SCRAPPER'S bodyweight workout (It's
free!)
http://www.webfects.com/hea/routine.htm#
Hinbern's stuff is great. The Willoughby book, 'The Super Athletes', is not among his stuff, but you can often find it used. I found a copy on e-bay for $2.00 a while back! Granted, that is an unusual price... just everyone napping on the bids, I suppose.
The Calvert reprint is BIG news... orig. copies of that have been going for very, very high prices indeed.
Awesome posts, Shawn--my thoughts on the body-weight infatuation exactly, only more patiently and better expressed than I could have done.
On 'The Wrestlers body' web site, a description of Indian wrestler's workouts mentions special weights that advanced trainees wear around their neck while doing hindu squats and pushups; thus two opposing methods become one.
NEWS FLASH!!!
Posted by Brooks D. Kubik on Monday, 15 May 2000, at 9:53 a.m.
The two BEST of the old time strength training books are now available again after being out of print for roughly 75 years: (1) Alan Calvert's Super Strength, and (2) George F. Jowett's The Key to Might and Muscle.
Super Strength was published by the Milo Barbell Company back in 1924. It is probably THE SINGLE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN ON WEIGHT TRAINING! Twenty-six chapters...220 pages...plus an additional 95 pages containing a whopping 177 photos of the old time greats. The price...a mere $35.00...plus $5.00 s&h for USA and Canada...$10.00 s&h all others.
The Key to Might and Muscle was published in 1926 by the Milo Barbell Company. Why was it never reprinted? Because it was set in lead type...and several years after York purchased the rights to the book (when Milo folded during the Great Depression), John Grimek was looking for a way to add weight to the hollow globed Cyr Dumbbell...and he found the lead type and chopped it up to make the dumbbell heavier!
But the book is back...available once again...294 pages...plus another 33 pages with 65 rare photos of the pre-steroid Kings of Strength.
The price for "The Key..." is the same as the price for Super Strength.
Order from:
William F. Hinbern
32430 Cloverdale
Farmington, Michigan 48336-4008
Don't delay, order today...because when THIS edition is out of stock, you may have to wait ANOTHER 75 years to lay your hands on these magnificent classics.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS FLASH!!!
Posted by Brooks D. Kubik on Monday, 15 May 2000, at 9:53 a.m.
The two BEST of the old time strength training books are now available again after being out of print for roughly 75 years: (1) Alan Calvert's Super Strength, and (2) George F. Jowett's The Key to Might and Muscle.
Super Strength was published by the Milo Barbell Company back in 1924. It is probably THE SINGLE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN ON WEIGHT TRAINING! Twenty-six chapters...220 pages...plus an additional 95 pages containing a whopping 177 photos of the old time greats. The price...a mere $35.00...plus $5.00 s&h for USA and Canada...$10.00 s&h all others.
The Key to Might and Muscle was published in 1926 by the Milo Barbell Company. Why was it never reprinted? Because it was set in lead type...and several years after York purchased the rights to the book (when Milo folded during the Great Depression), John Grimek was looking for a way to add weight to the hollow globed Cyr Dumbbell...and he found the lead type and chopped it up to make the dumbbell heavier!
But the book is back...available once again...294 pages...plus another 33 pages with 65 rare photos of the pre-steroid Kings of Strength.
The price for "The Key..." is the same as the price for Super Strength.
Order from:
William F. Hinbern
32430 Cloverdale
Farmington, Michigan 48336-4008
Don't delay, order today...because when THIS edition is out of stock, you may have to wait ANOTHER 75 years to lay your hands on these magnificent classics.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry. I don't know why the above post posted twice. I put that up there because Super Strength is not yet in the catalog or the online list.
ttt
I'm thinking about buying Matt Furey's book on bodyweight exercises because lifting weights is a big hassle sometimes because of the equipment. My question is, will doing explosive bodyweight movements have the same beneficial effect? Also, will following Matt's program benefit a BJJ competitor looking for superior conditioning?
Thanks guys.
I second this question. I just bought a book and some videos on Navy SEAL fitness, and it seems these guys primarily do calisthenics, pull ups, and dips for strength. They then run and swim for endurance. The SEALS are certainly the epitomy of fitness. What do you think Mr. Sonnon?
Dear JJman,
Buy Matt's book. I'm sure it will be a valuable adjunct to your training. But is it sufficient for SUPERIOR conditioning? No. As a component in a comprehensive conditioning program, it has a definite place, but I feel it's insufficient in and of itself. I do like the hindu squats and tiger bends that Matt advocate's more than the conventional squat and push-up. They're much more dynamic, transferring the load sequentially across several muscle groups, and articulating the body in wave-like movement patterns. All good things from our perspective. But I really think the value is limited to building local muscular endurance once your strength becomes adequate to perform a certain number of repetitions ( somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-20). This is a limitation of almost all calisthenic exercises. Now you may point out that bio-mechanical exercises using bodyweight are one of the most prominent aspects of our physical conditioning in the ROSS Training System. But our bio-mechanical exercises are targetting the tendons and ligaments rather that the muscles themselves, it's a different mechanism entirely. And the high reps are necesarry due to the low blood supply associated with our connective tissues. The exercises also serve to re-educate the body somatically in terms of efficient movement. I'm not going to go into a full blown discourse here, I'll leave that to Scott. But suffice it to say that even though this type of training is basically unheard of in the west, it's value can't be underestimated. If you haven't picked up our Grappler's Toolbox Series yet, you really ought to consider it. Or better yet, come train with us.
But you wanted to know about strength. Let's define strength as the ability to produce maximal external force. That's an important thing for an athlete to possess. The best way to increase your strength is through progressive resistance training, and the best, most versatile tool for the job is the plate loading barbell. And you honestly don't need much in the way of equipment. One of my mentors, Brooks Kubik, recently wrote
(cont.)
"...having the minimum amount of equipment, and NOTHING ELSE, is the ROYAL ROAD to strength training success." You can work miracles with a nothing more than one of those $150.00 300-pound olympic sets. Beg, borrow and steal 'till you have enough to pick one up. Or be creative. When i ran out of weight and lacked the funds to pick up some additional plate, my Grampa, a mechanic by trade, unloaded 400#'s worth of mispunched GM fly-wheels on me. If you want to know how a good communist makes the best of basics, snag a copy of Pavel's latest, "Power to the People", or visit the AmerRoss Forum Sports Science archive. There's a thread i posted on sf.com somtime ago on barbell training as well as one on grappling specific conditioning. I'm sure you'll find them useful. As for Navy SEALs, they're world class endurance athletes, not strength athletes. They train the way they do because of their mission requirements. And their training could be even better if they let us have a hand in it!! :) Never forget the element of specificity. JuJitsu matches are not the same as SpecWar missions, and you shouldn't prepare for them like they are. Hope this helped, and good luck.
Yours in Strength and Sport,
Shawn Menard
AARMACS, Inc.
A little aside, I have found, and this is strictly for me. OK. Well, maybe a little forthought into this.
I don't have a basement that I can turn into my own personal gym. I don't have the $ or time to go to a gym to hit weights on a regular basis, and still have time to train mma on a regular basis. 2 little babies do that to anyone.
So, I have limited resources and want to make the most out of it. I purchased a home gym. A Wielder system with crunch and press, military press, legg curls, leg pres, butterflies etc. I also purchased a two handed curl bar and a dumbell bar and some good ole standard plates.
This is about all I have room for in my garage. Well, I am going to add a heavy bag when I have time. With my family and mma training I have limited time to get out into my garage and use this stuff. But I do when I can. Mostly all I use in my garage is my jump rope. I skip 1000/skips a day.
Ok, so now for MY experience I have found that bodyweight exercies work much much better. The reason for me is that I can do them in my house. Usually at night just after my kids are too bed and my wife and I are just winding down watching tv.
I love the Scrapper workout. Even though I cannot get through it with out failing every time I do it every part of my body hurts. It also helps towards conditioning of the whole body and in MY experience I am apt to keep at it easier, because of such things as I said above. Granted when I do bang off a set of curls in my garage with some good ole fashined iron it is inspiring. Sometimes I just cant find the time for it.
Everyone has time for some of scrappers workouts 5 minutes here 5 minutes their.
So, to follow back on the original thread, I don't know anything about Mr. Fureys book, but based on my experience with Scrappers workout. Body weight workouts do indead workout the body well.
P.S. Still recovering from knee surgery so everything stated above was prior to surgery. I have acutally lost 10lbs since my surgery. I did it laying on the couch eating and watching TV, so I guess its not fat I am loosing :(
Dear Blackshire,
I'm glad you found something that works well for you. My personal experience has been very different, however. I have a full time job with the Army, I run an honorguard and funeral detail as additional duties, perform as the strength coach for the SOO Indians Hockey team 2 days a week, teach at our ROSS Club 3 nights a week, plus make the time to travel for training, and have 3 kids (4 if you count Mike), 2 dogs, a cat, a bunny, some fish and the best Wife in the world on top of that. And I still make time to get my bio-mechanics, joint mobility, and breathing in almost everyday, get a little additional RMA training in everyday, as well as hit the iron on the average of 2-3 times a week. I rarely miss a workout. But everybody's situation is different. The thing is, if you're seeking extraordinary results, it requires extraordinary measures. And that all hinges on your level of commitment. As a members of the AARMACS cadre, I can't let off in my training, and as a strength coach i have to be able to walk my talk. You have to have the ability to lead from the front, to set the example. When you're able to DEMONSTRATE what the type of training your advocating can do for someone, they're much more apt to take heed. For me that's important. Someone else may engage martial art as a hobby, or as a form of exercise and not be motivated to take their training that seriously. But if you're a competitive athlete, you have the make the most of the best methods available if you truly want to maximize your performance. If you want to build strength, then the best way to do that is through barbell training. Bar none. Look at proffessional football; weight training has revolutionized the game. If you pitted a team that trained strictly on bodyweight calisthenics against ANY of our current gridiron armies, the results would be disastrous. Our modern athletes would grind those poor souls into the earth. All things being equal, strength can be a deciding factor. I have on occassion, negated a partners superior skill with the application of superior strength. I'm not advocating that you forego your martial training in lieu of strength training, i'm just trying to illustrate a point. Lastly, each man has the potential to be his own best trainer. Educate yourself. Find what's best for you, and find out what you like. The biggest keys in any strength training program can be boiled down to a few words: Progression, Effort, Persistence, And Simplicity. Again, I hope that helps.
Warm regards,
Shawn Menard
AARMACS, Inc.
Agreed Shawn,
As You state "Progression, Effort, Persistence, And Simplicity." I would also add to that "Individuality" What works for one doesn't always work for another.
I consider my self to be very strong. I also know that I could increase my strength by leaps and bounds with the dedication to weights that someone like you has. I wouldn't argue that good old fashioned iron isn't the best. But it isn't the end either. Mark Coleman has always been a monster? Yet we see that he also can tire very fast. (Coleman -vs- Williams) There are so man factors that come into play. If I had a fixed amount of time. Lets say 2 hours / 3 times a week.
Would I be better off spending 1 hour /3 times a week training MMA and 1 hour /3 times a week lifting weights. Or would I be better off spending 1 hour/3times a week training MMA and 1 hour/3 times a week running up a hill with 10lb ankle weights on my legs? Well, am I training for a 5 minute slug fest/ ground & pound quick submission. Or am I training for a 45 minute BJJ war?
Just like you said, each of us is dedicated at a certian level. Thus that level will determine how much we wish to gain from the dedication to our training.
But, all in all, this is a bit off from the original post. The question was: Will explosive bodyweight movements have the same benefical affects as iron? Well no, but superior conditioning for a BJJ includes strenght as well as gas. Thus hit the weights and live & breath the grapplers toolbox and you are well on your way in the right directon.
O.K. I will crawl back into my hole.
-Black
Dear Black,
Well said. Just a couple more points: we can't possibly hope to improve every element of our performance simultaneously. It really can't be done effectively. If for example, you are working on improving endurance, it would be a mistake to try and increase strength concurrently. You will probobaly improve. but your gains will be mediocre at best. Where as if you were to focus on one aspect of your training, and to push for improvemnts in that one area, while simply working to MAINTAIN in other areas, you would see dramatic improvements. A personal example: i used to work my absolute strength movemnts along with my olympic movements in the same cycle. Now i dedicate individual cycles to my explosive and conventional training respectively, and i find my progress to be much more significant. Periodization is probobaly one of the greatest innovations that the Soviet Union introduced to the world as far as athletic preparation goes. I'm not underplaying the value of endurance in any way what so ever. If you go back and review the post on Grappling Specific Conditioning that I mentioned earlier, I think you'll have a better understanding of where i'm coming from. I should also take a minute to plug a book that i really like by a very powerful gentleman named Steve Justa. It'scalled "Rock, Iron, Steel" and i think it has some of the most creative methods of functional strength and endurance training that I've ever come across. Lots of food for thought. It's available from Ironmind for anyone that's interested.but I digress. Getting a handle on Periodization theory, and developing a comprehensive annual training cycle requires a little bit of mental effort, but it's well worth the trouble. Also, strength training doesn't really require a lot of time. Not nearly as much as most people seem to think. You can make fantastic progress in 2-3 30 minute sessions per week. There are myriad different approaches to strength training. I prefer basic, abbrevited, relatively infrequent training, focusing on only a handful of compound exercises, working up to the heaviest poundages i can handle. But there are dozens of valid approaches to training. Find what suits you and give it all you got. I have to admit that not everyone take pleasure in strength training, and many tend to regard it as a chore. I take alot of pleasure in strength training, and to be honest, get a little out of sorts when I can't engage in it. You know, I recently took up nail bending. The only people who are really impressed are my kids. Even my wife seems to think I'm little odd in my choice of pursuits, regarding it as an interesting but mostly useless ability. But I'm pretty passionate about strength. Fred Hatfield once said that the single most important factor in training success was passion. I guess you could add that to our list above as well. I got off track somewhere, but i hope i made some sense. Best of luck to you, my friend.
frat,
shawn
nice posts shawn!
Nail Bending....is that via the Vulcan MindMeld...
Socal
It may interest you guys to know that Kim Wood, the strength and conditioning coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, is a big supporter of Matt's methods, has an endorsement in Matt's book, and sent his son to train with Matt and Karl in Tampa.
I've been reading Power to the People by Pavel, and it has some programs in there that are really brief if you don't have that much time. There is also a book that is long out of print (published in like the 50's or 60's) called The Super Athletes that traces some of the old time wrestlers/power lifters and what they did and were capable of, it traces back to before Roman times, and even has a section on Peter the Great for you RMA fanatics=) If you have the chance to check it out you should, it will give you a new perspective on weight training.
check out the resistance cables. you can use them to add resistance to body movement exercises. the guy in the first and third photos does not lift weights, just does body weight exercises + cables.
jujitsu blue belt. won a pan am gold.
http://www.bodytrends.com/llngym.htm
m.
Growler,
Well our two lines in the sand have sort of formed a circle.
As a trainee I take away from you the trainer the point you where trying to make.
For building strenght there is nothing better the pure raw iron - agreed.
But you also need to take the package (whole body) into account and adjust your training in your cycle of life to improve pieces at a time. Be it strength, cardio, balance.
Thus it is better to hit heavy iron and build strenght, then maintain your strenght as you concentrate on improving other parts of your package. I.E. running, skipping rope etc.
By incorporating all aspects of the package into one event. Say: jump squats -vs- good ole plate squats and a stairmaster. You will improve both strenght and endurance marginally with the jump squats, but you will soar in strength and endurance with the plate squats and stairmaster?
By George I think I gots it?
I should also say that I will have a example of your statements shortly. I have been a dead lump on the couch recovering from my surgery. I started lifting again this morning to try and get my bench press back up to my own weight. I bonked at 247# but put up 204# 5 times. Since I cannot work my lowerbody yet, I can't really work endurance/balance/timing/ etc. So, I will be hitting the upperbody very heavy for a few weeks.