"I Don't Have Time to Train"

Many times I hear this excuse from people who do absolutely no exercise at all. They say they have no time to train. They feel and look terrible yet they have no intentions of doing anything about it.

I was at the park doing some sprints a few days ago and saw a guy there pushing his kids on the swings. When they got off the swings and went to play on something else the guy, in his mid forties, went over to the chin up bar and attempted to do a single rep.

He couldn't even get half way up!

A grown man who couldn't do a single chin up...What a disgrace. The sad thing is that I have seen this exact scenario at least a dozen times at the park.

How can you even consider yourself a man? What would you do if you ever had to defend or protect your wife or kids?

How can you look yourself in the mirror and live with yourself if you are in that kind of shape and that pathetically weak?

The excuse of not having enough time is a lame one. No matter how much you work and how many responsibilities you have, there is always time to exercise.

The problem is that most people think an efficient workout has to last an hour or two. This is complete BS. Often times I will train for no more than 20-30 minutes on a very busy day. If you can honestly tell me that you don't have 20-30 minutes per day for exercise, you need to take a serious look at your life and your priorities.

An efficient strength training workout can be accomplished with as few as two or three exercises and be completed in as little as twenty minutes. Just by making time each day to do that small amount of exercise, you will feel ten times better.

The workouts in Muscle Gaining Secrets all average about 35 minutes but if you are pressed for time they can be shortened to meet your schedule.

Don't think that if you don't have at least 4-6 hours a week, it's worthless to do anything at all. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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Better results in less time ==> MuscleGainingSecrets.com

"Raw and uncut. That is how Jay Ferruggia brings it. If you're looking for another '3 sets of 10, eat chicken breasts and yams, how-to-be-a-fitness-model' program, then forget about getting it from Jay. From his politically-incorrect no-BS eating program, to his workout routines that he's used with hundreds of athletes, powerlifters, and strongmen, Ferruggia truly is relentless when it comes to putting together the ultimate muscle building program. And I'm no armchair quarterback when it comes to Jay's workout advice. Jay is the coach that finally got me to smarten up and train right. As a result, I'm stronger, less tired, less beat up between workouts, and my workouts are of the highest quality. This is the only muscle-building program out there that will give you the results you've been after forever, while making you laugh, and firing you up like never before, all at once. Get it, or get left behind again, just like you were last year."
-Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Strength Coach, Toronto, Canada
Author, Turbulence Training

Brand New FREE Muscle Building Report (fixed link)

I just finished writing my new free report entitled Mass Building Sins: The Top 20 Mistakes That Kill Your Muscle Gains... & How to Avoid Them and it's now available to you at no charge.

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Another Muscle Gaining Success

“I have been trying to gain muscle all my life. It is probably one of the hardest things I or, for that matter, anyone has tried to do naturally. It’s frustrating, time consuming, and with so many people telling you so many different things downright impossible to know what is the most effective way to build muscle without the harmful use of steroids. However, I have come across a program called Muscle Gaining Secrets that truly is geared toward the hard-gainer, the guy that is dedicated and has tried everything he can to build muscle with little success and tons of sweat and tears.

The best thing about this program is that its founder, Jason Ferruggia, is an expert in the field with over 20 years of experience and countless clients to his credit who have achieved outstanding results. It was extremely important to me that the person giving me this information had a strong background in the field of exercise science and knew how the body worked, versus some guy who claimed to be a hard-gainer and put on 50 pounds of muscle if you just used his system. Jay Ferruggia is highly respected in the fitness industry and has put together a program that if followed correctly will be the one training program that you absolutely have to have if you have ever struggled to make muscle gains in the gym.

One of the more interesting aspects of the program is Jay's no-nonsense approach and his blatant honesty about the multi-billion dollar supplement industry and how they are literally robbing you blind. It has so much more to do with what you are doing in the gym and proper nutrition and Jay will show you how to achieve the results that you have always unsuccessfully tried to achieve over the years.

The muscle gaining secrets that you will find in Jay Ferruggia's program are second to none. These are client tested training and nutritional techniques that have literally transformed people to muscle gains they never thought possible without steroids. Jay himself gained 84 pounds of muscle after discovering and utilizing the techniques in this program.

Jay will unlock your own body's true potential using science and careful planning. I truly love this program and would like to personally thank Jay Ferruggia for making this system available to all of us hard-gainers. This is the best system I have ever used and will highly recommend it to all my friends and co-workers because it actually works.”
Sparcs


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Less time, better results ===> MuscleGainingSecrets.com.

Let The Mass Building Season Begin

This Thursday officially kicks off the holiday season here in the US. To muscle heads, that also signifies the beginning of the mass building season. Starting three days from today and continuing all the way up until January 1st, you will eat more calories than you do during any other time of year. You can try to fight it but it’s inevitable. So why not embrace it?

This is not the time to be trying to get lean. On the contrary, my friends, it’s time to get huge! You will spend a large majority of the next six weeks in a caloric surplus which means you had better be training accordingly and asking for some bigger clothes for Christmas.

While you want to take advantage of all the extra calories and use them to build some new muscle you also don’t want to end up a fat slob come New Years Day. You can avoid this by planning your workouts accordingly and using strategically planned cardio workouts to keep your waistline in control.

If you can do it, I always recommend planning your workouts so that they fall on the days when you are going to be eating the most. It’s always a good idea to follow up the weight training workout with cardio that day as well. This will help ensure that a large portion of the calories are sucked up by the muscles and stored as glycogen and will be used to build muscle instead of stored as bodyfat.

Another way to counteract all of the over eating that could lead to bodyfat accumulation is to try to never consume massive amounts of calories more than two days in a row. You can get away with two days of chowing down like a ravenous animal but anymore than that will definitely lead to fat gain.

If you plan accordingly and eat a lower calorie, lower carb diet for a few days before a big feast like Thanksgiving day, (basically depleting your glycogen stores) you will be even less likely to get fat from all of the excess calories. This is similar to carb depleting and loading that bodybuilders do before a big show (although less extreme and nowhere near as scientific). When you are in a depleted state like that you will be even more likely to use the excess calories to build muscle and less likely to store bodyfat.

My advice would be to lift weights on Thanksgiving morning followed by 30 minutes of cardio before the big feast. If your gym is closed and you have no other options, I would definitely recommend going out and doing some sprints, sled drags, car pushes or even a bodyweight circuit. Just as long as you do something to prepare your body to use the excess calories more effectively that day.

Remember, the next six weeks could be the time when you build more muscle than you will at any other time this year. Make sure you are well prepared and have it all planned out so that you enter the new year bigger and better than ever before.
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For a detailed workout plan to follow this holiday/mass building season, go to MuscleGainingSecrets.com now.

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“Have you ever wondered why you can't put on any muscle? You have probably tried every supplement known to man, read every muscle magazine there is, and spent countless hours in the gym. All the answers that you need can be found in Muscle Gaining Secrets by Jason Ferruggia.”
Jimmy LaMour
Performance Enhancement Coach

“Jason gives you the best no BS advice on Muscle Mass available today. (This is not your typical bodybuilding junk).”
Jerry Hill
Fitness Expert

“I have read Jason's new e-book and I must say that every hardcore trainee, beginner through advanced, and trainers should do the same. It can save the beginner or intermediate trainee years of frustration and even may give the advanced trainee and fitness professional some new ideas or insights in training. Jason goes through it all, from how to structure your training split depending on your training age and fitness and athletic goals, to selecting repetitions and sets, to manipulating volume, frequency, and intensity, and even to weekly, monthly, and yearly planning.

Having bought several of Jason's products, receiving a phone consultation from him, and casually conversing with him from time to time, I can say he is a truly generous sincere, knowledgeable person who loves spreading his wealth of information with others. So put down that newsstand bodybuilding magazine filled with ghost written stories of juiced to the gills lifters doing a 100 sets per bodypart and consuming 10,000 kcal per day. Pick up a copy of this book and start learning how to "really" train and eat for the fitness goals you always wanted to achieve!”
Bradley
Queens, NY

The Hardgainer Mindset

Nothing pisses me off more than skinny guys (aka so called hardgainers) who complain about their inability to gain weight.

“Waaaaa (said in a whining baby voice ala Artie Lang and Howard Stern), I have a really fast metabolism.”

“Waaaaa, it’s harder for me than most people to gain weight.”

“Waaaaa, I don’t have the appetite to eat that much.”

“Waaaaa, I have terrible genetics.”

“Waaaaa, I don’t have time to eat that much.”

“Waaaaa, I have tried everything and still can’t get bigger.”

“Waaaaa, I’m a hardgainer.”

You know what I say to people who make those excuses?

Give up.

Quit.

It’s hopeless.

You are a hardgainer and you will never succeed.

Stop going to the gym today and never even think about picking up a weight again.

End your misery now and start something else because I promise you that you will never get bigger.

There’s not a shot in hell… and that’s the honest truth.

You know why you will never get bigger and stronger?

Because you don’t have the heart or the balls to do it. It’s that simple. And the sooner you realize it the sooner you can move on and start doing something more productive with your time.

Just like every other hardgainer who uses their genetics as an excuse, you are a weak, lazy chump.

And you make me sick.

I graduated high school weighing all of 147 pounds at six feet tall. Eventually I got up to 231 pounds through proper training and eating and an undying dedication to achieving my goal.

I trained as hard as I could and ate when I didn’t want to, when it wasn’t convenient and when I wasn’t hungry.

I went to sleep early on nights I wanted to be out drinking and partying.

I did whatever I had to do to achieve my goals and refused to believe that my crappy genetics and hardgainer label would hold me back.

Somewhere along the path I came down with tuberculosis and nearly died. I spent a few weeks in the hospital and six months on bed rest. I was on medication for a year and when I returned to the gym could only bench press the bar.

But I didn’t let that stop me and picked up right where I left off.

Over my fourteen years in the industry I have seen numerous people achieve the same kind of results time and time again. Many, far more impressive than mine.

My client and friend, Mike Schwalb gained 100 pounds of muscle in the time he trained with me. I witnessed Mike force down many a meal and come in to train on nights when his friends were out having fun. He didn’t let the hardgainer label hold him back.

Another good friend, client and former training partner of mine named Todd Coker gained over 120 pounds during the time he trained with me, going from somewhere around 130 pounds to over 250.

My friend Jim Wendler has less than God like genetics and even had a serious disease which he overcame to go to squat 1000 pounds in competition and a body weight of over 280 pounds.

Jim’s teammate and friend Matt Rhodes went from 220 pounds at 6’4” to 313 pounds within the course of two years because of his incredible commitment to eating and training. I had dinner with Matt a few weeks ago and personally watched him force feed himself long after he was full. In fact we all laughed as the sweat dripped down his head while he choked down another bite of chicken. That’s dedication.

I could literally list dozens and dozens of examples of people I know personally (let alone the thousands of people who overcame crappy genetics that I don’t know) but I think you get the point.

You know what those people all had in common?

Drive, desire, dedication and an iron will and commitment to excellence.

That had heart and they had balls.

They never succumbed to the hardgainer mindset.

And most importantly, they never made excuses.

Do you?

JF

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If you are ready to shed the hardgainer mindset and find out what really helps skinny guys build muscle fast, go to MuscleGainingSecrets.com right now.

PS. That's my little bro in the pic above. He's trained with me since he was a kid and did everything I told him to do. Seeing him today at 238 pounds makes it hard to believe he was once the skinniest kid in his high school class. That's what happens when you train properly, work your ass off and make no excuses.

The Big Seminar Recap

Unlike my last trip to Boston a few years earlier, this one would prove to be easy and painless. As I approached the exit, I called CJ Murphy on his cell phone for directions. He mentioned three rotaries. I’m from New Jersey so I wondered, “What the f*ck is a rotary?” I finally figured it out and arrived at the new home of Total Performance Sports a few minutes later. I walked in to hear the sounds of weights clanging, men 100 pounds bigger than me yelling and screaming, and heavy metal blasting. I felt right at home.

After saying my hellos, I went to grab some food with my good buddies, Jim “Smitty” Smith from the Diesel Crew and Alwyn Cosgrove. At dinner I told Smitty that I had hit 765 lbs on the power squat on Wednesday and was pretty happy with that because my leg training had been very haphazard over the last few months. I felt like my strength was starting to come back.

“That’s pretty good,” he said.

“Is it?” I asked, hoping to get his approval of my lower body strength.

“Not really. I’m just trying to make you feel better.”

“Right, that’s what I figured. Thanks buddy.”

When we returned, Matt Rhodes was squatting somewhere in the neighborhood of a million pounds, under the watchful eye of Jim Wendler and Dave Tate. Suddenly my power squat seemed even more pathetic.

Across the room, Vincent Dizenzo was benching somewhere around the same weight. It was all very impressive and motivating to say the least. Even though I had only slept a combined total of seven hours in the previous two nights and had barely eaten all day on the ride up, I was extremely motivated by my surroundings and had to move some weight.

Smitty and I trained together and worked up to 130s on dumbbell floor presses and one arm rows. I beat him on the floor presses and he did 21 reps to my 20 on the rows. Under most circumstances, I would think that I did pretty well in the gym that day and would have been happy with myself. I can routinely walk into most public gyms and out lift just about everyone, including guys who outweigh me by fifty pounds. However, that’s not really the least bit of an impressive feat.

It’s not until you see and surround yourself with guys who are truly strong that you will ever get truly strong. Even if you can only do it on occasion, you need to get out of your comfort zone and train with guys who are far stronger than you. In fact, whenever I spend time with Dave or Jim, I always come home and make better strength gains in the next month than I had in the previous three because my whole idea of what is strong has been renewed. I realize just how far I have to go.

After training on Friday night, we all went to dinner where, among other things, I learned that there are internet forums filled with guys who hate me, Alwyn, and anyone else who is successful in this business. Although it’s sad to think about people having such a lack of fulfillment and success in their own lives, it did give me great pleasure and cause Alwyn much frustration to learn that I receive more attention than he does on some of these boards.

“How the f*ck are you getting more hatred than me? I’m pissed!”

Apparently these incredibly successful, super strong, jacked up forum posters also have problems with Jim Wendler and James Smith. However, according to at least one source, they like to discuss their disdain for me the most. For that I must thank them and say that I truly appreciate how much attention they pay to what I say. It means a lot to me.

After a great night of story telling and drinking beer, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Big Seminar the next morning. But first we made a pit stop at the bar for a few more beers and stories. It was here that I had the pleasure of talking to Rhodes and Vinny for the first time that night. I also learned that apparently they don’t serve more than one beer per person in Boston…or something like that. That’s wicked retahded.

After about an hour or so of hilarious stories provided by Dave, Rhodes, and Vinny, I decided that it was time to head up to my room and get ready for the morning.

The Seminar

Because I participated in the seminar, I won’t be giving a fully detailed review. I will say that Cosgrove, Wendler, and Murph are three of the guys in this entire industry that I would go to first for training and business advice, and I think they proved exactly why. Whenever I hear any of these three speak, I always learn something. This weekend proved to be no different.

There was a great group of attendees, and it was a pleasure to meet each and every one of them. Hopefully, they all got everything out of the seminar that they were hoping for. Personally, I think watching any of those three guys speak or coach is worth the price of admission alone, especially when Jim gets fired up and starts yelling and cursing. There’s not much better than that.

Jim is fond of saying that you will never learn a ton at a seminar and that all the real knowledge comes from training and experience. I agree 100 percent, but I also know that just being around certain individuals, especially those who are stronger and more experienced and/or more successful than you, can teach you quite a bit and really improve your training or business.

This weekend was the first time that I had the pleasure of meeting Vincent Dizenzo, who is an 800-lb bench presser and absolutely enormous by the way. I must say that not only is he an incredibly nice, smart, and funny individual, but he taught me a lot whether he knows it or not. Just being with people like that rubs off on you and motivates you to be better at what you do whether it’s your hobby, job, or whatever. I had several conversations with Vinny over the weekend, and while I was usually laughing my ass off at one of his stories, I was also incredibly impressed with him and that only served to motivate me.

Many times powerlifters are stereotyped as people who never listen to anything that anyone weaker and smaller than them has to say about anything. However, Vinny told Alwyn and me that he learned a lot from listening to us speak about business. He later told Alwyn how much he respects all the hard work that Alwyn has put into his business and all the training knowledge he has acquired over the years. That meant a lot to Alwyn and to me and shows what kind of person Vinny is.

We all can, and should, learn from each other. It’s how you get better at everything you do. And we should all be constantly striving to get better in every aspect of our life. If you aren’t progressing, you’re regressing. There can be no standing still.

One of the attendees summed it up perfectly at the end of the day Saturday. As an outsider to the whole thing and having met all those guys for the first time this weekend, he explained how he thought it was incredibly cool to see a bunch of guys who are so different and have many different areas of expertise yet are so similar. He said that he had learned something different from each speaker but also saw the underlying similarities among all of us. People always want to look for the differences between training programs and coaches and what successful people do. In reality, they should look for the similarities.

Jim explained this during his presentation, and I believe he really hit the nail on the head. Don’t look at what the top lifters in the world do differently because there are, in fact, numerous differences. Instead, look at what they all have in common. This applies to every aspect of your life that you’re trying to improve.

Hopefully, everyone in attendance learned something from each of the speakers and realized that while their approaches to training or business may differ slightly, it’s really their similarities and the common characteristics they share that really matter in the end.

Thanks again to all the attendees and to CJ Murphy for being such a great host.

More For Your Eardrums

What is it about the owners of public gyms that makes them think that people want to listen to... TECHNO when they train? How does techno equal training music? I don't get it. Am I the only who is bewildered by this phenomenon? Who gets fired up to lift heavy weights to this crap? Isn't this what guidos in wife beaters pump their fists to in clubs at 4am? Or did that fad die in the 90's? I don't know, but I do that Eminem was right when he said (in Without Me) "Nobody listen to techno!"

So public gym owners everywhere, I beg you, please stop.

With that being said, here is a list of top 25 songs to train to. It was nearly impossible to narrow it down to less than 50 and I will probably be constantly changing my mind about the list but this is what I have right now. Hopefully you will find a few songs on there that you don't have and can add to your training mixes.

1. Raining Blood- Slayer (Still number one in my book)
2. Loyalty- D12 featuring Eminem & Obie Trice (this song played at least 5 times per day in my gym for about two years straight)
3. The Fight Song- Marilyn Manson
4. Irresponsible Hate Anthem- Marilyn Manson (Lots of anger and screaming)
5. Lost at Birth- Public Enemy (A rare and unknown PE song that kicks ass)
6. Killing In The Name Of- Rage Against The Machine (RATM)("Fuck you I won't do what you tell," me still gets me fired up)
7. Straight Outta Compton- NWA
8. 100 Miles & Running- NWA
9. Angel Below- Underoath
10. Sleep Now in the Fire- RATM
11. Bring Tha Noize (Remix)- Public Enemy & Anthrax
12. F*ck Your Enemy- Superjoint Ritual
13. Blood- Pearl Jam
14. The N**** You Love To Hate- Ice Cube
15. The Better of Two Evils- Marilyn Manson
16. Welcome to the Terrordome- Public Enemy
17. Vietnow- RATM
18. Rabbit Run- Eminem
19. Remember The Name- Fort Minor
20. Bleed It Out- Linkin Park
21. The Beautiful People- Marilyn Manson
22. Make a Move- DMX (Chuck Liddells entrance song. If it's good enough for Chuck, it's good enough for me)
23. The Source- Eminem
24. Lukin- Pearl Jam
25. 99 Problems/ One Step Closer- Jay Z & Linkin Park

Top Ten Albums To Train To

A good friend of mine asked me yesterday what my top ten albums to train to were. After much thought and deliberation, here is what I came up with. Note that live albums and greatest hits were not allowed; strictly studio albums. Although it is blasphemous to mention their name in public and usually results in your being labeled a douchebag, and Fred Durst was the worst excuse for a rapper ever, Limp Bizkit did make some pretty good music to train to for a couple years there.


1) Rage Against The Machine- Rage Against The Machine
2) Rage Against The Machine- The Battle of Los Angeles
3) Rage Against The Machine- Evil Empire
4) Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (greatest rap album of all time)
5) Slayer- Reign in Blood
6) NWA- Straight Outta Compton
7) Metallica- Garage Inc. (disk 2)
8) Limp Bizkit- Chocolate Starfish & The Hotdog Flavored Water
9) Marilyn Manson- Antichrist Superstar
10) Metallica- ...And Justice For All (when Metallica was Metallica)


JF

What's the ONLY Way to Get Faster

Today, we have a guest post from my buddies Patrick & Latif of CompleteSpeedTraining.com.
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On a daily basis I receive emails from newsletter subscribers asking variations of the very same Question:

What is 'step over drive down?'
How do you 'step over drive down?'
What does 'step over drive down' actually do?

I think you understand what I mean.

And this is a great question that clearly needs some further explanation.

The only way to get faster is to learn to apply more force to the ground. Simple Physics state that every action has an equal And opposite reaction. So it stands to reason that the more force you apply to the ground with every step, the more it is going to give back to you.

Now this is an overall concept of course. Athletes must use a variety of training methods to develop this ability. But it is this ability to apply greater force to the ground that determines how quickly an athlete can accelerate, change directions or maintain top speeds.

So I don't want you to get the idea that if you practice one specific drill or do one specific lift in the weight room that you will now have done everything required to help athletes achieve all their speed goals.

The truth of the matter is that you have to build all of your speed development around this fact. By improving things such as flexibility, doing short hills runs, running at full speed, performing speed drills, strength training and plyometrics, athletes directly and indirectly improve their ability to apply more fore to the ground by becoming stronger, more coordinated and thus more efficient.

All of these elements added to a structured speed workout program will result in every athlete quickly improving their ability to run faster.

But for the purposes of this article, I want to focus on the action of 'step over drive down' because efficiency is important and if your athletes' running form is terrible, then they will not be able to take advantage of all the work that goes into mastering the ability to apply force to the ground.

Some coaches and trainers have suggested that doing speed drills will not improve technique. Some say that other elements of training will actually correct technique by their very nature.

In my experience working with thousands of athletes of various ages, sports and skill levels, I find that *certain* speed drills are an excellent and required means of reinforcing these ideas. So what exactly am I talking about?

First, lets break running down into two parts: accelerating and maximum velocity or speed maintenance.

Most sports rely heavily, if not exclusively, on acceleration. This means that athletes rarely reach full speed during while competing in their sport. A great example of this is American football where athletes compete mostly in spurts of running that last 5-20 yards. The only time they reach full speed and must try to maintain it is when a breakaway occurs.

I bring this up because there are going to be differences in the way athletes must run and think about running depending on whether they are accelerating or attempting to maintain top speeds. The differences are subtle but significant and must be addressed.

Yet, the overriding principle remains the same, they must 'step over, drive down'.

More specifically, athletes must learn to step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground so that the foot lands, generally speaking, beneath the hips.

As I just mentioned, there are subtle differences between where the foot strike will take place depending on what phase of running the athlete is in.

The important factor is that they be able to put themselves in a position to apply force to the ground as efficiently as possible.It's really one of those paradoxes that we often find in athletics. At the end of the day, no matter what else an athlete trains and regardless of how great their coaching is, if they aren't in a mechanical correct position upon foot strike, it doesn't matter how perfect the rest of their training is, they're going to under perform.

At the same time, all the mechanics in the world won't help an athlete who doesn't have the strength, coordination and flexibility required to apply that force.

And this is why athletes *need* a complete speed training program to help them achieve their full potential.It's the reason why sometimes we see super strong athletes who can put up ridiculous weights in the weight room, but get them on the track or on the field and they're slow as molasses on a cold winter morning.

It's lack of efficiency, not lack of strength. As coaches and athletes we must change our focus.

And that's' why I cue the step over, drive down technique. As an athlete, and I pretty darn fast one I have to say, this was my Achilles heel. No one ever taught me how to do this properly and so I suffered from a number of the side effects of poor efficiency: painfully slow acceleration and chronic hamstring, arch and knee problems.

Talent took me to a pretty high level, but now I sometimes sit back and think to myself that curse afflicting many former athletes 'what if...'

So that's why I've made it one of my life's missions to make sure that other athletes and coaches don't allow themselves or their athletes to underachieve like I did.

Because if one person, one time had been a good enough coach to pull me aside and teach me how to 'step over, drive down' my entire athletic career would have gone in a completely different direction.

So as I've spent all these years studying speed development, in many ways searching for the reasons why I didn't achieve my athletic goals. 'Step over, drive down' is a Truth that always rings clear in my head as the primary solution to many athletes' lack of achievement.

Over the years I've found a particular progression of cues, drills, exercises and techniques that, when taught in a specific order using specific ways of understanding how and why it works, athletes quickly make radical changes in their technique and efficiency.

And that means, of course, they got much faster.

But the truth is, you could have your own copy of Complete Speed Training in your hands to get a better understanding.

You can see my specific drill progression on video. And watch as I perform each drill with perfect technique as I explain exactly what to look for, how to teach it and where and how athletes will do it wrong.

Because like I said. Without getting this technique down, the rest of your training is like trying to teach algebra to an infant: Pointless.

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For more cutting edge speed training information click HERE now.

Death to Pop Music

Today I'm gonna put training on the back burner and discuss my other biggest passion in life which is music. The state of music today can be quite dismal at first glance. Every Tuesday when new albums are released I log onto iTunes and buy at least 30-50 new songs. I check the new releases, grab some stuff there and then end up spending a half hour searching out other stuff that somehow makes its way into my account. When I look at the top ten charts though, I'm usually sickened. T-Pain? Colby Calliat? Souljah Boy? Baby Bash? Fergie? Good Charlotte? BRITNEY SPEARS????

People, this is NOT good music. Nas was almost 100% on the money when he said hip hop is dead. As someone who grew up listening to real hip hop and has the Public Enemy logo tattooed on his arm, it pains me to listen to some of the crap that is out there today. Luckily there are a few artists still making real hip hop including Nas, Talib Kweli, Common, and my good friend E-Reece.

Fortunately, the state of rock is not as bad as the current state of hip hop. Sure when you look at the pop charts (or worse yet, listen) you need to do all you can to hold your lunch down, but if you dig deeper you will see that there are plenty of great bands making real rock & roll.

Without further adieu here is a list of some stuff that, while you won't ever see them selling a million records, is on high rotation on my iPod and definitely worth checking out. Especially if you can't stand the sight or sound of Daughtry or Carrie Underwood ever again.

Note: This is NOT music to train to. That's a different topic for a different time. While I love hearing Slayer in the gym; it's the last thing I want to hear at home or driving in my car.

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-Kings of Leon

-State Radio

-Pete Yorn

-The Beautiful Girls

-Built To Spill

-Xavier Rudd

-Silversun Pickups

-Matthew Good

-The Shins

-Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

-Pete Francis

-LCD Soundsystem (not really rock but good stuff, especially live)

-Deathcab For Cutie

-Keane

-Sea Wolf

-The Fratellis

-Tokyo Police Club

-The Black Keys

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At the Big Seminar, someone asked Jim Wendler what five CD's he would buy if he only had $100. Later that night, my friend Keith asked me the same question and (for anyone who's interested) here's my answer, although it is a brutally tough decision:

1) Vs.- Pearl Jam
2) Ten- Pearl Jam
3) It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back- Public Enemy
4) Us Against The Crown (w/ Bonus Tracks)- State Radio
5) The Low End Theory- A Tribe Called Quest

Runner up- Because of the Times- Kings of Leon (absolutely amazing album from start to finish)

Mike Mentzer: Genius or Lunatic?

If you don’t know who Mike Mentzer was I will give you some quick background. He was a famous bodybuilder who competed back in the seventies and eighties against none other than Arnold, himself. He was known for being a huge proponent of extremely low volume training. Mike was either loved or hated; there was no in between. He had some radical view points and an in-your-face way of expressing them. He even had the balls to call Arnold out about his high volume training protocols and say what a complete waste of time it all was.

Mike Mentzer’s basic ideas and theories were that we are all grossly over-trained in sets and overall volume but under-trained in intensity. He recommended somewhere between one and three sets per bodypart, once every 7-21 days. He also knew what I have since learned; that high protein diets are unnecessary and are just another scam perpetrated by the bodybuilding industry to force you to buy more protein powder and useless crap.

Many people thought Mike Mentzer was a genius and learned a great deal from him while making tremendous progress employing his advice. Others thought he was completely insane and needed to be committed.

I, personally, loved Mike’s attitude and rebellious nature. I also learned quite a bit from him and when I first read Heavy Duty way back in the early 90’s, it completely changed the way I thought about training. It also led to some outstanding results.

The problem was that at the time I was like many of you; constantly in search for the next best training program and always thought there was a better way of doing things. So I lost my way for a few years while experimenting with everything under the sun.

Sadly, you have to get off the right path and get lost for a while in order to realize that you were heading in the right direction all along.

It has been at least 15 years since I read Mike Mentzer’s training theories for the first time and I have experimented with quite a bit of different loading parameters and training methods since then. I can now state, unequivocally, that Mike Mentzer was a lot smarter and a lot closer to the truth than a lot of people I have taken advice from over the years.

Was he a genius?

No. But he was a smart guy and a rational thinker. He never just blindly accepted what everyone else did. He thought for himself and questioned everything.

Looking back I can say that Mike was a little off with his frequency recommendations and that the intensity he advocated was a bit too high and unnecessary. In fact, I think some of the extreme intensity techniques he advocated may have even been counterproductive. I also strongly disagree with many of his exercise choices.

But that doesn’t mean that Mike’s ideas weren’t effective. He is, after all, responsible for helping Dorian Yates win the Mr. Olympia contest.

Mike knew the dangers of overtraining and realized just how unnecessary and counterproductive all that useless junk volume really was. He knew that it didn’t take anywhere near as much training as most people think to produce dramatic gains in size and strength. Mike knew and preached to people that if they couldn’t get the job done in a fraction of the sets they normally used then they weren’t training hard enough. Or maybe they weren’t eating properly or getting enough rest… But whatever it was, their lack of progress was not due to their lack of training volume. In fact, their training volume may have been what was holding them back.

I respect what Mike Mentzer contributed to the strength training world and will always consider him a pioneer in our business.

To learn how I incorporated many of Mike Mentzer’s theories with my own (that are based on 20 years of in the trenches experience and endless discussions with renowned coaches and trainers) to create the best muscle building system available for drug free, genetically average lifters, go to www.musclegainingsecrets.com now.

Kick ass,
Jason Ferruggia

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“Just another update on my progress, Jay. My squat is up 80 pounds and my bodyweight is up 17 after the first 9 weeks. Can’t wait for the next phase.
Justin Carrol

Another Success Story

Well, all I have to say is, "nothing but results." Your program has not only allowed me to have better time management, but has given me more of a life. I used to work out 5-7 days a week up to over an hour at most times. Every year I would get sick sometime around the months of March and late in the year in November and December, obviously due to overtraining. Now, I get to spend more time focusing on my studies for ministry, and spend more time with people than ever before. I used to be workout crazy, and I chased all the supplements, but now I dont use any supplements!!! That not only saves me more money, but I also dont worry about whats going into my body. I used to spend anywhere from 60-120.00$$$ a month, just on supplements. I saw your program and thought, ok I can spend 45$ on this, which would equal out to one container of NO-Xplode. But if the program was bogus, then I really didnt waste any money.

Not only have I learned a greater respect for "training," but I have realized why I do it. Its for the challenge and desire to get friggin huge. Now I workout three days a week, I dont waste any more money on supplements, I have more time to spend with friends, family, and school. And again nothing but results. I am now lifting 10-20% more than I was before the program. I have been training on this program for four weeks. My body composition has already changed. I went from a weight of 180-185 to a solid 195, without gaining hardly any fat. I am changing up my next four week program to see how things work, and I expect nothing less than results. I want to commend you for your efforts and oustanding committment that you have to get back with your customers. I would definitely refer your program to any person wanting to gain weight and pack on muscle. Your program builds confidence with a well balanced look at bodybuilding.
Thanks alot, your program has changed my life literally,
God Bless,
Steven Combs

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Better results in far less time ==> Muscle Gaining Secrets.

Cuz Stone Cold Said So

It was May of 1997. I walked into a bar in New York City with my brother and our friend Todd. Standing right in front of us was none other than “Stone Cold” Steve Austin who had just begun what would turn out to be the biggest and most successful run in the history of professional wrestling. Since I was at Wrestlemania I and had been a huge fan since 1982 I was star struck and excited by the sight of “Stone Cold.”

Inexplicably, he was standing alone so we went right up to him and started talking. Before we knew it an hour had passed and we hadn’t had a drink. Steve suggested that we head down the street to another bar and we were on our way.

“Am I really talking to Stone Cold Steve Austin like he’s an old friend I’ve known for years?” I wondered. As a lifelong wrestling fan it seemed like a dream. Before I could ponder the situation any further, I felt a huge hand slap me on the back. “Ready, Jay?” Stone Cold asked.

Indeed, I was.

When we got to the next bar we grabbed a few bottles of Guiness and went over to a corner of the room where we continued our discussion which soon turned to training. While you are usually disappointed when you talk training with professional athletes or other famous big dudes after you learn that they built all their size on 50 sets of leg extensions and flyes, the conversation with Steve was actually quite surprising.

His favorite exercise was squats. “If you do a lot of heavy squatting, you’re gonna get big; I don’t give a sh*t what anyone says. I used to squat all the time. Loved to squat. It’s the best exercise there is. My favorite squat workouts and the ones that really got my legs to grow were real high reps. I used to do 20-40 rep sets and my legs blew up.”

“Yeah, high rep squatting is definitely one of the best things you can do to build huge legs.” I said. “I first learned about that from reading Super Squats and some stuff about how Tom Platz used to train. You can’t argue with the greatest legs in the history or bodybuilding.”

***As a side note, my good friend recently moved next to former Olympic gold medal wrestler and former WWF world champion, Kurt Angle. While they were taking the kids out trick or treating the other night they started to talk training. Kurt said that he, too, loved high rep squats and had done something like 405 for 20 and 315 for 50 reps. More proof of the value of high rep squatting. (High rep leg presses or hack squats also work quite well).***

Steve told me that some of his other favorite mass building exercises were the big, old school basic compound movements. What a relief this was to hear. Although his training had evolved because of how beat up he was from years of wrestling he swore by the basics for getting big and strong.

No training talk with Stone Cold Steve Austin would be complete without asking him how he got such an enormous neck.

“Oh man, I had a neck harness and just did this sh*t all damn day,” he said as he mimicked the motion of doing an extension with a harness around his head. “Everyday, that’s all I did. Ya gotta have a big neck.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I replied.

Later that night, Steve hopped in my truck for the ride back to his hotel in Jersey where he was staying. We exchanged handshakes, hugs and phone numbers and planned to meet up again soon.

We did so a month later when he invited me back to the locker room after a show in Boston where I met Bret Hart, Vader, Mick Foley and quite a few others. We discussed many things that night including conditioning and nutrition, but that’s another story for another day.

Until then, remember what Stone Cold said and make sure you’re squatting heavy and, at least some of the time, for high reps (12-25). Keep making consistent progress and upping your weights and you will be buying new jeans before you know it.


Jason Ferruggia

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For the real truth about building massive muscle without steroids in less time than you ever thought possible, visit www.musclegainingsecrets.com.

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“Jason, I will keep this short and sweet, I just wanted to say that I was skeptical when I bought your program but you have completely changed my mind and the way I think about training. I think this is the best written and most well thought out training book I have ever read. The bonus stuff, especially Jim Wendler’s Secrets to Super Strength is awesome. I will tell everyone I know to get this book immediately. Keep up the great work and a sincere thank you.”
George Wallace