Train To Move

           The power of movement is essential to everyday life. In fitness when people think of movement, they think roaming on elipticals, moving weights around, aerobic exercise and other types of stuff. That’s all good in some cases but what I’m talking about by movement is using different functions of the body that keeps you healthy, free and open to channel the body by squatting, running, jumping, climbing, lifting and carrying weight and making the habit to be practical and utilizing every inch of your body to it’s potential. Functional Movement is precise in what brings the body as a whole as you move through various patterns, using as many muscles as possible in any given time.

            When it comes to sitting, we usually bring ourselves to sitting in chairs or our beds sometimes but never take the time to actually squat and sit that way or move in the squat. This exercise can help build the tendons and ligaments in the knees and build strength in those muscles. Jumping has become a meaning to use in sports or in other endeavors but never for any real fun anymore, when was the last time you felt like jumping and playing hopscotch or something? Lifting doesn’t always mean heavy but it means picking up an object of certain weight, moving with the weight by carrying it is pretty fun to do, think of carrying a heavy backpack or picking a 50 pound rock and carrying it a certain distance then tossing it. We all know how running goes, personally I’m not a fan of running but I like to sprint and amp up my body’s metabolism so that’s a form of running.

            Some movements are in awkward positions like moving in an animal type fashion like Bear Crawls, hanging and swinging like an ape or climbing like a gecko, your body was meant to move in all sorts of directions granted how you’re structured and the way your body can operate in a certain movement. Even walking in an awkward terrain or non-flatted areas is moving in an awkward position and changing directions as you go along. When you can move in an awkward position, you’re utilizing other muscles you normally don’t use.

            When you move, you have a greater chance of having a longer, healthier life if you practice enough to where you’re using practical movements, progressing and utilizing your mind at the same time. I love moving around even when I’m out in the snow hitting a tire with my Sledgehammer; I’m giving my body strength and heading towards specific goals of movement. I even love to just move around in the living room, stretching my body out and jumping & crawling just for the fun of it. 

          To understand the fun of movement, look to what Mary Poppins says by “in every job that must be done there’s an element of fun. You find the fun and snap the job’s a game.” This applies the same way as moving in your training, you learn to imagine having fun with what you’re doing and making it more enjoyable instead of feeling like you have to punish yourself. This helps having a longer life by using your imagination and building a happy attitude to what you do and incorporate it to other things in your life.

The Journey To Super Muscle

           We all share a certain journey in our lives, our journey starts usually when we’re born but also there is a journey where it’s not always where you’ll go in life, it could be something you want to go after. In the case of strength training, some of us in the Physical Culture world are on a journey to create Super Muscle. What is Super Muscle you might ask? Is it having a big burly body like a Mr. Olympia? Is it having the body of a Powerlifter or is it having a body that can do all sorts of things? That is entirely up to you and what your goals are. To me, Super Muscle is having a strong, powerful and enduring body and learning to use it in many ways like lifting heavy weights, doing tough bodyweight exercises kind of similar to a Gymnast and doing high octane conditioning using various tools and programs that keeps you functional and channeling your inner power.

            There are people who say because of a certain age or genetics; they can’t build a great deal of muscle mass. Not true. Sure you may not look like another Arnold Schwarzenegger or Ronnie Coleman but you can build good solid and mighty muscle. Back in the golden age of Physical Culture there were men and women who at first were sickly, weak, overweight, and thin down to the bone but somehow managed to build crazy amounts of muscle and this was long before steroids and high level supplements became the stuff to build muscle. To give you an example, a man named Maxick who was a sick kid, didn't have a chance in hell in his youth to live a long and healthy life yet persevered and became a legend in weightlifting and bodybuilding by becoming one of the first men in his weight class (145 lbs.) to lift double bodyweight in the overhead press and was able to control the muscles in his body to move any which way he wanted. No matter what your age or by genetics big or small, you can create great muscle.

            In my opinion, Functional Muscle is far superior to today’s Bodybuilding type muscle. By functional I mean using your body to levels where it’s useful and can be used in a variety of everyday situations. Bodybuilding muscle is isolating specific parts of the body and not being able to use it in most everyday situations. Take for example my friend Bud Jeffries, one of the strongest men in the world (drug-free I might add) who’s around 6’1 and over 275 lbs. yet when you first look at him he doesn't look like the functional type of strongman but yet he’s extremely agile for his size, very agile and one of the most conditioned athletes of any size. He is one of the embodiments of Super Muscle.

            On your journey to develop Super Muscle, remember to work with other attributes because just building muscle isn’t always going to cut it. Learn to be agile, work on flexibility, build your balance and very importantly exercise your tendons an ligaments, they are the very foundation for your Super Muscle development otherwise you’re building useless muscles that can bite you in the ass. Here’s some ways to build Super Muscle…..

Lift Odd Objects

Practice Isometrics

Do Hard Bodyweight Exercises

Learn Muscle Control

Be Flexible

Do Thick Bar Lifting (Fat Gripz are optional to put on the bar or dumbbell)

Self Resistance Exercise

            All of these are very useful and you don’t have to do all of them, pick what works for you and run with it. Building Super Muscle isn't some thing you can get overnight, it takes time but you don’t have to punish yourself. Have fun, use your imagination and be creative. Your results will come when you make progress a little each time to make big gains. Do what works for you and have a blast with it. It’s only a matter of time before you achieve levels of strength you never believed at first but now are in your grasp.

            Picture yourself getting there, be mindful and get into the habit on never giving up what you want.

Bouncing Back Progressively

            Being sore from training is part of the fun. When you are so sore it feels like a crowbar hitting you it’s best to step back a bit, not a whole lot though. It takes discipline to keep going even when you don’t always have the strength to do something the next day. Be mindful and listen to your body.

            There have been guys that got so sore from a workout it takes days sometimes weeks to recover but that shouldn't stop you from doing what you love. Little by little do something till you recover. Recovery is a priority because if you believe you’re going to challenge yourself during every workout till you drop you’re setting yourself up for injury. Do little workouts while you recover, this helps keep the blood flowing and might help you recover quicker. You want to let your muscles rest so they can build themselves back up and help you be stronger next time around. If you’re used to big workouts and don’t get sore that easy that’s one thing but the majority of people need quality rest and food to bounce back.

            As you recover, take the time to reflect on your next challenge. Those little sessions during that cycle can make all the difference when you give your mind the chance to figure out what you can do next. Mental strength is a must otherwise you’re just bouncing around like an idiot and just doing physical work without any real discipline. Be tough but don’t be like a smart ass, be mindful and endure it because once you recover and you’re at your best again, you’ll be far stronger. Meditation practice is a great way for recovery. One other form is channeling your energy during those little workouts, do them right and you’ll feel like you just got an adrenalin rush and your body is surging with strength. What I like about CoreForce Energy is that it teaches you how to use your strength at anytime even when you’re sore because the power within you will give you that surge with intense focus and it can never be broken. It is also one of the greatest recovery tools I've ever encountered bar none.

            At the next challenge you might end up being crazy sore again but also you repeat the cycle. Reflect, do little workouts that keeps your blood flowing and learn to channel your energy. There will be times where you won’t get sore at all and your strength is just uncanny and powerful that recovery is merely instant. For most of us, we need to recover after a big session and build ourselves back up. Take your time but don’t slack off. Sore after a big lifting session? Do some flexibility work, build your energy and eat plenty because the right foods will help you in ways you can’t imagine.

We all get sore after some kind of big workout whether it’s....

Animal

Odd Objects

Bodyweight

Partials

Training For Martial Arts

    Whatever but that doesn't mean you stop training all together. Do something that isn't that vigorous or do a percentage of your challenge workout every few days or so, listen to your body. Magazines or Infomercials will tell you to do this after a big workout or only X amount of days to recover, it’s all really bullshit because that’s just a generic look at what they believe you should do. Do what works for you, listen to your body and recover when you need to, to get yourself back in the game. 

Going Rogue

            We all want to find the best ways to get results in the fitness world. Some use equipment, some don't and the rest just make shit up. You don't to have equipment to get the best but yet you can find what’s useful to you and make it worth your time to go at it hard. I love using certain things because they give a sense of purpose and meaning when I want to create something exciting and having the tools provide that.

            When it comes to equipment in a gym, there are two types of gyms that have a complete different type of world, the health spa and the underground gyms you see in various parts of the country including one of the craziest in New Jersey. The difference between the two is that a health spa consists of “beautiful” people with chrome and fern machines, state of the art treadmills, most weights in the dumbbell rack go up to about 50 lbs. and you see plenty of people wanting to look like Tarzan or Arnold yet have the strength of Jane. The Underground guys are bad to the bone (yes even the women), some are tough as nails hitting iron, flipping tires, lifting, dragging, carrying, pulling, pushing and even a few becoming a machine instead of focusing on one. This is the type of gym that turns little boys into tough hardcore men with strength to go with their look like the old school strongmen of legends past.

            If you want to use equipment to get results, you want ones that are productive, basic and simple to use because in the end, the basics give you the most out of everything else. The true weapons of Mass Destruction are your Barbells & Dumbbells which you only need to consist of a few things, Presses, Pulls, Squats and the occasional Grip Work which you can add with to your training by going to Stronger Grip to give you that extra edge. To supplement, you can use medicine balls, Kettlebells, Jump Ropes ect. It doesn't need to be complicated with all the crappy machines like a Lat Pulldown or a leg extension.

            In the Military, our forces need the proper training to stay in the best possible condition for battle, stealth tactics, running towards enemy fire and the ability to fight in self-defense so why not give them the best deal there is and help them fight for our country so they can come home safe and sound. Not all Military personnel lifts weights but if we showed them a foundation of Monstrous proportions, they’re be able to handle the rough and tough terrain of lifting, carrying and throwing with ease that can save their life and those of their troop or squadron.

            One of the most fun types of training in lifting is being able to lift a heavy ass weight. My good friend Bud Jeffries knows what it’s like to lift some super heavy weights and not always in a full range of motion but in a Partial. Partial Lifting is moving a weight from a specific range of motion which you can lift heavier and heavier weights than usual. Some people think Partials don’t do anything, some think they're the best to help their range of motion for a full lift, I personally feel if you're going to lift some crazy weights, you ought to progress the lift to the point where your best lift is at full range. Say your best bench is probably 400 at full range, you can lift far heavier if it was at lockout or quarter lift say for instance like as high as 600 at a lockout or 525 at a quarter and work your way down, it may be less weight at the longer range of motion but you're still building crazy strength in order to reach that point. My best deadlift is around 400, not a great amount of weight to right home about but yet I rarely ever lift weights, so far my best quarter DL is at 475 for 4-6 reps which I'm proud of considering I never moved weight in that type of lift in any other part of my life but anyway you catch my drift. In order to do partials you're most likely going to need a good solid Power Rack which you can adjust the range of motion to any lift you want.

            Have fun with these things and get as strong as you can. Whether you lift weights or not, it’s best to create what you want to get the best possible results and study the best in the best people who are drug-free and have great knowledge in how real strength and physique can be obtained through sheer hard work, balanced eating and rest. The simpler the better.

. My Review Of Justametrics

When it comes to underground of the Physical Culture world, no one has held that title better than the man himself Steve Justa. For those that know little of him know about his book Rock, Iron, Steel that brought a whole new meaning to the term “Backyard Warrior.” This man was one of the top strongest men in the world with unofficial world records in lifting odd objects and other unusual styles of lifting. What some don’t know is his hand on how he uses Isometrics.

            A while back, he lost a large portion of his strength due to Type 2 Diabetes and his recovery is nothing short of a miracle. For a man once weighing near 400 lbs. lost a ridiculous amount of weight and had to completely turn his diet and training around, he began to work almost exclusively on Isometrics and changing his diet from drinking sodas and bad food to eating seaweed, high potent supplements and good whole foods. He has literally studied more on Isometrics than just about anyone in the Physical Culture World.

            Isometrics are a key ingredient to developing super strength because for one, you have nearly unlimited amount of exercises to use and can do them just about anywhere. Another look at them is that it builds the nerves in the body that help generate power in the tendons, ligaments and those little muscles most people neglect, most work on the major muscles. When you look at the DVDs onhow he uses Isometrics, its quite a sight despite being in a garage with a “little” rack he built but the principles still applies.

            There are some who believe isometrics is the cream of the crop for fitness and there are others that just seem to believe that its just as much bullshit as building superhuman strength through isolated movements. Justa’s intake on them is very unique and more philosophical than you would just train them. Just working so many muscles and tendons all in a period of time can be used anyway you want, work for holds, time what he calls jerk reps and how to apply them to anything you want to achieve. I like his style and he gives a pretty weird insight but hey it’s normal for him and I admire the man for that.

            Now granted he’s not your typical fitness dude and he even makes old school guys look weary but in the end he’s a man who lives in his own universe. The man dresses up as if he were Mel Gibson in Mad Max, you know, post-apocalyptic warrior type thing, end of the world fighting to survive type of guy. For him it’s another day at the office but for others he’s as weird and a little messed in the head but he doesn't give a damn. He’s not rich and live in a nice house; he lives practically out in the middle of no where in Harvard, Nebraska and doesn't many luxuries but yet, he’s got what he needs and mostly made himself. You see most guys in the old days trained in backyards, back woods and lifted or practiced different feats of strength but this is where Steve just takes it to a whole new level which at times I can’t even fathom but I love his idea of mastering your own style and making it your own.

            The reason why anyone in this wacky world of ours called Physical Culture should learn from Steve Justa is because he’s develop a way of training that can turn you into an athlete or just want to get crazy strong. Learning from him can give you a different perspective on how one should be training, yeah we all can lift a weight, lift a few barrels and do some basic bodyweight training but no one is at a level he’s been at and most likely never will be at. On these 2 DVDs alone, he shows practically over 1000 different Isometrics and a plethora of ways to do them that no one has seen.

            One of my favorite scenes on the videos is how he shows a unique way to train for Arm Wrestling. I modified my own method from his philosophy and my arms and whole body felt like they were on fire, worked different directions, held for certain periods of time and once did a total of 200 jerk reps and I felt incredible. He even talks about how he went from being one of the strongest men on the planet to literally falling over from the Diabetes to coming back far stronger and healthier than ever. It’s one of the most remarkable stories I ever heard.

            Watching the DVDs at first you might think “who the hell is this guy.” I know how you feel, I felt the same way but I kept an open mind and just paid attention to how he trains and what I can do to learn. I respect him for what he wants to do and I do love his style of training; no bullshit, just go out and do it, pace yourself and master your own way of training. Sure he’s a bit rough around the edges but that’s ok, I admire guys that are unique and would be a hell of a trip to train with him.

            If you’re serious about building strength in ways most people can’t, then get your ass in gear and get these DVDs, the investment is worth 100 times more than you’ll ever imagine. Imagine having strength from multiple angles, infusing rich blood into the muscles to stimulate growth and power, having tendons that are as strong as an ox and working many exercises as often as you want, however you want and in any amount of time you want.  Also, Isometrics have been known to help burn fat faster than almost every other method and you’ll learn how to lose weight. Get strong and toughen up your body like never before.

The Art Of Bodybuilding Without Ever Picking Up A Weight

Going to the gym can be fun, exciting and learn a few things about fitness but most people don’t have time for it or since gyms these days don’t have real world-class training and instruction for lifelong health and fitness it’s better you find alternatives. There are those who also don’t have much money since the economy has become a bit of a downward spiral what can one do to get fit? I’m a fan of old school bodybuilding and I’m talking about long before the Arnolds and the Lou Ferrignos, I’m talking of guys like Bill Pearl, John Grimek, Reg Park, Otto Arco, Maxick and the likes.

 There have been decade(s) long debates about building muscle and how to acquire it, some say you need to lift weights, some say do bodyweight exercises and others have certain things in between. I feel from my own experience you don’t need a gym to get in awesome shape and certainly don’t need weights to build muscle. One of my all-time favorite methods is what’s called VRT or Visualized Resistance Training. This is a system where you mimic lifting a heavy weight using the mind/muscle connection and use tension to move through the exercise. This is another look at Muscle Control, being able to move individual muscles however you want. In bodybuilding today and yesteryear this is a look at posing.

 Using your own tension and resistance creates blood in your body hence forth the pump you get from an exercise. Think of a curl that targets the biceps, you do a certain amount of reps and blood rushes to the muscles and builds a pump, you can do the same exact thing without ever lifting a weight. You can create any exercise you want with this program, you can visualize lifting a car or pulling on the toughest of cables. It’s all about using your imagination while flexing the muscles in a dynamic movement. This is effective because not only does it build muscle but it protects the joints and can give you a bit of a cardio workout from breathing hard after doing an exercise.

 This was created by one of the most underrated Physical Culturists of our time named Greg Mangan who discovered the way to a better alternative from weightlifting. Not saying weights are bad this is just another option you can use to get a quick workout in anytime, anywhere. Infusing the mind/muscle connection is the key ingredient to this program and Greg will show you how that works. In his course he even states you don’t have to do the routine layed out for you, you can create any type of routine you want. I once tried some bodybuilding programs from the champions in Joe Weider’s Ultimate Bodybuilding book and they wiped me out and I didn’t have to switch stations, just stand or sit where you are and have at it.

 Muscle Control is one of the coolest and mot effective ways to build muscle and did you know that when Arnold was winning his 7 Olympia titles, he would stop lifting 6 weeks before contest to work on his posing to build that definition and symmetry and it worked, that’s another look at Muscle Control, forget the steroids and all that crap this was done back in the early 20^th century, Sandow did the same thing and one of the greatest artists of MC was a man named Maxick who looked like he was carved from granite. Lifting weights is fun to do I get that and whenever I do hit the gym once in a blue moon I want to hammer out as much as I can get my hands on but at the same time it does get expensive and gym memberships are crazy expensive and only less than 5% of those who do go to the gym actually do it the other 95% quit after a while because they get burned out and are tired of driving, changing and god forbid wait for some douche to get off his set so you can do your thing. 

 You have a choice and you have more options than you realize. Don’t get frustrated trying to get fit, find alternatives that suit your lifestyle, this could be one of them and you don’t need to do 2 hours of training for this to be effective, 20 minutes a day is really all you need and if you don’t have that amount of time, start with just a minute and work your way up. Make it happen for you.  

A Whole Gym In The Palm Of Your Hands

How cool would it be to workout anywhere you wanted, at the beach, the park, your backyard, garage, house, even at the top of a mountain? Having a gym is way overrated. I’m not saying going to one is a bad thing but if you wanted to train anywhere you wanted, what can you do? One way to do it is getting a device that could have endless ways of strengthening everything from your neck to your toes and that’s my dear friend, the Chest Expander.

 This little bitty rubber cable apparatus can work your body from more angles than weights never could and you need to strengthen those areas for overall functional strength and fitness. There are many types of cables to progress with ranging from the easiest to nearly impossible to expand. Weights can hit many muscle groups but the cables hit muscles that aren’t reached by any other method except this. Unlike weights that use gravity, you are fighting the cables because they don’t want you to expand them and you need that kind of power as if you’re fighting a person.

 The cool thing about this bad boy is that you can go from one exercise to the next in a snap, go from a curl to a press or from a row to a lateral raise; this is great for circuit training to help bring that conditioning element. Dumbbells are fun to use if you’re into them but it takes you a little bit to put down the thing, grab another and go through the cycle again, with the cables you can put as many as three on there and if its too much for you than take one off to ease the resistance, I find that more fun than taking the time to switch plates or dumbbells. When you see that you’re working from odd angles, you’re building odd strength and flexibility which can aid you in almost anything from lifting to bodyweight exercise to cardio or even to help rebuild injuries and heal old wounds to get that functional strength back for the things you want to accomplish whether it be sports, your job or helping out your family.

 One of my favorite things to do is use this thing for Arm Wrestling. This sport is one of the toughest forms of strength there is, period and you need well developed grip, wrist arm overall body strength to take even the toughest of opponents. Read about my article about Arm Wrestling Training to learn more details to get an idea of how strong you can get just using cables and never needing a machine or weights to get the job done. This is where it gets even prettier by the second where you can go from using it as a rehab tool to taking it to a superhuman level that even the strongest forces in strength athletics can appreciate.

 If you want to take it even further my man Bud Jeffries has a DVD course that specifies in Alternate Conditioning Methods which one of them is based on Cable Training and the things he has in stored on there will blow you away and just when you thought you only had a few basic ideas, he takes beyond another level. An extreme few courses out there on this type of training so that should tell you that there are secrets out there that can take your fitness to levels never imagined before. Being fit is awesome, being strong is great but being functionally fit and strong is the most gratifying thing you can achieve and becoming superhuman is that much sweeter.

11 Reasons You Must Do Isometrics By Bud Jeffries

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

Prepared as a Gift for Friends

of Ben Bergman

11 Reasons You

Must Do Isometrics

if You Desire

Strength, Speed and

to be Super Human

By Bud Jeffries

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

Reason #1

Help you fix holes in your strength

One thing that’s very important to me is to have a complete strength. When I say that I mean a complete range of strength and endurance, ranging from long term cardiovascular endurance, to short intense endurance, to high maximum strength, to real world strength, to individual muscular strength, to strongman based or non linear type exercises, to flowing exercises, to odd angle strength and everything in between.

 One of the things I found as I began to experiment and look at isometrics more closely is that I was extremely strong in most of these places, but I didn’t feel that my ability to hold weight, especially a heavy weight still. Or even just to hold my body in certain isometric positions wasn’t as strong as it should be. I certainly didn’t have the strength or strength endurance to hold it for long periods of time in those positions.

Hello, I’m Bud Jeffries and I’ve probably done more with isometrics then just about anyone else alive.

I felt like that was a hole or a weakness in my strength, that was something I should correct. That’s one of those things that if you leave gaps it comes back to haunt you. The ability to pick something up once is fine, but what if you have to pick up something heavy and hold it to save yourself or someone else or simply to test yourself for true strength? It is a mental toughness builder, but it’s an actual physical skill that most of us are somewhat lacking in comparatively.

Unless you’ve done a tremendous amount of isometric training you won’t know or be able to express every bit of power that you have in that particular way without this training. Don’t let there be holes in your strength, because it’s easy to have them and miss them and

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

it’s easy to not understand that they’re there unless you’ve experimented with all different kinds of strength. This ranges from moving heavy weights fast or slow, to moving extremely light weights fast, to holding light or heavy weights or body positions in absolute still or isometric style training. Isometrics are a great way to train your body and you should be doing it.

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

Reason #2

Isometrics add muscle to even me!

Everybody has genetic advantages and disadvantages and I admittedly grow muscle fairly easily, but I’ve been training a long time. I’m a grizzled veteran. I’m not somebody who at the drop of a hat, no matter how hard they train, grows an excessive amount of muscle. Plus, I keep my nutrition fairly lean these days and I’m constantly keeping my weight down and cutting more weight. It’s not easy to put muscle on a frame that’s been through every possible type of strength training war that there is in trying to add muscle. Yet I find it amazing that muscle is adding to my frame and to other parts of my body from using the isometrics training that I’d never conceived of and it’s happening very quickly.

The more and deeper I experiment with some of the weighted variations of isometrics and play with the time period we hold the position, the faster the muscle seems to grow. This is pretty amazing considering it’s happening to a guy with 24 years of training experience who has already trained as hard and heavy as anyone else living and is already a big person. With isometrics training you can quickly add muscle, because of the depth of stimulation you get and at the same time, without a tremendous amount of muscle soreness. I found that it’s extremely effective, much more effective than many of the things I’ve tried in the past, such as exceptionally heavy negatives or certain brutal rep schemes, to really add muscle quickly without much damage or wear and tear. I believe the concentration of effort, for instance one 30-second heavy held isometric is equivalent to very high repetition sets with that same heavy weight, because you can work in multiple range of motions and in strong and weak ranges of motion, you can add muscle extremely quickly.

Both professional strongmen, Dennis Rogers and

Mike “The Machine” Bruce are big fans of isometrics.

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

Why not fill out your frame and its useable muscle? Muscle that’s conditioned and functional at the same time, which is another huge portion behind the training concepts of what we do. There’s no point in adding muscle that doesn’t have the horsepower to back it up. However these isometrics, especially the weighted ones for heavy and extended holds, grow amazing functional muscles quickly. Experience isometric muscle growth now by making sure you get Extreme Power Isometric Training DVDs today!

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

Reason #3

Isometrics turn your strength on

One of the crazy benefits of isometric training especially in the experiments we’ve been doing and the way we apply it is an immediate boost of strength. I’ve been able to demonstrate this with myself as well as in a workshop format and other trainees that I use, in getting an immediate boost in strength.

Why does this happen? I’m not sure you can explain every factor, but here are several. I believe it teaches the body to work in the exact groove that you want to get strong in and it teaches the body to work as hard as possible in that groove either in a specific sticking point or to simply contract harder than normal because you can push through a weight or non-moving isometric style contraction harder than you can with a normal implement. It teaches you to unify your body behind an implement or behind a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell or whatever you wish to lift and it teaches you to actually use every bit of fiber that you have by being able to forcibly contract.

There are many isometric press variations that can instantly

increase your pressing power.

It’s essentially the same thing you’d get from an overload by turning your neurological system on or opening up the synapses and nerve firing pathways to a much higher level except it can be applied with other implements and very specific patterns. This does some amazing stuff. I’ve watched people press barbells, kettlebells and dumbbells they’ve never been able to lift or press them faster and easier than they’ve ever done. Snatch faster than they’ve ever done, curl faster and stronger, be stronger in jumping, running motions, squatting motions, pulling motions.

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

It’s a pretty amazing thing because you can apply it to any specific pattern you wish to get better up and you turn the volume up to your muscles messages to how hard they can contract. Once you do that you get stronger, once you get that strength, you can train harder and you get perpetually stronger. It’s a build on top of each other type of exercise. It’s simple and quick to do and can be applied to multiple types of training paradigms for a basic lift or for a totally unusual angle of strength that people have never seen that you can quickly get an immediate strength boost by training them if you just learn how.

Copyright © 2012 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

Reason #4

Isometrics make you Faster!

This is a pretty amazing benefit of isometrics that I had known about for a while, but never really deeply explored until I decided to delve into every venue and every possibility that there was in training. It’s convinced me more and more that this is a lacking type of training for many sports and specific activities. Isometrics has gotten a bad rap from a sad historic overview that really didn’t take into consideration the advantage of how powerful this training could be.

I had an experience where I tried to pull a bus, and this is explained extensively in our Extreme Power for Isometrics DVDs, but I tried to pull the bus, however could not move it because of a crazy situation with the ground. I spent a large amount of time pulling isometrically, trying to move what was essentially an immoveable object. We then moved the bus to where I could actually pull the vehicle and I moved it faster than I had ever moved it as though it were literally made of air.

Why? Because I had gained absolute, 100% contraction in the very specific pattern I was using for the feat. I essentially then got stronger, my nerves got stronger, my firing pattern got better and my speed went up. I believe this was because of the nervous stimulation and the total ability for my muscles to reach a higher level of contraction, therefore both strength and speed almost immediately increased.

One isometric drill increased Adrienne’s sled push speed immediately afterwards

I demonstrated this with multiple people at the workshop in Tallahassee and it’s all shown on the DVDs. I’ve done this with other people who train with me privately, with myself and with my son. It’s pretty amazing to immediately be able to get faster in a lift, in a bodyweight movement, in your hand speed for punching power, in grappling, to get faster

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in strongman movements, to get faster in sprinting and running movements, all with an almost immediate response. It’s a great way to jump start your speed for other events, for strongman, or for just general training or for competition. There are amazing ways to achieve gains plus its super simple and quick to do.

You owe it to yourself to get the Extreme Power for Isometrics DVDs and it’s something with which you can make yourself lightening fast. I believe it’s one of the secrets to Bruce Lee’s and the Shaolin training with their extreme speed and explosiveness with the ability to jump high, punch psychotically fast. This isometric training for speed is all explored in the DVDs as well. I know it made me much faster than normal with my hand speed. You can achieve this too if you simply learn how to apply it. It’s a simple technique. You just need to watch it done a few times till you understand how to do it and then apply it to yourself. It’s an amazing benefit you can get very quickly.

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Reason #5

It’s probably the only truly sport specific strength work

There’s been an argument within the Olympic lifting, HIT and sports communities, martial arts and weightlifting groups about the efficiency of lifting or training for sport: If you do a specific movement that mimics a sport are you actually going to get a weighted movement or are you going to get better at that sport or is it going to mess up your nerve patterns or your specific technical pattern?

It’s been relatively established that there are a few movements that, because they are similar in nature but not exactly in the sport specific pattern, that they give you a better general ability but not more specific to the sport. It is believed that you must play the specific sport to gain the nerve patterns and ability. That’s why people who grapple or box can hit very hard or wrestle and be very strong in those positions, even if they don’t train much in other strength movements, because they spend so much time at high-level contraction in those specific moves.

They can’t, however, generally transfer that to other arenas. It’s also why some people who’ve gained strength in certain types of strength, especially if it’s done in an isolated training fashion or machine based training, in the weight room but haven’t gotten good on the field or playing mat to improve their performance during the sport. It’s the reason that martial artists, for quite some time, didn’t really believe in lifting weights, because they didn’t see actual improvement in their art.

I believe isometrics can solve much of this problem. It may be, and if you really look at the martial arts from around the world and certain sport training, you’ll see that isometrics are the only way to duplicate a sport specific pattern without messing that pattern up and actually become stronger in that specific range of motion while you get better at your sport in that particular way.

Let me elaborate – If you take a baseball pitcher, and this is a classic example of this specific training pattern, and have him throw heavier weighted baseballs, you do not create a better, faster pitcher. All you do is create a messed up nerve pattern, becoming slower and losing control in the pitching.

If you were to take that same pitcher and train each individual phase of his pitching pattern in the exact motion that he uses with a ball, but in an isometric contraction, not with a weight, but against an immoveable object or force – you can exactly mimic that pattern and force for the body to contract at 100%. Lay every bit of leverage into every piece of that pattern without messing up the pattern, because it doesn’t work at off speeds, you’d only actually be pitching with a regular baseball so there’s no slow down – It’s only actually teaching the body to contract at the very nerve pattern, ranges and speeds without throwing it off.

The same applies to kicking, punching, specific strongman movements, or running

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movements. They don’t always get better if you try to mimic them with weights, but if you want to get better at sport specific patterns, figuring out an isometric training program and exercise that exactly mimics those patterns and movement without interfering with the speed of the movement or trying to hold weight in an awkward fashion, can create an amazing sport specific gain.

Yes, with isometrics you could train this exact move without the detrimental slowing

effects of throwing a weighted ball.

This has huge implications for football, throwers, grapplers, boxers, martial artists and in fact has been done for centuries in martial arts. You can get some pretty amazing ideas in how to train this in our Extreme Power for Isometrics DVDs and it’s explained further where can see, first hand, how to do it.

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Reason #6

Isometrics give real world strength

One of the primary experimenters and I believe proponents, as well as someone who has been pushing isometrics forward in the last 30 years is a guy named Steve Justa. In the ad copy for Extreme Power for Isometrics, my business partner Logan wrote, “Learn what the Nebraska Wildman taught Bud about isometrics.” He did teach me quite a bit. I have learned from him and he has done some amazing personal level research and experimentation in that capacity.

Steve Justa, author of Rock, Iron, Steel, is insanely strong and

has done isometrics of all variations over his lifetime.

One of the things he talked about was having a real-world job bucking hay/custom hay baling for farmers in the Nebraska area. If you’ve never worked with hay – it can be tough job, especially if you’re not used to lifting things, lifting and throwing things in weird ways– it’s a very awkward job. Most of the strength in the real world means exactly that – picking things up in an awkward manner, things that aren’t meant to be picked up by humans. It’s why we do strongman training. Steve talked about the very specificity of this job: Picking up different shapes, weights and size bales on unstable surfaces, moving it for longer periods of time all day long.

A man he worked with there had incredible muscular development and muscular hardness from this type of work. Steve was training and doing a lot of heavy lifting at the time and thought he should be able to really man-handle these bales. On a one-to-one basis he could throw a bale as good as anyone else, but he became tired quickly and he just wasn’t able to translate it as powerfully as he thought, considering the power he could apply to balanced lifting exercises. He began to experiment with what he would call “power aerobic

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isometrics.” It’s one of the types of isometrics we talk about and one that I’ve experimented with, which is an extended series of time, angles and efforts over a long period of time, moving from body part to body part and muscle to muscle to create both an aerobic effect, as well as a muscular one. Suddenly the hay baling became easy.

Why? Most of the work you do in the real world requires that extended muscular contraction. The task may not be a simple half-second muscular contraction. It requires it in odd angles. It may not be a balanced lifting environment. It may be against something that doesn’t want to be lifted or at a totally disadvantageous angle, but when you learn to apply full power to those angles for extended periods of time you’ll get the amazing aerobic benefit of the right type of isometric. Also if you do it within the way this course is put together, by mixing them with aerobic or other strength exercises making it at least as, if not more than aerobically challenging.

Isometrics is one of the best and easiest ways to build unique, real world strength. It’s the kind of strength that translates to grappling, striking or lifting at many angles, in a way that most people don’t ever have. You see most of the angles you use in grappling are odd angles. That’s why grapplers attack at odd angles to keep you out of your strength and off balance. You can get strong in many different directions.

I had experiences in my life like Steve’s that lead me to strongman training and now to isometrics to being able to conquer a level and angle or a type of strength that I didn’t feel was good enough. That’s why we do this and why you should be using isometrics as well. It’s why you should be learning about them and training them. Make sure you pick up Extreme Power for Isometrics and learn how to get real world strong, to train in angles that no one else does, to train in ways no one else does to have something no one else has which is unconquerable real world strength.

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Reason #7

Great strongmen use isometrics today and have used it in the past

One of the amazing things people don’t really know about, because they don’t truly study the methods of the old time strongman, is their use of isometrics. Strongman has come back into popularity, but even most of the materials that push the old time strongmen today don’t really delve into some of the most awesome methods they used. Most of the old time strongmen were true showmen and they did amazing feats of steel bending and they often trained in very Spartan environments. The effectiveness of the exercises of isometrics lead them to the use of this training method to be a massive part of their regimens.

Alexander Zass was one of the major proponents of this and was considered the “Iron bar bending King.” He escaped from prison camp four times. He used the bars and chains he was in to train isometrically to maintain and even build his strength when he was a prisoner and was really a pretty amazing human being, able to do some ridiculous steel bending feats. He’s just one of the great examples as there are many others inclusive of the Mighty Atom, who is probably one of the best well known today of the old time strongman along with guys like Arthur Saxon and Herman Goerner.

Alexander Zass, the Amazing Samson, supports an steel beam by his mouth. He was one

of the biggest proponents of isometrics and his results speak for themselves.

Many modern strongmen use them today. Dennis Rogers, one of the most well known

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strongmen in the world today, is a big proponent of isometrics for steel bending and the type of strength necessary to do strength feats which is also real world strength. I don’t care what anyone says – If you can bend a 12” crescent wrench as easily as a wire coat hanger, you’re freakin’ strong in a very real sense of the expression. One of the things that Dennis has done and teaches to others who want to learn his craft, is isometrics for that kind of training.

Isometrics are used still in the training of powerlifting. I’ve seen Louis Simmons recommend certain isometrics movements such as abdominal isos for improving your squat and deadlift. It’s massively well received in martial arts and grappling circles today and many of the other strongmen you don’t even know do quite a bit. Strongmen such as Aaron MacKenzie, who is in the old time strongman performing world and is known by the nickname, “Mighty Mac.” Aaron is probably one of the closest successors to Dennis from being a smaller guy, but being incredibly powerful and talented at the feats such as wrench bending, card tearing, short steel bending, etc. Aaron told me very specifically once how he trained to be able to do 100 reps of handstand pushups in one day which was one of his goals, by doing 3 positions isometrics of handstand pushups. I’ll share more about that with you at another time possibly in upcoming book on isometrics. Then there’s the man I spoke of already, Steve Justa, who does his own brand of strongman inclusive of the old time stuff and is a massive proponent of isometrics.

That’s just a few and I would name myself in that group. The more I experiment with it the more impressed I get with the isometrics as far as the development and power you can get. If the best people in the world, the strongest guys around, use a technique and it’s pretty wide spread it’s probably pretty smart. That’s why you should be studying about and learning about isometrics. If you want the strength of the best guys in the world, then you have to train in at least some of things that they do. That’s what they do, that’s how they get awesome and that’s how you can too. Make sure you pick up Extreme Power for Isometrics.

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Reason #8

Isometrics are a great fat burning exercise.

This is something that most people have never thought about with isometrics, because they haven’t experimented with the right type or style and they haven’t really been in contact with someone who’s done a lot with isometrics because it’s not a widely known technique anymore. It’s something that was relegated to the past or to simplistic exercises that are for amateurs, but actually it’s a very advanced technique when you do it the right way. The first person I ever heard talk about this is someone we’ve already spoken off who’s had a huge influence in this work – Steve Justa.

When I met Steve in person I was shocked by his leanness and hardness that he displayed for someone who does no conventional bodybuilding, and even though he’s moved toward eating a more natural diet, doesn’t eat anything special at all. However he, like me, was a huge guy, 360+ pounds and rehabbed his body from Type 2 diabetes, back to healthy again with a massive use of isometrics. There’s more to know about this story which you can learn about in the DVDs and Steve’s interview on our site.

He began to talk about it in his book and I never really paid much attention until I started to experiment it for myself. I noticed this fat loss and found it to be an amazing thing. I noticed the other people who really did a lot of isometrics and the parts of their bodies they really hammered with isometrics was very ripped, lean and hardened beyond measure. You can see this demonstrated in Dennis Rogers’ forearms, or Eric Vining’s sides or Slim Farman’s arms or the Shaolin monks’ legs, Steve Justa and now me. You see incredible development in the areas that they really work thoroughly with isometrics and a significant part of it is fat burning. In fact this may be the only style of fat burning exercise that might literally potentially burn sight specific fat.

Are isometrics better then this for fat burning? My answer is YES!

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Almost all fat burning is a systemic issue. In other words, when you do exercises, it burns fat preferentially to the areas of your body that are hormonally geared to burn fat and it burns it in an all-over body basis. However if you do isometrics, you will see, and I can wake up and demonstrate this day after day, that the part of the body I really hammered with isometrics would immediately look leaner for the next day and days after. Plus the muscular development would be phenomenal. Steve talked about it being impossible for fat to stay on a muscle that was thoroughly exercised with isometrics and he’s a very lean guy considering what he does! Bruce Lee, as an example, is basically the epitome of super ripped and was a huge proponent of isometrics and I’m beginning to see why.

In this real experiment with myself I’m leaning out more than I ever have, at a higher bodyweight with some amazing results! I think one of the things necessary to do this that people don’t talk about is in an extended isometric. The old school isometrics were often very short and they were great for building power and if you pile up a lot of them it becomes a similar volume effect and does burn quite a bit of fat, but an extended isometric that goes for 30 seconds or 60 seconds or longer or for multiple sets of those seems to have a tremendous fat burning effect.

I believe it’s possible, and I can’t back this up scientifically, but this is my theory – The density of an isometric exercise held for a long period of time is so incredibly demanding on the muscle and so likened to extremely high repetitions, quickly passing through the energy cycles faster than normal exercise into an area that pulls fat directly from a muscle as well as systemically. Nothing is truly isolated or systemic in a fat burning or muscle building standpoint and I don’t mean that, but I believe that the absolute, locked down extended contractions may access fat out of a muscle and pure fat burning for energy hormones, especially because of the differing aerobic pathways it may take as well in a more effective way than other types of training. Whatever the case may be as to “why,” you can demonstrate 100% in the real world that it is a killer fat burner.

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Reason #9

They’re easily adapted for strength and endurance.

Isometric training may be the most easily adaptable exercise you ever do. You can adapt it for specific groove, sticking point or for any particular exercise or any angle you may need strength in. So what do you do to train this? You simply apply a couple of different uses. One of the primary ways I like to do isometrics is in a power rack. It’s one of the only pieces of equipment every actually designed to be used for isometrics, so if you use a power rack you can immediately adapt the weight up and down, set the pins to confine your range of motion to do one of the several types of yielding, holding or extended or max isometrics. You can also change that very quickly, adding weight up and down or changing the range of motion or the time period.

You want to get strong? You do a very hard lock down isometric for short periods of time with as much weight as possible. If you’re not going to use weight, if you use a different exercise, use the maximum amount of exertion you can possibly do. If you want to train better for endurance you extend the time period by adjusting the weight down, extending the time or extending the angle.

Here are a couple of things to think about: Dennis Rogers advocates a 6-10 second isometric with a couple of seconds ramping up, 6-5 seconds at 100% max effort isometric and then another 3-4 seconds at 50% isometric afterward to get the most benefit out of your steel bending isometric or your pure strength builder. That’s close to the all time recommendations from both York and other people who’ve done research on isometrics in regards to the, “how.” 6-12 seconds seems to be the time period for maximum power.

That can be with weight or applying intensity. You can adjust that up and down with the percent of intensity especially if you’re not using a weighted isometric. An amazing thing we’ve been experimenting with is light weight in a power rack isometric, but maintained at max intensity for extended period of time. You literally push away off the pin or hold it and push away to a 2nd pin with a moderate to light weight, driving it as hard as you can and continue that as long as possible. If you do that with a max weight you’ll limit yourself to that 6-10 second phase, but if you do it with a lighter weight you may get into the 30-60 second phase. Then you can mix that with other conditioning exercises or move from isometric to isometric without stopping, going for either long holds or repetitive stacked up short holds that can easily build massive levels of muscular and aerobic levels of endurance. Don’t kid yourself, even though you’re not moving, the aerobics are much more intense than you think both from an actual pathway standpoint and from a lung and heart rate, breathing standpoint.

Another way to jump into this is a the way John Brookfield has used it in hand training styles – To use a non-moving exercise and adjust the weight up and down by changing how you grip or the lever you use on the exercise to go from heavier or lighter in your effort. If you’re using a non-weighted isometric simply go from 50% to 100% effort back and forth, but not stopping the isometric, always maintaining some level of tension just

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going back and forth. This is a great way to adapt quickly for both strength and endurance

and it pays in off massive dividends.

John Brookfield, another legendary strongman and proponent of isometric movements.

Are you detecting a pattern here?

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Reason #10

You can work at angles you just can’t reach any other way

One of the things I learned about in strength and have trained, is that there are multiple types of strength and most of the training that most people do, especially in the weight lifting world, is a very balanced type of training. Even if you use implements that have an odd balance such as the kettlebell, it generally tends to be a whole body unified straight up and down, or linear, or an efficient angle. One of the things you learn while experimenting with strength is that in the real world it doesn’t always come at those angles. It pulls you out of line, pulls you into your worst center of gravity, your worst leverage. It’s very hard to train those things safely. Isometrics gives you the ability to do that very quickly, easily and safely.

Bud shows Ryan Pitts of Strongergrip how to build very odd

angle strength. This exercise has to be felt to understand the power.

Its one thing to deadlift and an orthodox deadlift done the right way should be kept close to the body, close to the center of gravity. It’s another thing to lift the weight or actually bring the weight far away from the body such as 6-12” away from the body as you begin to pull it up or further. You may not be able to lift much weight this way, but you can quickly and easily train angles like that with almost no extra set up time or effort by simply pulling against a bar that won’t move, set at different ranges of motion or height to do that. You can also train in a million quick and easy changes to go in and out of your strongest ranges to get those tough to reach angles – The kind of things that are trained in grappling and martial arts all over the world to give you strength in ways where you are generally vulnerable.

You can also train by pushing your arms and legs out to different directions that they don’t normally get pushed to give yourself that protective type of strength. Not something that would hurt you or something you could load safely with other weight, but something that will allow your body to maximize its ability to use its

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strength as well as to build its strength in other directions. It’s a simple, quick, easy way to build amazing strength in angles most people never thought of. That’s one of the keys to building super strength. Steve Justa talked about building strength in those minor muscles that you may have no other way of reaching. When you can strengthen every little muscle along the chain then you’ve made those big prime mover muscles stronger. They’re normally limited by the weakness of those smaller muscles and you may not find those in conventional exercises and they’ll limit you in your other array of possible strength quests. He believed it’s why, after extended isometric training, he was able to lift things heavier than normal even though he hadn’t lifted a heavy weight because he’d found a way to strengthen muscles that were rarely or never touched in a regular lifting motion. In strengthening those he opened the gate and strengthened the chain for the big muscles to play. You can get super strong with these isometrics and do it in amazing ways. Make sure you pick up Extreme Power with Isometrics.

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Reason #11

Isometrics are Easy On and Can Rehab Your Joints

I spent 16 years trying to squat 1,000lbs and after I finally succeeded I decided to lose weight and get back to a leaner version of myself. I began to experiment with different exercises and started running. Running at 300lbs may not be the greatest thing you can do, but everyone should have that skill. I simply took a mis-step one day and ended up with an injury that has plagued me for several years. I experimented with multiple things to bring it back to health and finally just in the last bit have regained the ability to squat from the bottom position, having all my muscles fire in sequence and feel comfortable about not further damaging the joint.

Two of the exercises I spent an extensive time period working on for rehabbing my knee are isometric holds done in yoga style from Eischen’s yoga (such as front warrior held for extended time), and wall sit isometrics held with both bodyweight and weight. Both of these seemed to build my joints and knee back to where it doesn’t hurt, it stays in line on a regular basis and I can lift things I haven’t been able to for the last three years, because things became stronger.

The isometric exercises don’t bother my knee, which is crucial. I’ve got a lot of miles on me and even though I function better than much of the world, having engaged in thousands of hours of crazy and possibly damaging training, I have little to no damage, because I’ve found ways to stop the problems.

Isometrics are great for dealing with previous injuries.

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The isometrics seem to be developing muscle in me in a way that’s extremely joint friendly, to help me get back to full squats that helped me in other ways, such as upper body muscles and working around sore spots or injuries from grappling and other things I’ve done that build those muscles in a way that doesn’t cause pain. Isometrics can be some of the best rehab and pre-hab you can do with many ways to do it and you can train a massive amount of strain, strength, endurance and volume with little or no joint damage and always getting them perfectly aligned for the exercises you want to do. It’s very joint friendly with very little problem for a tremendous amount of pay off in what you can possible get out of the training.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this special report. If you’d like a whole lot more information on isometrics including hundreds of exercises, drills and variations to train with be sure to check out my newest 3 DVD set at the link below.

God bless,

Bud Jeffries

www.strongerman.com/go/isometrics-bb/

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For more from Bud Jeffries be sure to check out Strongerman.com

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Secrets Of The Old-Time Strongmen

Some of the biggest names in weightlifting shared certain secrets on how to not only increase their strength but how to build tendon and ligement strength as well. Back in the early days of Physical Culture there were strongmen that didn't just lift weights and do bodyweight exercise....They added an arsenal of training methods to not only experiment with but it helped their advantage that much more. Back when gyms were just on the uprise there men across the country who couldn't get to a gym either because it was too far away or because they didn't have the money to pay for the equipment themselves to use at home so they improvised a lot and tested different methods and found exercises that not only made them very strong but it helped carry over to when they could use weights. There were exercises that tackled very differently then weights and challenged the body from different angles and were in different shapes and sizes hence the name Odd Object Lifting. Say you had a barrel laying around or a sandbag....You can do a good amount of training using these objects and can turn your body into a conditioning machine.

Odd Objects are not barbells and dumbbells they are peices of equipment that can come from whatever you have. Here are a few Examples....

Barrels

Kegs

Logs

Sandbags

Hammers

Rocks

Concrete Blocks

All these would be considered odd objects to train with. A man who has mastered these time and time again is strongman Steve Justa. If you never heard of him he is considered one of the strongest men in the world and has written a book called Rock, Iron, Steel. You can find that on the Ironmind Website or at Functional Strength owned by John Wood. Justa is best known for training in his backyard and lifting very heavy weight ranging from 500 pounds to 2000 pounds. He carries scrap iron, lifts heavy barrels and carries a yoke that weighs as much as a beetle car. I have very high respect for what he does and is a genius in the realm of strength training. Another man whom I have high respects is Strongman Bud Jeffries. He has a DVD series covering many exercises on odd object lifting and the way he teaches you how to handle them are just incredible. I've played around with Barrels, Rocks and Sandbags myself and I will tell you without blinking twice they are ass-kickers and once you learn to adapt them into your training you will get stronger.

Think of it this way, with barbells and dumbbells you can only move them in limited directions. Now what if you can move a weight in more directions and still gain strength? That be a better way to look at it in my book. George Hackenschmidt once said that to be strong overall you have to adapt to more then just limited movement. If you want to get strong you have to work different angles while working major muscle groups. If you think lifting a 135 pound barbell is the same as lifting a 135 pound barrel it isnt. It takes far more strength and stability to lift a barrel because you can't tell which way it'll go so you have to shift your weight and grip it much differently and not in the same places as a barbell. Odd Objects teaches the muscles how to stabilize differently and how it makes adapt over and over. Go check out Bud's DVD Series and then find out for yourself how awkward it really feels. Train smart and train effectively according to your training needs.

Odd Object Lifting Series