Posts Tagged ‘power’

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,

I’m back to finish up the second part of Day 2!

It was a killer workout but aren’t they all??

It’s kill or be killed baby!

So, after hitting the heavy bench it was time for an EDT set of trap bar deads and heavy weighted pull ups.

I kept the reps at 5 and did the EDT set for 10 mins.

Like the EDT sets I did on the days before, I’m going to add time as the weeks go by.  Next time I’ll hit this workout I’m going for 15 mins.   5 min increase is a lot but I’m heading for it face first!  Believe it!

This EDT set challenged my grip like none other!  After about 6 mins my forearms were sizzling!  It’s all for good fun!

After the EDT I hit up some double kettle bell swings to furthermore hit the back side and then finshed off with 2 all out sets of dumb bell bench presses to add in some more volume to the upper body.

All in all, the upper body and backside got rocked big time!

This is a solid workout to say the least!

Let me leave you with one last thing – in the vid’s it my appear as if this workout takes a while to l.  Always be pushing the pace!  There’s no need to ever have full rest periods unless your power lifting.

I like to always work at a fast pace and try to finish my workouts in under 60 mins.  I pushed this hard and got outta there in 50 mins including warm up.

Make it a habit of tracking your time from start to finish with your workouts and always try to beat your time form the last time.

Next time through this workout, even though I’m adding 5 mins to my EDT set, I’m still gonna try and get under 50 mins.

It’s all about challenge!

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

PS – Lets get some more comments kids!  Spill the beans on how things are going with you!  I wanna know!  Unless you aren’t working very hard then keep that to yourself.  Let me know about the time your putting into battle!

Hey yo!

I’m back with Day 3 of The Get Jacked Program for those of you out there that are following along and really trying to crank up your results.

I must be honest with you, I’m sore and busted up today!  My legs are done!  This program will definitely do that to you, NO DOUBT.  The heavy Bulgarians from day one are getting me good!

Here’s the real kicker though, listen to your body.  You should be able to tell when to push it and when to cut back.  I’m cutting back a little bit today for this reason.

Overtraining will get you NO WHERE!  Trust me.  I over trained for a good 6 years of my life all through High School and my first 3 years in college when I played football.  That’s a whole other series of posts I’ll put out later so you don’t do the same thing.

It was CRAZY how many workouts and volume I was doing that I thought was putting me way ahead of the pack.  I had the right mentality in pushing myself beyond my limits and staying driven and dedicated, but I was doing way too much.   I’m still surprised I never got injured back then.      Lucky me

What happened was I thought more was better.  I was always doing more more more!    I was way wrong!   I’m telling you, if you need a day or two of rest, take it and get back on with the workouts.  Or go lighter and foam roll and stretch like a mo fo!

So, now that we have that outta the way, like I said, my legs were busted up big time today from all the heavy lifting I did on Day 1.  Today’s workout is very low in volume and full body based.  I like to call it my “strongman day”.  This will really keep the program athletic based and functional.  These movements help the body stay that way.

It will be good to get the blood flowing to help speed up the recovery process.  I definitely did not go as heavy as I should of but that will come next time around when I get acclimated to this new program.

I hitting up the home made foam roller heavy today as well!  I’ll probably hit a good set on my hips and hamstrings in between each set of shouldering.   This will really help with the recovery process.  If you don’t have a foam roller – INVEST into one or go make one.  You’ll see mine in the vid.

So without further ado, here’s day 3 of The Get Jacked Program.  Enjoy!

Day 3 – Strongman Day

1A – Sandbag Shouldering  x 30 reps/ shoulder

2A – KB windmills x 15-30 per side

3A – Foam roll like a mo fo!

That’s it kids!  It appears pretty basic and easy on paper.  If it’s like this for you, then you definitely did not go heavy enough on the SB shouldering.  I had a weight I was able to do 3 x’s each shoulder per set.  I broke it up that way and went until I hit 15 each side.  It got brutal.  Push yourself and try to finish thw workout fast.

Next time around I’ll hit a weight I can get on 1-2 x’s per set on the shouldering  J  Can’t wait!

For the KB windmill, I used a light weight.  The goal for these is to just stretch out the hips a bit and really work on my range of motion.  I’ll go heavier next time.

Like I said, foam roll and stretch like a madman!  This should be something you do before and after each workout!  It’s that important!

I hope things are going well for you thus far!  Now, we get a day off to recover and get ready for Day 4 which is our  Max Effort Day “B”.  I can’t wait!  It’s taking everything I got to rest just 1 day.  But remember, more is not better!   Get some rest and come back and kill it on Day 4!

You can see Joe killin the power cleans in the background.  Getting S**t done as usual!

Get Forged Strong,

Travis

PS – Keep hitting up those comments kids!  I love getting feed back.

Hey kids!

Hope everything’s good on your side of the tracks!

Things have been getting COLD at the Forged Athlete.  The Nebraska weather is starting to set in and its about that time to start getting bundled up real nice.

As long as your moving and working hard, your blood will be pumping good so you won’t have to get too bundled up.  That is if you’re working out at a REAL gym.

I don’t really foresee Joe and I cranking the heat up too high until we start seeing sub-zero temps.

Hopefully that’s not happening until late January or early February.

What a workout this was!

I was really focusing on some heavy duty strength with the Zercher Squats then focusing on power with some burpee broad jumps right out of the gate.  I posted a vid below check out.

I threw a lot of drop lunges and some kb swings in there as well.

I finished the workout with some wheel roll outs – Bruce Lee Style.    Don’t try these until that core is tight and ready kids!

Stay tuned and Joe and I have something REAL BIG cooking up for all of you coming soon!

!

Get Forged Strong!

For everyone out there wanting to get strong as hell check out this vid. I don’t know a lot about this individual or where he’s from. I think one of my fellow coaches told me he was from Austria possibly. All I know is this kid is

strong. Look at the dedication to strength he has and how he and his home made equipment get the job done. I’ve met people who work out in perfect weight rooms that have all the equipment in the world and not impress me

near as much as this fellow does.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again no need for a weight room when you have mind over matter. If you don’t mind it don’t matter. Check the vid and give me some comments on what you guys

think? What kind of strength training are all of you doing? Stay Forged Strong!

 

Serious strength training

Yo bros,

Hope your weekend is starting out strong!

It’s a Saturday in September which you know what that means – College Game Day BABY!

Huskers are traveling to Blacksburg to take on the Hokies of Virginia Tech.

What the heck is a hokie?

Anyways, I’ve got a good workout for you all today.  I like to call this my “upgrading”  your workouts becasue I’ve incorporated alot of athletic training into it to really get your athletism up.

Too many programs out there are un-athletic in nature and include little to no mobility, speed and agility training.

I really like to always have some sort of explosive movement or speed drill in my workouts to keep it athletic based and to also wake my nervous system up to get me ready to push some heavy weights.

I would recommend trying to add and “upgrade” your workouts with these types of movements, no matter what you’re about to do:

• box jumps, hurdle hops, or broad jumps
• double jumps with jump rope
• power skips
• quick feet dot drills
• 5-10-5 agility drill or the “L’ drill
• tire flips
• hill sprints and 10-40 yard sprints

The key to getting the most out of adding these types of exercises before your training session is to keep the intensity very HIGH and the Volume very LOW.

So for jumps I would keep the volume at around 25 total jumps

Agility drills – 2-3 sets with 3-4 different agility drills

Sprints keep around 3-6 total.

The focus – You’re not trying to kill yourself, rather just get rollin’, stay athletic and get the body ready to train.

Now, here’s a sample workout I did just a few days ago.  I felt AMAZING after the workout.

A1)  5-10-5 pro agility drill x 4 sets (2 each direction)

B1) Box Squat 5 x 3-5

B2) Box Jumps 5 x 2

C1) Double KB push press 3 x 6

C2) Mixed Grip Pull Ups w/ weighted vest 3 x max

D1) Double KB swings 3 x 15

D2) sandbag Zercher carry 3 x max distance

E1) Sprinter Ab Circuit (bicycles x 12/side, v seat x 12, v seat reach x 12, laying hip extension x 12)

I felt strong and athletic after the workout to say the least!

I try to keep all of my workouts similar to this to keep my mobility fresh but at the same time still focus on getting myself stronger and more explosive.

Gotta love it!

Try it out for yourself!  “Upgrade” your workout today!

Until next time,

Get Forged Strong!

ps – make sure you friend us on face book and say hello or comment on our blog  ==>

http://profile.to/stoetzel/

http://groups.to/theforgedathlete

Here is a quick vid of one of the guys tearing it up at the end of a workout.

We usually have our guys and girls finish with some kind of conditioning work.

In this vid we go 3 rounds with the prowler. Pulling the prowler down and pushing it back 3 times is one round. This dude was on his last round and feeling the effects big time.

I have trained for a long time and there is nothing quite like the prowler. The results we get from this tool are amazing. Burns big time calories and conditions the body to take on almost if not anything.

We went the extra mile and went ahead and welded up own own “forged” prowlers.  These babies are straight up beasts!  Check that post out HERE where I we talk all about the prowlers Trav’s dad made up for us.

In the mean time, either make or buy yourself a prowler!  You’ll thank us in a few months when you’ve dropped some fat and gained some big time strength and endurance in your legs!

Stay forged strong!

watch?v=1eQIPMOtQ_w

Hey kids,

Well the first ever workout went down the other day at the new gym.

It’s still not fully put together yet, no power or water.  Tomorrow everything get turned on!

It felt great to be in there though!  Total freedom!

No annoying people on their cell phones, no one complaining about what exercises I was doing, and no annoying music playing on the speakers!

It was striaght up business!

I did a quick little physical culture workout and added some heavy trap bar deads with some chains for speed work in first to really get things going.

Physical culture training is one of my favorite methods.  Its the basic bodyweight movements that gymnists, strongmen, and athletes of the old days used to perform.

Handstand pushups, rope climbs, jumps of all sorts, hand walking, ring work, tons of variations of dips and leg raises.

For my workout I performed:

1A) trap bar deads 5 x 5 (last two sets w/ chains)
1B) L seat rope climbs 4 x max
2B) Handstand push ups 4 x max
1C) Weighted sqt jumps 4 x 10
2C) Weighted walking lunges 4 x 12/leg
1D) Hanging leg raises 2 x max
2D) rolls outs 2 x 15

Here’s some highlights:

Heavy Deads and Physical Culture

I haven’t worked out in a “real” gym for about a month so it felt extremely good to finally hit it in a REAL gym!

This is just the beginning!  Wait till you see what we have in store for you all in a few days!

The GRAND OPENING IS CLOSE!  Make sure if your reading this right now and want to be apart of this gym, you contact us ASAP!  We already have 7 guys locked in for our charter membership rates so if you want in for the cheapest rate, you better contact Joe or myself!

***Hit us up at theforgedathlete@gmail.com to find out more about THE GRAND OPENING.***

For the GRAND OPENING we will be having a FREE “underground strength” seminar for of theose that attend.  You’ll learn many of our “secrets” of how we train for total strength and power.  It’s 110% free! Anyone can attend!

 

The Grand Opening will be – Saturday August 29th at 2pm sharp!

The Forged Athlete is located at 5824 N. 90th – (90th and military)

We Hope to see you there!

Until then,

Get Forged Strong!

Hey Kids,

It’s been a while I know.  Things have been extremely busy at The Forged Athlete!

Get ready for a great unvieling very soon. 

Shit is about to blow up!  I’m telling you!

I just want to throw this out there for all of your serious folk – when we open our doors (very very soon) we are taking 10 charter members that will get VIP like treatment as well as charter member prices for the first 3 months of their programs.

Not only do you get a cheaper membership rate for the 1st three months, you get to be apart of the underground training movement - The Forged Athlete - our gym is going to change Omaha and the way serious people train.    If you miss the boat your going to be wishing you would’ve hopped on cause when you see what type of freaks we’re going to be producing outta this joint your gonna wish it was you.

I’m 100% SERIOUS.  I don’t mean to be cocky but I’ve seen it first hand.  I know what our type of atmosphere and training can do for a person.  If you want it bad enough, you’ll do it.

The RESULTS will speak for themselves!

Now, for the brutal workout of the week:

This is a strongman type workout focusing on strength endurance.  Just because these are strongman type moves doesn’t mean they don’t cross over into speed and power sports. 

Speed endurance is a very important trait to have if your any type of sprinter or power athlete.  Mid distance sprinters especially need to be able to continually produce strong forces for extended periods of time.   Wrestlers also need to be able to be strong in the 3rd period, just as much as a defensive linemen needs to be blowing off the ball still and plowing through his man in the final minuets of a big game. 

I hope you understant the importance of strength endurance.  If your strong but have no work capacity or endurance, you’re not going to go the distance.

Here’s a brutal “strength endurance” workout:

A1) Sandbag Zercher Carries – 200′ x 4 sets

B1) Kettlebell rack walks – 200′ x 2 sets

C1) Kettlebell Towel Farmer carries (loop a towel through the kb’s handle and hold onto that)  - 200′ 2 sets

D1) Double Kettlebell swings – 10 x 3 sets

E1) Loaded Sled Pulls/Push – Pull x 100′ turn around Push 100′ x 4 sets

It may look easy on paper…  Try it and let us know.

I’m out the door right now to crush this workout with Joe.

Stay Forged Strong!

T