Creative Conditioning and Muscle Building

This post is dedicated to the old school Synergy fans.   The diehard guys that were here when the site was just a static webpage I used to write the html for myself.  Man that was an ugly website…

Maybe not that old school….

Looking for more ways to condition?  I know I always am. 

Fortunately I’ve been testing a new conditioning manual to add to the Bull Strength Method.  I’ve cut 10 lbs in the last few weeks and have been still hitting the weights hard. 

That’s the trick.  Conditioning without losing muscle and strength.

Here is an exercise I have been implementing at the end of workouts.  I’ll call it Burpee Casting.

A few benefits:

• Quick explosive push up and a brief recovery (sledge swing)
• Added shoulder mobility once the joints are prepared
• Improved work capacity
• Added forearm strength (probably sick of me preaching about grip strength!!)

Here is a series of pictures, I do have a video that I will work on editing later this week. 

Movement:

Set up with the sledge between your feet, handle side pointing away (picture cut off)

Perform the burpee right over the sledge hammer

When you come up bring the sledge up with you in one hand (switch each time)

Perform the sledge swing movement and drop it back.

Repeat the movement with the other hand.  Yes, sorry for the poor picture taking, quite possibly my worst camera set up to date! 

Sledge casting is performing a mace swing style movement but with only one hand.  Drop the sledge over your far shoulder and then “pull” it back over the other shoulder by firing your lat. 

Can you do two things for me? 

1. If you want a video of sledge casting, post a comment about how you incorporate conditioning into your program.
2. Subscribe over on YouTube so you will be notified when the video goes live!  ===> Synergy YouTube

- Joe Hashey, CSCS -

PS.  47 new YouTube subscribers last week – thanks for spreading the word, I know many of you have been posting Synergy videos on your facebooks!   I notice it and greatly appreciate the share.

The Crazy Weekend Part III – Police Chase Edition.

This seemed like a terrible weekend…but things aren’t always what they seem. 

I can’t even make this stuff up.  Here is how it got started…

The football team I am an assistant coach for had our furthest away game of the year.  2+ hour trip each way on a bus.  The game was extended as it was the other team’s homecoming, and we lost…

I knew as soon as I got home I had to jump in my car and drive to Massachusetts to present at 8am for Strength Coach 101.   Before the game I loaded up the car with all my homemade equipment and luggage.

The bus pulled in around 1 am and I went over to my car to drive straight to MA…but here’s where it started to go really bad. 

My car was locked in the high school parking lot.  8 foot fence all around and there was NO getting it out.  So I had to run home, get my wife’s car, drive back, climb the fence, get all of my equipment out, throw it over the fence and try to fit what I could in her car.

Visual approximation of the fence I had to climb

But I forgot my seminar notes so I had to climb back into the parking lot.  This time I caught my pants on the top when I jumped and it ripped the leg right off of the pants and cutting my backside….

I had to drive back home, changed pants, and finally left at 2:00 am. 

Oh, and my wife’s car has no radio (wired wrong when we bought a new one)…and no cruise control.  Just me, a slight whistling noise and the open road. 

Oh and it was cold.  How do I know?  Well, the GPS kept falling off of the window and I had to reach out to fix it.   Apparently swerving around the road at 2 am on a Saturday is a good reason to get pulled over. 

After the officer has a good laugh at my story…and a quick field sobriety test later, I was back on the road.

I pulled into Think Fast Athletics around 7:30 am, right when Tim Mosolino and Elliott Hulse arrived. 

0 hours of sleep and right to presenting! 

But here’s the point of that sob story.  I was never pissed off.  Actually it was just the opposite. 

I counted my blessings on how lucky I am that I got to meet some extremely dedicated personal trainers, got to share some of my secrets, and learn from the others. 

Elliott Hulse and Tim explained some awesome protocols for testing weaknesses, and I delved into homemade equipment, odd objects, and we all shared business advice. 

Its not every day you can axle deadlift at TPS!

Specifically I shared a huge marketing secret from my Garage Gym Empire Program that many of the guys are excited to try out!  Its so simple, hugely effective (and FREE)!  If you want to get into training athletes, then that secret alone will get people in your gym. 

I made this program just for some friends that requested it, but after their success, they told me I was stupid if I didn’t open it up to everyone. Its been up in the sidebar for a few weeks, although I don’t actively promote it – just flat out too busy!

Want the first week of the program and the DVD free?  Check out GarageGymEmpire.com <====

It was a great weekend and I will have some video up shortly. 

- Joe Hashey, CSCS -

PS.  I will be posting training pictures from working out at TPS on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/jhashey

Its Time To Call Some People Out…

I hope you guys don’t hate me for this one, but its time to call something out, Old Western gunfight style!

I’m sick of something I’m seeing in the strength training field.

Do you regularly see people warm up in a commercial gym?  I’ll be damned if more than 10% of the people do!

Tons of people that are big and strong tell people to warm-up…but then NEVER do it themselves!

I’ve seen some great trainers post up their client’s warmup and explain it to a T, ” this is for glute activation, and this is for proprioception, and this is for hip mobility, etc, etc.”

Then I ask what their warm up is, and they say “oh a few arm circles and then light weight before I go heavy…”

Are we really that lazy that we can’t spare 10 minutes to warm-up? 

Continue reading Its Time To Call Some People Out……

2 Smart Exercises For Lower Back Pain

One thing I hate about blogs is that the content posted a long time ago just gets buried in the archives. 

10 months ago I took a lot of time to write up a post on how to fix lower back pain.   Unfortunately, this site was only about a month old and we didn’t get nearly as much traffic.  A lot of people missed that post, so I wanted to bring it back.

===>  Fix Lower Back Pain Part I

Since the topic of the last two weeks on some very popular strength training sites has been the validity of the Reverse Hyper, I wanted to chime in. 

I do have my athletes use a reverse hyper, but with extremely light weight, if any.  Here are two ways to make the reverse hyper more efficient. 

1.  Squeeze something between your feet.  This will activate the adductors and to a smaller extent the glutes.  Many of my athletes use just a foam roller as they are not prepared for weight.  Others will use a light sandbag. 

If you do not have either at your disposal, squeeze the HEAD of a dumbbell between your feet. If you just hook the DB on the back of your shoes, it won’t require squeezing and the proper muscles will not be activated.

Continue reading 2 Smart Exercises For Lower Back Pain…

Build Muscle Quick With This Explosive Technique!

Bringing the guest post knowledge via Jim Smith of the Diesel Crew, author for Men’s Health and Combat  Core!  I will have a second one for you next week, but I wanted to throw this one out there first.  We actually just did some “running the rack” with hammer curls to finish over today’s workout, its great (yes I know its a bit of “body building,” but for as little time as this movement takes, it is worth working it on on occasion).

Build Muscle Quick with This Explosive Technique Plus 2 Workouts

 Guest Article by Jim Smith, CSCS

I first heard about this innovative muscle building strategy when Arnold Schwarzenegger talked about doing in during his reign as Mr. Olympia. It is called “Running the Rack”. It can be used for each exercise in your workout OR as a finisher to your normal workout.

This techniques refers to a high volume set where you pick a weight and perform as many reps as you can for a certain exercise. Then when you can’t do any more reps, you pick a lighter weight and continue performing reps of the same exercise. As you fatigue, you lower the weight and repeat.

The reason it is called “Running the Rack” is, if the exercise you’re doing involves dumbbells you will be moving down the rack picking lighter weights as you fatigue.

This form of density training improves work capacity, increases lactic acid which releases natural growth hormone. This in turn, builds muscle quickly.

Sample Exercise 1: Bicep Curls

Perform dumbbell bicep curls.

60 lb dbs – 3 rep, no rest, immediately go to
50 lb dbs – 4 reps, no rest, immediately go to
45 lb dbs – 5 reps, no rest, immediately go to
40 lb dbs – 6 reps, no rest, immediately go to
35 lb dbs – 7 reps, no rest, immediately go to
30 lb dbs – 8 reps, no rest
Done

You could also reverse the order and start light, with higher reps and as you increase the weight, you decrease the reps. Again, little or no rest between weight changes.

Sample Exercise 2: Lat Pull Downs

Perform lat pull downs with a cable stack.

The stack – 1 rep
The stack minus 10 lbs – 2 reps
The stack minus 20 lbs – 3 reps
The stack minus 30 lbs – 4 reps
The stack minus 40 lbs – 5 reps
The stack minus 50 lbs – 6 reps
The stack minus 60 lbs – 7 reps
The stack minus 70 lbs – 8 reps
Done

This technique can also be done with the following exercises:

KB Swings
DB Clean & Press
or whatever you favorite exercise is…

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I wrote a bonus manual – Intro To Odd Object Training that Smitty is now giving away with Combat Core, along with two other SUPER BONUSES.  Head over to Combat Core and check it out, although I know many of you already have the manual!

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.