In 2009, Joe Hashey and I created the Home Made Strength On-line DVD.

This was a downloadable, full-length DVD with the option to buy a hard copy, that showed you how to put together your own Mace, Axle, Glute Hame Raise, and many other pieces of equipment that you could use to build strength.

Here’s a review of the original Home Made Strength On-line DVD by a true brute in the strength game, Rob Russell. This dude is a freakin’ monster – he BUP’s kettlebells that are over 100-lbs. Check it out:

Home Made Strength Review from Rob Russell

 ”A while back Jedd Johnson and Joe Hashey brought out the Homemade Strength equipment  video.

I bought it at the time and have made a couple of the items. Since it’s a great resource brought to us by some very knowledgeable guys who are pretty much leaders in Homemade Strength Equipment Niche, I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts on this great product.

Although there are some great free resources on the net for DIY Strength gear/Homemade Gym Equipment I think the Homemade Strength Video is well worth the low cost of $27 for the amount that it will save you once you’ve made all the low cost strength equipment from it.

Without revealing too much of what’s demonstrated in the video’s I’ll say is that the Home Made Strength equipment online DVD will allow you to train all areas of your body and develop grip, explosive power, posterior chain and upper body strength for a fraction of the cost of buying branded equipment.

The equipment I have built have allowed me to blast my glutes, hams and lower back to new levels of strength and power and the other has really assisted my grip strength and forearm power (any clues!)”



Rob Russell

Rob is a kettlebell, grip strength, strongman and throwing enthusiast based in Scarborough UK. He has been training with kettlebells for 7 years and strength training for 22. While being competitive in these disciplines he is also always challenging myself with feats of strength.

Thanks Rob for that awesome feedback! That is a killer review, especially coming from someone as strong as you.

I am putting up this post because I am currently in the process of completed a brand new DVD in the Home Made Strength Series, Home Made Strength II – Grip Strength Edition.

While the original HMS included both Full Body and Grip Strength Training Equipment to help anyone from Strength Coaches and Personal Trainers, to individual trainees, athletes, and strength enthusiasts to add to their arsenal of training equipment without having to take on a second mortgage, this one is dedicated entirely to Grip Strength Training Equipment.

What This Video is NOT

This equipment is not just garbage that you put together on Monday and end up breaking on Friday. This stuff is built to last.

Also, this is not a bunch of knock-off equipment. I have a very good working relationship with many manufacturers of top quality equipment and I would never betray them like that. Instead, this equipment is either one-of-a-kind type of equipment, enhancements to current pieces that are available, and things that simply don’t exist on the market.

Is This Video For You?

Not interested in building Grip Strength to perform feats of strength? No problem, that is not what this product is designed for.

The purpose of building this equipment is to give you more options for increasing your hand and lower arm strength in order to apply it to the rest of your training. The numbers in any lift can be enhanced by stronger hands. So if you are looking to do any of the following, this Video is going to be for you:

• Improve Your Bench Press
• Squat More Weight
• Better Grip on the Deadlift
• Get a Bigger Overhead Press
• Play Better on the Court
• Hit for More Power on the Field
• Control Your Opponent Better on the Mat
• Perform More Reps before Your Hands Tire Out
• Stronger Hands for Doing Your Job

If any of the above items are something that you need to enhance, then this video is for you.

To stay up to date on developments of this project, make sure to sign-up for my new Home Made Strength Newsletter. I am working toward moving all of my email communications to a new system, so this will be very important for us to stay in touch on the release.

So you can click on this Home Made Equipment Link or click on the banners in this post.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

A few weeks back, I put up a post about the Possible Benefits of Training in the Cold.

Shortly after that, there was a request on my friend, Elliott Hulse’s YouTube Channel about how to get better workouts when training in the cold.

Now, Elliott is from Florida and camps out in the Palm Trees with crocodiles, so cold weather training isn’t something that he has to worry about too much.

So I wrote him a quick note and let him know I’d be glad to help him out. So I put together a couple of videos for his channel.

How to Prepare for Training in Cold Environments

Part 1 – What to Wear for Cold Weather Strength Training

Part 2 – How to Warm-up and Stay Warm for Cold Weather Strength Training

If you have any other tips, please leave a comment below. I don’t want anybody’s workout suffering because of these frigid temperatures.

More Videos on Cold Weather Training / Warming Up Better

Killer Conditioning Combo for Cold Weather Training

Tricky Warm-up Technique for Better Workouts

MAKE it a GREAT Day!

Jedd

P.S. Elliott is also giving out a free report this week called the Muscle Shifting Doctrine. You can sign up for it here = > Muscle Shifting Doctrine.

I have a confession to make.

For years, I thought warming up was a joke – a waste of time. DUMB.

Trainers like Guy Razy would come to train with us and show us cool warm-up drills, and I would ignore them. DUMB.

Guys like Coach Mike wrote me emails telling me I needed to improve my flexibility and mobility and I put it off. DUMB.

Smitty and Brad told me how much better they felt after incorporating more of this stuff into their training and I ignored them. DUMB.

It wasn’t until more than a year later when Smitty and Brad actually ran me through a battery of intense warming up that I realized what I was missing. Now I warm-up intensely every single workout.

In addition to warm-up and dynamic flexibility strategies to get ready to WREAK HAVOC, I’ve also found that I respond well to jumping exercises before hitting the weights.

I’ve always loved jumping, but unfortunately my ceiling is too low for me to leap up on top of jump boxes, so that’s out of the question.

But I recently found something just as good. You’ve probably heard them called Kneeling Jumps, but I call them Up Downs.

Up Downs spark the Central Nervous System BIG TIME.

After doing these, I am ready to DROP BOMBS. I feel more aware, more focused, and I have hit several PR’s since including them. I want you to try these out.

How to Perform Up Downs

You may have seen these done differently elsewhere, but this is how I do them. This way actually makes it harder to perform them, causing you to work just a bit harder, focus more deeply, and as a result, pushing you to a better warm-up finisher.

Starting Position:

Kneel down on the gym floor, placing your entire shin flat on the ground, plantar flexing the foot. This position takes your ankles out of the movement and forces you to engage everything else more intensely.

Power Transfer:

It is imperative to get the arms involved in the movement in order to generate the power to get up off the ground and to the landing position. Swing them back to engage a sretch reflex, then fire your leg and glute power to drive yourself upwards.

Recovery Position:

Once airborne, you must pull your feet out from under you to stick the landing. Try to land as quietly as possible to absorb the energy, and get into an athletic position, like a puma ready to pounce on its prey.

Here’s a quick video demo showing some of the stuff I have done to modify Up Downs even more.

If you’re like me and have hated and dreaded warm-up, you should try this out.

Go through some dynamic warm-up and mobility stuff and then finish it off with some Up Downs or something similar to really prime the CNS. I think you’ll be surprised how good you feel.

Try them and let me know what you think. I think you’ll have a KICK-ASS workout setting MONSTER PR’s.

All the best,

Jedd

We saw Silvester Stallone do it in Rocky IV – training his ass off in the bitter Moscow cold in order to prepare for the biggest challenge of his career, Ivan Drago.

We then wanted to go outside in the snow, carry a log on our back, and start cutting cords of wood like Mountain Men.

Now, you can say that subjecting yourself to situations like this can make you mentally tougher once it is done, but are there any true benefits to training in cold weather over training in a warm, comfortable gym? (more…)

I opened up my YouTube account and checked out my Subscriptions the other day and couldn’t believe what I saw…

Jordan Vezina, RKC, recently uploaded his entire DVD, “The Corrections,” to YouTube.

I have had this DVD in electronic version since it first came out back in like 2008. Jordan is very knowledgeable about correcting technique and I even reviewed it prior to going to the RKC in September.

It’s not everyday that someone uploads an entire DVD on their own accord, especially a good quality one, like Jordan’s.

If you’re new to Kettlebells or if you’ve acquired some bad habits, you may want to check these out.

If you’d like to see what else Jordan has to offer, check out his YouTube Channel, his website, AverageToElite.com, and his blog, StrengthBeyondStrength.com.

Now, check out the various sections of the DVD.

The Corrections DVD – The Swing

The Corrections DVD – The Turkish Get-up

The Corrections DVD – The Goblet Squat

The Corrections DVD – The Clean

The Corrections DVD – The Snatch

Hope you enjoy it. And if you do, make sure you shoot Jordan a note at one of his sites or leave him a comment on his YouTube Channel.

All the best in your training.

Jedd