Nothing says “bad ass” as much as a massive back does.

A huge back is an impressive sight to see. It’s also a very important to build for health reasons. With that said, it’s also one of “those” areas where special training is warranted if you want to get past plateaus.

Time is always an issue so workouts that allow you to get in and get out while still kicking ass in the gym are critical.

There is a good side to all of this, though. If you only have a little time and need to hit the upper back hard, then it’s time to focus on density. How hard can we hit the back muscles in as little time as possible?

I don’t know about you, but I like to keep things simple yet deadly. Nothing is better for that than super setting some heavy stuff.

This will give you the back growth you’ve always wanted. Ready to bust through the plateau?

The 7 Back Growing Supersets

Hang Clean / Pull Ups

This superset is hard as hell but oh so effective.

The hang clean is an explosive and technical exercise. Considering that we’re looking for muscle mass, it is okay to go higher reps with these as long as form looks good. Just to make sure: high rep means 5-6 reps for this particular exercise.

Pull-ups are a different story. With these bad boys, you can go much higher if you are able to. With this superset in particular, allow for the pull-ups to be your “volume exercise” and hang cleans be your “power exercise”.

You’ll clean clocks with this one.

Deadlift / Face Pulls

For back thickness, the deadlift is amazing. It is one of my top two exercises for it, the other being one-arm dumbbell rows. The only problem with the deadlift is that it can require massive amounts of grip strength. That makes it difficult to pair it up with something else without affecting the deadlift too much.

For this situation, we can add in face pulls, which don’t require much grip strength and add in a good amount of volume.

Go heavy and hard with your deadlifts, and allow the face pulls to give you the extra “oomph” to your back.

T-Bar Rows / Farmers Walk’s

Whenever I think of T-Bar Rows, I think of Ronnie Coleman going through a set of what looks like 1,000-pound T-Bar Rows. It’s probably an effective exercise if he’s using it.

When I think of farmer’s walks, I think of huge dudes carrying those massive torpedo-shaped weights.

In essence, these two exercises are not for the faint of heart. Put them together and you got yourself a full-body workout that blows up your back.

When these two exercises are put together, grip becomes a factor to watch out for. As an insider tip, go “light” (6-8 reps) of T-Bar Rows and go heavy with the farmer’s walk but done at a low volume such as 15 yards. To add volume, increase the amount of sets.

Regardless, experiment with different loads and ways of adding volume to find the perfect zone where you’ll get a good balance between ¬¬¬¬¬volume and keeping your grip intact.

Bent Over Rows / Seated Rows

Many coaches think that horizontal pulling should actually be prioritized over vertical pulling. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but here is a superset if you wish to go that route.

Bent over rows are one of the most used and effective back exercises there is. Seated rows are amazing as well. Who can’t see themselves rowing like Arnold did in Pumping Iron?

Just like with any other superset in this article, pick one of the two to be the “power” exercise and the other as the “volume” exercise. I usually prefer to have the bent over row to be the power portion and the seated row to be the volume exercise.

One Arm Dumbbell Rows / Inverted Rows

Although probably one of the most basic supersets on this list, it’s also one of the most effective.

Many “hardcore” guys scoff at the use of inverted rows. You won’t catch too many guys at the gym doing these “fat man pull-ups”. The funny part is that most of them probably can’t do a set of 5 without messing up somewhere. The inverted row is actually a great exercise that most should try to master. Need more intensity? Elevate your feet, maybe add a weight vest, and you’re in business.

One arm dumbbell rows are the exact opposite. Everyone does these for a reason: they are effective. One arm rows are my main exercise for the back.

What I like about this superset is that it pairs up an open chained exercise with a closed chained exercise, a unilateral exercise and bilateral one respectively. Furthermore, it’s another horizontal pulling superset you can use to overload that movement pattern. In other words, it’s awesome.

Rope Climb / Pull downs

Looking for something unconventional? Get yourself a rope, pull yourself up, and pair that with pull downs.

Rope climbing is an amazing exercise that will build the back of a god. It is also a great core and grip exercise, which is always a plus.

Pull downs have been in use for a while now and although I would only use it as a primary exercise in a few special cases, it works rather well with the rope climb.

In this superset, the pull down should definitely be the exercise to give you more volume. The rope climb will take care of the intensity.

Chest Supported Rows / Band Pull Aparts

Probably the least intimidating superset of the bunch, it should not be counted out.

Chest supported rows are great to better feel the back and as everyone should know, the mind-muscle connection is awfully important for muscle growth.

Band pull aparts help build the stabilizer muscles with great volume and frequency.

This results in a superset that takes advantage of the mind-muscle connection and can really stack on the volume.

Some Rep Scheme Ideas

Throughout this article, I’ve mentioned to pick an exercise with higher loads and less volume and a second with lower loads but with higher volume. It’s an effective method, but there are also other ways to go about it.

Here are 3 other ways:

Inverted Pyramids

Everyone here should know about pyramid training, both ascending and descending. Well, what if you decided to invert them? For example, bent over rows and seated rows:

Bent Over Rows: 1,2,3,4,5
Seated Rows: 5,4,3,2,1

This way one exercise will be heavy and the other one will be lighter at any point in time.

Escalating Density Training

A T-Nation classic, it’s just as effective now as it was back when Charles Staley first popularized it.

Using the hang clean and pull up superset as an example, we can insert them into a 10-15 minute block of hell.

PR Zone – 15 Minutes
Hang Cleans
Pull Ups

Goal Rep Method
Probably the most known goal rep method is Chad Waterbury’s 25-rep method. Even though it is a good number, any number can be used and still bring good results.

Here are some examples:

Chest Supported Rows: Goal = 25 Total Reps
Band Pull Aparts: Goal = 100 Total Reps

Or

T-Bar Rows: Goal = 35 Total Reps
Farmers Walks Goal = 75 Total Yards

As shown above, any combination can be used. The higher the goal rep total, the less load that will be lifted, but more there will be more volume. The lower the goal total, the higher weights used, but less overall volume.

Get in, reach your goal number, and get out.

Conclusion

Everyone needs to add more back focused work in their training programs. For those that want a bigger back, it’s a win-win situation anyway.

Don’t have as much time as you want in the gym but still want a bigger back? Strategically superset two exercises and rack up the volume.

Just like an app, there is always a superset for that.

The post 7 Supersets For A Massive Back appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

Over here at DanavirSarria.com, I teach people how to get jacked, shredded, and athletic by training like a world class fighter. I like to talk about muscle building and fat loss as much as I like to do talk about athletic preparation, but since most people are looking to do the former to look better, I write a bit more about that stuff.

I enjoy it, but that usually means I end up with followers who JUST want to look good. I don’t want that. It’s fine if you want to look good, so do I, but I want to let you know that there is more to fitness than just looking good.

To be a warrior, being big but slow and useless is not an option.

I want you to be big, strong, and powerful. For those that don’t know, power is speed and strength meshed up together. A big huge muscular guy will probably jump at an average height but someone who can generate a lot of power will jump a lot higher. This is what allowed Michael Jordan to fly from the free throw line and land an atomic slam dunk.

So how can YOU become more powerful?

For those who want to unleash their inner nerd, here’s the equation.

Force = Mass X Acceleration

In other words, if you want to produce power (force), then you have to have the strength (mass) and have the speed to use that strength fast (acceleration).

The First Step In Developing Power

Usually when someone reads the above sentence, I get either one of two responses. The first one being a totally confused guy asking “Whaaaa?” and the other being someone who let all that muscle get to his head and says “Bro, that’s it? I got this. Acceleration. Gotta go run some more!”

No…*sigh*

The first step in developing hardcore power is to get stronger. Strength allows for a greater capacity in power. Without strength, speed can’t do too much to increase power.

Yes, this means you need to actually lift some heavy stuff if you are not already.

The goal is be to able to squat at least 1.5 times your weight and deadlift twice your weight. For the upper body, if you aren’t an athlete I’m happy if you can do some advanced pushup variation such as the one arm pushup. If you’re an athlete, you should be able to do the one arm pushup effortlessly. Having a good bench press would be a good idea as well, which should reach 1.5 times your body weight too.

The good thing about getting stronger is that you’ll also build muscle alongside with it. That means there is no reason to fret if you’re beach body seeker.

For the most part, stay within the 5-8 rep range to build strength and muscle simultaneously. Leave the 1-5 rep range when you’re at a cycle where pure strength is your main priority.

The Second Step To Develop Power

This is the acceleration part.

As a quick refresher, power is the product of being able to use your strength fast and explode.

While strength is developed by lifting heavy stuff, power is developed by using a submaximal load and performed with acceleration.

Some well known ways are olympic lfting, jumps, sprints, med ball throws, and more. Each has a place in a program, but I really like jumps and med ball throws.

When training for power, the LAST thing you want to do is to be fatigued. In some cases, that is warranted but most of the time it be better to do them fresh. Jumps and things of that nature have a higher risk of injury than regular weight lifting. Add that with the fact that if you put it early in a workout, it actually helps increase your power output for the rest of the session. Less risk of injury and the capacity to have a better training session is enough reason to do it early.

I would work on power right after the warmup as that when you are freshest but still are ready to handle the force produced by your body.

Training for power is like training for maximum strength. Since training for maximum strength involves training with heavy weights, power is trained with much lighter weights (Around 50%-70% of your 1 rep max or a weight that you can do around 10-15 reps with) but done in an explosive manner.

This is the reason why I like jumps and med balls throws because you have to do them explosively. It’s also easy to see when you are too fatigued, which makes them pretty much self-limiting.

Like with maximum strength, power is trained from the 1-5 rep range.

On another side note: Increased power will allow you to actually lift heavier weights later on. This means more muscle and strength for you.

What To Do Now

After reading this, it might be time to restructure your current training programs. Take a moment, look at what you have and compare them to your goals. If it just so happens you need to gain muscle, strength, and power, add in a power exercise after your warmup for 2-3 sets of 3-5 reps.

For the resistance training, make sure you’re main exercises are in the 5-8 rep range. Obviously vary your rep ranges over time, but 5-8 reps is fail proof for muscle and strength. If you need to focus more on the strength side of things, pick a month where you go down to 3-5 reps.

Doing these things will transform you from pretty boy to warrior. No more of this “I just want to look good” crap. There is more to life than just too look good. By all means, train for vanity but if you want to kick ass and perform like a UFC fighter (or any athlete for that matter), it’s time to develop some gut busting power!

If you haven’t yet, sign up for your FREE newsletter below right now and you’ll also get your free gift “30 Exercises For Freaking Gains In Strength, Muscle, and Athleticism”!

The post How To NOT Be Slow And Useless appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

I’m not a bodybuilder. I always prefer to focus on my strength and athleticism over muscles, but we can take what bodybuilder’s know and apply it to our situation to build that extra mass if we want/need it anyways.

For the most part, a bodybuilder will have an entire day for arms and then their other upper body workouts will also indirectly affect their arms. Fortunately there are other ways to go around this.

Here are 3 tips to do this:

#1: Compound First, Isolate Second

Hit your compound exercises like the chin ups (for biceps) and pushups (triceps) and then you can go after the curls and tricep extensions.

Think about it like this: Compound exercises are like your veggies. Their oh so good for you. Not everyone likes them because they are hard, but do them. Isolation exercises are your tools for finishing touches. They supply that extra “oomph” that not all compound exercises can do for you.

Anyway, you’ll get the biggest pump of life with half the work if you do it this way, so it’s a win-win.

#2: Low Volume, High Intensity or High Volume, Low Intensity?

In general, biceps require low intensity and high volume sessions and triceps require about moderate volume and higher intensity sessions to grow, but not everyone responds to exercise the same way.

Some people will be the same, some will be the opposite. Some will prefer medium intensity with medium volume. Some will respond better to one exercise over the other. Some might NEED an arm day while others may never need one.

The point is to figure out what do you respond to the best. This means experimenting all sorts of reps and set schemes. If I were you, go for the general consensus as stated before and if it works, stick with it. If it doesn’t change it until you find something that works.

#3: Increase Frequency

What if instead of having an extra arm day, how about adding a couple sets of “bi’s and tri’s” at the end of your existing workouts?

It can end up being just as much if not even more volume than just an extra day. Not only that, you’re forcing your arm to adapt three times a week instead of just once and you won’t feel as fatigued.

Again it’s one of those variables that need to be tested as it doesn’t work for everyone all the time (it works sometimes for me, other times no), but it’s a good one to try out.

Conclusion

Getting bigger arms is probably at the top of most guy’s list of muscle’s to grow right now. Even if you are an athlete, bigger arms can improve your athleticism depending on what sport it is. It also makes you look more intimidating, so you might want to take advantage of that.

I’m not against entire days that are solely for bigger arms but if there are other, less intrusive ways to go about it, I would try those first and then add that extra day if necessary.

If you haven’t yet, sign up for your FREE newsletter below right now and you’ll also get your free gift “30 Exercises For Freaking Gains In Strength, Muscle, and Athleticism”!

The post 3 Quick Tips For Bigger Arms appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

When most people think of exercises to build some lower body mass, probably the first thing that comes to mind will be squats and deadlifts. If they aren’t what you first think about, just get out.

Just kidding. Maybe.

Moving on, although you can never go wrong with a heavy set of squats or “deads”, there is another option you could go; single leg.

Benefits Of Unilateral Leg Exercises

The reason why squats and deadlifts are so effective is because you can aggressively load up the bar and still perform the exercise right. The problem with that is that it also means that the weaker muscles used in the movement will limit the potential of these big exercises.

This is where single leg exercises come in handy because now it only takes 50% of the weight on one leg to replicate a 100% load on two legs. This means that there is less overall weight on you, so you don’t receive as much unnecessary stress and the limiting muscles don’t limit you nearly as much anymore.

Although there are more pro’s and con’s about single leg vs double leg exercise and the fact that they are not completely identical, they can still help build a massive set of legs.

With that said, here are 5 single leg exercises you can use to replace or add onto a muscle building program.

#1 Bulgarian Split Squat

The Bulgarian split squat, also known as the rear foot elevated split squat, is the squat I use the most.

To do it, you stand on one leg and place your rear foot on a bench with enough distance between the two feet to squat comfortably.

What I like about this particular exercise is that unlike the others, it does not take as much balance and overall skill to master. If all you have ever done have been bilateral squats, there will be a challenge as going on one leg requires balance regardless if its a Bulgarian split squat or not, but its still easier than something like the pistol squat.

This lower need of balance allows you to place more load on that one leg. Although the back leg does take some of the brunt, I would say that 90% of the weight goes directly to the working leg.

In essence, if you ever needed to completely replace the bilateral squat for some reason, I would pick the Bulgarian split squat.

#2 Pistols

Pistols are probably one of the most eye appealing exercises to do in general. I like to do this one a lot as well.

To do it, you stand tall, lift the non working leg straight ahead, and squat. Some coaches say to stop where you would with a bilateral squat, which is low enough before your lower back starts to curve in, but if you have no weights, I don’t see a reason why not to go all the way down.

I like the pistol because unlike the Bulgarian split squat, the working leg takes 100% of the load. With that benefit also comes the costs. The pistol requires much more balance and core strength to do it right. There is a learning curve, especially if you decide to go lower than parallel.

With that said, it still is an amazing lower body exercise and just as bad ass. Once you get passed bodyweight, load up with weight vests and dumbbells.

#3 One Legged Deadlift

Out of all the exercises ever made, the conventional deadlift is my favorite. Sometimes though, I’ll add in or even replace the deadlift in favor of the one legged version.

It’s the same exact setup as the deadlift but on one leg, which as stated before, means there is a lot of balance needed.

What I like about this one is the balance and core strength needed, alongside the fact there is much less weight on the bar.My lower back is not nearly as affected by the one legged version because of this.

Not only that, but if you can do a set of 6-8 heavy one legged deadlifts, one each leg, your balance is pretty damn impressive (same with the pistols). Combined with the fact that one leg has 100% of the load, the posterior chain still gets pretty toasty back there.

#4 One Legged Hip Thrust

Bret Contreras popularized the hip thrust and rightfully so. It’s a great hip extension exercise and puts even more load on the glutes.

Now with one leg instead of two, the entire load is place on that one leg.

To do it, lay on your back as in sit up position or place a bench behind your upper back to lay it on it and push your hips up, squeezing the glutes at the top.

Since it is done with your back, it does not take too much extra balance. Like the Bulgarian split squat, this means you can put extra weight on that one leg.

I really like the single leg version because its makes you contract your glutes even harder than the two legged version which just a fraction of the weight. Like the deadlift, it’s also another hip extension exercise which is plus since just about everyone needs to add more hip extension in their programming.

In addition, If glutes are a trouble spot, there is nothing else better than hip thrusts whether single or double legged.

#5 Step ups

Usually seen in aerobic classes, this is an exercise that actually deserves to be in any hardcore program.

To do it, you simply step on a platform with one leg and with it, push off the heel until you reach the top without the help of the  non-working leg.

I find these go after the hamstrings real well and also require a significant amount of balance to get it right. It’s a hip extension exercise, which is another reason why I really like it.

It’s also really useful with athletes that must explode or stabilize on one leg like basketball players and fighters.

For those just looking for mass, it’s one of those that might not  be as important as deadlifts and squats but can be really useful from time to time.

Just grab a heavy set of dumbbells and you’re in business, my friend.

Conclusion

I love my bilateral deadlifts. Squats, not so much, but I still do them from time to time. Most of the time though, I’ll focus on my single leg training and make sure that it not only prevents muscle loss but help me keep making gains (hence the title).

Although they might require a couple of sessions to get used to, they are well worth the trouble. Some say they might even be a little better than their bilateral counterparts in certain situations.

Regardless, both bilateral and unilateral exercises should be in every program. Each has their own pro’s and con’s, but one thing is for sure; single leg exercises will help you build massive legs, guaranteed!

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The post 5 Single Leg Exercises For Huge Legs appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

The world of fitness is a very hectic one indeed. Everywhere you will find some “expert” declaring some new training method over the other.

Well here is a quote you might appreciate if you’re confused on what to do:

“Methods change. Principles last forever”.

In reality, there are TONS of things you can do to build muscle, but when everything is organized, it will come down to three main things.

1. Volume

Volume is probably the most influential variable for muscle building as it is directly correlated with many things such as number of contractions and total time under tension.

This is most prominent in bodybuilding as bodybuilders will aim to basically trash a muscle, feed, recover, and repeat the process to build muscle. It also is probably the most misunderstood and/or miscalculated variables because it literally will dictate what happens in a program. Because of this, programing volume is one of the most important things to do.

When programmed correctly, it will get you huge. Despite what many pro-strength guys say, a good amount of volume with just the right intensity will get anyone bigger and stronger.

2. Intensity

Although volume may be the more influential variable for building pounds of muscle, there has to be enough intensity or load for hypertrophy to occur.

3 sets of 12 with 50% of your 12 rep max isn’t going to do much for your muscles in most cases.

Just look at guys who can squat hundreds of pounds. When have you ever seen a skinny guy squat with 500 pounds on his back?

A lot of training programs are going to focus on one of the two methods as it is possible to gain muscle (for a while) focusing on one method.

For example, Starting Strength has its guys go low to medium volume while focusing on adding weight on the bar every workout for basically as long as you can.

It’s simple and it works wonders. The only problem is that there will be a time when just adding weight on the bar won’t work as effectively anymore. The same goes for a volume based programs.

Whether it is due to muscular or neurological reasons, doing only one method will slow down your results and inhibit your body’s ability to recover.

Which brings me to the third and most important factor in muscle building:

3. Recovery

Whatever training you do, it will places stress on the body. A more volume based approach will places more stress on the muscles and a more intensity based approach will place higher stress on the nervous system, although they both overlap.

This means that each approach and everything else you do in the weight room is literally just a form of stimulus on your muscles and nervous system.

This stimulus will bring your body out of homeostasis (or allostasis for those who want to be more specific) and from there, it will try to bring itself back to it.

To do so, it must recover and in that recovery stage is where supercompensation happens and hypertrophy actually occurs as the body tries to rebuild itself from the past stress placed upon it.

Without recovery, there are no muscle and strength gains.

On the other hand, without the stimulus there is no use for recovery.

Of the two methods, both work and should be used for maximum strength and muscle gains. The problem is that there are tons of ways to combine the two. Add in the need for recovery and planning a muscle building program can get confusing very quickly.

To remove this confusion, I’ll propose a simple template that will take advantage of both methods while integrating enough recovery so you never burn out.

Month 1: 6-8 Reps

Month 2: 10-15 Reps

Month 3: 6-8 Reps

Month 4: 10-15 Reps

Basically, on month 1 and 3 you will focus on the lower end of the hypertrophy spectrum and will perform a bunch of heavy compound exercises. On months 2 and 4, you will lighten up the load and stock up on isolation exercises.

Another way to explain is like this (thanks Anthony Mychal)

1. Minimal exercise selection, little to no isolation. Lower reps. No pump. All strength and power.

2. More exercises, lower percentage of 1RM, more isolation, more pump work.

So a full body workout in month 3  will look something like this:

Power Training

Med Ball Throw 3 X 5

Box Jumps 3 X 5

Resistance Training

1A) Back Squats 3-4 X 6

2A) Weighted Pull Ups 3-4 X 6

2B) DB Incline Press 3-4 X 8

3A) Farmers Walk 3-4 X 25 yards

And a workout from month 4 (upper body workout) will look like this:

Power Training

Frog Jump To Med Ball Throw 3 X 3

Resistance Training

1A) Barbell Flat Bench Press 2 X 8

1B) Chin Ups 2 X 8

2A) DB Flyes 3 X 10

2B) Lat Pull Downs 3 X 15

3A) Barbell Cheat Curls 4 X 10

3B) Diamond Pushups 4 X 15

3C) DB Bicep Curls 4 X 12

3D) Tricep Extensions 4 X 12

As you go through the months, you will be alternating between both volume based and intensity based training. This will allow for recovery between both methods which in turn means you will get bigger and stronger.

Simple yet effective.

The post Simple Muscle Building Template For Longterm Gains appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

One of the hardest things to do when creating a training program for anyone is deciding if everything you wrote down was really that necessary.

It’s always easier to say yes than it is to say no especially when you know you can handle the extra. The cool thing about the human body is that it can take a lot of stress when it needs to. This is vital in life or death situations but when it comes to the gym, it’s not such a good thing anymore for most people.

For example, just a couple of weeks ago I started training again after 2 months of inconsistent training. I started with a modified version of Jason Ferrugia’s Muscle Gaining Secrets program (which is freaking awesome and you can get it right HERE).

I started with 4 sets of 5 goblet squats with a 100 pound dumbbell. I was repping it out like there was no tomorrow and when tomorrow came, it sucked…. Really really bad.

My hamstrings and glutes where being roasted 24/7 for 2 weeks. I could barely get into a full squat position without breaking down let alone trying to work out again. Even upper body workouts were useless as the pain was just sitting there and wouldn’t budge.

The worst part was that I didn’t even get any results from it. Even though it was only one training session, I felt like I should have gotten something from it…

After those 2 weeks, I restarted again with 1 set of 10 on week 1-3 while adding an extra set every week. Not only did I not feel any soreness, the muscle just grew like weeds on me.

The moral of this story is that you should be questioning everything you write down on that piece of paper you call a training program.

It’s always easy to add stuff in. Just look at Crossfit. Those guys don’t give a fuck what they do and the results they get. They just want get in, train till they heart bursts through their chest, pick it up, and leave.

On the other hand, it’s hard to take things out. What many don’t realize is that recovery is just as if not MORE important than the actual training session itself.

Training is where you provide stimulus to the body and recovery is where you reap the rewards. Without recovery, you will not get results.

At the very beginning of a program, things such as intensity or volume will increase overtime. Actually, at every part of a program, something will be increasing. This is the rule of progressive overload.

There will come a point though that you can only handle so much while still increasing variables in a program, especially if you play sports and or don’t have the greatest capacity to recover faster.

If all you need is 3 sets of 6 to get your targeted result, is 3 sets of 8 really that necessary? It’s not like you are going to build extra muscle because of it.

Of course, there are some times in a program where you should go beyond what you need but most of the time, you will not need to and if you don’t need it, why do it?

If your main goal is jump higher or punch harder and you need to work on your posterior chain, then deadlifts and or glute thrusts would take up most of your lower body training. Because of that, your squat volume should go down.

Simple, easy, but not everyone does it.

This doesn’t mean though that if you add a couple of reps on something, everything should go down. This is subjective as it is about science.

Some people do really good with high volume/frequency training and others don’t but when it comes down to it, certain parts of a program demand more overall focus than others.

If you are a hardgainer and trying to build muscle, maybe you shouldn’t be doing too much aerobic training and instead focus more on the resistance training.

If you are a powerlifter trying to get your deadlift up, it might not be smart to be sprinting 4 times a week.

If you are trying to burn fat, maybe it’ll be better if you do “just enough” work on your power movements than it is to spend most of your time on it and neglecting the circuit that comes right after.

If you are going to train biceps 3 times a week, then you don’t need to do 12 sets of curls every workout.

If you play a sport 4-5 days a week, it might not be the best idea to go to the weight room 4 times a week.

Remember, the goal of training is to provide a stimulus. Preferably the exact and minimum amount of stimulus you need for your goal.

Recovery is where you get the results of the stimulus you placed on your body.

Train hard, recover hard.

When in doubt, ask yourself “is that really necessary?” If it’s not, take it out and focus on what is.

The post Is That Really Necessary? appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

Being a martial artist who is fortunate enough to be given natural flexibility, it seems real odd to me how come others aren’t flexible.

For the past few weeks, I have been working with some teens that can’t touch their toes to save their lives. Me being able to go to a split at a moment’s notice felt like saying “WTF”.

So I took these two kids, one being a basketball player (with horrible spine problems). Both were only able to reach their knees while standing up so I decided to take them and work with them for a couple of days to see if I can make them improve.

The basketball player (let’s call him “D”) could not squat without lifting his heels no matter how many times you told him not too (which according to his chiropractor was partly due to his spinal problems). The other (let’s call him David because that’s his actual name) and D could not touch their toes while standing up.

On separate occasions, I took them one by one and worked on a couple of things that worked.

Actually, it worked really, REALLY well.

My main goal for D was to get him to finally squat to parallel while keeping his heels on the floor throughout the exercise. My main goal for David was to get him to at the very least reach his ankles, if not his toes.

Everything I did was pretty much unplanned and contained a lot of experimentation but by the end, I was able to make a crude but effective system for improving flexibility and mobility in a certain position.

It is a 3 step system and it starts with:

1. Foam Rolling

I firmly believe that self myofascial release is EXTREMELY important when working on flexibility issues. Time and time again I see trainers just recommend stretching, which obviously works (when done correctly) but from what we know now, is NOT the first thing to focus on.

Foam rolling has a lot of benefits from improving tissue quality to increasing tissue length (without decreases in power). Not to mention it feels so fucking awesome, except when it’s your first time. Especially when that first time is my 6 inch in diameter PVC pipe with no foam!

Along with the PVC pipe, I used a tennis ball to get some areas like the pec minor, plantar fascia, and hip flexors.

2. Dynamic Warmup

Dynamic warm-ups are all the rage right now in the fitness world. They help increase flexibility, mobility, body temperature, and general awesomeness.

Most “lower level” trainers would opt for regular static stretching minus everything else as the cure for “inflexibleness” but I beg to differ.

My reasoning for choosing a short dynamic warm-up was due to the ballistic nature of some specific exercises such as leg swings that would allow for gradual increases in movement during our session as well as get in some mobility drills just in case that was also a problem.

Although from what I saw, the improvements were minimal it still help a lot for the third and final step.

3. Assisted Ballistic Stretching

Here is where I got put into use my background in martial arts and the memories of having 4 black belts on me to keep me in a perfect split for minutes at a time.

Obviously I wasn’t going to kill the kids but I needed to figure out a way to reach farther and go WAY beyond than they have gone before even if it was only for a split second.

In this situation, I would have them get into the position and pull or push them into a much deeper position while instructing them to breath.

We would continue to do this in a rhythmic nature and increase the range of motion at every rep.

After this I would tell them to do the movement/stretch themselves and compare to how they were from before to see the improvement and what I saw was freaking awesome.

But before that, let me explain what I did to them specifically.

Case Studies

If you can re-call, D’s main problem was that he could not squat with keeping his heels on the floor and squatting to parallel at the same time.

After a short 5 minute foam rolling session where we emphasized the calves, quads, hamstrings, adductors, and plantar fascia we went into a dynamic warm-up.

Knowing that one reason he could not squat with his heels down was just a neural problem or in other words, he just wasn’t used to it, I focused the warm-up on actually squatting with some isolated ankle mobility drills such as rocking ankle mobs.

For a good 10 minutes we worked on ankle mobility and constant practice of keeping the heels down, regardless of his squat depth where sometimes we past the point of his ability to have his lower back in proper position.

I’m sure a bunch of “functional” trainers are going to get me for this blasphemy but oh well.

After those 10 or so minutes, I made him finally work up to a 35lb goblet squat and got him to get to parallel with his heels DOWN and in perfect form.

1 for me and D.

For David, his main problem was not being able to touch his toes.

Again, I made him go through a 5 minute foam rolling sessions where we emphasized the same areas.

After the foam rolling session, I made him go through a series of dynamic movements to gradually get him to feel slight stretches that surpassed what he could normally do statically.

The ones that I think helped him the most were leg swings and the stretch kick which is just a more extreme version of leg swings.

Last, I really emphasized the ballistic assisted stretching with him. In this phase we did 2 things. The first were assisted Cossack lunges and sitting toe touches with me pulling his hands to his toes gradually.

With the Cossack lunges, my goal was for him to stretch his hamstrings and adductors dynamically while working on ankle mobility on the opposite leg. I would assist him as he couldn’t do it himself.

We then did the sitting toe touches were I instructed him to breath in and out at every rep to not only promote relaxation but also set a rhythm for every time I would pull him down.

We did around 6-8 reps of this and every time I would pull harder and harder.

At the end, I told him to stand up and touch his toes.

Remembering that before these 20 minutes of stuff he could barely even reach his KNEES, actually seeing him be able to grab just above his ankles was mind blowing.

I felt like one bad ass coach.

Conclusion

There is actually nothing new to this system, at least not to me as my warm-ups are like this (minus the ballistic assisted stretching) but for some, it’s pretty revolutionary not to mention kick ass.

It is just foam rolling to “untie” the knots, dynamic stretching for movement in conjunction with reaching the limits of your flexibility and then assisted ballistic stretching to surpass what you can normally do.

If you are inflexible like my guys D and David, I would do this every day for 30 days.

For others, every other day is fine.

Again, this is crude and the way I went about it might have been a little chaotic as there might be a better way to do this but so far, this is what has worked for me without tearing up a client from the inside out.

Get back to me in 30 days and let me know how it goes.

The post An Experiment For Flexibility appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

I was scared that I broke it even though I still played for another half hour after the initial sprain. Once I decided it was enough, I left home, took a shower, and then started treating it.

I searched around the web trying to figure out how I should go about dealing with this ankle sprain. In the meantime, I defaulted for R.I.C.E.

You know: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

I thought to myself that if anything should work, it would be that. I mean, it’s recommended by every doctor for every injury and it’s been here for long, it should work.

Big mistake.

After 20 minutes of icing, I couldn’t stand for my life and had the ankle mobility of a rock. Right then and there, I knew this R.I.C.E crap wasn’t going to work and I told that ice pack to go fuck itself.

Mind you, this just like a few weeks after I had sprained my other ankle during a sparring session where I also did the same. I don’t know why I thought it would work this time around but whatever.

My ankles are where I suffer most of my injuries, which sucks because I like to kick off heads for fun. Fortunately, during that time I asked some other coaches for help on ankle injuries. That plus my past experience in dealing with this situation has led me to my current “re-hab” program for myself.

As I write this article, I’m still in the re-hab process with my right ankle but it’s been my most successful re-hab program ever. In just 2 weeks I can do just about anything except rapid changes in direction and explosive movements. In just 1 week, I was able to squat my bodyweight without any pain, so it’s worked real nicely.

I think I’m still a good 3 weeks out from being completely healed, which is still incredibly quick considering it usually takes longer and this particular strain was really bad.

So here is how I’m handling this problem:

1. Rest

This is naturally the first step for most people, especially since it’s the first step of R.I.C.E. With the amount of pain I felt after icing it, the LAST thing I wanted to do was stand.

If something hurts, don’t do it.

I would alternate between rest and test. Once every 10 minutes or so, I would try to stand up and stand on one leg. If it hurt, I rest some more. If it didn’t, I would start number two.

In my experience, this usually takes me 30min to 1 hour before I feel confident enough that I can move onto the next step.

2. Increase Range of Motion

In my opinion, this is the most important step as it is what makes difference between an injury that can last weeks to one that last just days, depending on the severity.

Basically, I would just sit on a chair or bed and repeatedly performed dorsi and planter flexion exercises. In the beginning, just a small ROM would suffice. Over the course of a day I would increase that ROM to the fullest.

Again, I let pain dictate when and how to progress.

3. Compression

I unfortunately had to go to school, which includes a lot of walking. Although I felt a lot better by then and I could walk with just an ounce of pain, I put on a brace.

It helped as I walked a lot. I probably would have been sore going 5 days straight of walking in school without the brace on.

Either way, it helped me still move around without the need of crutches.

4. Low Intensity Activity

My ankle started feeling better the more I walked with the brace. Essentially, I realized that walking was just a “loaded” version of the dorsi and plantar flexion exercises I did just a few days earlier.

On top of that, I also made it a point to write the alphabet with my feet. Although it was hard at first, it eventually got easier and with less pain.

I did this for 2 weeks (no brace the second week – which is where I am at right now).

5. Strength Training

In conjunction with the low intensity stuff, I knew that if ever wanted to get better faster, then I needed to put some more weight on my ankle.

About one week after the initial injury, I couldn’t run without pain. It sucked, yet I still tried to box squat with my bodyweight (about 170 lb). I felt no pain at all.

It was just an experiment, but it worked so I knew it was time to start some lower body exercises again.

I once again got back into my workout routine with some full ROM prisoner squats, calf raises, resistance band work and lunges (I’m careful with those as sometimes it hurts).

That is where I am at right now and it’s working great.

Conclusion

I learned a lot of this through Mike Guadango, Anthony Mychal, and Dick Hartzell. I realized that the old R.I.C.E technique we all trust actually sucks, at least for ankle sprains.

Right now I can run in a straight line, I can jump too (mostly) and other stuff like walk and squat without pain.

If you’re like me, try this method out instead of R.I.C.E. I’m sure you’ll get much better results this way.

The post Dealing With Ankle Sprains appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

I spend a ton of time making workouts for myself. Which is a tip in itself; try to get another good trainer to do it for you but that is another blog post for another day.

I, however, spend as much if not even MORE time picking what songs I want to workout too. Sometimes I think I just workout so I can listen to my songs at an unholy volume every other day.

Without a kick ass playlist, I find it really hard to train at my best.

As a Hispanic from Miami, Florida, I used to spend the most of my time listening to Spanish music both inside and outside of the gym. I loved it, until at one point I didn’t anymore. I still enjoyed it outside of the gym, but it just didn’t get the job done when training.

Eventually I started getting interested in other music genre’s like rap, rock, and even oldies like Bee Gee’s and the Beatles.

It almost became a hobby to mix and match different songs with each other, different times during the workout and even on certain days.

I went from listening to music from Daddy Yankee and Wisin y Yandel to Bee Gees to Dropkick Murphys to Darude to Sean Paul to Eminem to Disturbed to Survivor and so on.

I even think I found a way to “systematize” my workout music selection. Musical program design, anyone?

My rules to picking workout songs are revolve around variety, order, long term enjoyment.

I’m one that can’t stand to listen to the same genre of music every single training session. This is the reason why I MUST have a ton a variety on my playlists. Although it might look weird to some, I’ll have both hard rock and soft musicals on the same playlist.

One reason for the variety is because of the actual training session itself and here is where order comes in.

All of my training programs, whether it’s for me or a client follow a specific order – usually warmup, core, power, main training, energy system training and finally a cool down. Knowing this, I make sure that the songs I pick flow with this.

You can’t be “on” every workout so I make sure to conserve my “pumped upness” for the main part of the program.

Just as you would work up to the main workout, I like to build up my playlist. During warmups I’ll put some soft music or anything that just sounds good but doesn’t really do much to my heart rate.

By the time I get into the core and power work, I make sure I pick the right songs to ALMOST get me ready to kick some ass.

Once the main training and energy system sections are up, I have my “crazy” songs come up to rip things up in the gym. Hence the crazy.

Once the cool down comes, I’ll progressively tone things down to soft music.

It might be just me but this is exactly how I like it no matter what songs I actually pick.

Lastly, the music has to “last” for a long time because although I spend time putting together different playlists, I would much rather spend my time doing something else.

For this reason I include more songs than I actually need in my workout just in case I would rather listen to something else that specific day.

I also make sure pick only upbeat songs as I don’t enjoy more than one insane song a workout.

For now, this is my current playlist:

-It’s My Time by Fabolous

-Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N’ Roses

-Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel65

-Burning Heart by Survivor

-Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor

-Heart’s On Fire by John Cafferty

-No Easyway Out by Rovert Trepper

-Enter Sandman by Metallica

-Lose Yourself by Eminem

-Till I Collapse by Eminem

-Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy

-Crawlin by Linkin Park

-No More Sorrow by Linkin Park

-Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park

-Fireproof by Pillar

-The Bird And The Worm by The Used

-Stupify by Disurbed

-Down With The Sickness by Disturbed

-Undead by Hollywood Undead

-Remember The Name by Fort Minor

-The Sweetest Victory by Touch

-Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti

-Now We Are Free by Hanz Zimmer

It’s 23 songs deep and so far it’s worked perfectly for the past month. Sooner or later I will change it up (probably sooner) but it gets the job done (y).

So tell me, what are YOUR favorite workout songs? Care to share your playlist? How do you go about picking a song over the other?

I really enjoy reading your comments so go at it!

The post What’s On Your Playlist? appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.

Although some of you guys might be interested in athletic preparation methods for combat athletes, I know for a fact that you’re more interested into looking like them.

Most people will agree that fighters have the ideal body and on reason for that is because they are so lean yet are muscular and look like they can kick your ass.

It’s important for combat athletes to watch their weight because combat sports are sports separated by weight classes. If a fighter goes into a heavier weight class as a “puffy warrior”, they’re going to get asses handed to them.

That is on top of the fact that fat is just unneeded weight which then requires more energy to move yourself than a leaner person would need.

Because of this, combat athletes will go through incredibly tough conditioning workouts to not only improve their energy systems but also burn off some body fat for the fight.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, MMA workouts are all the rage right now because of their “fat loss power” and here I am feeding more of that into your mouths haha, but don’t worry, this is actually good stuff!

Although there is a lot of use for aerobic training in an extreme fat loss program, most of your training will be anaerobic or in other words high intensity training.

So let’s get down to the good stuff.

Combat Strength For Muscular Bad Assery

During a fat loss phase, the most important thing to do is to keep muscle size and strength. Muscle size is the number one dictator of metabolism and strength levels are the number one dictator for preserving muscle.

Fortunately it is easy to keep both strength and muscle size in maintenance mode so you can focus more time and effort into metabolic circuits and other forms of energy system training.

According to Alwyn Cosgrove of Results Fitness, it only takes 1-2 heavy sets of a compound exercise to preserve muscle mass. That means you can get away with a 2 sets of heavy squats or deadlifts and get away with it haha.

From my experience, it is true but I would much rather you have 2-3 heavy sets of 2 compound exercises a workout such as squats and chin ups or deadlifts and military presses.

This helps for fat loss as well since it takes a lot of energy to lift heavy stuff. I also like to IMPROVE strength and muscle gains during a fat loss program whenever possible, so I find it necessary to leave in a couple more sets of heavy shit to carry.

Reduce rest periods between these heavy compound exercises and you’ll create a conditioning effect as well to stoke that MMA fat burning furnace.

For here, just stick to the basics which are:

-Bench Press

-Squats

-Deadlifts

-Chin Ups

-Rows

-Military Press

As long as you can hit every movement plane with heavy weights once every week (1-2 of them per workout), you’ll be fine.

With these exercises in particular, I would make sure to stay within the 5-8 rep range as that is “functional hypertrophy” area to help simultaneously improve strength and muscle mass.

MMA Metabolic Conditioning

Here is where the good stuff begins. MMA athletes are known for putting themselves to freaky circuits that leave them on the floor crying for their mom’s.

Although I’ll be the first to say it’s retarded, I do have to admit that training at a CLOSE ENOUGH intensity will make the difference between a regular fat loss program and an X-TREME one.

For these purposes, I like to use 3 methods:

-Hurricane Training

-Strongman Training

-Circuit Training

Hurricane Training

Hurricane training was developed by Martin Rooney, a world re-knowned strength coach who trains many MMA fighters to help them endure their fights. During his use of it, he realized that it also helped improve muscle size and annihilated body fat like nothing else he ever tried.

If you have ever done hurricane training, you can attest that it is probably the single hardest training session you will ever have in your life.

It’s that intense but it’s freaking amazing.

Here is a hurricane workout from Martin’s site, Training for Warriors.

Hurricane Category 3

 TFW Warm-up

1a. Treadmill at 10mph and 10% grade incline for 3 sets of 30 seconds

1b. Rope Pull Crunch 3×20

1c. Triangle Pushup 3×10

2a. Treadmill at  11mph and 10% grade incline for 3 sets   of 25 seconds

2b. Single DB Turkish Sit-Up 3×15

2c. Uchi Mata 3×15

3a. Treadmill at  12mph and 10% grade incline for 3 sets of 25 seconds

3b. Bicycles 3×16

3c. Knuckle Pushup 3×10

And this is only category 3. There are 5 categories in all and they will all leave you wishing you stayed home but at least you can crawl your way back with less fat on you

I would use this once a week and if later you need an extra boost of fat loss power, twice a week but no more than that.

Strongman Training

One common thing about effective fat loss programs is that they force the user to use both conditioning and strength training protocols into one workout.

Strongman training is basically that in where you have to carry heavy loads over a set distance or time and usually with short to medium rest periods, which is where the conditioning is.

Fighters use strongman training in their programs to replicate the fight sequences that happen often in a fight such as takedown attempts.

Strongman training is so extremely useful for fat loss that it could be all that you need.

There are many ways to include strongman training into your programs. Some are:

-Farmers walks

-Prowlers

-Battle Ropes

-Sleds

and many more things. It’s basically moving heavy shit for long periods of time.

Here is an example of a strongman workout you can use with a prowler, a rope, and a heavy set of dumbbells.

Suitcase Farmers Walk (Left Arm) 3 X 20 yards

Prowler Push 3 X 20 yards

Suitcase Farmers Walk (Right Arm) 3 X 20 yards

Prowler Pull 3 X 20 yards

Farmers Walk (Both Arms) 3 X 20 yards

Prowler Push 3 X 20 yards

Prowler Pull 3 X 20 yards

*Rest for 60 seconds at the end of each circuit*

It’s a toughie but once you’re done, put your hands up like if you’ve just won a fight.

On this blog, I raise champions!

Metabolic Circuits

Metabolic training is amazing for fat loss and is the hallmark of fat loss training. Three to four sessions of metabolic circuits is all you need to get real lean.

There are many ways to set up metabolic circuits. My favorite way is to blend weight training and bodyweight training into tri-sets or quad-sets.

You can also just do it with weight training or even blend it with cardio, much like hurricane training.

They are usually performed as supersets, complexes, or as I said earlier, mini-circuits or giant circuits and are almost always done in full body training sessions.

This is because full body sessions burn the most calories while also preserving helping to preserve the most muscle mass and even increasing it.

In general, 8-15 rep sets are used to both stimulate muscle mass growth and calories burned both during and after the workout. Short rest periods are also used, usually from 30 seconds to 60 seconds.

Here is an example of a solid “met-con” circuit:

3A) Goblet Grip Bulgarian Split Squat 4 X 8

3B) Chin Ups 4 X 6

3C) Hip Flexor Stretch 4 X 5

4A) Single Leg Glute Bridges 4 X 8 Each Leg

4B) Pushups 4 X 20

4C) No Money Drill 4 X 5

*Rest 45seconds in between mini-circuits*

I like metabolic circuits as you can include heavy strength training easily so you can also improve strength levels in more straight forward way than strongman or hurricane training (although can still be programmed into them).

MMA Energy System Training To Kick Fatty’s Ass

I like to add some extra energy system training at the end of a fat loss workout to burn off some extra calories while there still is time and energy to use.

I also use it to break up the monotony of circuits and throw in stuff like sprints, gymnastics, heavy bag work, pad work if there is a partner, and stuff like that.

My favorite is to use the heavy bag and set up rounds as if I were in a fight. Going hard for 3 rounds of 3 minutes breaks me apart and burns off some serious flab.

Although you shouldn’t try to exhaust yourself every session, there is no going around the fact that smart, consistent hard work will always lead to fat loss results.

If you choose to do hurricane training twice a week, there is no need for anymore sprints though.

On off days, I would recommend some short aerobic work to help improve conditioning levels, burn off some extra calories you wouldn’t have normally have, and help speed up the recovery process.

3 Hard energy system sessions a week plus 1 or maybe even 2 aerobic sessions a week will do wonders for fat loss.

Conclusion

To look like a fighter, you have to train like a fighter, with a few modifications but keep the intensity. Every training session is a fight that you must win.

My favorite split is to have one circuit day, one strongman training day, and one hurricane training day a week with energy system “finishers” on the circuit and strongman days.

From there, maybe add an extra aerobic sessions of tempo runs or even just regular roadwork and there you have it, a fighter inspired fat loss program designed for X-TREME results.

At the end of every session, don’t you dare sit down. I want you to stand up, look up, and raise your arms up in victory.

It’s time to burn off some fat and breed some winners!

The post Combat Conditioning For X-TREME Fat Loss appeared first on Danavir Sarria's Strength Blog.