the secrets of super strength

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Page 1: The Secrets of Super Strength
Page 2: The Secrets of Super Strength

The Secrets of Super Strength

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Copyright ©2007 by Jason Ferruggia

Relentless Athletics

All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any

form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,

or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the expressed written

permission from Jason Ferruggia.

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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The Secrets of Super Strength

Question: Jim, before we get started can you tell everyone what your best numbers

are in competition as well as what weights you are doing now without any

equipment, and weighing fifty pounds lighter than the weight you used to compete

at?

Answer: My best competition numbers are a 1000lbs squat, 675lb bench and a

700lb deadlift. Fortunately, these were all done at the same competition which is

rare. I posted a 2375 total in that meet in the 275lb class.

After losing a bunch of weight, I still train very much like I did before. I can�t train

for health or aesthetics, so I still continue to get stronger (or at least try to). As a

side note, if you train for strength the aesthetics will come.

Now I train with minimal equipment and have Olympic squatted (high bar, close

stance) 700lb, close gripped bench pressed 440lb and deadlifted 605x3.

By the way, I dropped 45lb in about a year. People ask me what I did differently or

what kind of diet I had. Here is the secret. Move more, eat less. There is no secret

diet or exercise plan.

Question: If you had to give a few of your top tips to someone who came to you

and said, �I want to get freaky strong,� what would they be?

We need to define �freaky strong� before we do anything. It is not squatting 400lb

and benching 315. Freaky is 1000lb squats and 700lb

In the case of becoming �freaky strong� there are 3 important factors that will come

into play.

• Consistency � most people that are incredibly strong have been lifting and

training very hard for a long period of time. Most have been training for 15+

years with a purpose and with incredible desire.

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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• Attitude � it takes some serious cajones to lift big weights. It�s not normal to

lift this kind of weight and you have to have the right attitude to do this.

• Work Ethic � those that succeed almost always work harder and smarter than

the next guy.

I wish I had some secret formula for getting stronger. In fact, there is nothing that

magical about it. Those that have strength and have built it � these people simply

have the desire to do it. Much like someone who practices his guitar, it is usually the

person that practices his craft that masters his craft. You can�t ignore genetics, but

this is usually an excuse made by those who simply don�t have the desire to be

strong. It is a shame because they are not honest with themselves and it discredits

the work of others. I hate it when I hear genetics being used as an excuse for being

weak. This is usually said by the Foam Roller Generation. I have busted my ass for

20 years in the weight room and have endured more training than these weasels

ever will. And then they have the stupidity (it is not ignorance) to tell me and the

world that my strength is genetic. That is why they will never be part of my crowd

and my life � they are too busy making excuses and selling their souls to be part of

something that I have lived for.

Anyway�

No matter what level you are at the basics of strength training exercises will remain

the same; Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Military, Rows and Chins. The exercises will

remain the same but the application and how they are done; this is what will change.

The interesting thing is this:

You know what to do (Exercises). Now all you have to supply is the programming

(sets/reps/days, etc.) and the attitude. I guarantee that you can find a program on

the internet that you can follow for these basic lifts. So now it�s up to you � do you

have the attitude? See, that is what it�s about. �Strong� is simple but not easy. The

exercises have not and will not change. A squat, pull and press have always been

part of the strength world. The barbell will always be the King of the weight room so

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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The Secrets of Super Strength

be wary of all gimmicks. All you need is a program and attitude. And I�ll take a

hardcore attitude over a perfect program any day.

Question: When training for strength what�s more important, volume or intensity?

Answer: In general, a beginner will need more volume at a lower intensity. This is

because a beginner will be able to make gains in strength and hypertrophy using

higher reps. This is more efficient and safer than maxing out all the time. Now

when I say a higher volume, this doesn�t give you license to spend 3 hours in the

weight room. It simply means that he is going to perform a workout with a smaller

percentage of his max and his target reps are going to be higher.

As one becomes an intermediate, the intensity becomes more of a factor. As an

advanced lifter, someone that has been training at a high level for a long period of

time, he needs to regulate his training so that his volume is high enough to maintain

his potential but low enough for recovery.

This gets kind of complicated, but understand that a high level athlete (of any sort)

can�t be on overdrive the entire time. He needs to idle and then bring up his

intensity. The problem, and the hardest thing to do in sports, is figuring out how

high or low to idle.

99% of people in the world won�t have to worry about this, but this gives you an

understanding of the training process.

In regards to volume and intensity, the two problems that most often see is this:

• Beginners use all intensity (maxing out) and little volume.

• Intermediate lifters using all volume (doing nothing less than 10 reps) and no

intensity.

Question: What�s your opinion of training to failure and getting overly worked up in

the gym? What kind of impact does it have on getting stronger?

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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Answer: First, I believe everyone has to go to failure and get overly worked up. At

least one time. This is because people need to cross the line first to know where the

line is. Since everyone is very different with this, people need to learn where their

limits are.

For example, you often hear someone telling a lifter to stop a set �one or two reps

before failure.� Well, if you don�t know where failure is or how it feels than you are

going to have a hard time figuring this out.

There are no absolutes in training so I can�t tell someone not to do this. Sometimes

it�s fun to do this stuff. But doing this every day or even once a week is usually a

recipe for failure. You will be exhausted, both mentally and physically, and your next

training session will probably be compromised.

This doesn�t mean that you don�t push yourself or don�t exert yourself. You have to

learn how to attack the weights without actually attacking the weights.

Question: How often should you test yourself and really push the limits and max out

in the weight room?

Answer: You have to test yourself. If you don�t than why are you training and what

are you training for?

How often you test can be as frequent as every 8 weeks or once a year. This is

going to be dependant on your schedule and your training level. The more advanced

you are the less you will test. A beginner can test every 8 weeks. A true beginner

will technically test himself every time he goes to the gym as he will be getting his

�weight room legs� and trying to figure out where he is at.

What people need to do is set a goal and a definitive time table for the goal. Then

map out a plan to get there. People fail in this regard for three reasons:

• They have no goals.

• If they do have goals, they are completely unreasonable.

• They don�t have a plan.

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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For example, let�s say you have someone that benches 225lb. Invariably, this

person will want to bench 275 or 315. They set this as a goal for 6 months. What

this person needs to do is shoot for 245 in 10 weeks. They will definitely hit this goal

with the right training and nutrition. If they shoot for 275, they will get frustrated

and discouraged and quit. Then they will still be benching 225. It�s all about small

goals over many, many years.

Another thing that people need to do is focus on one or two things. I always read

about someone that wants to increase their squat, bench, their body fat and the size

of their arms. They throw everything into a big pot of stew and start working.

Because of their lack of focus on one area, they will invariably fail at all of them.

Work on one of these, achieve it and then move on. This is getting off topic but

something that needs to be addressed.

Question: Let�s move on to the big three exercises; the bench press, the squat and

the dead lift. We�ll start with everybody�s favorite lift; the bench press. What are the

most important keys to building a big bench press?

This is pretty simple:

• Technique - this is obvious

• Strengthening your shoulders - most people need to increase their

shoulder strength via military presses. I have seen too many people

have positive success with this to think it�s a fluke. Do them standing

and do them in a full range of motion. You don�t have to go extremely

heavy on these, but this is the most efficient way to increase your

shoulder strength.

• Strengthening your upper back and lats � not only is this injury

prevention but this provides a stable surface to maintain your form

and press off of.

If most people address these 3 things they will increase their bench press.

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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Question: Can you walk us through the perfect set up and performance of the bench

press?

Answer: Part I: The Set Up

1. Begin the set up by lying on the bench with your head completely off the bench

and your feet slightly tucked (very slightly tucked) and flat-footed.

2. Take an underhand grip on the bar and pull yourself up and towards your feet.

Your feet must remain in the same spot. What you are trying to do is create a stable

and strong base to push from. As you are doing this, begin pushing your shoulder

blades together as hard as you can.

3. As you set yourself on the bench, the first thing to touch should be your head.

That is how high you must pull yourself. When you set yourself on the bench your

upper back must remain pulled together and tight. Your feet should be still and your

eyes should directly under the bar or slightly forward, towards your feet. Your feet

will probably not be flat. If you are on the balls of your feet, do not worry about it.

This is normal.

4. Grab the bar and maintain your upper back tightness. Just so you know, this set

up is not comfortable.

Part II: The Descent

1. Once you take the bar out of the rack, hold it out in front and stabilize your body.

At this point you must concentrate on the following things: squeezing the bar tight,

pushing your chest up, arching your upper back, driving your heels down into the

ground and pushing your stomach out and up.

It�s important to note that your heels my never be on the ground, the mere act of

driving them into the ground will force your body to raise up to the bar and tilt your

pelvis down (think of it allowing your mommy/daddy parts to be driven and tucked in

the bench). There are a lot of things to be doing at this time so my advice is to

tackle one at a time. Once it becomes a habit, move on to another one. If you have

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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training partners, get them all on the same page! They can help you with verbal

cues and you can follow suit.

2. The bar should be held out so that your elbows are pointed out � to the sides of

your body.

3. The first movement on the way down is for you to begin tucking your elbows

slightly to your sides. As the bar begins it�s decent, keep driving your heels into the

ground and bringing your body up to the bar.

4. Keep tucking your elbows to the sides of your body. You do not have to touch

your elbows to your lats; just perform a very natural tuck. This will keep much of

the stress of the lift off of your shoulders. You will thank me in 10 years when you

do not need to have a shoulder surgery.

5. Your wrists must be cocked back slightly. They should not look like you are

performing a triceps extension and they shouldn�t be cocked forward or held straight.

The best way to describe this is make a fist and pretend you are going to punch

someone. Your top of your hand should not perfectly line up with the top of your

forearm. These two body parts should form a slight obtuse angle.

6. Lower the bar to just below your nipples. Keep squeezing the bar as tight as

possible and keep your upper back pulled together.

Part III: The Ascent

1. Once the bar touches your chest, immediately push your feet into the ground.

Leg drive is one of the most essential things in bench pressing and something that

most people disregard or are simply ignorant about. Learning leg drive takes time

but once you get it, it will add instant pounds to your bench press. When I first

struggled with leg drive the first thing that I did was think about �squatting the

weight up.� This phrase helped me remember that once the weight was on my

chest, I simply wanted to drive my feet into the floor and push like mad.

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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The important thing to remember when using leg drive is timing. Timing is critical or

you will be all over the place, squirming like a fish out of water. You must coordinate

your leg drive with pressing the bar. Think about it like this � you must press the

bar and push the floor simultaneously. If one goes before the other � look out. But

when you do get it synchronized watch your bench press shoot up.

If you are having trouble with leg drive here is a simple solution. Once the bar hits

your chest you must think, �PUSH!� As soon as this thought gets in your head, the

strength of your feet and your hands must be brought into the bar. The bench press

should no longer be considered an upper body lift! If you do this correctly, your

entire body will be involved. This does not give you license to lift your ass off of the

bench press, so don�t turn a bench press into a decline press. All the power of your

leg drive must be focused into the bar, not in lifting your hips off of the bench.

This is wasted movement and wasted energy.

2. As you begin pushing the bar up, you must also focus on pushing the bar back.

The bar should end up over your nose, mouth or eyes; the position at the end is

going to be an individualistic and something that is going to take sometime to find

out (much more than this 12 week training cycle). The point is that the bar will end

up over your face and it�s path to this spot must begin immediately but slowly. You

don�t want to immediately begin pressing right to your face; this is a sure way to

make your dentist a rich man. The initial push off of your chest must be done with

your elbows still tucked to your sides.

3. As you get about halfway up, the bar should be over your upper chest area. At

this point you must begin making a transition to an elbow-tucked position to an

elbow-flared position. You must simply begin rotating your elbows out and to the

sides. This will allow you to effectively lockout any weight provided that your triceps

aren�t pre-fatiuged and that the bar position and path is optimal. Just remember

that towards the last half of the bench press, you must begin the elbow tuck to

elbow flare. This does not mean that at the halfway mark you immediately flare

your elbows!

4. As it passes the halfway point (about ¾ of the way up) you should focus on

pushing the bar back to its final position and flaring your elbows hard. This final

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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position, if perfect and done with perfect form, should almost feel weightless and

effortless. This doesn�t happen very often for most lifters but once you get there,

you will know what I mean.

5. Finish the lift by holding at the top. Don�t just drive the bar into the rack. Make it

a good clean lift. Make is something that you can be proud of.

Question: Let�s move on to the squat now. What are the most important keys to

building a big squat?

Answer: Again this is easy:

• Technique

• Strong Legs

• Strong Abs

• Strong Back

Here is what you need to do for your legs (besides squatting)� lunges, sled dragging,

belt squats, leg presses and glute ham raises

For your abs � straight leg hanging leg raises, ab wheel, side bends and weighted sit

ups.

For your back � all rowing (for your lats), high rep dumbbell rows is especially

important, back raises, Reverse Hyperextensions and good mornings.

Question: Ok, let�s get under the bar and go through a perfect set up and execution

of a squat.

Answer: 1. Get into an athletic stance: For most people this is very easy. Most have

played a sport and almost every sport position is the same. If you played volleyball,

get into a position as if you were ready to receive a serve. If you played baseball or

softball, get into the same stance as you would as a shortstop. If you played football,

the stance of a middle linebacker will suffice. All of these positions are the same;

butt and hips are pushed slightly back, knees are bent, lower back is arched, head is

up, weight is evenly distributed on the feet, upper back is pulled together, toes are

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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slightly pointed out and the mid-section is tight. Notice that each of these positions

are slightly wider than shoulder width; if you are any narrower in any of these sports

than you will compromise lateral speed and will be pushed over. Also, I hope that I

played against you as were surely on your ass and back most of the game.

2. From this position, place your weight on your toes, pivot on them and move your

heels out. After this, redistribute your weight on your heels, pivot on your heels and

turn your toes back to the original angle. If you have any rhythm at all then this will

look similar to a dance move. This will take your stance a bit wider than normal and

put you into an ideal squat position. With some experimentation, you will find that

you may have to go back to the original stance or even go wider; whatever the case

begin with this and experiment. Everyone will have a slightly different stance.

3. Place your hands on your thighs and side them down to just above your knees.

This position should be the same as if you were taking a breather between wind-

sprints or something similar. This is a very basic position. No one takes a breather

between sprints or in a basketball game with their weight on their toes. They will

grab their shorts, push their glutes back, rest their upper body on their hands and

drop their head. Sound familiar? If you have any trouble picturing this position then

take a look at football players in a huddle or a basketball player during free-throws.

They look almost the same. From this position, simply raise your head, arch your

upper and lower back and place your hands as if they were on a barbell. This is the

exact position you want to be in when you perform a squat.

4. At this point, your hips and glutes should be pushed back, your lower and upper

back is arched, head straight ahead, bodyweight on your heels and your mid-section

is held tight. If you are not in this position, repeat the first 3 steps and make sure

you are in this position.

5. Begin your squat descent by leading your body down with your hips and glutes.

Maintain the arch in your lower and upper back. If you are having a problem sitting

back into the squat, you may have to lean your forward. This is not dangerous as

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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long as you keep your upper and lower back arched. About 60-70% of the weight

should be distributed on your heels.

6. When you are about half way down, begin pushing your knees out and opening up

your groin. This is what has been called �spreading the floor� but I have found that

the term �open your groin� or �show your groin� or �open the knees� to be better

terms when teaching people how to squat. Also, by pushing your knees out and

opening your groin, you will have an easier time reaching parallel and will reach it

quicker. Now the weight will be shifted to your heels and the sides of your feet.

7. For many people, once they sit back into the squat and open the hips, at this point

they can simply squat down. Once your body is in perfect position, opening the hips

will allow them to hit parallel without pushing back. This may be difficult to see when

you read this, but try it out on a box with someone watching your knees. If you do it

correctly then your knees will not move (they will remain over your ankles) when

you squat down. The key is learning how and when to open you groin. This will take

practice and some more practice; this is something that you will not get correct after

a few tries, so be patient.

8. Hip flexibility and mobility is one key in squatting correctly, so this may be your

limiting factor. If you are having problems with hip flexibility and mobility I highly

recommend getting the Parisi Warm up Method on DVD. This video highlights many

of the hip mobility and flexibility exercises that will prepare you for squatting

correctly. Also, it is a great for conditioning and overall body preparation.

Question: Now for the greatest test of strength of all; the dead lift. What are the

most important keys to building a big dead lift?

This is going to be the same as the squat � strong legs, strong back and strong abs.

The best exercises to build a deadlift are:

_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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_________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2008, Jason Ferruggia. All rights reserved. http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/

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• Olympic Squats � great for quad strength, this will help throughout the entire

movement.

• Good Mornings � great for lower back strength and hamstrings. This is great

for the start.

• High Rep Dumbbell Rows � great for grip and upper back strength. Great for

lockout strength.

• Ab work � Great for ensuring that your midsection is safe and strong.

Question: Can you give us some tips and expert advice on how to properly perform

a perfect dead lift?

Answer: The first thing that people have to do is get in a correct stance. To do this,

pretend you are about to perform a vertical jump. Get in your stance and squat

down. STOP. Look down at your feet. This is about the stance you want to be in for

your deadlift. Some people will go a little narrower but this will be the most powerful

and comfortable stance.

Second, put your shins on the bar. This will ensure that you will be pulling in the

safest and straightest line. Place your hands just outside of your legs. Many people

use and over/under grip; this is fine.

At this point, arch your upper back and keep your chest up. Begin pushing your feet

into the floor and pulling the bar up. Do not use your arms and do not jerk the bar

off of the ground!

As you pull the bar off of the ground keep your lower back arched (or arch it as

much as possible) and your head and eyes forward. Complete the lift by standing up

tall; there is no need to overemphasize the lockout by leaning back. This is a waste

of time.

Question: Thanks, Jim. This is truly incredible information and I really hope that

people read through it several times and put it all to good use.

Answer: You�re welcome.