Important Things A New Trainer Should Know

A few weeks back I had a young man from SUNY Cortland express an interest in interning at Synergy Athletics over this summer. This was my first request and I had to sit back and think about what I really think someone that is entering the field should know when then come out of college. Here is my abbreviated list.

New Trainer Skill List

Interpersonal Skills. If you annoy me when we meet, no way you will survive with clients.

Nobody Knows It All. As soon as internalize that, your mind can really open.

Strength Training Basics. Know your basic warm up, mobility, and exercise form.

Know How To Squat.
I’m going to spend a little more time on that last statement, because I truly believe it is important. If you squat like crap, chances are your other lifts stuck too. I’m not exactly sure why this is, but it is an odd phenomenon.

I have NEVER met anyone that squatted like garbage and still knew a ton about training. Sure, no one really squats perfect, but have you ever seen someone shoot their knees forward, lose their arch, go 1/4 of the way down then “wow” you with strength training knowledge….”How much” is not nearly as important as “how.”

So naturally, I invited him down and squat was the first exercise on the list. This is MY style of interview. Squat, step ups to RDL, and power wheel were all on the agenda.

We finished by making trying the sandbag challenge, and even though he got sick, he finished.

Of course knowing the science behind the movements is extremely important to grow as a trainer, but if you over look the basics, then you will never make it in this industry!

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Turn Down The Volume, Crank Up The Power

“THAT’S IT?!?!” Matt exclaimed when he walked in the gym for his second workout. “I used to do WAY more at the gym!”

The workout board read the following:

1. Weighted Pull Ups 5 x 3

2a. Dips 4 x 10

2b. Supine Rows 4 x 10

3. DB One Arm Military Press 3 x 12

4. Plate Stacking 3 x 1 minute

“Well Matt,” I replied “That’s because you didn’t know any better.”

Matt represented a big issue in strength training. Many lifters are motivated and dedicated to getting better, but just assume “more is better.” Also they misapply the Repeated Effort Method when they train.

I’ve told you before about the time where a buddy of mine in high school and I went into the hammer strength room at our local gym. There must have been 20-30 pieces of equipment in there. A CRAZY amount of volume.

We thought it would be awesome to go around and do 3 sets of 8 on EVERY equipment in there! Yeah, we were dumbasses. Of course, we got nothing out of that workout that lasted about 3 hours, except for some serious DOMS.

It is CRUCIAL to let your muscles recover by feeding them after your workouts.

BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM

“Less” is only “more” if done correctly.

Nearly every play in football is drawn up to be a touchdown.

Every play in basketball should end in a basket.

However, the best plans are ONLY successful if they are executed. Shorter workouts are ONLY effective if they are done with intensity.

In a typical workout, you should be busting your butt to get the last few reps on your last set. Not talking on your phone via your blue tooth earpiece while strolling on the treadmill complaining about your lack of gains. (Every time I see that I feel like throwing their phone..my phone..any phone really!)

That workout above could light up your body and ignite growth…or you could feel nothing and hate it. The only difference would be the intensity.

Every workout could be a success…if it is planned correctly AND EXECTUED.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, go DOMINATE your workouts. Attack EACH and every set with intensity that deep down you know it takes to get better.

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Strength Training 103: GPP Break Down

If you were to walk into any gym and ask them about GPP, I’m not so sure you could get a good answer…

…as a matter of fact I had no idea about General Physical Preparedness (GPP) in college…

Sad admission, I know, but since then I have been reading a lot of eye opening texts on the importance of GPP.

GPP Defined

General physical preparedness referred to as GPP, is a component of training. Many people only train to get stronger, but then run out of breath tying their sneakers.

Louie Simmons explains GPP as “you have to be in shape to train, not train to get in shape.” By training, I believe Louie is referring to powerlifting – the sport that has given Louie a lot of recognition.

GPP is the groundwork and general anaerobic and aerobic foundations that a person can achieve BEFORE they get into heavy weights.

To provide a more exact definition, GPP is explained by Medvedyev (1988):

The formation, strengthening or restoration of the habits (skills), which play an auxiliary, facilitatory role in sport perfectioning.

As a means of educating abilities, developed insufficiently by the selected type of sport, raising the general work capacity or preserving it.

As active rest, assisting the restoration processes after significant, specific loading and counteracting the monotony of the training.

Verkhoshanky echoes the third aspect when he wrote “GPP helps prevent imbalances and boredom with both specific and non specific exercises by conditioning the body to work.”

Any simpler?

Probably not. So I’ll make it as simple as possible with Verkhoshanky in mind: GPP is conditioning the body to do work.

Exercise, especially loaded lifts, require general abilities to be performed successfully. GPP simply is building those abilities!

GPP Exercises

Body weight exercises (catch my theme for the last two weeks with the bodyweight training articles!)

Push ups (progression VIDEO)
Bodyweight lunges
Jumping
Mountain climbers
Pull ups (13 Variation VIDEO)
Supine rows
Hand walking
Sled Dragging

Forward (oxen or sprinting)
Backwards
Side
Lunges
Restoration Sled Drags (VIDEO)
Prowler
Other Options

Tire Throwing
Tire Flipping
Sandbag exercises
Car Pushing
Medicine Ball Toss
GPP Workouts

I’m trying to go above and beyond with this post, so I here are two sample GPP workouts. One for in the gym, one for the garage gym people!

Intermediate Upper Body Gym GPP Workout

Warm up and mobility (jumping jack series, general movements, etc)

1. Pull ups – 5 x 5-8
2a. Supine Rows 4 x 10-12
3b. Hindu Pushups 4 x 10-12
4a. Handwalking over plates 4 x 10-12
5b. Medicine Ball Slams

Warm down and restoration.

Advanced Full Body GPP Bull Strength Style Workout

Warm up and mobility

1. Tire Flip 5 x 3-5 (no tire, substitute car push or pull 4-5 x 30 yards)
2a. Sandbag Shouldering 4 x 8-10 (each shoulder)
3b. Feet Elevated Push Ups 4 x 15-20
4. Sled Dragging 4 x 30 yards (alternate forward and backwards)
5. Sled Recovery Dragging (VIDEO)

Try one of these two sample workouts to increase your GPP (and stay consistent with incorporating some of these movements into your regular training program).

I purposely made these workouts drastically different between bodyweight exercises and odd objects to show that most movements after the primary lifts are GPP in your program already!

GPP Conclusion / Summary

Our bodies are typically not prepared to step in the gym and lift heavy weights, just like we are rarely prepared to step onto an athletic field and perform at a high level. General strength and movement patterns are a great base for lifting or athletic preparation.

In addition, even once people become “elite” lifters or athletes, GPP will still prove valuable in the areas of recovery, restoration, mobility, and more.

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Strength Training 102: How To Get Crazy Strength

Defined, explosive strength is the ability to exert maximal force in minimal time.

In order to get explosive an athlete needs to improve two training factors – strength and rate of force development.

I often get asked, “What exercises do I need to become more explosive?”

Honestly, it really depends on where your weakness is: overall strength or how fast you can develop force with your strength.

Let me tell you a story to make it clearer:

Roger comes to the gym and starts squatting. When he can squat his body weight, his standing vertical jump is 20 inches. After seeing those results, Roger continues squatting until he can squat 2 times his body weight. He goes back and tests his vertical and achieves a jump of 30 inches.

Encouraged by these results, Roger squats until he can drive up a huge amount, 3 times his body weight. He goes back to test his vertical and it is still 30 inches.

What went wrong? Roger definitively became stronger, but his vertical jump went stagnant. Roger’s problem is his rate of force development.

Story two:

The Johnson family found a fancy “Sport Specific Training Facility” in town that was a turf field with agility ladders, plyo boxes, bungees, and parachutes. They fell in love with it and sent their son Tim to improve his vertical jump.

Tim performed box jumps each workout, and after the first month his vertical increases from 20 inches to 25 inches. Encouraged by these results, Tim kept up his box jumping for another month and his vertical increased again to 30 inches.

It worked twice, it must work again Tim reasoned. After one more month his vertical remained at 30…and again for each month after. Tim’s problem was lack of strength development in his program.

So how do you increase your explosive strength?

Train both explosive strength and your rate of force development. Here are some example exercises:

Lower Body Strength Exercises:

Squat

Deadlift

Step Ups

Lunges (or variations in this lunge video)
Exercises that train Rate of Force Development:

Box Jump

Broad Jump

Throwing Things

Single Leg Box Jumps
Summary: When you are training athletes or just training to gain real world strength, multiple facets of strength need to be developed. Traditional strength exercises will increase the vertical jump in someone that is weak. Explosive exercise will increase vertical jump to a point that the movement is limited by the lack of strength.

I’ll add that there are secondary factors that will apply, such as coordination and neural adaptation to the movement, but let’s get strong and explosive!

Looking for a training program to get you explosive and strong? Bull Strength is now being used in high school weight rooms around the country to prepare their athletes to dominate next season!

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Strength Training 101: The First Rule In Training

Often we talk about certain exercises on Synergy, but it is important to understand the WHY not just the HOW.

The golden rule, or better the golden law of training is adapting to physical demands.

Adaption, defined by Zatsiorsky “In the broad sense it means the adjustment of an organism to its environment. If the environment chances, the organism changes to better survive the new conditions. In biology, adaption is considered one of the main features of living species.”

Right after a workout do you feel stronger or weaker? If you did it right, chances are the fatigue has made you feel weaker. So why does doing this repeatedly yield a stronger person? Adaption to the increased training loads.

There are 4 primary features of adaption that are important to real world and sport training.

1.Overload

2.Accommodation

3.Specificity

4.Individualization
Overload.

The training load – the weight used – must be heavier than what the person uses on a regular basis. After adaption due to overload occurs in a new athlete, the gains will be lost within 7-10 days if that person stops the exercise.

This principle changes in well trained athletes. If you workout all the time for years (the right ways), expect to see your gains diminish within 3-5 days if exercise is halted. Does this mean your squat will drop from 500 to 100 lbs? No way, but it will diminish.

Accommodation.

If the same training load is used for an extended period of time, the body accommodates to the movement and the gains decrease.

===>If you are skimming TUNE BACK IN!

Most of you probably don’t know this, but I also teach high school Economics, and this principle is referred to as the Law of Diminishing Returns. Here is the lesson I use in the classroom to make sure the student’s get this concept.

I have a student come up to the front of the classroom and eat a Reese’s PB Cup and rank it on a scale of 1 to 10 on how tasty it was. Then I pull another one out and repeat. Eat, rank, repeat. The student’s eyes always get big when I pull out 20 of them and tell him/her we will be continuing for awhile.

Usually after the 5th one, the student likes them less and less. Same goes for training. If you repeat the same load over and over, the gains will diminish.

Due to accommodation, it is extremely inefficient to use the same training program over a length of time.

Here is the difficult part, an good training program will be both variable, to avoid accommodation, and stable to satisfy the demand for specificity.

Specificity.

This refers to the distinct adaptations that come from a training program. These adaptations are LIMITED TO the physiological systems trained – ie the muscles, aerobic abilities, etc that are used during training.

And important part of specificity is to decide which exercise improvements will equal the best gains for your goals – such as which exercises is best for real world strength, or football, or basketball, etc.

Leg extensions will improve your ability to perform leg extensions. Now, do leg extensions improve your ability to sprint if you are a football player? No.

Individualization.

People are different. An exercise program for one athlete may give different results when used by two different people. I’ll quote Zatsiorsky again as he stated something I’ve been saying for years:

“Innumerable attempts to mimic the training routines of Famous athletes have proven unsuccessful.”

That is why any good training program will allow for variation. In the Bull Strength Program, there is a specific template, but different exercises to choose from once you find out what works best for you. No program should be written in stone.

===>However general principles and concepts will remain the same in good workout programs!

Summary.

Every person strength trains to achieve certain adaptations. Strength training will yield results through the person’s body accommodating to being overloaded (loaded greater than normal daily activities). If you bench more than you normally lift, then you will get better at the bench press.

After performing the same training program, your body will get used to the movement and adapt to that specific training loads. It is important to include variety AFTER getting goals from the program.

==> Conclusion.

Don’t throw out the concepts behind a successful training program, individualize and change it for your needs. Apply the concepts above and get your GAINS!

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Strength Development

“Strength programs are dead, sport specific is all that kids need” I had a local strength coach insist during a recent discussion.

To alter a quote from Mark Twain – “Reporting the death of strength training programs is an exaggeration.”

A few months back I posted two well researched and scientific posts on exactly what functional training was in relation to exercise and sport performance.

What EXACTLY is Functional Training?

Continuum of Exercise Selection
I asked if people wanted part III, but unfortunately that post only received 17 comments so I assumed people were either uninterested or bored of reading the research. So I never put out part III explaining how to select exercises for your workouts.

But I still get these questions about creating workout programs, and making them “sport specific” from top to bottom.

Here are “facts” people send me:

 

“Basketball and football players should only quarter squat since they don’t need to go lower than that in sports.”

“Baseball players should not perform strength exercises – just arm abilities.”

“Sprinters shouldn’t squat since they are all based on single leg movements. ”

“All athletes need is sport training. Baseball players should be in the cage, basketball players on the court…not in the gym.”

“Basketball players should perform most exercises with their feet in the vertical jump stance.”

Some of it actually sounds right…right? However, under the surface lies a problem with the above statements and the consequences for creating an overall physique.

What’s the purpose of your primary exercise in a good off season program?

Most answers should be:

Strength – Max Effort Method

Size – Repetition Effort Method

Explosiveness – Dynamic Effort Method

The purpose of your primary exercise in a training program is rarely, and should be rarely, for specific sport carry over. Let me be more specific, you should rarely take a primary strength exercise and attempt to make it into a primary sport specific exercise.

Sport specific exercises should mostly be performed as accessory lifts (secondary lifts) or accomplished through sport skill training (actually playing the sport).

Here is the Continuum of Exercise Selection from Yessis for your reference:

The reason why the primary lift shouldn’t be for a specific sport movement is that strength, size, and explosiveness are often neglected, and sport skill is trained frequently (practice, pick up games, etc).

In other words, I would recommend getting stronger, bigger, or more explosive with your primary exercise and use supplemental training of specialized and sport skill movements.

I’ll also add that most high school athletes still play 2 or 3 sports. What about them? It seems more practical to build overall athleticism through training than have them work on sport training for 3 seperate competitions year around.

This means that it is easier to carry over aspects developed in a weight room to multiple sports, than to apply sport to a sport (ie. training for baseball won’t make you a lot better at basketball, but working out will make you better at both).

Sure there will be some carry over to sport – being big, strong, and explosive will do that – but for the general athlete, making the primary exercise “sport specific” will typically hinder over all gains.

===> Does that mean that the demands of the sport should be thrown out the window when creating strength training programs? Absolutely not.

All I am advocating for is to continue strength development.

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Goal Setting

With the big “New Year’s Resolution” season about to start, I started to think about the importance of goal setting. New Year’s for gyms is like Valentine’s Day for card stores. Without special days, it would be tough for those industries to be profitable. Unfortunately for fitness fans, the New Year’s resolutions are rarely accomplished.

Before I owned my own place, I used to go to a large local gym. I was one of the “regulars” that knew the workers names and would talk shop with some of the other regulars. I went on the same days, the same time, for the better part of five years (minus being away for some college). All the regulars seemed to agree that the worst time of year was January. That’s when the gym was flooded with new people. The treadmills and elliptical were packed and the squat rack turned into the curl rack. Oddly enough, there was rarely any increased traffic at the pull-up bars, the dumbbells, the bench, and the power rack (must take too long to adjust the pins for curls).

Reflecting back on it, I didn’t resent the increased traffic because it’s always nice to lift in groups. I certainly did not mind the people getting on the treadmills and attempting to lose weight either. The thing that bothered me the most was the lack of commitment of the new crowd. You could almost tell by their gym mannerisms that they were going to quit at any time. Someone would be walking on the treadmill for a few minutes, get a cell phone call, answer it and leave. Someone else would come with a couple of friends, talk while sitting at some machines then take off. You could almost predict when they would stop coming.

Now I don’t want to over generalize and say everyone that comes in with a New Year’s resolution quits, but it is the majority. There was a new gentleman that came in with the New Year’s crowd that must have weighed around 350 lbs at 5 foot 6 inches tall. This man stuck with it for my last two years at that gym, and I bet he is probably still working hard. Five days a week he would be chugging away on the treadmill and sweating profusely (or as my brother who sweats a lot would say, he made a lot of “hard work puddles.”) There were few people that I respected more at that gym than this gentleman. He made a commitment and stuck with it.

I had not been back to this gym in awhile, but I headed back to talk to the owner about the New Year’s crowd. I figured I should back up this article with some statistics. He told me that their membership enrollment in January is greater than all the other months combined. Gyms like to advertise lower yearly rates during January to get people to pay for the full year, knowing that most of them will drop out in the first month. At that particular gym, between 65-80% of the new January members do not swipe their membership cards in after February.

According to Jeff Barge, Welch Media contributor, (welchmedia.com/news/article_385.shtml), only 45% of Americans even bother setting goals in 2004, down from 88% in previous years. Jeff adds that, “According to our study, only 8% of Americans say they always achieve their New Year’s resolutions. The way it seems to work now, setting a New Year’s Resolution is a recipe for defeat. It has come to be one of the nation’s most masochistic traditions — almost rivaling Halloween in that respect.”

With all those dismal statistics and stories there is still hope. There are a few recommended methods to help set goals and stick with them. These methods can benefit us all, not just the people looking to get started training. I have been working out for many years, and you will still find my goal list attached to the refrigerator. When I accomplish something, I cross it out and add another goal. Without further adieu, here are some goal setting methods for the New Year:

1.Write your goals down. This technique has almost single handedly transformed my goals from forgotten to accomplished. Proudly post your goals somewhere you will see them every day. My personal goals are on the fridge, and my (along with my athlete’s) training goals hang below our record board. They have the incentive of competing with the records and seeing their goals at the same time.

2.Be specific. Avoid writing “Increase my squat this year.” Include how much and in what time frame you want to accomplish the goal. Hold yourself accountable. This will help you avoid the pitfall of becoming the “I’ll do it tomorrow” guy.

3.Set Personal Performance Goals, not Outcome Goals. Instead of saying “Win a power lifting meet”, set how much you want to lift. You may have no control over the people that come to the meet, the environment, or other outside factors, but you do have control over your numbers.

4.Set Realistic Goals. I’d love to squat a hundred thousand pounds, but that isn’t realistic at all. Make the goal reachable in a specific time frame. If you want to eventually squat 500 lbs, and you currently squat 250, set a goal to squat 300 lbs. Then once you accomplish that, make your new goal 325, then 350, all the way up to 500. Setting realistic goals make them achievable and gives the person a since of pride and accomplish.
Most importantly – stay motivated!

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Thick Rope Training

In a previous article, Odd Object Primer, I mentioned that people can workout with just a length of thick rope. Rope training is nothing new, but has been gaining popularity over the last few years. We have been using thick ropes for nearly two years with great benefits!

Benefits of Thick Rope Training

During most thick rope exercises, the muscles in the hands and forearms are engaged to a great extend, which is an area where many people lack sufficient strength. At Synergy Athletics, we use ropes during the accessory portion of our workouts. That means we perform our regular primary exercises (typically compound barbell lifts) and then incorporate the ropes into the program.

In addition to stronger hands and forearms, ropes can be used for a variety of climbing and pulling exercises to increase relative body strength. These movements are both fun and effective for general physical preparedness, specifically in younger athletes.

Where to Get Thick Rope

Unfortunately you won’t be able to run down to Home Depot and pick up the rope that I am talking about. Their rope is just too light and small in diameter. Depending on your abilities you will want to purchase a rope that is between 1 1/4 to 3 inches in diameter and 40 to 60 feet in length. We have ropes that range from 1 1/4 in to 4 inch in diameter, but I personally I prefer 2 inch rope. The 4 inch rarely makes it off the shelf.

Many websites sell thick rope, however the most inexpensive I have come across are Ebay and McMaster Carr. Just search for what you want on those sites and it will save you money.

Four Thick Rope Exercises

Supine Rows. Throw the rope over a fixed object. In the gym we use a power rack, at home a tree branch. Lie down on your back, reach up and grab the row, then pull your hands to your chest. The advanced variation involves elevating your feet.

Pull Ups. Just throw the rope over a fixed object like with the supine row set up. Reach up, grab a hold and being your pull ups. You will be able to do far fewer with the rope than on a regular bar because of the added grip strength required. Do these FIRST then finish with regular pull ups so you still train your back muscles and your grip isn’t the weak link.

Hand Over Hand Rows. Attach the rope to a weighted object (outdoors). This object is usually a sled, but you could use anything that is heavy. Walk the rope out to the end then row the object all the way to you. Repeat for multiple sets.

Rope Battling. Up until this point, all the exercises have been pulling movements. Rope battling is for conditioning. Anchor your rope around a fixed object so the rope folds in half and you have both ends in your hand. The easy instructions – whip it around for time. Details – make waves in the rope. You can make big waves, small waves, or alternating waves. Then take both and try to make circles in the rope (grappler tosses). Complete this for a timed set. Sample rope battling workout – apply the Tabata protocol to your movements. With high intensity whip the rope around for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat for 8 consecutive sets of 20 on and 10 off.
These are just a few ways you can benefit from using ropes. Pick up a length of rope and start incorporating into your training ASAP!

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Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning

Get ready for a complete conditioning program that is easy to understand and even easier to implement!

Ready to look in the mirror and see those lean muscles smiling back? Bull Strength Conditioning, with complete DONE FOR YOU workouts, will end your search for the most effective program!

10-15 Minutes Each Workout Can CHANGE YOUR PHYSIQUE!

These workouts are plugins. Replace these resistance cardio circuits with the boring cardio you are currently doing at the end of your workouts.

Visit Bull Strength Conditioning to put a permanent end to never ending cardio sessions that aren’t burning the fat they should.

Unique Homemade Gripping Tools

Grip training is often the forgotten element in many training programs and can be done inexpensively. Over the last few months I have made numerous grip training devices out of things laying around the garage so that I can incorporate more grip strength into my program.

I wanted to write this article in order for people to understand that they don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on gripping equipment. Many of these items can be made. Some of these ideas I have read about on the internet, while some are special creations!

Four-Inch Pickup

After making a slosh pipe, I had about a foot of 4-inch PVC left over. I wrapped it in some athletic tape and put an eye bolt through it. I just use a carabiner and chain to hook weights to it and use it for pick-ups. We either go for reps, weight, or time held.

Softball Pullups

I first saw the softball grip in one of Jedd Johnson’s articles. He created a great dipping device by using a lag style eye bolt. Instead of using a lag bolt, I drilled through the ball and put a lock nut and washer at the far side. This will give it more strength while hanging from the softball grips.

Pipe Pull-Ups

Take a chain and loop it around a beam as shown, or hook them over the pull-up bar on a power rack. Stick the pipe vertically through the chain and put a large clip at the end. The purpose of the clip is just to keep the pipe from sliding off.

Hub Trainer #1

Hub lifts are very difficult but impressive. My brother and I do not have any deep hubs to help us out either. Last week we had a hub trainer making contest. I will show you both ideas. I made mine first using two hockey pucks and one bolt. I drilled a hole in the middle of both hockey pucks and put one on each side of the hole. I bolted them together tightly and that’s all it took! Now I had a hub add on.

My brother’s idea was similar. He used a hockey puck, two bolts, and washers. He drilled two holes in the hockey puck and put washers on the back side to hold them in place. It worked fine, but the first description was cheaper and easier.

Hub Trainer #2

This device has been made before, but works great. I saw Brad Martin using one, and he has forearms the size of my calves. Again, you will need a hockey puck. Drill a pilot hole in the middle and then screw in an eye bolt. Use a chain to hook around it and lift.

Stone Pinching

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Go find a stone that fits well with your hand, then pinch it and lift it. You can also use it for hand-walking or for swinging.

Thick Wrist Rollers

PVC is a very useful and cheap product. I made a 1 1/2-inch, 2-inch, and 3-inch wrist roller. In order to have them work as rack mounted rollers, tape or hose clamp the rope to the outside of the pipe. If you put it through the middle, it will get caught on the rack pins. Tie a carabiner at the other end, hook it around weights, and roll!

Rolling Pull-Up Bar

Use about 3 feet of pipe. Galvanized is cheaper than black iron. Use chains to hang the pipe from the ceiling. Make sure you put something on the ends to keep it from sliding off of the chains. It is much more difficult to perform pull-ups on the rolling bar. To increase difficulty even further, slide a piece of PVC over the bar. This will increase the thickness and difficulty.

Homemade Thick Grip DB

I’ll put these in list format, since there are some important safety measures! Instructions to make a thick grip dumbbell:

1.Unscrew the pin off of the end of the bar (usually can be done by hand or with an allen wrench unless it’s a spinning power bar).

2.Load a weight all the way to the end and clip it there.

3.Approximately 4 1/2 inches in from the other end, put a reliable clip on the bar.

4.Load another weight on it plus 2 1/2 lbs and clip it. If you do not have 2 1/2 lb weights at your gym, move the weight in slightly and use a 5. The 2 1/2 and the 5 lb weight are used to counterbalance the nub on one end of the pin.

5.VARIATION FOR OVERHEAD LIFTING. The clips are fine for lifting, curling, rowing, etc., but if you are going above your head you will want something more reliable. Instead of using clips inside the weight, use hose clamps. Screw them on tight and the weights won’t move.

Conclusion

There is no excuse for not performing grip exercises as a regular part of your program. Above are just a few examples of gripping instruments that can be made extremely inexpensively. Find an object that is hard to pick up and use it!

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Grip Training For Athletes

Athletes have to train grip, period. In most sports, the hands are connected to the object creating force. If you have weak hands and forearms, then less force will be generated or transferred to the object.

Think of it this way, having weak hands in sports is like trying to drive with square tires. You might have the most powerful engine in the world, but if the last part that touches the road doesn’t work right, then you are going to have a tough time getting anywhere.

Examples of when hands are crucial energy transfer in sports: swinging a baseball bat, throwing a football, throwing a baseball, snapping a pass in basketball, etc, etc. If you have the hand strength of a wet noodle, then none of these activities is going to be very successful. The athlete can generate tons of power from the core and legs while pitching a baseball, but if their wrist isn’t strong enough to maintain and accelerate this momentum, then they won’t be successful.

Well, being on Adam’s site, I’m preaching to the choir when it comes to the importance of hand strength! Let’s get to the example exercises.

When choosing grip exercises for athletic development they should fit into two categories: General grip strength and specific grip strength. I’ll be talking more about the later.

Being strong in one grip exercise doesn’t necessarily mean being dominant in ALL grip exercises. I was at the Diesel Crew’s US Grip National’s competition a few weeks back.

There was some extremely strong grip there! However, the same people did not win every event, as being the best at axle dead lift might not make you the best at two hand pinch.

Therefore, when developing an exercise program for athletes, make sure to include specific grip exercises to the demands of their sports (no, I’m not going to call these “functional” or I would have to choke myself…)

These exercises will fit some of Verkhoshanky’s Criteria for Dynamic Correspondence, but not all of them. Here are some examples:

Football players should include specific training that involves towels: towel shrugs, towel pull ups, etc. The players are often required to grab cloth on another player (tackling, defensive line moves, etc). The towel grip training will get them accustomed to their sport requirements.

Basketball players should work with thick grip and open hand training to get them ready to rip rebounds out of the air. Below is an example of bowling ball pull ups that would work extremely well

Baseball Players (swing) should include exercises to strengthen the forearms such as sledge hammer levering. This will help their wrists from being the weak link during the explosive swing.

Baseball Players (throwing) need to include hand dexterity exercises to hold the seams and snap the ball to where they want it to go. Sledge hammer finger walking would go a long way to help this need out.

In conclusion, analyze the sport demand and include these exercises in your grip training. Once the athlete has a strong general and specific hand strength program, their gains are going to be tremendous!