The Workout

"Dwindle down all factors of all means of obtaining any value and you will inevitable, in every case, come to the one fundamental issue: How hard did you have to work for it?" This a quote from my book and I use it to begin this...journal of sorts. I will add new information and tidbits of helpful facts as often as I can.

Common Sense is quite the oxymoron. Common entails that something is usually experienced with a moderate to high frequency. But when you look into gyms where people are jumping off walls and blocks with a hundred pounds of their backs, chugging Gatorade while throwing chunks of beef jerky down their throat during your sets ( as a friend of mine witnessed not long ago) or performing barbell squats on a damn "stability" ball! you begin to wonder if the gene pool doesn't need some chlorine. It is ONLY simple common sense that if you want to do something profitable, fruitful, result producing, you would look to perform it in a manner in which the pros out weigh the cons.

You cannot determine the value of anything without taking in the cost vs the gains. As a personal trainer, bodybuilder, businessman and an author I strive to conduct myself and my work in the most productive manner possible, which includes safety. What is the point of working out or training someone if the outcome is injury? In order to gain the most from your efforts you must conduct yourself in a safe and productive manner. Which doesn't mean less intensity; in all truth, you are able to train even intenser when training safer. So learn the proper form, learn the most productive exercises and don't cheat the reps by making them easier. Remember, this isn't rocket science it is simply common sense.

When you see an individual who has built his or her muscle tissue mass to an advanced degree, and has done it with basic, heavy exercises, they have a certain look about them. It’s hard to describe in words, yet everyone knows it when they see it. Extremely developed bodybuilders often lack this “look.” They have a high level of muscle tissue, and perhaps very large measurements. Still, they look, as my younger brother once noted, “like bodybuilders, like a bunch of bodyparts.” One who uses “the basics” and is capable of using relatively heavy weights for moderately high repetitions looks powerful and strong. It is an almost indefinable, yet undeniable, truth.

You must stimulate the large muscular structures of the hips, thighs, lower and upper back to attain this “power look.” The ability to carry as much muscular mass as possible, at any bodyweight, is limited if these areas are not developed to the greatest possible degree. Needless to say, these can be the most neglected areas because they are the most difficult to train. There hasn’t been a market yet for shirts with cellophane windows so the spinal erector groups are highlighted for the public. Posing in front of a mirror yields a lot more information about the pecs, lats, delts and arms than it reveals about the scapulae retractors and the lower trapezius fibers. And when was the last time anyone asked you to flex our hamstrings or para-vertebral muscles in order to assess your worth as a true strongman?

You can get excellent results by concentrating periodically on these potentially strong groups for eight to 12 weeks. As always, a wide variety of equipment can and should be used, but keep in mind that free weights can be used where machines are listed. It’s the effort that’s important, but keep in mind that high intensity training on the large muscle groups will require sufficient recuperation time. Don’t worry that the “other” muscle groups of the upper body are being neglected, and don’t do additional sets for the biceps, deltoids, etc.... Emphasize an effort to be PROGRESSIVE. Add weight to the bar or do additional repetitions each and every workout.

An excerpt from Dr. Ken Leistner's Article "The Look of Power"

I Came, I Saw, I Conquered.

-Julius Caesar

This is the beginning of a series of posts on the prodigious potential of squats, their proper use, their dangers and whether they are right for you or not.

No exercise receives more praise and condemnation than the Barbell Squat; Love it, hate it, everyone has an opinion. But usually most individuals' opinions are based on the fact that most are afraid of how hard squats will make you train. Even if you use a lighter weight and just play through the range of motion, you can tell right away that this is not an easy exercise. Demanding the immense exertion from the hips, thighs and lower back, the squat can serve as one of the ultimate exercises for overall physical power. Strength gained in the squat will transfer to other lifts and make you strong all over and not solely in the legs. But when it comes to squatting, how does one perform it when trying to gain the greatest power, strength and muscular size?

First of all, the idea of separating muscular size, power, and strength is ridiculous, ill-advised and misinformed. You cannot grow progressively stronger without something in the way of muscular growth. And power is only the expression of strength, not separate, but the same thing. Now comes the question of how we train for maximum muscular size and strength. And this leads to a battle field of controversy that will have someone telling you to do anything and everything, besides what I will tell you.

To gain the most out of your squatting, it matters very little how many reps you perform. The main contributing factor is intensity...brutally hard, gut busting effort that will have you gasping for air during the set and leave you on the floor after it. You see, the hips, thighs and lower back are tough, and I don't mean that they can withstand long workout sessions, I mean that they require short INTENSE workout sessions! The hips, thighs and lower back are capable of almost unbelievable feats of strength, so some pansy-ass workout will do f*** all to stimulate large powerful muscles.

What do I mean by brutally hard work? Well I think John McCallum said it best when he explained that in order to work hard you have to take a weight that you are left shaking and feel the need to rack at rep 10 and get 20! No this is not a motivation encouragement to get you to push for an extra one or two reps, I mean LITERALLY forcing yourself to get another 8-10 reps before your have no choice to rack the bar or cannot get out of the bottom position (which explains why I recommend squatting in a rack and with a good spotter). Now most people will think that they will have to lower their poundage in order to get those reps, that squatting high reps equals "light" weight. Well you can lower your weight dramatically to get your 20 reps...but that won't do a thing for your hips, thighs and lower back.

If you want noticeable, head turning size and strength in your lower half, you need to be squatting, at least, in the region of 300 pounds for 12-20 reps for a taller and wider build individual and 230-250 for a small to medium build. Light your tell me? I have some individuals who squat more weight for 12-20 reps than many individuals squat for one rep maximums! And I can tell you right now that an individual who squats 315 for 15 reps usually has larger thighs than an individual who squats 450 for one or two reps. But then again, squatting for one or two reps is easy, squatting for 12-20 is not. And High rep squats will do more than build large powerful legs; NO other exercise will toughen you up more, no other exercise will test your human spirit and evaluate whether or not you are worthy of achieving the ability to wield your full human potential.

Squats can be summed up in two words: HARD WORK. And if someone tells you otherwise, smile and walk away.

Every once in a while, I will post a routine that has produced very extraordinary results with myself or my clients. Are the routines perfect? No, routines must change in response to varying conditions: are your thighs recovering faster than your lower back, are you training certain body parts with too many sets, do you have weak points that you need to correct or would like to focus on, etc. Just as the human body evolves, so too must the routine in order to provide the appropriate stimulus and period of recuperation. But without any further a due, here is the productive routine number one.

Hammer strength leg press: one set, 20-30 reps

Stiff-leg Deadlifts: one set, 8-15 reps

Military press: one set, 4-8 reps

Pullover: one set, 6-10 reps

Nautilus Bicep curl: one set, 8-12 reps

Bench Press: one set, 4-8 reps

Barbell shrugs: one set, 10-15 reps

One arm dumbbell rows: one set, 8-12 reps

Calf raises: one set, 12-20 reps

Skull crushers: one set, 6-8 reps

(optional) forearm work

In routine A the centerpiece is the Hammer Leg press. The goal of this exercise is to get you huffing and puffing like mad and set the tone for the rest of the routine. In order to reap the most from this routine, you must choose a weight that will have you questioning yourself at reps 8-9 and have ten feel damn near impossible...and then push through and get F***ING THIRTY! Impossible? Hell no! It is possible if you have the balls. I have a 40 plus year old woman doing more weight and reps than a 20-year-old male. This is not the squat, you have no fear of a bar compressing your spine or of balancing or having your lower back fail before your thighs and buttocks. You are in a machine, where you are capable of focusing out the troublesome worries of other leg work, such as squats or lunges. All your effort can be properly focused on getting one more rep, and then another and then another. If you need to rest for a moment, rest in the fully extended position with your knees unlocked. The leverage advantage in that position will allow you to rest all you need, but you must have some motor units firing the entire time.

Now if you do not have access to a hammer strength leg press or a nautilus leverage leg press like I do, a conventional leg press will sufficient. If you have no leg press, a barbell squat will make an excellent substitute (just drop the stiff-leg deadlifts from the routine). The stiff-leg deadlifts should be preformed with your feet fairly close and your toes pointing forward in order to activate more hamstring action rather than glute. The military press should be preformed with your knees locked and your back straight. Lower the bar to about chin height and then press out. The Nautilus pullover is the best back and abdominal exercise there is, but if you have no access to one, the straight-arm cable pulldown can be very productive, just make sure there is a slight bend in your elbow. The Nautilus bicep curl can be substituted with an ez-bar curl.

In routine B our centerpiece is the bench press. Making sure you warm-up thoroughly, perform the exercise with a medium width grip. The barbell shrugs must be attacked and fiercely worked. Shrug up and try to touch those ears. The one arm row will be very demanding on your cardiovascular system at this point. Pull up into your abdominal and not your chest, don't pause at the bottom. Calf raises can be performed on a standing machine or leg press (look to the video section for proper performance). Skull crushers will motivate you to get your reps. A pretty face can look not so pretty after catching 100 pounds. And finally forearm work. Forearms can be trained any number of ways. But wringing out a wet towel (folded to increase resistance) can be very productive.

While reading a psychology text today I was hit with a reoccurring concept that I had been playing with months ago. I first observed the phenomenon whilst training a multitude of clients and had studied the nature of it with the works of Dr. Hans Selye. But now I have sufficient confidence now to move the concept out of pure conjecture and into a more theoretical view. The concept deals with how one reacts to intense physical work, i.e., what kind of man are you?

While training a new client for the first time I learned a lot more about them than most even imagine. In that first workout with them I could tell (with some great accuracy, but not precisely) how motivated they are in their life's goals, how they view their efforts, what sort of work ethic they have and if they are forceful and driven or submissive and easily manipulated. As Arthur Jones put it, "a man gives you a road map to his soul." How precisely do I draw these conclusions from a workout? Much easier than you mist imagine.

I give you two subjects, real or imaginary they are true embodiments of the two extremes that I encounter. Both subjects have not ever touched a barbell or an exercise machine in their life. I will exclude such individuals as farmers, laborers and movers since many in such professions exhibit super-normal levels of work ethic and willingness to push hard voluntarily. Subject A will enter into the gym with wondering eyes, attention will be separate from the task at hand and directed toward "what the hell are all these machines." Initial at this point I figure that if I began training this individual that minute that sub-maximal effort would be an understatement. So I execute a demonstration with a trained client. Since their is no more powerful means of communicating a message than through real life demonstration, save for personal experience of the act. Upon viewing the immense intensity put forth by one of my clients their hands wonder toward some hope of a device that will save them from this workout: "my cell is ringing," "I have work tomorrow so I cannot train that hard," "I have someone to pick up in a few minutes so I do not have time for a full workout," and so on. To which I respond with my favorite line that I give ALL of my clients, and note carefully the silver tonguedness to which I approach this issue, "I have only one rule in my gym, when you come into my gym you are taking up my time, so you will train as hard as I tell you to or get the F*** OUT!" Poetry, I know. Upon hearing this, the submissive subject A will oblige in doing as I say. It is truly amazing what fear can make a man do. Leg work, the most intimidating kind of exercise, takes on new light as I verbally force two, sometimes three, times as many reps out of them with 50 more pounds than they thought possible.

Subject B, (oh how I wish everyone was, but that would take out a lot of the excitement) is a very focused sort of individual who will walk into the workout, focusing solely on me and my directions. They came here for a reason and are not easily deterred. After observing these characteristics I feel that I do not need to have a demonstration of intensity and can readily start them with the full understanding that they need to give everything they've got. Subject B will stare intently at the machine, barbell or on some spot in front of them. A look of determination is painted on their face from rep one to the final one. They require little more than a target goal for reps and a spot for safety. Outside motives to push harder, such as me yelling or verbally inspiring them, are not necessary and usually counter productive. Now individuals who are subject A's or B's are not always who you would expect them to be, actually they are the people you least expect!

Individuals who pride themselves as "tough," "hardworking" and a "badass" are usually the most pansy-ass cowards I've trained. By contrast, individuals who are quite and reserved in daily life turn out to be fierce gym warriors who are goal oriented and strive to better themselves. Is this personality type immutable, permanent? By no means. I have individuals who used to be unsure and ill-focused, not only in their training, but in their lives. But after consistent effort to train as intensely as possible whenever it is demanded of themselves, they have learned to cope under stressful situations and keep focused. They even develop an addiction to test their limits and try to improve themselves. All because they stayed with it and did not make excuses.

What kind of man are you? Only you can make that decision.

In part one I explained teh brutality of productive squatting. Part two is a continuation of that with a little history lesson about the barbell squat and the individuals that made it popular.

In the 1930's there was this average sized man named Joseph Curtis Hise. As a child Hise had a couple of bouts with pleurisy (an inflammation of the pleura) and found with exercise he never had the trouble again. Having trained with the standard routines of the time, Hise grew from an average 160lbs man to 200lbs. But then Hise got a hold of some articles written by Mark Berry, espousing the efficiency and immense productivity of the deep knee bend (the true full squat). Using a routine simply consisting of the deep knee bend, performed for 8 repetitions and then removing 100lbs and performing 20 more reps, the behind the neck press for 15 reps and lots of wholesome food, in thirty days Hise grew to 229lbs. with a 46 1/2 inch chest and 28 inch thighs.

In the 1930's and even the 1940's such measurements and gains were frighteningly rapid. Even today if someone were to gain in such a manner they would be met with great shock and astonishment. The magazines at the time could hardly believe it and even Mark Berry, the man he was consorting with by letter refused to publish his astonishing results at first. But it wasn't long for the name Joseph Hise to set ablaze the strength and iron world. But Joseph was not content with such results and by the age of 26 he grew to 237lbs of hard muscularity, not ripped but hard. The 20 rep squat became his key in developing huge gains in systemic muscular growth. So Joseph kept on squatting heavy for 20 reps and drank lots of raw milk and ate plenty of meat and grew to a monsterous 298lbs. Able to deadlift over 700 pounds for reps, squat over 600 pounds and perform his Hise shrug with 800 pounds. But then Joseph Hise wondered why some individuals gained on his 20 rep squat program and others did not.

Joe believed you should not exercise over three times a week on growing exercises, and twice per week on strength-building or lifting routines. The first exercise in a growing routine is the squat. First you do 10 reps, and then take three deep breaths between each rep until you reach 20 reps; if you use heavy weights, one set only. This, plus the wrestler’s bridge, two arm pullover with a light weight, upright rowing, deadlift and the curl would pack the weight and power onto a stubborn no-gain pupil. But still he was having some hardgainers not progressing and then one day Hise saw a young man, Charles Tiffin, put a light barbell across his shoulders and then do shrugging movements while taking deep breaths. Joe’s inventive mind went to work and reasoned that maybe a heavy barbell would be better and increase chest size ad improve posture. This was the start of the Hise Shrug. Soon letters were pouring in to Hise that, in fact, it did work. It worked so well that a well-known barbell company included it in their bulk course, passing it off as their own discovery. Harry Paschall, in his book “Development of Strength,” included it as one of the strength-building exercises in his routines.

To do the Hise Shrug you take a bar from a rack, several inches below shoulder level. With your back strongly erect and your legs slightly bent, straighten your knees and lift the weight from the supports. Now breathe in strongly and lift the weight by shrugging the trapezius muscles; breathe out as you lower the weight. Perform 20-25 reps. Be sure to breathe high and fill the top part of the chest and not low in the belly.

Now the routine that I am about to give still has those bitch of a set 20-rep squats, why? Because time and again and time and again 20-rep squats with heavy weight have proven themselves as the best way to gain muscular size and strength quick. People today are always looking for the quick and easy way to get results, but there are only two options: (1) slow and pathetic results easy or (2) quick and dramatic results by hard demanding work...there are no alternatives.

The first exercise is the 20 rep squat performed in the manner described earlier in this article. Give them everything you've got, this is the exercise that will grow hair on your chest and power in your thighs and ass. The next exercise is the Hise Shrug, go heavy and breathe deeply. After that is a one arm dumbbell row for 8-15 reps, go heavy and pull through strong. Then a barbell bench press for 3-6 reps. And finally side bends with a heavy dumbbell or pulley for 15-20 reps. You can alternate deadlifts with the squat or trade the side bends at the end of the workout for stiff-leg deadlifts.