What’s up DIESELS!

I hope you’re training is going awesome.

During July, I got a wild hair to try Dragon Flags.

The Dragon Flag is the sick core exercise that Silvester Stallone does in Rocky 4 lying on a table. It always looked so stinking hard, I’ve never really tried it.

However, I decided to give it a whirl a few weeks back, and to my surprise, I was
actually pretty close to pulling one off!

I enlisted the help of a former coaching client in the Grip Task Force, Rick Geise. Rick is AWESOME at Dragon Flags and can do them with LOTS of extra weight added to his ankles. Cray man!

Well, after just a couple weeks, I’ve gone from doing singles from the top position, to doing doubles from the top
position, and 2 Saturdays, I was even able to accomplish this: Click Here to See Jedd’s Dragon Flag Progress

To give you an idea of how hard this was, after doing this set of Dragon Flag practice, I did a hold for time on the
Crusher, and I ended up getting a bloody nose, for the first time ever, in training.

The crimson flow wasn’t enough to put a damper on my excitement for pulling off this feat.

Recently, after my buddy, Mike Rinderle, talked to me about producing maximum tension in the glutes, I was able to pull off 5 of them!!

It’s been fun pursuing this goal, and I look forward to perfecting it even more.

I can tell you without a doubt – if I hadn’t had guidance from Rick Giese, I’d be nowhere near where I’m at now with these.

Having direction from someone who’s been there makes all the difference, allows you to make fewer mistakes and waste more time, and get to your goals even faster than you ever thought possible!

I’m a core strength amateur, to be honest.

But, I know how to coach people who want stronger hands and a better grip.

If you want help in your Grip Strength training, let’s put our heads together and jump-start your progress.

Join me in the Grip Task Force <= Click Here I've got room for 3 more people right now, so if you want in, now is the time. All the best in your training. Jedd

Build Bigger Biceps With This Combination

One of the things you need to have, if you want to make people take notice of your gains is a big set of arms.

If you want a set of arms, I don’t care what anybody else says, you need to pack a lot of volume into a short amount of time in order to get a killer pump.

I’ve got a couple exercises that work great for producing a lot of volume for the biceps.

This combination of exercises utilizes two pieces of equipment that are commonly found in most gyms, and if you do these back to back, I think you’re gonna really like the way it makes your biceps feel.

The first exercise is the Reverse Curl. I like to do this with the EZ Bar, because it doesn’t bother my wrists or elbows. When you do curls this way, you get the benefit of working the biceps, as well as the brachioradialis.

The second exercise is an Overhead Curl. You’ll want a bar that rotates, if you can get one to optimize it in my opinion. The nice thing about this movement is that the biceps are starting out in a flexed position with the arms overhead, so it’s different from most other biceps exercises.

The video below shows how to pair these exercises together.

Arm Combination for Building Big Biceps

Remember, you want to do these two movements with minimal rest. This makes the arms work harder and keeps the arm pump going strong.

If you like this combo, then check out the August of Arms program for even more sick ideas for building big arms.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Yoketober 2017

In 2014, I began doing month-long periods of specialization training to bring up specific parts of my body.

After doing August of Arms in August and Legtember during September, I was getting messages every day from people asking me to set them up with similar programming.

So, once October hit, I knew it was time to put something more formal together, and with that, Yoketober was born!

That was without a doubt one of the funnest months of training I’ve ever had, and I must say I thought I saw some pretty darn good gains too!

Since then, Yoketober has been a staple of my training, every Fall.

But this year, I wanted to shake things up.

I wanted to go through Yoketober, totally disassemble it, and put it back together to breath new life into it.

And now, I honestly feel that Yoketober is the best it’s ever been.

So, I’m having a special sale for the last few days here in September, so you can get the new and improved Yoketober for a special price.

And, if you have picked up Yoketober in the past, I’ve got an even better deal for you – all you need to do is contact me through email, Facebook, etc, and we can set it up.

You’re gonna love Yoketober, and the massive gains that come along with it.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

Big Arm Training Super Set

Today, I’ve got a Killer Biceps Circuit from August of Arms you can try in your training when you want to absolutely destroy your biceps and forearms.

This is a 3-piece circuit, and you’ll go through it 3 times, with as little rest as possible between movements. I’ll list the exercises and reps below.

A1) Reverse Curls (10 Reps)

A2) Rope Curls (10 Reps)

A3) Tube Curls – Full Range (10 Reps)

A4) Tube Curls – Tip Range (10 Reps)

Build Big Biceps with This 3-Piece Circuit

Prepare to have not only your biceps blow up big enough to stretch out your sleeves, but your forearms might just pop as well.

Also, if you want to pack on more Monster Muscle during the month of October, then get ready…

Yoketober 2017 is coming your way soon!

It’s time for a Monstrous Transformation, and there’s no better way than by building a big Yoke – the Traps, Upper Back, Delts and Triceps.

Get ready to build a bigger outline and cast as scary shadow and a back wide enough to show movies off of.

The Yoketober 2017 program is fully updated.

New Exercises.

New Workouts.

New Challenges.

Stay tuned – Yoketober 2017 will be here soon.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

I thought I’d do something I haven’t done in a while and just post some highlights I’m proud of for August.

Training has been GREAT this month. I look forward to August every month, due to August of Arms. I feel like it’s a chance for me to get away from the stresses of Grip and some of the frustrations of strength training, and just train for me. Almost like a vacation, even though I train just about every day.

I did take off 2 days in August. Both were Sundays. On one of them, I was a bit hung over from too much indulgence the day before and I knew the training was going to suck. The other day, I was extremely busy preparing content for Legtember, which is all ready now and you can pick it up through that link. After shooting 20+ leg videos, editing them, and uploading them for the Legtember exercise index, I was wiped and just couldn’t pull together enough energy for a respectable workout.

Here are some of the lifts I’ve been most happy with this month.

Max Alternated Dumbbell Curl

One of my ultimate goals is to curl 100lb dumbbells. I made a big PR this year, by finally curling my dumbbells that are marked “85s,’ but actually scale out at 91lbs apiece. I’ve tried at least a half dozen times to curl these sons of guns, and never been able to get past parallel position, but they came up pretty strong earlier this month.

Blobzilla + 55lb Anvil by the Heel

I finally seem to have gotten through some index finger injuries. One that came all the way back into last August (2016) from breaking a nail in a strongman show, to the prep for Nationals in June 2017, on the Tips Tester. My fingers just do not like that piece. I haven’t been able to lift Blobzilla many times since about April due to my fingers hurting. The 55lb Anvil by the Heel – I threw that in just for some variety.

Runing Man Dumbbell Biceps Curls Challenge

My endurance has improved well over the course of the month. I really had to take a lot of breaks the first and second time I ran through this. I was “ON,” on this day though. I think I can shave it down to under 2 minutes, if I can manage to get through it with zero rest-breaks.

110 Dumbbell Bench Press x 16 Reps

Until I get heavier dumbbells, I’m shooting to build this up to a set of 20 reps. My long term goal for Dumbbell Bench Press is still 150s for a set of 10. I did a set of 3 near the end of July, while I was on vacation.

I’m extremely please with the results I’ve seen from this month’s arm training, especially in the performance department, and I hope all of you who picked up the August of Arms program are seeing the same kind of thing. I can’t wait until the month is over to get a measurement. I think I have a real good chance to hit the 20″ mark. It will also be re-test day on the 4 main movements, and I can see those going up BIG TIME.

To also have seen some resurgence in my Block Weight Strength, as well as improvement on the Dumbbell Bench Press – those are just sweet, sweet bonuses.

And of course, once September gets here, it’s time for Legtember, brother.

If you want in on that, go here => LEGTEMBER: Make Leg Day Great Again.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

When to Cheat to Build More Muscle

The Summer months are here now, and that means it’s time for some Cheating.

Call me crazy, but I think people put too much emphasis on STRICT lifting technique.

I’m not saying that you should deviate from the technique so much that you put yourself at injury.

For instance, I think multi-joint movements like the Squat, Deadlift, and their complex variations should be done with excellent form at all times.

But when it comes to isolation movements, exercises where there’s much fewer joints moving and less risk for injury, I think it’s perfectly fine to cheat a bit on your technique in order to bring about more gains.

Here’s why you shouldn’t be afraid to cheat sometimes on your form:

1 – When you go super strict, it limits how much weight you can use.

Eventually, you’ve got to move up in weight a bit, if you want to bring on more muscle growth. But if you’re always staying super strict, it makes it hard to bump the weights up.

For an example of when I like to modify the technique in order to lift more weight, here’s a combo set of Plate Front Raises and Dumbbell Side Laterals. I deviate from the strict form on the Front Raises, because I’m using a 100lb Plate, and I bend my arms a bit to improve my leverage. I still try to lower the plate under control to accentuate the negative.

As you can see, I bend my arms here a bit to be able to get the plate up – just a small adjustment away from textbook form in order to get a lot more weight, and put a lot more loading on the front delts. Believe me, my front delts were SERIOUSLY SORE after this workout – way more sore than the previous few weeks when I worked with much lighter weight.

(2) When you keep everything strict, it limits how many reps you can do.

Appreciable volume is a must in order to build muscle. In fact, I like to stay between 8 and 15 reps on my movements where the goal is building muscle and not sheer strength.

There’s a couple ways to dial back the level of strictness in your lifting, in order to get more volume. Here are my favorites:

Go Heavier and Cheat from the Start: This method pulls from the idea above, of using more weight. Grab something that’s a good 5 to 10lbs heavier than you normally do with pristine form, and use some body english right from the start in order to bump up the volume and feel the pump sink in.

Regular Weight and Cheat at the End: With this one, you’ll start out with your regular “textbook” form, and then if you burn out before you hit your goal number of reps, then stop being a form policeman, and get the rest of your reps.

This is really just a handful of ways you can ease back a little bit on the form, in order to kick-start your gains again by increasing the weights you’re using and the volume you’re hitting in your workouts. I’m sure you can think of a few more.

The way some people talk about lifting, it’s as if the Form Police are there shaking a nightstick at you, watching every rep you do, ready to pounce on you if you deviate even the slightest from perfect form.

That’s all in your head. Don’t feel the need to stay strict on every single set and rep you do.

Naturally, there’s a time and place for everything. You don’t want to get in the habit of ALWAYS using cheat form.

Use cheating as a way to break through plateaus, test yourself with higher weights, and challenge your endurance in higher-rep situations.

I think you’re gonna see that it can help you out a great deal and can bring on some last-minute size increases, now that the Summer is here.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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