One of the best ways to increase strength and improve performance is training in an environment that creates attitudes of dominance, desire and mental toughness. There is a difference between a Div. I college football weight room and a corporate gym and it’s NOT the difference in equipment…

In order to produce results your environment must harmonize with what your setting out to accomplish. A mismatch between the two can cause you to second guess yourself which will guide you to become demotivated which will ultimately cause you to under succeed or fail.

Marines are some of the toughest people on the planet and it’s shown through their never give up mentality and GO-GETTER attitudes as they’ll find ways to adapt and improvise to dominate their environment. They rely on unity and team work to motivate each other through the difficult times they face.

Marines are determined to no end and will find a way to win at all cost’s!

This attitude is built because of the environment they are brought into and that’s the way it should be. In strength training that environment is absolutly critical.

Combining the right atmosphere with the right attitude and a person can go from zero to hero in no time flat. Confidence is dramatically increased as well as self esteem.

Take a look at what the right environment can do for a crew like this!

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Imagine what types of things you can accomplish when everyone around you has your back, pushing you beyond your very limits, challenging you to step it up each and everytime you step foot in the gym??

If you’re a SERIOUS ATHLETE or trainee looking to take it to the next level, put yourself in the correct environment for total success and dominance!

If you’re ready to take action, click the box below to register for your FREE trial workout!

To name a few, they have to practice kick boxing, Mai Thai, wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, boxing, and karate.

That’s just a few!

Many MMA fighters mistake their “skill” training for STRENGTH training.  When i talk about strength training, I’m talking about lifting HEAVY weights.

It’s essential to have MAX STRENGTH.  Strength serves as the glue for everything else you do as an athelte.

Speed, power, agility, conditioning all derive from having a good amount of STRENGTH.  It’s essential!

Strength is a SKILL as well!  It needs to be practiced on a regular basis.

At The Forged Athlete Gym, in Omaha, we make sure to get our athletes strong by putting a large focus in on HEAVY, low rep strength training.

We like to train with weights around the 3-5 reps range when working our MAX STRENGTH.

Below, you’ll see one of our MMA athletes lifting some serious weight on the trap bar deadlift.  He insists on wearing a weighted vest in addition to anything he does in our gym.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brain Houston is a WORKER!  Pay attention to the name!

Get FORGED STRONG!

At The Forged Athlete Gym in Omaha NE, we’re all about unconventional means to increasing performance and athletic ability!

Try some of these power combos!

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This is just part 1!

Stay tuned for more power combos for improved athletic performance and physique enhancement!

Live Aggressive and Get Strong!

Travis

PS -  Are you a SERIOUS athlete or just someone wanting living in Omaha NE wanting to BUILD STRENGTH, LEAN DENSE MUSCLE, and improve overall PERFORMANCE???

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I wanna talk about some serious stuff here.

Breaking records.

If you’re an athlete training for sport, you’re trying to get better everyday.

If you’re not, why even compete?

If you’re not an athlete but love to train, you’ve got to approach this the same as an athlete.

You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse.

You never stay the same.

Everyday is a grind my friends.

A grind to get better.

Maybe just by a inch or sometimes a whole mile. You take steps forward.

The best way I know to be absolutely positive you’re taking steps in the right direction is by breaking records.

When I say records, I mean you’re own personal records.
Who cares what Johnny down the street is doing.  You worry about YOU.

As long as you’re adding weight to the bar, jumping higher, running faster, or getting quicker, that’s all that matters.

What type of progress are YOU making.

Break personal records.

To break personal records you need to creates records.

Challenge yourself – write stuff down – weights uses, times, inches, anything that can be measured and tested.

Write these things down then BEAT all of your recorded numbers.

Keep breaking records and you’ll be a winner.

Now get after it!

Check out this video – it gets me pumped!

I have such a passion for the iron that it doesn’t take much to get me going.  Even if I’m alone…

Do YOU have the passion?

Find YOU’RE passion and  break F*ckin’ records period!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Until next time,

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

PS – If you’re an athlete in the Omaha Area – we’ve got dudes signing up for memberships right now.  The gym is filling up! I wouldn’t want to be training just out of your high school gym or you local corporate gym and have to go up against a forged trained athlete – the result would not be pretty.

Contact me for info on how to join our gym.  Memberships are EARNED – can you earn a membership??

Contact me to set up a trial session NOW – 402-984-0791 or email theforgedathlete@gmail.com

The workout was tough for sure. The vid that you’ll see is of myself. If you guys think that your workouts are boring then try and take  an exercise like this and rep it out for about 100 reps or so. It looks like this

1a) Warm up

2a) 100 curtis p’s

A curtis p is a hang clean to a front lunge on both legs to a push press.  Repeat for 100 reps.  Good Luck!

That’s it! I thought I would experience the workout for myself. I was definitely in for a treat. I was able to get 76 Curtis P’s before Rob told me to shut it down. The training that I traditionally do is geared for reps of 5 for strength. Give me some opinions about the training you guys do out there. Do you train like this? What are some of the benefits of workouts like these? Speak up people!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

The russian kettlebells.  Joe and I have been getting more and more into these bad boys!

I can honestly say I never touched one until about a year ago.  Kettlebells have been getting more and more addicting as time has gone by.

They are so versatile and give you so many options to work with.  You can train for strength, power, speed, and muscle gain.  You can do circuits,   complexes, and just straight sets.  I’ve been trying it all!

I’ve got a killer kettlebell complex video on here for some serious muscle building strength as well as some crazy gains in endurance as well.

If you haven’t trained with kettlebells yet, Christmas is around the corner, I’d be asking ol’ Santa for one if I was you!

Check out the video of my complex – it tears the core, back, and shoulders up big time!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Until next time,

Get Forged Strong!

I had a lovely finish to my workout the other day.  At the end I was DONE!

It was a finish to a workout that already involved 1 arm KB cleans to press and 1 arm bent rows.  This was my “strongman” day and I wanted to finish it off right.

Here’s what I did:

Zercher Carry – Sled Drag Medley

1A) Sandbag Zercher Carry x 25 yds

1B) Drag Sled Back

1C) KB rack walk x 25 yds

1C) Drag Sled Back

1D) SB Bear Hug Walk x 25 yds

1E) Drag sled back

I did this for 2 rounds as my legs were SHOT at the end.

I rested about 1:30 in between.

CHECK out the HIGHLIGHT reel ==>  Zerchers + Sled = Brutal Combo

This will get you strong as heck, build some serious work capacity and strength endurance.

Next go around I getting the heavy bag out there and another few KB’s to add two more rounds in there.  That’s going to be real brutal!!!

It’s been a crazy time at The Forged Athlete lately, but you know what, I LOVIN’ every minute of it baby!

I love lifting, I love training, I love coaching and I love life right now!  Not to mention I love my mom, dad, family, girlfriend, and especially my dog Kain to name a just few thing I love 

But you know what else I love???  Single arm cleans, presses, and rows!!!!

I gotta tell ya, overhead presses are great for the core!  You know what’s even better?  Single arm overhead presses!  It makes your core work 10’x’s harder!  Trust me on this one.  If all you’ve been doing is seated military’s with a barbell or 2 dumbbells, scrap that stuff for a while, switch to single arm presses.  Do those for 3-4 weeks and go back to your 2 arm presses and I guarantee you’ll be blown away at the strength you build in that time!

I also gotta stress how great single arm rows and cleans are for building up some serious strength and muscle.  Doing things with only 1 arm forces your core to work so much harder due to the fact that it has to counter balance the weight you’re holding in the other arm.  It works wonders kids!

In this workout I did single arm kettle bell cleans to presses x 5 until I reached my heaviest KB @ 70lbs (If anyone is wondering, my b-day is on the 9th of Nov, A great gift would be an 80,90, and 100lbs KB   !!!!)  I then switched to a 80lbs DB which is our heaviest DB.  We just need to get some heavier KB’s and DB’s pronto!  We’re getting too strong for these puny weights!!!  Ha Ha!

I did 30 reps each arm but broke them up in sets of 5.  I was spent afterwords but proceeded to do some Zercher carries with some sled draggin and pullin.  That’s a whole other post coming soon!

Check out the video of some of the highlights from this great strength building workout ===>

Single Arm Strength Building Exercises

***Make sure if you wanting to get crazy strong and more athletic you sign up for your FREE Ebooks on our site.  Also, if you live in the Omaha area and wanna experience our workouts 1st hand – hit us up at theforgedathlete@gmail.com***