Video #1 in the #3aDaysofQnA

I have a few sayings I’m known for.

One of them is, “It’s not about how much you lift, It’s about how much you LOVE Lifting.”

What that means is, lifting is about being passionate about something and doing it with fire.

Lifting is about setting goals to always be improving.

Lifting is about feeling good, and feeling good about yourself.

So, a couple months ago, or so, when I really took a look at some of my training, I came to realize I wasn’t following my own advice.

The whole idea about that saying is that you should be pushing yourself because you love lifting.

It has nothing to do with pushing yourself so hard that you reach your goals at the expense of everything and everyone else.

But, there I was, trying to reach some goals related to the Barbell Bench Press, and instead of getting closer, I was coming further and further away each session because the exercise was tearing my shoulders up, and leaving me in pain.

It’s now been the better part of this year, that I have quit Benching with the Bar, and moved exclusively to Dumbbell Bench Press. And although my numbers were completely embarrassing at first, I now feel like I’m living more in tune with my beliefs.

And, after a couple months, or however long it’s been, I’m starting to see some good increases, feeling better in the shoulders, and I think even seeing a bit of growth.

I LOVE LIFTING, but I think I was coming severely close to having the majority of my training SHUT DOWN due to the pain I was feeling in my shoulders.

I encourage you to do the same as well – by all means train hard – don’t just go through the motions in the gym.

But, if there’s a movement that is tearing you up inside, don’t feel the need to push through pain and suffer because of it.

Remember…It ain’t about how much you lift. It’s about how much you LOVE lifting.

All the best in your training.

-Jedd-

P.S. Along these lines, I want to help you out as much as I can, to get you to your goals. And that means helping you learn to do your goal lifts properly and as safely as possible.

Check Out the the Special Offer I’ve Got Going On This Week:

Get Introduction to Strongman Training AND Stone Lifting Fundamentals TOGETHER and SAVE $20! CLICK HERE or click the images below …

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

Coan Phillipi Deadlift Program

After Nationals, I decided I want to work on my full-body strength more by following the Coan Phillipi Deadlift Program.

Free on the internet, the Coan Phillipi Deadlift Program was designed by Ed Coan and Mark Phillipi.

Aside from that, I don’t know much about the program itself, except that my partner, Luke, began BLOWING UP when he started following it, and his strength went up BIG TIME.

That’s what I wanted too! So I got started.

We jumped in on Week 3, because Weeks 1 and 2 seemed too light. I just finished Week 7 this past weekend, of the 10-week program.

What I’ve got for you below is footage from Weeks 7, 6, and 5 in reverse order, as well as a little Q & A I did recently on my YouTube Channel in an episode of Cooking with Napalm.

You’re gonna see, I do a lot of my Deadlift stuff with some version of Double Overhand Grip, whether Full DO, Monkey Grip, or Thumbless, depending on the weight. This is to strengthen my fingers & hands, as I don’t get as much grip work in on the days I’m deadlifting.

Week 7 Coan Phillipi Deadlift Program

Week 6 Coan Phillipi Deadlift Program

Week 6 Coan Phillipi Deadlift Program

Q&A on Coan Phillipi Deadlift Program

Look, I’ll be honest. I’ve only ever followed a Deadlift program once, and only for a few weeks. That one did nothing for me.

This Program however, I like. I’m feeling good and the weights are going up, so that’s cool.

I really thank my friends Eli Thomas and Jerry Jones for turning me on to this.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress. In a few weeks, we re-test our maxes.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

August of Arms is Coming Soon!
Stay Tuned for Updates and Add Your Info Below:

There’s lots of reasons I respect Eric Cressey as a strength coach.

First and foremost is the fact that he is STRONG. Guy deadlifts over 600-lbs, despite the fact that he’s not a genetic freak or anywhere near 300lbs. RESPECT.

But the biggest reason is his ability to see deeper, and analyze possible solutions to problems, ASIDE FROM what everyone else sees.

I don’t like to bag on the Fitness Industry. I think that happens far too often.

The problem is not the industry itself, but rather, the bad apples spread throughout it that tend to spoil the proverbial bunch.

Every so often, a new buzz word or catch phrase comes out, and you can just see the Johnny-come-lately’s ready to to swoop in, pick up on the new terms, and use them like they thought of them.

In the video below, Eric Cressey touches on one of these such buzz words, “Ankle Mobility.”

He’s a bit more diplomatic than me in the way he covers this topic, as you’ll see when you watch the video, and he may even make you question your previosu thoughts about ankle mobility and how it influences movement patterns, such as the Squat.

Like Eric points out, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

This attention to detail is why I trust him so much.

This week, Cressey has dropped the price on one of his most popular products, the High Performance Handbook, by $50.

So for the next few days you can add this to your library at a much lower investment.

Eric Cressey is one of the best strength coaches in the world. If you’re a budding strength coach and you’re looking for someone to follow, Eric is the man, and High Performance Handbook is a great place to start.

Get it today. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.

All the best,

Jedd

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The High Performance Handbook Right Now $50 Off

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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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I hit a pretty big milestone for me this past week.

This is 455lbs for 5 sets of 2. I don’t recall ever hitting 455 or more all in one set for more than 3 total reps.

Also, these were all Double Overhand. I want to see how far I can get just going DO. I’ve also heard some people say that they help out with their Grippers, so we’ll see how it goes.

#Legtember is going great for me as far as strength is going up. I have been nothing but happy since starting it.

I actually had to miss a Deadlift session last month because I was so sore from 20-Rep Squats.

But during #Legtember, it has not happened, and I think my muscles have just been able to recover better because I am hitting some form of quad, hamstring or glute isolation exercise, plus I am doing mobility work and stretching.

I think the daily stuff is helping me recover and hit it harder by the next time I need to hit lower body.

As cool as #AugustOfArms and #Legtember have both been, the October promotion is going to be even more awesome.

Look for an announcement coming really soon.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Have You Picked Up Cadence Based Gripper Training?

Last Thursday, August 14, 2014, I took part in the Pro Care Fitness Challenge, a multi-contest competition at Pro Care Physical Therapy in Athens PA.

I competed in the Strength meet, which included the Bench Press, Weighted Pull-up, and Deadlift.

Here’s a run-down of the rules:

(1) The scoring was all bodyweight based, since there were no divisions. I am not sure of the actual formula used in all the cases.

(2) The Bench Press was the most loosely judged of the 3 events. They didn’t require a pause and your butt could come off the Bench. The Pull-up allowed for standing on a box and then stepping off to get an eccentric load, or you could go from a dead hang. The Deadlift did not require a set-down. You could drop it once you locked it out. You could also use straps if you wanted to.

(3) There were 3 attempts on each lift for each competitor, if they wanted them.

Here’s the thing about the rules. This was not some kind of a professional powerlifting meet. This was a charity competition done for fun. So I really couldn’t care less about the looseness of the rules, and I really hope I don’t have to hear a bunch of complaining about them in the comments section, either here or on YouTube…

More Important…

More important than the rules was the fact that this competition enabled people do get up there and see what they had. If this was their first competition, they could set their baseline numbers, and they would get to feel what it was like to have to lift the weight up under pressure.

Plus, it enabled everyone to see where they stood against others. New lifters got a chance to see where their numbers were at in comparison to more seasoned veterans, and they got to see what else was possible.

Speaking of what’s possible – I was super impressed with one of the staff members of Pro Care. blew away the rest of the competition with a successful Pull-up with 140-lbs attached to his body and he was benching and deadlifting right up near me, and I out-weighed him by 60lbs. It just goes to show what intensity, hard work and consistency can produce over time.

My personal highlight was the Weighted Pull-ups. It was my first time competing at those. In fact, I haven’t even heard of one in the United States for about the last 10 years, so I was PUMPED to give it a try.

Here are the videos from the Strength Competition.

Bench Press

I was still feeling a bit of pain from my Bench workout during the week, but I went after this anyway. I started with an easy 315 on my first attempt. I then jumped up to 365, which I have hit once or twice in the past year, although I rarely train Bench hard. I left my belt on and it was way too tight and when I went to press, it felt like it strained my abs on both sides of my stomach, so I was super distracted by the pain. I thought I hurt myself bad, but I did not. I finished up with 335, and it was also pretty easy for me. I probably could have gotten 345 or 350 on that day.

I am contemplated doing an actual Push/Pull meet sometime in the Fall, so I tried to stay pretty strict on my attempts to see where I am at, with the exception of the pause at the bottom of the movement. To be honest, I forgot all about that entirely.

Pull-up Plus Weight

This was an event I figured I would do very well in, as I do Pull-ups all the time, and roughly 50% of the time they are weighted in some fashion, usually with chains. I started out with a safe 48kg/105/lbs kettlebell, which I smashed. I then jumped to a 120lbs Dumbbell. That was also easy, but I was so focused on the repetition, my ears shut off and I didn’t hear the call, so I ended up hitting a “double.” For my third attempt, I went for 130, and that started to get tough. I probably could have hit 140 fresh.

Deadlift

The alternated grip was allowed on the Deadlift, but I have not pulled with the alternated grip with weight over 315 in months and months if not longer, so I did not even bother trying it with the weights I was pulling. Instead, for my first two attempts, I went Double Overhand (no hook grip), then for my last attempt I went Double Overhand with straps.

I hit 455 on my first attempt. That was easy, and I wished I did more. I then went for 500lbs, which topped Eli Thomas’s current leading lift of 495. Both of those attempts were Double Overhand, no hook grip. I was very happy with how easy 500lbs came up DO. For my third atempt, I decided to try and all-time PR weight for the Deadlift or 550lbs. I used straps due to my fear of alternating and tearing a bicep. This was a pretty pathetic miss. With the straps, it just didn’t feel right. I don’t know if I had the back strength to complete the lift anyway, but I was glad I reached for the PR. I do kind of wish I would have gone for 520 DO No Hook, though, because that would have been an all-time PR for me, using that grip.

The only event in which I placed in the Top 3 was the Pull-up. I got second there. It doesn’t surprise me that I finished further down in the other events, since I have not been specializing in the Bench or Deadlift, however, the lower finishes does make me want to push my numbers up in those events, plus, bringing up my numbers there will contribute to my overall goals of more full-body strength.

I am really glad that I went to this competition. It was a good wake-up call. It was also nice competing with Eli Thomas at something other than Grip. I think the last time we did a comp together was 2005, and I kicked his ass handily. The tables have turned now though, brother.

By the way, if you work with athletes, there is a new DVD Set coming out this week called the Elite Athletic Development Seminar, by Mike Robertson and Joe Kenn. It is being sold at a special price right now. I am not familiar with Joe Kenn, but I have seen a lot of Mike Robertson’s products in the past and that guy is a very good instructor.

Check this program out today: Elite Athletic Development Seminar

Thanks for watching my videos, and all the best with your training.

Jedd

It has become a tradition to do a run-down of the most popular videos I have uploaded each year.

For the next few days, I will be posting the Top Videos of the year, along with a little description of what is going on in each one.

One thing you are going to notice is that my Youtube Channel is pretty eclectic. It’s not just about one thing, like Grip Strength or Muscle Building, but rather about all kinds of different KILLER things you can do in the gym to not only get stronger but love the idea of training as well.

In short, I love training and love helping people with their training goals. So, without further ado, let’s look at videos 11 through 15 that were on the fringe of breaking into the top 10.

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11. Bench Press Tips – Activate Lats for a Bigger Bench Press – 1266 Views

One part of the Bench Press Technique that is often overlooked is the engagement of the lats. Most lifters only think of the Bench Press as a lift for the chest, delts, and triceps, but if you can figure out how to get your lats more involved, you will no doubt see bigger lifts. This video shows a quick demonstration of how to do this as taught to me by Todd Hamer.

Related Article: Bench Press Tip – Activate Lats for Bigger Bench Press

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12. Easy Way to Increase Pull-ups | How to Do More Pull-ups – 1139

Pull-ups are one of the best lifts for building strength and size in the upper back. The more you can do the better. Unfortunately, some people have trouble doing Pull-ups. This video will cover one way that you can train to perform more Pull-ups, and see better results for your back in your training.

If you like the Back Bull, here’s where to pick one up: Back Bull Equipment

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13. Easy Tubing Warm-up Drill for Javelin Throwers – 1087

I was surprised this video ended up so high on the countdown. Earlier this year, I released a DVD called, Grip Training for Track and Field Throwers, and put this video out as a little sample of some of the stuff javelin throwers can do as part of their specific warm-up prior to throwing. Hopefully, this has helped out a few throwers in preventing injury and improving their performance in competition.

Check out our DVD: Grip Training for Throwers

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14. How to Make Your Shoulders Feel Better with a Simple Stretch – 1034

This video shows an awesome stretch for the lats using bands. I have never felt a lat stretch that is as intense as this one. I love it.

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15. Strongman Wrench Bend – 1000

I got a wild hair to bend a wrench earlier this year and ordered in about 25. Unfortunately, 20 or 3 of them stopped me dead in my tracks and a couple others snapped. This is the first one that finally bent. I am not by any means the best bender or braced bend specialist in the world, but I was happy to finally pull this off.

Learn feats of strength like wrench bending, bar bending, and rolling up frying pans, check out our Braced Bending DVD.

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Stay tuned as I continue to update the list throughout the week.

Kick ass in your training,

Jedd

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A few months back, I was talking with an old friend of mine from college, Chris Christian.

Chris was one of my main training partners when I was in college between 1999 and 2001.

Unfortunately, he had been through an extended stint of “training vacation” and he wanted to get back into it.

He asked me for some guidance, and I asked him what he was currently doing.

He began to tell me about all this Beach Muscle work he was doing – each workout was filled with all this Pushing work and very little Pulling work.

Multiple Bench Variations, Shoulder Isolation work, Arm Training, but barely any Pulls.

Oh man…

So, we began working on that right away, because when you do too much Pushing and not enough Pulling, you run the risk of serious shoulder issues. Any doctor, physician or therapist will tell you that.

I laid out some new routines for Chris and shot him this video on balanced shoulder training guidelines.

He set forth following these new guidelines and said that once the Summer was over and his weekend job working security at an amusement park was done for the season, he would be up to hit a Big Workout, just like Old Times.

This past weekend, Chris made it up, and we had an awesome training session.

The way I laid it out, I wanted to give him plenty of new options for his training that were balanced between Pushing and Pulling movements for his entire upper body: Chest, Shoulders, Back, and Arms.

What this meant was that we would be hitting three upper body movements all in one day.

DISCLAIMER: I would not normally recommend training sessions like this on a regular basis. We trained for a solid 2.5 hours with very little rest. Doing this on a routine basis will almost definitely result in undue soreness and most likely over-training. That’s your warning, DIESELS. Don’t try this at home.

Part I: Intro Video, Warm-ups and Pressing

In this video, you’ll get to meet Chris. I immediately got him going on some warm-ups for his hips since he spends much of the day sitting on his ass and had just driven nearly 2 hours to my place. Even though we weren’t going to be hitting much lower body stuff, I still wanted everything to be limbered up well so that he was feeling right and performing well.

As I mentioned in the video, Chris’s job has recently been pretty intense. It was a long week filled with altercations, so I decided to add in some Odd Object Training along with the conventional barbell and dumbbell work. The idea behind the Odd Object Training is to get him better prepared for the altercations he sometimes sees in his job.

Part II: Log Incline Press, Incline Flies and Shrugs

Since Chris’s gym’s equipment selection is limited at best, I wanted to give him a treat of working the Incline Press with a Log. He said he loved it.

Also, since Chris is limited to a 30-minute workout since he trains at work, we threw in a nice super-set combo of Incline Flies and Shrugs. There’s no reason why Chris can’t get back into awesome shape. Even with 30-minute workouts, he can build muscle and burn off fat if he keeps his sessions intense, by including back-to-back pairings like these.

Part III: Pull-up Variations for Back and Grip Development

One of the ruts Chris and many people get into is they abandon Pull-ups and instead do all kinds of work on the Lat Pull-down Machine. I told Chris to start working Pull-ups back in because they are the Ultimate Back Builder.

You’ll also see in the video that we varied the grip and hand position throughout this section of the workout. We did this because I want Chris to start training his hands harder in order to be ready for anything on his job. You will see several different grip implements you can use.

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This doesn’t even scrape the surface of what we did that day. Here it is almost a week since we trained, and I still haven’t got all of the footage edited and uploaded.

Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you get to see all of the footage from this awesome workout.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

There’s been a HUGE surge in people wanting to learn Nail bending recently. If you do too, start out with the two best resources available today:

The Nail Bending eBook and the Nail Bending DVD

When it comes to strength training, fat loss, flexibility and athletic development, the last thing you want to encounter is the nasty P-word.

Plateaus

What is the definition of a Plateau? I checked out the dictionary and here are the first two definitions.

1. a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.

2. a period or state of little or no growth or decline: to reach a plateau in one’s career.

Definition 2 is the one we want to avoid – the point in your training where your growth and development ceases.

No More Training Plateaus

Today, you’re gonna learn two ways to demolish your training plateaus and to keep them from ever showing up in the first place.

The primary cause for plateaus is lack of variety. People get in the habit of doing the same stuff all the time in their training, never varying from the norm, and as a result, their results drop off and they see the same numbers going up in their lifts, the same movement quality in their sports, and the same body in the mirror every day.

What I’ve got for you today are a couple of examples of how you can slightly modify the Deadlift, and more specifically in this case, the Trap Bar Deadlift, in order to break through plateaus and enjoy continuous Gains, PR’s and Progress.

What’s cool is, you can use the same exact amount of weight on the bar, but make that weight feel more challenging in your hands with just a couple small changes.

Trap Bar Deadlifts with Straight Weight

Here are some clips from a recent Trap Bar Deadlift training session. I am using Fat Gripz on the handles because I am preparing for a Deadlift and Hold in an upcoming Grip Contest, the Holdfast Gauntlet.

So, nothing out of the ordinary. Just pulling straight weight and going for 5 sets of 2. With the Fat Gripz added, this was a bit too heavy to get all the doubles I wanted.

But let’s imagine that I completed all 5 sets of 2 reps.

Now, let’s look at a couple of ways to modify the lift in order to make it slightly harder.

Trap Bar Deadlifts with Chains

With Chains attached to the Trap Bar, the weight in your hands gets heavier as you lift the bar further. This allows you to hold heavier weight at the top, as if someone is throwing a couple on 10’s on each side once you hit lockout.

So, what you could actually do is perform your first few sets of, say 300lbs, with straight weight. Then, you could do a few more sets with chains added to make the lift target your lockout strength more and make it even more taxing on your grip.

Trap Bar Deadlifts Pulling Against Band Tension

Now, let’s look at a way to make the same movement, with the same weight, even harder – Bands. With these giant rubber bands placed over the bar, the challenge to keep hold of it all the way to lockout is increased even further for both the hands nd the lower back and glutes.

Now, these videos were all taped during different sessions with different weights used, but the potential is there for you to incorporate all three techniques in the same workout to gradually increase the difficulty of the sets, and to help you plow through plateaus in your training.

Where to Get Chains and Bands

Chains and Bands are available in many places, and many of these suppliers operate through Amazon.com. In fact, here is an entire page of various Lifting Chain Suppliers

That page will give you a whole variety of options, including different chain sizes, and packs of various chains so you can save on shipping and get a better value.

Training Bands are available there too. There used to be only on good supplier of exercise bands, but now there are lots of them. Go to this page, Fitness and Strength Training Bands, and you will find all kinds of different bands to choose from.

Where to Get Fat Gripz

Naturally, if you don’t have Fat Gripz yet, I consider them a must. These thing stake up no room at all and they go on so fast, you waste no time at all. They are a fraction of the price of thick-handled dumbbells and barbells, and make more sense for the person who is just looking to increase their hand strength but not interested in accomplishing world-class feats of Grip Strength.

Grab your set here => Get Fat Gripz

Screw Plateaus!

With these kinds of tactics, you’ll never have to worry about Plateaus in your training again. Any time you start to see stagnation in your training, you can start adding chains and bands into your training in order to shock your muscles and your mind into additional growth and strength increases.

And, you can head these plateaus off before they can even set in by including this type of work in your training on a regular basis. It is very popular to throw in band and chain training once a month to your target movement, and every 3 weeks of training is what Josh McIntyre highlighted in the recent interview I did with him.

You are going to feel like a MACHINE when you start including these things in your training. Especially, the chains, due to the awesome mechanical sounds they make. Its like training inside a Strength Building Factory.

All the best,

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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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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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.

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!

I have a little saying that I coined about two years ago that goes like this:

Misses Are Just Warm-ups

This is a mental approach that you have to take when your overall training goal is STRENGTH.

You missed a new PR Lift? So What? Try it again.

You didn’t break your previous best mark on your first try? So what? Try it again.

If you set up your lifts right, you should always have at least three good attempts in you to set a new PR. And in some cases, even more.

It doesn’t matter what kind of strength you are going for: Grip Strength, Powerlifting, Olympic Lifting, Strongman Training – all of them require certain factors to be right.

If any of these factors are not right, then you might not complete your lift, even though in reality you are strong enough to complete it.

Here are just a few things that can be “off” when you go for a max and keep you from setting a new PR:
(more…)

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

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:

Around here, the kids are all back in school and they have the whole year ahead of them.

There’s tons of excitement as they look forward to the many possibilities and potential for the year.

I still remember my Senior year, when I said I was going to not play basketball (which I pretty much hated) and just concentrate on baseball.

I wanted to go into the school weight room three days a week and put on some serious muscle, because I was 6-feet tall and about 200-lbs, but thought for sure with hard work I could put on some muscle and show up for my Freshman Year in college looking like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.

While I never ended up looking like Mark or Barry, I did end up putting on some muscle and planting the seeds that would grow into a life-long interest in weight training.

Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t realize some of the things these guys were doing and taking in order to get so freakish. I also didn’t realize that there was a difference between training for size and for training with strength. I just went in there and did what I read about in bodybuilding magazines and didn’t understand the importance of proper loading and rep schemes in order to get stronger. If finding a balance between muscle gains and improvements in strength levels is something that you struggle with, then today’s article is perfect for you.

Today’s post comes from Eric Cressey. Eric is probably best known for his work with professional baseball players at his facility in Connecticut, Cressey Performance, but he is also know for his work in the arena of fitness and especially the field of strength & conditioning. His knowledge blows me away and he is one of the few professionals in the field I subscribe to. Every article, video and product he puts out is GOLD. Possibly his most well-recognized work, Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look Feel and Move Better is on sale for this week only for $50 off the regular price.

Enjoy today’s post from this world class author, speaker coach, and lifter.

5 Reasons You’re Not Getting Stronger

By: Eric Cressey

Like most lifters, I gained a lot of size and strength in my first 1-2 years of training in spite of the moronic stuff that I did. Looking back, I was about as informed as a chimp with a barbell – but things somehow worked out nonetheless. That is, however, until I hit a big fat plateau where things didn’t budge.

Truthfully, “big fat plateau” doesn’t even begin to do my shortcomings justice. No exaggeration: I spent 14 months trying to go from a 225-pound bench to 230. Take a moment and laugh at my past futility (or about how similar it sounds to your own plight), and we’ll continue.

All set? Good – because self-deprecating writing was never one of my strengths. I have, however, become quite good at picking heavy stuff off the floor – to the tune of a personal-best 660-pound deadlift at a body weight of 188.

Eric Cressey, 660-lb Deadlift

My other numbers aren’t too shabby, either, but this article isn’t about me; it’s about why YOU aren’t necessarily getting strong as fast as you’d like. To that end, I’d like to take a look at a few mistakes people commonly make in the quest to gain strength. Sadly, I’ve made most of these myself at some point, so hopefully I can save you some frustration.

Mistake #1: Only doing what’s fun and not what you need.

As you could probably tell, deadlifting is a strength of mine – and I enjoy it. Squatting, on the other hand, never came naturally to me. I always squatted, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it took the back seat to pulling heavy.

Eventually, though, I smartened up and took care of the issue – by always putting squatting before deadlifting in all my lower-body training sessions (twice a week). I eventually wound up with a Powerlifting USA Top 100 Squat in my weight class.

More interestingly, though, in addition to me dramatically improving my squat, a funny thing happened: I actually started to enjoy squatting. Whoever said that you can’t teach an old dog (or deadlifter) new tricks didn’t have the real scoop.

Mistake #2: Not taking deload periods.

One phrase of which I’ve grown quite fond is “fatigue masks fitness.” As a little frame of reference, my best vertical jump is 37.3” – but on most days, I won’t give you anything over 34” or so. The reason is very simple: most of your training career is going to be spent in some degree of fatigue. How you manage that fatigue is what dictates your adaptation over the long- term.

On one hand, you want to impose enough fatigue to create supercompensation – so that you’ll adapt and come back at a higher level of fitness. On the other hand, you don’t want to impose so much fatigue that you dig yourself a hole you can’t get out of without a significant amount of time off.

Good programs implement strategic overreaching follows by periods of lighter training stress to allow for adaptation to occur. You can’t just go in and hit personal bests in every single training session.

Mistake #3: Not rotating movements.

It never ceases to amaze me when a guy claims that he just can’t seem to add to his bench press (or any lift, for that matter), and when you ask him what he’s done to work on it of late, and he tells you “bench press.” Specificity is important, but if you aren’t rotating exercises, you’re missing out on an incredibly valuable training stimulus: rotating exercises.

While there is certainly a place for extended periods of specificity (Smolov squat cycles, for instance), you can’t push this approach indefinitely. Rotating my heaviest movements was one of the most important lessons I learned along my journey. In addition to helping to create adaptation, you’re also expanding your “motor program” and avoiding overuse injuries via pattern overload.

I’m not saying that you should overhaul your entire program with each trip to the gym, but there should be some semi-regular fluctuation in exercise selection. The more experienced you get, the more often you’ll want to rotate your exercises (I do it weekly). Assistance exercises ecan be shuffled every four weeks, though.

Mistake #4: Inconsistency in training.

I tell our clients from all walks of life that the best strength and conditioning programs are ones that are sustainable. I’ll take a terrible program executed with consistency over a great program that’s only done sporadically. This is absolutely huge for professional athletes who need to maximize progress in the off-season; they just can’t afford to have unplanned breaks in training if they want to improve from year to year. However, it’s equally important for general fitness folks who don’t have an extensive training background to fall back on, unlike the professional athletes.

If a program isn’t conducive to your goals and lifestyle, then it isn’t a good program. That’s why I went out of my way to create 2x/week, 3x/week, and 4x/week strength training options – plus five supplemental conditioning options and a host of exercise modifications – when I pulled Show and Go together; I wanted it to be a very versatile resource.

Likewise, I wanted it to be safe; a program isn’t good if it injures you and prevents you from exercising. Solid programs include targeted efforts to reduce the likelihood of injury via means like mobility warm-ups, supplemental stretching recommendations, specific progressions, fluctuations in training stress, and alternative exercises (“plan B”) in case you aren’t quite ready to execute “Plan A.”

For me personally, I attribute a lot of my progress to the fact that at one point, I actually went over eight years without missing a planned lift. It’s a bit extreme, I know, but there’s a lesson to be learned.

Mistake #5: Wrong rep schemes

Beginners can make strength gains on as little as 40% of their one-rep max. Past that initial period, the number moves to 70% – which is roughly a 12-rep max for most folks. Later, I’d say that the number creeps up to about 85% – which would be about a 5-rep max for an intermediate lifter. This last range is where you’ll find most people who head to the internet for strength training information.

What they don’t realize is that 85% isn’t going to get the job done for very long, either. My experience is that in advanced lifters, the fastest way to build strength is to perform singles at or above 90% of one-rep max with regularity. As long as exercises are rotated and deloading periods are included, this is a strategy that can be employed for an extended period of time. In fact, it was probably the single (no pun intended) most valuable discovery I made in my quest to get stronger.

I’m not saying that you should be attempting one-rep maxes each time you enter the gym, but I do think they’ll “just happen” if you employ this technique.

To take the guesswork out of all this and try some programming that considers all these crucial factors (and a whole lot more), check out Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look Feel and Move Better.

-Eric Cressey-

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Around here, the kids are all back in school and they have the whole year ahead of them.
There’s tons of excitement as they look forward to the many possibilities and potential for the year.
I still remember my Senior year, when I said I was going to not play basketball (which I pretty much hated) and just concentrate on baseball.
I wanted to go into the school weight room three days a week and put on some serious muscle, because I was 6-feet tall and about 200-lbs, but thought for sure with hard work I could put on some muscle and show up for my Freshman Year in college looking like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.

While I never ended up looking like Mark or Barry, I did end up putting on some muscle and planting the seeds that would grow into a life-long interest in weight training.
Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t realize some of the things these guys were doing and taking in order to get so freakish. I also didn’t realize that there was a difference between training for size and for training with strength. I just went in there and did what I read about in bodybuilding magazines and didn’t understand the importance of proper loading and rep schemes in order to get stronger. If finding a balance between muscle gains and improvements in strength levels is something that you struggle with, then today’s article is perfect for you.

Today’s post comes from Eric Cressey. Eric is probably best known for his work with professional baseball players at his facility in Connecticut, Cressey Performance, but he is also know for his work in the arena of fitness and especially the field of strength & conditioning. His knowledge blows me away and he is one of the few professionals in the field I subscribe to. Every article, video and product he puts out is GOLD. Possibly his most well-recognized work, Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look Feel and Move Better is on sale for this week only for $50 off the regular price.
Enjoy today’s post from this world class author, speaker coach, and lifter.

5 Reasons You’re Not Getting Stronger

By: Eric Cressey
Like most lifters, I gained a lot of size and strength in my first 1-2 years of training in spite of the moronic stuff that I did. Looking back, I was about as informed as a chimp with a barbell – but things somehow worked out nonetheless. That is, however, until I hit a big fat plateau where things didn’t budge.
Truthfully, “big fat plateau” doesn’t even begin to do my shortcomings justice. No exaggeration: I spent 14 months trying to go from a 225-pound bench to 230. Take a moment and laugh at my past futility (or about how similar it sounds to your own plight), and we’ll continue.
All set? Good – because self-deprecating writing was never one of my strengths. I have, however, become quite good at picking heavy stuff off the floor – to the tune of a personal-best 660-pound deadlift at a body weight of 188.

Eric Cressey, 660-lb Deadlift
My other numbers aren’t too shabby, either, but this article isn’t about me; it’s about why YOU aren’t necessarily getting strong as fast as you’d like. To that end, I’d like to take a look at a few mistakes people commonly make in the quest to gain strength. Sadly, I’ve made most of these myself at some point, so hopefully I can save you some frustration.

Mistake #1: Only doing what’s fun and not what you need.

As you could probably tell, deadlifting is a strength of mine – and I enjoy it. Squatting, on the other hand, never came naturally to me. I always squatted, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it took the back seat to pulling heavy.
Eventually, though, I smartened up and took care of the issue – by always putting squatting before deadlifting in all my lower-body training sessions (twice a week). I eventually wound up with a Powerlifting USA Top 100 Squat in my weight class.
More interestingly, though, in addition to me dramatically improving my squat, a funny thing happened: I actually started to enjoy squatting. Whoever said that you can’t teach an old dog (or deadlifter) new tricks didn’t have the real scoop.

Mistake #2: Not taking deload periods.

One phrase of which I’ve grown quite fond is “fatigue masks fitness.” As a little frame of reference, my best vertical jump is 37.3” – but on most days, I won’t give you anything over 34” or so. The reason is very simple: most of your training career is going to be spent in some degree of fatigue. How you manage that fatigue is what dictates your adaptation over the long- term.
On one hand, you want to impose enough fatigue to create supercompensation – so that you’ll adapt and come back at a higher level of fitness. On the other hand, you don’t want to impose so much fatigue that you dig yourself a hole you can’t get out of without a significant amount of time off.
Good programs implement strategic overreaching follows by periods of lighter training stress to allow for adaptation to occur. You can’t just go in and hit personal bests in every single training session.

Mistake #3: Not rotating movements.

It never ceases to amaze me when a guy claims that he just can’t seem to add to his bench press (or any lift, for that matter), and when you ask him what he’s done to work on it of late, and he tells you “bench press.” Specificity is important, but if you aren’t rotating exercises, you’re missing out on an incredibly valuable training stimulus: rotating exercises.
While there is certainly a place for extended periods of specificity (Smolov squat cycles, for instance), you can’t push this approach indefinitely. Rotating my heaviest movements was one of the most important lessons I learned along my journey. In addition to helping to create adaptation, you’re also expanding your “motor program” and avoiding overuse injuries via pattern overload.
I’m not saying that you should overhaul your entire program with each trip to the gym, but there should be some semi-regular fluctuation in exercise selection. The more experienced you get, the more often you’ll want to rotate your exercises (I do it weekly). Assistance exercises ecan be shuffled every four weeks, though.

Mistake #4: Inconsistency in training.

I tell our clients from all walks of life that the best strength and conditioning programs are ones that are sustainable. I’ll take a terrible program executed with consistency over a great program that’s only done sporadically. This is absolutely huge for professional athletes who need to maximize progress in the off-season; they just can’t afford to have unplanned breaks in training if they want to improve from year to year. However, it’s equally important for general fitness folks who don’t have an extensive training background to fall back on, unlike the professional athletes.
If a program isn’t conducive to your goals and lifestyle, then it isn’t a good program. That’s why I went out of my way to create 2x/week, 3x/week, and 4x/week strength training options – plus five supplemental conditioning options and a host of exercise modifications – when I pulled Show and Go together; I wanted it to be a very versatile resource.
Likewise, I wanted it to be safe; a program isn’t good if it injures you and prevents you from exercising. Solid programs include targeted efforts to reduce the likelihood of injury via means like mobility warm-ups, supplemental stretching recommendations, specific progressions, fluctuations in training stress, and alternative exercises (“plan B”) in case you aren’t quite ready to execute “Plan A.”
For me personally, I attribute a lot of my progress to the fact that at one point, I actually went over eight years without missing a planned lift. It’s a bit extreme, I know, but there’s a lesson to be learned.

Mistake #5: Wrong rep schemes

Beginners can make strength gains on as little as 40% of their one-rep max. Past that initial period, the number moves to 70% – which is roughly a 12-rep max for most folks. Later, I’d say that the number creeps up to about 85% – which would be about a 5-rep max for an intermediate lifter. This last range is where you’ll find most people who head to the internet for strength training information.
What they don’t realize is that 85% isn’t going to get the job done for very long, either. My experience is that in advanced lifters, the fastest way to build strength is to perform singles at or above 90% of one-rep max with regularity. As long as exercises are rotated and deloading periods are included, this is a strategy that can be employed for an extended period of time. In fact, it was probably the single (no pun intended) most valuable discovery I made in my quest to get stronger.
I’m not saying that you should be attempting one-rep maxes each time you enter the gym, but I do think they’ll “just happen” if you employ this technique.
To take the guesswork out of all this and try some programming that considers all these crucial factors (and a whole lot more), check out Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look Feel and Move Better.
-Eric Cressey-

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DIESELS!

Today, I have an interview with John Gaglione, “Gags,” from GaglioneStrength.com. I first met Gags in April at a conference, but I have known him for many years. In fact, to give you an idea of how long I have known Gags, when we sat down and had lunch one of those days he reminded me that he picked up one of the first products we ever released here at Diesel Crew, The Shit You’ve Never Seen, a DVD containing training footage from way back in 2005!

Earlier this year, Gags teamed up with another great up-and-comer in the strength and conditioning field, Todd Bumgardner, to release Supreme Strength for Athletes. I wanted to learn more about Gags and his program, so I sent him some interview questions centered around assessment, because I wanted to know the kinds of things he looks for when training new individuals and how he changes things up to meet their specific needs.

If you are a Trainer or Strength Coach and are doing the same thing with all your clients and athletes, make sure you listen to what Gags has to say. Kids on your teams could have underlying weaknesses, imbalances, and other performance issues that could lead to injuries down the road, and nobody wants that to happen.

So sit back, turn up your speakers, and meet my friend, John “Gags” Gaglione.

Enjoy.

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Question 1: Tell us about yourself. Training and sports history, why you got into personal training / strength and conditioning.

Question 2: What are some issues trainees commonly bring with them when they join your gym, i.e. injuries, imbalances, movement issues.

Question 3: Tell us about your assessment process you use with your athletes. What kind of assessments do you do? How do you decide upon a client’s individual needs in order to design their specific program?

Question 4: Tell us about the Supreme Strength System that you and Todd Bumgardner have developed and give us a rundown of what it has to offer.

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Thanks for checking out the interview, and if you have any questions on the subject, feel free to leave a comment. I will make sure John sees the comments and has the chance to come back and answer your questions.

Thanks and have a great week.

Jedd

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Thanks to Gags for doing this interview for us, and make sure to check out the program he designed with Todd Bumgardner: Supreme Strength: The Simple, Proven System for Building Strength, Muscle and Athleticism Faster Than Ever.

This is a guest post from Joe Meglio. Joe is the head strength coach at the Underground Strength Gym in Edison NJ and works with athletes, strength enthusiasts, and fitness clients on a daily basis. Joe was voted #1 Rising Star it Fitness and deadlifted over 3 Times Bodyweight at the age of 20.

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How to Improve Your Deadlift

by Joe Meglio

I don’t claim to know everything in the world of strength training, but if there is one thing that I know best, it is the deadlift. While I am not the best deadlifter in the world, I have put up some respectable numbers. At the age of 20 and bodyweight of 196 1/2 I pulled 600, 3 X my bodyweight.

The deadlift is truly the king all lifts because it works every single muscle in your body. It is the ultimate test of raw strength. Before you learn how you can improve your deadlift, let’s go over how to deadlift.

If you want to learn how you can shatter personal records and earn the respect you deserve from other strength coaches, lifters and friends check out these 6 deadlift tips below to start deadlifting like a champion.

600-lb Deadlift at 196.5-lb BW

1- Increase Deadlift Frequency

Dan John, once said if you want to get good at something then do it everyday. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating loading up the bar with 5 plates and deadlift every day BUT simply put, if you want to get good at anything start doing it more often.

This holds true especially for beginner and intermediate athletes who need to learn all the intricacies of the deadlift. The best results I’ve seen in the deadlift came while having one heavy deadlift day and on the second lower body day, focusing on speed deadlifts and learning to apply as much force as possible to the bar.

Generally speaking, the stronger you are the less often you can deadlift. Somebody who deadlifts 600, 700 + lbs will need a lot more time in-between deadlift workouts compared to somebody who is pulling 300 or 400lbs because their outputs are much higher and thus need more time to recover. Nonetheless, increasing frequency of the deadlift will help ingrain great technique and help you progressively get stronger over time.

2-Attack Your Weakness

Finding your sticking point in the deadlift is critical. There are 3 general areas when the deadlift will break down: off the floor, mid range and at lockout.

Weak off the Floor: If you are weak off the floor, focusing on the posterior chain, more specifically the hamstrings, will be critical to being strong off the floor because you need to be able to load up your hamstrings before you pull. If you fail to do this, your deadlift and strength off the floor will suffer.

Here are my top 5 lifts to help improve strength off the floor:

1) Deficit deadlifts
2) Speed deadlifts
3) GHR
4) Good mornings

Weak at the Mid-Range: If you are weak at the mid-range area, focus on training your back like a beast. Not just your upper and middle back but also your lower back is critical.

Here are my Top 6 back exercises for those who have weakness in the mid-range of the deadlift.

1) Chest supported rows
2) 1 arm rows
3) Barbell rows
4) Pull-ups
5) Barbell back extensions
6) Low rack pulls

Weak at Lockout: If you are weak at lockout focus on improving glute strength and grip strength. The glutes are critical to extending the hips and finishing the deadlift. Without strong and powerful glutes, you will have a hard time finishing the deadlift.

Here are my top 3 go to exercises to build strong glutes and finish the deadlift strong:

1) Barbell Glute Bridge
2) Barbell Hip Thrusts
3) RDL’s

3-Drop the Bar Between Reps

A lot of lifters and coaches don’t like deadlifts because it takes too long to recover from them. Instead of scrapping the deadlift, try dropping the bar in-between reps. Most injuries happen during the eccentric part of the lift so avoiding it is a good way to improve your ability to recover from the deadlift.

If you are a competitive powerlifter you will have to lower the bar to the ground but you can start dropping the bar for your assistance exercises.

4-Perfect Your Technique

Learning proper technique is important for not only safety reasons but also performance. While there are many different ways to setup, just find what works for you best and something that you can repeat every time you deadlift.

Here is your 6 step process to deadlifting like a champion:

• Start with a vertical jump stance and the bar over the midline of your foot (for conventional stance lifters)
• Sit your butt back and down until you hands reach the bar
• Make sure your hamstrings are loaded up, back is neutral and neck is packed
• Fill your belly with air, pull the slack out to create tension on your lats
• Squeeze the bar off the ground by leading with your chest and driving your feet down through the ground
• Once the bar passes your knees, snap and squeeze your glutes at the top

Practice your technique often. Make sure it is ingrained in your head and always try to improve it.

5-Find out What Stance Works Best for YOU

There are two different deadlift stances: sumo deadlifts or conventional deadlifts. Common knowledge would tell you that the sumo deadlift is easier because the bar path is shorter but this isn’t always the case. If you are built like me, longer arms, average legs and a shorter torso you are more built for the conventional deadlift.

Lifters who are good squatters and benches will lift with a sumo stance because generally speaking they have shorter arms and legs but a longer torso. The only way to truly know which stance you are stronger with is to experiment with both stances and see what works best for you.

6-Train Your Back Like a Beast

One of the big things that took my deadlift from 500lbs to 600lbs was how much stronger my back got. The back muscles are critical for stabilization during the deadlift and it is almost impossible to deadlift a lot of weight without having a back built like a beast.

Here are 5 awesome back exercises that you need to be doing:
1) Pull-ups
2) 1 arm DB rows
3) Chest supported rows
4) T Bar Rows
5) Bent Over Rows

And there you have it, 6 killer deadlift tips. If you want to shatter personal records and skyrocket your deadlift, start using these tips right now. Remember, the deadlift is more then just a great lift, it is your ticket to earning your man card and earning the respect you deserve.

P.S You can have instant access to my ‘Lift Like A Man’ 12 Week Muscle & Strength Building Course along with 4 Killer bonuses for ONLY $27 (total value of $163). You have to act fast this sale ends in 3 days.

I have been continuing my pursuit of improved pressing power as well as improved flexibility, range of motion, and thoracic mobility in my training.

As I have outlined before, as my movement quality improves in my upper body, my lifts continue to go up, which is no surprise.

However, I am used to having to put in hours and hours of intense training in order to see the awesome improvements I have been seeing the last few weeks.

Being able to move up in my overhead press simply by including simple stretches and other soft tissue and mobility work is really blowing me away. But I’m not complaining though!

New PR: 100-lb Dumbbell Military Press

Last week, I was able to “clean” two 100-lb Dumbbells to my shoulders and then press them overhead to lockout for two sets of singles.

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Questions on Pressing Exercise Selection

I received a question in the comments on this video, so I thought I would address it here…

Question: I prefer doing those sitting down. I can do a couple of reps on 200lbs sitting down with supported back. Not standing up. I think I can do heavier weights sitting down. Don’t you like sitting? Any benefits standing up that I miss out on sitting down?

Answer: It isn’t that I don’t like performing my presses sitting down. My preference is to do them standing because it is more of an athletic position to be standing. My background is in athletics, so I prefer closed-chain lifts, where you are standing and the body bears the weight, rather than sitting.

As far as a “back safety” perspective, there is actually increased risk for some people to perform exercises seated, especially overhead work, because of compressive forces in the lower back. If I do seated press, I really feel these compressive forces. I do not feel them at all when standing.

As far as the supported back, to me that just gives an advantage to the lift. Stability is increased, so you probably can press more weight sitting down, but maybe that means your core is not as strong as it should be. Doing presses standing is a less stable movement, meaning it will require more out of you to perform them.

Highlights from the Above Workout

After the first set where I used my legs to get them to my shoulders, I just had to try to do a power curl and sure enough was still able to press them.

This is a feat that even at my very strongest when I was between 24 and 26 years old I was never able to accomplish. My best overhead lift with dumbbells that I can remember was either 120 or 125-lb dumbbells, but I had to Push Press them in order to lock them out.

In the past, a lot of my overhead work was marked with extreme backward bending. While the video may look like I am doing that above, it is nowhere near what I used to do. My glutes fire hard to help with stability, and that bring my hips forward, but the legs are not pushing and I am not actively arching myself under the weight like i used to do in the past.

I am still not getting the thoracic extension I want, so I need to keep working at that. I am sure it will come with continued focus on that aspect.

Protocol I am Using

If you want to see the main flexibility and mobility drills I have added to my routine, then check out this post: Continued Improvement in Overhead Press. They are very simple and add very little time to your training. I mainly do them during my rest periods between sets.

On top of those drills, I have also gotten some horse liniment from Absorbine. This stuff smells horrid. It is so bad that I subconsciously forgot about it after using it just once, but other clients who visit the same massage therapist I do have claimed it has really helped them out with pain and inflammation reduction. So I want to keep trying it.

Massage Therapy Updates

I had my second massage session targeted specifically for improving my shoulder/torso health today and we now have two plans of attack…

1. Root Cause of it All? I dropped a bar on my chest in January of 2009 that really did some damage to my sternum. Like an idiot, I never got that checked by a doctor, so I was never given a diagnosis of exactly what happened, but after talking about the last few years of training, my therapist and I have narrowed that down as one of the primary causes for underlying issues in my shoulder.

Again, that is only one underlying cause. The hours I have spent working at desks over the last 4 years have not helped, along with other postural behaviors. However, immediately after that happened, I remember feeling like if I puffed my chest out too far, my sternum would hurt, so it is reasonable to think this might be where the problems started.

2. Rotator Cuff: Today, before our session, I told the therapist my left lat was really sore at the insertion point. Unfortunately, I was wrong, because it isn’t my lat, it’s my rotator cuff. She discovered that some of the muscles in my left rotator cuff seemed to be extremely tight. I know that they were extremely sore when she stimulated them. So if I have an injury there, it could be that the prime movers, especially the pecs and teres major might be trying to safeguard the joint my immobilizing it.

I can tell you one thing that is for sure – when I try to lift the Inch Dumbbells in a suitcase deadlift, there is some intense pain in my left shoulder which burns like someone is jabbing me with a red hot fireplace poker, so I am going to add in some more rotator cuff work as well.

I am also continuing to powder my day with extra rest breaks from the computer and time in the doorway doing a variety of stretches. I have lots of doorways in the house and I just hang out in them while I do things like wait for coffee to brew or as I warm up my green eggs and ham in the microwave (just checking to see if you are reading).

I am Pumped: Continued Progress

Improvement has been a slow process, but I am still progressing forward. I like Instant Gratification and just want to wake up one day with super supple shoulders and impeccable posture, but I know that when something is allowed to get bad for many years, it is going to take some time for it to improve. I think this multi-faceted approach to improving flexibility, mobility, soft tissue quality, etc will all pay off for a great deal of improved performance in more than just my pressing.

And despite the slow progress in my flexibility, there is no arguing with the increases I have been seeing in my overhead work.

Despite the tweaks here and there, I am pumped. In January, I would have been happy to get the 85-lb dumbbells for a single. I have now done those for a set of 6 and the 100’s for two singles, so I am psyched.

I have to get back to work on some other posts I have planned for this week. make sure you are signed up for updates. You can do that in the form below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

---

New Release from Diesel Crew & Slater’s Hardware

How to Make Atlas Stones

---

“How Much Ya Bench?!”

This is a guest post from Chandler Marchman, designer of the SWOLE System: The New Authority for Building Size, Strength, and a Lean Athletic Body

The Bench Press – the one lift in the gym that’s seemed to transcend beyond the realm of just meathead weightlifting enthusiasts, and solidified itself as the official lift that every man must know his number for. So pretty much, if an over eager Man-Crushing beckons the question, we as men must be prepared to respond proudly with a stout number otherwise risk getting asked to turn in our MAN-Card…
But what if you are a competitive Strongman, CrossFitter, or Olympic lifter that holds the Overhead Press in higher regard????
I for one can attest to this dilemma. However, instead of ditching the bench press all together, I have found a simple and extremely effective way to not only do both, but also utilize one of powerlifting’s most prominent training systems to do so. That’s right, for those of you afraid to expose your undying allegiance to the Overhead Press, you no longer have to shamefully explain to people that you prefer a different movement pattern than the King of Meathead lifts…So rejoice, and restore your MAN-Card to its rightful place in your wallet. You no longer have to just do Overhead, you can Bench Press too!!!

The Birth of the SWOLE System

The solution I found to this meathead conundrum was birthed whilst training for my last Strongman Competition in which the pressing portion of the competition would be a certain number of reps on different implements for time. Noting that the weights for this event weren’t my limiting factor, I had to focus my time and effort on developing as much speed overhead as possible.
It wouldn’t be enough to just be able to lift maximal loads overhead, I had to lift them with a relative degree of speed. So taking what I have implemented successfully with my own interpretation of the Westside Method, I simply adopted the same principles utilized to build the bench press, only using the Overhead in its place.
Let’s examine.
If you know the Westside Method and the results this program produces you can expect to produce an athlete that can lift a hell of a lot of weight as fast as greased lighting. Pretty much, their power output rivals that of an angry bear with the munchies going after your picnic basket. Scary…I know…

The Basic Concepts

How are they able to do this? Simple, their training goals (squatting, benching & deadlifting as much as humanly possible) are met by two different methods with two different objectives. The Dynamic Effort Method, which is put in place to increase the rate of force development in each core lift, and the Max Effort Method, which is put in place to be able to continually overcome the maximal load your body is able to lift.
***Because inducing hypertrophy and a greater degree of work capacity are important goals for my athletes and I, we also implement a Repetitive Effort day for our core lifts as well***

Applying Dynamic Effort Training to Overhead Lifts

The objective of the Dynamic Effort Method is to increase the rate of force development in your core lift so that your max effort lifts will have greater bar speed. In order for me to take advantage of this training effect so that I could lift not only heavy weights overhead, but do so with speed, I would focus my efforts on the Strict Press, Push Press and Jerk as my core lifts instead of the Bench Press. I follow the same percentage (40% – 60%), rep (3 reps), and set (8 – 12 sets) range as the Westside Method, just with a different core lift.

Applying Max Effort Training to Overhead Lifts

The same principles apply to my approach to Max Effort Method training days. Three days after my Dynamic Effort Day, I would focus on hitting anywhere from a 1-5 rep max on the SAME core lift I did three days prior (it’s important to note that I’d rotate implements as well as the style of OH lift in order to continuously adapt to different stimuli).
By focusing on developing as much maximal strength as speed, I was able to develop tremendous power output in this movement pattern, insuring that on competition day, those lifting against me would soil themselves in fear! It worked… #Strength,Speed,&Stamina=Dominance
So where does the Bench Press fit in? Well, just like with the Bench Press, I found that focusing your supplemental work on the muscles involved in the core lift itself was the best way to improve the core lift. In this case, conveniently enough, the same muscles that are used in increasing your OH Press are the ones being used in the Bench Press (triceps, shoulders, and upper back to be specific). So my supplemental work was composed greatly of Bench Pressing.

Training Volume Considerations

As far as volume goes, I used the same protocol as that of many powerlifters using the Westside Method. On Dynamic Effort Method training days where the weight is submaximal, my supplemental work (on the Bench Press) would be relatively heavy (3-5 sets of 4-8 reps), whereas on Max Effort days when I’m lifting near maximal weights for my core lift, the supplemental work would be much lighter with far greater volume (3-5 sets of 12-20 reps).
So all I had to do was implement the Bench Press as my supplemental lift and BOOM, I could actively achieve my objective of increasing not only the weight I could put over head as well as how fast I could do it, but also answer the most important question any and every meathead could be faced with… HOW MUCH DO YOU BENCH?

---

This has been a guest post by Chandler “MANdler” Marchman, author of SWOLE System: The New Authority for Building Size, Strength, and a Lean Athletic Body

---

NOTE FROM JEDD: I recently met MANdler at a seminar in New Jersey and asked him to tell us a little bit about his program, and this is what he had to say (I had just beaten him in a Hulk Hogan impersonation contest).

Here’s a run-down of what is included in the SWOLE System:

Component 1: The Training Manual
Understand the SWOLE System and how MANdler gets such awesome results with his clients.
Component 2: 12 Week Training Routine
MANdler lays out 3-months worth of programming to turn you into an ass-kicking machine.
Component 3: Exercise Video Database
MANdler shows you exactly how to perform each exercise to ensure proper form and best results.
Component 4: The Diet Manual
Understand how to eat the right way in order to get Swole even faster.
Component 5: Meal Plans
Apply the Swole Methods for quickly and easily with this done-for-you diet plan.
Component 6: Supplements Guide Book
Not all supplements are bad – find out the ones that are worth your money and will help support all your other hard work and discipline.

Common Questions About the SWOLE System

:
Q: What is the SWOLE System and HOW does it work so fast?
A: The SWOLE System is an all-inclusive training packet that focuses on a percentage based scientific approach to training and easy to follow diet guide, that lead to fast and efficient results such as increased size, strength, endurance, and a lean athletic physique.

---

Q: What is included with this training system?
A: Included in this success pack are a done for you 12-Week transformation program, Video tutorials for EVERY exercise, a simple to follow diet guide, as a well as a theory portion that explains WHY the SWOLE System works so well for increased size, strength, power, endurance, and SEX APPEAL (you’ll look good while performing good as well)!!!

---

Q: I’m an athlete that needs to build strength, size and SPEED…will this training system work for me?
A: This system was actually started with athletes in mind. You will build size, strength, endurance and yes, even speed at a ridiculous rate! All things held constant, the athlete with superior strength, speed and conditioning ALWAYS wins. You don’t want to be left behind or face an opponent that has trained with this system. TRUST ME!!!

---

Q: Is there a diet component to this program? How does it work?
A: Yes. It’s one of the most important issues you must address when working towards your goals, and the simple system we use to address WHAT to eat, WHEN to eat, and HOW MUCH to eat, are what make this done for you, “Plug & Chug” diet system SO effective.

---

Q: Will this program work if I’m just trying to get ripped?
A: HELL YEA!!! For many of the weekend warriors at my gym, this is there one and only goal!!! When you focus on the training protocol that we focus on with this training system, it is theoretically IMPOSSIBLE to not decrease your body fat percentage while developing a lean athletic physique.

---

Q: I’m older than a lot of your “success stories” seem to be (in my late 30’s), will this program be suitable for me as well?
A: Absolutely it will work for the older than 30 crowd! Our bodies are meant to adapt to the demands that we place upon them. When we go through this specific, science based training protocol, it’s all the more important that we focus on training efficiency. And that’s the cornerstone of the SWOLE System’s philosophy. Train smarter, not harder. Train optimally, not maximally. When we match our training, our nutrition, and our lifestyle with the proper road map that are dictated by our specific goals, we are guaranteed to have success, REGARDLESS of age!

---

For more information on the SWOLE System, click the image below:

---

---

“How Much Ya Bench?!”

This is a guest post from Chandler Marchman, designer of the SWOLE System: The New Authority for Building Size, Strength, and a Lean Athletic Body

The Bench Press – the one lift in the gym that’s seemed to transcend beyond the realm of just meathead weightlifting enthusiasts, and solidified itself as the official lift that every man must know his number for. So pretty much, if an over eager Man-Crushing beckons the question, we as men must be prepared to respond proudly with a stout number otherwise risk getting asked to turn in our MAN-Card…

But what if you are a competitive Strongman, CrossFitter, or Olympic lifter that holds the Overhead Press in higher regard????

I for one can attest to this dilemma. However, instead of ditching the bench press all together, I have found a simple and extremely effective way to not only do both, but also utilize one of powerlifting’s most prominent training systems to do so. That’s right, for those of you afraid to expose your undying allegiance to the Overhead Press, you no longer have to shamefully explain to people that you prefer a different movement pattern than the King of Meathead lifts…So rejoice, and restore your MAN-Card to its rightful place in your wallet. You no longer have to just do Overhead, you can Bench Press too!!!

The Birth of the SWOLE System

The solution I found to this meathead conundrum was birthed whilst training for my last Strongman Competition in which the pressing portion of the competition would be a certain number of reps on different implements for time. Noting that the weights for this event weren’t my limiting factor, I had to focus my time and effort on developing as much speed overhead as possible.

It wouldn’t be enough to just be able to lift maximal loads overhead, I had to lift them with a relative degree of speed. So taking what I have implemented successfully with my own interpretation of the Westside Method, I simply adopted the same principles utilized to build the bench press, only using the Overhead in its place.

Let’s examine.

If you know the Westside Method and the results this program produces you can expect to produce an athlete that can lift a hell of a lot of weight as fast as greased lighting. Pretty much, their power output rivals that of an angry bear with the munchies going after your picnic basket. Scary…I know…

The Basic Concepts

How are they able to do this? Simple, their training goals (squatting, benching & deadlifting as much as humanly possible) are met by two different methods with two different objectives. The Dynamic Effort Method, which is put in place to increase the rate of force development in each core lift, and the Max Effort Method, which is put in place to be able to continually overcome the maximal load your body is able to lift.

***Because inducing hypertrophy and a greater degree of work capacity are important goals for my athletes and I, we also implement a Repetitive Effort day for our core lifts as well***

Applying Dynamic Effort Training to Overhead Lifts

The objective of the Dynamic Effort Method is to increase the rate of force development in your core lift so that your max effort lifts will have greater bar speed. In order for me to take advantage of this training effect so that I could lift not only heavy weights overhead, but do so with speed, I would focus my efforts on the Strict Press, Push Press and Jerk as my core lifts instead of the Bench Press. I follow the same percentage (40% – 60%), rep (3 reps), and set (8 – 12 sets) range as the Westside Method, just with a different core lift.

Applying Max Effort Training to Overhead Lifts

The same principles apply to my approach to Max Effort Method training days. Three days after my Dynamic Effort Day, I would focus on hitting anywhere from a 1-5 rep max on the SAME core lift I did three days prior (it’s important to note that I’d rotate implements as well as the style of OH lift in order to continuously adapt to different stimuli).

By focusing on developing as much maximal strength as speed, I was able to develop tremendous power output in this movement pattern, insuring that on competition day, those lifting against me would soil themselves in fear! It worked… #Strength,Speed,&Stamina=Dominance

So where does the Bench Press fit in? Well, just like with the Bench Press, I found that focusing your supplemental work on the muscles involved in the core lift itself was the best way to improve the core lift. In this case, conveniently enough, the same muscles that are used in increasing your OH Press are the ones being used in the Bench Press (triceps, shoulders, and upper back to be specific). So my supplemental work was composed greatly of Bench Pressing.

Training Volume Considerations

As far as volume goes, I used the same protocol as that of many powerlifters using the Westside Method. On Dynamic Effort Method training days where the weight is submaximal, my supplemental work (on the Bench Press) would be relatively heavy (3-5 sets of 4-8 reps), whereas on Max Effort days when I’m lifting near maximal weights for my core lift, the supplemental work would be much lighter with far greater volume (3-5 sets of 12-20 reps).

So all I had to do was implement the Bench Press as my supplemental lift and BOOM, I could actively achieve my objective of increasing not only the weight I could put over head as well as how fast I could do it, but also answer the most important question any and every meathead could be faced with… HOW MUCH DO YOU BENCH?

---

This has been a guest post by Chandler “MANdler” Marchman, author of SWOLE System: The New Authority for Building Size, Strength, and a Lean Athletic Body

---

NOTE FROM JEDD: I recently met MANdler at a seminar in New Jersey and asked him to tell us a little bit about his program, and this is what he had to say (I had just beaten him in a Hulk Hogan impersonation contest).

Here’s a run-down of what is included in the SWOLE System:

Component 1: The Training Manual
Understand the SWOLE System and how MANdler gets such awesome results with his clients.

Component 2: 12 Week Training Routine
MANdler lays out 3-months worth of programming to turn you into an ass-kicking machine.

Component 3: Exercise Video Database
MANdler shows you exactly how to perform each exercise to ensure proper form and best results.

Component 4: The Diet Manual
Understand how to eat the right way in order to get Swole even faster.

Component 5: Meal Plans
Apply the Swole Methods for quickly and easily with this done-for-you diet plan.

Component 6: Supplements Guide Book
Not all supplements are bad – find out the ones that are worth your money and will help support all your other hard work and discipline.

Common Questions About the SWOLE System

:

Q: What is the SWOLE System and HOW does it work so fast?

A: The SWOLE System is an all-inclusive training packet that focuses on a percentage based scientific approach to training and easy to follow diet guide, that lead to fast and efficient results such as increased size, strength, endurance, and a lean athletic physique.

---

Q: What is included with this training system?

A: Included in this success pack are a done for you 12-Week transformation program, Video tutorials for EVERY exercise, a simple to follow diet guide, as a well as a theory portion that explains WHY the SWOLE System works so well for increased size, strength, power, endurance, and SEX APPEAL (you’ll look good while performing good as well)!!!

---

Q: I’m an athlete that needs to build strength, size and SPEED…will this training system work for me?

A: This system was actually started with athletes in mind. You will build size, strength, endurance and yes, even speed at a ridiculous rate! All things held constant, the athlete with superior strength, speed and conditioning ALWAYS wins. You don’t want to be left behind or face an opponent that has trained with this system. TRUST ME!!!

---

Q: Is there a diet component to this program? How does it work?

A: Yes. It’s one of the most important issues you must address when working towards your goals, and the simple system we use to address WHAT to eat, WHEN to eat, and HOW MUCH to eat, are what make this done for you, “Plug & Chug” diet system SO effective.

---

Q: Will this program work if I’m just trying to get ripped?

A: HELL YEA!!! For many of the weekend warriors at my gym, this is there one and only goal!!! When you focus on the training protocol that we focus on with this training system, it is theoretically IMPOSSIBLE to not decrease your body fat percentage while developing a lean athletic physique.

---

Q: I’m older than a lot of your “success stories” seem to be (in my late 30’s), will this program be suitable for me as well?

A: Absolutely it will work for the older than 30 crowd! Our bodies are meant to adapt to the demands that we place upon them. When we go through this specific, science based training protocol, it’s all the more important that we focus on training efficiency. And that’s the cornerstone of the SWOLE System’s philosophy. Train smarter, not harder. Train optimally, not maximally. When we match our training, our nutrition, and our lifestyle with the proper road map that are dictated by our specific goals, we are guaranteed to have success, REGARDLESS of age!

---

For more information on the SWOLE System, click the image below:

---

---

Improving Overhead Press

What’s up DIESELS?!!
Over on my Grip Strength Coaching Site, TheGripAuthority.com, from time to time I will put up a video just telling my guys and girls what I have found in my training to be really working well for me. I pass this on to them so that they can try it in their training and see if it works for them as well. I’d love to help you towards your Grip goals, so join today at http://www.thegripauthority.com.
They seem to get a lot of it when I put up the What’s Working Now posts, so I thought I would start doing the same here occasionally as well.

What’s Working Now – Overhead Work

Today, I want to talk a little bit about some results I am seeing in my training with my overhead work.
First a little recent history…
Most of my overhead work the last couple of years has been with a log. I’d estimate about 60% of it has been based around the strongman log, and more than half of that has been in a push press or jerk style.
Last summer, when some lower back troubles reared their ugly heads, I began doing my overhead work in a more strict fashion in order to have a bit more control over the implement. I also began using more conventional equipment, such as the barbell and dumbbells.
In October, I added some more dumbbells to my collection. Previously, my dumbbells went from 50-lbs straight to 85lbs. I now have a pair of 55’s and a pair of 70’s. With more dumbbells to choose from, I became more interested in using them, and I started establishing some new PR’s.
Here is where it all gets interesting…
From November until the end of January, my best set of 70-lb Dumbbell press was a set of 7, and I only managed that one time. Below that, my best was 3 sets of 5, but they were done seated, so it is kind of hard to compare them really well.
In November, one day I decided to see if I could pres my 85’s. It was nearly embarrassing how tough it was to get one repetition, and that was all I got. This one repetition was so disgustingly difficult, I did not try it again for over two months.
Then on February 14th, after doing some intense Myofascial Release techniques for my pecs prior to the workout, I was amazed at how good it felt to press. This was done with a barbell, standing, and I took it out of the rack. I was able to press 205 for the first time in many, many years. I’d estimate the last time I pressed that kind of weight on a barbell out of the rack was in 2008 when I did Wendler’s 5-3-1 for a while. So it is not really an all-time “PR,” but it felt outstanding, so I continued to do the SMR work in between each set, as I moved into Dumbbell Presses.

I started off with a token set of 6 with 50-lb dumbbells, and then move right into 70-lbs for the next set. To my astonished amazement, I got 10 reps. I continued doing the SMR and even added some stretching of the pecs between sets. DIESELS – it was awesome. I got 10 reps for all 3 sets. This was an all-time dumbbell press PR and it was after a 3-set session of standing barbell press, so I was pre-fatigued to a degree.
To say that I could not wait until my next pressing workout would be an understatement. My next session was February 22, and as I moved into Dumbbell Presses, I did the same thing as before, a token set of 6 with 50’s and then I moved into my work sets, but this time I said SCREW THE 70’S, and went right for the 85’s.
Below are my 3 work sets with 85’s…

Despite the fact that I was able to get 2 reps for the first time ever during set 1, I could really tell that my pecs were feeling tight.
If you watch set 1 again, you can see how I have to fish around for body positioning in order to press them up. So, I gave the pecs some serious attention prior to set 2.
For set 2, after the extra SMR work and stretching, the first 2 reps shot up really easy and I even had enough left in the tan for a third rep and a partial 4th.
After more pec work between set 2 and set 3, I was able to muster 4 repetitions, despite being fatigued in the triceps at this point, but since I was feeling less restricted in the chest, I was able to get better drive from the bottom position.
So you might be asking yourself, what does the chest have to do with overhead press?
Well, it can have a lot to do with your overhead press if you are a tight son of a bitch.
You see, if you are tight in the chest, then when you are trying to drive through the overhead pressing movement, you are going to be hindered. If the muscle and fascia of the front torso are too tight, then there’s no way you can lift overhead to your full potential. Your shoulders are going to be pulled forward and in, instead of wide like they need to be to press well.
Watch the difference between set 1 and set 2 in the video above and you will see what I mean along these lines. In set 1, I am still tight and restricted. My shoulders are pulled forward and I need to do all sorts of leaning in order to groove the dumbbells up.
After very aggressive work to loosen things up in my chest, it felt SO MUCH better to really extend through the thoracic spine, my shoulder blades felt like they could move more freely, and as a result, I was able to get better quality reps and one more rep, to boot.
For set 3, again, the torso felt better, thoracic extension felt easier, the scapulae were tracking better, and I was even able to get a 4th rep.
My next pressing workout is scheduled for Tuesday this week, BUT it is a deload workout with Mighty Mitts coming up, so the programming isn’t working out to push for a new PR, just yet, but I definitely plan on continuing the aggressive soft tissue work between sets.
In fact, I have been continuing the aggressive soft tissue work on non-upper body training days, because I really want to keep this momentum going.
I will report back soon.
SPECIAL NOTE: I absolutely feel that this kind of work to loosen up your tight chest can help for any type of overhead pressing, whether with dumbbells, barbell, axle, log, et cetera.
FEEDBACK WANTED: Is this kind of information something you’d like to see more of here on the site? Most of the content I post here is in article format, and this entry was more of a narrative report than anything else? I am interested in what you think, so please leave a comment below.
Thanks and all the best in your training.
Jedd

---

Want to start training like a Strongman, but not sure how or where to start? Looking for the Technical Guidance you need to excel in Strongman Competition?
Pick up our DVD and learn everything you need to know about the Log, Farmers, Stones, Odd Objects, Yoke, and MORE.
Check it out today:

---

Improving Overhead Press

What’s up DIESELS?!!

Over on my Grip Strength Coaching Site, TheGripAuthority.com, from time to time I will put up a video just telling my guys and girls what I have found in my training to be really working well for me. I pass this on to them so that they can try it in their training and see if it works for them as well. I’d love to help you towards your Grip goals, so join today at http://www.thegripauthority.com.

They seem to get a lot of it when I put up the What’s Working Now posts, so I thought I would start doing the same here occasionally as well.

What’s Working Now – Overhead Work

Today, I want to talk a little bit about some results I am seeing in my training with my overhead work.

First a little recent history…

Most of my overhead work the last couple of years has been with a log. I’d estimate about 60% of it has been based around the strongman log, and more than half of that has been in a push press or jerk style.

Last summer, when some lower back troubles reared their ugly heads, I began doing my overhead work in a more strict fashion in order to have a bit more control over the implement. I also began using more conventional equipment, such as the barbell and dumbbells.

In October, I added some more dumbbells to my collection. Previously, my dumbbells went from 50-lbs straight to 85lbs. I now have a pair of 55’s and a pair of 70’s. With more dumbbells to choose from, I became more interested in using them, and I started establishing some new PR’s.

Here is where it all gets interesting…

From November until the end of January, my best set of 70-lb Dumbbell press was a set of 7, and I only managed that one time. Below that, my best was 3 sets of 5, but they were done seated, so it is kind of hard to compare them really well.

In November, one day I decided to see if I could pres my 85’s. It was nearly embarrassing how tough it was to get one repetition, and that was all I got. This one repetition was so disgustingly difficult, I did not try it again for over two months.

Then on February 14th, after doing some intense Myofascial Release techniques for my pecs prior to the workout, I was amazed at how good it felt to press. This was done with a barbell, standing, and I took it out of the rack. I was able to press 205 for the first time in many, many years. I’d estimate the last time I pressed that kind of weight on a barbell out of the rack was in 2008 when I did Wendler’s 5-3-1 for a while. So it is not really an all-time “PR,” but it felt outstanding, so I continued to do the SMR work in between each set, as I moved into Dumbbell Presses.

I started off with a token set of 6 with 50-lb dumbbells, and then move right into 70-lbs for the next set. To my astonished amazement, I got 10 reps. I continued doing the SMR and even added some stretching of the pecs between sets. DIESELS – it was awesome. I got 10 reps for all 3 sets. This was an all-time dumbbell press PR and it was after a 3-set session of standing barbell press, so I was pre-fatigued to a degree.

To say that I could not wait until my next pressing workout would be an understatement. My next session was February 22, and as I moved into Dumbbell Presses, I did the same thing as before, a token set of 6 with 50’s and then I moved into my work sets, but this time I said SCREW THE 70’S, and went right for the 85’s.

Below are my 3 work sets with 85’s…

Despite the fact that I was able to get 2 reps for the first time ever during set 1, I could really tell that my pecs were feeling tight.

If you watch set 1 again, you can see how I have to fish around for body positioning in order to press them up. So, I gave the pecs some serious attention prior to set 2.

For set 2, after the extra SMR work and stretching, the first 2 reps shot up really easy and I even had enough left in the tan for a third rep and a partial 4th.

After more pec work between set 2 and set 3, I was able to muster 4 repetitions, despite being fatigued in the triceps at this point, but since I was feeling less restricted in the chest, I was able to get better drive from the bottom position.

So you might be asking yourself, what does the chest have to do with overhead press?

Well, it can have a lot to do with your overhead press if you are a tight son of a bitch.

You see, if you are tight in the chest, then when you are trying to drive through the overhead pressing movement, you are going to be hindered. If the muscle and fascia of the front torso are too tight, then there’s no way you can lift overhead to your full potential. Your shoulders are going to be pulled forward and in, instead of wide like they need to be to press well.

Watch the difference between set 1 and set 2 in the video above and you will see what I mean along these lines. In set 1, I am still tight and restricted. My shoulders are pulled forward and I need to do all sorts of leaning in order to groove the dumbbells up.

After very aggressive work to loosen things up in my chest, it felt SO MUCH better to really extend through the thoracic spine, my shoulder blades felt like they could move more freely, and as a result, I was able to get better quality reps and one more rep, to boot.

For set 3, again, the torso felt better, thoracic extension felt easier, the scapulae were tracking better, and I was even able to get a 4th rep.

My next pressing workout is scheduled for Tuesday this week, BUT it is a deload workout with Mighty Mitts coming up, so the programming isn’t working out to push for a new PR, just yet, but I definitely plan on continuing the aggressive soft tissue work between sets.

In fact, I have been continuing the aggressive soft tissue work on non-upper body training days, because I really want to keep this momentum going.

I will report back soon.

SPECIAL NOTE: I absolutely feel that this kind of work to loosen up your tight chest can help for any type of overhead pressing, whether with dumbbells, barbell, axle, log, et cetera.

FEEDBACK WANTED: Is this kind of information something you’d like to see more of here on the site? Most of the content I post here is in article format, and this entry was more of a narrative report than anything else? I am interested in what you think, so please leave a comment below.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

---

Want to start training like a Strongman, but not sure how or where to start? Looking for the Technical Guidance you need to excel in Strongman Competition?

Pick up our DVD and learn everything you need to know about the Log, Farmers, Stones, Odd Objects, Yoke, and MORE.

Check it out today:

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Many people have written me over the years about wrist pain when benching. After all, everyone loves a big bench press.

It’s one thing if you are stalled in the bench due to a technique issue or because you are having trouble deciding on a bench press program.

It’s something different altogether when your bench press is suffering because of pain in the wrist, so annoying and distracting.

So, what I have done is put together a video for you that is what I call a Diesel Work-around.

What is a Work-around, you might ask?

Well, in industrial settings, when a part of a process breaks or is faulty, but the work still needs to be done, alternative measures can be put into action in order to get the same finished product or desired result.

These alternative measures are called Work-arounds. For instance, if a conveyor belt is shut down, the items being moved can be placed into a cart and moved by hand to the next location, successfully “working around the problem” until it can be fixed.

In the case of the Bench Press, when there is pain in the wrist, we can perform a slight Work-around in order to still get the work done, in order to not miss a workout.

Now, before I get too deep into this, I have to stress this point: If you are injured, you need to address the injury with professional help.

So, if you strained your wrist in a bar fight or because you fell down a flight of stairs in a drunken stupor, you need to go to the doctor, get the problem professionally assessed and follow the doctor’s or therapist’s suggestions in order to completely address the injury.

However, wrist pain does not always mean that there is a break or soft tissue damage, such as that which can occur when you try to touch the stripper on stage and the Eric the Bouncer grabs you and tosses you out the back door into a dumpster.

Sometimes the root of the pain in the wrist is actually something simple such as the misalignment of the carpal bones in the wrist.

The bones of the hand and wrist are supposed to be arranged in a specific order. However, if we are training out of balance or if we have some light trauma to the wrist, these bones can be thrown out of whack, causing noticeable pain and loss of range of motion.

To see what I mean, check out the above picture. It may seem as though the bones seem to be randomly stacked on top of one another, but that is not the case – they are placed exactly how they need to be for optimal performance of the hands and lower arms, and if they get out of whack from trauma or imbalanced strength ratios as a result of your training, you can have some problems.

In cases such as these where the pain might just be a bone slightly misaligned, the following Diesel Work-arounds fit in nicely. They take pressure off of the wrist and allow you to perform work on the Bench without having to miss a bench workout.

Work-around #1 – Use a Thicker Bar

A thicker bar, such as an axle or fat pipe, can be used on the bench press instead of the normal Powerlifting bar. This will feel different to you, but you should notice that there is not quite as much pain when performing the pressing movement.

The force will be spread out over more of the hand and not so much directly on the point of pain within the wrist. If you do not have an axle or thick pipe that is set up for pressing movements, then you might also try a set of Fat Gripz placed on the bar to accomplish the same general objective.

Diesel Work-around #2 – Wrist Straps

Another suggestion to try is wrist straps. These can help cradle the wrist as you press can be very helpful for reducing pain.

A lot of people think I am completely against wrist wraps, but that isn’t really true. I think they are great for preventing injury and for helping to recover from injury, like if something is “out” in your wrist.

The most important thing to know here is exactly how to wrap the wrists in order to get the right support, which I show you in the video, below.

That wrapping technique is something that you can use on a lot of your lifts when you get into the big numbers. It will give you the support you need for confidence on lifts where the wrist is open for potential injury, such as overhead lifting.

I hope this has been helpful for you. If so, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks and all the best in your training!

Jedd

P.S. I just got interviewed by Andres Gonzalez of Strongermen.Blogspot.com. Andres seems like a very nice guy who has decided to improve his lifestyle and has been doing a lot to better his health and well-being. In addition to that, he has been interviewing people he has been following who have made strength training a part of their lives. He found my site and said it is something that has helped him out with his journey to become stronger and I really appreciate him seeking me out.

Also, last week, Andres put together this cool video of the Top Nail Benders in the World. Check it out:

Image Source: EliteTrack.com

If you spend a lot of time seated, or if you travel a lot in vehicles or in airplanes, then this post is for you.

Also, if you are an athlete and your sport requires you to be able to perform powerful movements with the lower body, like jumping and bounding, then this post is for you.

In addition if you run, whether in sprinting fashion or distance, then this post is for you.

And if you participate in strength sports or feats of strength, then this post is for you as well because today I am going to show you how you can get more power out of your glutes which will lead to better striding power when running, better leaping and jumping power, and better executtion of posterior chain strength movements such as deadlifts, cleans, throws, and braced bends.

Importance of the Glute Muscles to Sport, Strength and Power Movements

Your Glutes are some of the most powerful muscles in your body.

They are heavily involved in Power Movements like jumping and sprinting as well as directional changes.

Unfortunately, if you spend a lot of time sitting down, then you might be making your Glute strength disappear.

You see, when you are seated, your hips remain in a flexed position. Over time this joint angle at the hip can cause the hip flexors to shorten and tighten.

The image above from Human Kinetics shows the relationship between the front of the body and the rear. With tight hip flexors, generally comes weak lower abdominals and conversely, the muscles on the opposite side, the lower lumbar muscles and the glutes get weakened and can’t do what they are meant to do.

When the hip flexors shorten like this and become tight, they can actually hinder the amount of power your glutes can generate because they will keep your hips from extending correctly in the movements we mentioned earlier, such as jumping, running and other unilateral and power movements.

To illustrate this a bit better, imagine trying to jump up in the air, but attached to your waistline is a chain on either side, connecting you to the floor, and just as you are about to really get some drive going, the chains hit their maximum length and won’t allow you to explode. That is kind of what is going on when you have tight hip flexors.

Two of the main reasons to address this issue are stretching the hip flexors and activating the glutes.

Understanding the Hip Flexors

In the image above, you can see where the hip flexors are located, and where they attach. A lot of people don’t realize the actual articulations of the hip flexors.

Per Wikipedia:

Origins: The Psoas major originates along the lateral surfaces of the vertebral bodies of T12 and L1-L5 and their associated intervertebral discs. The Psoas minor, which presents in only some 40 percent of the population, originates at the transverse processes of L1-L5. The Iliacus originates in the Iliac fossa of the pelvis

Insertions: Psoas major unites with iliacus at the level of the inguinal ligament and crosses the hip joint to insert on the lesser trochanter. The Psoas minor inserts at the iliopectineal arch, the thickened band at the iliac fascia which separates the muscular lacuna from the vascular lacuna. femoral nerve, L1, L2

Common Hip Flexor Stretches

For individuals who have tight hip flexors, one of the ways to correct the situation is with stretching. Below is a commonly used stretch and some slight variations in order to intensify it.

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

One common Hip Flexor stretch is the kneeling hip flexor stretch. Just getting into a position like what is shown above is not good enough, however. You must keep the torso upright and as you move forward, keep the pressure directed into the hip flexor muscles themselves. Improper angling here can result in stretching the quad. The quad originates on the ilium so its path is similar to the hip flexors. Not that there’s anything wrong with stretching the quad, but the purpose of this stretch is the hip flexor.

With Arm Raised

This stretch can also be intensified by raising the arm on the same side as the leg being stretched.

With Foot Elevated

As your flexibility increases, the rear foot can also be elevated to increase the stretch on the hip flexor and the quad as well.

Again, this is just one stretch that you can do for the hip flexors, along with a few modifications. In a bit I am going to show you another exercise to try that actually stretches my hip flexor even better while activating the glutes at the same time.

How to Activate the Glutes

When tightness on one side of the body inhibits a muscle on the opposite side of the body, we often have to retrain the muscle to fire properly. In the case of Glutes that have been shut down, the athlete has probably learned to use the hamstrings and muscles of the lower back to provide the force needed for hip extension. We have to get the body back in tune by training the Glutes to fire when they are supposed to.

Glute Bridge

Perhaps the most common of Glute activation exercises is the glute bridge. This movement can be done with one or two legs, and can be modified by extending a leg or by adding resistance, such as chains.

Quadruped Hip Extension

Quadruped refers to being on all fours. One leg is then lifted upwards by means of the Glutes. Very simple to perform, but attention must be put forth not to cheat or use momentum.

Fire Hydrant

Named after a dog lifting its leg to mark a fire hydrant, I learned this movement from Joe Defranco, and in particular, I learned that you don’t half-ass this movement (sorry for the pun, but I had to). The way I heard Joe describe this movement is to imagine you’re sneaking into a house through a very large window. Perform the exercise by carefully pulling the hip around the full range of motion, slowly and deliberately. Doing the exercise like this REALLY helps you feel it. Don’t just go through the motions.

How to Do Both at the Same Time

There is absolutely plenty of value in performing the above exercises. I have done all of them and they have worked for me in varying degrees.

However, recently, when shooting footage for a DVD on Braced Bending, I stumbled onto an exercise that actually is highly effective at stretching the hip flexors while getting an extremely intense contraction from the glutes. In fact, of all the Glute exercises I’ve ever tried, none of them can compare to the heightened contraction of this maneuver.

I call this move the Knee Driver, because I was using it to demonstrate the initial kink used when braced bending things like steel bars, wrenches and other odd objects. In the initial kink, you use the strength of your glute to drive your knee into the bar to get it to bend, thus the Knee Driver.

Knee Driver

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My apologies for the poor quality video. I had changed the settings
by accident and did not realize it was so grainy until I uploaded it.

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For me, I have never felt a Glute Exercise that caused such a deep and hard contraction of my Glute Muscles. I mean, this exercise balled my glute up so tightly when I first tried it that I could not believe it, plus it stretched my hip flexors at the same time, and I have done it just about every workout since then in order to get my Glutes ready to go.

I like to perform this exercise for two sets with each leg and to do at least 6 to 8 good solid contractions per set. I don’t even bother with a lot of the other glutes exercises I used to do, because the contractions pale in comparison to what I get out of the Knee Driver.

I encourage you to give this a try and report back what you have found and how it compares to other exercises you have tried.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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If you take out questions about Grip Training, one of the most common questions I get is how to set up a program in order to put on muscle.

With this post, I want to list a few principles I follow in my training. Next week, I will cover some how to select the right movements and how to program them.

3 Keys to Building Muscle

These are the three main keys I follow in my training when it comes to exercise selection. Now, of course there are other things that go into it, but these are the main three things.

1. Multi-Joint Movements

If you want to put on muscle and develop strength, then you have got to get lots of muscle involved in order to do so. The best way to get lots of muscle involved is to select exercises that involve movement over more than one joint. Examples are Bench Press, Overhead Press, Squat, Deadlift, Bent Over Rows, Clean, Snatch, and other movements that are similar in movements to these.

Now, if you take a look at the exercises I listed, you will see that there is often movement taking place at two or more joints. For instance, with the Bench, there is movement at the shoulder and at the elbow, plus if you approach the movement like a Powerlifter does, you are using even more muscle across other joints as well.

Movements such as the Squat, Deadlift, Cleans, and many Olympic lift breakdown drills involve even more joints. With these we are working over the knee, hip, back and possibly the ankle, shoulder and elbow, meaning even more muscle is being involved.

In other words, select movements that are working larger portions of your body and keep isolation movements to a minimum.

2. Train for Power and Speed

I like to incorporate exercises of increased speed in my training. What I am referring to is explosive movements that produce an increased power output, such as Cleans, Jerks, Snatches, Stone Lifting, and other movements where virtually the entire body is working together in order to move large loads very quickly.

Another way I like to accomplish this is with Accommodating Resistance using exercise bands. I have bands of many different strength levels in order to be able to use this concept on different movements.

The Bench Press is a good example of how to employ bands in your training. Remember when using bands that the purpose is to move the bar quickly against the resistance in order to train the fast-twitch muscle fibers to fire quickly. These muscle fibers need to be stimulated like this, but most guys are missing this aspect. I say this, because when I ask people who email me about this they say they have either never heard of this type of training or haven’t bought into it. I am a firm believer in it and have been experimenting with how to incorporate it in different ways aside from just with barbells in my training and with my clients (these guys kick ass).

3. Work in Balance

One of the recent times someone wrote in, they wanted to know how to put muscle on their chest and shoulders and I asked them what they were currently doing. Their answer? Bench Pressing two days a week and Shoulder work on another day. Essentially three Upper Body Pushing days and each one was balls to the walls intensity.

One of the things I always tell people is that if you are trying to fill out your shirt, you’ve got to remember there are two sides of it to fill. You don’t want to be like Tom Cruise in the movie Knight and Day and look like your back muscles are non-existent.

There needs to be a balance between your pushing and pulling exercises in order to pack on muscle on the upper body, and do it safely. Remember, we are doing something that is supposed to be good for us, not something in order to set ourselves up for imbalances, poor posture and pain down the road.

What I suggest people do is for every movement where you are pushing something, try to also incorporate a movement where you are pulling. If you can pick out complementary or contra-specific movement patterns, that is a bonus as well. For instance, a complimentary movement pattern for the Bench Press would be Bent Over Rows or Seated Cable Rows (although, I’d suggest the Bent-Over variety in order to have a Ground Based Movement – another post for another day).

One other thing to think about with Balanced Training, keep in mind that if you are going all out for maxes on the Bench every time you do it and then you do Bent Over Rows with a fraction of the weight, that doesn’t count as balanced. The loading and effort need to be similar in order to realize benefits.

One good way to do this is to perform your Upper Body Push and Upper Body Pulling movements on the same day and match up the loading and effort that way. If you do it like this, it is easier to monitor than if you do it on different days.

Do You Have Muscle Imbalances, Currently?

If you have been following traditional programs and have not taken things such as antagonistic balance into account with your program, you could be headed for some issues. Unfortunately, imbalances can develop from more than just the way you program you workouts and your exercise selection.

Time seated in a car, time at your desk, time at home in chairs, and other considerations that affect posture can really do a number on you.

If you think you run the risk of having imbalances because you slouched in your seat in high school for years (like me), spend a lot of time at a desk at your work (like me), or have muscular imbalances due to an injury or something else, you should consider checking out Rick Kaselj’s Muscle Imbalances Revealed – Upper Body Edition.

I recently made Rick’s acquaintance on-line and began following some of his work and he has an impressive background. A few months ago he came out with a 2.0 Program for lower body and now he has updated his Upper Body Edition as well.

The sizable clientele he has worked with and the expert backing he has gotten is unbelievable. I strongly suggest you give his program a look if you are a candidate for imbalances. Here is my link: Muscle Imbalances Revealed by Rick Kaselj.

All the best in your training and look for Part II coming next week.

Jedd

When I first began delving into Strength and Conditioning literature after I got out of college, I was given a copy of a strength training documentary about Werner Gunthor called, L’heritage d’une carriere, by my friend Dan Cenidoza

At the time, I was reading a lot of the materials from the NSCA, and even though they were much more geared toward strength training than the bodybuilding magazines I read in college, even the NSCA manuals did not prepare me for the type of training I would see in this video.

To my dismay, I somehow lost my copy of the tape and had not watched it in years, but I was able to find it recently, in its entirety on YouTube.
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Hello DIESELS!

I hope you are kicking ass so hard in the gym that the PR’s are paying you to take it easy on them.

First off, I am sorry for starting the earthquake earlier this week. I was working Two Hands Pinch using some black-hat, ninja-style, Outlaw-Diesel methods of training and it accidentally slipped out of my grasp.

The weight was so tremendous that it set off a tectonic plate collision in the Richmond, Virginia area. Jay DeMayo tried to take the credit, but he is not the one to blame.

Sorry, Washington Monument

My bad about the damage to the Washington Monument. I’ve heard they’ve been looking for a reason to shut that thing down anyway, so I guess I did them a favor.

(In all seriousness, I hope everyone is safe and that damages can be taken care of soon.)

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Anyway, I wanted to share a video with you guys that I took last Saturday in Scranton PA at the USA Powerlifting Nationals.

I went down to watch my buddies, Paul Tompkins and Mike Turpin compete. Paul and Mike have submitted a lot of videos to my Weekly Grip Challenge, so i wanted to go down and give them some support!

Speaking of the weekly challenge – have you entered the Classic Strongman Feats Tournament? If not, get on it!

Back to the Powerlifting Meet…here is the video…

According to Paul, he lifted 451 in the Bench, 644 in the Squat and 655 in the Deadlift, totaling 1750.

Mike got 358 in the Bench, 391 in the Squat and 557 in the Deadlift, totaling 1306. Awesome job guys.

I also wanted to mention that Mike Turpin is developing some of the nastiest forearms I’ve ever seen. He showed me his freaky Brachioradialis and I had nightmares for two straight nights. According to Mike, he has done no direct forearm work from this. It has all come from Grip Training, like Gripper work, Pinching, and lifting Hex Head Dumbbells by the Head.

So there’s yet another reason to start Grip Training if you haven’t already done so. The time under tension packs serious muscles on your lower arms!

Also, Mike told me that several months ago, Paul attempted a near-600-lb Deadlift and could get it nowhere near lockout. Judging by the fact that I watched him pull 659 with EEEEEASE, the Grip Training must be paying off.

Mind you, these guys are doing a variety of stuff. They are trying the challenges I put out each week and they are doing some other stuff on their own. Hitting the hands from multiple angles like this has improved their General Grip Strength tremendously.

Mike says he used to not be able to close a #1 Gripper, and now he is mashing the #2 each workout. Also, between his lifts and Paul’s there was about a two-hour break in the action, so Turpin, another buddy of mine, Mike Puchalski, and I went out to my car and did some work with the Vulcan-2 that I had for Puchalski. If memory serves, Mike toyed with the Level 10 like he was reading a newspaper on the toilet, and that is with the new Silver Black-Dipped Spring. AWESOME. I can’t wait to see what he can do at World’s Strongest Hands on September 10th. If you are in the neighborhood, you should come by. It is going to be a good time.

Who Wants a Vulcan 2 Gripper?

Speaking of Vulcans, I am completely sold out right now, but I am looking to get another order around. If you are interested, please post in the comments section below. The Vulcan V-2’s cost $99.

I am also looking to bring in some extra Orange Springs that are quite a bit lighter than the standard Silver Black-Dipped Springs. Also, I want to get some Thumb Screws thrown in as well.

All I am looking for is for you to post below that you are interested and I will add you to the list. Please do so as soon as possible so I can get with David Horne. This time, I am keeping one of the sets of Thumb Screws.

OK, DIESELS, that’s it for now. My new Grip Training Freak, Eric Loyd is coming over soon and we are going to work on the Vulcan, Two Hands Pinch, and maybe even try bending a horseshoe.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Random Ramblings from Jedd

Please read this post and put in your thoughts / comments in the comment box below…

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Hello Diesels.

As I have posted before, I am a huge baseball (and especially New York Yankees) fan. I watch them every chance I get. I stay up to date on the Yankees’ rumor mill, trades, signings…all of it in-season and out.

However, putting all that drama aside, I also like to study what they do for strength and conditioning, and what other industry leaders are saying about strength and conditioning for baseball. I have a handful of baseball players that come to train every so often, and I like applying the stuff I learn to the training I do with them, plus I try to apply it to my own training. Although I will probably never play baseball again, I do indeed suit up for Slow Pitch softball during the summer and enjoy playing to the best of my ability because it is fun as hell and it is a good break from the “hardcore” training I am normally doing in the gym.
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One Hand Deadlift

One of the simplest ways to build and test your Grip Strength is with Deadlifts – pulling big weight off the ground. The One Arm / One Hand Deadlift is an awesome variation with many benefits…

Benefits the One Arm Deadlift

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I want to drink Ovaltine out of this…

The Goblet Squat is an outstanding alternative to the Back Squat that you can use from time to time in your training in order to mix things up and enjoy a bit of variety. It is most often performed with a dumbbell or kettlebell, but odd objects can be used as well.

The Goblet Squat was invented by the world-renowned speaker, author, accomplished athlete, and all-around strong dude, Dan John.

Dan John Loading up for a Monster Discuss Toss

How to Perform the Goblet Squat

The Grip

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Hey everybody.

Sorry I haven’t posted much this week. I am working on a new clothing line. Included are leather head and chest hoods, body chains, and nut-hugging-tight pants, like the image to the right…

Just kidding.

Actually, I have been working my ass off this whole week finishing a product off that I started in 2009.

I’ve had some people asking about it recently, saying it was a logical “next step,” so I figured it was about time for me to get serious and get it done. This should be out next week…

Unforch, I’ve been working so hard that I neglected you and I apologize. I have lots to tell you, so let’s get to it.

Napalm’s Nightmare

First off, if you picked up Home Made Strength II like many other strength enthusiasts, personal trainers, strength coaches, and athletes did, during the introductory sale, then you may have won one of the prizes, a Napalm’s Nightmare device from StrongerGrip Enterprises.

I did the drawing out of my bad ass Diesel Beanie, the last one in stock (claim it here => Diesel Crew Beanie Hat. If you want it, you better hurry. Check out the drawing to see if you won…

Congratulations to the winners. The Napalm’s Nightmare is an AWESOME device when home made by your own hands, but to get one from Ryan Pitts and Stronger Grip, as awesome as his stuff is, that is going to be extraordinary.

Grapple Grips

As you know I have the opportunity to review many products, both informational and equipment products. One of the recent reviews I got to do was for the Grapple Grips, and I must say that I like them. I have done plenty of training with them since getting them and they work great.

Below is the review video. I would have liked to have included some training footage for you guys, but unfortunately it hurts my finger injuries and I didn’t want to push it. I promise when my injuries are resolved I will shoot another video and post it for you guys.

Here are some of the exercises I have done with the Grapple Grips: Pull-ups, Pull-downs, One-Arm Swings (I have done tons of these), Hammer Curls, Waddles, and Flexed Arm Hangs. All of them were awesome. Like I said in the video, I got one of the biggest sizes to work my hands hard. You will probably want to get smaller ones if you do not have porno thumbs and banana fingers like me…

AJ Roberts Interview

On Monday, I interviewed AJ Roberts, who is probable the strongest guy I have ever sat down and had a cup of coffee with. He recently competed in the SPF (Southern Powerlifting Federation) and broke a World Record for Total (Squat + Deadlift + Bench Press).

The thing I grilled him on in particular is the mental side of his training and how he approaches it all so that he can perform at an Elite Level. The stuff he passed on to me was awesome. One thing in particular that he told me I was instantly able to implement and it helped me accomplish a substantial PR in my training.

If you want this interview, all I am asking is that you sign up for me new newsletter. You HAVE to be signed up for this newsletter in order to get this interview. If you signed up for the recent Home Made Strength II release or the Muscle Building Giveaway at the top of the page, that won’t work. You HAVE to fill out the boxes below.

I really want to keep in contact with you all when I dump this old email system, so please sign up.

The information in this interview will help you out in your strength training, your job, and any other facet of your life in which you want to perform at a high level so don’t miss out.

That’s about it for right now guys. Like I said, I am sorry for leaving the site so stagnant this week. I can ensure you that I have been plugging away!

All the best in your training.

Jedd

DIESEL MINDSET Part 2

Check out Part I = > Diesel Mindset Part I

If you are reading this site, then chances are you take your training very seriously.

You maintain a very tight training schedule.

You watch your diet, eating and hydrating for sustained high performance.

You track your training results, whether formally or informally.

You take each set and each rep seriously.

And if you are someone who is serious about their training, you know that FAILURE is occasionally a part of the equation.

Sometimes when people FAIL at a lift or MISS their desired reps in a set, it can really have an effect on them.

That set can linger in the back of their mind and have a negative effect on the rest of the workout.

There’s no place for negative thinking in a serious strength or muscle building program.

You have got to move past that sh*t and not let it eat you up inside or else it is going to hold you back.

It’s time to change your MINDSET and look at failure, misses, and other non-successes differently.

Next time you miss a lift or fail to hit your mark, whether it is a squat, deadlift, bench, snatch, clean, press, curl, push-down, pinch lift, gripper attempt, etc, you need to approach it like this:

MISSES ARE JUST WARM-UPS

You missed a lift – JUST A WARM-UP – get it next time.

You didn’t hit depth – JUST A WARM-UP – get it next time.

You lost the jerk out in front – JUST A WARM-UP – get it next time.

The fact of the matter is, sometimes it’s just “not in the cards” for you to hit that big lift or set that big PR.

There are so many variables that impact performance and if just one of those is slightly off that day, it can affect your upper range lifts.

Factors Affecting Performance

• Hydration Status
• Nutrition the day of the workout and days before
• State of Warm-up / Excitation
• Spinal / Joint Alignment
• Recent Sleeping Patterns
• Recent Stress Levels

That’s a lot of stuff to have all in line. Not everyone is going to keep all of those points in order, every day and some are completely OUT OF YOUR CONTROL.

Now, I guarantee you can think of a time where you missed a lift, re-grouped, and then came back and hit it for a successful lift.

The fact is, your body may need an extra attempt in order get ready to do something amazing.

That little thing that is “off” might actually get corrected during your miss and you might be ready to set a new milestone if you try it one more time.

So does it make any sense at all to just stop trying something because you failed at it one time???

Below is an example from a recent training session where I failed, MULTIPLE TIMES, but just kept on going and ended up setting a substantial PR for volume.

I was lifting what is called a Fatman Blob Clone.

It is an iron weight that is cast from a mold from an Original Fat Man Blob. I don’t know the actual weight, but Clones are much harder to lift than other Blobs because they ended up coming out bigger and they surely seem heavier as well.

More info on “the Clone” = > Blob and Clone Facts

Here’s the video from that workout where I talk a little bit more about the concept Misses are Just Warm-ups.

When you push yourself to new heights, Failure is a part of the game.

Misses are part of the game.

However, Misses don’t have to be the end of the game.

MISSES ARE JUST WARM-UPS.

All the best in your training.

Jedd