Posts Tagged ‘speed’

Hey people of strength!

Hope all is well and you’re kicking ass!

If not, work harder and push yourself beyond your limits.

Don’t find excuses and NEVER settle for less!

Find what it is that you need to work on and zero in on it like your life depends upon it!

You need to find your weak points!

All athletes have weak points.

For most its their backside.

The hamstrings, lower back, mid back, and upper back.

The main reason most athletes have weak backsides is because they can’t see them.

A lot of athletes train just their “mirror” muscles.

Curls, bench presses, tricep extensions, and lots of quad work make up a typical routine.  This routine is familiar to athletes that simply don’t know any better.

I was a victim of this!  I fell into the trap of training just what I could see.

I did bench, all the presses, squats, lunges, curls, and tricep work.  I also did do a ton of pulling movements as well but manly with the upper body.

This was largely due to the fact I was a wrestler and I did pull ups and peg board about every day.

If I could go back and do it over again I would’ve focused tons more time and energy in on the DEADLIFT,  KB swings, RDL’s, glute ham raises, and all the different variations of the good mornings.

Lets not forget about prowler and sled work!  That’s a must!

These string of exercises are CRUCIAL to help athletes build up explosive power and speed.

I was always under the misconception that my quads were what made me fast.  I was mistaken due to the whole “mirror muscle” thing.

Boy if I could go back and train like I do today or do what I know to do today!

Sub 4.3 40 yard dash perhaps??    Or even a 40+ vertical easy!?

I was edging on those number training the wrong way!!!

I would love to know BUT that’s not possible.

What is possible is YOU, reading this now, can train smarter and better.

Attack your backside for maximum strength, power, and speed development!

It’s the KEY!

I’ve got a killer backside workout and video for you below.

I love training my backside.

Here’s my backside focused training day:

1A) Speed Deadlifts w/ bands 8 x 3, 6* (*last set, without bands x 6)

2A) Sandbag Squats  4 x 8-12

2B) Mixed Grip Pull Ups and Reclined Rows  4 x Submax

3A) KB Complex – Alternating KB Clean x 6/arm + Double KB Swings x 12  x 3 rounds

3B) Weighted Back Extensions 3 x 12

4A) TRX Ab Circuit (Knee Tucks, Pike, Pendulum Swings)  3 x 12/movement

4B) Grip Work – Plate Pinches, KB Towel Farmer Walks  3 x Max Time/Distance

5A) 1 max Set of Pull Ups (this was killer, grip and back were fried!)

Roll out like a mo fo and stretch!

That’s it!

Attack the backside!

Make sure you’re adding in a lot of hip extension type exercises in your routine to hit the weak areas of your body!

Until next time,

Get Forged Strong!

Travis

PS – Leave your comments and questions if you got em!

Believe-

            I wanted to write this post to those of you who wake up in the morning feeling depressed or emotionally drained. Your beliefs during this time of year can determine how your day week and month is. Let’s examine!

 So what is the definition! Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true. Yes! I took that from the dictionary.

 So what we believe in is what we become. So if you think negative your going to be negative. Thinking positive makes you positive. In my world failure is not an option. I will flex and bend, but will not break. 

I’ve gone through some tough times just as you have. From what I read and experience, the people who go through struggles and succeed end up being some the happiest people in the world.

They appreciate what they went through and become grateful instead of resentful.  It also seems to me that people who are handed everything don’t feel this way.  

They go through the motions and let other people dictate their  life. I don’t want to be this way and I know you don’t. Lets take a look at what your beliefs can do if you focus and really BELIEVE. Lets hit it!

Joe

 

p.s. If you think that your life is hard there is always someone who has it harder. I have much respect for a man like this.

 

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!!

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.

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

Yo!

Hey I hope you had as an eventful labor day weeknd as I did!

Football, football, and more football!

The Big Red got it done and that’s all I was worried about.

I think they should be able to do some big things this year!

Oh, and I ate some food – A LOT of food!  Enough for 4 people I’m estimating.

Anyways, when it comes to getting in a workout after a long holiday weekend, I love nothing more than a good old conditioning workout.

Since it is my deload week, which I take about every 3 to 4 weeks to allow my body to heal up from all the heavy lifting and high volume I do during my strength program weeks, I like to toss in a few good “work capacity” training days.

Some of these “work capacity” workouts definitely don’t feel like deloads although they serve as deloads.  These workouts  are deloads  because I keep the workouts super short and I keep the loads very light if not strictly just at bodyweight.  This is a true deload.  A true deload allows your muscles to recover and grow.

Deload weeks are where the “magic” really happens.  You shouldn’t feel super exhausted or weak but more refreshed and loose after these workouts.

You can perform all of the same movements as you would do during regular weeks but just keep the loads super light and focus on speed and technique.

Another good rule of thumb for deload weeks is to not load the spine directly.  This means to avoid any type of heavy squats, deadlifts, or over head pressing and such.

So, now that you know what a deload week is and what the basics of a deload are, here is my “labor day” deload workout:

1A) DB farmer walks 3 x max distance

1B) Sledgehammer swings on the tire 3 x 20/side

1C) Dip Bar Knee Tucks 3 x 15

Performed 3 sets of each as fast as possible – 7:22

2A) Plyo Push Up 3 x 8

2B) Plyo Pull Up 3 x 8

2C) Squat Jumps 3 x 10

2D) Lunge Jumps 3 x 6/leg

2E) KB Swings 3 x 15

Performed 3 sets of each as fast as possible – 9:15

As you can see, very short and very light on the loading. It got me going, loosened me up, and I felt 110% better after wards.  And I think I may burn most of those “bad” calories I had over the weekend.

Next week its back to “beast” program and loading the bar up with very heavy weights!

I love this stuff!

Till next time,

Get Forged Strong!

PS – don’t forget, we are having a Forged Strength Seminar at our gym on Sept 18th at 10:30am!  Come to learn some of our training techniques that will get you stronger, faster, and looking better than ever!  Hope to see you there!

Let us know if you have questions at -  theforgedathlete@gmail.com

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

 

When I look back at some of the old school body builders, I just stare in amazement by some of their physiques.  Times have definitely changed since the old school body building days of Arnold, Frank Zane, Steve Reeves, Franco Columbo, Dave Draper, and the likes ruled the body building arena.  I feel that these bodybuilders had more of an athletic look to them than the monsters of today look.

What I loved about those guys were not only were they old school, but they trained with power!  Some of the body builders of today train with power, but back then it was all about volume and power, not just tons of  volume alone.

Obviously at The Forged Athlete we are ALL ABOUT POWER.  Bodybuilding is a different essence in that in order to get freakishly huge, you need to have both power and volume.  Strength plays a rule as well but not as much.  I have met some bodybuilders with girl like grips and weak ass lifts in the bench, deadlift, and squat but yet were huge as heck! They were all about the volume but had no strength.

In athletics, its about power, speed, and strength.  In this post I’m all about talking about getting huge using power and strength.

You want to talk about getting big and strong, you need to focus on pushing and pulling big heavy weights around.  The best ways to do this is through deadlifts, power presses, snatches, jerks, cleans, and heavy squats.  All of these with barbells, kettlebells, and dumbbells.

What I hate about a lot of the new school body builders is they focus on all the “aesthetic” lifts like machine presses and pulls, lots of curls, tricep kick backs, and leg presses and extensions.    While these lifts will get you bigger, they take all of your athletic qualities away.  Don’t let this happen to you!

Machines do you NO good.  Leg extensions and leg curls, they may do some good to add some size on your twigs, but stick to your athletic power movements for building size in your legs.  To tell you the truth, my legs have never been bigger since I’ve started pushing and pulling heavy sleds around, doing heavy rep dead and 1’s and 2’s on cleans.  It feels great and I keep my athletic abilities while adding some good mass as well.

Now, the beauty of using power lifts for size, you get to move a lot of weight around!  I’ve read about Franco Columbo deadlifting 800lbs for reps and reading about him cleaning 300 lbs easily.

Power exercises are all about using your whole body to generate force to move heavy weights.   You should always go for sets of around 3-5 for power.  If you’re getting more than 5 reps, your weight may be too low, crank it up!  To get the volume you need for size, go for anywhere from 5 sets to even 10 if your feeling crazy!  Sometimes we do sets for time.  An example would be to do your 3RM of power cleans for 1 rep every 30 secs for 15 mins with no break.  It sounds easy, try it and get back at me about it.

So, make sure to throw some power exercises in your routine if you haven’t already started.  You should have been doing this already, but if not – get your ass going NOW!

Stay Forged Strong

Funny thing happened the other day, I got pulled over. And wouldn’t you know it was while I was on my way to train some forged athletes! I still made it on time but the damn cop almost made me late! He caught me speeding and yes, I’ll admit I was speeding but I was lucky and got off with a warning (Thanks officer).

The reason for my story is to focus in on something we at the Forged Athlete praise – that’s “tactical training”. What’s tacticaltraining? Its fitness that’s specific to your job. Jobs mainly in this category are law enforcement, military, and fire fighting. These jobs sole purpose are to serve and protect. A lot of pressure and high performance comes from these jobs and with that comes great responsibilities.

Think about this for a moment – a cop does a routine traffic stop – say he’s pulling me over and I decide I’m gonna bail and run for it. Is this cop trained well enough to catch me, wrestle me down, and cuff me? Unfortunately, the cop that pulled me over was WAY out of shape and I probably could of beat him senseless, took his money, his police belt with cool gadgets and gun, and stole his police car but that’s beside the point (and I would never do that ).

What we are trying to get at is, are YOU fit enough for your job? Police can encounter terrible things on a daily basis. They have to be ready to act in an instant, same for military (obviously), and especially for fire fighters. Other people’s lives are depending on the abilities and health and fitness levels of these police officers, fire fighters, and our beloved troops. They all need to be able to perform and perform well!

That’s where the forged athlete way of life can change a person’s abilities. One of our specialties other than sports performance is tactical training. Being strong, agile, and having the endurance for whatever your job entails is the absolute top priority when you train “tactically”. Work capacity is the ability to use your levels strength for long periods of time while not fatiguing. Work capacity is one of the main abilities we help you improve on at the forged athlete.

If you a police officer, fire fighter, in the military, or thinking of joining the military, the forged athlete can get you to the top level of your potential for your job. Just like an athlete you need to be able to “perform” at your highest levels in everyday life. Not only does your job depend upon it but other people’s lives will as well. Train Tactically – The Forged Athlete way!

Stay Forged Strong!