5 Steps to Building Insane Explosive Football Strength and Speed

Guest Post By Coach Steve Morris

The world of football training is in a sad state of affairs.  A downturn, if you will.

See, a lot of programs I see on the internet promise explosive football strength, but, very few deliver. Unfortunately for us football players, most of the workouts and programs are written by some 170-lb personal trainer (who no doubt couldn’t make the team in high school). They come up with these odd programs filled with high volume, stability balls, “core” work and lots of cool, new-age exercises they learned at the latest ACE certification clinic.

Last summer, the football training world hit rock bottom. In a Google search for “football training” one of the top results was a football strength workout written by a trainer from Bally’s and listed on the fraud gym’s website.

What I saw damn near made me vomit with rage. Essentially, everything was 3 x 8, eventually working your way down to 4 reps (strength work, I suppose). It was a horrid combination of the old bodybuilding stand-by sets and reps meeting weenie-personal-trainer inspired Western Periodization.

This sad state of affairs is unnecessary. There’s around 180,000 websites with some sort of football strength training info, and, honestly, about 179,995 of them are total trash. Obviously, Elliot’s site is packed with awesome football training info, and I go out of my way to make sure my site is as well. Maybe it’s because we both actually played the game and know what it takes to excel?

Despite the almost unlimited fountains of misinformation parading as strength training sites confusing players, there is hope. Getting stronger, faster and more explosive for football is actually not that complicated. It’s gut-busting hard work, but it’s not really rocket science. True football training will build your body, mind and character and you will become a better man for having lived through it.

How do you actually go about getting stronger and more explosive?

Glad you asked.

Here are 5 easy steps to building insane explosive football strength and speed.

1. Do Max Effort Work

Make no mistake about it, unless you are strong, you will not be a great football player. Strength dictates all other aspects of athleticism (speed, agility, explosiveness, etc). The stronger football player will almost always win.

This confuses most people. They assume that you don’t need to be super strong to be a great football player. They also fail to see the correlation between strength and speed (we’ll cover that in #2).

Now, a lot of players do accept this but go about it in the wrong way. I get countless emails from people asking me to evaluate their programs. Usually, they’re working hard but not getting the results they want. And, usually it’s because they are confused about how to actually get stronger.

We’ve been conditioned to think that doing sets of 4 - 6 and simply adding 5lbs to the bar every week is getting stronger. It’s not.

First, you’re not building maximum strength.

Second, you will plateau rather quickly. If we all added 5-lbs a week forever, guys would be benching 5,000lbs.

You must work with low reps, yes, even as low as singles, to build raw, max strength.

I know, “low reps are dangerous!” Bull. High reps are more dangerous. Ever watch someone do a set of 10 in the Squat? Reps 7 - 10 are ragged, they twist, their knees pinch in, and they use way too much back. The more reps you do, the more fatigued you will become and the worse your form will get.

If you’re a beginner or you train beginners, and you still fear the single, do multiple sets of 2 or work up to a max set of 2 - 3. This will build top end strength. And, for those of you who feel you need to do higher reps, think of it this way; you’re max bench is 200lbs and you can do sets of 8 with 150. You smarten up, decide to get stronger, push your max up to 250 and suddenly find that you can now do sets of 8 with 200. Which is better? 150 x 8 or 200 x 8?

And, before you get excited, it doesn’t work the opposite way. As many a disappointed “projected-max” following football player will tell you, focusing on increasing your weight on high reps sets has nothing to do with your max strength.

So, you need to do Max Effort work. You need to “work up to” a heavy set of 1 - 3 reps, constantly trying to beat your previous records.

Working up is simple, so stop over thinking it.

It should take 5 - 8 sets; depending on your strength (obviously a 600-lb bencher will need more sets than a guy pushin’ 150).

Do this:

Bar x 5
95 x 3
125 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3

Next time, beat 155. I know, there’s barely any volume, how are can this make you stronger? Rest assured, most top power lifters, the strongest guys on Earth, use a similar approach.

Lead off one Upper Body day and one Lower Body day with a Max Effort exercise. Stick to big, compound movements like Bench, Incline, Deadlifts, Box Squats, etc.

2. Maximum Force to the Bar

If there is one area of football training, and, strength training in general that confuses people and fuels the fringe, anti-strength idiots it’s the subject of bar speed. The HIT Jedis, the personal training crowd, the CrossFit Cults and the Wobble Board Wrecking Crews all have done a great job teaching young football players and lifters that lifting heavy will make you slow. “Just look at that big, fat Powerlifter Squatting 800-lbs! He’s moving slow, and if you get strong, you’ll be slow too!”

Much better to do Indian Club Juggling Front Squats on a Swiss ball, eh?
What they miss is the intent to move the bar fast that counts. This might be the simplest concept in strength training yet so many miss it. Just try to lift the bar as fast as possible, every set, every rep, every exercise.

You need to train your Central Nervous System to act fast. When it gets the message that we need to move several hundred pounds quickly, it can easily figure out to move just your bodyweight pretty damn fast. Try lifting a heavy weight slowly and see what happens.

When I get high school players telling me they were taught to lift the bar with a 4 seconds up and 3 seconds down bar speed, my head explodes. They wonder why they can’t get faster! Well, they just spent an entire off-season teaching their brain, body and muscles to be slow, what else would you expect.

Dave Tate wrote something to the effect of, “Warm up sets should feel like maxes and maxes should feel like warm up sets.” That, my friends, does a hell of a job summing it up.

Every set, every rep, every exercise…lift the bar like you’re trying to throw it off of you because it’s about to crush you and end your existence. That’s good motivation to get the bar moving.

3. Posterior Chain

If you want to get faster for football, be able to drive a defender into the stands, or run people over, you need to work your posterior chain like your life depends on it. Your hamstrings, glutes, calfs, and all the muscles of the back must be hammered, often.

I don’t blame young players for training the beach muscles. They don’t know any better and that’s where you’ll notice progress the quickest. But, for coaches and writers who over-promote “bodybuilding” style programs, there’s no excuse.

You need to center your program around:

Box Squats
Box Front Squats
Deadlifts
Cleans
Deadlifting of odd objects (sandbags, stones, etc)
Snatch Grip Deadlifts
Romanian Deadlifts
Squats and Front Squats (regular, no box)
Lateral Lunges

If you focus your efforts on those exercises, you will be miles ahead of the competition. Do them heavy, lift them fast, and do them often.

4. Build Transitional Power

Another place where many football strength programs fall short is in the area of transitioning weight room strength into on the football field power.

There are plenty of big, strong dudes who stink up the collective football fields of the world every year. Sometimes it’s because they are just dumb or hopelessly unathletic. More often, it’s because they lifted hard but never took the steps needed to transfer power from the gym to the field.

The two quickest ways to do this are:

Using a modified Dynamic (Speed) Training method
Using a simple Plyometric program

Dynamic training is simply lifting a sub-maximal weight as fast as possible. Typically, this would be 50 - 60% of your max. This is done for leg training exercises like Squats and Box Squats.

Because the body has a built-in protective mechanism, simply lifting a lighter bar has its limitations because the body will slow you down as you reach lock-out. To get around this we need to “accommodate resistance.” This is done by adding bands, chains, or weight releasers to the bar so that as you lift it, it actually gets heavier. In this case, you must continue to accelerate all the way through lockout but you over-ride the body’s instinct to slow down because, again, the bar will move a bit slower despite your intent to move it quickly.

Bands can be a bit extreme for the beginner and hard to set up, so your best bet is to use chains. EliteFTS.com has good ones. By training in this way, you teach the body to have speed and power at every joint angle. See, when we lift, we often over-train the bottom portion and under-train the top, since we are weakest at the bottom of a lift and strongest toward the top.

Chains gather on the ground at the bottom of the lift, and begin to come off the ground as you lift the bar, actually increasing the weight progressively as you near completion.

This can not only make us weaker but it can teach the CNS bad habits. Think of your body position when you start to explode through a tackle…it’s a lot like the last 1/3 of a squat. Why would you want that area to be weaker than necessary?

Plus, it teaches acceleration. Your body is forced to accelerate through the entire movement, rather than slowing down as most do naturally.

The next step in transitioning power is to use a simple plyo program. I do mean simple.

People have this weird fascination with plyometrics. I don’t know if it’s the old “if it’s Russian and secret, it must be awesome!” school of thought or because every commercial for overpriced spandex shows guys jumping around on boxes. Either way, people have managed to take a highly effective training tool and pervert it.

Plyometrics, by definition, are exercises that allow the muscle to reach maximum strength in as short a period of time as possible.1 Re-read that and think of its applications to
football training! That’s what it’s all about. Producing as much force as possible, as fast
as possible. This is what makes them so great at teaching the transfer of strength to the field.

Remember, Force is Mass x Acceleration. Your mass x your acceleration = big plays and big hits…

Plyos are great, but you must start slowly. Guys read an article about plyos and start doing depth jumps off the roof of their house. Don’t be that guy. Start off with something as basic as a Box Jump.

Stand in front of a box, dip quickly and leap onto the box. Step down and repeat.

The next step would be Multiple Box Jumps. Excellent exercise, but this is where guys start going wrong.

When you do multiple Box Jumps, you must absolutely focus on spending almost no time on the ground. Jump, step off, hit the ground and immediately jump to the next box. Too much ground time will make you slower!

When you first start just keep it simple. 3 - 4 sets of 5 jumps before your heavy leg work is plenty. Concentrate on speed and explosiveness and minimizing ground time.

Between the Dynamic Training and the Plyos you’ll be well on your way to taking all of your new-found strength and size and turning it into useable power to mow down your competition on the field…that is the point of all this training.

5. Fix Strength Gaps

Even with all the Max Effort, Dynamic Effort, chains and plyos, you can still fail to reach maximum potential. Don’t get me wrong, those things are the foundation of training and doing them will take you far. But, I know the guys who read this site and the guys I train are not interested in just being good…we want to be elite!

No matter how hard you train in the weight room, you can still develop strength gaps.

Strength gaps are just what they sound like. Little gaps in your strength that can take a 600-lb Squatter and render him unable to throw a block.

See, when we lift barbells we go up and down and, as we discussed, can lose out unless we use bands and chains.

But, even with bands and chains, the weight remains in one plane of motion and relatively fixed in resistance (bands and chains add resistance as the bar goes up).
Dumbbells and K-bells help by training some of the stabilizers and Prowlers and sleds allow us to move laterally. But, there’s still something missing.

That missing something is Sandbags and other Odd-Object/Strongman style training. We tend to go mostly with Sandbags because of the safety factor, but, we also do Farmers Walk, Sled Pulling, Truck Pushing, and some Stone Trainer work.

Sandbags work because they are “alive.” They move, the weight shifts, the bag changes shape…it literally fights back, like an opponent.

I’ve seen some strong dudes get embarrassed by a 150lb Sandbag because they don’t have the stabilizer strength to tackle the beast.

Look at the Sandbag Clean and Press.

You have to pick up this moving blob of weight. Then, you shift it to the thighs and explode up to the chest – all while engaging the muscles of the back, arms, shoulders, biceps, low back, glutes, hamstrings and abs. Now, you have to press this thing overhead.

Again, the bag moves around forcing the stabilizers in the shoulders to work hard (so the bag doesn’t come down on your big head). Once you get it overhead, you’ve worked the shoulders, the triceps, the upper chest (as a stabilizer) and the back and legs again.

It’s a fight from start to finish.

This is the kind of movement that makes the body one piece, a whole of strong, unshakable muscle. No leakage is possible when you are used to wrestling Sandbags.

You can use Sandbags and Strongman movements as finishers at the end of your training session, as a stand-alone conditioning tool, or in place of barbell exercises.

The Take Home

Now you have a plan to increase your explosive strength, get faster for football and become the kind of player you always wanted to be. Or, you can choose to go with the run of the mill style of training and be average. If you choose the latter, don’t worry, you can hide for a while. But, eventually you’ll run into guys who train the right way…and we’ll be waiting for you.

Steven Morris is a Strength Coach in the Philadelphia and South Jersey areas and owner of Explosive Football Training. He still plays football and will only retire at gun-point. He has been lifting weights for over 16 years and has been helping people achieve their fitness and strength goals for over a decade.
You can get the Free Book “7-Steps to Building Insane Game Speed” at www.ExplosiveFootballTrainingProgram and www.ExplosiveFootballTraining.com

Jeff Anderson Interview

If you missed last night’s Muscle Specialization call with Jeff Anderson “The Muscle Nerd”, you can hear it below.

Here is what you will learn from this 45 minute interrogation:

* The elite “Eastern Block” secret developed to create eye-popping separation in the inner pectoral muscles to give you that “mini-Grand Canyon” look that’s so hard to achieve!

* The “sweet spot” of your rep range that triggers massive growth in even the most stubborn biceps …and how something as simple as your hand position can be the difference in results like a champ…or a chump!

* How a simple adjustment to how FAST you move the weights can help you dig deep, deep, deep into an area of your muscles you never even knew existed!

* How to zero in on those hard to hit “lower abs”…and “Experts” don’t like to talk about this topic…but it’s time someone did! And that someone is ME!

* How to achieve amazingly WIDE shoulders. that make you “look” a hell of a lot bigger…and make your WAIST look a hell of a lot SMALLER!

CLICK THE PLAYER BELOW TO LISTEN:

 

Tampa Strongman Training Gym

I can remember like it was yesterday being a fresh college graduate with dreams of stardom and grandeur. I had just gotten my CSCS and thought that I would have every athlete beating down my door to be able to train with me. So I picked up and moved from Gainesville down to Tampa to take a position with the University of South Florida as an intern in the strength & conditioning. This was the “break” I was looking for.

In order to make ends meet I got a job as a Personal Trainer at the Lifestyle Family Fitness. Everything was going as planned….so I thought!

A month into the “internship” all I learned was that much of the College Strength & Conditioning business was flooded with cronyism instead of knowledge. I was a glorified janitor that got to babysit athletes that had NO desire to get better. To top things off, the hard work I put into my clients at Lifestyle yielded more of a return for them than myself. I was discouraged, frustrated and an overall shell of the person that was so enthusiastic months before. I was on the verge of giving up on my dream when I found out about 2 individuals that would ultimately change my whole perspective on what was possible.

I remember googling “Tampa Strongman”. What I found was a website run by Strength Camp owner and professional strongman Elliott Hulse. The first article I read of his hit me like a Mack truck!

Much like Joe Defranco and Zach Even-Esh did with there warehouse gyms in New Jersey, Elliott accomplished with his Strength Camp in Florida. He was able to create a competitive, results oriented environment that ANY and EVERY serious athlete would travel hours (literally) to train at. And like Zach Even-Esh before him, he was kind enough to “pay it forward”, to help others realize the dream that he had realized by creating a blue print for those that had the stones to stick it to the corporate gym structure and go out on their own!

So with a rebirth of vigor and a fresh new idea, I vowed to create Tampa’s first, best, and ONLY warehouse gym that people from all over would recognize and dream about training at! I didn’t want to cut any corners, so I wanted to get the best in Powerlifting, Olympic Lifting and Strongman equipment in order to create strong, explosive, and scary athletes! For my Powerlifting gear, I went to THE AUTHORITY in Powerlifting, EliteFTS.com.

I focused on the basics, because lets face it, the basics are what build the foundation for a winning athlete. I loaded up on Texas Power Bars (without a doubt the most versatile, best constructed bars made) specialty bars, bands, chains, glute-ham raise, reverse hyper and of course, what should be the center piece of every serious gym, two Collegiate Power Racks (NO CURLS IN THE RACK!!!).

For strongman equipment, I took a different route. While purchasing my powerlifting equipment, I learned quickly that when you want the best, you have to PAY for the best. Not so for strongman equipment! This is where Elliott had a huge influence, literally saving me thousands of dollars!

You see, I had always believed in the power of implementing Strongman exercises into an athletes training program, however always trained with others implements. It never crossed my mind that with a little leg work, any and all of the strongman implements that help build rock solid athletes, could be so simple to attain. Want a tire? They are free! How about a keg? Raid an unsuspecting fraternity house when they are too banged up to remember their name (or go to a local bar and pay the deposit on an empty shell). Sandbag? Use your brain on this one! You get the idea!

However the most important nugget of info I received was to find a good welder. This will save you time and money and is invaluable in the unfortunate circumstance that any of your equipment is damaged. So after taking the advice of Elliott, I managed to put together a healthy stable of Strongman equipment for next to nothing!

Now, with the gym in place, and my dream realized, the real work begins! I can honestly say without the inspiration and guidance of Elliott, I would be in a dead end, 9-5 job, complaining about having a case of the Monday’s and being that much closer to being the guy on youtube famous for stapling a TPS report to his Bosses forehead.

Take it from me…NOBODY deserves that life! So if I could offer anything in closing, I would tell you not to give up on what you love. With hard work and guidance, it is there for the taking!

Chandler Marchman is the owner of Elite SC Gym in Tampa Florida.  http://www.goelitesc.com/
Located at => 606 S. Tampania Ave. Tampa, FL 33609

Open your own Warehouse Gym just like Chandler, learn how with my FREE CD => http://www.WarehouseGymBusiness.com

How To Correct Deadlift Exercise Form

If you’re a Strength Camp Member or have been reading my website for some time, you know that I love dead lifts… not only for their strength and power building capacity but also for their ability to correct common muscular imbalances when performed correctly.

This video teaches an effective exercise that will strengthen the scapular adductors and mid back muscles while stretching the upper traps, pec minor and biceps.  Thus correcting the “thoracic kyphosis” posture (rounding of the shoulders) present in many young weaklings

If you enjoyed this video please subscribe to my YouTube Channel as I will be updating the channel regularly with footage that may not be posted on my blog.

Go here => http://www.youtube.com/strengthcamp and click the yellow SUBSCRIBE button in order to recieve exclusive my YouTube updates.  Thanks!

Strength Camp Sponsored Strongman

Strength Camp sponsored athlete Don Vining won the Fort Meyer’s Strongman Contest in the Lightweight division.

Don is a pretty strong dude that trains with me and our Saturday morning Strongman crew at Strength Camp.  He is the first athlete that I have ever sponsored, and he was well worth the investment

He destroyed the competition and looked super explosive!! — Like a real strongman should

I’m contemplating whether or not to continue with the sponsorship program… but, if you are a competitive Strongman, Power lifter, Olympic Lifter, MMA, etc.  comment at the bottom of this post if you may be interested in becoming a Strength Camp sponsored athlete.

Check out Don kicking ass below!

Why Your Bench Press Sucks

Early in my exercise physiology education I was introduced to the idea of “sports specific training”.  This is a method of training where by the strength coach has an athlete perform exercises that are analogous to what the athlete may experience on the playing field.

Often these “sports specific” drills would become very wacky and even dangerous… I remember watching a video of an NFL running back sprinting on a treadmill while his nut job strength coach swung a bat at this legs in order that he may jump over it, simulating the avoidance of a tackle.

Besides being a complete waste of time, I feel that many of these “sports specific” drills and the wacky coaches that use them need to be castrated.

Now, here is where is gets really weird…

These “bat swinging” weirdos are the same ones to claim that exercises like The Bench Press are not “sport specific” and should be excluded from strength and conditioning programs for most athletes.

This is absurd!

The bench press is one of the BEST exercises for packing slabs of lean muscles on the tiny bird chests of most young athletes.

Now here is the real problem…

Some athletes need to “descend” the bench press exercise, especially if they can’t do a set of 20 body weight push ups.  Also, like with all exercises there is a right way and a wrong way to perform the bench press.

Check out this free video series by AJ Roberts that shows you exactly how to bench press properly, avoiding unnecessary injury and plateaued strength.

Click here to see them ==> http://hulsestrength.com/recommends/BenchPress

Truth About Quickness Teleseminar

Tell me, does this describe you?

=> You or your athletes are as strong as Bessy The Blue Ox but as heavy footed and slow as a sloth.

=> Your athletes seem to have their feet “stuck in mud” while the other team’s super stars are sprinting circles around them (while maliciously tapping him on the shoulder and playing “duck and hide”).

=> It always seems as if your athletes legs are spinning in circles but going no where, just like Elmer Fudd when hunting that “Waskally Wabbit…

If so, then you can finally remove your palms from your wet, tearful face and breathe a sigh of fresh air…

Because for the first (and perhaps only) time, tonight I am opening up the lines to my PRIVATE MEMBERS ONLY MONTHLY CALL-IN where I will introduce you to a genetically average “kid” who discovered a simple yet effective method for transforming himself from being as “heavy legged” as the weighty waitress in IHop to being as quick as a whip.

BUT FIRST! – If you’re anything like me you probably don’t want to waste an entire precious hour on ANY Tuesday evening listenign to some dude you’ve never heard of rant about how he’s made himself into a speed demon by bouncing around on a hardwood floor.

So, make sure you take a good look at this free video course that he is giving away in the link at the bottom of this email.

Here are the details for tonight’s call!

When ==> Tuesday July 7th @ 9:00 PM EST

Where ==> 712-775-7100  code - 1029922*

*** STOP RIGHT NOW! — Go and write the information above on your left forearm in purple ink so that you won’t forget!  I am NOT sending out a reminder email so be a “grown up” and make sure you remember to get on this call.

Oh, and before I forget…. get the free “Truth About Qucikness” video course that is being offered in the link below

Go Here NOW ====> http://hulsestrength.com/recommends/Quickness

–

Can Creatine Make You Jump Higher?

Here is an another great guest post by Coach Jacob Hiller author of The Jump Manual , about using creatine to increase your vertical jump! –> Learn How To Increase Your Vertical Jump!

Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that supplies energy to muscle, proven to help increase muscles by Harvard University professors in 1912. This substance is naturally found in skeletal vertebrae.

Why should this be used in conjunction with vertical jump training?

1. Recent research has shown that the consumption of high glycemic carbohydrates in conjunction with Creatine increases muscle store and performance. This is a great way to increase the strength needed for increased vertical jump.

2. Creatine increases power during short sessions of high-intensity aerobic exercise. This is especially important when you are training for explosion for your vertical jump in brief but powerful sessions at the gym.

3. Studies done with Creatine and mice show an improvement in lifespan and overall health of the mice. Other tests proved that in particular, vegetarians improved mentally and cognitively with its use, which is found in meat products. Research is also being done to test the effectiveness of Creatine supplementation for those with a variety of muscular and neurological diseases.

Successful athletes who have openly used this substance:

- Linford Christie, 100 meter Olympic gold medalist
- Sally Gunnell, 400 meter hurdles Olympic gold medalist
- Mark McGuire, Athletics and Cardinals Major League baseball player
- Gary Sheffield, Mets Major League baseball player

In actuality, probably all popular athletes use this supplementation.

Who shouldn’t use creatine?

You can always ask your doctor to be safe, but those with renal dysfunctions (kidney problems) are advised to avoid creatine. Also, “loading,” or consumption of more than 20g per day, should be avoided. Drinking enough water with your creatine intake is the most important thing to remember when using the supplement.

For a healthy athlete, Creatine is a proven safe method to increase muscle mass and a healthy way to obtain more of what the body already naturally produces. Creatine is accepted in most athletic circles as the most effective way to achieve your athletic potential via muscle gain, including increasing vertical jump.

By the way… if you’re a dedicated athlete with a desire to excel at your sport, would you like more tips on how to jump higher?

<== Check out The Jump Manual **Click Here**

Jacob Hiller is the creator of a bestselling vertical jump program,
The Jump Manual , and is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on vertical jump training.

PS - Check out this awesome deal on Hypergain Creatine

Add 20 lbs. to your bench press?

Doberman Dan Barks Bench Press Pyramiding Bites

by Doberman Dan

Pictured above Jo Jordan

“Why I Think ‘Pyramiding’ Sucks! And How You Can Add Up TO 20 Pounds
To Your Bench Press IMMEDIATELY By NOT Pyramiding!”

From my very introduction to the Iron Game over 20 years ago, (geez, that makes me sound old!) all of the literature, books, and courses I’ve read or followed advocated “pyramiding” your weights on the basic exercises. If you don’t know what “pyramiding” is, here’s an example using the bench press:

Set 1: 12 reps with 135 lbs.
Set 2: 10 reps with 185 lbs.
Set 3: 8 reps with 225 lbs.
Set 4: 6 reps with 250 lbs.
Set 5: 4 reps with 265 lbs.
Set 6: 2 reps with 285 lbs.

Even as a novice bodybuilder, after a few weeks of “pyramiding” I thought that it was kinda stupid. After all, if the goal of doing all this work in the gym is to get stronger and bigger…and we’re supposed to constantly strive for pushing more and more weight in the basic exercises…then all this “pyramiding” stuff seemed to me to be a lot of wasted energy on lighter unproductive sets.

Plus it seemed like I would be able to do more weight on the heavier sets if I hadn’t have burned up so much energy on the lighter sets. This was (and still is) just my humble observation.

Now I agree that warming up is important…but geez, how “warm” do you wanna get? So warm you’re fried???

So I think I’ve discovered a better way. Well, it’s been better for me. But who knows? It could work for you, too!

As I was just now getting ready to describe my system for the basic exercises, I realized that I don’t have a name for it! I guess I gotta call it sumthin’!

Hmmmmmm…since I’m not really in a creative mood let’s call it… (insert drum roll here)

“Doberman Dan’s Non-Pyramid System For Maximum Muscle Growth”

OK, I admit that kinda sucks. I tried to think of something cute and creative but couldn’t. I tried to think of a word that means “opposite of a pyramid” but I don’t think that word exists. So for now we’re stuck with this non-creative name.

So instead of the pyramid thing (wouldn’t it actually be a “triangle?” Pyramids are 3 dimensional) let’s try training on the bench press like this:

Warm-up Set 1: 20 reps with the empty bar (Get a little blood flowing and work on your technique. Do these slowly like you really have weight on there. Just don’t ask someone to spot you on this set lest you look like a wuss!)

Warm-up Set 2: 12 reps (Select a weight in which you can EASILY complete 12 reps without even being remotely close to temporary muscular failure. This is an easy set just to get you warmed up. Do NOT select a weight which will tax the muscles.)

Warm-up Set 3: (if needed): Same as set 2 Set 4 “Weight acclimation” Set: 4 reps (Use a weight that you could do about 10 to 12 reps with if you went to temporary muscular failure. You’re not trying to tax the muscles, just getting used to the feel of the heavier weights.)

Set 5: Your 2nd “weight acclimation” set: 1 to 2 reps (Use a weight that you could do about 6 to 8 reps with if you went to temporary muscular failure. Again, you’re not trying to tax the muscles, just getting used to the feel of the heavier weights.)

Set 6: Your first actual “work set”: 6 to 8 reps (Use a weight that allows you to do at least 6 reps but no more than 8 reps to temporary muscular failure. If you can’t do 6 reps, the weight is too heavy. If you can do 8 or more reps, the weight is not heavy enough.)

Set 7: Your 2nd “work set”: Same as Set 6 (Due to fatigue from the first work set you might not be able to get 6 reps. If you only get 4 or less, lighten the weight a little for the final set.)

Set 8: Your 3rd “work set”: Same as Set 6 When you start your actual work sets, rest 2 to 4 minutes in between sets. You want plenty of recuperation time. We’re trying to hoist big iron here.

If you’re a relative newbie to the Iron Game stick with the 6 to 8 rep range on the work sets.

If you’ve been training a while and consider yourself an intermediate or advanced bodybuilder, you might want to try the 4 to 6 rep range for the work sets. I’ve made some really good size and strength gains within the past 3 months by working in the 4 to 6 rep range on the basic exercises.

If you have good recuperation-ability and are intermediate to advanced, you could add a 4th work set. But for most folks I think 3 is plenty.

Now go try it on your next bench, deadlift, or squat workout. I’ll bet if you’ve been “pyramiding” you’ll be amazed at how strong and fresh you are on the work sets while following my “non-pyramid” system. I added 25 pounds to my incline press the first time I tried this system.

Maybe you’ll do the same!

Hyper Growth Muscle Mass Training System
Presale Invite - May 7th-9th

Visit: http://www.hypermusclegrowth.com/presale.htm

Strongman Log Clean & Pressing

It never ceases to amaze me how many sports and strength coaches think that they need to teach their athletes the incredibly technical skill of The Olympic Clean & Press! These well meaning coaches sometimes forget that exercises like the Clean & Jerk as well as The Snatch are OLYMPIC EVENTS!! — The men and women who receive the greatest benefit from executing these movements have generally spent several years, sometimes decades learning how to perfect their skills. Also, I have discovered that in order for our training programs to be effective, they have got to be FUN.  No 16 year old football player, who is full of “piss and vinegar” is going to want to stall his strength efforts in order to “learn” how to execute a lift.  He wants to “hit it hard… NOW”, and within the bounds of safety, it is our responsibility to let him go for it! This is why I love Strongman Training so much.  The movements we use are very functional, based on “Primal Movement Patterns”, create incredible strength and explosive capacity AND it fun to do. Among several substitutions for Olympic Lifting movements like the clean and press is The Strongman Log Clean & Press. This movement requires very little skill but a SH*T LOAD of Attitude!  Also, it puts such an immense demand on the bone and muscle tissue that it literally forces the body to release a flood of testosterone and other naturally produced anabolic hormones directly into your blood stream. Below is a video of me doing Log Clean & Presses with over 300 lbs.  I move lots of weight with this movement, granted that I am a Professional Strongman ;). If you see me lifting like this and are thinking to yourself, “there is NO WAY that my that my young, skinny punks will EVER clean and press like that” — please rest assured that my athletes use about 1/4 of the weight displayed here and are usually performing sets of 5 reps.

One of the problems with Strongman Training and exercises like the Log Clean & Press is getting your hands on the equipment. Well, fret no more! — Below is a description of what I have discovered to be the Strongest and most Rugged Strongman Training Log ever constructed. Check it out.

Click Here To Order Now ==> The Strongman Pressing Log

PS - If you order The Strongman Log by clicking the link or the images above before the end of this weekend, I will send you a FREE digital copy of my Gridiron Strongman Training System as well as 1 free month on our new Strength Camp Member’s Only website accessable only by our Strength Camp DVD Members… but, we’ll let you in for a few weeks — Just send me your receipt via e-mail and I’ll hook you up!

Click Here To Order Now ==> The Strongman Pressing Log

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