The “Ten Secrets to Building Mass:”

First, although there are truly no real “secrets,” here is the overriding principle: Mass building, like fat loss, has to be done at the exclusion of everything else. A guy with 14 inch arms will ask me about a mass building program, but worry to death about his “six pack” (meth addicts have six packs, for the record), his cardio, his “game,” and about five other things. Once you get 16-18 inch arms, I will allow you to worry about all those other things.

Second, there is a need to spend time under the bar. This has been called a number of things in the past few years, but you have to find ways to load your body and move the weights for up to several minutes without releasing the load (putting the bar down or resting on a machine). This program is going to be based on this insight.

Third, Great White Sharks seem to be big and eat “big.” Killer Whales seem to eat big, too. Alpha predators don’t seem to count calories. You are now going to stop worrying about every calorie like a college cheerleader. On a mass gaining program, you must eat. When I put on forty pounds in four months my freshman year in college, I used to some sandwiches BEFORE dinner so “I wouldn’t be so hungry during dinner.” Think “Shark Week” when you sit down to eat and warn the others at the table not to reach across your plate.

Fourth, you must master “resting.” I know that there is this urge to do this and that and this after every workout, but for a mass building program you must learn that cardio is changing channels with the remote. If you don’t sleep eight plus hours a night, it is going to impact your mass gains. Many famous bodybuilders have advocated the “Muscle Nap,” a long nap in the afternoon to simple gain muscle. Remember, you grow while you rest. Pick up basketball games are not rest!

Fifth, this is a difficult point for many: bulking programs have very few movements. Well, let’s put this way: GOOD mass building programs have few movements. When I had my most success with mass building the number of movements is always around seven or eight TOTAL movements. Learn to love them.

Sixth, although people have gained amazing mass on lower reps (1-5) for most people (and mortals), the load needed to gain mass on a low rep program is “difficult.” So, until you handle a 400 bench, 500 squat and 600 deadlift, you are going to need reps to get your load into your workout. There is something magical about mass gains around the 5-10 range and the last century of strength enthusiasts will bear this out, too.

Seventh, I got good advice that I promptly ignored about two decades ago: never do less than ten reps in the Back Squat. There are people that can ignore this advice (powerlifters mainly) but for the bulk of the population this is wise advice: each and every time you load up the bar on your back, get ten reps in. It gives you your time under load and seems to stimulate the whole body…and the appetite!

Eighth, there is something that every experienced trainers know and few beginners: the answer to the question: “how long do you rest between sets?” The correct answer is “it depends.” An advanced lifter might take a year to recover from a record lift while a new lifter is recharged and ready to go literally seconds after doing a machine movement. For mass building, think “around” three minutes for the Squat and Bench and 90 seconds for the other movements. Again, your mileage may vary.

Ninth, I would always suggest leaving “one or two in the tank.” In nonlifters terms, always finish a set knowing you could have done a few more reps. We all love the images from “Pumping Iron” with all the forced reps, but for most guys who need mass, well, you just aren’t there yet. It’s better to get an additional set or two than it is to roast on exercise.

Tenth, finally, I have a bit of “old” old school advice: save yourself on a building program. Wear extra clothes so your body doesn’t have to use resources to stay warm. Park closer. Find shorter routes to everything. Sit more. Remember, this is not a lifetime plan but a short focused fiery attempt to gain mass. Keep your eye on the doughnut and, well, eat it.

The Program is based on an older successful concept of training that repeats the same exercises daily, but with focus on certain bodyparts each workout. For example, as you will be focusing on squats on Workout C (lucky you!), you still will be repeating the movements from Workouts A and B. There are several excellent reasons for this:

First, mastery of the movements is a key to mass building. You will not be making great gains if you have to tell yourself to “bend elbows” when you Bench Press, in fact, you may kill yourself.

Second, the best movements for mass building are a very short list and you need to do them. A lot. I wish it was more complex than that.

Finally, the best tonic for soreness is to do the movement that got you sore in the first place. Enjoy!

The Exercises:

Double Clean and Press:
Two dumbbells, one in each hand. Stand tall. With a bit of a hinge clean the bells to the shoulder. From the shoulders, press both to lockout overhead. Return to the bells to the shoulders and reclean the weight. Press and continue. Each “Clean and Press” is one repetition, so a set of ten is ten cleans and presses total. Do NOT do ten cleans THEN ten presses, you will gas out trying to do this.

Back Squat: we will be doing the Back Squat, “the King of Exercises,” each and every workout. There is no more important movement to master than this whole body movement in your search for mass.

Straight leg deadlift: this is a “tonic” throughout the program. With soft knees and a light weight, lower the weight down about “sock” height and stand back up. Try to feel it in the hamstrings, not the lower back. If you have any issues, don’t do this movement. It is a post squat tonic, not a training movement.

Pull Up: The Pull Up serves double duty as a great lat builder and perhaps the best ab machine I know. I have yet to find someone who can do 20 plus Pull Ups, but can’t dominate any test of abdominal strength.

Machine Back Row: in the past few years, I have changed my tune on my machines. The standard Barbell Bent Over Row is marvelous, done correctly. It’s that whole issue with “done correctly” that I find issues with in the gym. If your facility has a good machine that doesn’t stress your lower back, please use it.

Bench Press: with the dumbbell Clean and Press in the first part of the workout, the Bench will take care of all your other needs for upper body mass and pressing.

Barbell Curls: I hate how the barbell curl is maligned. I have always thought that the strict curl is a window into the general strength levels of an athlete. I once saw a guy strict curl…strict, no back bend or elbows sliding behind the lats…with 225 pounds. It remains burnt in to my vision. Funny thing, he also had really, really big arms. Go figure.

Farmer Walks: my answer to the world’s worst strength question: “if all you could do is one movement, what would it be?” If you have the courage to push the weights up to half bodyweight in each hand and trudge bravely “out there,” you will discover that there is not an inch of your body that won’t have an opinion about what you just did!!!

First Week Break In workout (Three workouts to familiarize you with the movements and get a sense of the poundages for the future)

General warm up. Keep it around five minutes and do what you need to do to get a little warmer, every joint a bit looser and have the general feeling that you are ready to go.

Dumbbell Clean and Press.
This is the lift that is going to sneak more results into this program than practically anything, save the Back Squats.
Go to the row of dumbbells and pick two very light bells. Do an easy set of five Clean and Press. With a short rest, slowly progress up the rack, grabbing heavier and heavier bells. Do not struggle with any of the presses as that would indicate we have gone too heavy. For most people, around 35-50 pounds is going to be the target weight for this movement in the beginning. Remember this top weight.

Back Squat: If you have no experience with this movement, find someone who can help and practice the movement. If all you do is master the Back Squat, you will magically find the mass you are looking for in your physique. If you do have some experience, I want you to do three sets of five with the weights going up each set, but well within your capabilities.

Straight leg deadlift: for most people, grab the empty 45 pound bar and perform one set of twenty reps after the squats. It should feel invigorating.

Machine Back Rows: again, we are practicing here. In three or four sets of five, find a weight you can do five solid reps without a bunch of hitching or tugging.

Pull Ups. Real pull ups are a great ab exercise and lat exercise. I would suggest jumping up on the bar and seeing how many sets it takes to get to ten. If it takes one, you are doing fine. It takes me two: a set of eight and then a double.

Bench Press: most people have an idea what a set of easy five reps should feel like in the Bench Press. Find a comfortable weight that you can do a set of probably eight reps without too much struggle.

Curls. Get a sense of what five strict reps are going to feel like with a barbell. Don’t do them in the squat rack, by the way. Add weight until you realize that curls with a barbell are much harder than you thought.

Farmer Walks. Grab two serious dumbbells. I have high school sophomores start with 85 pounders, but your mileage may vary. Simple stand talk, eyes neutral and go for a walk. Keep an eye on your surroundings. Be sure to put the dumbbells back into place at the end (this is the hard part!). I suggest learning to walk up to 100-200 yards.

After the initial break in week, strive for five weeks of the following.

Workout A, usually Monday, Back Focus.
Warm Up
Dumbbell Clean and Press
Strive for 3 x 5 with your manageable dumbbell. Keep the rest periods short.

Back Squat:
3 X 10, add weight to each set. Over the weeks, strive for bodyweight on the last set here.
Straight Leg Deadlifts:
1 x 20 with the empty barbell

Machine Back Rows:
5 x 5 really trying to hold the squeeze in the finished position. Go as heavy as you can get five reps in.

Pull Ups:
How many sets does it take you to get to 25 reps?

Bench Press:
3 x 5. The last set should still keep a couple of reps in the tank.

Curls:
3 x 5. Keep your eye on slowly increasing the weight on the bar here. Although adding reps is tempting (“I feel the pump!”), mass gaining is all about load.

Farmer Walks:
One set with heavy dumbbells. Try to make your walk end in front of the racks. You will thank me later.

Workout B, usually Wednesday, Press focus
Warm Up
Dumbbell Clean and Press
Strive for 5 x 5 with your manageable dumbbell. Keep the rest periods short.

Back Squat:
2 X 10, add weight to the second set. This is a set up workout for Workout C.
Straight Leg Deadlifts:
1 x 20 with the empty barbell

Machine Back Rows:
3 x 5 really trying to hold the squeeze in the finished position. Go just a little lighter than in Workout A.

Pull Ups:
How many sets does it take you to get to 15 reps?

Bench Press:
5 x 5. Warm up with a few easy reps before you start counting the sets. All five sets should be relatively heavy.

Curls:
3 x 10. It’s okay to feel the burn and pump today.

Farmer Walks:
Two sets today. Walk out as far as you can from the rack and put the weights down. Then, simply return them!

Workout C, usually Friday or Saturday
Warm Up
Dumbbell Clean and Press
Strive for 3 x 5 with your manageable dumbbell. Keep the rest periods short.

Back Squat:
5 X 10, add weight to each set. Plan the workout so that set four is bodyweight and set five is just a bit more. This last set is the one that makes or breaks your training.

Straight Leg Deadlifts:
1 x 20 with the empty barbell

Machine Back Rows:
2 x 5 really trying to hold the squeeze in the finished position. Go as heavy as you can get five reps in.

Pull Ups:
How many sets does it take you to get to 12 reps? The goal would be one set.

Bench Press:
3 x 5. The last set should still keep a couple of reps in the tank. Rein it in a little today.

Curls:
2 x 5 plus one set of ten. The best of both worlds in the curl today: a little strength and then finish off with getting some blood in the biceps.

Farmer Walks:
Strive for a heavier bell each week here. Make yourself push this movements to the limits here. Walk a long ways, stop, refresh and try to go a little farther. I always had a target or goal to get to. Now, of course, coming back…

After six weeks, one week of break in and five weeks of A/B/C workouts and lots of food, assess your progress. I strongly suggest you begin the program with a before picture and it is well advised to finish with an after. Bodyweight gains depend on a lot of factors, but I have seen common sense programs and approaches to be far better than some of the voodoo that I see often on the web.

Following that sound advice, scroll back through my blog here and look around. I am coming out with a written version of Intervention, probably for Kindle only (and a few hard copies for me…to be buried with me), but the bulk of it can be found in my blog…sorta.

The following is answers to emails, I hope it helps.

Dan, where do I start?
‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’
(Lewis Carroll, “Alice in Wonderland)

What about Stretching?
Joint Mobility is a must for Quadrant 1A (Think of “A” like Middle School or so). This is the time to work the joints. (Obviously, joint work probably will follow the same path as hypertrophy…well worth noting). In Quandrant 1B(High School aged kids), it would be appropriate to bring in “Relax into Stretch” concepts. Static Stretching still has its value in a program, it would “depend,” of course, on what we are doing, but any and all mobility work would be great. So, we want the neck rolls (a variation or two or three), traps, shoulders…you certainly know where I am heading. I would STILL include the Hip Flexor stretch in 1A because, and we need to talk about this, the amount of time kids and adults sit now. Moreover, if there is a “secret” to sport speed and jumping, it is a loose hip flexor

In 1B, it would be the time to introduce “flexibility.” When I was a young athlete, we “loosened up the joints.” Then, with the high carb, jogging craze, we had to add “stretching.” Honestly, as a kid, we did basic mobility moves and threw our arms this way and our legs that way. THAT WAS RIGHT! Relax into Stretch moves should include probably the big concepts (Create Space, using your strength to stretch) for only a few groups (If you have “Relax into Stretch,” it would be these one that I would encourage: 11. The Overhead Reach, 12. The Biceps and shoulder stretch, 16. The Wrist extension, 32 The lower calf stretch, 31 Hip Flexor/ Quad Stretch.)

So, Quadrant Two naturally will include Joint Mobility work and flexibility. It might be natural to say that a morning recharge of joint mobility is natural for all athletes and the post training tonic of Flexibility is well worth the time spent here.

Dan, you say “armor building.” Can you expand on it?

For the Quadrant Two athlete, the strength and conditioning coach must balance some factors:
Hypertrophy and Speed/Jump Training
Armor Building and Mobility (Too much mobility can be a dangerous thing in a contact sport)
Performance of the sport and performance in strength and conditioning tests.

On the armor building, the Zercher Squat is an appropriate barbell lift. A “better” choice might be the Double Kettlebell Clean and Front Squat. It is an exercise best worked in ladders:
1 Clean and 1 Front Squat
2 Cleans and 2 Front Squats
3 Cleans and 3 Front Squat. Doing this up to Five is an excellent way to understand the intensity needed for hypertrophy. A fun “test” is to do this up to ten reps (55 Front Squats without putting the weights down?), but that might be a once in a lifetime training test.

Let’s look at each of these:
Ideally, in the perfect program with optimal facilities, coaching, resting and nutrition, one should find the athlete increasing lean body mass and increasing jump test scores and lowering sprint times. It does happen. Not often, especially in a non-steroid environment. To increase the qualities most important to contact athletes, to become “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” as Greg Shepard coined the phrase years ago, takes program that systematically focused on these qualities that literally are at odds with one another. Certainly, we can find many athletes that have blossomed under programs like BFS, however, there does seem to be a ceiling on constantly trying to get bigger and faster. The late Stefan Fernholm, whose life has recently been discussed in rather staggering detail in a Swedish documentary, ran a 4.3 forty yard meter time weighing around 125 kilos. He once stated that he had let himself get “too strong” to throw the discus as far as he wished.

Mobility work is important, but the whiplash effect of collision sports makes some worry that too much mobility is a dangerous thing. Like so many qualities, there must be an intelligent approach to this dilemma. Whether or not it is true, if the athlete believes that excessive

The great insight of Richard Marks, who coached many of the great San Jose based athletes including discus world record holders Ben Plunknett and John Powell, that the athlete should “become weaker” in terms of load and volume and max lifts in order to throw something farther or perform any given sports task. The athlete often will ignore this sane advice and strive to go heavier and heavier than the plan dictates. There is a psychological comfort in heavy training, even at the expense of all the other important qualities that probably determine success. Although it is hard to pin down, the feelings of “freshness” and “in the zone” usually are not the by-product of more loading rather these feelings tend to come in a relaxed and refreshed state.
Quadrant Two training should be where we discuss the development of Armor. Generally, I like these movements:
Zercher Squats
Suitcase Deadlifts
Snatch Grip Shrugs
Bench Press
Curls (with a thick bar)

For speed and jump training, these are some moves that Pavel and I discussed:
Spike Swings
Pullups
One legged hops barefoot
Target Standing Long Jumps (Have the athletic “aim” for targets and vary with each jump)
One arm/one leg planks
Three Jump (Boing-boing-boing method)
Deadlifts

Pavel liked the story of how Russ Hodges, former world record holder in the decathlon, explained to me the long jump: “It’s like you are running as fast as you can and you see a rattlesnake coiled in the path. You don’t gather up and go down, you just snap over it high and far and keep your legs from its fangs.”

Quadrant two is all about building qualities. It is the “this and this and this and this” time of a career. Moreover, those involved in games must also have specific prep with tactics over specific opponents, strategy for the program and extensive off-season preparation in technical aspects of the games. Individual athletes will quickly slide over into Quadrant Three naturally as the number of qualities that need to be mastered will obviously be less.

Dan, what about food?
Yes, eat.

It would also be appropriate to discuss some aspects of eating throughout a career.
Nutrition:
Quad 1A: Understand the basic food pyramid. Understand the need to use food as fuel. The importance of not eating crap.
Quad 1B: Understand the role of food in performance. Understand the need to eat balanced meals. The importance of water.
Quad 2: More Protein, More Fiber, More Fish Oil. The role of digestion and elimination in performance.
Quad 3: Understand the importance in meal planning in a daily, weekly and, perhaps, yearly fashion. The importance of avoiding fat gain. Eating to support a particular activity.
Quad 4: Understand the fact that diet WILL impact performance. (Weight classes in lifting; lean body mass issues in bodybuilding)

We focus on improvement. It can be technical issues, like a problem with a swing. Having a Senior RKC and several RKCs weekly seems to address these kinds of problems well. It can also be other physical issues and there is where I think we bloom. It seems that if someone has the courage to say “I need help here,” pretty soon some of us either admit we have the same issue or, perhaps better, show us a path to overcoming it.

And my favorite thing is when both happens: we have a technical issue that helps with a physical problem or vice versa. Our foundational movements are the Swing, the Goblet Squat and the Turkish Get Up. If is sounds like an HKC, well, in my humble opinion, that’s all most people need.

In the Turkish Get Up, we discover “issues.” Now, we do literally dozens of partial movements in our weekly gatherings. As Brett Jones said at the San Diego RKC, “this is a drill, not the skill.” In my vision, adults need to do many more drills than we often give them. So, we break down the Get Up in many ways that might often never seem to actually lead anywhere. Well, it doesn’t lead any where until the participant moves flawlessly, nearly mindlessly, through the whole movement.

There is one movement that stands out so well as a training tool that Pavel asked me to write about it. Now, it is subtle and it might not translate perfectly the first time you read it, think about it and try it. As a segue, I am reminded of a recent article where I describe the “Bat Wing,” an isometric move for the Rhomboids. An emailer asked me to send a video, as the picture wasn’t helping them see “the movement.”

It is an isometric movement. The video would look a lot like the picture, I think!

First, let’s describe my terms: I use the word “Cuddle” for the position where you begin the Turkish Get Up on your side. I like the phrase as it describes so much more that something like “Assume a lateral transitional position with the Kettlebell apexing across the tranverse spinae.” Somehow, people “get” the word “cuddle” and we move on. I want you on your side with a big bell with your hands deep into the handle, the knees bent and close to the bell and in a position that you could sleep for a while.

Then, we change the drill a bit: take both feet off the ground. Next, be sure your knees squeeze together. Recently, after my total hip replacement, I had to spend several days with a huge wedge looped between my thighs. I learned that when the legs were locked down, the abdominal core had to work harder to compensate for the loss of that wonderfully favorable moment of physics where the weight of the leg or legs can pull you into position.

The bell will need to be hugged “high.” So, if it is on your right side, you will find that the bell, especially a heavy one, will be over the left side of the chest, more or less. I am also working on doing this drills with both knees up, too, as it protects my recovering hip, so don’t be afraid to make it harder.

So, feet up. Knees up in the Cuddle, squeezed together AND perhaps off the ground. Hug the bell high. Now, without pushing off the elbow, roll to your back.

A good question arises: “How?” That’s the million dollar point of all of this drill. Pavel described this initial movement as “rooting” and I found it to be the same “non classroom friendly” part of “Power to the People:” the anal lock. (Yes, I said it: now, giggle away like my students for a minute, push your neighbor in the back. check the clock and then get back to full attention). This amazing pressurization of the whole area from hip to shoulder simply awakens you the first time you do it right. It is an amazing exercise for anyone who throws, kicks or strikes as, literally, this IS how you feel when you do those big aggressive movements.

When you roll to your back, relax for a moment, repressurize and go back to the start. Now, for some, this is easier. I caution you on this: did you let your legs flop over and pull yourself to the ground. If you take this part of the movement seriously, it can train the “Cuddle to Back” part of the drill. Don’t give in to flopping to the ground. Lock down and PULL yourself over using the pressure built into your body. This is what I mean by “subtle.” If you do it right once, you will have a new skill that can aid in every sport and training movement. Moreover, it will put a line in the sand between two movements:

The Turkish GET Up versus the Turkish SIT Up.

I have no problem with variations, but once you learn this “Loaded Cuddle,” you will appreciate the RKC method of rolling through the Get Up and the importance of where your upper chest (thorax) should be through the movement.

Work a set of eight to thirteen reps per side before you move on. Think of the reps as “Eight sets of One,” versus the notion of “One, two, three…boom, boom, boom.” Take your time to reset and rethink and rediscover every rep.

I also suggest going “heavy-er.” So, what does that mean? There is going to be some who just lay down and pop up and down with too light a weight. Many, like myself, will rush off to try too big a bell. It should be probably your snatch test bell or one heavier. I find that the 28 kilo makes me really have to put the bell higher and higher on the opposite side chest to hold it as we start. Too heavy? Well, no, as I am controlling the movement without these “sins:”
Push off with my knees.
Push off with my elbows or shoulders (you will learn this trick quickly. Unlearn it quicker!)

So, when I tried this with the 32, I became a shoulder and elbow driver. So, my movements should be with the 20, the 24 and the 28. You will discover that once you begin doing the movement that the weight has to be “enough” and then the actual weight’s importance diminishes vis-à-vis the feeling in the body.

The upside of this “Loaded Cuddle” is that the teaching progression of the Get Up is improved as the person learns early that the core is between the hips and shoulders and not the front of the neck and the kicking foot! Also, this is a simple way to train rotary movements inside of our Kettlebell community. As I wrote probably 15 years ago in an article, I have been searching my entire career for the answer to the question of how to train rotation in the weightroom. I think the Loaded Cuddle is going to be part of my toolkit from now on.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You see, it comes to this sometimes: people ask me questions because their mouths can formulate noises and these noises can heard by my ears to make my brain work. The questioner has the ability to literally ask anything as my friend Crazy Jerry used to say: “You have a Toyota in your nose.” You can say the sentence, but it means nothing.

I have this believe that you can only train HARD in blocks of two, four, six and, maybe, eight weeks. Then, you slide back to “medium.” For dieting purposes, the great ones get it: Atkins Two Week Induction is genius. Chris Shugart’s Velocity Diet of 28 days of practically nothing but protein shakes works. After those short intense bouts with food, you are different: celery becomes butter and carrots are candy. It’s hard to live normally like that. Now, we all know that the best diet and exercise program for fat loss is found in the book, “The Road.” I enjoy telling people it is a delightful comedy…

Most of the time, you need to do those wonderful workouts that I love to call “Punch the Clock” workouts. I suggest doing all the basic human movements, work on your issues with corrective work as you need it, improve your technique on one or two exercises, break a good solid sweat and get the heart rate up and pat yourself wisely on the back. As I said in a recent interview, most people have three hard workouts a year: Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the first week of January and they put it off again until next New Year’s Day.

I think 200 easy workouts a year or even as few as 150 (three times a week with a little vacation) trumps those three hard ones each and every time. Of course, with “easy” and “hard” and “medium, your mileage may vary, but you get the point.

Oh, I LOVE hard workouts. I have dozens of them that I can give you. But, well, that’s the issue. My program, Mass Made Simple, is NOT the kind of thing one should attempt lightly. I get emails with “I can’t squat,” “I don’t have a bar,” or “I don’t want to lift heavy” and, frankly, this is not the Mass Made Simple Mentality. I think it would be possible to do MMS twice a year as a teen. After that, once a year would be a lot. It takes a lot of time, energy and discipline to do this program and it is a sell out system for six weeks.

I’m not sure you can do this and recover from hip surgery. I’m just guessing here, of course. This would be hard to do when on vacation. It would be really hard to do if you have six kids during Christmas.

What’s my point. There are natural times in the calendar year where you should train HARD. Find them on your calendar and highlight them. I don’t think it should be more than four months a year with the months broken up somehow (two blocks of two, for example). Maybe it is only two months a year for some of you, too.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t train the other eight (or whatever) months a year! Those other months you literally “train” not “work out.” This is Punch the Clock time!

What brought out this rant? Well, this weekend, a guy asked me the classic question: “Dan, if the Big 21 (see below) is such a good workout, why don’t you do it all the time?” I laughed out loud and answered with the title of this blog. There is NO way you can do the program “all the time.” It is 63 reps PER workout of the Olympic LIfts. The hands are stunned during Workout Seven to the point that some of my athletes hands get an orange hue. The traps are so sore the second week that a pat on the back can feel like a taser.

Having said that, when I get athletes to actually do the program, amazing and stunning things happen a few weeks later. When I announce to the kids that the “Big 21″ is coming up, the experienced kids know to wipe their slates clean.

Folks, this is what a hard program should be about. I’m in good company on this. In the past year, I have had the chance to sit with the best minds in strength and, to a person, there is an agreement that you can only train “hard” in narrow windows. Oh, you can train and it is great to do it. But, to really ramp it up, we have to ease up a lot of other things…like life. How long does it take to get this knowledge? Jamie Jones shared this photo:

You must begin at an early age.

So, what I am I saying? Get a twelve month calendar. Find your “crazy” months and “X” them out. Find the months that you can devote a lot of emotional energy and time to train and highlight them with a green highlighter (yellow is fine, too). The months you aren’t sure about? X them out, too! Find those “best” months to train hard and think about how you are going to attack it. Diet? A program? A challenge? I don’t care, but it is nice to have a month to prep for a hard month (as you will see if you take this advice).

When that time approaches, attack it with everything you have KNOWING that the program has an end point. Enjoy the fruits of your labors when you finish. Then, come back to the gym and “keep on keeping on” for a while. If you do the “Big 21,” the first time your weights will be either way too light or way too heavy. Take a couple of weeks to recharge and try it one more time. If you think you will want to do it again THIS year, you are a better man than me, Gunga Din.

I will include the Big 21 from my book, Never Let Go
Cinderella’s Stepsister Syndrome

I call this problem — the problem of trying to follow a program that fails to fit any of your equipment needs, exercise issues, volume or intensity issues, or your personality — the Cinderella’s Stepsister Syndrome. In other words, the shoe don’t fit!

A few years ago, I spent far too much of my life trying to explain to a father that his daughter couldn’t possibly follow a program I use for my athletes called “The Big 21.” She wasn’t strong enough to do the basic program. But, since my athletes did it, his daughter should be able to do it, too. First, let’s look at the program.

The athlete does three exercises (each and every day) for three workouts a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for three weeks (week one, week two, week three) for a total of nine workouts. The three exercises are: clean and press (you clean the weight and press the weight for every rep), snatch, and clean & jerk (you clean the weight and jerk the weight for every rep.)

It’s so simple that it confuses people. You do all three lifts, in that order, every workout. I’ve probably lost the bulk of my audience, but this is so important. The key to the workout is the rep and set scheme, and the built-in weight increases.

The most confusing part is this: each workout, add five pounds to the opening weight. After three weeks, opening weight will be 45 pounds more.

Reps and Sets

Opening weight x 5
Add five pounds x 5
Add five pounds x 5
Add five pounds x 1
Add five pounds x 1
Add five pounds x 1
Add five pounds x 1
Add five pounds x 1
Add five pounds x 1
Total Repetitions: 21 (You see: The Big 21!)

So, and this is all math related now, if you want to finish with 225 on the last workout’s last rep, you start with 145 on day one. Let’s look at those two bookend workouts:

Day One:

145 x 5
150 x 5
155 x 5
160 x 1
165 x 1
170 x 1
175 x 1
180 x 1
185 x 1

Day Nine:

185 x 5
190 x 5
195 x 5
200 x 1
205 x 1
210 x 1
215 x 1
220 x 1
225 x 1

For the psychos out there:

Day two starts with 150 and ends with 190
Day three starts with 155 and ends with 195
Day four starts with 160 and ends with 200
Day five starts with 165 and ends with 205
Day six starts with 170 and ends with 210
Day seven starts with 175 and ends with 215
Day eight starts with 180 and ends with 220

Here’s what you’re still missing: that’s for one lift! You still have to do two more each day! The Big 21 is 63 reps of full body, explosive, big lifting. Just writing it down gives me wrist cramps.

What kind of Physical Capital does it take to do this workout? Let’s look:

1. Equipment: One bar, a 310 pound set. So, it’s easy and cheap for equipment.

2. Do you know how to do the lifts: the clean and press, the snatch, and the clean and jerk? If you don’t, honestly, please, don’t do The Big 21 workout!

3. If you answer “yes” to both questions, can you do them with the weights suggested?

4. Finally, do you have the ability to stick to a program for nine workouts and hate the last three?

As a lark, I figured out the lightest a person could do this workout with a traditional Olympic bar set up:

Day One:

45 x 5
50 x 5
55 x 5
60 x 1
65 x 1
70 x 1
75 x 1
80 x 1
85 x 1

Day Nine:

85 x 5
90 x 5
95 x 5
100 x 1
105 x 1
110 x 1
115 x 1
120 x 1
125 x1

For the record, the dad who wanted his daughter to do this workout couldn’t figure out how “to make it work when she can’t snatch 85; so how will she snatch 110 in a few weeks?” You see, Mr. Cinderella’s StepSister, the shoe don’t fit.

And that’s the whole point: all too often, the shoe doesn’t fit!
:

I am never going to tell you that pain is bad altogether. It is the body (and the Universe!) warning you that you need to take a moment to rethink a few things. In the past few years, there has been a surge of people giving advice about eliminating pain. All too often, when you start trying to eliminate pain “here,” you discover a ton of pain “there.” And, “there” and “there” and “there.” Moreover, I recently had some great insights from an Orthopedic surgeon who laughed at this idea that you can go to a workshop and dispense advice about hip, shoulder, neck, back and finger pain in a weekend. I think it is also illegal in most states.

So, be careful here: I DO think that we can do more than just cut the body open. Two excellent new products are on the market that reflect the kinds of things I believe in. For example, I have discussed the role of yoga, especially Bikram Yoga, in aiding most of us with mobility and flexibility. Bikram Yoga also seems to be an excellent sleep aid and did wonders for me as I approached my surgery. Post surgery, I discovered that I am banned from a number of the movements, so I have found some other forms that work just as well. This kind called “Gentle Yoga,” where I hold a pose for up to five minutes, is as misnamed as “Tough Love” in the RKC.

I still find rolling on my little “rumble roller” to help all kinds of things. I am doing Kettlebell Fever’s One Month Swing Program and Day One ended up being 315 Hinge movements and 245 Squats. So, any and all correctives will be part of the other days: Ocean dips, Hot Tubs, Rolling, Get Ups, and various easy stretches.

Gray Cook and my good friend, Laree Draper, along with Brett Jones and Doctor Mark Cheng among others, have packaged a great summary of the Functional Movement System. As most know, I am a big fan of the FMS (and the world of correctives that support the findings of the assessment). What Gray provides us here is the “Connected Dots” between the FMS assessment (you are asymmetrical, you lack this here and that there) and what to do about it. As always, Laree went the extra mile(s) and Disc Four is my favorite. Here are the DVDs:
4-disc DVD set–nearly 4 hours, plus bonus material
Filmed live at a Perform Better Summit Workshop
Disk One
Introduction
Standard Operating Procedures
Movement Matters
Squat Discussion
Stabilization and Repatterning
Our Movement History

Disk Two
Functional Movement Screen Review
Scoring the Screens
Filters and Key Points
Live Screens
Scoring Criteria
Programming the Results

Disk Three
Screen Results Analysis
Order of Screen Priority
Hip Hinge and Deadlift Strategies
Movement Motor Learning
Movement Principles
Self-Limiting Exercise

Disk Four
Extra corrective strategies footage
Full lecture in MP3 audio format for listening in your car or on your portable device
A 61-page typeset transcript of the lecture
Movement Principles excerpt from the Movement book
FMS scoring criteria and verbal instructions
Presentation slides PDF
Video clips from Gray’s Powerpoint presentation
Self-limiting activities chart

After Laree put together my Intervention DVD, most people tell me that the MP3 and the PDFs are the glue that make everything make sense. I think the FMS’s key importance is this:

Like a Pull Up test, you are “here.” When we test you again, we can see where you have gone. If things get “better,” well, you are doing things right. If not, let’s talk.

Oh…that is so simple. Right? Then, why don’t we all do it?

On the same front, Martha Peterson’s new book, “Move without Pain,” is out. Martha has taught me the Green Light, Red Light and Trauma Reflexes and once I looked at this, all of Janda’s work made sense. And Alexander’s. And Gockhale’s. And…and…and.

Listen, there were a lot of geniuses in the middle of the last century when it came to movement. Thomas Hanna’s work was often overlooked (Somatics), but when you study Martha’s book, you will see that pandiculation is a superior technique for flexibility. No, I am not tossing Pavel’s “Relax into Stretch” away as both Martha and Pavel say the same things. I’m clearly out of my water when I talk about mobility and flexibility, but I know what works. I have been doing many of these safe and easy movements in my personal and group work and I like how it opens my hips up. Hips? Yup, if you want insights into an issue, ask somebody who has been exploring pain, surgery and rehab for a while.

So, you find an odd blog post here. I am telling you to do a lot of swings and squats this year, check your FMS and start doing Martha’s drills. To me, the whole thing is a “system.” Be sure to read the mistakes that I have made the past four or five decades (overtraining!). Then, look at the mistakes Martha has made (too much emphasis on stretching!). I’m sure Gray has some insights about his shortcomings, too.

My point? Let us help you (Help me…help you!). Train hard, but ease off as appropriate. Know your shortcomings and address them. Keep a balance between strength and stretching, power and mobility. Strive for as much strength as you can hold, but have keep your body in alignment.

Let’s all improve in 2012.

“The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”
Euclid…or, at least, what I can remember from Geometry

If you asked me to summarize “all of this,” this entire system of what I today call “Easy Strength,” a few years ago, I would have been at a loss. Seriously, I think I had the whole thing locked down years and years ago, but there was disconnect, perhaps more of a gulf or ocean, between what I thought I was saying and what people were hearing.

Honestly, the answer literally came to me just the other day which is months after the DVD and book came out and after I have presented this program to elite athletes, the top tier of coaches and amazing people who somehow “know” that this is the future of the strength, conditioning and fitness world.

You see, this program is all about getting people to their goals. Now, as the cliché goes, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there!” I also need to add the old Irish joke: “I need to get to Dublin. Can you show me the way?” “Well, I wouldn’t start from here!”

This was the disconnect: I was expecting people to know where they were going and, at least with my serious people, they knew exactly where they wanted to go: Olympics, Super Bowl or 10 percent body fat. So, yes, many people knew EXACTLY where they wanted to go. And, I got full of myself and convinced this was the norm. Many, as I soon learned, had no concept of where they were heading, so my advice was just “another road.”

With the group that knew exactly where they were headed, I still think that success is a straight line. I am sure you understand this: The fastest way from Point A, where you are, to Point B, where you want to get, is a straight line. My athletes always seem to know where they wanted to go: Point B!!!

And, here was the issue: they knew about Point B. Point A, where they are right now, was a deep mystery.

Welcome to my approach to coaching those with clear goals: My vision is to simply identify where you are right now. It’s almost laughable to think about this as most people would say: “Um, isn’t that obvious, I’m right here!”

Then, I laugh back. Really? After sitting with one of America’s most elite service members and walking him through the process, he leaned back and smiled and asked: “What was I thinking? I am in a “Red Light” situation (he needed shrapnel pulled out of his back and leg, something I consider more important than competing in a fitness contest with no apparent rules) and I’m adding more crazy stress FOR NO REASON AT ALL!” Yes, he shouted at me as if it were my fault! I have had people realize that there short-term goal needed so many new skills that they simply didn’t have enough time in the day to learn all of this stuff.

So, the first problem was simply this: people were asking for my advice, and I should say “my expensive advice,” and having no idea about what they wanted to get from this conversation. So, and this is still true, I couldn’t really help them. I’m sorry, but if you are going to listen to every voice in the wind, I don’t think I can be one of them. One can easily find a new diet and weight loss idea every day of the week in magazines and on the internet. As I often note: I didn’t get enough food on this new diet, so now I am on two diets. If you don’t know your goal, following two diets at once is probably just as good as anything else I can encourage you to try. This “Easy Strength” system is not for this person yet. Oh, it will be, it will be (where is Yoda?). Once you know where you are going, your goal or your Point B, I can walk you through this system.

The approach, my friends, is all about discovering “where are you?” Now, since this is also the first question that God asks Adam in Genesis, I have to be a little careful on treading on copyright violations. This is the key, though, to success: Yes, it is important to have a goal so you can draw that straight line to it. But, before we draw the line, we need to find out where to put the pencil in the first place.

So, for my elite athletes and trainees, we spend the bulk of our time discovering “where they are:” do they have the tools necessary for the goal? Do they have the skills, like a solid squat? Do they have the corrective movements mapped out and know what needs to be corrected? Once we mapped out “Point A,” we discovered a straight line. Now, it might seem to be longer than the time allotted for the original goal, but at least we can honestly begin walking down the path to success.

And that is all good and fine. Elites aren’t the problem; it’s honestly everyone else. When I have worked with some wonderful ladies, they have the exact opposite issue and the honesty brings them to tears:

“I am just so heavy…so fat.”
“I can’t control this thing…and (shaking an upper arm) what is this?”
“My husband won’t touch me.”

It is hard to hear, to be honest. But, this clarity about where they are, Point A, is stunning. They know that they need to exercise, for example, but it hurts to run as fast as they can for several hours. Welcome to the disconnect here: most people know Point A (I’m fat, need to exercise, and need to eat better) but Point B is the issue. These fine ladies see the photoshopped images on fitness magazines and think that this is Point B. Recently, a young singer released a before and after photo where her legs got longer, her waist came in and her boobs got bigger…all in the artist’s studio.

Folks, Point B is the issue for most of us. We are living in this odd time where the fitness industry photos are dominated by hyperfit females with both genetic gifts and serious augmentation for the missing blanks and, frankly, this is Point Z for most people, not Point B!

I applaud the work of Josh Hillis among others that have been using realistic body fat pictures to help clients find their goals. As Josh tells me, 19% body fat per cent for a woman is “rock star” hot, but 25% looks fantastic, to be honest, too. Sadly, our industry uses photoshop, vomiting and surgery to achieve the illusion of health and fitness. We need to take Josh’s advice and show some reasonableness.

So, here is our triple-edged sword that must be addressed:

• For whatever reason, some people, often athletes, see the goal clearly.
• Some people know exactly where they are physically but need help seeing a realistic goal.
• There are others, of course, that are far from reality on either Point A and/or Point B, so we need to work both ends with them.

My whole career has been muddled by missing this point. This is why we need to do assessments early and often like the FMS, Before Pictures (so you can “after”), basic strength tests and a few others. This is why we need to have food journals and some kind of proactive calendar work to let our clients know that things ARE coming up that will impede progress or training and some other things are easing up so we can accelerate to our goals. We need to know “where are you?”

When Pavel first introduced the concept of Easy Strength to me, the program freed up a lot of time, energy and intensity so I could work on the other qualities that were demanded of me as a thrower. I realized that I had the weightroom “locked down,” but needed more correctives (I’m Mr. Asymmetrical, Novice Class, Open Division) and some technical throwing issues. When I work with almost everyone else, the poor squat technique and total lack of Loaded Carries “instantly in two weeks” makes a difference in their bodies and ability to train. So, for some, like me, Easy Strength…or EVEN Easier Strength…answers the question about how to get to Point B easier. But, you need to assess! For others, one will need focused time in the weightroom literally retooling and reschooling the issues, then, we can get back to the issues of technique, tactics and all the other tools.

With our friend who has no vision of where to go besides those celebrity diets that invade the checkout line at the store, we need to show them a reasonable path to success. To steal blindly from Josh Hillis:

“I have been getting A LOT of questions from Personal Trainers about using the program (Josh’s System Six) with their clients, so I thought I’d post about it:

Ok, so here is how a session really goes:
1.) Working on food strategies for 10-20 minutes (as long as necessary)
2.) Warmup 5-10 minutes (more in the winter, less in the summer)
3.) Strength training 20 minutes,
4.) Swings (cardio) OR recapping and re-committing them to the food strategies.

Clients do the hardest workout that week with me,

and they do the other two easier workouts on their own.

We’ll talk about the Six Keys to Easy Fat Loss during their rest periods on their strength training. I take really good notes each session, and I make sure every week that they get a couple more reps on something. When they get all the reps, we move up the weight or go to a harder variation of a bodyweight exercise.

It all comes from one overlying principle: The workouts are necessary but not sufficient. If I have to spend 45 minutes of a 50 minute session with my client working on their food planning grid, going through every meal and talking about what is going on in their life each day and what is realistic and how to plan and when to shop ect., I’ll do it.

If, as personal trainers, we know food is #1, then why do we spend an hour working out? Why not spend the lion’s share of the time working on strategies to have our clients eat in line with their goals?

Another question I get from personal trainers: Is it really enough for clients to only change one or two meals per week?

YES. YES. YES. CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?

When they go from 27 free meals per week to 25, and then the next week they go to 23 free meals per week, and then to 21 free meals per week, things change.

And most importantly – YOU HAVE TIME TO WORK ON THE NINJA FOOD SKILLS. People totally suck at the SKILL of eating well. They don’t know how to shop, they don’t know how to prepare or cook or portion food out.

By changing only a couple meals per week, we have time to learn how to prepare. It’s ALL the ninja food skills.

-Josh”

I would add simply add that we also include realistic photos and goals and a timeline for the journey. The genius of Josh’s insights here are simple as he is drawing the line for his client each and every week between Point A and Point B.

So, here you go:

If someone knows the goal, assess where they are now and connect the dots.
If someone knows where they are now, but either are begging for a miracle or clueless about the next step, show them the next step and connect the dots.
And, finally, for everyone you coach or mentor, take Josh’s advice and focus constantly on the process and on the keys to success.

I’m going to try NOT to be the problem anymore.

But, thankfully, I don’t always have to do much! I have three links today that do all the work for me. First, a nice blog post about one of my biggest principles of program design:
Anthony is an up and coming Strength Coach and he “gets it!”

Next, are you too poor to buy my stuff? Too lazy to walk over to the DVD? Well, Kevin Larrabee’s “epic” video of me teaching the squat and lifts is remastered and back up! I am in the middle of Highland Games season in this video and my belly has been all packed with counter weights for the caber:
Learn, watch, enjoy.

Finally, Laree Draper, the world’s finest person, has put Mass Made Simple on Kindle WITH a pdf for your journal work. If you don’t want to bulk up, buy it anyway because the information in the Kindle is as clear as I can make it presentation about fitness, strength and health. Buy THIS!.

Take the time to watch and read these materials. I think you will come away with a lot of depth about what is important in improving all aspects of your life. If you have questions, hit me up at My Little Q and A.

Teaching the Kettlebell Snatch “from the top down” has advantages that are only apparent when the reps get high. Honestly, when you keep the reps under ten, then rest for a set period and repeat, it appears from my vision that one can have some pretty lousy technique and not lose skin off the hand. I have learned that the proper way of helping someone improve their KB snatch is to wait until around rep 70 to comment. The challenge of doing 100 reps in a set period of five minutes demands that the candidate learn to bite the bullet and learn to keep properly snatching throughout the challenge.

In my little book that I asked the attendees at the first RKC Belfast certification, one wrote this: “With one sentence, you changed the way I snatched and I nailed the test.” I asked what the sentence was and the newly minted RKC answered:

“It was when you said: ‘You have to have the courage to drop the bell into the swing with authority each and every time.”

Remember, first and foremost:
The Swing is a Swing.
The Clean is a Swing.
The Snatch is a Swing.

The bulk of the issues with most people in the Clean and Snatch can be cured by ignoring the “Clean” and the “Snatch” and coaching the Swing portion of the moves. As if by magic, a proper Swing for the Clean or Snatch stops most wrist banging issues and most lockout issues.

But, to get to the proper Swing, we must set up a good drop in the Snatch. I have heard three terms that seem to help 99% of the population: “Pour the Pitcher,” “Swim” and “Unzip the Jacket.” Before getting into the specifics, let’s look at a key principle that Pavel explained at a recent cert: the position of the body in the “Cylinder.”

In the Olympic lifts, especially in the locked out Front Squat position just before the Jerk (or in training movements), the lats are flared out, the chest is tall and most would recognize this as the traditional “Muscle Beach” position. Although ideal for some movements, we want a slightly different position. On the other end of posture is the “Hollow Rock” of gymnastics fame. Perfect for holding an Iron Cross on the rings, this position is great, but not what we want in RKC movements. Rather, consider a position “in the middle.” Now, I love continuums, so think of the O lift posture on one end and the Hollow Rock on the other. The RKC cylinder would be in the middle.

This insight finally connected the dots for me in regards to also how to hold the hips in a neutral stance for training, too. Master RKC Brett Jones notes that the pelvis is like a bowl. If one imagines the bowl filled with water, we want to stand (and stretch and move generally) without the water pouring out forward, backward or to either side. Utilizing this notion of “Cylinder” help immensely with the hip position, too. It’s like the story of the Three Bears: one wants to stand “Just Right.”

While we are discussing posture, let’s also add an additional insight about the packed shoulder. It is difficult to teach the packed arm to experienced athletes at times. Years of compensations can make some people convinced that the shoulder is packed, when in truth, the trap is on the ear. There is a solution for this as simple as getting dressed in the morning:

Years ago, Janis Donis, the famous Javelin thrower, mentioned to me that all throwing movements need to be done with and “Open Armpit” to protect the shoulder. It illuminated my discus throwing and kept me trouble free for decades of pain free shoulders. Literally, one needs to expose the entire armpit in throwing movements and not twist or turn the shoulder down which is often the signal of an “arm throw.”

As I worked with more and more guys who had been in collision sports and trained like bodybuilders, teaching the packed shoulder became a more of a chore. Between the injuries and the Frankenstein training, there seems to be a lack of awareness of where the shoulder is on many athletes. I know, many are thinking: “isn’t it right next to my head?”

So, the million dollar drill, get ready: Grab the tag on your shirt for me, you know, the one on the back of your collar. For most guys, Welcome to the Packed Shoulder! Now, many will have to slide down the spine a bit more to get the position, but this simple movement “instantly” gives the packed shoulder. Note how the bicep is on the year, probably the most heard phrase during Waiter Walks, and how “open” the arm pit has become with this simple move. Hold the shoulder in this position and simply straighten out the arm. This is the packed shoulder, the open arm pit, and, with the body in the cylinder, it is time to drop the bell.

Let’s look at three terms or images that all lead to the same powerful swinging hip hinge. First, let’s look at “Pour the Pitcher.” Now, the issue here is this: if I drop the bell straight down, my head is the first point of contact. Hitting the head multiple times with a heavy Kettlebell is NOT optimal. Yes, please feel free to quote me on that. So, obviously, we need to push the bell forward. Launching it straight out to the position that we finish the top of the Swing is not perfect either. With a heavy bell, the athlete simply can’t counter this enough and the result will either be the athlete pulled forward or maybe even some damage to the body: this is a lot of force in a bad position! So, the first image I ever heard for the proper drop was “Pour the Pitcher.” With the thumb leading from the lockout position, simple turn the wrist and think of pouring milk on some cereal. (Just think of the cereal: don’t eat it. Cereal is for cows. Eat the cow.) Because of gravity, the bell is going to start coming down in front and I encourage people to think immediately of “the courage” to attack the hinge here.

“Swimming” is a term I heard Pavel use in San Diego. Like the crawl stroke, imagine bringing the and bell down the midline in the body like doing laps in a pool. It is an imagine that immediately made sense to me as the correct crawl stroke isn’t a straight arm nor a precisely prescribed angle; the elbow angle “depends” on a lot of factors. The same is true in the KB Snatch. I also like the term because it illuminates the idea that this is a dynamic movement, not just a simple free fall.

“Unzip the Jacket” is the phrase Master RKC Mark Reifkind used at the San Jose certification. He explained that simply one should think of the idea of unzipping a jacket. Again, there is no National Zipping Policy, so there is going to be multiple ways of accomplishing the task. As always, keep thinking about attacking into the hinge.

One of the issues that I hear over and over again with RKC candidates that FAIL the snatch test is the following kind of statement:

“Well, I did 30 reps the first time I tried the test, then built up to 54 with the 24 kilo and I was hoping that the energy and enthusiasm of the group would get me those last 46 reps.”

I believe that you should come to the RKC having done 100 reps in the Snatch. Now, that doesn’t mean every workout is with the Snatch weight bell. I often recommend that months before the RKC that the candidate take lighter bells, as light as 12 kilos for men, and do several sets of 100 in training. I think it helps to get “used” to 100 reps. Not long ago, we did a little challenge where I had to do 100 reps with the 24. At 18 reps, I smiled. Later, I was asked “Why did you smile?” Well, for me, I use this system:
20 reps with my left hand
20 reps with my right.
15 left
15 right
10 left
10 right
5 left
5 right
For a total of 100 reps and only seven hand switches. At 18, I figure that I only have two more reps to go with my weak hand and then I get to use my strong hand. In my mind, the first twenty reps get me over the hard part! The next eighty reps are going to be dessert.

But, if you don’t have the courage to actively drop the bell each and every rep, those reps are going to be hell.

In these years, I have some memories of great successes and many, many failures. Certainly, watching Paul Northway just get better by the day in his Sophomore year was a joy to witness. He literally doubled his competition in several meets…and sometimes they were upperclassmen. My “Dirty Thirteen” Junior Varsity team in football with no linebackers or running backs (literally, we didn’t bring any with us!) used to dominate anyone in our path. And, perhaps the greatest moment of my life, both of my daughters were throwing in the state track meet in the discus together. This was the time when Kelly “marched out” with her discus and made the whole crowd chuckle and both came away All-State. I was a chocolate mess, of course.

There is a million memories, of course. But, they all stand clumped in a pile next to the “best” coaching of my career: SFX II’s Volleyball Team. I was sitting in my office at Juan Diego Catholic High School and the phone rang. I did my standard “Office of Strength, Coach Dan John Speaking!” It was my daughter, Lindsay, in tears. They had too many kids at Saint Francis Xavier’s volleyball team and “no one is going to get to play,” because…because…

“Dad, we need a coach.”

My mind sifted quickly to “Hmmm, who is dumb enough to take this job?” Lindsay asked again, “Dad, we need a coach.”

Ah. That means “me.” It means “Dad, get over here and coach us.”

Now, don’t take any of the following negative or mean, but when the teams were split, I got Lindsay. That was nice. I also got the two shortest boys in the school, Sal and Carlos (fine young men!, but really, really short), a few girls who cried often, and Jasmine Yu, who tragically passed away recently and was about to have a heart transplant at the time. This was a great group of kids, fine people, wonderful to have around…not a Volleyball team!!!

So, I hopped in the car immediately after school and discovered that I was “Late.” Well, I had to drive twenty-five minutes to get to SFX and practice started after their school ended. For the record, I am not sure I ever made it “on time.” I’m good, but I can’t bi-locate. Yet.

My TA at the time was an injured volleyball player. My knowledge of the game was zero. So, I asked her “my question:” “What are the three keys to winning in a volleyball game?” We worked it out to this:
1. Get the serve OVER and IN!
2. Protect the Middle.
3. Play as a team.

So, there you go: my template for winning. We didn’t worry about close calls on the sidelines or back lines, we protected the middle. I also noticed that when kids from the other teams tried to save those close ones, it usually ended up in the stands. During games, if a ball fell in the middle, I took a time out and asked what happened. Often, Carlos would say: “Number Three.” “Ah, good. Well, let’s just do what we do.” I might have been thinking that it was something else, but I would caution the good coach against ever disagreeing with an athlete’s laser vision.

Soon, these Bad News Bears (SFX II) and their completely lost coach began winning. I didn’t always understand the games or the rules (like this referee signal with the hand cupping the air and pushing up) nor did I understand why so many of the parents insisted on bring carb drinks, fruit, ice cream and enough water to sail one for, at most, an hour long game, but we were winning!

I didn’t understand all the cheers that the teams had after every huddle, but our kids wanted a chant. From somewhere, we came up with:

“We’re NUMBER TWO!” In the beginning, it was just a joke, but soon we discovered the power in this shout. For one thing, the other teams NEVER understood the cheer. It remains one of the most defining moments in my coaching career: if you can find your “issue,” label it and laugh at it, it tends to become a strength. If you are nervous at the state track meet and the crazy official says “March out to the discus ring,” well, march on out. If your team is called “Number Two,” own it.

On the weekend of the championship, I was away. I had been invited to a Crossfit function in Colorado Springs and I went. The kids were deflated, but my wife, Tiffini, stepped up to take care of the team. Throughout the day, I would run to the phone and check up. “We won.” Next call: “We won.” This kept going on all day long. This team of kids who didn’t play Club Volleyball and their parents who never had “a better idea” kept beating the teams with all the extras.

In a tournament of probably 24 teams, we ended up in the final mix taking home the Third Place trophy. This group of kids taught me that the key to coaching is focusing on whatever you think you need to focus on! It can be basic or fancy, maybe even wrong, but if the coach has the courage to stick with the plan, success can come.

Of all the things in my life that surprise me, and honestly there are few, the one that amazes me the most is the fact that my two daughters loved volleyball before high school. It was a rare summer day when our backyard wasn’t filled with girls playing on our court. I hooked the net to a tree, so every year, one side got taller. I also have a great memory of “no shags,” when all the girls fell to the ground when a ball went over the fence. The last standing had to get the ball. I’m still shocked to think that both girls had “less than optimal” high school experiences. I’m still unpacking the reasons for this in my head.

So, what did I learn from this wonderful group of kids?

The lessons?
1. Ask around. Someone has done whatever you are trying to do. Ask.
2. I love the idea of “three” things, by the way, as it always seems to work.
3. Focus on what you say you are going to focus on.
4. Poke a little fun at the problems. I think it helps to say “hey, here is what I am worried about,” poke it a bit, laugh at it, hold it in your hand, and watch it shrink away in shame.
5. “Winning” is not always about records and first place.

Four years later, Lindsay quit the volleyball team. I don’t think the other kids on the team played sports in high school and, sadly, Jasmine struggled throughout high school with physical issues. Yet, each and every time I see the old team, we continue to laugh and enjoy these great memories. I continued to coach Lindsay in the throws and now she is a hammer thrower for the University of Utah. Her senior year she won the state championship in the shot put.

This is shot of her hearing her mark.
Instead of “marching out,” she just left the field. (I’m still surprised she wasn’t arrested at BYU for having a free thought!)
Sometimes, number two becomes number one!

During my time in the Galway City Gym, a perfect combination of every facility I trained in while growing up, I met a 79 year old man who had “taken up” some lifting. He benches 100 kilos, or 220 pounds, so some of you young guys need to step up your game. As I walked around the gym, it reminded me of training in my old high school facility. The best places to workout all seem to have that same aura, certainly the same smells, and I started thinking about a lift I have now been doing almost four decades: the one arm press.

In high school, we had a Universal Gym. I don’t care if you love or hate machines, but, even now when I look back at it, a lot of people trained really hard on it and made pretty fair progress. One thing we did a lot of was one arm presses on the Military Press station.

We did them in a way that honestly stands the test of time: I would stand in front of the machine and my partner would have the “key.” That’s a term I haven’t used in decades either: this was the little bent selector key that allowed you to use more than forty pounds. The coaches kept them in their office, so no one could use them to work out unless they were there. Of course, every kid from Francisco Terrace knew that a bent nail worked just as well, so I had my own personal gym any time I could sneak in.

So, I would do five reps with the right arm. My buddy would move the weight to 50 pounds. Five more reps. We would continue this process all the way down the stack until I couldn’t do five reps. Then, the fun started: we would go back up, ten pounds at a time, to the starting weight of forty pounds. We called these “Burnout Sets” and the pump in the shoulders was unbelievable.

Of course, now you put your left hand on the machine and did the same all the way down and up the stack. It worked well then and I would imagine the human body hasn’t changed that much since then, so it might well be worth a try today. You certainly can go up and down the dumbbell rack at your gym or do like we do at my training group and lay a row of kettlebells on the ground and do the same basic workout.

The Varsity throwers at my school came up with a nice twist to this to help the shot put and they would only do singles, but changed the reps in a wild, chaotic way each and every rep. There was gold in this idea for throwers and I ignored it most of my career, but the variation of speed would an excellent supplement for a thrower or fighter. Alas, I forgot it, but perhaps the next generation of elite throwers will use it.

One of the things we all noticed from doing these one armed workouts is how sore we were around the waist the next day. Growing up, the area between your ribs and hips was called your “waist.” Now, we call it “core” and charge a lot of money to make you train it.

And, this is part of the point of doing single arm overhead work: it challenges you from your toes to the top of your head. Now, I am not calling for us to start dressing like “Ye Olde Tyme Strongman” with leopard prints and a saucy mustache, but there is a great tradition in strength sports to put weights overhead with one hand. Like every great lifting idea, it has ebbed and flowed through its popularity. When I first started squatting seriously, practically no one squatted in gyms. Then, squats became the answer to all questions. I like to think today as I write this that the squat has become a key lift again and its importance to general training is generally seen as crucial, but not “squat or die.”

I have always seen five advantages to one arm pressing. First, the whole body is supporting the work done by one limb. This allows me to use more weight with one hand than I can handle with two. Let’s make this clear:

If I can one hand press 110 pounds, I have two legs and one torso supporting it.

Now, if I put 110 pounds in EACH hand, I still have two legs and one torso supporting it. Now, I KNOW I can press 110 with one hand, but double 110s (220 total) would be a great challenge. So, my deltoids, triceps and the whole gang of muscles supporting this one arm lift are really challenged. Yes, you actually overload the arm, if you go heavy enough, by doing one limb movements. True, the total amount is higher with two arms, but the local load is heavier with one. For hypertrophy, it almost feels like cheating.

Second, and this should be no surprise, one arm lifting is asymmetrical. The bottom line on this is simply “Asymmetry is harder.” I strongly recommend on one arm lifting that you either use a partner or a mirror when lifting. I like the Chin, the Sternum and the Zipper (my “CSZ Line”) to remain basically in a vertical line while pressing. There will be some twisting and turning under great loads, but limit it as best you can. Recently, I was asked:

“What do I do when I start twisting?”

Stop.

I thought it was brilliant.

Third, equipment needs for one arm lifts are less. At my old gym, I had 113 kettlebells, but a group of them were far too light for pressing practice. To have 40 athletes all pressing double bells, we would have had to share and that, of course, was fine. But, by utilizing singles, the whole group could lift at once. There is something magical about watching that many people intensely focused on pressing weights up and down.

Fourth, with a light load and only one limb, there is a sense of what we call “Active Rest.” My friend, Pavel, has this funny story about the military: a bunch of privates are shoveling dirt. After a few hours, one of them asks “Sir, when do we rest.” The officer answers: “Ah. If you throw the dirt farther, the dirt will be in the air longer. You can then rest when the dirt is in the air.”

My vision of rest during one arm lifts seems about the same as in this joke: you rest while the other limb is working. The funny thing is that the body seems more than able to support rep after rep switching hands. Of course, the reps are challenging as you move along, but that brings us to the next point.

Finally, one arm pressing leads us naturally to “longer” sets. Now, if time under tension/load is the key to bodybuilding or hypertrophy, it would make sense that alternating hands and continuing to move would certainly increase time. Call Einstein for the specifics on increasing time, but those who have ever had a limb in a cast know that working on the healthy arm or leg seems to keep the atrophy of the injured side to a minimum. The body is one magnificent piece with only one blood system, so hypertrophy should come with these longer sets. In my experience, and with those willing to try it, it works.

I believe in doing one arm presses standing. I have done them seated, for example, after a surgery, but I really think there is a value to doing them with the whole body wedged underneath the bell. If you have never done them before, keep the reps low, maybe two to five reps, and get used to the movement. I strongly suggest, like in the Bench Press, to keep the elbow vertical under the wrist. Again, a mirror can help here. There are some variations that I will use in teaching this with interesting names like the “Bottoms Up Press” and the “Waiter Press,” but strive to keep the elbow in line with the wrist.

My favorite workout scheme for one arm presses is also the method I use in my book, “Mass Made Simple.” I strongly believe that one arm presses allow you to handle a lot of volume, so I use two “ladder” schemes for almost any purpose (sports help, hypertrophy, fat loss, this is “one size fits all”):

The 2-3-5(-10) method.
I have discussed this scheme in other articles, but very simply the first variation is to do this:
Two reps left arm
Two reps right arm
Three reps left arm
Three reps right arm
Five reps left arm
Five reps right arm
If light enough, to a set of ten left and right, too. This is not always possible. This workout (with the tens) is forty total reps. It won’t “feel” like forty as you moved back and forth between limbs and the reps changed. If you do this a number of times, well, this will be a lot of time under load. And, that is a good thing!

I suggest for most people to do the entire workout with one weight. Let the volume be the issue and not your technique under heavy loads. If you decide to go up, an interesting way to do this is simply:
2-3-5 (Both Sides)
Add Weight
2-3-5 (Both Sides)
Add Weight
2-3-5 (Both Sides)
I don’t suggest doing this much more than this, but occasionally it would be fun to push up another round. Oh, and skip the tens on this variation as we are trying to get the biggest bells we can in the last round of five.

Any traditional rep and set scheme will work, of course. As I noted from my high school experience, I was able to recover quickly from all those sets of pressing. In hindsight, I can also understand why I had such a remarkable bench press at the light weight of 162 pounds: good pressers press a lot!

For the older trainee, the one arm press works all the muscles that Janda explained weakened with age. In other words, if a 50 plus man asked me “that question,” “If you could only do one lift, what would it be?,” I would answer one arm presses. Yes, it even works the glute as you can’t have a saggy butt when pressing half bodyweight overhead with one arm.

Experiment with increasing the amount to one arm pressing that you do. There is no contest or Gold Medal for one arm pressing, but the rewards are great.