Thursday, October 15, 2009

Run the Stadium!




I have been wanting to do this for a while now and finally just pulled out the time to do it. I run the stairs from time to time but wanted something more. I wanted to make it more interesting, so I took my standard keg and filled it with 100lbs of water. That's were it got fun! Running the stairs is a great cardiovascular exercise that will labor your breathing very rapidly and quickly build up the lactic acid in your legs. Adding a keg filled with water makes it 10 times worse! The water sloshes around in a short container making it more violent causing your body to stay tense and react to the opposing forces in all kinds of different directions as the water shifts. Your entire body will feel the burn instead of just your legs and lungs. This is a great conditioning tool that you can use once or even twice a week to build up your muscular endurance. This is potentially very dangerous so if you attempt this please use extreme caution! Especially coming down the stairs. Now how should you set this up? Easy try something like this to start...

Run stadium:
up/down full length stadium X2
up/down 5 sets of stairs
up/down full length of stadium X2
up/down 5 sets of stairs

Now you ask why just 5? Well because first of all your running the entire stadium full length that's both sides if your stadium is split in half were the bleachers do not connect. You do both sides 2 times then go straight into 5 up/down sets of stairs only 5 due to initially trial of running with a heavy keg on the shoulder, its DANGEROUS! Plus it will smoke the crap out of you and make you either want to quit or throw up on the spot! Then start over with 2 more complete runs. Start with this then next week we will get crazy with it and step it up a notch!




Check out Homemade Strength DVD for more innovative ways to build your own strength equipment!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Massive Muscle Building for Your Legs

Quadzilla - Massive Muscle Building for Your Legs




You enter the gym, mind made up that you are going to have the training session of a lifetime. You have your camo Chuck’s on, your Affliction t-shirt two sizes too small, and your head phones blasting DMX. Then you see him. Standing over by the curl rack (squat rack); the inverted triangle of manhood, the one, the only, Captain Upper Body. Pecs pumped, shoulders rippling, back wide as the day is long. Then you look down to see two toothpicks known as legs poking out of the bottom of his shorts. “That just ain’t right”, you think to yourself and get to work.

Seriously, how many of us have seen the scenario go down at our training centers? More often than not right? What many people fail to realize is that the human body, just like trees, grow from the roots up (or legs up in our case). Many people neglect to train legs for various reasons, but the truth is this-you can tell who is serious and who is not in the gym by seeing if they are training legs. So get serious with these three tips and make like a tree and grow!

1. You gotta squat and deadlift:
Sorry, but you MUST squat and you must deadlift. No, leg press is not acceptable (unless you have an injury that prevents you from squatting and/or deadlifting). These two movements utilize a TON of muscle and really work your body from head to toe. Not to mention the insane amount of growth hormone they dump into your blood. Try any and all variations of these two lifts. Box squats, rack pulls, zercher squats, deficit deadlifts. The point is this-SQUAT AND DEADLIFT.

2. Overload to Overcome:
You cannot rep 185 for months on end and expect either your squat or deadlift to go up. It won’t happen. The human body is the most efficient machine at adapting the world has ever known. Coach Buddy Morris has said that it takes the body two-three weeks to adapt to a new training stimulus. With this knowledge plan your workouts wisely. By using progressive overload, you can disrupt this adaptation so that you continue to get stronger and build more muscle. Simply put, add 5-10 pounds to the weights you are using and try to set rep PR’s. Once progress stalls, drop the weights down a little bit and start the same process over again.

3. Single Leg Work:
Make sure to include single leg work into your routine. Not only does it stabilize the knee, it also activates the quads and helps to eliminate any imbalances you may have. Try lunges, step ups, split squats, anything that requires one of your legs to be the prime mover without the aid of the other leg. In addition, it requires tremendous core musculature recruitment to stabilize yourself when doing these lifts so you have the added benefit of getting in a good “core” workout as well.

If you are sleeping on your lower body training you need to wake up and get to work. As your lower body grows so to will the rest of your body. Leg training, the Kryptonite of Captain Upper Body-get on it NOW!

Sample Low body Workout:
1. Squat 5 x 5
2. Rack Pull work up to a 3 rep max
3. Romanian Deadlift: 3 x 8 @ 65% of DL max
4. DB Split Squat 3 x 10
5. Weighted Crunches 3 x 10

Jim Smith, CSCS is a highly sought after lecturer, author and renowned strength coach. Jim is an expert for Men’s Fitness and a member of the Elite Fitness Q/A staff. He speaks regularly at clinics, conferences and seminars about the Diesel Method. His distinctive and comprehensive training approach has helped athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all skill levels attain their goals and "Achieve Beyond Potential". Jim is an active student of strength athletics and is always seeking new ways to innovate and provide a unique perspective for gaining muscle, rehabbing injuries, improving performance and building better athletics.


Accelerated Muscular Development!!!

Real quick, I know a lot of you want this equipment or that equipment but its just to expensive. Joe Hashey of Synergy Athletics and Jedd Johnson from the Diesel Crew are launching a DVD to show you how to make this equipment you NEED. Check it out at Homemade Strength.