Happy 2012. I’m sure you are getting bombarded right now online and off about new years resolutions, goals, changes, and all the usual crap people throw out this time of year, and forget about by the first weekend of Feb.
Well not here. If you are stuck in a plateau, I want to give you a new program to kick off 2012 with totally free.
Why? Because if at the end of 2012 you are as strong, big, and healthy as you ended 2011, then I failed you and my job and you should stop reading my blog…
So let’s kick it off with a question to get 2012 off right!!
David,
I’ve been on a 4 day size / strength program you posted a while back since September and have really enjoyed it, however I’m starting to plateau in multiple areas.
The original program you designed is typically a single heavy set of 4-6 followed by a rest pause set and then 1-2 high rep sets. The four day split is chest / biceps, lower body, shoulder / triceps, and back.
I’ve been looking at either modifying the program or switching to a different program with the ultimate goal of increasing size / aesthetics. My primary reason for lifting is simply to look better – I’m not training for any sports or competitions.
What type of program or modifications would you recommend I make with this type of goal in mind?
Thanks,
Josh
First off, congrats on sticking with the same program since September. That is something that 99% of the guys who want to get stronger or build muscle cannot do.
They hit what they think is a plateau 4-6 weeks into a program and drop it entirely… When it really could have been just a crappy week of training.
With that being said, if you have been running a 4 x week program for that many months, then it is time to cut it down if you aren’t getting stronger/bigger.
I would pick a good 3 day or even 2 day x week full body program and give it a run for a few months.
Arnold Built His Physique When Younger Off Full Body Training
This gives your body more recovery time, allowing you the chance to hit each training session even harder, and more time for your body to repair, recover, strengthen, and grow between each session.
You could even run something as simple as the following to get some good results:
Monday:
1A) Bench Press: 3 x 5+
1B) Bent Over Row: 3 x 5+
Rest 60 seconds after doing bench before rows and repeat.
2) Squat Variation: 3 x 5+ (Back, Box, Front, Zercher, Overhead)
Rest 90 seconds between squat sets.
For all 3 exercises, use the same weight on all 3 sets. On the 3rd set you are going for as many reps as possible. Once you get over 7 reps, then add 5lbs for any of the upper body lifts, and 10lbs for the lower body lifts.
You can then finish the workout off with some assistance stuff like posterior chain, arm, muscle balancing, and ab work.
Tuesday:
I would some sort of mobility and cardio done in here. Sprints, yoga (don’t laugh until you try it… It was one of the few things that helped me pack on all my size), or a good intense barbell complex.
Wednesday:
Off
Thursday:
1A) Military Press: 3 x 5+
1B) Weighted Chin or Pull-Up Variation: 3 x 5+
Again rest 60 seconds between exercises
2) Deadlift Variation: 3 x 5+
Rest 90 seconds between deadlift sets.
For all 3 exercises, use the same weight on all 3 sets. On the 3rd set you are going for as many reps as possible. Once you get over 7 reps, then add 5lbs for any of the upper body lifts, and 10lbs for the lower body lifts.
You can then finish the workout off with some different assistance stuff from Monday including but not limited to posterior chain, arm, muscle balancing, and ab work and farmer walks.
Friday:
Do the same type of thing you did Tuesday, but don’t overdo it if you are going for size here.
Sat/Sun:
OFF
Run this for 3-4 weeks and don’t change any of the big lifts, sets, or reps.
After a few weeks, then swap out the lifts with a different variation, and run it for 3 x 3+
If anyone is stuck in a plateau, then please give this a go and let me know how it turns out. I can’t wait to hear the results.
DC
Filed under Fast, Strong, & Jacked, Get Bigger, Get Stronger, QnA by on Jan 2nd, 2012. 4 Comments. 
How do you advertise and get the word about your services? I currently work as a trainer, but the majority of my clients are your run of the mill lose weight and tone up type folks, but I would like to work more with athletes wanting to improve performance.
I was thinking about doing some free seminars for some of the youth sports leagues in the area. Have you done anything like that?
Thanks for your help,
R.C.
R.C.,
Thanks for the question man and I definitely know how you feel starting out.
When I first wanted to get the word out about Genesis, I did as much free stuff as possible to get athletes in my doors to show them what I could do.
I spent 2 weeks calling, emailing, and following up with every select baseball and football team in the area of Houston the facility is located in. These teams ranged from kids 12 years old up to 18 years old. I probably reached out to 100+ teams, offering to train them for free, run a warm-up or strength session at their practice, or anything else I might could do for them.
I had 2 coaches take me up on that… Out of 100.
But 2 coaches was better than 0 coaches so I made the absolute most of it and those 2 coaches alone have probably referred 20+ athletes to my program over the past 2 years.
Always be thinking and doing things to get your name out there and people in your doors. Even if the first few months you have to do it for free.
If you are good at what you do, then people will see that and things will work out.
My good friend Zach Even-Esh gave me the best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten when I was first getting my facility going.
He said “so many gyms and coaches fail because they spend all their time and effort trying to find the 1 thing that will bring in 100 clients, when they should be doing 100 different things that each will bring in 1 client.”
After I heard that from him, I decided to do whatever it took and hustle as much as possible to make sure people knew about the facility and who it was exactly created for.
Great Words to Live By If You Want to Be Successful
Hope that helps man and please comment if you or anyone else have any more questions about marketing techniques I’ve used in the past that worked for me.
DC
Filed under Business, Powerful Mind, QnA by on Jan 3rd, 2012. Comment.
What a better way to kick off 2012 than by giving you 12 tips to get those arms growing?
I can hear the groans from the “knowledgeable athletes” and “strength coaches” who read this blog.
“You don’t need direct arm work”
“We aren’t bodybuilders”
“Pull-ups and presses are all you need”
Well unfortunately that isn’t true for most people, and besides, who doesn’t like checking out their arms or the way they feel after crushing a few good biceps and triceps exercises?
So here are 12 tips to get those arms growing so you can charge even more for tickets to the “Gun Show”
1) Make EVERYTHING Fatter – Switch out that puny skinny barbell, dumbbell handles, or pull-up bars and make them fat. Either start using a fat bar, or buy some Fat Gripz and start sticking them on any piece of equipment that involves the upper body.
The more you do with a fat bar or grip, the more your arms are going to have to work even on exercises that don’t hit them directly.
2) Crank Out 1 Exercise for Biceps and Triceps After Every Upper Body Workout – Most guys who are wanting to get stronger or build muscle, end up doing 1 of 2 things when training arms. They either don’t do any direct arm work thinking that the big lifts will cover everything, or they will hit the triceps and biceps from every different angle, variation, and technique ever produced. You need to find a nice medium. If you are crushing and giving it all during your workouts, then just adding in one extra exercise for biceps and triceps should be enough to get them growing again.
The Main Biceps Exercises We Use at Genesis Are:
- Fat Rope Curls – Looped through a kettlebells or plates
- Fat Bar Curls – Either using Fat Gripz or a dedicated fat bar
- Band Hammer Curls
- Blast Strap/Ring Curls
- Rope Pull-Ups
- Rack Rope Climbs
- Fat Grip Dumbbell Hammer Curls
The Main Triceps Exercises We Use at Genesis Are:
- Dumbbell Rolling Triceps Extensions
- Dumbbell Tate Press
- Overhead Band Presses
- Diamond Push-Ups
- Ring Dips
- Triceps Death
3) Perform Only 2-3 Sets for Arm Exercises - If you pushed yourself the rest of the workout and really try to crush your arm exercises, then 2-3 sets should be all you can get out of your arms anyways.
4) Fix Your Rep Ranges - I’ve learned through years of watching athletes arms explode with muscle and trying every variation under the sun, that the best rep range for getting bigger biceps is between 6-10 reps and typically we only go 6-8.
The best rep range for getting bigger triceps is between 10-15 reps but since most of our pressing movements are lower in reps, our dedicated tricep work ends up at the higher end of that (12-15 reps).
5) Don’t Just Use Barbells or Dumbbells - Vary things up every few weeks. We curl chains, use chains instead of weights on barbells, curl sandbags, switch from ring dips to parallel bar dips, etc. Keep the exercises that work in your routine, and just vary up the equipment.
6) Change Your Grip On Your Bigger Lifts - If you want to focus more on arm growth, then occasionally switch up your grip on your bigger movements.
- Switch from a regular to reverse grip for bent over rows
- Switch from regular to close grip for bench press
- Switch from pull-ups to chin-ups
- Switch from regular dumbbell presses to neutral or even reverse grip
Stay tuned as part 2 will drop early next week, but don’t wait for it. Start implementing the above methods into your training program and get those arms jacked!!
What have you successfully done in the past to get your arms growing? Drop a comment and let me know as I love learning even more techniques that I work so everyone gets results.
DC
Filed under Fast, Strong, & Jacked, Get Bigger, Get Stronger by on Jan 5th, 2012. Comment.
Hey whats up? It’s DC here and I just wanted to talk a few minutes about somethings I’ve been struggling with lately…
It’s Monday so I figure a good swift kick in teeth would be a great way to get the week rolling and hopefully open up some eyes so something gets accomplished this week!!
Turns out the people I have been discussing these things with, have the same type of struggles I have and didn’t even know it.
Once I started telling a few of my close friends and family my ideas, goals, and plans I started thinking about what my true passions are in life.
And you know what?…
I couldn’t come up with a single specific one.
I even started Google’ing terms like “How Can I Find My Passion”, or “Secret to Discovering my Passion”
Other than the very odd porn sites that popped up using Passion fruit, I was still stuck at square one and had just wasted an hour of my day making me feel worse (not to mention some of the images that are now burned into my retinas…).
I wasn’t sure why I was struggling so bad with this either.
I mean I opened my gym because I thought training athletes was my passion.
I dove into marketing head first because I thought my passion was learning how to grow and successfully build a business from scratch.
I competed in powerlifting, highland games, strongman competitions, and even CrossFit competitions because I thought one of those would spark my fire and give me a passionate reason to train day in and day out.
I take emails, texts, and phone calls daily from other people who want to start their own training facility and I thought maybe coaching someone in business would be my passion.
And you know what? Not a single thing of those things listed above continuously sticks out over another as my true passion.
So am I just a passionless shell of a man?
I started to think so. That is why this blog has been stopped and started so many different times. Because I never found my passion to write or do video over.
Until one day I took the two tools that have brought millions of people extreme riches, tons of clarity, and some of the biggest ideas this world has ever seen.
I pulled out a pen and my yellow legal pad and began writing…
I wrote down everything I enjoy, think about, or anything that gets me fired up and started to look deeper.
My good friend Paul Reddick, calls it finding the 5, 6, 7…
What this means is that it’s easy to see what everyone else sees (1, 2, 3, 4), but you have to dig deeper to truly find what people think, feel, fear, need, and are passionate about.
Once I started digging, things started flying off the page at me. Go back and look at those things above. Turns out, 2 things jumped out and hit me in the face when I went back over my list again.
1) I love doing new things, and taking risks. – Passion #1
I don’t know many other people who started their own business from scratch as their full time job with zero business experience before they were even 30 years old.
I have yet to find someone else do and compete in so many various things no matter how they end up. Most people lock up and go pale when I ask them about doing a competition that puts them outside their comfort zone.
Just as an example, I am running the CrossFit SuperHuman Open Prep competition this weekend, and we made it hard. There are thousands of CrossFitter’s just in the Houston area, and hundreds of those have the goal to compete in the CrossFit Open, Regional, and Games. How many of those stepped outside their comfort zone to step up to a competition different than any other held in Houston?
18…
I never realized how many people fall into the same rut in work, their training, and life and never branch out to take a risk or try anything new.
2) I love helping people reach goals they never thought possible. – Passion #2
I think this is my main passion and I have just found multiple ways to express it.
If you are doing something awesome and stepping outside your comfort zone to become better, then I want to do everything I possibly can to help.
This is why our training for athletes at Genesis is so different… This is why I’ll take the time out of my schedule to help guys who are wanting to open their own gym or become strength coaches by answering emails, meeting with them, referring people to them, or doing whatever else it is I can do to help out.
So combining those I’m slowly learning more and more what my passion is… As hard as it is to sum up into one statement, I believe this is as close as it comes.
“My passion is to go down as many paths less traveled, and provide markers, assistance, directions, and lights. So others who want to make that same journey end up reaching their destination as quickly as possible.”
Have you figured out what you are passionate about? What wakes you up in the morning excited and ready to kick life in the teeth?
If you haven’t then I recommend you pull out your own sheet of paper, write down what you have done in the past and what really excites you. Then start digging deeper to see what you come up with.
I’m excited to see your results and if you do find out what you are truly passionate about, then please comment below as I want to read it.
Also please like and share this post because the more people who figure out what they are truly passionate about, the happier everyone will become. That is one thing I can promise!
DC
PS: If you’re passions are training clients, athletes, or running your own business, then I recommend you attend the next Genesis Strength Seminar. It will not only help clarify the best methods to get your clients results, but by utilizing the business strategies discussed you will make more money and avoid the same headaches and problems that I did.
*** http://genesisstrengthseminar.com/ ***
Filed under Business, Motivation, Powerful Mind by on Jan 9th, 2012. 3 Comments.
I hope you are having an awesome day and woke up with energy and fire to not just do something today, but to do something that makes you or someone else better. That is the key to being successful in all aspects of your life.
I wanted to shoot you 5 secrets that will not just help you dominate your training, but if applied correctly can even help you dominate your day to day life.
1) Open Your Mind and Train Outside the Box
The best way to figure out what your body needs and what gets you the best results, is by trying many different high quality things out. Start researching and following 5-10 well known strength coaches and embrace their ideas, programs, exercises, and knowledge. Then implement and try them out for yourself. Stop thinking one way of training is the best way to reach your goal, because it probably isn’t. Instead, of always trying to defend and fight for that specific idea *cough* CrossFit *cough*, give yourself the opportunity to train and see what works on the other side of the fence.
Be open to hear other methodologies other than your own, because you never know what might end working even better for you.
2) Don’t Let Your Strengths Turn to Weaknesses
I see it happening all the time, especially once people get in the muscle imbalance bandwagon. Whatever it is you are strong in, don’t just continue to do it… totally dominate it and let everyone else see how good you are at it. For example, there is nothing worse than seeing someone who has a huge deadlift stop doing them in an effort to bring up their squat because it is weak.
You can still bring up your weaknesses, but if God gave you specific strength, then you better use it as much as possible and get the absolute most out of it.
3) Shut Up, Listen, & Soak It All In
Have you ever lifted in total silence? I’m talking the type of silence that typically occurs in the dead of night, where you can hear anything that makes the smallest noise? I’m willing to guess probably never.
Unfortunately we live in such a crazy 24/7 always on world, that people are high strung, stressed, and that carries over to your training. If you train at a commercial gym, you have the latest top 40 techno, Abercrombie & Fitch, hipster music playing, and if you put in headphones or actually train somewhere when you get to pick the music it is typically Hammer Smash Face Metal or Drive By Shooting in the AM, Sexing My Lady in the PM Rap/Hip-Hop. Unfortunately that cranks up the stress and tension up another notch…
Bring it down. Lift in absolute silence or take it one step further and if you have the ability, lift absolutely alone (don’t max on bench or squat or anything that might kill you… duh). Learn to listen to your breathing, your heart pumping, the weights clanking, and put yourself in the moment. Cut out the distractions every few training sessions and totally immerse yourself in what you are doing at that time with no distractions around you.
If you train at a globo gym, pop in some earplugs, or wear your headphones that block out noise but don’t turn any music on.
If you lift somewhere else, then shut the doors, turn off the fans, and just go at it alone… You against the weights.
Think of it as meditation on steroids…
4) Act as if You Have Already Achieved “It”
If you don’t already know exactly what it is you want to achieve, what numbers you want to hit, or how exactly you want to look, then how will you ever reach it? I’m not talking about setting goals though. I’m talking about taking those brief ideas you have as to what greatness is, and turning them into reality. Take just 5 minutes a day, get relaxed, think of one aspect of greatness that you would like to achieve, and picture it.
Don’t just picture it, but picture every detail. What you are wearing, where exactly you are, who else is there, what they are wearing, how you are feeling, what the temperature is and how it smells. Picture even the smallest detail. The more indepth you are while creating this 5 minute ideal image/movie, the more you are teaching your body and brain exactly what it takes to achieve that feeling.
Do this daily and anytime a weak thought pops into your head (see #5), replace it with that exact image you have worked so hard to achieve.
For more information about this step and just how powerful it is, I HIGHLY recommend picking up the book Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Martz and reading it yearly.
5) Stop Letting in Weak Thoughts
While setting goals is great and is one of the better things you can do to get you towards your idea physique and/or lifts, don’t set them too far off or too high, or else you are going to be inviting in failure.
Far too often have I seen athletes, gym rats, powerlifters and others come up with a semi-outrageous goal that seems attainable if they do everything 100%. Unfortunately, life never lets anything happen at 100% so once a small slip-up happens, those weak thoughts start pouring in.
You know those thoughts. Just small little things that start off by quickly flashing in your head. Then again, again, and again… Each time the thought lingers around just a little bit longer than the last. Pretty soon the only thing in your head is how you aren’t going to be successful and reach your goal(s), no matter how obtainable they originally seemed.
Set attainable goals and even if life gets you sidetracked, get pissed off, use it as motivation and when that first weak thought pops into your head, squash it, smile, and get back rolling.
So there you have it… 5 secrets that not only will help you in your training, but also help you dominate your day to day life.
I would love to know your thoughts or if you have applied any of these how it went, so please comment below.
If you have other friends who are struggling to get the most out of their training and seem frustrated and stuck in a continuous cycle, then please like and share this post with them as well.
DC
PS: If you haven’t had a chance to check out my new Facebook Page yet, I would appreciate it if you gave it a look, liked it, and dropped me a comment on what you thought about it.
*** www.DCFacebookPage.com ***
Filed under Business, Motivation, Powerful Mind by on Jan 11th, 2012. Comment.
