The Problem With Programs

Go to any gym and talk with it’s patrons. You’ll find all manner of training programs, and a strict religious adherence to their program of choice. You’ll see members clique up based on their manner of training. Quickly you’ll find that training with others may be an issue solely due to the refusal of most to stray from their program one iota. The whole thing is ludicrous.

Humans are not robots. Some days you will be stronger than others. While not going to absolute failure it is often better to go beyond the sets or reps of what your program has in store for you. You may be very strong that day, or very weak. Show up frequently enough and you will have training sessions in all manners of ability.

Maybe you do a program of sets of 5. Maybe on that particular day 5’s feel like shit, but you’re good to go on 3’s or maybe 10’s. If that’s how your body feels go with it!

Would I make faster progress, better gains with every rep written out beforehand, and every weight precise to the ounce? On paper maybe, but I’d hate the sessions, and would end up saying fuck it real quick and reverting to pushups and hindu squats in large quantity.

Personally I like the effort, and simply going. Programming other than walking onto the gym floor and deciding what to do just doesn’t happen for me.

While I try to be the opposite of an accountant and just go with what my body says in the gym,I know a kid who tries to disconnect his brain entirely and go full caveman. Tell him the rep range to hit, don’t let him know the count, and he’ll go far further. If he had a strict program he’d be far weaker due to his brain getting in the way of possibility. While most are not this extreme you can see this going on with just about everyone if you look.

With the exception of a highly Bastardized version of Wendler’s 5/3/1 I’ve never seen much progress on a program. For me to progress I simply train, and if something needs prioritization I will give it just that. I PT for maintenance to a degree, and hitting the same lift daily, or my feeder sessions are how I program prioritization. Straight forward and simple.This isn’t rocket science.

Let me ask you this: Wouldn’t it be better to mad dash your gains, stagnate, then cruise  and consolidate only to mad dash again than to inch up like a turtle and only get half as far?

I know where I stand. Let the race begin.

Sans Olympic Weightlifters who squats daily? I’m one of very few. The entire time I did this I heard such things as overtraining,stagnation, and how I wouldn’t recover, yet made the fastest progress of my life on my max this way. Sure there were periods in those 7 months where I was “stale”, and during those times I’d simply do another variation for a while then switch back. Adding 50lbs and a rep ie 1rm +50lbs = 2rm while at less perceived effort is far from any of those things big picture. In fact it’s fairly fast progress for an intermediate.

The best gains are made by lots of experimentation, and learning what works for you.  Again you are not a robot. A cookie cutter program always will leave progress on the table unless by a stroke of magic the cookie cutter program just happens to be your perfect program written by hand with divine inspiration from the Gains God (who was thinking of you at the time).

Don’t be so glued to a program. Freestyle training can work, does work, and wondrously at that. Worst case scenario it will make your training a hell of a lot more fun, and with more fun comes more motivation. You know what more motivation leads to? That right more progress.

Yesterday was an off day because that’s what my body said. I did the minimal PT, ended up doubling the shoulder feeder, and took an afternoon nap instead of going to the gym. Today? Today should be fun. I feel front squat and bench PRs in the air.

-J

 

 

 

Neck Training

It’s probably due to my wrestling background, and the fact I often view training as a survival thing but I never understood why people would completely disregard training their neck. Part of it may be the fact wrestling had me training neck within my first year or so of training, and the fact I’ve stuck with it since, if only intermittently.

I’ve heard otherwise strong kids worry about injuring their spine/cervical vertebra doing it. Do they not realize jacking up the neck will make it almost impossible to do just that? It’s the most important bodypart for being bulletproof.

Collisions,falls, making it much harder to man handle you. Training neck is very useful, but completely ignored by almost all.

At the gym a while back one of the kids there was talking non-stop about injuries. Thinking about old-time strength feats I decided right then and there to test bridge presses, I’d never added any real amount of weight to them before.

In the past I’ve done headstands, and can hold them for a long time. This is what probably allowed me to run headfirst into a 440lb guy during an amateur sumo match, and walk away just fine. With the win.

Obviously I’ve done a lot of bridging both front and back due to high school wrestling, and a refusal to stop training neck.

You can flex the hell out of your neck in every conceivable direction.

Isometrics and dynamics can work great. The most effective way I’ve found for hitting the front was having a buddy hold a towel while standing and me on all 4s leaning my head into the towel. A unique play on manual resistance isometrics. I found they work better positioning wise with the towel, not the partners hands.

You could try headbanging, I’ve heard it works for some.

Best overall though is to wrestle 10+ hours a week. Nothing grew my neck faster than wrestling season, particularly since my practice partner’s style involved a lot of patty cake(constantly pulling down on the head as main means of attack/set up)

Over the years I’ve at least trained my neck intermittently with periods of obsession particularly if I’m in any manner of fight sport. Just last night I had the urge to use my neck harness which is always a part of my gym bag. I sat on a bench,braced hands on knees and did 50 reps with 50 lbs, and using a couple forced reps to get it doing, and a few at the end I did another set of 50 with 75lbs.

Now the neck harness is probably the easiest way to know/track your volume, and progressively overload, but often it seems to leave my neck far too stiff, which no other method does. I’m not saying don’t use it, I’m simply advising that it may not be the smartest idea to use as your primary method of training. It’s a good way to know and show your strength though.

Don’t have a pencil neck. Build a neck so large that people  are intimidated by it. You’ll be far better off for it. Old Timers focused on big necks for a reason. They’re an important part of manly physique.

Recap:

Train Your Neck!

-J

Tumbling/Rolling Drills

Background

Years ago I wrestled, and around the same time I read an article by Dan John talking about bulletproofing your body. That concept stuck with me over time. Think about what you did on the grass in the military or football practice, and what you did on the mats in wrestling. You did a lot of up downs, rolls,jumps, and other “grass drills”. Most don’t do anything resembling such things ever, and most who have stop doing them once they aren’t being made to by a Sergeant or a coach.

Quitting these drills is a mistake. These movements are crazy good for weird wrestling style cardio.They bulletproof you by teaching you how to land/fall properly, and often can reduce soreness.

The key is to never quit them, and unlike my normal views on the necessity of warm ups I prefer to start slowly( I warned you). This is key if you’ve never done them, or haven’t in years.

Now under this category most think of burpees (which suck,but work), my focus is on the much lesser used (and known) rolls. Forward and backward rolls, known as tumbling in gymnastic circles, or whatever your wrestling coach decided to call them. Mine generally wanted us to “Dive” over the progressively higher and higher stick, the opposite of limbo lower.

At The Old Gym

At the old commercial gym on the 40ish yard strip of stretching mat(the place most do yoga,stretch,and what not) I would end sessions where i thought I’d have a sore spine with forward and backward rolls straight out of wrestling practice. I recalled how during wrestling my back actually always felt good, and the Dan John article and made a habit of doing them whenever I could grab enough mat to do them. The first time doing them you will gas. Your first reps are better off starting low to the ground.

Relearning The Lesson

Last weekend I was at the (new) gym, and bored. It was early morning, few were there and i grabbed the foldable mats and the jumping box put them on the ground in the same vicinity and preceded to play with rolls,kneeling jumps, broad jumps, and box jumps, essentially no rest for 10-15 minutes. This play retaught me how one maintains and gains athleticism. I occasionally do jumps, the rolls I hadn’t done since joining the new gym.

I was gassed, and during the session progressively went into the rolls higher and faster ie I started kneeling and progressed into jog into dive, or kneeling/broad jump into the dive and roll.

Using It

The next day I did hand and thigh lifts, and knew my spine would be sore, that if I didn’t do something that I’d have to crack my back constantly so again more rolling. Low and behold just like at the commercial gym, and wrestling practice my spine felt pretty the next day. Nowhere near the soreness it “should” have had.

I seriously suggest that you start doing forward and backward rolling.Use a mat, the soft surface makes loads of difference. One could call this tumbling drills. They are a very useful tool that most never implement.

Strange Looks?

You may get weird looks, or even snarky comments while doing so, but who cares? You are doing what it takes to have recovery of a God, and allowing yourself to go harder than everyone. Have fun, and don’t be stupid.

Off for some shovel GPP. (Blizzard related)

-J

 

Training Roots,Soreness, and Pound For Pound

Training Roots

Sometime the best progress we made as beginners, but I’m not talking  beginner gains, I’m talking the movements we do.

I was in my high school’s JROTC program and my sophomore year our PT test consisted of:

  1. Toe Touch Seated: Pass/Fail Based on how far past toes
  2. Pushups: Max in 1 minute
  3. Sit Ups: Max in 1 minute
  4. Walking Lunges : Max in 1 minute
  5. Shuttle Run: Pass/Fail Based on Time
  6. 1 Mile Run: Ace Standard was stupid fast sub 6 minute

This JROTC PT test was something I was training for before I started lifting weights in earnest. It was my sophomore year. My first time with a barbell was 2nd semester freshman year in PE class, and over the Summer I bought a 300lb weight set from Dick’s and a bench with squat stands from Walmart.

That summer, and sophomore year I really only hit some bench with friends or squatted sets of 10 by myself. That year I’d go to the school weight room and density train(unknowingly) dips and weighted calf raises in the gap between the bell and my bus.

Back to roots. The ace score for lunges was just under 60 in a minute, 58 I presume, so 29 reps per leg in a minute.My PR was about 72, and 1 or 2 cadets beat me. The 3 of us blew that Ace standard right out of the water.

You very well know my feeling towards pushups.(I love them with a scary OCD fixation),and  aside from the run who cares about the other events.

Generally PT in class consisted of Stretching, Pushups, Flutter Kicks, then lower body meaning alternating A/B days. A days consisted of Lunges , and B days of wall sits super set with wind sprints. 3 out of 4 sessions were ended with a mile run.

Simply  we did a shit ton of reps on all of them. Myself and a couple others also did PT at home.

Now I rarely squatted past 185 thinking(as a 15 year old would) that as long as I could squat bodyweight I was doing just fine on strength( my high school is pretty damn piss weak). One time i decided to test it and found I could rep my entire 300lb  set for a  set of 7. Every week for a while I’d do this,at the time weighing 174lbs at 6′ tall. So at 15 and 174lbs as a skinny fat kid I could hit 300 x7.

How the fuck did I do that?

The answer popped into mind yesterday(re-driven in this morning).

Lunges. Walking Lunges for high reps.

Yesterday I did 4 sets of 25 yards. 2 sets regular, 2 sets swamp lunges.

This leads me to:

Soreness

I don’t seem to get sore like most do. Yesterday’s end workout lunge fest caused some DOMS though.

My glutes are sore, whenever they are I’m stronger for it. Literally. If I squat today they’ll fire harder due to yesterdays activation. It’s part of why I advocate high frequency. Lots of sessions can act as primers for the next.

My traps are as well. Remember this 10 day ago?

Well I decided to shrug yesterday, and apparently I was stronger than on the 4th.

9 fucking reps with 675. Fuck your form, this is how one induces trap growth, and turns themself into a juggernaut.

Hell I even hit a fat bar power clean PR.

And repped it overhead because I can.

The session was a very much back to my training roots session. Knowing that forward rolls and backward rolls keep my spine feeling pretty(prehab style work anticipating shrug soreness) I did a 10 minute block of them(wrestling background)

Pound For Pound Strength

At 15 my squat reps pound for pound were just as strong if not stronger than now. It was do to all the walking lunges.

Pound for pound ability seems to be shown quite well by certain performance metrics. Pullups for one, and mile run ability for another.

When I was wrestling, and doing tons of mileage, or even running stairs post workout I made better gains. The aerobic work allowed me to train longer.

Back To Roots (Again)

Fuck mental feeling, I know what training makes me a juggernaut.

Outside the Gym: High Rep Calisthenics, Pushups, Chins,Dips, Lunges, Miles, Stairs, 40’s, 400m.

In the gym: High frequency squatting, regular volume squats, and heavy ass partials(squats, and shrug/rack pull/hand and thigh),stepper,rowing.

I know aerobic work must be kept in. It’ll only affect your leg strength for about 5 minutes.

Simply I need to combine my pre-gym training that worked, and my gym training that works. I’ve even mentioned this before only to slide after a few weeks of conditioning work.

I counted out how many times I’ve done lunges in the last two years. The result? 4 or 5 times. Sophomore year I did them 4-5 times weekly.

Back to the fucking roots. Calisthenics,Lunges, Partials,Frequency Squats, Volume Legs, And Motherfucking Cardio.

Gym Time.

Boom!

-J

 

Limits

I’m wholeheartedly inclined to believe, nay I know that there is no such thing as physical limits.

Before you joker’s comment about gravity, I mean as far as human performance is concerned.

There is no reason that a person couldn’t build up the work capacity and develop all aspects of performance to the point that they could move big weights,ultramarathon,and be explosive as hell; on a daily or near daily basis.

Look at history. There have been some amazing feats of labour,not even training. Simply men working with their hands,thier backs, and the sweat on thier brows.

A large percentage if not the majority of our abilities are rooted in our mind.

Former Navy SEAL Stew Smith had a quote paraphrased ” the human body will adapt to all you throw at it,running,calisthenics,swimming, weights do it long enough and the body will adapt ” This path of reasoning always resonated with me.( I wasn’t able to find the exact quote through Google or the notecard I wrote it on at 15)

It’s the weak thought that adaption won’t happen where so many gym goers go wrong.

I’ve been doing Olympic lifts near daily,and am treating March as shoulder specialization month.

The two and some extra back work are very synergistic.

I fully expect 225×20 jerks or better before the month is up.

Less than a week and I got it to around 10. I didn’t record that set so I’m unsure of the exact count. It was 9-11 reps though.

For the 3rd or 4th time in my life I power cleaned 255. I put it overhead,and barely missed stabilizing the 2nd jerk rep.( 1st time I overheaded that much.)

8 days in, and you can see a visible difference in traps,neck,and shoulders. Hell, all the heavy jerks have my abs thicker, closer to showing despite the highish bodyfat %.

I purposely am running myself into the ground with these. 5 days in a row of heavy and/or high volume. I know from past experience , like the quote says that if I do it long enough the body will adapt. I’m looking to not only up the power clean but lock in that new number as an everyday max.

I wasn’t supporting this with calories or sleep, just a strong dose of anger and never say die attitude.
Not eating enough. Train to light headedness, recover,next set the same. 50 reps of shoulders as a requirement, but I was closer to 100 heavy reps + 50-100 light reps each session . Far past required, and the hour minimum of Olympics + decent volume on rows.

The hunger was great for being aggressive and sttacking the bar, but after feeling very low I decided yesterday was calorie re-up day. I ate over 5000 calories, I’d estimate 5800. You know you need to eat when you zone out at the grocery store staring at a 10lb bag of chicken while contemplating what you’d like to do to it.

Today is going to be more of the same, tomorrow ditto. Training that is. Olys and shoulders. I need to hit some legs as well. Isometrics on the leg extension, some squats, maybe some inverse curls. Food no clue, I may keep low calorie for a few days . I am enjoying the aggression that is tied to it.

My gut says continue running myself into the ground,that adaption is close. I woke up mentally not wanting to do shit. Wanting the day off,and all that weakness. You know what I’m doing though? All the shit I have to. The closer and closer to gym time it gets the more I’m looking forward to a jerk PR attempt, on film, because I haven’t uploaded in a few days.

Holding the path always holding the path. Time to start cultivating the aggression again. Push the limits.

-J

 

Value Of High Frequency Training

I was inspired by two things to say fuck programming and lift daily by feal;
1. Chaos And Pain Blog
2. John Broz

Now Broz talked about a concept of floating pain. Pain will be on your body but isn’t serious,won’t stick around,and will change location seemingly daily.

Keep in mind I’d run myself into the ground over the weekend, having roughly 9 hours of gym time.

My lower back was locked. The insertion between it and my glutes made all movement uncomfortable.

Unlike my normal cracking of the back, I had to stretch as well, and often.

Even mentally I was leaning towards a day off. All “reasons” said off day.

I went about the to do list as usual,but had something come up that was stressing me,that I needed to metaphorically “sleep” on. I had to get out of my head so off to the gym I went.

Broz states that every session you do is an opportunity for a PR. Every session you miss is a lost chance for a PR. I wholeheartedly agree. It’s why I lift almost every day ( My normal is 2-3 days off monthly,with the occasional double session)
Every session is a PR opportunity.
Go in and you may surprise yourself.

Saturday having the desk girl film me I was at 99% of the way towards completing a 20lb (275) power clean PR, the fucker was high pulled to my chin. Sunday more jerks but was fatigued and so made it lighter and for higher reps. 3×10-15 with 185, ~5×1-3 with 205. Each set the first rep was power cleaned and the 205s were far harder than they should’ve been.

(Sunday’s Best Set)

Yesterday was something though. I went in purely to clear my mind.

Locker room, shit, out onto the gym floor and gave into the urge to step on the platform and do some caveman Olys. I figured I was fucked for cleans,so power snatches it was.

Singles at 135,165( little harder than it should be),185( slow but completed), even based on bad bar speed I felt I could get under more.
185 I only hit in the last 3 months, at first requiring a press out or straps, but progressed to put on show for chick staring level(meaning I could hit it practically gaurenteed), I had only tried to go past it a handful of times and even 190 would be failed abysmally.

There was no reason for it, I just knew I would hit 205. I loaded it up, grabbed a bodybuilder to film,he warned me the video might be shaky as his session was over and I’d assume his preworkouts crash and jitters were hitting. High pull very high, immediately reset, and got it overhead,but in a way that I had to throw it forward to keep from a possible break neck situation (I didn’t catch it well,had to dump it,but unlike a squat had no clue how to drop it behind me)

I stewed for a few minutes, grabbed one of the powerlifters, was instantly elevated when he thought I’d be going for reps, and hit it. Ugly ugly retarded caveman heave form,my ass actually dropped, it was almost too low to be a “power” snatch, but I fucking hit it, and celebrated in the most nonchalant manner as you’ll see in the vid.

Loaded to 275 and attempted the power clean twice. No dice, the pop was gone at that point. Joked with the camera men (same guy) about how quickly the pop can disappear.
He looked at me , commented it would’ve been pretty crazy to PR on both Olympics back to back. I am always my gyms psycho lifter.

A few triples of snatch grip high pulls , strapped at 275 lbs.

I ended up doing squats with a sort of Olympic form, then an hour+ of shoulder and back bodybuilding.

Some fun social shit there too.

Basically had I taken the day off, I would’ve ended up stewing at home,and wouldn’t have had the blast that the session ended up being. Hell it served its need for sleeping on my thoughts too.

None of that stuff would’ve happened had I not gone in though. For that reason get to the gym as often as you can make happen, and when you can’t there’s pushups and Hindu squats to be done.

Kill it guys. Boom!

-J

Wim Hof Breathing

How I First Heard of Wim Hof Breathing

I first heard about Wim Hof from a post at Danger and Play back in 2015. I watched the short clip, and ended up watching the full 2hr episode. About a week ago I found out there was another Joe Rogan Podcast featuring Wim. I added it to the watch later playlist intending to give it a listen once I had the alone time for a quiet listen.

Now its been roughly 18 months since I first tried his breathing. I will start by saying I have not done it as religiously as I should have. I generally did it when the time felt right, or I was in a bad place.

Sometimes I seem to have trouble getting the method of breathing down pat.(I’ve found shirtless helps get the pattern)most of the time I do it laying comfortably, occasionally I’ll do it standing . Whatever position you use, posture is key for the belly breathing that is required.

With all that said, listening to the second feature of Wim Hof last night/this morning inspired me to finally put these words on paper publicly. I’ve written multiple rough drafts on this subject.

Up until about a month ago, all I had experienced was the euphoria that the method causes you to feel from the hyper-oxygenation. I rarely if ever went more than 1 or 2 rounds. Here’s what I would do:

How To Do It:
  1. Breathe in ~30 times, full belly breathes, and let go. Not exhaling fully. At first the whole thing will feel odd, for me the let go part felt off. It was a shock for my body, I had never sans a couple of times breathed this manner. Within a couple sessions it was natural though. I was feeling something I’d only felt a couple of times prior, but had never attempted to learn/teach how to access.
  2. You hold for as long as possible, not forcing it, and when you feel the need to inhale, simply inhale. I’ve found putting the tongue on the room of my mouth and/or swallowing allows me to hold more comfortably and longer. The times will be astounding, especially if you go multiple rounds.
  3. Now Wim may have explained this differently, but what I do is hold the inhale for a 15 count, ~10-15 seconds, and then fully exhale again.
  4. At this empty point I tap my side of my stomach twice, my neck twice, and my forehead twice. This was mentioned as helping tap into the central nervous system in the first feature. I was intrigued, had long thought that we could access such things, and could see Wim had gone further into this subject than I.
  5. After this empty I start the cycle over should I feel the urge, or move on with my day.

Now one night at most a month ago, I decided to pull an all nighter due to only having the opportunity to sleep for an hour or two before I’d have get up shovel snow, and then be able to attempt to sleep for real.

It Clicks

Unable to sleep, and not wanting to sit around I decided to give multiple rounds of WIm Hof breathing a shot. It ended up being 90 minutes of the method. My mind seemed to go to another, clearer, simpler place. The clutter seemed gone. I seemed to both be, and know. As I was breathing I had the letting go somewhat click. Here’s what it looked/sounded like for me:

Individual Variations

I found this method of breathing to be what works best for me while I lay on my back and go about doing it. Keep in my mind this was the second round where the letting go clicked.

If I do the breathes standing up due to the difference in posture the letting go phase is a little different.

That’s probably why seemingly every video where someone does Wim Hof breathing seems different from the next. Same premise, but different effects on different people. Experimentation, and individuality is how I see it.

Last night I listened to the second feature, and while listening did the breath work again. It clicked far faster this time, and I don’t recall having done this more than once since the night the letting go clicked.

Fired Up+ The Method Works

Hearing motivating stuff always gets me fired up, I ended up taking a cold shower, drying off and sitting outdoors in a wife beater,shorts, and flip flops for about 10 minutes just taking in the world. Keep in mind it was 20 degrees where I’m at, so I should have been bothered. But going in with belief, and the right state of mind it was simply rejuvenating.

Most likely  I will have to add additional Wim related posts to cover all my thoughts. I’m couldn’t possibly cover it all in a 1000 words.

Give it a shot, try his methods. I’ve not put near the effort I could/should have and I can see/feel the benefits practicing it very nonchalantly.

Belief is a powerful thing. So is an open mind. The one willing to learn, and dive into esoteric subjects, even the thoughts that were/almost beaten out of them, vanguard stuff, will reap the rewards. Open minds learn vast amounts. It can pay dividends.

Breathe is free, you can do this at any time(best try it in a safe environment first i.e. not driving/operating heavy machinery for example). Give it a shot.

As Wim himself has said in an interview “Breathe Motherfucker”

Have fun with it. It works wonders.

-J

An Update 5/13/17 : Lately I’ve been doing the fully in, letting go  without the breath holds as a way to get aggressive. Particularly for crushing power cleans, but it has other uses along with visualization. For example: visualizing sex while doing so for gets me fully erect. This usage gives me blood flow to my dick even while lifting. This usage feels damn good and very primal.

 

 

Natty Recovery Ability

The other day at the gym a guy similar in weight, and strength levels softly accused me of using steroids. He was saying I train too much, and that i should recover more. I told him when i train crazy like this that i just start eating far more, and from dirtier sources.He was trying to tell me upping the calories wouldn’t work, that the only way what I do is possible is if i was upping a steroid dose. Firstly that makes me wonder, does he use? But it also begs the question of why are so many scared to do more work. Many seem to think overtraining will strike, and they’ll lose ALL of their gains should they do any more than their low volume program calls for.

Shit like that frankly irks me. You see I quickly outgrew that mindset, and started getting far better results when I stopped doing a written program and simply trained hard, often on the same lifts over and over. If something went stale, I’d switch it up, hit the same part with another lift, or simply use my PT to hit that part for a while.

It seems like gym goers are always afraid of doing too much work, but never look for ideas of what is physically possible at elite levels i.e. at Westside Barbell, the Chinese weightlifting team,any NFL team, or simply stop and think about how much work the average construction worker does. Many place limits on what/how much can be done in a manner that’s ridiculous. Wouldn’t it be better to ride to the edge,and  once you start losing your pop, back off and find yourself far more capable than if you had simply done a program as written?

People think nothing of a high schooler having football 2 a days, or of a kid lifting and playing hours of basketball daily. I personally did PT in class 2-3 days a week(JROTC) played basketball every Friday, wrestled/track, and still lifted 2-4 days weekly. I ran myself into the ground while in high school, have squatted with very high frequency, and have done pushups almost daily for about 9 years. I’d done so much work when I was a teen that my recovery is simply very fast. Was running myself into the ground the best for my athleticism? No, I did overdo it in school somewhat,and was not as successful an athlete in high school as i could’ve been. Doing all this built a great work capacity though. In my mind that’s a fair trade off. I’m reaping it’s reward years later.

Simply you recover as much as your work capacity allows. It is easier to build when younger, but hey, everything is possible. You can do more. You may simply have to eat a bit more, and/or sleep a bit more. Not rocket science. Eventually your body will adapt. It will adapt to anything you throw at it for long enough. Hell it can even adapt to low sleep, low calories. Life happens, your situation will always include snags.

Know any laborers who outwork just about everyone? I do. My father is a prime example of this. He’s never lifted weights, but can comfortably be on his feet and active all day long. Why? It was his job for a significant part of his life, and he never thought that he’d go too far, if he had to take frequent off days he would’ve lost his job. Eventually he adapted, and the work isn’t near as hard as it was the first day. Again, adaption is not rocket science.

Basically the standard gym thinking about physical ability is wrong. Too many are scared to stray from their program, and truly find out what they are capable of. The human body is far more capable than most would realize. In an ideal world where you can sleep, train, and eat as much as possible the amount you would become capable of is staggering. Look to history, there are many examples of break back all day work building juggernauts. The gym has become far too comfortable for most.

Do More Work, and don’t accuse those that are capable of more as having to be on steroids. Naturals are capable of far more than standard thought suggests. But only if they change their mindset from “I’m Natty, that’s why i suck,steroids!?!?!?”, to “I train hard, and will outwork you bitch!”

Does doing 500 pushups one night then benching the next morning seem unreasonable to you? How about impossible? Trust me it’s not. In fact it’s pretty easy.

If you want to train for hours have at it. The worst that can happen is you’ll need to back off. Be smart and don’t get injured, not that you can in a gym anyway. Recovery and ability are far more mental than physical . I love training and therefore do lots of it. If I can, so can you.

Train hard, become a beast. No excuses, push the envelope.

-J

15 Foods That Will Get You Jacked

Obviously gaining weight involves taking in more calories than you are burning. Some people like eating clean, personally I like eating dirtier, and found that it was far simpler to eat so called “dirty” foods and get big. Every time I’ve bulked it hasn’t involved the cleanest of food sources. Here are some of the foods to use:

15 Foods That Will Get You Jacked
  1. Milk- If you can handle it, a gallon of while milk packs 128 grams of protein, a ton of fat, and a ton of carbs, and 2400 calories. Cost $2-3, drink a gallon daily, and you have half your nutrition requirements.
  2. Ground Beef- High In Protein and Fat, you’ll get ballpark 1300 calories and 70 grams of protein in the fattiest, cheapest cut per lb. A solid meal is an entire pound mixed with cheese, and rice( if you want the carbs).
  3. Eggs- can be consumed in 1000 manners, my favorites being fried in copious amounts or drank raw as part of a shake.
  4. Top Ramen- just shy of 2400 calories for $1, lots of carbs, some fat, 60 grams of protein. Quick to make, you may want to toss the flavor packets though.
  5. Rice- I prefer white over brown, I stomach it better, similar in cost to ramen, but healthier, and can’t be consumed in as high quantities( less calorically dense). I’ll mix this with cheese, ground beef, eggs, peas. Basically as the carb base for a meal. If I can’t stomach anything a bowl of white rice mixed with Mexican mix cheese is my go to.
  6. Chicken- fattier cuts, just as high in protein, are cheaper, and taste better than breast meat. You have no idea how unlikely it is for me to want chicken breast.
  7. Frozen Pizza- Lots of calories, generally around 70 grams of protein here. The laziest way to eat 5000 calories, without it being too terrible is a gallon of milk and a frozen pizza.
  8. Peanut Butter- by the spoonful, as part of a shake, or as part of a sandwich. Cheap and easy, there’s a reason we grow up eating it.
  9. Shakes- Not your lame whey in water shake, but a blended mix of everything but the kitchen sink. Milk and/or eggs as the base, peanut butter, bananas, olive oil(yes I’ve drank it in shakes), oats. Anything that sounds good to you and passes the will it blend test. Have fun here.
  10. Soda- Need calories, and have a hard time eating? Drinking them is your friend, like it is with milk or a nutritional shake. While soda is straight sugar, and has no nutritional value, we’re here just for the calories. It’s not hard to drink a 2 liter, and it’s an extra ~800 calories if you do.
  11. Oats- Already mentioned as part of shakes, but they can be eaten as oatmeal, or raw mixed in with fried eggs(before you fry it). Very versatile, and a very “Clean” food.
  12. Junk Food- Too many options to name one in specific, they are an easy way to get calories in. Often cheap, and somewhat addicting a sweat tooth can make it much easier to pack in calories. For example a 6 pack of Honey Buns is roughly 1200 calories. That can be demolished in a minute.  It’s not hard to eat a bag of Doritos, a dozen donuts, or really any junk food for that matter. If you’re trying to get bigger they can be a godsend. Don’t worry about  the fact you’re eating the whole pack, that’s the goal here.
  13. Mozzarella sticks- like the frozen pizza, similar in calories, and slightly higher in protein, they’ve been a staple for me as of late.
  14. Any Food You Love/Works For You- If you like it, and it can be eaten in copious quantities have at it.
  15. Canned Tuna- due to the vagueness of #14 this makes at least my list. I personally love it. I will eat as much as I can get my hands on to the disgust of most around me. Haven’t died of mercury poisoning yet.
Conclusion

Now you don’t have to treat my list as the be all and end all of bulking food choices. I put #14 Any Food You Love/Works For You there for a reason. You have to find what works for you. Some foods I list may disgust you(tuna), be overpriced ( eggs, they highly vary in cost by locale), or you may not be of European descent and would shit yourself if you drink milk. Do what works for you.

-J

 

 

 

 

How To Do A One Arm Pushup

It never ceases to amaze me how few people have the ability to do one arm pushups. Over the years I’ve only met a couple that can.
I’ve personally had the ability since January 2015.

My First One Arm Pushup

I was with a buddy doing calisthenics one night, and the idea to try a one arm pushup struck him.

Hilariously he fell on his face,and then again a second time.Then it was my turn. At first I too fell on my face,but felt like it was due to not knowing the technique,not because I couldn’t do one. I tried again and got it.Took a rest period. Then tried on the other side, and hit a couple reps there now that I knew the technique. I went back to the first side and repped out. I believe I went 8 with my right arm,and 4 on my left arm that first night.

Requisite Strength

But how did I get the strength for this?

I’d been doing pushups practically daily since 2008, and had a roughly 300 bench at 235. The strength required for this isn’t hard, it’s more of a gymnastic skill than a strength feat.

Run the numbers, a pushup’s resistance is roughly 60% of bodyweight being pressed. Factoring in twist, and comparing my max reps with bodyweight on bench to max reps of one arms I’d say it’s closer to 50% bodyweight on one hand. ( Range of 10-20 reps depending on how/whether I train either) The strength required is a bodyweight bench press. All men should be able to do these.

Round Up

Give it a try,if you fail but have the requisite strength give it another shot, realize you have to twist towards your hand. They’re a fun party trick, and a great tool to have should you ever lack equipment. Build the skill, it’ll come in use.

Once you can do a one arm pushup, it opens your mind to more,to better like a one arm chinup. (Update : or the one handed bar hangs I’ve very much enjoyed doing since summer 2017.)

Get after it.

-J