It’s been since January of 2004 since I set a regular Deadlift PR, when I lifted 545-lbs. 11+ years.

I was 26. I’m almost 37 now, so it’s been a lengthy drought, you might say…

2004 is when I started experiencing routine back injuries that would sideline me for days or even a week at a time.

Unfortunately, my young, idiotic brain, just wanted to keep pushing harder and harder, and that meant the pain I’d experience would get worse and worse.

I’d hobble around for a week after my Strongman contests.

I’d literally limp through the hallway at my old job, after hard weekend workouts involving Deadlifts and Squats.

Finally, in 2008, I think, I had enough.

Since Squats and Deadlifts were so bad for me, I decided I wouldn’t do them anymore.

From 2008 until 2012, I rarely did heavy Deadlifts or Squats.

Of course, I continued to do Axle Deadlifts, because it’s a staple in Grip Sport competition, and I’d dabble every now and again with Squats and Deads, but never got back into them seriously until June of 2013, when I decided I was finally ready health-wise to get back under the bar and pull some weight off the floor.

For Squats, I literally started with the bar, hitting sets of 10. That’s how much I lacked confidence and stability.

For Deadlifts, I decided I’d guard my back by only doing Double Overhand grip (I was afraid of tearing a biceps anyway).

The Coan Philippi Deadlift Program

This Summer, I decided I was ready to finally train the Deadlift with some conviction, and I started a run through the Coan Philippi Deadlift Program.

I gotta say, it was AWESOME to push myself on Deadlifts! It was the first time I’d EVER followed a Deadlift Program in my life.

When you start the Coan Philippi program, it asks you for your starting max and your goal max at the end of 10 weeks, and then it computes everything for you.

I stayed a bit conservative and put in a 500-lb Max to begin with and a 550-lb Max for the end. My partner, Luke Raymond, started out with the same numbers, and it worked out really easy training with him, because we didn’t have to change the weights around at all.

The weights at the beginning of the program were super light, so Luke and I started on week 3 or 4. Everything went smooth until like Week 7. That’s when the volume caught up with me.

I struggled through to Week 9, when I hit 535-lbs, but my body just wouldn’t cooperate with me for Week 10, and I decided against going for a new PR on 3 separate Saturdays, until this past week.

The conditions still weren’t optimal, as I was up at 2AM to take my parents to the airport, and I trained at 5:30AM with my buddy, Brad Martin, but my back felt fully recovered after the 3-week layoff from heavy work, so I went ahead with the Week 10 plan.

And, I’m happy to say I was successful in my 550-lb lift, with potential for probably a few pounds more, although I didn’t push it.

Here’s the video:

Jedd Johnson All-Time PR Deadlift – 550lbs

What an awesome sensation, to FINALLY feel somewhat strong again.

Thankfully, after staying patient, working back slowly, and using my brain instead of my ego, I have been able to break one of my longest standing PR’s.

I must also say, I LOVE the Coan Philippi Program. It made me feel like a monster, and sometime this Fall, I plan on running through it again, once Luke’s schedule evens back out and we get train it together again.

Look for more updates, especially on my YouTube Channel, once I start the program up again.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

I had the amazing opportunity to put together an article for sponsor, Onnit’s magazine, Onnit Academy.

It’s called “The 7 Deadly Sins of Strength Training.”

Here’s a picture of the magazine:

Here’s what you’ll learn from the article…

No matter what your main objective in your training is, it takes a LOT more than just getting your workouts in, to be successful.

There’s other stuff you’ve gotta do to support your training and recovery in order to ensure you see the results you want.

Whether you’re trying to build a massive yoke, excel at strongman, or training to close bigger grippers, when you get these 7 things right, you see better results in your training.

As my sponsors, Onnit has sent me a special link so that my readers can get a copy of this issue, and all you need to do is pay the shipping charges.

Special Onnit Academy Link for my DIESELS

This is a complete STEAL of a price, too.

This is easily the highest quality fitness magazine I’ve ever seen. The cover and pages actually feel more like catalog quality than cheapo magazine stock.

Plus, the information is top notch. This issue alone features contributions from:

Mark DeGrasse, me, Lance Brazil, Joe Defranco, Jim “Smitty” Smith, Travis Stoetzel, Travis Janeway, Trey Hardee, Doug Fioranelli, Evan Brand, Luke Hocevar, Marcus Martinez, Joe Daniels Ryan Mortensen, Ken Blackburn, and Matt Wichlinski

Plus, I flipped through the thing and found just ONE ADVERTISEMENT in the whole issue.

So you’re not staring and endless supplement ads as you go through it like most magazines that are out there.

Instead, you’re getting solid information.

So, get yourself a copy for as cheap as you possibly can, by just paying shipping:

Onnit Academy Magazine – pay just $4.95 to cover shipping costs

I hope you pick it up and let me know what you think of the article!

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

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Learn the Basics of Stone Lifting Today:
Stone Lifting Fundamentals

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Yoketober is in full swing.

This month, we are focusing on the Yoke – the Traps, Upper Back, Shoulders, and Triceps – the parts o fthe body that make up your outline and help you cast a big shadow.

The objective – To Develop Monster Mass by Halloween.

Yesterday was Yoketober 1st, so Workout #1 went down in the garage. It was my Upper Body Push Day, with Yoke work sprinkled in for seasoning.

#Yoketober Workout #1/31

In the past months of specialized training, #AugustOfArms and #Legtober, lots of people were requesting workout plans, but I didn’t work ahead those months.

Yoketober is different. I put together an entire ebook that includes a full month of training for you from Yoketober 1st to Yoketober 31st.

You can pick it up here for $19 through the end of the week: Yoketober – Monster Mass by Halloween

It’s time to fill that shirt up with some serious slabs of muscle.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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Close Bigger Grippers with This Proven
Gripper Training Program

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Pain Free Barbell Hip Thrusts

Build Stronger Hips With These Hip Thrust Variations

DIESELS,

After having won the Overall at the North American Grip Sport Championship, I found out that I won an automatic berth into next year’s Mighty Mitts.

Mighty Mitts, as Andrew Durniat calls it, is the SuperBowl of Grip, taking place on the main stage at the Arnold Classic, and featuring some of the strongest hands in the world. Mighty Mitts is where the best of Grip Sport clash with Strongmen in some of the most challenging tests of hand strength imaginable.

And with that in mind, I have one clear-cut goal that is intertwined into all of my training.

To Get As Strong as Possible from Now Until March.

This means, I have some GLARING weaknesses that I MUST address body-wise. My overall Absolute Strength pales in comparison to the other competitors, especially my lower back and hip strength.

As I outlined in this post, Squats: Start Doing Them Today, due to countless lower back injuries, I barely Squatted from 2008 until 2013. This has left my lower back and legs extremely weak.

With that in mind, I have begun an all-out onslaught on my lower body training, hitting Squats, Deadlifts, Hip Thrusts, Reverse Hypers, and other exercises that target the hips as hard as possible.

Mission: Build Stronger Hips

With the idea of getting the Hips and Glutes as strong as possible, I wanted to share a couple of variations of Hip Thrusts with you that I have been performing.

I first learned about Barbell Hip Thrusts from Niko Hulslander of Garage Ink. I could not believe the amount of weight he and his crew were doing in this lift, moving close to or even more than 500-lbs in the lift (I don’t recall what it was exactly anymore).

When I started doing this lift in late 2012, I could barely handle a set of 10 with 135lbs, that is how severely weak my hip complex had become.

Once I started doing the lift regularly, the pressure on my abdomen from the barbell was so severe, I was left with marks for days and days after doing them.

I tried wrapping a pool noodle around the bar, which helped to reduce the pressure, but the pool noodle just kept disintegrating after each session. I then moved on to a 2.5-inch thick axle. This worked for a while, but it belonged to my friend JT Straussner, so when he took it back to train with at his gym, I had to find something else.

I tried slipping a big piece of pipe over it and that worked pretty well, but since then I found something even better – the Saxon Bar.

Barbell Hip Thrusts with Saxon Bar

The Saxon Bar is a loadable barbell that is used for pinching. I found that I could load this thing up HEAVY, and when I placed it flat over my abdomen, the pressure was spread out very nicely and I felt no pain at all.

Here is the Barbell Hip Thrust using a Saxon Bar in action:

The goal for each rep is to get a nice hard contraction and a pause at the top of the movement.

Heavy Bend Tension Hip Thrusts

I have also found another variation that I like quite a bit – this one involves Thrusting against heavy band tension, using the Blue Jump Stretch Bands.

Right now, the limitation here is being able to harness down the bands. I have been able to slip them underneath the feet of my Squat Cage up to this point, but I want to modify the cage a big so I can rig more band tension without having to pin the bands beneath the cage. Again, with these, I am looking for a pause.

For both variations of the Hip Thrust, I have been performing 3 work sets of 10 repetitions, aiming for a nice pause at the top in a flat table position. This is after 2 to 3 warm-up sets to get used to the work set weight.

Generally, I will work the Saxon Bar Hip Thrusts on one lower body day, and then the next lower body day, I work the bands. The Saxon Bar Hip Thrusts take a lot more out of me, so I do those as a stand-alone exercise.

The Band Tension Hip Thrusts only load up at the very top of the movement, so they don’t take as much out of me, and I usually pair them with another exercise, usually involving a heavy loaded barbell in the cage, that I can use for Barbell Shrugs, Partial Deadlifts, or Holds.

I really love these two movements, and plan on doing them for quite some time. My Squats have been feeling much stronger since working these in, and I have no doubt they will help with Deadlifts, Farmer Picks, and other heavy lifts that work the glutes/hip complex.

If you are looking for ways to work the hips harder, these could be two lifts that you might want to try.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Build Big Arms and Strong Wrists

One of my overall goals is to build my arms up to 20″ cold (no pump).

The way I see it, if you are going to get big, you might as well build strength to go along with it.

And if you are going to be strong, then by all means get as big as you can.

With these things in mind, I give you Scale Weight Curls.

A Scale Weight is a block-shaped weight that is used in industrial settings where scales are used.

These weights are calibrated to specific measurements and have handles so that they can be placed on the scale quickly and easily in order to test that a scale is reading accurately.

How to Perform Scale Weight Curls

Scale Weight Curls can be done like any other curl. They can be done free-standing or braced, and can be done in alternating style or both at the same time.

For me, performing them standing has gotten too easy, so I have been doing them in more of a Preacher Curl style, off my Glute Ham Machine. This allows me to keep the movement more concentrated (although cheating is not completely eliminated).

Also, what I look for is to try to keep my wrist in a neutral position throughout the full range of motion. This strengthens the wrist a bit more.

I can usually get up to 3 extra reps per set if I let my wrist buckle, so once I feel that I am losing my neutral position and breaking into ulnar deviation, I generally just stop the set.

Here is a video showing some recent Scale Weight Curls.

Scale Weight Curls

Scale Weights are somewhat hard to come by, because they are a specialized tool, sort of like anvils, and they can be cheap, but I have been lucky enough to score a couple over the years.

Believe me, the collection of grip tools I have amassed has taken me literally years to develop, tons of time to research, and of course, big expenses in order to build.

If you can’t find Scale Weights, another alternative is to try and curl your Kettlebells. Since the kettlebell handle sits out away from the rest of the bell, they will actually be much tougher to curl, and the weights will drop, but you will still get the Leverage Curl effect.

Still, I like the Scale Weight Curl a little better than Kettlebell Curls, just because I can use a bit more weight to challenge the biceps more, while also challenging my wrists.

To take it even further, you can attempt to curl your Scale Weight or Kettlebll in a supinated position. When you do this, you will have to CRUSH DOWN on the handle BIG TIME, or else you won’t be very successful.

I hope you enjoy this variation of Curls.

For more sinister ideas on how to build crazy arm strength, check out Call to Arms.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

DIESELS,

The best thing I have done in the last 6 months is I have begun doing Squats again.

It took a LOT of work. I have a long, long history of back injuries. I have had to be mindful of my back every single day I train since the mid-2000’s.

But in the last 8 days I have Back Squatted 3 times, each time hitting over 365lbs.

My Squat sucks. But I love Squats.

I feel better when I am Squatting. My other lifts are bigger when I am Squatting regularly, grip included.

I missed doing Squats for the last 5 years. I thought I could make do without them.

I was Wrong.

If you have a healthy back, knees and hips, I encourage you to start doing Squats today.

If you don’t have a healthy back, you need to fix it. Do whatever it takes.

If you can, do Back Squats. If you can’t handle Back Squats, try Front Squats. If not those, try Goblet Squats.

Goblet Squats – Gotta Start Somewhere

I will continue to do all of my soft tissue work, my warm-up, and my stretching so I can keep Squatting.

And that way, all my other lifts go up.

I will keep you updated on my progress.

Like I said, my Squat numbers SUCK compared to many other lifters, but that is OK. I am not in a hurry.

Here is a recent video of a couple of my Squats and some other Training on top of it.

By the way, Luke is Squatting too and he is blowing up in all other lifts as well.

Squat if you can, brotherrrr.

Jedd

Learn How to Bend Horseshoes with the Hammering Horseshoes DVD

Let Competition Bring the Best Out of You

There is this dude over in Finland that I have been watching on-line since at least 2009, and maybe since 2008. I know that makes me sound like a crazy stalker type, but I don’t care. This guy is the ONE GUY who I try to watch all of his videos, because he is ALWAYS doing something that is a world class grip feat. It’s Juha Harju, the King Kong of Grip.

At the end of 2013, Juha started something called the Grip Monsters Challenge and it involved several different lifts. Each challenge lift had a rankings list. And what was awesome was it was not just Grip Feats, but other stuff as well, such as a Military Bench Press and a Strict Curl.

I LOVE COMPETITION, so as soon as I found out about them, I started submitting videos. While I also love winning, I didn’t win any of them, I just kept on hitting the lifts trying to push my numbers up.

In a way, this was no different from how I have always trained from the beginning. I have always thrived on training in a group and pushing one another, trying to out-lift one another, and even hitting more reps than one another.

In my opinion, competition is one of the best ways for you to break through plateaus and keep them from happening in the first place.

When you know you are going to be tested by someone else, it makes you work a little bit harder, get out of your comfort zone, and in the end you are almost always stronger, and better, because of it.

Do I always win? Hell no.

Do I get better because of the competition? Hell yeah.

Don’t be afraid to compete. The beauty of the Grip Monsters Challenge is you don’t have to go anywhere but the gym. You don’t have to get up on a stage or platform, and you don’t need to do a lift in front of anyone, aside from the people at the gym.

So, here are the videos of my best efforts in the first set of challenge lifts for the Grip Monsters Challenge:

Strict Curl

Top 7 Standings:

1. Juha Harju 20 reps
2. Stephen Ruby 19reps
3. Gabriele Ferdinandi 18 reps
4. Alexander Kirillov 17reps
4. Egor Golubev 17reps
5. Matti Heiskanen 16reps
6. David Horne 15 reps
7. Jedd Johnson 12 reps

Military Bench Press

I was really surprised more people did not try this one, since the Bench Press seems to be the most popular lift in the world. It does get much harder with the feet up in the air though. Don’t let anyone tell you picking your feet up doesn’t make the chest and triceps work harder, that is for sure.

Full Standings

1. Allan “Bench Monster” Jokinen 36 reps
2. Viktor Hlestov 25
3. Wayne Mealy jr. 24
4. Vano Sukhashvili 22
5. Matti Heiskanen 18
6. David Horne 17
7. Juha Harju 16
8. Jedd Johnson 14
8. Petri Partanen 14
9. Luke Raymond 13
10. Tom Scibelli 7
11. Travis Shaffer 6

IronMind #2.5 for Reps (20-mm Block)

I was shocked I came in 3rd here. To be perfectly honest, the #2.5 I used only rated 123-lbs, so it is lighter, but I also think I was just plain on when I got my 27 reps. I haven’t gotten past 20 in my other attempts since that day.

Top 9 Standings:

1. Juha Harju 31reps
2. Vano Sukhashvili 30 reps
3. Jedd Johnson 27 reps
4. Joshua Odell 17 reps
5. Serg Sankov 13 reps
6. Jon Vance 12 reps
6. David Wigren 12 toistoa.
7. Thomas Scibelli 10 toistoa
8. Juha Piironen 6 toistoa
8. J.Henze 6 toistoa
9. Luke Raymond 4 toistoa

2x15kg/2x35lb or 3x10kg/3x25lb Plate Pinch Hold for Time

This is the one that pissed me off. I was at like 30 seconds for the longest time. Then Luke scraped all the hammertone paint off and I was finally able to get a decent grip. Holding onto these things for the better part of a minute blows my mind. Awesome job to many different guys who accomplished this.

Top 10 Standings:

1. Juha Harju 2x15kg 95sec
2. Kody Burns 2x15kg 93sec
3. Grip monsta p. 2x15kg 74sec
4. Matti Heiskanen 2x15kg 73sec
5. Matti Harju 2x15kg 70sec
6. Pinch Master J 2×15 69sec
7. Jedd Johnson 2x15kg 55sec
8. Riku Karu 2x15kg 44sec
8. Juha Piironen 2x15kg 44sec
9. Vano Sukhashvili 3x10kg 42sec
10. Pasi Mehtälä 2x15kg 33sec

The period for submitting videos for these lifts has now gone by. As you can see, I didn’t win any of these challenges, BUT, I improved a great deal over the course of a month or two, just by putting focus on the lifts. You can do the same thing too. You don’t have to take part in a challenge on-line to do it either. If you are stagnant in your regular lifts, then do some different ones and get some progress going again.

A couple other challenges were added part way through and are live until January 11th, the Double Overhand Thumbless Deadlift and the 50-lb Blob to 50-cm. My back has been very achey, so I have not deadlifted heavy, but I did give the Blob50 to 50cm a try and am currently in 1st place.

Double OverHand ThumbLess DeadLift

Current Standings:
1. Juha Harju 230kg
2. Juha Piironen 200kg
3. Tatu Karhu 190kg
3. Mike Rinderle 190kg
4. J.Henze 183.5kg
4. John Wojciechowski 183.5kg
5. Juha Lehtimäki 170kg
6. David Miitti 161kg
7. Pyry Harju 45kg (13 years bw 37kg)

50-lb Blob to 50cm

I was pleasantly surprised to see this challenge listed.

Current Standings:

1.Jedd Johnson 15 reps
2.Juha Harju 14 reps
3.Nathaniel Brous 6 reps
4.Juha Piironen 3 reps

Will Juha be able to pull ahead of me? We shall see.

Also, Juha took a vote and has 4 other challenges that he will be maintaining lists for through the end of February. Check them out…

COC#3.5 Silver Bullet Timehold (2.5kg)

Tricep Dips with Extra Weight 1RM (bw+kg=total kg)

Ironmind Hub Lift 1 RM

Euro Pinch 80kg (As many reps as possible in 90sec)

2x20kg Plates Time Hold Left & Right Total Time

Like I said, I LOVE competition. Love it. I will be attempting as many of these challenges as I can fit in. It’s always fun to see your name in a standings list, even if it as the very bottom.

I hope to see many of you submitting videos for these challenges as well. Push yourself – You never know where you will end up!

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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The True Test of a Strong Man: Stone Lifting
Click the Image Below to Learn Everything You Need to Know about
The Purest Test of Strength

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Happy New Year, Diesels!

Today, I have the Top 5 videos of 2013.

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1. Fix Elbow Pain with Tricep Work? – 4143 Views

I don’t know how many people are bothered by high forearm and elbow pain, but I do know that it is WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE. Earlier this year, I learned that one possible cause of this, or a factor that contributes to it, is tight triceps, so I began stretching my triceps more as a preventive measure and shot this video to help out others who are having pain in the forearms and elbow areas as well.

If you are still dealing with high forearm and elbow pain, then get Fixing Elbow Pain today. This program has helped hundreds of people get rid of this annoying, nagging pain.

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2. Prevent Elbow Pain with 5 Minute Warm-up – 3844 Views

One of my favorite warm-up methods for preventing elbow pain is a few quick trips through some easy and lightly advanced speed bag strikes. It gets blood flowing through the arms and elbows which helps lubricate the area prior to heavy lifting. BUT, if you don’t have a speed bag or know how to hit it, that is no problem at all. In this video, I show you a similar drill that gets it done just as well.

This year, I will be putting out a product on how to hit the speed bag. If you want to learn, be sure to add your email into the box below:

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3. Get Bigger Shoulders | Kneeling Landmine Press – 2525 Views

In the dog days of Summer 2013, I was brainstorming ways to build my front delts a bit more, when all of a sudden I saw an article by Tony Gentilcore covering the Kneeling Landmine Press. I thought it was perfect – emphasizing the anterior delts a bit more, plus it is a pressing movement, which I love, and not just another version of a front raise. I have hit this lift on a weekly to bi-weekly basis since then and love them.

Here’s the original article: Get Stronger Shoulders and Bigger Front Delts

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4. Misses Are Just Warm-ups | Old School York Pinch – 2389 Views

One of the feats I have been chasing for years is pinching two Old School York 45-lb Plates with one hand. These beasts are about 4 inches thick, the edges are rounded, and only 3 or 4 people have been documented as completing it, so I am happy to be one of the few you can count on one hand to have done it.

Here’s the original post from April of 2012, where I talk about my focus on this feat: Old School York Pinch

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5. What is the Inch Dumbbell – The Full Explanation of its Challenge – 2037 Views

The Inch Dumbbell is a classic grip challenge. It is well recognized within the Grip Community as one of the true tests of Grip Might. In this video I cover everything you need to know about it, its history, what makes it hard, and why it is so awesome.

Want an Inch Dumbbell? Contact me for pricing. Also, keep you eyes open for a product on the Inch coming this year.

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That rounds out the Top 10 Videos of 2013. Had you already watched them? Were there any you forgot about or missed? What was your favorite on the list? Were there any that you were surprised that did not make the list from 2013?

Add a comment below.

In the meantime, make sure you are subscribed to my channel to be sure you get all the videos I put out this year emailed directly to you. You click the following like to Subscribe to Jedd’s YouTube Channel.

Have a great year!

Jedd

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The True Test of a Strong Man: Stone Lifting
Click the Image Below to Learn Everything You Need to Know about
The Purest Test of Strength

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Every morning, I start my day with the same exact routine, whether I am home, in a hotel, or at a friend or family members house.

You see, about 4 years ago, I was having a run of nearly daily headaches.

Every day I went to work, the headache would start about 9 AM.

That meant the daily dose of Tylenol or Advil or some other pain relief pill.

Sometimes it worked a bit, but usually it did nothing.

I knew it wasn’t migraines. I’d had migraines before, and these weren’t that bad. They didn’t stop me in my tracks. They were just that dull, annoying, ache, that never changed, kind of like when the radio dial isn’t quite exactly where it needs to be for the station to come in perfect, and you are stuck with that little bit of static over top of every song that plays.

You know what I mean.

The static where it’s not Ice Ice Baby that’s playing, but Zice Zice Baby.

I knew it wasn’t a sinus infection. I’d had those before, too. I still do to this day. Generally, once in May and once in September my cheeks, forehead, and sinus cavity gets so filled with junk and the tissue so inflamed that every step feels like someone jabbing me in the sinus cavity with a pitchfork. And the only way to sleep is by placing my face on top of my fist so that the skin is pulled off to the side.

And I hadn’t had any head injuries, thank god, so it wasn’t some kind of trauma that had set these things off.

So I began looking at what else could be causing these low-grade daily headaches.

And the hunch that I came to was “maybe I was dehydrated?”

So, the next day, when I got up out of bed, I used the toilet, and I walked straight to the kitchen.

There, I filled up a glass of water, about 12 to 16 ounces, and drank it down. Then, I did it again.

My hunch was that I had somehow gotten myself into a rut of dehydration. I hypothesized that I was going to bed dehydrated, waking up dehydrated, and going through the entire day dehydrated, and this was causing me to have this crazy, nearly hungover, type of headache.

And I was RIGHT.

Once I downed that water, it was like I had hit the re-set button on a bad game of Super Mario and was able to start over from the beginning.

That day at work, it felt awesome to be able to look at other Managers in the eye without having to squint if there was a light behind them. I could sit and have conversations with employees without shuddering in pain if their voice was high pitched. And my workout that night was the best I’d had in a long time.

Every Day Brotherrrrr

So now, every morning, since then, with only a handful of exceptions, I have started the day with the Morning Gulp – 24 to 32 ounces of water, depending on how big the actual glass is, and I always will from now on.

But tomorrow, I am running a new experiment.

You see, my good friend Mark, with whom I train Back and Triceps on Friday mornings, pointed out something that I have been over-looking all year.

The water that I have been pouring down the sink after steaming my vegetables every other day or so, is most likely LOADED with nutrients and vitamins. So, today when I steamed the latest batch, afterwards I poured it into this giant plastic glass, and even though it looks like alien urine, tomorrow, I will be pounding this like a Keystone Pounder instead of just plain water, broccoli stubs and all.

Left-over Water from Steamed
Broccoli, Green Beans, Cauliflower, and Carrots

The idea is that tomorrow I will not only start the day off with a burst of hydration surplus, but also get a shot of vitamins and nutrients along with it.

Can’t wait brother.

Are You Chronically Dehydrated?

A quick google search on dehydration will tell you that an estimated 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

When you consider that it takes only a 1% dehydration level to drastically decrease your mental focus and physical prowess, let alone cause headaches, it is worth it to sacrifice the 30 seconds of your morning in order to jump start your hydration status.

Yep, 30 seconds to fill and chug two glasses of water, first thing in the morning.

Risk of Water Intoxication

Naturally, if you drink too much water, it can reach levels that are considered poisonous, even carrying the names “water poisoning,” “hyperhydration,” and “dilutional hyponatremia.” So, you can’t go overboard here. I am not a doctor and have no idea how to figure out how much is “too much.” So don’t try this until you talk to one about it.

Either way, if you aren’t drinking enough water, you’ll know it when you take a leak throughout the day because your urine will be yellowish, or if you’re really dehydrated, then it will be like neon orange, and you’d better start drinking more water.

Why not get ahead of the curve by drinking it first thing upon waking up?

Start with just one glass.

Give it a try and let me know how you feel by leaving a comment below.

It’s been roughly 6 months since I’ve gotten a legitimate comment on this site. I half wonder if anyone reads this site anymore, since I get no feedback, no props, no complaints, nothing.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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Upper Body and Grip Training Workout 8/29/13

Lots of people love the idea of building a Big Bench Press, but have little idea how to go about doing it.

Often, the type of Bench Press training we learn about is what we learned in our High School Gyms, which are most likely recycled information that the coach learned when he was in High School and has never changed one single bit. It often ends of becoming a vicious cycle of bad, out-dated information.

My suggestion for people who want to bring up their Bench is to find someone who actually is a Powerlifter and is seeing some success in their training. When you train with someone who is successful in the Big Three Lifts (Bench Press, Squat, and Deadlift), Strength becomes Contagious. Just by lifting with them, you get stronger, and all awhile learn the proper way to train.

Last Friday, I had someone visit who has done just what I am suggesting. He went from having very little structure in his training a few years ago, to following one of the most popular Powerlifting Programs that is out there. As a result, he has seen impressive gains from the new-found structure and is enjoying the design of the program and the increased numbers, for sure.

This lifter is Josh McIntyre. I first met Josh through the Diesel Crew website in January of 2011 when I started the Weekly Grip Strength Challenges. Josh won many of these challenges during the year and has gone on to perform lots of Elite-Lever Grip Strength Feats since then, although these days his primary focus is Powerlifting with a little Strongman and Grip thrown in, a great mixture for developing incredible strength.

We hit an awesome workout this past Friday, about 2 hours and 15 minutes of Upper Body Training and then about an hour and a half of Grip Training, with a little break in between for a short interview.

Below is the video, which contains the entire session.

I asked Josh to send in a little write-up about himself so you could get to know him a bit better. I think you will also see that once you get some programming into your routine, you can expect to see some increased strength levels across the board. Here you go.

Josh McIntyre Interview

Jedd: Who the hell are you and how did you end up getting into Powerlifting?

Thanks Jedd for having me up to your place. My name is Josh McIntyre, I’m 32 and have been lifting off and on since I was 14, but with goals in mind since 2010 and most seriously since 2012. I’ve competed in both Powerlifting and Strongman. My best lifts to date are a 565 squat (raw w/ wraps,) a 390 raw bench and a 635 raw deadlift (no belt) but I’m seeing now that I’m capable of a lot more.

I never did anything more than a set of curls and some push up’s right after highschool. I thought I was strong back then. It’s amazing to look back at pictures and see a guy who thought he was the man. In 2007, I moved to NC from NJ and found myself with a spare room to fill. So I assembled my rusty old H.S. weight bench and got some cheap standard plates from craigslist ads and used sporting goods stores.

Around the same time I spent a lot of time on Youtube looking for workout routines. I found your channel and was floored by the feats I was witnessing. I had a “monkey see, monkey do” mentality like many others, and trained until I could replicate whatever it was that I was training for, like a 5 dimes pinch (have still to get 6 without a pipe through them,) pinching two 45’s, levering a 45# plate (still sloppy,) hubbing a 45# plate, closing an Ironmind #3 etc etc.

I also started to train the powerlifts. I use the term “train” loosely here because I had no idea what the hell I was doing and ended up with a lot of shoulder pain. For a while, since I had no squat rack and it hurt my shoulders to bench a lot, I focused primarily on the DEADLIFT. To this day, it’s still my best and favorite lift. (long arms)

Once I scored a power rack off of craigslist for $100, it was on from there. I read up a bunch on rehab and prehab for shoulders here on DieselCrew.com and Elitefts. I watched a lot of video’s and inched my DL up over 500 in 2009.

Jedd: Tell us About Your Early Competition Days

I competed in my first powerlifting meet in 2010 in the APA. I entered Deadlift only, weighed in around 235 and competed in the 242’s. I opened at 505, went 565 for my second and 585 for my third. Unfortunately they called me for hitching (rightfully so) and I was credited only for my opener. I learned a lot that day and I was hooked!

Since then I’ve competed in 6 powerlifting meets and 1 strongman contest. I’ve learned so much from each one. I really enjoyed the strongman contest but PL is where my passion is. I’ve also trained with a lot of brutally strong PL competitors I’ve met at meets and gained a lot of strength and knowledge from them.

Jedd: When I first learned of you, you were training mostly at your house and from time to time in a gym where they wouldn’t even let you bring in chalk. These days, I have seen you have been training at Raleigh Barbell.

Since March of this year, I began training with a PL team at Raleigh Barbell. I’ve seen my best gains ever just in the last 5 months since training there. We trained 2 cycles of Brandon Lilly’s Cube Method with some success. The guys are great, supportive, serious and very goal motivated. If I squat high, they let me know. If my back started to round a little there, or my ass rises off the bench slightly, they’re right there to correct it for me. Having an extra set of eyes is really helpful when you can’t see where you’re screwing up.

5-10’s Pinch for Grip Specific Warm-up – NO PROBLEM!

As far as the gym, Raleigh Barbell is an 864 square foot training facility located in the heart of downtown Raleigh which is owned and operated by Elite Strength and Wellness Coach Jackson Williams. He’s been a great coach and he’s strong as hell! I’ve seen him pull 650 raw like it was 315. Training with guys stronger than me has been exactly what I was missing. Coach Jackson and Teammates Mason, Hunter, Chris, Keven and Justus are great lifters and training partners, and I’m lucky to be training along side of them. For more info on Raleigh Barbell or to contact Jackson, check out Raleighbarbell.com or hit him up on the Raleigh Barbell facebook page, if you’re on the book of faces.

Recently we’ve started a 10 week training template written by our coach leading up to a PL meet in November in Richmond, VA followed by a Charity Push/Pull the following weekend that I’ve done for the past 3 years.

Jedd: Josh, I’ve gotten some questions asking why we chose the exercises we did during our workout and what exactly the bands are for. Could you explain these points please?

The bench workout you and I did was from our Raleigh Barbell week 2 speed bench. It focused on practicing the bench press movement over and over by doing 8 sets of 2 as fast as we could WITH GOOD FORM. We incorporated band tension to make the lockout more difficult. That forced us to generate momentum from the start to get us through the increasing resistance. We also added volume by going for max reps up to but NOT including failure. We don’t miss training lifts at Raleigh Barbell. We only took another rep if it was there. The rest of the bench day was higher volume accessory stuff, o/h press, shoulders, rows, hammer curls, tri’s, all for hypertrophy.

Jedd: Now that you are several years into serious training, maybe you could talk a bit about major lessons you have learned, pitfalls you have run into along the way, mistakes you’ve made, etc?

I’ve seen up’s and down’s in my training but the more experience I got the more I realized the anecdote “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” is dead on. Also, enjoying the journey has been key for me. I lift ’cause I love it, that makes it easy to commit to. I see lifters so focused on their goal that they suffer through and end up hating their training. It’s ok to like what you do, it makes you easier to be around too.

Some of the mistakes in my own training over the years have been:

1. Sticking with a routine even after I stall while using it. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect to get a different result. My numbers were up and down, up and down for far too long

2. Not doing any kind of accessory work to bring up weak areas

3. Thinking one way was right and ALL other ways were wrong

4. Waiting until I thought I was “good enough” to enter a PL meet. I wish I had done it sooner. Your entire mentality toward training changes after a competition. And the friends I’ve made and the things I’ve learned have been valuable to me as a lifter and a competitor. Don’t wait, sign up today. It’s so much fun and you’ll walk away with more than you came with

5. Finding reliable training partners. More easily said than done. If you have an opportunity to join a PL gym, or a CF gym or a Strongman crew DO IT

6-10’s Pinch. Off the Ground 5 or 6 Times, but Not Quite Lockout

Jedd: Josh, great having you up here. Come back again when you make a trip up this way. I want to see you get the 6-10’s Pinch sometime soon.

Again, thank you Jedd for having me up to train. The grip feats I witnessed and failed at were humbling and motivating. I was smashed when I left your gym but mentally I was rejuvenated with the idea of grip training. I have an entirely new respect and appreciation for Grip sport and its competitors. I look forward to meeting up again soon!

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I got some feedback that the videos were hard to watch in the Playlist, and that you would like them separated out, so here you go…

Speed Bench Press Against Light Bands

Overhead Axle Training

Axle Rows for Back and Grip Strength

Tricep and Biceps Superset

Hammer Curls for Size and Strength

Josh McIntyre Interview

DIESELS – If you have any other questions about the training we did in the videos, leave a comment and I will do a follow up article to answer them.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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The Missing Part of Your Strength Training – Extensor Work – A Must for Any Serious Lifter – Hand X Bands

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Logan Christopher – Think and Grow Strong

I recently interviewed Logan Christopher about a product he is soon retiring call the Think and Grow Strong Master Course. This product is a collection of DVD’s, audios, and more, that covers EVERYTHING you need to know about harnessing the true power of the mind to help drive you in your training. I have begun studying Logan’s course and will report here from time to time. In the meantime, make sure to check out this video interview on the strength of the mind.

Logan’s Think and Grow Strong Master Course will go away on September 1st. Grab this thing right now, before it disappears.

Sign up for updates on future interviews and articles in the box below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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Perfect Tool for Core Strength

4 Days ago, I did the drill I am going to show you today, and I am STILL SORE.

Normally, I wouldn’t judge the effectiveness of an exercise by whether or not it made me sore, but consider the following…

I have been doing Ab Wheel work for several months. I have been working it HARD.

I did 10 sets of 10 Roll-outs on my knees one day while I was on vacation, so I thought I was getting where I needed to be.

Then, last Friday, I set this drill up and 4 days later my abs are still cooked. That just goes to show you how vicious this exercise is, and why you should start doing it right now.

Standing Ab Wheel Roll-out Training

If you are looking for a way to build core strength, get stability for the lower back, strengthen the hips, and build your abdominal muscles, the only real piece of equipment that you need is the Ab Wheel.

Over the last 4 months or so, I have been including the Ab Wheel in my training on at least a weekly basis and I love it. I have written several articles about the Ab Wheel this year and will be continuing to experiment with it.

• How to Use the Ab Wheel Correctly
• Back and Triceps Training
• The Perfect Tool to Compliment Your Kettlebell Training

I would say my experimentation is still in its infancy, although the ideas that are going through my head are non-stop. I am doing my best to get them onto my ever-growing note pad, and hope to one day compile everything for you.

I have decided that one of my goals I hope to complete before the end of this year is a Full Ab Wheel Roll-out on the Feet.

As I am sure many of you know if you have tried one of these variations, the difference in difficulty between Ab Wheel Roll-outs on the Knees and Ab Wheel Roll-outs on the Feet is crazy. These two drills are not even in the same galaxy.

For Full Ab Wheel Roll-outs on the Feet, you must have much more abdominal strength, you must be much more stable through the core and the hips, and your shoulders must be able to with stand a great deal force in the full flexed position as well.

All of these factors, plus more that I am surely over-looking, make the Ab Wheel Roll-out version on the Feet much harder.

I have begun implementing more Ab Wheel work on my feet and moving away from Ab Wheel work on my knees altogether.

Today I want to show you a very promising progression step I have been using for working up to the Full Ab Wheel Roll-out on the Feet, and it involves using bands.

Someone asked how to do this method if you do not have bands. My answer to them is GET BANDS.

Bands are useful for countless exercises and methods. There are innumerable ways they can be used to make exercises easier, harder, and to de-load or assist you in bodyweight movements.

If you do not have a set, here are a couple of places to get them:

• Rogue Fitness Monster Bands

• RBT Rubber Band Training

Again, if you don’t have bands, I really have to ask why. They are very affordable and the myriad of ways that they can be used make them very high in value. The links above are affiliate links. When you order through them, you will not only be getting yourself some training tools that you will use in countless ways, but you will also be helping me out with some commissions. Although they are small, it all helps me continue to improve this site and keep it available as a source of reliable information.

Keep an eye on new updates on my pursuit for legit Standing Ab Wheel Roll-outs by joining my Ab Wheel Roll-out Update List below.

If you don’t have an Ab Wheel yet, you can get one here: Where to Buy an Ab Wheel

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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Get the Benefits of Deep Tissue Sports Massage Without Having to Leave Your House. Fix Your Own Arms with ARMAID

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One of the biggest parts of strength training has nothing to do with how big you are, the loads you use, the volume you perform, or the time you spend in the gym.

Most people have those aspects pretty well covered.

This is something totally different that most people never give a bit of attention to…

The Mental Side of Training.

Today, I am interviewing someone who knows a great deal about that. Logan Christopher.

Interview: Get Better Results in the Gym Through Mental Training

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Jedd: Logan, thanks for doing the interview. Please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got your nickname, the Physical Culture Renaissance Man.

Logan: I have to thank Geoff Neupert for calling me that in the first place. For those that don’t know, physical culture is an old term to describe all different aspects of health and fitness. And renaissance man is the term used to describe someone who is good at a wide range of things. The term is usually applied to people like Leonardo Da Vinci for his amazing work in art, music, sciences, invention and more. So basically this term refers to someone who is good in all different sorts of strength and fitness areas. If it’s related to strength I’ve probably done it. Some of the things I’m more or less regularly working on are heavy lifting, bodyweight training including hand balancing and gymnastics, oldtime strength feats, grip strength, kettlebells and more.

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Jedd: Logan, what does it mean to “Think and Grow Strong?” Your DVD Set is the first I had heard of this, and I think I have an idea, but tell us more.

I came up with this title based on the famous wealth and business book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Everyone has heard the stories of old ladies lifting cars off of their family. Well if a person has that amount of strength stored within them strength training isn’t really about getting stronger but unlocking the power already within us. As you mentioned proper physical training is crucial and there is soooo much information available on that. Many people reading this will be quite versed in how to train to get stronger.

But very few people pay attention to the mental side. What I have found with myself and clients is that how you use your brain will instantly effect the amount of strength you can put forth, thus you can literally think and grow stronger.

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Jedd: There have been some strength feats that I just knew right away I was going to attain and I did. Why is it that the way you think can have such a profound effect on something like strength training?

Logan: Just think about it for a second. When we’re exerting strength our nervous system is sending signals to tell the muscles to contract. If the CNS sends a stronger signal than you can contract harder and thus be stronger. And its not about trying any harder. In fact, with many of these drills you get better results with less effort. I recently did a simple experiment using hypnosis and curls. I saw a 27% improvement on reps using my weaker arm than what I could do with my stronger arm.

Basically you mind is going to direct EVERYTHING that you do. If it is optimized it just makes sense that you will see instant effects in performance. This stuff is actually easy once you understand how it works. But it only took me several years of studying it all to put it together 🙂

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Jedd: Are some people born better able to optimize this mental strength than others?

Logan: Yes, just like some people are born physically stronger than others. But they’re all trainable skills. Many people, when they see what I can do, assume I was always strong. That’s not the case. In fact I was a very weak and scrawny kid growing up. Although I was fairly smart I wouldn’t say I was mentally strong either. If anything what I did have was a strong will to succeed, and that too is a trainable skill.

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Jedd: Is this about repeating a mantra? Having motivational posters in the gym? What all is involved in this?

Logan: No, no, no. A mantra is a form of affirmations. While they can work mantras are the weakest of any techniques I’ve seen. The problem with them is that if you don’t believe what you’re saying you’re actually going to be affirming the opposite of your desire. You have to be careful of these limiting beliefs, but once you know how, they’re actually quite easy to change once you’ve identified them.

A motivational poster can do something but its not going to double your reps. Let’s talk about motivation. If you need to be motivated it means there is conflict between different parts of yourself. One part wants to achieve a goal and another wants to sit on the couch and eat cheetos. You can work to integrate these parts of yourself and then be congruent as you work towards what you want. And if you’re in this state than no motivation is necessary.

Some of the main techniques of what I teach come from Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis, Visualization and Energy Psychology. There are different ways to help you achieve whatever your strength training goals happen to be by using these methods.

Everyone knows about visualization but few people practice it, at least regularly. But even with that I’ve found there are much more powerful tools. As an example visualizing yourself doing an exercise may help. But if you change HOW you visualize in specific ways, which changes your mental programming, you will definitely see an improvement.

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Jedd: OK. So it’s not just about practicing Mental Programming, but also about How You Do it. Awesome. Another thing that caught my eye about your Think and Grow Stronger Master Course is that you talk about “manipulating your past, present and future.” How is this possible?

Logan: Time isn’t something that is real, in the sense that its not a physical thing. All it is is a mental construct that has many uses, but people also become trapped by it. All you really have is the present. In your mind you can go to the past and the future. Any exercise in goal setting is working towards a future time. You can also change how you frame the past. Just how much is possible with it? I think an example will show you what sort of manipulation you can do.

At the Wizards of Strength Workshop I led Matti Marzel through a drill. He was already quite strong in that he did two handstand pushups against the wall on just the index finger and thumb of each hand. At the time this was the best he could do. I led him through a little drill accessing how he programmed this exercise within in his mind. I had him step into the future where he had continued to practice this exercise. In this state he had more for a “feeling of owning the exercise”. I had him step back to the present bringing that feeling with him. He then did another set and was able to get 4 reps. He doubled what he could do by manipulating his mental programming and the future.

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Jedd: When I played baseball, my dad always said I “wore my emotions on my shirt sleeve.” What exactly do emotions have to do with all of this?

Logan: The emotions are intimately tied into your thinking processes. Psyching up is a form of mental training that is common among strongmen and powerlifters. To get into this state people use anchoring, even if they’ve never heard of that term. What are they doing? They’re doing something to trigger their emotions, usually anger, to enter an altered state where the can lift heavier things. And it works. BUT there are better methods and while it works for non-complex heavy movements, psyching up does not work as well for everything else. Different emotional states are more or less useful for different lifts and exercises.

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Jedd: Logan, I truly believe having your Mind right is a huge factor in success with strength training. I have seen people wrap up horseshoes and steel bars and then just before they attempt the bend they say, “I’ve never been able to get this.” And sure enough, they fail. I would love to put together a resource to help people improve this, but your Master Course is amazing. Please tell people about it and how to get it. I know you are planning on retiring it and it won’t be around much longer.

Logan: Limiting and empowering beliefs are such a huge aspect of success in any field. These not only directly responsible for your success or failure in training, but whether you even train and how you do it in the first place!

The Think and Grow Strong Master Course is a huge amount of information. It originally began as a monthly program but is now available all in one set. Ten modules cover all of the areas I’ve discussed and more. In total there is a binder full of written manuals, 12 DVD’s and 5 CD’s. The CD’s have hypnotic tracks that all you have to do is listen to in order to help you get stronger, gain muscle or lose fat. And they work.

But I’ve decided to retire this course and pull it off the market. I’m doing this to make way for new information in the future like my upcoming book Mental Muscle. So once this month is over it is gone for good. But right now you can get it for about one third of the price.

My guarantee is that with this course alone you’ll be far beyond any personal trainer and even sports psychologist out there in knowing how to properly use mental training.

I only have a few copies left and if they don’t sell out right away I’m pulling them off the market for good at the end of this month.

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Jedd: Think about this guys:

It’s likely that you have spent a decent amount of money in acquiring training information in the forms of books, videos, certifications, etc. The great thing about mental training is that it builds on top of whatever knowledge you currently have. Regardless of how you’re training or what you’re training for it can be added on top to act as an accelerator for your goals.

If you want an edge on your competition, whether you are in strength sports, more classic sports, are a coach, or just want to look better, this could be the final piece to the puzzle to make your preparation complete.

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Get it here while you still can for 1/3 the regular price:
Think and Grow Strong Master Course

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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Click the Banner Below to Learn Nail Bending

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Fixing Muscular Imbalances

My friend Rick Kaselj, with whom I worked on Fixing Elbow Pain and Fix My Wrist Pain, has a product which has become an ongoing series called Muscular Imbalances Revealed.

Every August, he puts out a new edition of this program, with new guest experts, and this year he has put out a new installment on correcting issues throughout the body.

The new edition this year focuses on unconventional training tools, and how they can help correct weaknesses and imbalances through the upper body.

Much of the features of this program entail the use of equipment I have talked about often here at DieselCrew.com.

Here are some samples of this Muscular Imbalances Revealed installment:

Sledge Hammer Training – Great for the Grip, Sledgehammer Training also gets your heart going while also training the core and glutes. It is also a great contrast training methdo for those who perform a great deal of kettlebell work.

Ring Training – If you have weaknesses in your shoulders, chest, or back, this type of training will find it and correct it. Much more chaotic that training with barbells, benches, and dip stations, Ring Training makes you learn proper stabilization.

Sled Training – If you aren’t including some type of sled work, they you most likely have not optimized your lover body recovery. This type of training has become a staple for many powerlifters and strongmen all over the world.

Tire Flipping – One of the Strongman events that creates the most power, this is a great exercise for strengthening the posterior chain as well. The hammies, glutes, andd lower back are much too weak for some people, and this can help correct that.

Reverse Stretching – Most people don’t stretch enough period. This section shows you how you can perform essential stretching to correct muscle and fascia issues to address flexibility issues that are hindering your strength development. If you have seemingly tried EVERYTHING in order to fix your imbalances and it has not worked, then this just may be the information you need.

Over the course of this week, the authors have put out samples of their portions of the program, and I have assembled them all here for you.

Sledge Hammer Training with Travis Stoetzel

Ring Training with Tyler Bramlett

Tire Flipping with Travis Stoetzel

Reverse Stretching with Isaac Ho

As you can see, this isn’t the same old boring re-hashed B.S. you’ve probably seen 100 times before. These guys are showing you how you can take unconventional tools and use them to improve your training in ways you might not have thought of before.

To get this program and start viewing it right away, click here = > Muscular Imbalances Revealed: Unconventional Tools.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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Odd Object Training – Intense & Fun Strength Training

Odd Object training, lifting things like atlas stones, kegs, and sandbags is a very rewarding form of training. You get strong in ways that barbells and dumbbells can not provide and it is fun to pick things up that 99% of the population will never do.

Recently, I wanted to start working some odd object training into the routine. Optimally, I would have wanted to lift some atlas stones. But since it had been over a year since I last trained them, I wanted to work Odd Object Training back in slowly.

Instead of jumping right into stones, I opted to do some sandbag lifting and keg lifting. Both of these implements are shaped very similar to stones, and allow you to get used to the body positions of stone lifting and to somewhat practice the stone lifting technique.

The day I did this was also my Overhead Pressing day so I still wanted to do some overhead work. Since I was working with 110-lb Sandbag and a 127-lb Keg, I was able to get plenty of overhead lifting volume in.

Sandbag Training

For the sandbag, I decided I would do full cleans and presses. This would allow my back to get accustomed once again to the round-back position of odd object training, without going as heavy as my lightest stone, 230-lbs.

To stay conservative, I started with just 3 repetitions in my first set, and then added 1 repetition each set. All the while, I was trying to move faster and faster with the clean and the press in order to get a bit of an increase cardiovascular demand.

In the video you will see that I put a Timer in, just to show how quickly or slowly I was moving through the repetitions. Since there was a clean to the shoulder on each repetition, much more muscle was involved than just performing one clean and going for repetitions afterwards.

Here’s the video so you can see how it went.

Keg Lifting

With the Keg I decided to move to just one clean and multiple presses during the set. The clean is much tougher with my Keg because it is only half full of scrap steel and it shifts around quite a bit. I didn’t want to push my luck on my wrist, so 1 clean per set was good enough.

I also tried to perform a Keg Snatch, lifting it from between the legs overhead in one movement. I didn’t quite get it but I did come close. I think next workout I will be able to perform the snatch.

Check out the video:

As you watch the videos, you will see that I definitely have gotten a bit rusty with my Odd Object training. When you don’t do it for a while, you forget the challenge of controlling these implements, especially during the flip-over/catching portion of the Keg and Sandbag clean. After a couple of sets, I was able to knock most of the rust off.

For those who are new to this kind of training, you will want to approach it somewhat how I did. Even after the ow volume of work that I did, I was still sore in the middle back the next day. This is most likely due to the fact that I have been using so many conventional training implements (barbells, dumbbells) that my back is not used to stabilizing against such a dynamic load.

But that is actually the whole idea with Odd Object Training. It makes your body work harder than with regular equipment, so it helps you develop even more as an athlete or strength enthusiast.

Naturally, when you first start out with Odd Object Training, you’ll want to start out light and gradually move up as you get used to the demands of the Odd Objects. A good starter weight for most gals is about 50-lbs and for guys, about 80-lbs. That kind of weight with these bulky implements with give you a good introduction.

If you are interested in learning more about Odd Object Training, make sure you sign up for my newsletter, because more information will be coming your way.

If you have any questions on Odd Object Training, be sure to leave them below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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I recently attended a seminar with several other fitness guys, many of whom were personal trainers and strength coaches. After one of the talks, it was time to get some coffee and one of the personal trainers, Lance, came over and talked to me.

He told me that he trains in some major chain gym with a bunch of machines and not a speck of chalk in the place at all. (If I had to train in a place like that, I might last two weeks before I went to another gym, just not my kind of long-term place)

So, as it turns out, Lance is sick of this place too. He said he just doesn’t think all the machines are helping him or his clients build “Real World Strength.”

He basically said, “What is sitting on a padded seat pushing against weight-stack resistance going to do to help me be strong enough to push a car out of a ditch?”

Ya know what? Lance is right.

Machines just don’t cut it when it comes to building the kind of strength that you need when your car is stuck in a ditch, or if you have to carry a giant recliner down a flight of stairs.

That’s why I like Strongman Training.

Strongman Training, especially in the sense of lifting big, round, odd objects, like Stones, Sandbags, and Kegs, helps you develop the kind of strength that you can call on when you need it.

When you train with bulky implements like those, you literally feel like you can lift anything that crosses your path.

That kind of confidence can really come in handy in “Real World” situations.

So, now Lance is on a MISSION. He has a two-car garage just like mine and he wants to start Strongman Training.

But, he wanted to know what Strongman Gear and what types of Strongman Lifts he should focus on.

So, I told him about the Top 5 Strongman Training Lifts I suggest.

Top 5 Strongman Lifts/Events that Build REAL WORLD STRENGTH

1. Log Lift / Overhead Lifting

Bill Kazmaier – Log Lift

I LOVE Overhead Lifting and for that reason my favorite implement is the Log. It builds tremendous overhead strength, and it makes you develop a strong Core, Grip, and Power, especially when you perform dynamic overhead lifts.

2. Atlas Stones

Loading Atlas Stones

When you lift atlas stones, it makes you feel like you are capable of superhuman feats. There’s just something awesome about pulling a big, ugly, round stone off the ground and then either popping it up onto a platform or dropping it right back to earth (train outside if you are going to drop it, ha ha ha)

3. The Yoke

Phil Pfister – Refrigerator Yoke Walk

The Yoke is an implement that you carry across your shoulders. I absolutely HATE this event, but it makes you RUGGEDLY STRONG both physically and mentally. A heavy-ass Yoke draped across your back wants to crush you into the ground like a soda can, but you don’t let it. You just take one step at a time and show it who is boss.

4. The Tire Flip

Ready for the Tire Flip

You would be surprised at how big of a tire you can flip. Flipping a giant industrial tire may seem like a daunting task, but when you apply the strength you have worked to build with the proper technique, like I show you here, you can EXCEED your own expectations.

5. Farmer’s Walk / Frame Carry

Derek Poundstone – Frame Carry

This lift just plain makes a MONSTER out of you. Obviously, this exercise builds your Grip Strength, which is something I LOVE, but it also beefs up your Traps, Shoulders, Erectors, and Glutes. I like this exercise so much, I generally do it TWICE A WEEK.

There you have it – in my opinion the TOP 5 LIFTS from the world of Strongman Training. If you do these lifts, I guarantee you will develop strength that you can use in MANY other facets of life where you need to be able to lift heavy, bulky stuff.

The only caveat I would throw out there is NOT to try these lifts until you know the proper technique, so you can GET THE MOST OUT OF THEM.

If you need to learn the technique for these lifts, all you need to do is go here: Strongman Training DVD

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Overhead Lifting: A Must for Shoulder Strength and Size

I Love Pressing Movements

I love shoulder training. I especially love the idea of taking barbells, axles, logs, stones, kegs and other odd objects and lifting them over my head like an absolute caveman or barbarian.

Hell, I’d Overhead Press every workout if I could recover quick enough. When you are doing overhead lifts, it’s like you can just feel the muscle fibers expanding and becoming stronger.

I Hate Shoulder Isolation Work

But one thing that bores the hell out of me is isolation work for the shoulders, like front and side laterals.

Now, if you’re talking posterior delt work, postural work, shoulder stability specific training, I am all about it, but as far as doing Dumbbell Side Laterals, man, I’d rather have you jab me in the eye with an ice pick.

The other reason I don’t like doing a lot of Side Laterals is the fact that the rotator cuff is responsible for the initial movement of the dumbbell, and I have read of people injuring these small muscles doing this exercise, and being out of the weight room for a while because of it, so I don’t like to press my luck in that way, either.

But recently, I wanted to start putting some more emphasis on the Front Delts, so I entertained at least doing some Front Raises with an EZ Curl Bar.

After a couple of shoulder sessions, I was bored out of my mind and looking for something else to try.

Enter: The Landmine Press

Then, out of nowhere I saw an article by Tony Gentilcore on T-nation that showed several lifts for training the front delts, and one of them that caught my eye was Landmine Press, as if he was reading my mind.

I instantly gave the lift a try in my next upper body workout, and I loved it.

Although not a full-on isolation movement for the anterior delts, it did hit them hard and provided yet another way to get my press on.

The next day after the workout, I had that familiar feeling of working the delts hard, but without the stinging pain of straining the underlying, smaller stabilizer muscles.

I tried a couple of variations of the lift, but by far my favorite is the Kneeling Landmine Press. By kneeling, you end up pressing upwards more and it makes the movement a bit more challenging this way.

For instance, I was able to hit the Standing Landmine with 100-lbs added for a set of 8 with each arm, but in the Kneeling position, I could only muster half the reps, plus there seems to be a better core engagement.

Low Ceiling Getting Your Press Down?

When I posted this video up on YouTube, Nate Brous, a friend of mine and certified Red Nail Bender, mentioned that the exercise looked very promising for him in particular, because he is very tall and his home gym has a very low ceiling which makes overhead pressing very difficult. By performing the Kneeling Landmine Press, he can work the pressing muscles without having to deal with the ceiling.

I know all about that, because I used to have a hell of a time pressing in my basement, due to the low ceiling. If you are in the same boat and a low ceiling is keeping you from getting your press on, then this might be the accessory movement for you.

Main lift vs Accessory lift

Take note that I think this lift is best used as an accessory lift. I think for sheer shoulder mass and strength, you will be much better off doing some form of overhead pressing, either standing, or seated, simply because you will be able to move much more weight and work much more overall muscle all at the same time.

To see how to set up this exercise check out this video.

Programming the Kneeling Landmine Press

Here is how I have been training the Kneeling Landmine Press.

Set 1: 25-lbs added. 8 reps per arm
Set 2: 50-lbs added. 8 reps per arm
Set 3: 75-lbs added. 8 reps per arm
Set 4: 100-lbs added. Max reps left arm, match reps with right arm.
Set 5: Same as set 4.

I have done this two weeks in a row and my best is 4 reps per arm at 100-lbs, if you count that last rep with my right arm in the video as a rep. I got out of alignment, lost my balance, and had to chase the barbell in order to keep from dropping it.

I am toying with the idea of ramping up quicker through the loading and then going for some sicker volume next time I hit this. This is what I am planning:

Set 1: 50-lbs added. 8 reps per arm
Set 2: 75-lbs added. 8 reps per arm
Set 3: 100-lbs added. Max reps left arm, match reps with right arm.
Set 4: 75-lbs added. Max reps left arm, match reps with right arm.
Set 5: 75-lbs added. 8 left, 8 right, 7 left, 7 right, 6 reps left, 6 reps right, and so on.

To me, that sounds like some sick-ass volume and it should blow the delts up big time. I will give this a try and report back here.

Until then, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more awesome videos.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

The Call to Arms is NOW!

What is the most common thing people ask me about with their training?

Grip Strength? Nope

Feats of Strength? Nope

Strongman Training? Nope – not even strength training.

It’s this:

Getting into better shape, Losing a few pounds, and Finding the time to train!!!

You’re BUSY, aren’t you?

I know what you are saying => Jobs, kids, classes, babysitters, fund-raisers, church, in-laws…the list goes on and on.

If you constantly feel like you get busier and busier and have less and less time to train, I want you to check out this new book that I put together along with several friends.

Click here => No Gym, No Time, No Problem: Simple Fitness Solutions for Busy People

We tailored this book, ENTIRELY for busy people who want to get back into better shape, without having to join a gym and without having to upset their already hectic schedule.

Look, all of us who put this project together run businesses, LOVE TRAINING.

BUT, we were fed up with people not knowing how to balance all of their many life demands while also getting into better shape, so we put this book together and right now, you can get it on Amazon for dirt cheap.

Just go to this link => No Gym, No Time, No Problem: Simple Fitness Solutions for Busy People.

I know it is going to help you out.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Building a Bigger Bench Press

It goes without saying that the Bench Press is one of the most popular lifts that are done in the gym.

And no wonder – it’s one of the best lifts for building upper body muscle, especially the chest, shoulders, and triceps. On top of the mass building potential of the Bench Press, it is also a great lift for building upper body strength.

In this post, I am going to cover a subtle adjustment you can make when you Bench Press to increase the weight you are able to press, the number of reps you can perform, and the safety of the Bench Press itself. When you can increase those three factors, your potential for size increases and strength gains is practically guaranteed.

The Power of the Lats in the Bench Press

Many trainees do not think about the lats when they Bench, because the lats are part of the back and are prime movers in rows and pull-ups, but the lats actually play a very important role.

Unfortunately, they do not realize that the lats are there to provide stability to the shoulder during the Bench Press. When the lats are activated properly, they provide a much better foundation for the shoulder, and this can be HUGE for your confidence under the barbell, when you are benching.

So, since the lats are so important, it makes sense to get them involved in the Bench Press as soon as possible, correct?

Well, many lifters miss the boat on that one as well. In fact their problems begin right from the moment they prepare to take the barbell out of the rack or hooks.

You can see exactly what I am talking about in the short video below.

Activating the Lats RIGHT AWAY for a Bigger Bench Press

I really want to thank Todd Hamer, strength coach from George Mason University, for showing me this technique modification. I met up with him at the Juniata Strength Clinic in June and asked him to take a look at my Benching Technique, and this has been a big help to me. It starts each new Bench Press set off with a completely different feel.

This way of un-racking the barbell may only be slightly different from what you are doing right now, but the way the bar feels in your grip and as you support it in the ready position is not. There is a night and day difference between these two techniques, and when you get this right, you can begin to see big improvements in your Bench Press.

And what’s great is, you can use this pulling lat activation method on your other Bench Press variations, such as Incline Bench and Decline Bench.

Let me know how you like this technique. Give it a try and leave a comment below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Have you hit a plateau in your Bench Training?
Maybe it is time you switch it up and go for some VOLUME instead of just MAX WEIGHT. If so, click the banner below to learn the art of the
Bench Press for Reps.

In Mid-June, I made the trip to Juniata College in Huntingdon PA for about the 11th year in a row. There, I had a couple of great training sessions, one of which I posted here: 1st Night Upper Body Workout.

During the course of the weekend, I attended many presentations from various strength coaches and other members of the strength and conditioning profession. Some of them I thought were very good and I would like to point to some highlights here today.

Cam Davidson, Penn State – Coaching Olympic Lifting to Large Teams

This one caught my eye in a hurry. First off, I know Cam well because he has spoken at Juniata for several years and I have attended his talks before, plus I have spent time with him off to the side and talked training with him. I knew he was a good coach and I also knew he was an accomplished Olympic Weightlifter. With this combined, I couldn’t miss his talk.

Oly Lifts Eat Up Training Time? The primary reason this talk interested me was because I have always been under the assumption that teaching the full Olympic Lifts to athletes could result in a great deal of time eaten up by the process due to the high levels of skill required for the full lifts. When there are so many things a coach must include in a complete strength programs for student athletes of various sports, in order to get them stronger and keep them injury free, it always seemed like the effort to teach these complex lifts could be put toward other types of training instead.

In fact, many strength coaches who work full time in the profession have said the same thing, that they do not bother with the full lifts in their programs because it eats up a lot of time when they could be teaching something else. Because of this fact, they often teach only parts of the lifts, such as Power Shrugs, Front Squats, and other common Olympic Weightlifting drills that still help train athletes to be strong, explosive, and powerful. These variations are less complex and you don’t encounter the same degree of limitations for some of the athletes, such as poor thoracic mobility or lack of wrist flexibility, both of which can make the full Olympic Lifts very hard to master.

Cadence Commands to Dictate Technique? However, I think Cam has developed a pretty good way to include the full lifts into the program. He uses a cadence, or a serious of numbers and other called commands that dictate the pace of the movement that each athlete executes.

If it is hard for you to picture what I am talking about, don’t feel bad. I had no idea what he was describing either, until he got to the section of his talk where he provided video. But let me try one more time.

Essentially, Cam breaks the lift down into several stages. So if they are doing a Power Clean from the Hang position, that lift is broken down into 4 or more stages. Stage 1 would be lifting the barbell out of the rack or off the floor. Stage 2 would be lowering the bar down the thighs slightly, engaging the hamstrings and glutes. Stage 3 would be firing the posterior chain muscles and cleaning the bar to the shoulder for the catch phase of the Power Clean and Stage 4 would be returning to the upright standing position. Cam has verbal cues that he uses for each Stage of each drill. As he calls each number or cue (in one case, he used the term “home” for the cue), the athletes move accordingly, all pretty much at the same time.

This is just one example of how he breaks down one drill, but he showed 4 or 5 drills that he applies this cadence to.

Cam Davidson has obviously found a way to make the Olympic Lifts work for his athletes. I don’t recall the number of teams he works with, so I can’t speak to that, but I know the athletes he had on tape executing the Cadence Training were women’s volleyball players, who obviously need to be able to explode off the ground to block and spike the ball above the net, and can benefit from training the full Olympic lifts.

One thing to take note of is that Cam stated the majority of the work they do is in the 80% to 90% range. I did not note however, whether this was done using the cadence-pause commands or simply with the full Olympic lifts done in the conventional matter.

This was quite an eye-opening talk for me. As someone who does not work in a university or college setting as a strength coach, I really have to take the word of other coaches when they tell me of their experiences, successes and struggles with the implementation of the Olympic lifts. If coaches are looking for ways to include the Olympic lifts in their programs, this could be one way to make them work, once they get past the initial stages of teaching proper technique.

I will have more to come from the Juniata Clinic later this week. Make sure to sign up for updates, so you are the first to know when knew posts go up on the blog.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Click the banner below to learn Stone Lifting Technique

I am going out of town this weekend to visit my sister, so I want to learn more about you so I can help you out more with your training in the future.

Be sure to sign up for further updates on Grip Strength Training.

Thanks for filling out the survey and Happy Memorial Day.

Jedd

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Free Tank Top with a 24/48-month Digital Subscription

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That may seem like an odd title when so many people spend all their time with new training plans and the hottest supplements to add muscle to their frame. But what can I say? I’m unconventional.

My goal is performance, that is what I can lift, rather then looking bigger. Although I’m tall I’m not a very big guy. At 6’2″ I tip the scales at about 185 right now. The biggest I’ve ever been was just over 190. Since a lot of what I do is bodyweight training adding mass doesn’t really help with those goals. Thus I choose to stay small. But I also like to lift heavy stuff.

It’s because of my size that I commonly hear the phrase, “You don’t look strong.”

But what does strength have to do with looks? For the average person the appearance of muscles means strength, but that’s only a piece of the puzzle if you want to become truly strong. In fact it’s not even near the top of the list of necessary things. And just because someone is muscular doesn’t necessarily mean they’re very strong either.

How do you get stronger without adding lots of muscle? There’s a few ways.

A muscle can learn to contract harder without the cells being any more in number or size.

Your skill and technique can be improved.

Use your mind to access more of the strength you already have.

And the main method I want to talk about today. The muscles are just one of the things that are used in lifting. Sure they get the spotlight and all the publicity, but for the super strong you’ll want to focus elsewhere. I’m talking about the tendons, ligaments and bones themselves. Supports and partials are two ways to train them.

Supports

Did you know that famous strongman Louis Cyr (whom a movie is being made about right now) back lifted more than 4000 lbs? If you don’t know what the back lift is, its a support where a platform is placed across the back. The legs and arms are straightened to lift the weight only about an inch or so. This was also a favorite of Steve Justa. This position is sometimes held or just done quickly.

Think about this for a second. If you tried to support that weight what would happen? I don’t know about you but it’s likely my bones would break under such a load. Perhaps your femur my snap or more than likely a joint would give out. Yet in working up to this feat Cyr was able to handle massive weights. I’m not sure if this made his bones any thicker in dimension but certainly denser and stronger.

There are several old-time lifts called supports because you support the weight rather then lifting it. Though often in order to hold a support you need to do a lift to get it in place which requires a short range lift. Here’s a list of a few of them besides the back lift:

Leg press support (like in a leg press machine but just supporting the weight. Some of the old-time strongmen would support a plan of wood on their legs which people would sit on while they laid on their backs)

Overhead support (This was a favorite of John Grimek and it is said he worked up to supported 1000lbs in this position. They would support a barbell from chains hanging off the rafters and then lift it up into the support position.)

Standing support (Think of the top position of a squat with the barbell across the shoulders. Just try this with a heavy weight and whatever you’re use to squatting will feel very light in comparison.)

Wrestler’s bridge support (This is a personal favorite of mine as a neck strengthener. Get in the wrestler’s bridge position and lift a barbell or have someone sit on you to add resistance.)

There’s many more possibilities. You could do a one arm overhead support or a zercher squat support. Use your creativity.

The bones are much stronger at supporting weight then the muscles are in lifting, especially through a full range of motion. Which brings me to the next subject…

Partials

Partials get their name from doing a partial range of motion instead of the full range done in most lifts. Depending on what range of motion you work these in, you’ll typically be stronger than the full range.

These are also great for people engaged in any sport or martial art. How many sports involve even parallel squats? Very few. Instead you can get stronger just in the top quarter range of motion which will translate over to more speed, bigger jumps, etc.

(As a side note the full range of a lift is quite arbitrary in some cases. A full range deadlift is only about half the available range of motions for the muscles involved. For a true full range of motion you’d have to be on a platform with your arms going down much lower than shin level.)

Look, full ranges of motion are great. I highly advise you to do them. But if that’s all you do then you’re missing out on some of the best training possible to strengthen your connective tissues and bones. If you only ever lift the comparably light weights that you need to for full ranges then you’re not going to build these areas to as great of a degree as you possibly could.

You can work different partials like a quarter, half or three quarter squat. You can make even smaller jumps doing progressive distance training. There are many benefits and different ways to use partials.

One of the simplest in my opinion is working the top quarter range of motion like in this rack pull here, a recent PR for myself. You can not only use really heavy weights but partials tend to be even safer than full ranges of motion.

This can be done with any exercise though they’re typically done with the big compound movements like squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press and sometimes rows.

Supports will not add muscle because the only work they’re doing is to support keeping the bones in place. I suppose for a completely untrained individual they’d get that effect, but not for your average trainer.

With partials it will depend on how you train them. More reps and volume could add muscle. But if you do them in my preferred way, working at high intensity, you’ll get stronger but without much size.

All of these lifts will strengthen your bones, tendons and ligaments. You don’t need to do them all. Just pick one or a few to start with. As with everything you’ll want to build up to this slowly. Don’t’ go too far too fast as you body may not be ready for it. But you may surprise yourself in a short time just how much you can handle.

For more information check out my newest book Deceptive Strength available here. Right now you can grab it along with a bunch of bonuses.

–Logan Christopher–

Build Bigger Traps

A common body part that lags behind other body parts is the traps. Many lifters I have spoken with have asked if I know any good ways to build the traps up besides normal shrugs. Today I will share that with you, but first let’s look at what the traps are designed to do.

Functions of the Traps

The traps, or trapezius, (so-called because altogether the three sections of the muscle are shaped like a trapezoid) is a muscle with many functions. While they are most visible at the top of the shoulder, they also extend down the back.

There are 3 segments of the trap, each with a different responsibility.

1. Upper Trap: Primarily responsible for elevating the shoulders and shoulder blades. Secondarily responsible for pulling the shoulders and shoulder blades back.

2. Middle Trap: Primarily responsible for pulling the shoulder blades together.

3. Lower Trap: Primarily responsible for pulling the shoulder blades down.

Now, when it comes to “building big traps” most people think of the section of the traps above the collar bone and shoulders. Dave Batista, pictured in the image at the top of the page, had some of the biggest traps I have ever seen in all my years as a wrestling fan.

Classic Trap Building Exercises

The classic exercise for building big traps are Shrugs and their variations. These are usually done with a barbell at the front of the body or with dumbbells at the sides of the body.

However, just because Barbell and Dumbbell Shrugs are what “everybody does” doesn’t mean everybody loves them.

Here are a few reasons why Barbell Shrugs and Dumbbell Shrugs fall out of favor with some trainees. Maybe you agree…

1. Barbell Shrugs, when done in front of the body, can be hard on the back if you have back injuries, especially when you start getting into serious weight.

2. Barbell Shrugs can also be done behind the body, but they can be uncomfortable on the shoulders and can force poor posture.

3. Dumbbell Shrugs are a fairly safe alternative, but some gyms are limited in their heavy dumbbell sizes and may not have loadable dumbbells that can be used to go heavier.

4. Because Dumbbell Shrugs are often done with lighter weights, you can find yourself doing very high rep sets in order to get the feeling that you have accomplished some effective muscle-building stimulation of the traps.

Because of all of these things, and possibly others you can think of, today I am going to show you one way you can intensify the Shrug to help build bigger traps.

In my garage gym, the heaviest matched dumbbells I have are 100’s. For anything higher than that, I use my loadable dumbbells and 25-lb plates. However, it is hard to do Shrugs with 25’s on loadable handles because the plates roll up your thighs, so to keep the movement legit, I have to stick with the 100’s until I get bigger dumbbell pairs.

I have gotten to the point now where I can perform upwards of 20 reps with my 100’s, and it doesn’t even feel like I have stimulated the traps unless I have already pre-exhausted them with another movement, like High Pulls. Unfortunately, those are tough on my back, so I don’t do them that much.

Instead, I have found a way to make the traps work even harder on every single repetition of the Shrug. You see, as listed above, the upper two portions of the trapezius are involved in pulling the shoulders back, as well as elevating them.

If you perform a shrugging movement, and then combine that with pulling the shoulders back, you will feel a much more solid contraction when you combine both movements. Even though the change is subtle, it has a big effect.

Try it now, even without weight in your hands and you’ll feel the difference.

Now, you can obviously just pull your shoulders back while you shrug in order to engage the traps differently, but I have found that there is a better way to accomplish this by combining bands with the exercise.

Watch the video below to see exactly what I mean.

Band Resisted Shrugs to Build Bigger Traps

So, as you see in the video above, the heavy band resistance makes you fire the traps and other musculature of the upper back intensely. This creates a movement that hits the traps in a much different way to help build them better.

Putting it Into Action to Build Bigger Traps

If you try this, I encourage you to start out with light dumbbells and band tension. This way, you can get used to the feeling of this movement, which is much different from a normal Shrug. Then, over the course of a few short sets, work up in weight and tension.

Also, you can play with the point the band is rigged to the structure. Since shooting this video, I have movement my anchor point higher for an even better feeling with this movement.

I think you will be surprised how much harder it is to perform Shrugs in this manner compared to just holding dumbbells. To give you an idea, I can Shrug the 100’s for more than 20 reps, and have yet to hit 15 reps with the blue bands on without taking a rest period mid-set.

Suggested Trap Building Workout

Barbell Clean or Log Clean – 6 Sets of 2
Overhead Lifting (Military Press, Dumbbell Press, or others) – 4 Sets of 3
Horizontal Band Resisted Shrugs – 4 sets of 10 to 12
Grip Training: Open Hand – Work up to a Max, then perform 10 doubles with 70 to 80% of Max

For more training tips, make sure to sign up for my free updates delivered right to your inbox, below:

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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Hello DIESELS.

Today I have an interview with Michael Krivka, Sr. I first met Michael at my RKC certification in 2010 and then hung with him later on in 2011 at the York Barbell Museum when Slim the Hammerman Farman and the Mighty Adam Joe Greenstein were inducted into their Hall of Fame.

To the right you can see former York Employee, Mike Locondro with his brown jacket towards the left of the photo and then Michael Krivka (black shirt, white sleeve with print) is standing next to Slim “The Hammerman” Farman, on the right (black outfit, white goatee).

Recently, Michael put out a pretty cool ebook, Code Name Indestructible, based around the James Bond movies, so I reached out to him and asked him if he’d be interested in an interview. He agreed, and along the way I found out some pretty cool things about him too.

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Jedd: Michael, thanks for taking the time to do the interview with me and everyone at DieselCrew.com.

It’s my pleasure Jedd and thanks so much for the opportunity to talk with you and the community at Diesel Strength and Conditioning!

Jedd: First, could you tell us a bit about yourself, your training history, etc.

Michael: I’m a 50 year old Washington, DC native and I’ve been involved in physical training for the better part of my life. I started training in the martial arts when I was thirteen (starting with Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, Western Fencing, Judo, Ninjutsu, etc.) and I still teach several times a week. I’ve been a student of Guro Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee’s training partner, for over 25 years and I’m a full instructor in JKD and the Filipino Martial Arts (Kali, Escrima and Arnis) as well an instructor in Lameco Eskrima.

You know me from the Russian Kettlebell arena where I have been an RKC (Russian Kettlbell Certified) for over a decade. I actually started lifting back when I was in High School to add some mass to my five foot ten inch frame. I graduated from High School at ninety eight pounds (scary isn’t it) and after spending some serious time in the gym working with my college football team I added eighty five pounds to my frame by the time I graduated four years later. To say that I bulked up would be an understatement. People who knew me from High School didn’t recognize me four years later!

I’m also a Crossfit Level I Trainer, CrossFit Kettlebell Trainer, and CrossFit Olympic Lifting Coach.
I know you from the realm of Kettlebell Training. Is this your primary mode of training and what made you transition to it?

I was originally introduced to Kettlebells when I was training in Sambo (Russian Combat Martial Art). I was training at one of the Russian embassies in downtown Washington, DC (with some “secret squirrel-types”) and saw a couple of Kettlebells in the corner of the training hall and asked one of my training partners about them. He showed me a couple things like the Swing, High Pull (one and two hand) and the “Two Hand Snatch” (what we now call the CrossFit or American Swing). I thought they were great because they reinforced the striking and throwing skills that we were practicing in Sambo.

Shorty thereafter a martial arts friend of mine from California mentioned that he had read about Kettlebells in a magazine (Milo) and that he had started training with them. I did a little research on the Internet (thanks Al Gore!) and found that there was going to be a two-day workshop given by Mike Mahler the following weekend so I signed up! I went to the workshop and was immediately floored by what you could do with the Kettlebell. People joke about “drinking the Kool-Aid” but man I was chugging the stuff! I fell in love with Kettlebell training and left on Sunday afternoon with the Kettlebell I was training with all weekend… and I still have it!

Now (over ten years later) I do most of my training with either Kettlebells or body weight with a healthy dose of Barbell work thrown, mostly Deadlifts, Cleans, Military Presses, Jerks and Snatch. I train five to seven days a week doing hybrid Russian Kettlebell and CrossFit workouts, with several martial arts classes thrown in for good measure.

What level of experience do you have as a Kettlebell Instructor or Coach?

Michael: Well, I’m currently an RKC Team Leader but have been an RKC for over a decade. I’ve attended, I think, seven or eight RKC’s, the first and only RKC Convention in Las Vegas (that’s a story for a different time!), the Combat Application Specialist certification (which was the original RKC II), the CK-FMS, and the Body Weight Training Workshop (with Max Shank and Mark Reifkind). I have also been to several non-RKC Kettlebell certifications (not a good idea once you’ve been to an RKC and seen the quality and expertise presented there) as well as CrossFit certifications and mobility/flexibility workshops. As far asexperience outside of certifications and workshops: I’ve been running group workout classes seven days a week for the last five years and prior to that was teaching classes three to five days a week. That doesn’t count the time I put in for my own training and technique development. I can honestly say that I’ve had a Kettlebell in my hands pretty much every day for almost a decade – with the exception of a couple days when I was sick or recovering from surgery! I’m not happy without my daily dose of Iron!

Jedd: For those who may not be familiar, what exactly is the RKC?

The RKC, which stands for Russian Kettlebell Certification, is a three-day certification that exposes you to the seven foundational techniques: the Deadlift, Swing, Squat, Clean, Press, Snatch and Turkish Get-up. Three days of hands-on training, critique and evaluation with some of the top Kettlebell instructors in the world will give you a strong foundation to build upon when you return home. Some people are amazed at the changes in their technical ability and are awestruck by the changes they feel over the course of a weekend. I’ve been to a lot of certifications and I’ve seen some pretty incredible work come out of them. I can honestly say that the RKC experience is the top of the line when it comes to hands-on training. I’ve been to a lot of workshops and certifications in my lifetime, between physical fitness, strength, and martial arts, and nothing (and I do mean NO THING) compares to the level of training you will receive there. Yep, it’s a lot more expensive than other certifications – and it’s worth it!

Jedd: When I saw you at York Barbell in 2011, you were running a Wounded Warrior project centered around Kettlebell Training. Could you tell us a bit more about that: what is it, how you got involved, and do you continue to do so today?

Michael: We were there as part of the events we had scheduled for a charity we started called “Kettlebells for Warriors” whose goal is to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project and other charities that support our returning troops. We started Kettlebells for Warriors after having a discussion with my good friend Mike Locondro about how we felt we could do more to help out those who were returning with Traumatic Brain Injuries, PTSD, loss of limbs, and other physical injuries. It was a great idea but we needed a vehicle to get the process moving and we settled on using the Kettlebell due to it’s universal appeal in the military and elite fitness communities. We’ve been holding events each year and are in the process of re-focusing our fund raising efforts in order to maximize our impact. We are planning on having one large international event in 2013 and several smaller national events that will bring people together to have a great time working out and raising money for a good cause.

Jedd: Recently, you put out a new product called Code Name: Indestructible. Could you tell us about how you went about designing this program?

Michael: Code Name: Indestructible (CNI) was a labor of love! I’ve been a fan of the James Bond movies (and books) my whole life and I’ve seen each and every one of them countless times. A couple years ago I was rummaging around for an idea for a series of workouts and I put together the “Bond Girl” series. Let me tell you – these were crazy workouts! A lot of fun but just complete [email protected]#$es to do – which pretty much fits the Bond Girls themselves! Anyway, along with that series I started playing with the idea of doing a series of workouts based on the movies but never really finished the project. When I started hearing more about the most recent Bond film “Skyfall” I broke out my notes and started looking at finally completing the series. I even went back and watched a bunch of the movies over again to inspire me to create some really challenging workouts that would mirror the physical requirements Bond would need to survive.

Jedd: I can tell you are an amazing James Bond movie buff, due to the name of your ebook, and the workouts that your ebook includes. Could you tell us how you go about constructing workouts?

Michael: I’ve got to tell you that I had to modify some of the original workouts, not because they were too hard (and they were), but because there wasn’t a clear purpose behind the workout. Call it inexperience, but the purpose of the original series was to crush the person without a clear-cut plan or progression. I like to think that I’m a lot smarter now, but I could be wrong! Anyway, I went back and re-constructed some of the workouts and then created brand new ones for the remainder.

I have to say that I have been STRONGLY influenced by the work of Pavel and especially Dan John. I’ve always enjoyed reading Dan’s books, blog and his articles, and I can honestly say that my workouts have become better due to his influence. In particular I have found his breaking down of the basic movement skills into Push, Pull, Squat, Hinge, Carry and Other Ground Work (i.e. the Turkish Get-up) to be revolutionary. I tend to look at my clients through this framework and then design workouts around the “holes” they have in their movement patterns. If you look at the workouts in CNI you will see the hand of Dan John in many of them – kind of like Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s multiple appearances as James Bond’s nemesis! BTW – true “Bondphiles” will know what I’m talking about!

Jedd: Right now many people will be committing to bettering their health in various ways. Could your product help these people out?

Michael: That’s a great question Jedd and the answer is: ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY! Along with the James Bond-themed workouts are several chapters on how to properly program the workouts to assure your success. Dan John, who wrote the Preface to CNI, mentioned that you really need to read the first part of the book before you jump into the workouts to get the best results!

I’m a firm believer in having a plan in place in order to succeed, and if you go after a goal without a plan in place, with definitive steps in place, you are not going to succeed. CNI goes into a lot of depth about how you should plan, monitor and review your workouts in order to guarantee you make progress and that you succeed. I think this information is the most important part of the book and that it will most likely get overlooked! The workouts are great and a lot of fun and I’m concerned that people will skip right over the background guidance content and skip right to the workouts!

Jedd: For those who might pick this ebook up, what level of expertise with kettlebells should they have?

Michael: I think a beginner with Kettlebells can get CNI and be able to do all of the workouts. One thing you have to understand about any of the workouts, and my own personal training and teaching strategy, is that you can scale and modify any workout and still keep its effectiveness. Let’s say that one of the workouts has Kettlebell Snatch and Pull-ups in it and you are absolutely horrible at both of them! Do you skip that workout and try to find another one? Nope – scale it! Can you do One-Hand Swings or One-Hand High Pulls? Great! Get rid of the Kettlebell Snatch and do those instead. Can’t do Pull-ups? How about doing Jumping Pull-ups or Ring Rows instead? You’re still going to get an amazing workout and when you finally develop the additional skills (Kettlebell Snatch and Pull-ups) the workout will seem brand new to you.

Jedd: Are the movements in the ebook covered as far as how to do them properly, either by stills or video demonstrations?

Michael: Each workout has a brief review of the skills required to accomplish the “mission” and I try to give succinct pointers on how to do them safely and effectively. I’ve even put in links to techniques that you may not know how to do in several workouts. For the most part, if you don’t know how to do a particular technique, you’ll be able to find a video on YouTube or go to your website for examples of how to do them. Just be sure to check out the credentials of the person who is demoing the technique and stay away from anything associated with Jillian Michaels!

Jedd: I noticed that many of your workouts are not entirely based on using kettlebells alone. What other types of equipment do your workouts include and why?

Michael: While I think the Russian Kettlebell is any amazing tool for building full-body strength and endurance it can’t meet all of your strength and conditioning needs. I think a heavy dose of Body Weight skills (i.e. Push-ups, Pull-ups, Sit-outs, Handstands, Crawling, etc.) along with Olympic and Powerlifting techniques have to be included to add size and strength. I’ve even included my favorite “torture device” the Wheel of Pain (WOP) aka the Ab Wheel in this series. If you’ve never learned how to use this tool properly you are in for a world of hurt!

Jedd: Aside from your expert ability at weaving James Bond themes into your ebook, what else sets this apart from other kettlebell training programs?

Michael: I think there are a lot of things that distinguish this program from others that are on the market right now. First, I’ve actually put people through each and every one of these workouts and get feedback on all of them. These just aren’t products of my imagination – they’ve been field-tested and refined and then tested again. Second, I’m not going to blow smoke up any of your orifices with this program – it’s hard and it’s meant to be. I’m not going “slash inches off of your waistline” or “instantly add twenty pounds to your bench press”. What I am going to do is challenge your athletic ability and make you stronger and more durable. Some of the workouts are going to make you wonder why you’ve been hiding behind a machine for so long and not doing the things that are going to make you healthier and more resilient. Finally, I’ve been around the block a couple times and the people that I respect in the Strength and Conditioning community know me and have looked over this program and have given it “two thumbs up” across the board. I didn’t write CNI to make a fast buck or to create an instant reputation for myself. My reputation and credentials are already in place and I wrote CNI because so many of my friends, colleagues, and clients insisted that I get some of this info on paper and out into the public’s hands.

Jedd: Michael, thanks a lot for all the information today.

Michael: Thanks so much Jedd for giving me the opportunity to share with your readers my thoughts on training and information about Code Name: Indestructible. I hope they enjoyed learning more about it and keep up the amazing work that you are doing at DieselCrew.com!

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Follow the banner below to check out Code Name Indestructible

Hello DIESELS.

Today I have an interview with Michael Krivka, Sr. I first met Michael at my RKC certification in 2010 and then hung with him later on in 2011 at the York Barbell Museum when Slim the Hammerman Farman and the Mighty Adam Joe Greenstein were inducted into their Hall of Fame.
To the right you can see former York Employee, Mike Locondro with his brown jacket towards the left of the photo and then Michael Krivka (black shirt, white sleeve with print) is standing next to Slim “The Hammerman” Farman, on the right (black outfit, white goatee).
Recently, Michael put out a pretty cool ebook, Code Name Indestructible, based around the James Bond movies, so I reached out to him and asked him if he’d be interested in an interview. He agreed, and along the way I found out some pretty cool things about him too.

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Jedd: Michael, thanks for taking the time to do the interview with me and everyone at DieselCrew.com.

It’s my pleasure Jedd and thanks so much for the opportunity to talk with you and the community at Diesel Strength and Conditioning!
Jedd: First, could you tell us a bit about yourself, your training history, etc.
Michael: I’m a 50 year old Washington, DC native and I’ve been involved in physical training for the better part of my life. I started training in the martial arts when I was thirteen (starting with Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, Western Fencing, Judo, Ninjutsu, etc.) and I still teach several times a week. I’ve been a student of Guro Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee’s training partner, for over 25 years and I’m a full instructor in JKD and the Filipino Martial Arts (Kali, Escrima and Arnis) as well an instructor in Lameco Eskrima.
You know me from the Russian Kettlebell arena where I have been an RKC (Russian Kettlbell Certified) for over a decade. I actually started lifting back when I was in High School to add some mass to my five foot ten inch frame. I graduated from High School at ninety eight pounds (scary isn’t it) and after spending some serious time in the gym working with my college football team I added eighty five pounds to my frame by the time I graduated four years later. To say that I bulked up would be an understatement. People who knew me from High School didn’t recognize me four years later!
I’m also a Crossfit Level I Trainer, CrossFit Kettlebell Trainer, and CrossFit Olympic Lifting Coach.
I know you from the realm of Kettlebell Training. Is this your primary mode of training and what made you transition to it?
I was originally introduced to Kettlebells when I was training in Sambo (Russian Combat Martial Art). I was training at one of the Russian embassies in downtown Washington, DC (with some “secret squirrel-types”) and saw a couple of Kettlebells in the corner of the training hall and asked one of my training partners about them. He showed me a couple things like the Swing, High Pull (one and two hand) and the “Two Hand Snatch” (what we now call the CrossFit or American Swing). I thought they were great because they reinforced the striking and throwing skills that we were practicing in Sambo.
Shorty thereafter a martial arts friend of mine from California mentioned that he had read about Kettlebells in a magazine (Milo) and that he had started training with them. I did a little research on the Internet (thanks Al Gore!) and found that there was going to be a two-day workshop given by Mike Mahler the following weekend so I signed up! I went to the workshop and was immediately floored by what you could do with the Kettlebell. People joke about “drinking the Kool-Aid” but man I was chugging the stuff! I fell in love with Kettlebell training and left on Sunday afternoon with the Kettlebell I was training with all weekend… and I still have it!

Now (over ten years later) I do most of my training with either Kettlebells or body weight with a healthy dose of Barbell work thrown, mostly Deadlifts, Cleans, Military Presses, Jerks and Snatch. I train five to seven days a week doing hybrid Russian Kettlebell and CrossFit workouts, with several martial arts classes thrown in for good measure.
What level of experience do you have as a Kettlebell Instructor or Coach?
Michael: Well, I’m currently an RKC Team Leader but have been an RKC for over a decade. I’ve attended, I think, seven or eight RKC’s, the first and only RKC Convention in Las Vegas (that’s a story for a different time!), the Combat Application Specialist certification (which was the original RKC II), the CK-FMS, and the Body Weight Training Workshop (with Max Shank and Mark Reifkind). I have also been to several non-RKC Kettlebell certifications (not a good idea once you’ve been to an RKC and seen the quality and expertise presented there) as well as CrossFit certifications and mobility/flexibility workshops. As far asexperience outside of certifications and workshops: I’ve been running group workout classes seven days a week for the last five years and prior to that was teaching classes three to five days a week. That doesn’t count the time I put in for my own training and technique development. I can honestly say that I’ve had a Kettlebell in my hands pretty much every day for almost a decade – with the exception of a couple days when I was sick or recovering from surgery! I’m not happy without my daily dose of Iron!
Jedd: For those who may not be familiar, what exactly is the RKC?

The RKC, which stands for Russian Kettlebell Certification, is a three-day certification that exposes you to the seven foundational techniques: the Deadlift, Swing, Squat, Clean, Press, Snatch and Turkish Get-up. Three days of hands-on training, critique and evaluation with some of the top Kettlebell instructors in the world will give you a strong foundation to build upon when you return home. Some people are amazed at the changes in their technical ability and are awestruck by the changes they feel over the course of a weekend. I’ve been to a lot of certifications and I’ve seen some pretty incredible work come out of them. I can honestly say that the RKC experience is the top of the line when it comes to hands-on training. I’ve been to a lot of workshops and certifications in my lifetime, between physical fitness, strength, and martial arts, and nothing (and I do mean NO THING) compares to the level of training you will receive there. Yep, it’s a lot more expensive than other certifications – and it’s worth it!
Jedd: When I saw you at York Barbell in 2011, you were running a Wounded Warrior project centered around Kettlebell Training. Could you tell us a bit more about that: what is it, how you got involved, and do you continue to do so today?

Michael: We were there as part of the events we had scheduled for a charity we started called “Kettlebells for Warriors” whose goal is to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project and other charities that support our returning troops. We started Kettlebells for Warriors after having a discussion with my good friend Mike Locondro about how we felt we could do more to help out those who were returning with Traumatic Brain Injuries, PTSD, loss of limbs, and other physical injuries. It was a great idea but we needed a vehicle to get the process moving and we settled on using the Kettlebell due to it’s universal appeal in the military and elite fitness communities. We’ve been holding events each year and are in the process of re-focusing our fund raising efforts in order to maximize our impact. We are planning on having one large international event in 2013 and several smaller national events that will bring people together to have a great time working out and raising money for a good cause.
Jedd: Recently, you put out a new product called Code Name: Indestructible. Could you tell us about how you went about designing this program?

Michael: Code Name: Indestructible (CNI) was a labor of love! I’ve been a fan of the James Bond movies (and books) my whole life and I’ve seen each and every one of them countless times. A couple years ago I was rummaging around for an idea for a series of workouts and I put together the “Bond Girl” series. Let me tell you – these were crazy workouts! A lot of fun but just complete [email protected]#$es to do – which pretty much fits the Bond Girls themselves! Anyway, along with that series I started playing with the idea of doing a series of workouts based on the movies but never really finished the project. When I started hearing more about the most recent Bond film “Skyfall” I broke out my notes and started looking at finally completing the series. I even went back and watched a bunch of the movies over again to inspire me to create some really challenging workouts that would mirror the physical requirements Bond would need to survive.
Jedd: I can tell you are an amazing James Bond movie buff, due to the name of your ebook, and the workouts that your ebook includes. Could you tell us how you go about constructing workouts?
Michael: I’ve got to tell you that I had to modify some of the original workouts, not because they were too hard (and they were), but because there wasn’t a clear purpose behind the workout. Call it inexperience, but the purpose of the original series was to crush the person without a clear-cut plan or progression. I like to think that I’m a lot smarter now, but I could be wrong! Anyway, I went back and re-constructed some of the workouts and then created brand new ones for the remainder.
I have to say that I have been STRONGLY influenced by the work of Pavel and especially Dan John. I’ve always enjoyed reading Dan’s books, blog and his articles, and I can honestly say that my workouts have become better due to his influence. In particular I have found his breaking down of the basic movement skills into Push, Pull, Squat, Hinge, Carry and Other Ground Work (i.e. the Turkish Get-up) to be revolutionary. I tend to look at my clients through this framework and then design workouts around the “holes” they have in their movement patterns. If you look at the workouts in CNI you will see the hand of Dan John in many of them – kind of like Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s multiple appearances as James Bond’s nemesis! BTW – true “Bondphiles” will know what I’m talking about!
Jedd: Right now many people will be committing to bettering their health in various ways. Could your product help these people out?
Michael: That’s a great question Jedd and the answer is: ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY! Along with the James Bond-themed workouts are several chapters on how to properly program the workouts to assure your success. Dan John, who wrote the Preface to CNI, mentioned that you really need to read the first part of the book before you jump into the workouts to get the best results!
I’m a firm believer in having a plan in place in order to succeed, and if you go after a goal without a plan in place, with definitive steps in place, you are not going to succeed. CNI goes into a lot of depth about how you should plan, monitor and review your workouts in order to guarantee you make progress and that you succeed. I think this information is the most important part of the book and that it will most likely get overlooked! The workouts are great and a lot of fun and I’m concerned that people will skip right over the background guidance content and skip right to the workouts!
Jedd: For those who might pick this ebook up, what level of expertise with kettlebells should they have?
Michael: I think a beginner with Kettlebells can get CNI and be able to do all of the workouts. One thing you have to understand about any of the workouts, and my own personal training and teaching strategy, is that you can scale and modify any workout and still keep its effectiveness. Let’s say that one of the workouts has Kettlebell Snatch and Pull-ups in it and you are absolutely horrible at both of them! Do you skip that workout and try to find another one? Nope – scale it! Can you do One-Hand Swings or One-Hand High Pulls? Great! Get rid of the Kettlebell Snatch and do those instead. Can’t do Pull-ups? How about doing Jumping Pull-ups or Ring Rows instead? You’re still going to get an amazing workout and when you finally develop the additional skills (Kettlebell Snatch and Pull-ups) the workout will seem brand new to you.
Jedd: Are the movements in the ebook covered as far as how to do them properly, either by stills or video demonstrations?
Michael: Each workout has a brief review of the skills required to accomplish the “mission” and I try to give succinct pointers on how to do them safely and effectively. I’ve even put in links to techniques that you may not know how to do in several workouts. For the most part, if you don’t know how to do a particular technique, you’ll be able to find a video on YouTube or go to your website for examples of how to do them. Just be sure to check out the credentials of the person who is demoing the technique and stay away from anything associated with Jillian Michaels!
Jedd: I noticed that many of your workouts are not entirely based on using kettlebells alone. What other types of equipment do your workouts include and why?
Michael: While I think the Russian Kettlebell is any amazing tool for building full-body strength and endurance it can’t meet all of your strength and conditioning needs. I think a heavy dose of Body Weight skills (i.e. Push-ups, Pull-ups, Sit-outs, Handstands, Crawling, etc.) along with Olympic and Powerlifting techniques have to be included to add size and strength. I’ve even included my favorite “torture device” the Wheel of Pain (WOP) aka the Ab Wheel in this series. If you’ve never learned how to use this tool properly you are in for a world of hurt!
Jedd: Aside from your expert ability at weaving James Bond themes into your ebook, what else sets this apart from other kettlebell training programs?

Michael: I think there are a lot of things that distinguish this program from others that are on the market right now. First, I’ve actually put people through each and every one of these workouts and get feedback on all of them. These just aren’t products of my imagination – they’ve been field-tested and refined and then tested again. Second, I’m not going to blow smoke up any of your orifices with this program – it’s hard and it’s meant to be. I’m not going “slash inches off of your waistline” or “instantly add twenty pounds to your bench press”. What I am going to do is challenge your athletic ability and make you stronger and more durable. Some of the workouts are going to make you wonder why you’ve been hiding behind a machine for so long and not doing the things that are going to make you healthier and more resilient. Finally, I’ve been around the block a couple times and the people that I respect in the Strength and Conditioning community know me and have looked over this program and have given it “two thumbs up” across the board. I didn’t write CNI to make a fast buck or to create an instant reputation for myself. My reputation and credentials are already in place and I wrote CNI because so many of my friends, colleagues, and clients insisted that I get some of this info on paper and out into the public’s hands.
Jedd: Michael, thanks a lot for all the information today.
Michael: Thanks so much Jedd for giving me the opportunity to share with your readers my thoughts on training and information about Code Name: Indestructible. I hope they enjoyed learning more about it and keep up the amazing work that you are doing at DieselCrew.com!

---

Follow the banner below to check out Code Name Indestructible

The Brutal 5K

By Josh McIntyre
Check out Josh on his YouTube Channel

We were seated at a common table with a family we didn’t know. No problem, my wife is pretty social and I can fake interest in just about anything for 30 minutes. It was the German Bier Garten at Epcot, and $13 a beer wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying myself.
As I looked around the large auditorium like seating area, I noticed something troubling. At nearly every table sat a skinny, smug looking d-bag with either a livestrong bracelet or some kind of motivational running t-shirt. What was stranger, none of these “men” even had a beer in front of them.
One man with hair past his ears appeared even to be wearing a beret! As I turned to look at my wife in bewilderment, down sat a young guy in the vacant seat next to me. I watched on in horror as he opened his beardless face and a high, slightly pitchy and annoying voice screeched out. Thus spoke the Beta-male: “I can’t wait for tomorrows 5k!”

I won’t bore the masses with every feminine thing this little neophyte said, but here’s a run down:

• Running 5k’s are his life
• 3 days grace is great running music, And…
• “Eewww, who could drink an entire liter of beer? I can’t stand the way that stuff tastes”

That last one hit my ears as I lowered one of the liter beer mugs from my face only to raise another with my other hand, and it made chills of rage run down my spine.
I turned to look upon the baby deer like runner, my neck creaked as scar tissue broke under the immense weight of my beast fur. My beard twitched as it parted the way like great red drapes for my mouth, reminiscing of Moses when he made the Red Sea into a nature path. Surprise and terror washed over this wuss’s face as I set my cold dead eyes upon his virgin baby blues. With sheer malice, the churning hell pit of my stomach sent forth a metric ton of gas. The terrible cloud left my face at nearly mach 2 and blew the club-friendly-rock fan’s head clear from his shoulders. His own family cried as they thanked me for what I had done. I responded with an aftershock.
Once I cleared out the entire left half of the buffet and broke a third of the dishes due to just how rough I eat, I decided that super lunch (the meal between lunch and 1st dinner) was over. I payed in red whiskers and tipped the waitress with 3 farts, which she graciously accepted.
As we walked out in search of more beer for my face, I couldn’t help wondering:

What if there was a 5k for Alpha males?

It wasn’t until much later when I sat down to release a school of brown trout into Walt Disney’s magical sewer system that it hit me!
A “race” To 5k (5000#)!
I flushed the toilet and immediately contacted Jedd Johnson. This is what I told him:
The 5k challenge will be as follows:

• Total 5000lbs in ONE day using the FEWEST singles you can
• Only Squat, Bench and Deadlifts will count
• One of each must be performed, but may be repeated as needed to reach 5k
• Lifts must be reasonably close to a good competition style lift (squat depth, paused bench, no hitched dl’s)
• knee wraps up to 3.5 allowed for raw
• Film it at your house, in a gym, in a garage, in a parking lot, wherever
• Gear allowed, just specify in the vid description

(Example: if DL is your best lift then it may look like:
SQ, B, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL = 5000)
Glory is just 3 steps away:

• 1. Upload your video submissions to youtube
• 2. Add the title: “Brutal 5K (and the # of lifts it took you)”
• 3. Post the link to: http://www.facebook.com/groups/Brutalsteelpowerandstrength/

The Ladies’ Brutal 3K

This challenge is for the Alpha-females as well! I know not every lady is sitting around the house reading 50 shades of Gray. Some of you She-Ra’s are doing power cleans and front squats with twice the weight that our beta-male could curl in any standard power rack. So Ladies, get your war face on, tie your hair back with some barbed wire and embarrass some of these guys.
The Top 10 Performances (men and women), using as few attempts as possible, will be posted here at DieselCrew.com
This is a new spin on the 3 classic lifts. Who can do this in 15 lifts? 10? 9? Less!? Give it a try and see where you stack up!

The Brutal 5K

By Josh McIntyre
Check out Josh on his YouTube Channel

We were seated at a common table with a family we didn’t know. No problem, my wife is pretty social and I can fake interest in just about anything for 30 minutes. It was the German Bier Garten at Epcot, and $13 a beer wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying myself.

As I looked around the large auditorium like seating area, I noticed something troubling. At nearly every table sat a skinny, smug looking d-bag with either a livestrong bracelet or some kind of motivational running t-shirt. What was stranger, none of these “men” even had a beer in front of them.

One man with hair past his ears appeared even to be wearing a beret! As I turned to look at my wife in bewilderment, down sat a young guy in the vacant seat next to me. I watched on in horror as he opened his beardless face and a high, slightly pitchy and annoying voice screeched out. Thus spoke the Beta-male: “I can’t wait for tomorrows 5k!”

I won’t bore the masses with every feminine thing this little neophyte said, but here’s a run down:

• Running 5k’s are his life
• 3 days grace is great running music, And…
• “Eewww, who could drink an entire liter of beer? I can’t stand the way that stuff tastes”

That last one hit my ears as I lowered one of the liter beer mugs from my face only to raise another with my other hand, and it made chills of rage run down my spine.

I turned to look upon the baby deer like runner, my neck creaked as scar tissue broke under the immense weight of my beast fur. My beard twitched as it parted the way like great red drapes for my mouth, reminiscing of Moses when he made the Red Sea into a nature path. Surprise and terror washed over this wuss’s face as I set my cold dead eyes upon his virgin baby blues. With sheer malice, the churning hell pit of my stomach sent forth a metric ton of gas. The terrible cloud left my face at nearly mach 2 and blew the club-friendly-rock fan’s head clear from his shoulders. His own family cried as they thanked me for what I had done. I responded with an aftershock.

Once I cleared out the entire left half of the buffet and broke a third of the dishes due to just how rough I eat, I decided that super lunch (the meal between lunch and 1st dinner) was over. I payed in red whiskers and tipped the waitress with 3 farts, which she graciously accepted.

As we walked out in search of more beer for my face, I couldn’t help wondering:

What if there was a 5k for Alpha males?

It wasn’t until much later when I sat down to release a school of brown trout into Walt Disney’s magical sewer system that it hit me!

A “race” To 5k (5000#)!

I flushed the toilet and immediately contacted Jedd Johnson. This is what I told him:

The 5k challenge will be as follows:

• Total 5000lbs in ONE day using the FEWEST singles you can
• Only Squat, Bench and Deadlifts will count
• One of each must be performed, but may be repeated as needed to reach 5k
• Lifts must be reasonably close to a good competition style lift (squat depth, paused bench, no hitched dl’s)
• knee wraps up to 3.5 allowed for raw
• Film it at your house, in a gym, in a garage, in a parking lot, wherever
• Gear allowed, just specify in the vid description

(Example: if DL is your best lift then it may look like:
SQ, B, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL, DL = 5000)

Glory is just 3 steps away:

• 1. Upload your video submissions to youtube
• 2. Add the title: “Brutal 5K (and the # of lifts it took you)”
• 3. Post the link to: http://www.facebook.com/groups/Brutalsteelpowerandstrength/

The Ladies’ Brutal 3K

This challenge is for the Alpha-females as well! I know not every lady is sitting around the house reading 50 shades of Gray. Some of you She-Ra’s are doing power cleans and front squats with twice the weight that our beta-male could curl in any standard power rack. So Ladies, get your war face on, tie your hair back with some barbed wire and embarrass some of these guys.

The Top 10 Performances (men and women), using as few attempts as possible, will be posted here at DieselCrew.com

This is a new spin on the 3 classic lifts. Who can do this in 15 lifts? 10? 9? Less!? Give it a try and see where you stack up!

 

What’s up Diesels?

I bet you are all kicking some serious butt in the gym and setting some huge PR’s – that is freakin’ awesome. Keep it up!

As I did last year, I went through all of the videos I uploaded to my YouTube Channel this year and picked out the top 10 most watched videos. They all appear below along with a little description and a link to their related article, in case you’d like to read more about the feat, drill, or Q & A.

Before you drop down and start watching and reading, I also want to say THANK YOU to all of you for helping me reach a goal of mine some time in November, of reach 1 MILLION views on YouTube.

In the Fall, maybe September, I noticed my views were up there pretty high and that 1 MILLION by the end of 2012 was a possibility, so I set that as a goal of mine. However, I never looked back to check my progress until just last week. To my surprise, I had reached and surpassed that goal, and I am now at 1,032,000+ views.

Also, one of my goals this year was to reach the mark of 2,000 subscribers. I was able to attain this in late Spring/early June, and I am not currently at 2500+ subscribers.

While you don’t get a prize for 1 Million view or 2500 subscribers, hitting these numbers does mean that I have been able to reach more people. I feel I bring very high quality information through my YouTube channel, plus it helps me spread the word about Grip Training and Grip Sport, two things I just love to do.

Going forward, I want you to know that I welcome you to share my videos with your friends, colleagues, and on-line contacts, whether you post them on your Blog or put them up on forums, Facebook, etc. In fact, when you do share or post one of my videos, send me a note and I will do my best to promote it as well, and bring more viewers to your site, blog, or other on-line place of interest.

The only thing I ask you not to do is to copy whole entire articles off my site and paste them on yours – that’s just not cool.

I will be setting some goals for next year very soon, and I will be sure to share them with you. Any help you can provide me, I appreciate it. If you have a YouTube channel and you would like to work together on a cross-promotion, or some other idea, please let me know.

Alright, Diesels – here are the Top 10 videos I posted to my channel this year, from 10th to 1st. First, I will post #10 through #6, and then tomorrow I will post #5 through #1.

I hope you enjoy them. All the best in your training, and Happy New Year to you all.

Jedd

#10 – Hardest Pull-ups Ever – 1369 Views

Rogue Fitness sent me a bunch of their equipment to use at my seminars, so I also took the opportunity to review each piece and put the video up on YouTube for everyone to see. Their equipment is all high quality, but the gear I have used the most this year has been the Pull-up Gear, especially the Globe and Dog Bone. Really cool stuff, and I especially like the ability to train a Pull-up style exercise and the Grip at the same time.

Related Article: Rogue Fitness Equipment Review Videos

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#9 – Instant Relief from Back Pain – 1388 Views

Earlier this year, I was experiencing some nagging back and glute pain. I tried a lot of things to get rid of it and was unsuccessful, but to my surprise, when I did a few sets of Dips, something adjusted in my SI Joint area which gave me instant relief. This is something I used to do from time to time years ago, but got away from it. Be sure to give this a try if you have lower back or SI Joint Pain as well.

Related Article: Relief from SI Joint Pain with a Simple Exercise

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#8 – Build Big Shoulders – 1504 Views

Earlier this year, I came to grips with the fact that the tightness in my torso, especially my pecs, was hindering my performance in various lifts. I did some research and tested out some nice stretches and mobility drills and found a few things that really benefited me. I am continuing drills such as these to this day and have been feeling much better, especially since reviewing Fix My Shoulder Pain.

Related Article: How Stretching and Mobility Work Helped My Overhead Pressing

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#7 – Number 1 Tip for a Safe Deadlift – 1509 Views

I have worked with several people this year on various forms of the deadlift, and from this experience I have seen that you can have a perfect set-up for your back and core and then screw everything up BIG TIME by pulling the bar from the floor incorrectly. I call this incorrect “yanking” of the bar off the floor “shot-gunning” with my guys. The video above will explain this, and the post below will give you even more detail.

I reviewed an outstanding product on Deadlifting this year called Deadlift Dynamite from Pavel and Dragondoor. For many people, the thing holding them back the most on their deadlift is their Grip Strength, so I put together a special bonus called “Never Drop Another Deadlift.” This is currently available, ONLY to those who pick up Deadlift Dynamite through my affiliate links.

Related Article: You MUST Do This When You Deadlift

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#6 – 1st Lift of Blobzilla – 1509 Views

Blobzilla was named by my friend Daniel Reinard, an excellent up-and-comer in Grip Sport. Earlier this year, we organized a group purchase of Blobzillas from the York Barbell Company and several of us lifted them. I was extremely excited to lift this Block Weight, as pinching is my favorite style of Grip Strength training.

Related Article: Blobzilla – Biggest York Block Weight Ever Lifted

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#5 – First 400+ Axle Deadlift – 1804 Views

Finally this year I was able to attain several lifts at or above 400-lbs on the IronMind Axle. Despite these lifts, I still failed to pull 400-lbs in competition, but I am happy to have seen some progress on this lift, both at the beginning and towards the end of this year.

Related Article: IronMind Axle – 400 Pound Deadlift

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#4 – Manus Grip Gear – 1997 Views

Some of my most popular videos on YouTube have been my equipment reviews. I always give my honest opinion on the equipment I review, and the Manus Equipment is no difference. I was very impressed with the Manus Equipment I got, especially the way it was all packaged, which far exceeds many other competitors’ products. I also liked the smoothness of their instant thick grip handles very much.

Related Article: Manus Grip Product Review

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#3 – Fat Gripz Extreme Review – 2020 Views

Fat Gripz Extreme took the number 1 spot of all the instant thick grip handles I have reviewed this year. The handles are very large. In fact, they are larger in diameter than a soda can, making them a great addition to your training arsenal if you are a Grip Strength enthusiast. My favorite drill to use them on has been 20-rep Shrugs with 100-lb Dumbbells. This exercise is so freaking tough, I generally have to perform rest-pause sets in order to hit my goal of 20-reps per set. If you want to get these, check out the Fat Gripz website.

Related Article: Fat Gripz Extreme, Wrist Developer, Manus Hand Yoga

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#2 – Fixing Elbow and Forearm Pain – 2905 Views

Many people have trouble with forearm and elbow pain like Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow. These are not just Grip Enthusiasts either. Everyone from Powerlifters to Strongmen, Office Workers to Manual Laborers, Athletes to Coaches. Rick Kaselj and I put together a program to help all of them out, called Fixing Elbow Pain, but I also wanted to put out this video showing one of the things I do to prevent Tennis Elbow, which combines the benefits of increased circulation and self myofascial release (SMR).

Related Article: Fixing and Preventing Forearm & Elbow Pain

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#1 – The Knee Driver – Innovative Glute Activation Exercise – 4282 Views

The biggest video of the year was something I stumbled upon while working with my buddy, Mike Rinderle, on our DVD called Braced Bending: How to Destroy Everything in Your Path. I was looking for a way to replicate the way you kink a steel bar over your knee, and I grabbed a heavy resistance band and could not believe the activation I was getting in my glutes.

Related Article: Simple But Effective Glute Activation Exercise

And there you have it, DIESELS! The 10 videos that you made the most popular over the course of last year. Thanks for watching and subscribing. And remember, always feel free to share my videos around with your friends, colleagues, and contacts.

To sign up for email updates on new Blog posts, add your info to the block below.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Want to Build Your Own Grip Equipment?

Check out Home Made Strength II – Grip Strength Edition by clicking the banner below.

What’s Up Diesels?

As you may know from reading my bio on the site, my initial foray into strength training was the Olympic Lifts.

I had seen the picture of Vasily Alexeev performing his training against the rushing water of a stream and I thought it was so amazing that I wanted to train the Olympic Lifts too.

While I loved this type of training, and still love portions of it today, I soon transitioned away from it because the requirement for technical perfection was just too much for me to continue many of the more complex lifts, such as the full Squat Clean and the Snatch.

My flexibility and mobility was not where it needed to be in order to perform the lifts safely, and I was not interested in an injury, so I dropped the full lifts that are contested in Olympic Lift competitions.

This is also when I began transitioning into Strongman Training. You see, I was every bit as interested in training for a challenge as I was for the sheer strength numbers.
(more…)

Improve Hand Strength for Strength Training and Sports

The hands and lower arms are often a forgotten aspect of a well-rounded strength training program, and they also are something that can hold us back from attaining what we want to accomplish if we fail to train them properly.

 

Thick about it this way…

Don’t think hand strength is important in sports?

• Try tackling a player on the football field with weak hands.
• Try holding the basketball in the paint with weak hands or fingers.
• Try maintaining control over your opponent on the wrestling mat without a good grip.

All of these things involve a great deal of general body strength in order to be successful, but if you grip is weak, then you might as well forget about all of them.

The same can be said for pulling movements like the Pull-up and the Deadlift. While both of these movements are mostly limited by the strength of the back and arm muscles, a weak grip will also be a hindrance.

Even pushing movements like Overhead Lifting and the Bench Press can be very affected heavily if you have weak hands.

With all of this in mind, it is important to include Grip Training in your routine regularly.

When speaking of Grip Training, there are several common questions that often come up…

• How much training should I do?
• When does it become too much?
• Should I buy a bunch of equipment in order to train my grip?

These are questions I am asked all the time, but the answers truly come down to what exactly your training goals are. You can’t write one program and have it work for everyone.

Instead, when I work with my clients and coach the the members of my site, The Grip Authority, I try to offer examples of movements and exercises that are high impact, meaning that you get a lot of benefit out of them regardless of your individual training goals.

One High Impact Grip Training Movement is Plate Pinch Around the World’s.

This movement is often overlooked but it is actually a fantastic movement for ANYONE to include in their training.

Here’s why:

1. Open Hand Movement – The best Grip Training movements for complete hand strength involve an open handed position. This is beneficial because since you can’t close your hand around the implement, you have to fire your first two fingers (the strongest ones), the last two fingers (the weakest ones) and the thumb very hard in order to complete the lift.

2. Full Body Engagement – Just as Muscle-ups, Hand Stands, and even Deadlifts require coordinated strength generation from very large portions of the body, so do Around the Worlds. At first glance, this lift may look like something that hits the hands only, but it actually will leave your wrists and forearms, biceps, shoulders, lats, back and glutes tired, if you do it the right way.

3. Endurance Based – Many Grip Training drills involve just picking something off the ground, but Around the World’s are different. With this drill, you have to be ready to put forth effort for anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds, depending on the intensity (% of 1 Rep Maximum) you are training.

4. Bonus! – You probably already have ALL THE EQUIPMENT YOU NEED to do this lift, which means you can save your money and put toward Detailed Grip Training Instruction.

I could go on about why you should do this movement, but instead, let’s look at How to do Around the World’s.

The movement is so named because you will be picking up two plates (from 25 to 45-lbs) positioned together smooth-sides-out in a Pinch Grip (thumb opposing the fingers) and working all the way around the plates.

Below is a video clip of myself and some people who traveled to my location to find out more about Grip Training for a day.

One of the main drills I put them through was Around the World’s, because it requires your whole body to work together as a unit. Observe:

Keys to Watch For:

Full Body Engagement: Notice as you watch the video how the legs and glutes are brought into play in order to transition grips placed on the plates. It is not an easy thing to control 90-lbs in your hands while keeping your body limp! You have to keep your core braced and fire the hips repeatedly in order to propel the plates upwards and shift them around…

Hand Speed: Take note that the movement involves a series of rapid firings of the body and the hands. Transitioning quickly around the circumference of the plates helps you keep moving steadily, while fumbling around will cause you to drop the plates and have to start over.

Concentration: Around the World’s also require hand-eye coordination. You’ve got to make sure you move far enough on the plates to make progress around them, but not too much, because you might miss and drop the plates. Take note that I continually cue the guys to involve the lower body. Newer trainees will become engrossed in executing strength with their hands and forget about keeping the rest of their body active. They will either relax their lower body and crumble or stiffen too much and not get the spring needed.

Loading: One plate combination may be too light for some trainees, while the next one up is too heavy. One easy way to load them further is with chains, as you can see done in the video. Chains are usually incorporated in lifts for the benefit of Accommodating Resistance, but in this case they are used as a way to increase the N-Planar Force demands of the lift, randomizing the movement of the implement.

Execution: Most trainees will be more comfortable executing this lift in just one direction, either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Don’t fall prey to this trap – make sure to work both directions.

As you can see, there is much more to this lift than you may have first thought. This is exactly why I consider it one of my High Impact Grip Training Movements.

Training of this nature no doubt will increase your performance in the Strength Game or with Sports.

If you are serious about strength and performance, then check out The Grip Authority. All aspects of lower arm strength are covered, in order to take your grip strength from being a liability you worry about to being an asset you are glad to have.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. Have you checked out the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales? If not take a look right here.

Just about every single product I’ve ever put out is discounted, with several other packages already set up for even further savings.

Don’t waste time though. These sale prices are only available until 10PM EST tonight.

DIESELS!

There are a lot of things that go along with a good, strong and safe deadlift, but in the video below I show you the one thing that you absolutely MUST do when you deadlift in order to perform the movement safely.

Imperative Part of a Safe Deadlift

As far as the rest of the technique, I can not recommend highly enough Deadlift Dynamite from Andy Bolton and Pavel.

In case you don’t know, Andy Bolton has deadlifted over 1000-lbs on at least two separate occasions, and is just a monstrous powerlifter.

Pavel Tsatsouline is a renowned strength coach. Although his claim to fame is kettlebells, he knows a great deal about all forms of strength training.

Together, these guys have produced the go-to resource on how to Deadlift. It is perfect for anyone who is either looking to start the deadlift but is unsure of how to go about it, as well as the lifter who has been deadlifting but knows he or she needs to improve their technique.

As a special bonus, anyone that picks up this manual through my affiliate link will receive a 25-minute video I shot covering my Top 5 Grip Building Tips, specifically designed for bringing up your rip Strength where it needs to be.

It’s called, “Never Drop Another Deadlift,” because that is my goal for you when you try out the techniques.

To pick up Deadlift Dynamite and get my special bonus, just click one of the links here on this post and then email me your receipt and it’s yours.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

I Love Overhead Lifting

Let me just say that you should ALWAYS be learning, or at least OPEN to learning if you are serious about your strength training.

The day you stop learning is the day you stop improving, as far as I am concerned.

I have never had a problem with taking opportunities to learn. I know that I don’t know everything and I go to seminars and clinics all the time.

If you think you know everything, then you probably aren’t putting up much weight in the gym.

However, sometimes it opportunities to learn and improve yourself come up unexpectedly.

I was recently talking with a good friend of mine, Paul Knight. He has one of the best crushing grips in the world and he told me some of the stuff he does in his training.

He incorporates a great deal of volume into his workouts. Volume that is higher than anyone I have ever heard of before, so I ended up applying it to my overhead work for a couple of weeks.

I don’t want to bore you with too much detail, so instead, I will just show you videos.

Here is last week, where I tried 225 for a double.

Miss: 225 X 2, Barbell Press from Rack

Now, I probably could have bent my lumbar spine way back and gotten the second rep, like I used to. But, I don’t force reps like that anymore. It just isn’t something I want to do anymore.

Oh, and by the way, it was less than 40 degrees that day when I was training, thus the ski-mask. The style police from YouTube tried docking me points because of it – Whoopty Doo. What’s next? Chicken leg jokes?

This week, I tried it again and the result was much different.

BAM: 225 X 2, Barbell Press from Rack

Diesels, the only thing I can point to here in regards to this improvement is the higher volume I have been doing. For the last few years, I have rarely gone beyond 3 reps in a set of Barbell Press. Dumbbell Press, yes, but I have never made a habit of it.

All I can say is the last few weeks I have felt stronger than I have in years. I am sure it is a combination of being healthy and finding some lifting strategies that my body is responding to.

It just goes to show you that you don’t always have to work near your 1-Rep Maximum. There is room for lower loads and higher reps. This is something that historically i would have had tunnel vision about and not considered.

Here is a later work-set from the same session where I got 225 for 2. I was doing 175 for sets of 7 up until this point. This was the last set and I decided I would go for a set of 10 and nearly got it.

175 for 10…Almost

Like I said, I have been feeling like a freaking Diesel-Powered Monster the last few weeks. All the big lifts I have been doing feel great and I am very thankful to be seeing these results.

Speaking of being thankful, I was watching a video by one of my idols growing up, Ultimate Warriror, and he said something that really resonated with me about how he encourages people to be thankful for the gains you get.

I know this is a long video…what you want to listen to is the section from 5:27 to 6:00, especially. Check this out:

Seriously, make sure you listen to what he says, DIESELS. He’s not doing an over-the-top wrestling promo. He’s speaking as somebody who has been training his ass off since he was a teenager and is now in his 50’s. This is golden insight from someone who has been tangling with the iron for decades.

As I have mentioned to the people on my Email Newsletter, I am throwing around the idea of putting together some sort of training program or course on Overhead Lifting. If this is something that you’d be interested in, make sure you are signed up for email updates as things progress, and don’t be afraid to leave a comment below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

My absolute favorite type of Strength Training, aside from Grip, is Overhead Lifting. Whether done in strict fashion, like a press, or a more dynamic fashion, like a jerk, it is all good to me.

As I highlighted in a recent video, I had been having discomfort near my right collar bone which was interfering in some of my lifts.

Initiating movement out of the rack position was causing difficulty for me on strict movements, such as the Barbell and Dumbbell Press. I mentioned it in this video: My Approach to Overhead Work.

Well, there was no way I was going to cut Overhead Work out of my program. After all, it was only a few lifts that caused me problems.

Since straining out of the rack position was feeling like someone was driving a wooden stake into my chest like I was a vampire, I just didn’t do strict press.

Instead, I cycled in Push Press and Jerks, and there was almost ZERO pain when I trained.

I think many people make the mistake of just shutting things down when they have an injury, especially something minor like I was having. To me, work-arounds such as exercise replacements are much better options and keep you from losing strength while you recover.

In fact, last week, I found that even though I had not done tried 100-lb Dumbbell Press since June, I was still able to match my all-time personal best of 3 Reps.

The only thing I did notice is that I felt slower out of the rack position, which makes complete sense, since I had not worked that specific portion of the lift in a few weeks. In fact, I think if I had been working the rack position intensely all of this time, I probably would have hit 4 or even 5 reps.

I say this because being slow out of the whole made me work harder for the lockout, and if I had more burst out of the bottom, I would have had more left for the lockout. Just speculation, of course…

If you currently have shoulder pain, you need to stay tuned to my site or, even better yet, sign up for my newsletter. Two of my friends, Rick Kaselj and Mike Westerdall have teamed up to put together an excellent resource for recovery from Shoulder Pain.

I reviewed almost all of it on Friday and this thing is packed with info. It is going to help a lot of people get out of pain.

And the best part is, it is designed specifically with people who train hard and take their workouts seriously in mind.

Sign up below for updates if you haven’t already, and all the best in your training.

Jedd

Hey DIESELS!

As you know, the Shoulders are extremely important to us for our training, whether we are Powerlifters, Strongman Competitors, Strongman Performers, Steel Benders or Grip Sport Competitors. If you bang up a shoulder, it is going to affect you in many more ways than just when trying to push some weight overhead.

We’ve been putting out a lot of information this week about the Shoulder and how to prevent and begin to take care of beat up shoulders.

Something Cool, Coming Soon

Luckily, I was taught proper technique for the shoulder from the beginning, so I have never had too many issues. Mostly, the things I have had go wrong with my shoulders have been from some sort of trauma – falling while playing paintball, over-doing it in beer league softball, things like that. My training, historically, has not been rough on my shoulders.

However, there are a bunch of exercises that are very common in many people’s strength training programs that can be treacherous for the shoulders. Some of them I have examined in the past, and I thought I would bring them back to the forefront this week, since shoulder health is so important for all of us.

First, we will look at Upright Rows. I am sorry, but from all of the information I have read and heard about at clinics, I can not recommend these to anybody. One of my friends, Josh Dale, asked me for my thoughts on these last year and I shot a video on them, which appears below.

Upright Rows

The next exercise is Dumbbell Rows. These, I feel, are an excellent exercise, along with many other forms of rows. They are very effective at promoting that Antagonistic Balance that I look for so much in my exercise selection. However, if you perform them incorrectly, you can negate the strength balance aspect of this exercise by setting your shoulder up for some serious underlying trauma that you might not feel until a long while down the road, so I encourage you to check out these videos.

Side Rows

I realize I have a tendency to get long winded. The fact is, I feel very strongly about the information I am discussing and sometimes I just keep talking. I want to provide the best information I can and sometimes in my efforts to do so, the videos end up longer.

I hope these videos help you. I like getting notes from people talking about PR’s, not trips to the ER. Stay safe, stay strong and as always…

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Below you will see a video of one of my recent Upper Body Training Workouts.

The video has an audio track over it in which I explain a bit about my exercise selection and why I place the movements how I do.

A couple of other things I wanted to cover that did not get covered in the video…

Shoulder Pain

In the video I mention the shoulder pain that I have been having. I mention that Strict Press bothers it. I just want to clarify that my shoulder pain did not come from pressing or even any kind of weight lifting.

It actually came from rolling frying pans during my Strongman Performances in July. Rolling Frying Pans entails an appreciable amount of force coming from the chest and shoulder and I believe rolling 3 pans a day for close to an entire week just overwhelmed my shoulder and pec minor on my right side.

It is much better now, but at the time of shooting the video, the strict press motion at the bottom of the movement was bothering that region of my shoulder/collar bone, so I avoided that tension on this particular week by performing Push Presses. The catch and Lockout portions of the movement gave me no problems whatsoever.

Just wanted to add that in there, since it didn’t make it into the video.

Exercise Selection

For the last several weeks I have been working my Push and Pull training on the same days. I don’t always do that. Sometimes I will work Push on one day and Pull on the other. However, I always strive to work complimentary exercises for both Push and Pull – movements that are antagonistic movement patterns. I think this is described fairly well in the video.

Some people do both Push and Pull on the same day all the time. To me, I don’t think that is necessary if you are paying attention to the volume you are using in all the movement patterns. Some people might hit me on that. And that’s OK, but I personally believe my approach works well for me.

Whether or not I am working both Push and Pull on the same day generally comes down to the amount of available time I have to train and what else is going on as far as contests and other types of preparation I have to include in my workouts.

With all that said, please enjoy the video, and don’t hesitate in leaving comments, liking the video, or subscribing.

IMPORTANT: Notice the repeated theme – Balance. Balance between the opposing muscle groups in the upper back and torso which surround the shoulder and Balance between movement patterns. If you strive to keep this balance, whether you train Push and Pull on the same day, or if you split them up, your shoulders will feel MUCH better.

Check out my YouTube Channel: Jedd’s Strength Training Channel

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Are You Committing Errors That Could Lead to Shoulder Pain?

Check out this Shoulder Pain Quiz from the guys at Fix My Shoulder Pain:

Good times were had over the weekend, at the International Pinch and Pull here in Wyalusing as well as something like 10 other locations around the world.

Here are the videos of the attempts.

Two Hands Pinch Lift

Attempts: Green = Good Lift; Red = Failed Lift

Axle Deadlift

Attempts: Green = Good Lift; Red = Failed Lift

Half Penny Lift

Attempts: Green = Good Lift; Red = Failed Lift

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Instead of going over my lifts, I want to point out two important areas for any form of strength training, whether it be bench press and other powerlifting movements, or if it’s Grip Sport and Steel Bending.

These are two things that I’ve noticed at both of the competitions I have run this year. These are a couple of often over-looked factors that can have a huge effect on the numbers you put out. As you run down through them, think about whether or not you might be making these mistakes or missing these marks…

1. Managing Tension

Tension is necessary for optimized performance. If your body is too loose, there is no possible way you can produce the force that you need to lift properly, and that goes for any type of strength sport where heavy weights are used. There is a level of coordination between the various muscle groups and the joints of the body in order to create strength and express it.

In the contest, I saw several degrees of Tension management ability. For instance, Jim Storch, the man with the camouflage pants, was able to coordinate this tension much better than Brian, the youngest lifter in the competition. Jim is an experienced Olympic Weightlifting coach and competitor, as well as Powerlifting competitor, so he has been able to hone this ability. He is also able to better parlay this skill into the Grip Lifts that Brian. You can hear in the videos, I am cuing him to produce tension on several of his lifts, unless they got cut off when I edited everything. I think once he develops this skill to a further degree, he will see improvement in many of his lifts, not just Grip Sport Lifts.

I am not trying to pick on Brian. talked about these things with him while he was here, and with the way he walks around with that Razor Ramon bad-ass toothpick, I don’t think he will have a problem with me putting these out there.

2. Upper Back Strength / Torso Strength Balance

Upper Back Strength is very important as well. One of the things I talked about with Brian before he left, just as coaching points, was to bring up his upper back strength. One several of his lifts, you can tell that his upper back caves in at times, which hindered his ability to finish off some of his lifts.

This is something that I have to constantly be harping on toward myself. In any deadlift-type of movement, I almost always film myself to see if I am losing my tension in my upper back. Storchy is great at this. That is what I aspire for.

Up to this point I haven’t mentioned Parris Jannusek. I think Parris is going to kick a lot of ass in the coming years when it comes to Grip Sport. He has HUGE hands and is able to 180 his pinky and thumb very well. A 180 is when you open your hand as wide as you can, and then see how close you can come to drawing a straight line through your thumb and pinky. This is a huge asset to Gripping. But on top of all that, he is very strong. he told me he wanted to hit some squats and promptly threw on 225 for a set of 10. This was with no warm-up. he pretty much just walked in out of the car, hit 225, then loaded it up to 315. Once Parris refines his technique, brings up his ability to manage tension, and gets some more time on the implements, I think he is going to be a contender.

Most important of all is he recently quit smoking cold turkey. This is his most important feat of all those he has done, so I wanted to give him some recognition for that.

So, how’s your tension? Are you working to apply it and see how much is right for you? You don’t have to squeeze things until your knuckles pop and connective tissues fail, but tension is key, and when you learn to manage it, it will pay dividends.

Also, how is your upper back strength? Be honest with yourself, now. Are you doing too much pushing exercises and not enough pulls? Is your posture poor? If you answered yes to either of these, then a weak upper back might be holding your numbers back.

OK, that’s it for now. All the best for a killer week. Start it out strong, DIESELS!!

Jedd

P.S. Been getting lots of questions about the Nail Bending eBook lately. This ebook covers Tension Management in great detail and will help you to understand Hydraulic Tension and apply it better, not only in steel bending but all your other lifts as well. Check it out below.

Nail Bending eBook

Good times were had over the weekend, at the International Pinch and Pull here in Wyalusing as well as something like 10 other locations around the world.
Here are the videos of the attempts.

Two Hands Pinch Lift

Attempts: Green = Good Lift; Red = Failed Lift

Axle Deadlift

Attempts: Green = Good Lift; Red = Failed Lift

Half Penny Lift

Attempts: Green = Good Lift; Red = Failed Lift

---

Instead of going over my lifts, I want to point out two important areas for any form of strength training, whether it be bench press and other powerlifting movements, or if it’s Grip Sport and Steel Bending.
These are two things that I’ve noticed at both of the competitions I have run this year. These are a couple of often over-looked factors that can have a huge effect on the numbers you put out. As you run down through them, think about whether or not you might be making these mistakes or missing these marks…

1. Managing Tension

Tension is necessary for optimized performance. If your body is too loose, there is no possible way you can produce the force that you need to lift properly, and that goes for any type of strength sport where heavy weights are used. There is a level of coordination between the various muscle groups and the joints of the body in order to create strength and express it.
In the contest, I saw several degrees of Tension management ability. For instance, Jim Storch, the man with the camouflage pants, was able to coordinate this tension much better than Brian, the youngest lifter in the competition. Jim is an experienced Olympic Weightlifting coach and competitor, as well as Powerlifting competitor, so he has been able to hone this ability. He is also able to better parlay this skill into the Grip Lifts that Brian. You can hear in the videos, I am cuing him to produce tension on several of his lifts, unless they got cut off when I edited everything. I think once he develops this skill to a further degree, he will see improvement in many of his lifts, not just Grip Sport Lifts.
I am not trying to pick on Brian. talked about these things with him while he was here, and with the way he walks around with that Razor Ramon bad-ass toothpick, I don’t think he will have a problem with me putting these out there.

2. Upper Back Strength / Torso Strength Balance

Upper Back Strength is very important as well. One of the things I talked about with Brian before he left, just as coaching points, was to bring up his upper back strength. One several of his lifts, you can tell that his upper back caves in at times, which hindered his ability to finish off some of his lifts.
This is something that I have to constantly be harping on toward myself. In any deadlift-type of movement, I almost always film myself to see if I am losing my tension in my upper back. Storchy is great at this. That is what I aspire for.
Up to this point I haven’t mentioned Parris Jannusek. I think Parris is going to kick a lot of ass in the coming years when it comes to Grip Sport. He has HUGE hands and is able to 180 his pinky and thumb very well. A 180 is when you open your hand as wide as you can, and then see how close you can come to drawing a straight line through your thumb and pinky. This is a huge asset to Gripping. But on top of all that, he is very strong. he told me he wanted to hit some squats and promptly threw on 225 for a set of 10. This was with no warm-up. he pretty much just walked in out of the car, hit 225, then loaded it up to 315. Once Parris refines his technique, brings up his ability to manage tension, and gets some more time on the implements, I think he is going to be a contender.
Most important of all is he recently quit smoking cold turkey. This is his most important feat of all those he has done, so I wanted to give him some recognition for that.
So, how’s your tension? Are you working to apply it and see how much is right for you? You don’t have to squeeze things until your knuckles pop and connective tissues fail, but tension is key, and when you learn to manage it, it will pay dividends.
Also, how is your upper back strength? Be honest with yourself, now. Are you doing too much pushing exercises and not enough pulls? Is your posture poor? If you answered yes to either of these, then a weak upper back might be holding your numbers back.
OK, that’s it for now. All the best for a killer week. Start it out strong, DIESELS!!
Jedd
P.S. Been getting lots of questions about the Nail Bending eBook lately. This ebook covers Tension Management in great detail and will help you to understand Hydraulic Tension and apply it better, not only in steel bending but all your other lifts as well. Check it out below.

Nail Bending eBook

 

How to Prevent ACL Tears

DIESELS!

If you are on my email newsletter then the chances are you have already heard about the product I released this week with my friend, Jerry Shreck, called Deceleration Training to Prevent ACL Tears. I used to know very little about the ACL, until last summer when I roomed with Jerry at a Strength Clinic I attended. I quickly came to realize that Jerry was like the Shaolin Master of ACL Prevention.

I have learned a tremendous amount of information from Jerry, and I thought I would share some of that info with all of you, because some of this stuff is pretty eye-opening.

What is the ACL?

First off, the ACL is a ligament in your knee that helps give your knee stability. ACL stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament. It literally crosses from your upper leg bone, the femur, down to the larger lower leg bone, the tibia, thus the name cruciate, meaning “to cross.”

Why Does the ACL Tear?

It turns out that one of the reasons that the ACL Tears has to do with the lower leg translating forward of the upper leg. Twisting of course does not help matters either. But the root cause has to do with positioning of the lower leg.

What Types of ACL Tears are There?

There are actually two main types of ACL Tears: Contact ACL Tears and Non-Contact ACL Tears. Let’s define these and go into a bit more detail on them.

Contact ACL Tears: In this case the athlete is hit by some sort of outside force. A very violent example is when a football player or soccer player gets tackled or hit by another player and the force results in the ACL injury. You’ve seen old footage of chop blocks in the NFL – that would be a prime example of how a Contact ACL Tear can take place. Less intentional examples are out there too, of course. For instance, if there is a pile-up when going for a fumble in football, a loose ball in basketball, or if there is brawl on the baseball field, it is always a risk that one player is going to fall on or roll onto the knee of another player’s knee and possibly do some serious damage to the ACL.

The thing that sucks about Contact ACL Tears is that you really have no control over the situation. Since pile-ups, aggressive play, and accidental falls are just part of the game when it comes to many different sports, you never know when someone might experience and ACL injury. Those are the kinds of things that are best not worried about, and just hope that it doesn’t happen.

However, Non-Contact ACL Tears are different…

Non-Contact ACL Tears: In these cases, a player is simply moving about the field or court during regular play, and the positioning or movement that takes place causes the injury. One second everything is going well and then out of nowhere the player is on the ground, holding their knee, cringing in pain because the ACL Tore.

Causes of ACL Tears

Often, what happens is one of several things:

1. Slowing Down: The athlete was sprinting and then has to slow down to a halt very quickly. This change in speed brings about the ACL Tear.

2. Landing: The athlete jumped or bounded and when they landed the forces of deceleration are too much for the knee to handle and the ACL takes the loading and pops.

3. Cutting / Angling: The athlete is moving quickly down the field of play and makes an offensive maneuver to get around another player and during the cutting motion the ACL fails and the tear takes place.

4. Changing Directions: The athlete stops and must change directions completely and in doing so the momentum is too much for the knee to handle and again, the ACL fails under the loading.

These are just four examples, but Jerry says he has seen all of these things take place over the years. And every single time there is a tear, the athlete usually misses the rest of the season, and in some cases their athletic career is very negatively affected and sometimes even brought to an end.

ACL injuries are not things that take place only at the University level where Jerry works. I’ve seen footage of baseball players who, in a rage to argue with an umpire, have tried to make a power move around their coach and in doing so have severely injured their knee.

This scenario is altogether too common in Girls’ Youth Soccer. The kids are moving up and down the field having a great time, when all of a sudden one of them goes to make a move and they fall down in a heap. Your heart sinks as they roll on their back clenching their knee to their chest.

You really have to wonder how many scholarships have been lost over the years due to injuries like this. Again, you don’t have to get a 300-lb Lineman dropped on your knee for these things to happen – they can take place at very innocent spots in games, even when doing things you have done hundreds or even thousands of times before.

Factors That Contribute to ACL Tears

Gender Descriminating Risk Factor: Unfortunately, in some ways, nature has set things up so that certain players are more at risk than others for an ACL Tear. Females, for instance, have a wider hip-to-knee angle than males. Because their hips are wider, it creates a different angle from their hip down to their knee which can lend a higher chance for an ACL to tear.

Quad Dominance: Many athletes are Quad Dominant when it comes to decelerating their bodies. If you look at the 4 main scenarios described above (slowing down, cutting, landing, changing directions), all of them have to do with deceleration. If an athlete is accustomed to achieving deceleration by engaging predominantly the Quadriceps musculature, they run an increased risk for an ACL Tear. The reason has to do with the fact that the Quads are pulling on the lower leg bone, the tibia, and contibuting to that forward translation of the lower leg, and putting more strain on the ACL itself.

Weak Gluteals: The Glutes are the most powerful muscles in the body. Although they are usually thought of as muscles that will provide the power for athletic movements like leaping and sprinting, they are often forgotten when it comes to deceleration. This is a serious problem, because if an athlete is not using their Glutes, they will more than likely HAVE to use their Quads to decelerate, which we’ve already established is a bad practice.

Tight Hip Flexors: Incidentally, another contributing factor to weak glutes is tight hip flexors. You see, in many cases, when a muscle or muscle group on one side of the body is overly tight, often, the muscle groups on the opposite side of the body suffer. This happens to the upper back muscles when the chest and torso are too tight, and it happens to the gluteals when the hip flexors are too tight. And what is one of the main causes of tight hip flexors? Inordinate amounts of time in a seated position. Many student athletes spend all day seated in class, seated on the bus or in the car, and often, once practice or games are done, they can be found seated watching TV or surfing the internet. All of this contributes to tight hip flexors, weak and inactive glutes, and poor deceleration mechanics which stresses out the ACL, potentially causing a tear.

How to Prevent ACL Tears

So, the question is, how do we prevent the ACL Tear from taking place? This question brings us back to the program Jerry has been using at his University for the last several years.

Once Jerry gets the incoming Freshman into a schedule, he immediately starts running them through his program. His program immediately targets the glutes, gets them to wake up from years of dis-use, a summer spent detraining, and begins corrective action with his specific drills.

Just like any scientist, he first establishes a baseline with each athlete. He does this by assessing their deceleration abilities. He does this with an exercise you have probably heard of, called a Box Jump.

Now, when most people think of Box Jumps, they usually think of one of two things. One is Plyo-Box Training and trying to jump on top of or over the highest box possible.

The other is the Crossfit Box Hop activity where they jump up and down on top of a box for a set number of reps as fast as they can.

These are not the types of Box Jumps that Jerry does with his athletes.

Instead, Jerry has a moderate height box that the athletes can reach without too much effort, because Jerry isn’t looking for Power or Jumping Mechanics, he’s looking at landing mechanics. The bottom line is if you can’t land on a box the right way, there is almost no chance in hell you can decelerate your body properly after jumping up into the air to spike a volleyball or when performing a powerful cross-over dribble on the basketball court.

Jerry’s program starts out with the Box Deceleration drill and progresses in a step-by-step manner to more demanding drills, all the while re-inforcing glute activation.

Then, after several weeks, the athlete has essentially transformed their deceleration mechanics so that they no longer are decelerating with their quads, and instead are doing so with the correct muscles.

Jerry says that many times his athletes are able to improve their power production on the courts as well, because their glutes are so much better conditioned once they go through the program, on top of having safer, stronger knees to work with.

It’s been a great learning experience for me, teaming up with Jerry on this project. I strongly suggest you pick up our program, Deceleration Training to Prevent ACL Tears, especially if you or a family member participates in a stop-and-go sport such as football, rugby, soccer, basketball, volleyball, or lacrosse. All of these sports see far too many ACL Tears each year and many of them, sadly, are preventable.

All the best in your training,

Jedd