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. 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 Adjunct Professor at Community College Training! I picked up some odds and ends from newspaper classified ads back then as E Bay didn't even exist yet. I recall driving to Newark to meet someone in a storage depot and I … [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...]
Amazing Kid Reminds Me To ALWAYS Do This 1 Thing
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." - Muhammad Ali I gotta admit. Life is quite challenging right now. I've taken on a LOT of work and at the same time that wild flu knocked me on my arse. But I've trained myself through the physical AND the mental to not only be able to handle these challenges, but to also conquer them and emerge victorious. I am refusing to back down. I KNOW that this is how champions are built. They don't take the easy … [Read more...]
How to Pack on SERIOUS Muscle
Sooooo many people struggle with getting stronger and packing on muscle. To be straight up honest, most of those cry baby - whiners simply train like P**ies. Point Blank :) You gotta get under the bar, push heavy iron and eat clean, like a caveman. Watch this video of me tearing it up (watch out for a few old school bodybuilding poses in there!).... I'm almost 34 (yikes!!) and I'm still pushing the limits. I even enlisted the help of my Harley ridin', crazy mo fo bruddah, Jim Wendler to … [Read more...]