Posts Tagged ‘gym’

Hey Kids!

Hope you’re feeling strong!

If not, it’s time to make yourself your own home-made prowler.

If you’re on a budget, you can still get strong as heck!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the prowler we have.

It’s home made!  My dad built it for me.

Basically I gave him a pic of your standard prowler, we gathered up some different pieces of steel and welding em up and now we have two strength building prowlers that kick major ass!

My best advice on the dimensions is to look up the prowlers dimensions and mimic those as best as you can.

Our prowler is measured at 48″ long and 23″ wide.  I’d say a good guestimate of how much it weights is probably 55-65 lbs.

We’ve got a 1 1/2 bar that about 20 inches high on the back where you can load weights up on.

We took a T-bar row bar and stuck it on the back  bar to use for pushing.

You’ll see what I mean in the video.

If anythings for sure, I know a sled and even a homemade sled will get you into some good shape QUICK!

Go ahead and make your own and when you do, send us a video @ theforgedathlete@gmail.com and we’ll post it on the blog for you!

We’ll have a battle of the home made prowler contest to see who’s kicks the most ass!

Check the video below for more on our home made prowler:

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

PS – Leave any comments you may have!

Alright!

Enough excuses on how the holiday season packed on pounds. Time to get moving and crush everything that wants to stop you. I woke up this morning feeling like a champion. It almost felt like I was getting mentally ready to play a football game or run in a track meet. I was so jacked up that I almost forgot to eat this morning.  Big mistake!

Anyway! The point I’m trying to make is, who’s feeling run down during this time of the year? If you don’t have that mental clarity on what you want to accomplish with yourself how can you reach goals? When working out, I constantly focus on how I’m getting better each and every workout. I tell myself positive things that are about to happen and reinforce those thoughts through my crew. I roll with very positive people who want to succeed in life. People who want to make their lives, not let someone else make it for them. Do you follow what I’m saying?

I hope you understand what I’m talking about. Our gym builds that positive atmosphere and willingness to succeed. I can’t explain how or why, but it feels awesome. Check this vid of some dudes and myself throwing down on a workout. Time to get it!

The Forged Athlete round 1

The Forged Athlete second round ko

Hey kids,

I saw these videos the other day – FREAKING INSANE!

This is some big time strength!!!  I’m very impressed!

Check it out ==>

This one is with a 409lbs axle – the bar DOES NOT ROTATE!!!  That makes the clean even more brutal!

This one is 414lbs same bar.  DAMN!

Imagine the explosiveness these guys might have.  That is if they know how to use it. You must be athletic to use strength like that.  Otherwise you’re nothing but strong.

Be strong AND athletic…

Leave you comments if you have any!

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

PS – Been getting a lot props from dudes outside of Omaha wanting to train at our gym.  Questions is – Where are all the “serious people” at that LIVE IN Omaha!?

PSS – If you live in Omaha and wanna throw down – All are welcome to come give it a go!  Our gym is your home.  We welcome you to come in…

PSSS – To those outside of Omaha, if you ever stop thru – those of you that are interested, def look us up and we will gladly invite you in to train!

What is going on everyone!

 Just getting back from my trip to the Wyo. Every year it’s nice to get back to the high country and spend some time with the fam. This year was a little different. I decided to take a trip to a gym that is located in Jackson Hole Wyoming.

They’re called the Mountain Athlete and specialize in training military and any fitness enthusiast that love to train. I shot a quick vid on who they are and what they have. In this first vid you’ll see is the introducation to the gym. I’ll bepositng the second part of the gym shortly. Check this out and let me know what you think.

The forged athlete wyoming

Hey what up!

Hope everything is going strong for you with any and all adventures you may be embarking on.

I’ve been really hammering the pulling movements hard in my workouts lately.

One of my main objectives is to be able to hit 5 good single arm pull ups on each side.  Right now I can only manage just one.  That’s on a good day.

I’ve got to say that to be able to do a single arm pull up, you’ve got to build up some serious strength from your head all the way down to your toes.

It takes so much more than to just pull yourself up over the bar.

Obviously you need to have serious upper back and lat strength to pull yourself over the bar.  Your shoulders much be strong enough to stabilize your whole body and keep it straight.  To aid in your stability, you must have an extremely strong core to stay tight to prevent from swinging.  Grip strength is crucial and is the link between you and the bar.  Without a tight grip, your pull up will be non existent.

On top of all these qualities, you must be lean and in good shape.  If your fat and flaccid, you’ll have a lot of extra weight you’ll be trying to pull up over the bar.  This is just another reason why you need to eat clean and stay lean.

I’ve always had a love for pull ups ever since grade school.  I was one of the few students who could actually do pull ups back in elementary P.E. class.   I was one of the few that could climb the rope and ring the bell.  I had a peg board my father had build in my garage I would regularly climb.  My wrestling club had a 60 ft long jungle gym latter hanging from the ceiling we would have to climb around on at practices.

Pulling is such an overlooked movement with many athletes today.  Too many athletes focus on presses, curls, and tricep extensions.  Too many mirror muscles being used.

The back is the key to a lot of an athletes overall strength.  It supports most movements and is a HUGE part of the core.  It serves for good posture, stability and power development.

If you’re an athlete or avid strength trainee, you need to be incorporating pulling movements into your program.

Some guidelines when it comes to pulling abilities I like to go by when training my athletes are these:

• 6+ bodyweight pull ups
• 15+ reclined rope rows
• 10+ hanging Leg raises
• BW x 1.5 deadlift x 5

These are just a few of movements to require a strong back with all of the other qualities I talked about earlier.  Obviously, there are people of there that can’t perform these standards and with anything, you have to start somewhere.  With everything, there comes progression and regression.

I’m about to give you a few ways to increase your pulling abilities.  Try throwing these 2 exercises into your regimen as much as possible to increase your pulling strength.

1)      Reclined Rowing – This is using your own bodyweight but isn’t limited to this.  You can add chains and weighted vests to this movement to add resistance.

If you have blast straps or a TRX, you can use these easily to perform reclined rows.  You can also use a racked barbell or smith machine and simply set the bar at about hip height and walk your legs underneath to where you can pull yourself up.  I would build yourself up to being able to perform 20+ reps with added weight.  If you’re eating clean and dropping body fat, you should be able to move on to pull ups.

2)      Negative Pull Ups – This is basically taking your pull ups and cutting out the actual pulling part.  To do this, grab a bench and set it up near a pull up bar.  Jump up and squeeze your back as tight as you can while having your chin over the bar.  From here lower yourself as slow as humanly possible.  Repeat for 8-10 reps or until you can’t hold on any longer.  This is great to add eccentric strength.  You add good stability to your pull and in time should be able to perform good regular pull ups.  Its all about being consistent.

From this point on, its all about progression.  Once you can do 1-2 pull ups do multiple sets.  I like trying to get anywhere from 25-50+ total reps of that movement.  If you can only get 1 good pull up, split it up into 50 sets.  Throw in a set in between your other exercises while you rest.  Soon you’ll be able to perform 3, 4, 5+ pull ups in a set and it all just keeps goes up from there.  Just stay consistent and the results will come.

For me, the most I’ve ever done in a set was 34 good pull ups.  To increase this number I’m going to focus on single arm pull ups.  I’ll do weighted 2 arm pull ups, rows, and obviously throw in every different style of grip I can to keep increasing the bottom line.

I figure if I can get myself to 5 good 1 arm pull ups per side, my overall strength will go up in my pulling abilities and I’ll tear up my total reps of pull ups.  I’ll be also focusing on high reps work every now and then while I’m doing this to make sure and keep my strength endurance to perform lots of reps.

The main reason for this post is to get you focused on how important pulls are in your training.  If you’re not currently pulling more than your pushing, make the change.  I guarantee your results will go up!

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

Yo!

I hope all is well and you’re kicking ass!

With the end of the year steadily approaching, you know that it’s time the “amateurs”  to start popping their heads out from under their rocks and start thier fitness kicks.

This makes me so sick.  There should NEVER be a time where you say “OK, now since it’s the 1st of the year, I can start off new and start living a healthy, strong, and active life.

This is a full time gig.

If you wanna be strong, fast, athletic, and powerful – its A FULL TIME JOB.  It you know this – you’re a warrior.

Warriors don’t take breaks, vacations, or certainly don’t start over on Jan 1st.  That’s what “amateurs” do

If you’re one of these “amateurs” that don’t realize this then you need to make sure you make a change.  Make that change NOW – not on Jan 1st!

You’re journey on becoming a warrior must start NOW.

What I’ve learned over the years is that it’s never the “right time”.  The ONLY right time is NOW.

If you keep waiting for the right time to change or set a goal or do this or do that, you’ll be waiting forever.

Unless of course you’re looking for excuses.  Amateurs look for excuses.

So, stop making excuses for yourself and start making goals.

Plan or plan to fail as they say.

Don’t wait till Jan 1st to make a change.  Do it after your done reading this post.  If you’re a true Warrior, you will.  And you’ll stick to it.

What I want to hear from you is what you’re going to be doing differently starting now.

Where do you want to be.

Just know this – it’s hard to really say where you will be because life will throw a ton of sh*t you’re way that you weren’t expecting.  But that’s the beauty of it all isn’t it?

That’s why you have to be a warrior.  A warrior that’s able to make changes on the fly, and to make sacrifices, and to have discipline.

Be honest to yourself – WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE NOW???  Can you become a warrior starting NOW???

Leave a comment on this post and let me know what you want to change and how you’re going to do it NOW.

How are you going to become a warrior?  Or, are you going to stay an amateur?

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

Yo dudes!

Do you still do circuit training?

I bet you still think that’s for mostly women who go to the circuit training classes at the local commercial gym right?

WRONG – circuit training can still give you want you need!

I use workout muse for my circuit training.  It’s the best and ONLY audio interval soundtrack system of its kind.

It kicks total ass and I love it to death!

It totally automates my workouts when I want to train with circuits for speed and power endurance, and work capacity.  I really like crankin’ intervals on my de-load weeks when I hit up a lot of bodyweight movements.

I feel that if you’re a fighter, wrestler, or any sort of combat athlete, you need to have circuit training as a part of your training arsenal.

There’s lots of  intervals you can choose from.

The best and most popular is probably the Tabata Protocol – 20/10′s x 8 total rounds.  Great for everything especially work capacity and power endurance.

I really enjoy 30/30′s which are good for strength and work capacity.   You can see this in the video below ==>

Some other options you have are 50/10′s which are specifically for work capacity and endurance.  Then you also have 40/20′s which are also great for strength and power.

Overall, intervals  are a bad ass way to train.

You options are limited by only your imagination.

Here’s the workout I crushed in the video (Thanks to Workout Muse for the audio track!):

I did 3 total rounds of 30/30′s (F-ing brutal, I wanted to die at the end!)

1A) Sandbag cleans

1B) L seat rope climbs

1C) Handstand Push Ups

1D) Shoulder Loaded Sandbag Lunges R/L

1E) Opposite Shoulder Loaded Sandbag Lunges R/L

1F) Blast Strap Push Ups w/ Feet Elevated

This is a killer circuit for any combat athlete or athlete in general lookinig to increase power endurance, strength endurance, and work capacity.  It’s NOT EASY!

This makes it easier to go to war with your workouts!

Get out there and blast thru some circuit!

Till Next Time

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

PS – Let me know what your favorite circuit is of all time and why!!

Eh Yo,

I hope you had a chance to read part 1 of Joe and I’s Corporate Gym “Adventure”.

If you haven’t make sure you go there and get caught up!

So back to where we left off from the last post, My boy Joe and I were hittin’ up an old corp gym where we used to train at.  Boy I DO NOT miss those days!  I was stuck training people I had no interest in training and I was limited by “rules”.

All they cared about was how much training I was going to sell in the next month.  They didn’t give a squat about if my clients were happy or were getting results.

To make a long story short – I’m happy I took action and got the heck outta there and started my own thing!  I couldn’t be happier!  They actually fired me b/c I was training people in my gym already before I gave them notice I was leaving.  Oh well..

IT WAS MEANT TO BE!

I must say, it actually felt kind of nice getting back into this gym.  After all, they do have some nice equipment.  We knew the lone power squat rack back in the far corner wasn’t going to be in use so we had no problems getting to that.  We were probably the first dudes to use it in a while.   Most of the time it sits there collecting dust.

So, About 20 mins into our workout, this squeaky clean little manager, who I’ve never seen before comes on over to the corner where we’re at.  At this point, Joe and I are just ripped up.  We hit a few sets of our first super set and the workout was going great, until Mr, Salesman Elite had to ruin our fun!

“He fellas.” The manager says, “You guys used to work here right?”

“Yeah”, I said breathing heavy as all heck.

“Oh, well in that case, I’m going to have to have you two leave.”

“What!?” Joe exclaimed.  “Why?!”

The manager replied, “Well, I’ve been around the block a few times and I know when there’s trainers trying to pull new clients outta here, and that ain’t gonna fly.  So you need to leave.”

Give me a break!  Dude!  That would be true but the only thing is that there are NO clients that we would actually want in our gym.  Maybe a few…  But no one that would be dedicated enough to want to train in our gym.

Too bad all the members there are pussies and would never train like we or our actual clients do in our gym.  There’s some nice people there but we were definetly not there to pick up clientel.  Wrong place!

That really fired me up.  So, without starting any sort of problem, we said OK and finished out our last set on floor presses and cleans and made way to an apartment gym down the road to finish our daily strength assault.

Here’s the workout:

1A) Floor Press 5 x 6-10
1B) Hang Cleans 5 x 3
**We got asked to leave after set 4 but insisted we be let to finish. They didn’t resist

We then finished the rest of our workout at a apartment gym complex down the road:

2A) DB Incline 3 x 10 (got 18 reps, 15, 12)
2B) 1 Arm DB Bent Rows 3 x 10 (got 30 reps, 22, 22)
**they only went up to 65lbs so we had to hit high reps

3A) DB Hammer Curls 3 x 8
3B) Weighted Dips 3 x 10 (used a 65 DB)

4A) 1 max set up Pull Ups off of smith machine – hit 27

Ah I love lifting, where ever it may be…

You know, after it was all said and done, it dawned on me that that was supposed to happen.  We are not meant to be in a corporate gym or atmosphere as weak as that.

We do not belong in there.  We just don’t.  People could tell once we started to warm up that we were totally opposite of anyone else that came in there to train.

It’s crazy what will happen to you when you train in a atmosphere that pushes you to excel.

That’s the jist of our strength training adventure!

I hope you enjoyed it!

Here’s the lesson or the moral of the story – find a location or atmosphere where you can train where there will be:

• No distractions
• must have LOUD Music
• No pussies, whiners, babies, or quitters
• No Treadmills
• Limited mirrors
• Access to heavy odd objects such as – sandbags, logs, sleds, atlas stones, kettlebells, kegs, ect
• Heavy dumbbells
• Ability to yell ans scream as lous as you want
• The ability to train the way you want to train – w/ NO RULES

Make sure this atmosphere pushes you beyond your limits.  It could be in your garage, basement, or even back yard.   Invite people that have the same mind set as you and will do anything to make progress when it comes to training.

DO NOT let poeple in that will bring the atmoshpere down.  So make sure there’s no negative people that aren’t willing to pay the price to get stronger, bigger, and more powerful allowed into your training environment.  Is there are now, give them the boot!

It’s hard to find people that will be able to stick with and fit into an environment such as this.  It really is.  I’m thankful for Joe.  He pushes me and I push him.  The results I get now are based on him pushing me through workouts and the atmosphere we train in.

Here’s the bottom line – your training atmosphere must become your personal BATTLEFIELD!!!

Remember – it’s ALL OUT WAR!!!

The Forged Athlete Gym has everything we need to excel in the strength and conditioning game.  It’s made for one thing and one thing only – training.  Every training session is a war.

Stay Tuned!  There will be more to come!

Joe’s hitting up The Military Athlete in Jackson Hole WY in a few days!

We’ll be posting the training he does there so be on the look out for that!

As always, leave some comments for us to let us know you’re there.

Or don’t if you’re lazy…

Till next time,

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

Hey Kids,

I want to take you all behind the scenes of a little “adventure” Joe and I recently had in strength training.

Unfortunately I have no video footage for you of this but have a great story to tell.

I didn’t think we would need our camera but I’m kicking myself now because I didn’t have i!

Anyhow, Joe and I decided we would change things up a bit a head on over to a local “corporate” gym to get our workout in.

We thought it would be good to showcase the skills we’ve created over the months of training in or gym atmosphere.

Before I get to the rest of the story, let me tell you this – you’re results depend on a couple things:

1. Intensity – This is by far #1 in my book.  If you aren’t going all out ape shit and doing battle with the iron with a warrior mentality every time, you’re results will suffer from it.  If you go hard enough and put in the effort, the results will come.  It’s all out war every time you train.  No Questions!
2. Atmosphere – This is second on the list and the reason I feel this is second is that if you have “it” mentally, you can block out the atmosphere you train in many times.  But some times that just isn’t enough.   If you want to be strong and tough and get freaking jacked, you need to be in the proper atmosphere.You need to surround yourself with people and things that will help you get stronger.  You need competition and things that will force you to improve and push forward.  Unfortunately, corporate gym sdo not help you do this.  The music sucks, most of the people there “working out” are more interested in how they look in the mirror and how their “new” workout clothes look.  There’s too many distraction such as TV’s, good looking women, not-so-good-looking women,  unneeded spandex, and cell phones.   This is NO GOOD.

Make sure you have these two things dialed in and your results will sky rocket!

Ok, back to my story…

So we got to the gym and proceeded back to the empty and rarely ever used power squat  rack in the back corner of the building.  I honestly am surprised they still have this in the gym.  Since Joe and I left I’m sure it’s never really used.

I gotta be brutally honest and I”m not trying to toot my own horn here but when Joe and I walked through those doors and started to warm up in the corner, it felt so different.  There were “eyes” on us.  We were different.  We were NOT suppose to be in there.  We just didn’t belong.  I think there’s a sort of “aura” that we were giving off just by being there.  People could tell we were dead serious about our training.

Hence, this is not the proper atmosphere we need to be training in very often.  Overtime, our results would probably suffer because of the weak, non competitive atmosphere that gym has to offer.    We know this but were just having some fun training in a different place.

We didn’t mess around and make sure out hair was pretty, or checked out  how our clothes looked in the mirror, or looked at our cell phones to make sure we missed any calls.  We were there for business.  We were there to do one thing and that was to absolutly DESTROY the workout we had planned.

If you’re like Joe or myself (which I hope you are if your on this site) we were freaking pumped to be there and train.  That’s what we do – WE TRAIN.  Where ever, when ever – it don’t matter.  We love it and we have an addiction for it.

I tell you what, this story is just heating up!

In the meantime – Share you’re stories and stay tuned to find out what happened as we got into our workout.  I’ll also tell you all about the workout we did.  This was a good one!

Stay tuned for part 2 of Corp Gym “Adventure”

Until then and while you’re waiting,

Get Forged Strong

Travis

PS – Make sure you let us know and share any adventures in strength training you may have!  We want to hear em!

Hey kids!

It’s been COLD over here in Omaha but there’s no excuses to keep me from training.

The gym is cold and we have yet to crank the heat.

I feel I get a better workouts in the cold.  Forces you to keep moving to stay warm.

So, it’s Day 6 of Operation Get jacked!  This is the last day of the rotation.  Basically what you will do from here if you’re following the program is start back over at Day 1 and repeat the cycle 3-4 times.

I’ve taken days off when I need to.

This 1st cycle through I’ve gone Day 1, 2, 3 RESTED for 2 Days then hit Day 4, 5 RESTED 1 Day then Hit up Day 6, 1, ect…

I recommend you listen to your body.  Go hard when you feel good and cut back when you feel torn up.

I’ll go through this 6 workout cycle 3 times then I hit up a deload week with light kettlebell work,  lots of bodyweight, and probably some bands and light sandbags.  I’ll also through in tons of sled draggin of all sorts.

So here’s Day 6 – Strongman Part 2!

20 min Circuit

1A) Tire Flips x 8-10 (depending on the size tire you have – heavier go 3-6 reps, lighter 5-10)

1B) Sled Drag x 2 trips dow and back

1C) DB Farmer Carry x max distance

1D) Sledghammer Swing x 5/arm

Repeat for 20 mins.

That’s a good circuit.  I’ll add 5-10 mins next time around.

Keep hitting it and going to battle!

The war never ends!  Only when you surrender!  I’ll die before I surrender to the iron!

Get Forged Strong,

Travis