The Final Beast Blog Post

After some awesome months here at this blog, I've decided to call it quits on this one. I'll still be doing the daily training and practice updates at www.brettstrainingblog.blogspot.com and the fitness updates at www.brettsalphacrew.blogspot.com so feel free to check out those. Also, feel free to look up the you tube channel under my name, Brett Stepan. Thanks everyone for your support and I'll look forward to talking with you all on the other blogs. Stay strong and awesome.

Brett

A different view of the l-sit to handstand to l-sit

Here's the final rep (rep 3) of the final se (set 5) of the l-sit to handstand to l-sit on the parallets. A little shaky, not as crisp, but not bad. Filmed it from a different angle today.

Amazing back movement

One of my favorite back movements. From Tuesday night's training. It's a combination front lever pull (straight arm lat pull) and pull up. Great for the entire back. Awesome to do after a hard rings practice and hitting 100 pull ups in the morning, then starting out the evening with these. Nailed 4 sets, this is the final one, then hit 4 sets of 1-arm rows, 3 sets of isometric shrugs, and some good midsection work. An awesome training day.

Racing to 100

Love this method of training. After hitting some awesome sets of deadlifts it was squat time. Loaded the bar to 365 pounds and the goal was to hit 100 reps in 10 sets of 10 or less. I managed to nail it in 6 sets of 15 and 1 set of 10. Felt hard but good. Finished off with 3 super sets of weighted lunges and 1-leg leg curls. Of course, my wonderful bride nailed her squats in 4 sets of 20, 1 set of 15 and 1 set of 5. Totally humbled. Here's the final set of squats



https://youtu.be/3cVsz7PtZWM

Hope you like it!

Moving the German 50's to 75's

Hitting my 5 sets of German 50 push ups today and decided to turn them into the German 75 for each set. So, here is the 5th and final set of German 75 push ups.

Day 15 of the 30 day pull up challenge

I'm on day 15 of my 30 day challenge to perform at least 100 pull ups a day no matter what. Here'smy final set of v-sit pull ups on the rings to make my 100 for the day. Not the prettiest, but not bad for being at the end of the morning practice, lol.

Back of wrist push ups

A lot of people have asked me about these. I've mentioned it a lot of times in posts that I hit 5 sets of "back of wrist" push ups during my morning practice; and most people don't know what they are. They're a great way to strengthen the wrists and work a compensatory movement to all the normal push up and hand stand wrist positions. Here's a quick set of 10.

L-sit to handstand to l-sit

Haven't practiced these in a while. They felt pretty good though. Made it to my last rep (rep 3) of my last set (set 5) and realized I hadn't filmed yet, lol. So, here's the final rep of the final set of the L-sit to handstand to L-sit on the parallets. Felt good and strong. Did these in a super set with muscle ups on the rings.

Time for leaning out

I think the mass building went very well. Now it's time to get as lean as possible without sacrificing any of the muscle, strength or power. And, of course, time to get a tan.

Enjoying the irony

 

The other day, after giving me a very wonderful compliment on my back development, someone asked me why I have so many pictures of my back. I have to say, it's for the simple enjoyment of the irony. After I broke my back and ripped apart the muscle tendons an ligaments in it the doctors all told me that I'd always have a bad back, a weak back, be in constant pain, never be able to move my neck or right arm, never be able to use my back much, never be able to train again, etc. Since then, my back has become one of my strongest, most supple, most fit, most powerful and most impressive areas.

True words to live by

A very wise person once stated, "I don't train hard and eat clean because I hate myself. I train hard and eat clean because I Love, Honor and Respect myself." Such true words.

To all those who......

I remember when I was in my 20's, walking around at a lean and ripped 155-160 pounds, I had tons of people that warned me about my 30's. They all said, once I was in my 30's my metabolism would drop, my muscle mass and strength would go, training would be harder, etc, etc, etc. Now, as I'm turning 39 this summer, I walk around at a lean and chiseled 190-195 pounds and am stronger, more powerful, healthier, fitter, and more ripped than I've ever been before and I continue to improve. I'm thinking that all those naysayers were full of total Skata. Treat your body right and age truly is just a number.

Why you SHOULD NOT Work Out!!

The adult male pictured above is clearly taking the advice of this particular blog post. Here are some reasons why you SHOULD NOT work out!!

1.) The circle is the most perfect shape in the universe, you should try to attain it.
2.) Dying decades before you should is the new hip and happening thing.
3.) No, it's sexy and awesome to be winded and wheezing while you walk across a parking lot.
4.) Belly fat, who doesn't want it?!
5.) You really are trying to use your bat wings to fly.
6.) Love handles, saddle bags, back fat, guts, saggy thighs, big fat asses, these are what people really like.

7.) You just got your new health insurance and you want to make sure you use it.
8.) Who doesn't want diabetes, heart disease, auto immune disorders, strokes and the like?
9.) You have so much shit saved on your 4 DVRs, how are you supposed to catch up on it if you waste time working out.
10.) Having self-confidence is sooooo overrated!
11.) Who wants to have a body that they're proud of.
12.) Ain't nothing wrong with gluttony and sloth!
13.) How would you know that your alive if you didn't have your aching joints, bad back, bad knees, bad ankles and all the rest.
14.) You love to watch shit orbit around your belly.
15.) Being able to get up off the floor easily is sooooo yesterday. Struggling is much better.

16.) You haven't had the ability to see your genitalia in decades, why would you want to now?
17.) It's awesome now. Just a few decades ago people had to pay money at a carnival to see someone your size, now they can just walk down the street.
18.) You know you love not being able to get out of the chair because it's too much struggle.
19.) No really, blowing out your back while tying up the garbage bag is normal.
20.) Artery blockage, I don't need no stinking blood getting through.
21.) No really, who doesn't like the sight of man boobs.
22.) You're back has to give out somehow.

23.) It's always amazing to lift up a roll of fat and find the remote that you lost 6 months ago.
24.) So, you can't get up the stairs anymore, that's why God made ramblers anyway.
25.) Be able to run, tumble, climb and play with your kids, who wants that.
26.) Catching every bug and sickness that goes around shows that you're well loved.
27.) It would suck to have a tight tummy or ripped abs.
28.) What, being muscular, fit and healthy is so 1980's.
29.) Touch my toes, hell I can't even see them.
30.) It's awesome to wake up every morning tired.
31.) You get so much more attention when you hurt your back picking up a bag of groceries.

32.) Because, who doesn't love my rolls
33.) Hip replacement technology has improved so much more over the last few years.
34.) Who want to be a good role model for their kids and grand kids anyway?
35.) Cotton candy weighs way less than an apple, so it won't put much weight on me.
36.) Because, of wait, I'm tooo tired to finish this sentence.
37.) Because truly loving and respecting yourself is best shown by eating shit and wasting away into a tub of lard.
38.) Because training is toooo hard
39.) Training takes toooo much time
40.) I don't have money for a good gym.

41.) We're all going to die someday, I'd rather get it over with sooner than later.
42.) A life of pain, sickness, no energy, lower productivity, lower vibrance, is the only one worth living.
43.) Because being energized throughout the day would be horrible.
44.) Feel like a million dollars, I'd rather feel like a wooden passo.
45.) Chicks dig beer bellies.
46.) Men love it when they can't wrap their arms around you
47.) My man boobs are finally up to a dd cup
48.) It's awesome to break into a sweat pulling my pants up.
49.) Having to waddle instead of walk, that's the sheeeeitttt people.
50.) How  are you supposed to get on "My 600 Pound Life" if you were healthy and fit.
51.) Being able to move with ease and without pain, so overrated.

Alright, now that we've said that, go train your ass off both literally and figuratively. Being healthy, fit, strong, conditioned and full of energy (not to mention looking awesome and moving awesome with no aches and pains while staying young) are the shit. Get after it.

Now, go create your greatness and train hard and heavy.

Brett

P.S.  Had to cleanse myself after this one:

Rings training fun

Having tons of fun practicing on the rings this morning. One of the all time great training tools. I love 'em!!

Y-scale fun

Having some fun with some y-scale practice at the end of this morning's training. Love working them all, the y-scale, front scale and back scale. Great stuff!!

German 50 push up blitz

Finished up a nice rings, parallets and floor practice this morning with 300 push ups (German 50's) and 100 pull ups. Felt good. Here's the final set of German 50 push ups.

Rings combo is really getting fun

This combo is feeling really strong and tight. I'm loving every practice of it. Awesome!!

Don "Ripper" Ross syle leg killer

After nailing the 6 sets of bottom position front squats I felt like I needed a little more to finish off the lower body so I grabbed an old trick from the great Don "The Ripper" Ross. Here' it is.

Bottom position front squatting

I figured that bottom position back squatting with 355 pounds for singles helped me a ton in being able to back squat 500 pounds for sets of 5-6 reps, so it was time to add in bottom position front squats simply to see if it has a similar effect. Here's the 6th and final set hitting 315.

1-arm rows with 201 pounds

Also from Monday night: After the flies, it was 1-arm row time. Nailed 6 sets of 5 on each arm with 201pounds. Felt strong and awesome. Here's the final set

One of my favorites for the chest

From Monday night's training, a fantastic one for the chest. Cranked out 6 strong sets of body flies on the Jungle Gym. Making sure to hole both the stretch position and the contraction position for a 10-count. Awesome stuff. Here's the final set.

100 pull ups a day challenge, day 1

Decided to challenge myself. So, for the next 30 days I'm looking at hitting at least 100 pull ups a day, regardless of what my practice and training has in store for me. Here's the final set to get me to 100 from this morning. Not the prettiest, but I was little tired by this time. Lol!

Deadlift death set

From Thursday: I hadn't hit deadlifts in a while. So, After nailing 6 sets of singles with 455 pounds, I felt I still needed a little more. It was death set time. So I dropped the weight to 355 pounds and just repped out with it. Felt awesome.

A million Excuses, but.......

Let's see:
1.) Born with a degenerative bone disease in the hips: Yes
2.) Broke my back in my early 20's: Yes
3.) Ripped apart all the muscles, tendons and ligaments in my back: Yes
4.) Let those things be an excuse or a limitation in reaching my dreams: HELL NO and NEVER. There will always be a million excuses, but there will never be a good reason to limit yourself or keep yourself from your goals. Create your greatness!

There's just something.......

After training hard every morning, 6 days a week, and training hard every evening, 6 days a week; there's just something wonderful about finishing up a really nice morning practice with some Y-scales.

Some good words on the pursuit of perfection and excellence

Vince Lombardi once said, "While we may never achieve perfection. The pursuit of perfection will allow us to achieve excellence."

So true, I love it!

Walt Whitman was right

Walt Whitman once said, "If anything in this world is sacred, the human body is sacred."

I believe that he spoke the truth.

1-arm cartwheels and the morning practice

Awesome morning practice today. Hit 5 sets of assisted muscle ups with slow negatives in a super set with 5 set of handstand holds. Then moved onto 2 sets of 1-arm cartwheels on each side, 2 sets of butterfly kicks on each side, 5 sets of feet elevated push ups, 3 sets of chin ups, 1 set of lunges and 5 sets of back of wrist push ups. Felt awesome. Here are the final 1-arm cartwheels for the day.

196 pound 1-arm rows

So, on Monday night's training I decided to see if I could nail all of my sets of 5 reps in the 1-arm row with 196 pounds, making it heavier than I am (I weigh 193 right now). And yes, nailed all 6 sets. Had them sandwiched between body flies, bottom position front squats and midsection work. Here's the final set.

Rings combination, a different view

Monday morning practice: Hit 5 sets of muscle ups super setted with 5 sets of handstand holds, then went to 4 sets of rings combos super setted with 4 sets of tuck planche holds, hit 5 sets of false grip paused pull ups super setted with 5 sets of German 50 push ups, then hit 2 more sets of pull ups, 5 sets of back of wrist push ups and 1 set of lunges. Here's the final set of the rings combo from a different angle.

weighted pull ups with bodyweight plus 88 pounds

From Saturday: An awesome training day. Hit 300 wide grip push ups, 50 pull ups and a crap load of lunges this morning. In the evening hit 6 sets of 5 for weighted reverse grip dips with bodyweight plus 108 pounds, then hit 6 sets of 5 for weighted pull ups with bodyweight plus 88 pounds, then finished up with a 3 minute set of timed squats. Here's the final set of weighted pull ups with bodyweight plus 88 lbs

Friday night conditioning fun

From Friday night: Awesome training day today. Hit 300 classic push ups, 50 pull ups and a bunch of lunges this morning. Then hit a nice and strong 4 rounds of this beautiful conditioner. Finished off with some volume work for the midsection. Here's, I think, the 3rd round:

Loving the clean pulls

After Thursday morning's training, Melissa and I hit 6 sets of military press, 6 sets of snatch grip high pulls and 6 sets of clean grip high pulls. Here's the 6th and final set of the clean pulls with 335 pounds.

Does morning training interfere with evening training?

How does morning practice effect evening training? Thursday morning I hit 5 sets of muscle ups, 5 sets of handstand work, 4 sets of rings combos, 4 sets of tuck planche holds, 5 sets of false grip paused pull ups, 5 sets of push ups, lunges and more. Did it have any detrimental effect on Thursday evening's training? Not at all. Here's the 6th and final set of military presses with 185 pounds.

You have to love it when the handstand feels this easy

I was working my parallet handstands today and found that even when I tried to throw myself off balance I was able to recover. You have to love when you come down because you want to, not because you have to.

Naling the clean pulls

After the BTN presses and the snatch pulls I finished off the night with 6 sets of clean grip high pulls from the hang. Nailed it with 335 pounds. Here's the final set:

Killing the snatch pull

After the BTN presses it was high pull time. Hit 6 sets of 3 for Snatch grip high pulls from the hang with 275. Here's the final set.

Working the weakness

Working the weakness and nailing 6 sets of behind the neck strict presses with 165. Here's the final set:

German 50's

Finished off this morning with 5 sets of German 50s and 5 sets of false grip explosive pull ups with a pause at the top on the rings. Here's the final set of German 50's.

Rings combo for reps

Hit some awesome stuff this morning. Started with 5 sets of muscle ups super setted with 5 sets of handstands on the parallets, then hit 4 sets of rings combos super setted with 4 sets oftuck planches on the parallets, then finished with 5 sets of German 50's super setted with 5 sets of false grip speed pull ups. Here's the final set of the rings combo for doubles.

Awesome Conditioning

For this evening's training I went back to one of my favorite conditioning routines. Hit 4-6 rounds of the following with no rest between movements:  10 Tiger Squats (5 per leg), 20 1-leg Burpees (10 per leg), 30 1-leg hip thrust/ leg curls (15 per leg), 20 Split Lunges (10 per leg) and 30 seconds of wall drive sprints. Awesome stuff. Here's my 3rd round.

Wushu style Butterfly kicks

Finished off this morning's practice with a few sets of Wushu style butterfly kicks (which I hadn't practiced since last August, so they're not too pretty right now) and 5 sets of Feet-elevated push ups. Here's the final set of butterfly kicks.

1-arm cartwheel time

Haven't worked on tumbling since last August, so it's time to get back into it. Here's today's final set of 1-arm cartwheels to get back in the tumbling mood.

An awesome night of training and 176 pound 1-arm rows

Monday night was an awesome training night. Started out with 6 sets of 5 reps of weighted dips with bodyweight plus 141 pounds. Then moved onto 1-arm bent rows for 6 sets of6 reps on each side with 176 pounds. Then finished up with Bottom Position squats for 6 sets of singles working up to 355 pounds. Here's the final set of 1-arm bent rows (used two 88 pound K-bells).

Geting back to planche training on the parallets

Did these (tuck planche holds) in a super set with my rings combination. Here's the 5th set. Then, finished up with 5 sets of l-sit false grip paused pull ups and 5 sets of German 50 push-ups

Back to hitting combinations on the rings

Hadn't hit the rings combination since August. Here's my first run through. Not to shabby at all.

Back to handstands on the parallets

Hadn't worked seriously on the parallets since August. Here's my first handstand back. Felt pretty good. Did 5 sets of 3 handstands in a super set with my assisted muscle ups. I'll be back to all my parallet work soon.

Back to the rings and assisted muslce ups

It's getting beautiful outside so it's time to bring back the acrobatics. Here's my 5th of 5 sets of assisted muscle ups on the rings. Haven't worked seriously on rings work since October, feels good to be back, even the false grip feels good.

BMI, one of the absolute stupidist things on the planet!

Those of you that are regular readers of my blogs, my articles, my tips and even my facebook know that I love to bash the BMI (Body Mass Index). I do this simply because the BMI is so fucking ridiculous. BMI is the old height/ weight scale with some added math. Take your height in centimeters and add it to your weight in kilograms and divide by 2. It never takes into account what your bodyweight is made up of. For example, if you're 5'5" and you weight 200 pounds with a 48% body fat, a big hanging gut, love handles, bat wings, saddle bags and the like; yes, you're obese.

But, on the other hand, if you're 5'5" and you weight 200 pounds with a 6% body fat and you're rocking chiseled abs, a mountain range of muscle for a back, awesome legs, incredible arms, great shoulders and a strong neck guess what? You're not obese.

Here's a great example.

According to the BMI, Olympic lifting legend Dmitri Klokov is morbidly obese:

Seriously. According to BMI, this is obese? Really?

Hmmmm........sounds a little stupid and ludicrous to me.

Stay strong, train hard be muscular and don't give a damn about what the BMI says!!

Having a nice healing week: Monday's wrap up

With Melissa having an unfortunate accident while power cleaning and me dropping the bar on my neck while working the BTN Push press last week, we decided we were feeling a little beat up. So this week is all about healing and recovery. Along with my normal mobility and stretching drills I worked 4 sets of feet elevated push ups and 1 set of German 50's. Then at night, Melissa and I worked some Eishcen's Yoga. A great day.

And, of course, had some fun playing on the rings:

An exercise y'all should be doing

For today's tip I'm going to start off by giving you all an assignement. I want you all to check out the bodies of male gymnasts. I know, for you ladies and some of you guys out there this is going to be a tough assignment. How dare I mae you look at hot bodies. I should be ashamed of myself. Now, I want you to check out the you tub video were Cara Heads is recovering from an injury so she's doing some active recovery work in the pool. Then, I want you too check out people like John Grimeck, Marvin Eder and Steve Reeves. From there, check out people like Dmitri Klokov and all the top crossfit chicks (Yes I just said chicks. No, it's not offensive, I used it as a term of endearment). Now, that you've done all that I want you to think about what all these physiques have in common.

Yes, they're all awesome. Every one of these people looks incredible. That's not what I'm talking about. Yes they're all strong, fit and ripped and train and eat the way we talk about in these tips. Awesome too, but not what I'm talking about. What I'm looking for is the fact that every single one of these people spends a ton of time on overhead work and it has paid off hugely. All the Olympic lifters and crossfitters spend a ton of time on pressing, push pressing, jerking and snatching weight overhead, as well as doing overhead squats. The crossfitters and the gymnasts all spend a ton of time doing handstands on various apparati (like th floor, parallettes, parallel bars, pommel horses and rings), as well as working on various types of handstand press ups, straddle ups, lever ups, push ups and more.

Yes, great bodies, ones that are ripped, lean, athletic, healthy, strong and fit are more often than not built by people that spend a lot of time on overhead work. Why, because overhead work fucking rocks! Nothing hits the body in quite the same way as overhead work does, especially when it's done either standing or while standing on one's hands.

So, where am I going with this? I'm going to give you all a lift that you should be doing that is one of the all time best overhead lifts. Yes, military presses, overhead presses, jerks (whether they're push jerks, split jerks, power jerks, or; for the people that are more flexible than a gumby doll after being nuked in a micro wave; squat jerks), snatch balances, snatch grip presses, thrusters, back thrusters and more; are all great exercises and they all should be done at various times. But, one exercise should be a staple in everyone's program. That lift is the Behind The Neck Push Press.

What does this lift work? Let's see, you'll work your hands, forearms, triceps, shoulders, traps, upper back, upper chest, mid back, lower back, sides, midsection (no, it's not your core, it's your midsection. Only useless trainers that no nothing about training call it your core), butt, thighs, calves, ankles and feet. As well as you heart and lungs. So, yes, in a sense it's truly an all out, full body movement. (This is also why body parts splits are fucking stupid. Where would you put a movement like this in?)

Now that we've established what the lift works, let's look at it's benefits. It'll increase your strength, power, explosiveness, speed, agility, coordination, athleticism, balance, body awareness, and full body unity while building muscle, bones, tendons and ligaments and burning fat. Sounds great, doesn't it? And it beats the hell out of any type of shoulder machine, or any other type of machine as well.

How do we do it. First off, whenever you're pressing in front of the neck you should think about having your hands closer to shoulder's width apart. This will keep them safe. Yes, wide grip presses can be good, but close grip gives you better results, more safety and allows you a stronger pressing position. That being said, it's kind of the opposite when you press behind the neck. You don't want to go snatch width (although the snatch grip behind the neck press is a great movement for another time), but you should be wider then you'd be if the bar was in front of your neck. I like to have my pinkies or rig fingers on the outside rings of the bar, that works for me.

So, load up a bar on a pair of squat stands or in the power rack and start off like your going to do squats. Bar is placed on your traps and upper back, your hands are somewhere by the outside rings, your tight and stable. Unrack the bar and take a small step backwards. Tighten your entire back, your midsection, your butt, your thighs and your shoulders. Pull yourself into a quarter squat position and then violently reverse directions like you're trying to jump. Drive all the way through the toes. This violent upwards drive will start moving the bar upwards off your back. Press up hard and strong against the bar, pushing it up in a straight line until your arms are locked out straight. Your legs should be locked, feet flat on the ground, your arms locked out behind the ears, barbell overhead. Pause and hold for a second then lower the bar back to the starting position.

Simple, right? Awesome!

The key is to follow what the band Disturbed said in the first album, "Bring the violence, it's significant." This is 100 percent true with this lift. It's not a quarter squat followed by a press. It a violent and angry explosion that's more akin to jumping and throwing the weight off of you to the lockout position.

When you're returning the bar to the starting position, be careful. It should be a heavy enough weight that you won't be able to control the negative action completely. Lower it under control until the bar is around middle of the head to top of the head height, then do a somewhat controlled drop to the upper back while cushioning the impact with your legs. Don't drop it to far forward or it'll land on your head or neck, which will leave you with a headache for a few days (trust me on that one). But, don't drop it to far back either or it will slide down you back and take your shoulders with it (even worse than dropping it on your head, in my opinion, however I was born with a hard skull.) Unless you have the shoulder flexibility of Royler Gracie on a bunch of muscle relaxers this will lay you up with some shoulder problems for a while. So, take some time to use a light weight and find you're proper groove in how to drop the weight to the right spot on your back. It'll take some time, but it's worth it.

I personally prefer doing these for singles and doubles; but I've also used them with triples and 5's. I like hitting 6, 8, 10, or 12 sets of 1-2 reps with really heavy weights. However, you can also use these for some Metabolic conditioning with a light weight for either timed sets of for sprints. I'd say to try both methods.

Make sure that your shoulders are healthy before trying these, however. In our society most people have a forward shoulder hunch from too much time spent sitting in front of the computer and that can easily make any type of behind the neck movement much harder. Also, with the huge amount of time that the typical gym rat spends benching, most of them have even more problems with forward hunched shoulders. (It's amazing, only in our day and age would the most popular weight training exercise be one that you perform while lying down.) Come and see me and I'll show you how to clear up those issues, and get your shoulders nice and healthy.

After that, add this one into your routine and you'll love the results. Now, go train hard and heavy and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Nothing feels like

There's an old weight loss saying that goes something like this, "nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels." I think that's wrong, so I'm going to amend it and say, "nothing feels as awesome as being strong, fit and healthy."

 

A great morning warm up

This is a great warm up in the morning, I shoot for 4-6 sets of 5.

Thursday morning neck work

I get a ton of questions on my neck work routine, here's Thursday morning's: I aim for 4-5 sets of 12 in each direction.

How about some 21's?

Hit some super sets of curl 21's and overhead extension 21's. Here's the final set of the curls.

An awesome conditioner

After hitting a good DT chest workout and a bunch of push ups it was conditioning time. Love this one. Without stopping hit 2 cast wall walks, 7 handstand push ups, 2 cast wall walks, 7 pseudo planche push ups, 2 cast wall walks, 7 dips and 7 pull ups. Repeat for 4-6 rounds. Here's my final round of the night.

Mass building still going well

A little blurry, but not bad:

A little clearer:

Training around injuries

With my hip injury acting up I decided to hit my 6 sets of squats as strict dynamic tension squats. Felt good. Not as good as squatting, but a nice change of pace. Here's the wrap up:

An awesome day of training

Awesome training day yesterday, it consisted of neck work, handstand and planche practice, 6 sets of BTN presses, 6 sets of 1-arm bent rows and 6 sets of dynamic tension style squats. Here's the final set of 1-arm rows with 158 pounds (a 70 and an 88 pound K-bell)

What happens when I get mad at myself for screwing up a set?

What happens when Brett gets mad at himself for screwing up on a set. The final set turns from 3 reps into 7 reps, lol. A great night for BTN strict presses.

The world always looks awesome when you're upside down

Love the weighted pull up

After six sets of push presses it only makes sense to nail six sets of weighted pull ups. Here's the final set with bodyweight plus 70 pounds.

Adding standard push presses back into the mix

Decided to put some standard Push Presses back into the training, hadn't gone heavy with these in a long time, and was pleasentaly surprised. First night of having them back in nailed 6 sets of singles with 235 pounds. Felt pretty strong too, :) Here's the 6th set.

Changing up technique on the deadlift

Felt like changing it up a little, so I used Marc Challait's technique for each set. It went really well, nailed all 6 sets pretty easily and felt strong the whole time. I may have to work this style more. Here's the final set using 455 pounds.

For strong, healthy shoulders

Finished up with some rear delt raises for strong healthy shoulders, using the 88 pound k-bell. Here's the 6th set

The second part of the arm super set

The second part of the super set: hammer curls with the 70 pound K-bell. Here's the 6th set.

Even though you're a strength person you still should train your arms

Hitting a nice super set of barbell overhead extensions and hammer curls. Here's the 6th of 6 sets of overhead extensions.

A great one for conditioning

Started out this morning with some Dynamic Tension based chest work and push ups, then hit this nice little ditty in the evening. Worked on 5 sets of this one. Using 4 rung ladders of both barbell clean and presses and burpees. A great one for conditioning, endurance, cardio, strength, power, etc. Here's the 4th of 5 sets.

Mass Building is coming along pretty nicely

Want a huge back?

If you want a huge, wide and thick back make sure to hit plenty of heavy bent rows. Don't worry about 100% correct form, just use enough to train the right movement without getting hurt and pull as heavy and as hard as you can. Here's my 6th set from the other night with 355 pounds:

Want to skyrocket your squat

What's one of the best things that you can do to sky rocket your squat. Get strong as hell in the bottom position with bottom position squats. Here's set 6 with 355 pounds. This lead me to being able to hit sets of 5 with 500 pounds from the top position.

A training day in the life part 2: Monday C: Squats

After nailing the reverse grip rows it was on to squats. Hit 6 sets with 500 pounds. Here's the final set. First rep is a little high, but they kept on getting better after that.

A training day in the life part 2: Monday B: Reverse Grip Bent Rows

Followed up the reverse grip dips with 6 sets of reverse grip bent rows with 335 pounds. Here's the final set.

A training day in the life part 2: Monday A: Reverse grip dips

Started out the day with isometric neck work and handstand practice. Then went onto nail 6 sets of weighted reverse grip dips with bodyweight plus 108 pounds. Here's the final set.

Jump squatting 425 pounds

Finished up Saturday Hitting 6 sets of Jump Squats with 425 pounds on my back. My beautiful bride nailed hers with 335.

200 pound weighed push ups

Saturday's training was 6 sets of weighted push ups alternated with 6 sets of weighted pull ups with minimal rest between movements. Then finished off with 6 sets of Jump Squats. Here's the final set of push ups with bodyweight plus 200 pounds.

Overhead extensions on the Jungle Gym

Friday's training consisted of alternating between 5 sets of barbell concentration curls and 5 sets of overhead extensions on the Jungle Gym followed by 4 sets of weighted 1-leg calf raises alternated with 3 sets of weighted abdominal roll outs. All done with as little rest as possible between them. Here's the final set of overhead extensions.

training day in the life 1: Thursday C: Clean grip high pulls

After the neck work, the handstand work, the 6 sets of BTN strict presses and the 6 sets of snatch grip high pulls it was time for 6 sets of Clean grip high pulls. Here's the final set.

A day in the training life 1: Thursday B: Snatch grip high pulls

After the neck work, handstand work and BTN strict presses it was on to 6 sets of snatch grip high pulls. Here's the final set.

A training day in the life of part 1: Thursday A: BTN Strict Press

After doing 5 sets of neck work in each direction and a bunch of handstand work I moved onto Behind the neck Strict Presses. Here's the 6th set of the night.

Having fun with 1-arm barbell snatches

Having a little bit of fun with 1-arm barbell snatches. Here's the 7th of 7 sets.

Naling 405 pound Jump Squats

From Saturday night's training: nailing 405 pounds for jump squats. Here's the 6th set.

New Zercher Squat PR!

Hitting an easy PR in the Zercher Squat. After nailing a bunch of neck work, handstand work, and 6 sets of military press here's the 6th and final set of Zercher squats with 550 pounds. Felt strong and easy!

Closing in on 500 pounds for reps in the squat

Nailed 6 sets of squats with 475 pounds. Here's the final set:

Cranking out some reverse grip bent rows

Nailed 6 sets of reverse grip bent rows with 335 pounds. Here's the final set.

Some weighted, reverse grip dips

Nailed 6 sets of reverse grip dips with bodyweight plus 100 pounds. Here's the final set

You gotta love....

You gotta love (I know it's have to love, so bite me) waking up in the morning and crushing some handstand and handbalancing training!!

Closing in on 400 pounds jump squats

Nailing the jump squats hard. Here's the 6th set of 3 with 385 pounds.

Love Mass Building Time

Started out at the beginning of December at 182 pounds and at the end of January I'm currently 195 pounds.

Love the mass building:

 

 

 

Soon 200 will be mine!!

 

Quick curl and press

Nailed 7 sets of 1-arm barbell snatches, 6 sets of quick curl and press (reverse clean and press) and 5 sets of 1-arm deadlifts. Here's the 6th set of the quick  curl and press. Had to work for it an it was awesome.

1-arm barbell snatch

These are coming along really nicely. Here's the 7th set:

The Super Bear

Nailed 5 sets of 4 reps of the super bear, followed by 3 sets of 12 for abdominal roll outs.. Here's set number 4:

So you say you want to get toned, huh

It's too bad that Eugene Sandow (pictured above) didn't know the benefit of high rep training for "muscle tone" and "shaping." If he did he might have had some definition in his physique.

As you can tell I'm being a smart ass. Sandow was one of the strongest men of his time and an absolute stud who trained hard, really heavy with low reps, and frequently.

So what does that have to do with anything?

Glad you asked. More often than not you'll hear people say that they don't want to get to big or muscular, that they just want to get "toned."

This is the rationale that they usually give to you to explain why they're using pathetically tiny weights while doing countless reps for their exercise. They'll then go on to tell you that everyone knows you use heavy weights and low reps for size an light weights with high reps for tone and definition.

Apparently everyone should have attended physiology 101, or simply looked at bodies like Sandows and really every single male gymnast in the world to see how horseshit that is.

Myogenic tone, or tonus is what people usually refer to as muscle tone.

Tonus is a state of stored residual tension inside of a relaxed muscle. In other words, muscle tone it where you're muscle are slightly flexed no matter how relaxed you are. This is what gives muscles that "hard as stone" look even when they're not being flexed.

Now, how does one go about creating stored residual tension in a relaxed muscle, or muscle tone?

It's easy. Put your muscles under conditions where they have to create loads of tension.

How do you do that?

Again, very easy. Take a big movement like a squat or a deadlift, load it to 85, 90, 95 percent or more of your 1 rep max; then hit 1-3 reps with it. Rest for a little bit and repeat often.

If you're a bodyweight enthusiast, take a movement like a Maltese or an Iron Cross that takes a ton of tension; hold it for 5-10 seconds, rest a little bit and repeat often.

In other words, muscle tone is best created by training with high resistance and heavy weights for low reps quite frequently.

This explains why Olympic lifters look like this:

Why gymnasts look like this:

And why old school strongman and bad asses looked like this:

I'd say that all of the above are pretty fucking toned!

And all of them trained hard and heavy on full body movements with low reps. And they trained that way often.

Now, go squat, clean, press, deadlift and snatch hard.

 

Grinding out a good bottom position squat

I love these. One of my favorite ways to squat. Here's set number 6.

Jump Squats

Finished off Saturday night by crushing 6 sets of triples in Jump Squats with 355 pounds.

Weighted Pull Ups

And, the 6th set of weighted pull ups to go along with the Hindu push ups. Bodyweight plus 53 pounds.

Weighted Hindu Push Ups

Going back and forth between weighted Hindu Push up and weighted Pull ups. Doing 6 sets of each. Here's the final set of push ups with bodyweight plus 160 pounds.

Killing the Zercher Squat

After 6 sets of military pressing, it was time to hit the Zercher pull/ squat. Here's killing the 6th set of 525 pounds. Should have gone heavier.

Strict Military Pressing like a muther fucker!

Was set to hit my 6th set of 3 reps, but it felt too easy so I made it into a 5.

1-arm straddle deadlift

Hitting the 5th set of these

1-arm barbell clean and push press

Going old school. Hitting 7 sets of the 1-arm barbell clean and push press. Here's set 7.

Killing the bear!

Nailed 6 sets with minimal rest in between

Squatting nicely 3 weeks after hamstring injury

Was a little conservative with these tonight, being only 3 weeks out from the hamstring injury. But they went well. Hit 6 sets of triples with 455 pounds. This set is a little high, but still good.

Reverse Grip Bent Rows

Hit 6 sets of reverse grip dips with bodyweight plus 100 pounds then jumped into 6 sets of reverse grip rows with 315 pounds

Jump Squats

Hitting 6 sets of 3 with 335 pounds.

Fun Push ups

Hit these with bodyweight plus 180 pounds (I say the wrong weight in the video, lol). Did super sets with these and weighted chin ups on the rings.

Great one for the triceps

One of my favorites for the triceps. Overhead extensions on the Jungle Gym. Did these in a super set with barbell concentration curls.

The shrugs that didn't happen

So, hitting some shrugs last night. Doing a warm up set with about 500 pounds on the bar. My lifting strap pops in half and my bar slams into my safety stands, bending the hell out of it. Had to get a new bar today, have to get new straps too. But the worst part of the whole thing was I wasn't even to my working sets yet!!

Behind the neck Strict presses

Hitting my 6th set of these. Messed up on the 5th set so I had to add a rep onto this one!

1-arm deadlifts

After the neck work, 7 sets of 1-arm bb snatches and 6 sets of quick curl and presses it was time for 5 sets of 1-arm deadlifts.

Quick Curl and Press

After the neck work and the 1-arm barbell snatches it was time for 6 sets of the Quick Curl and Press aka the Reverse Clean and Reverse Press. Another awesome movement!

1-arm barbell snatches

Thought I'd play it old school and nail 7 sets of 1-arm barbell snatches after my neck work. Went awesome!

A little fitness ranting!

Thor heard a rumor that in a land called The United States, in a time called 2015 most people made a priority off sitting on their asses and watching television, all of those shows that they had DVR'ed; rather than making their health, fitness, strength and bodies a priority. In fact, he heard, they didn't care about being healthy, being fit, being strong, or being chiseled. They only cared about what the bachelor did last night or binge watching "Breaking Bad." And it did not please him. Thus, Thor swung his mighty hammer and laid havoc to the world!

The RDA can SUCK IT!!

For those of you that don't know the history behind the US recommended daily allowance of nutrients (or the RDA), let me tell you a little bit about where it came from.

A number of years ago the government researched what the minimum amount of various vitamins, minerals and nutrients you needed to ingest in order to not come down with a terrible disease, and this amount became the RDA for each of those nutrients.

For example, the RDA of vitamin C is the minimum amount of vitamin C that you need daily to not come down with Scurvy.

Now, if you notice, this isn't the amount that you need to be healthy, and it really isn't the amount that you need to kick ass, take names and be awesome. It's simply the minimum amount you need to not die!

Let that sink in a little bit for a second!

The RDA has nothing to do with how much you need to be healthy. And it certainly has nothing to do with making you into a ass kicking physical specimen.

So what, you may be saying!

But remember, you won't be able to change your body, drop body fat, gain muscle, be strong, be fit or do amazing things unless you are truly covering all of you nutritional bases.

In order to cover all of your bases you better not only be eating like a mother fucker, you better be supplementing too. If you take a multi vitamin, take "animal Pak" because it kicks ass. Otherwise, if you're taking a 1-a-day, make sure to triple the amount.

For your protein needs, 1/2 gram per pound of body weight isn't going to cut it. Push that shit up to 2 grams per pound of bodyweight and always err on the side of having too much.

For fats, aim for 3/4 to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight.

Crank up the veggies, especially shit like broccoli, spinach, and cauliflower.

Add in a great protein supplement like Myozene or Carnivore.

Load up on it all. Eat like a king, train like a gladiator and look like a god.

The RDA can suck it as can any one that will question why you're eating so much, why you're taking so many vitamins, etc. They'll be jealous when you're never sick, you're strong as an ox, fit as can be and ripped to the bone.

Remember, look around at everyone you come into contact with on a daily basis. How fit are they? How healthy are they? How strong are they? How's their body? I'll bet you don't want their fitness,    their health, their strength or their body, do you? So, don't eat like them.

Now, go create your greatness!!

Pendlay Rows

Hitting some Pendlay style explosive rows. Here's the 6th set of triples with 245 pounds. Way too light.

Bottom Position Squats

One of my favorites. If you've never done bottom position squats you should. You can't do as much weight as a normal squat (no stored elastic energy, stretch reflex or momentum), but it'll up your normal back squat a ton. Awesome movement. Played conservatively tonight to make sure the hamstring was good.

The end of the 30 day dip challenge

Ah, it's sad that my personal 30 day dip challenge is all done. Over the last month I've hit at least 100 dips everyday (ranging from normal dips, to reverse grip dips, to weighted dip, etc.) and many times hit between 200-250. I've seen a good amount of change in overall strength, and specifically pressing strength; as well as better chest, triceps, and upper back development and endurance. Great stuff.

Here's a picture from the last day. Hitting the final 10 dips with bodyweight plus 141 pounds (an 88 pound and a 53 pound kettlebell.).

Looking forward to next week when the back off week is over.

The road to 200 continues.

This is awesome.

Four weeks ago, when I started the quest to 200 pounds I weighed in at 182 pounds.

Currently, I'm a larger, stronger, and tighter 191.

Not a bad gain at all. Pretty damn good for only 4 weeks.

A powerful and ripped 200 pounds will be coming soon.

Don't Be This Person!!

Ah, new years time. The time in the fitness world that I hate the most. It's the time when people have made their resolutions for the new year. Which means, tons of people have decided that this year was going to be the different one. This year will be the time to change everything. This year they'd actually make the changes and accomplish their resolutions.

Yes, new years, when scores of people have told themselves that thy were going to really do it this time. They would lose the weight, eat better, get in shape and all of the other resolutions.

Of course, three weeks from now around 90% of those people will have quite. By March, the number is nearly 99%

Ah, what a great time to be in the fitness world.

However, with all of that being said, there is one "most offensive" culprit in the scores of people.

And please, don't be this person.

Don't be this douche bag.

You all know this person, this guy or gal.

They're the person that starts "training" a little bit. They'll hit the elliptical or the treadmill and read their book or watch one of the oodles of televisions on the gym wall and think that they're really training. They're really working hard.

If they're a guy they'll probably throw in the odd set of bench presses (usually on some god awful machine) and a few curls here and there. Because, you know, you have to look good for the girls.

They may even get a little bit in the way of results for the first two weeks.

Then, of course, their body adapts to the pitiful training and they stall.

Then the excuses come in.

You all have heard these, so you can probably even say them with me:

"All those other guys and gals have great genetics, so that's why they get the results that they do."

"Everyone that's getting great results is on 'roids or some other type of PED drug. I'd get results like that if I was on them too."

"Of course so and so looks better and gets better results, it's their job to."

"I don't have enough money to buy the foods and train the way that I should."

"I'm naturally fat so I should just be happy being fat."

"I'm a natural hardgainer so I can't put on any muscle."

and loads, and loads, and loads, and loads of other bullshit excuses.

When you actually mention to them how to train properly for the results that they claim they want they'll all say the same types of things. Things like:

"That's too hard."

"I don't ever want to have to train that hard."

"I'm not a pro athlete."

"It's still genetics, even if I trained that way, I wouldn't get anywhere."

"I could only train like that if I was on the 'roids."

"I'll get sick or overtrain training like that."

and loads more.

The truth, however, is that these people are fat, weak and lazy. They want to mark it in their check off list that they "worked out" today. And, they want to let you know how "hard" they trained and how sweaty they got so you'll congratulate them.

However, they're too soft and lazy to ever actually put in the real, result producing type of work that would get them to the results that they want.

They simply aren't willing to do it.

It's true. Look at the typical gym member. How fit are they? How ripped and impressive are they? How strong are they?

If you're honest, you'll be shocked by how out of shape, unfit and weak they all are.

Now look at the way they train.

It sucks, doesn't it.

Now look at the actual people that are out there getting real results. Look at the chiseled physical specimens that are truly fit and strong. Notice how much different they train than everybody else.

The people that actually get the results are people that are willing to do what the others are not.

They're willing to push through any level of pain, to work on hard ass tough movements like squats and deadlifts, to push passed any preconceived limits that they may think that they have. And, even with no drugs and shitty genes, they get great results.

So, be more like them and less like the douche bags.

Now, go create your greatness.

Why handstand training?

Why handstand training?

Because, screw gravity, that's why!

Gotta love hitting some dips and handstand work to start out the back off week!