and do Work. I was exhausted after dropping my kids off at school and started coming up with EVERY excuse in the book to NOT train today. I'll train tomorrow Training when tired is bad This workout will be wasted if I train today Take a nap instead I decided to use my fatigue as a reason to DO … [Read more...]
STRONG Life Ep 38: Simple Strength, Dr. Ken & Jim Wendler
The other day I got an awesome text message from Jim Wendler. Jim's text messages are awesome to the effect that you feel like you just read a new book even though it's only a text. Note: Make your text messages awesome! Jim always reminds me to stick to the basics, keep getting stronger and to live a simple life. These are the 3 topics we tend to chat about often. We text each other randomly about life and lifting. Jim pulls no punches and tells you the truth, I always respect and appreciate … [Read more...]
STRONG Life 31: Chad Waterbury & Bodyweight Volume Training
Chad Waterbury and I "met" about 12 years ago through the interwebs. Back then he had long flowing locks and wrote for T Nation on the regular while I was testing his encouragement of following his popular program of 10 sets of 3 reps. In 12 years, a LOT can change. Since then Chad has been living in Santa Monica, Ca. He has immersed himself in bodyweight training by getting coaching from a Russian Gymnastics Olympic Coach, is about to embark on his PhD journey and he no longer has the hair of … [Read more...]
How To Use StrongMan Workouts For Mental Toughness, Strength & Power
When utilizing strongman training for athletic performance there are various ways to implement the exercises and methods for different results. Whether you need more muscle mass, more strength, more speed & power or perhaps greater mental toughness, you can tweak strongman workouts to achieve all of those goals. Here are 7 tips to incorporate in your own training when utilizing the strongman lifts. My Simple Suggestion: Test them, and like all things in training, absorb what is useful and … [Read more...]