Dumpster Strongman - A Very Jersey Exercise

This is a very Jersey exercise.



Adapt, improvise, overcome.

Dan Hardy at DeFranco's Training

For the past two weeks and for the rest of this week, Dan Hardy is training at DeFranco's Training in Wyckoff, NJ, for his upcoming bout against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 111.

You can see some of Hardy's training here in Part II of UFC Primetime on SpikeTV.

You can also a behind the scenes video of Hardy's training on Joe DeFranco's Youtube page:



And no, I'm not sure why he's doing that last exercise that way. I'll ask when I get a chance, though.

Enjoy!

Full disclosure: I also train at DeFranco's, although I haven't been there when Dan Hardy has been training.

Article Review: DeFranco's Training Rules for Washed-up Meatheads

T-Muscle just put out a new article by Nate Green, called DeFranco's Training Rules for Washed-up Meatheads. No surprise, it's a series of basic rules and a workout for 30+ lifters, by Joe DeFranco.

The template appears to be the first week(s) of the Built Like A Badass program - I say this based on forum posts I've read and workouts I've seen done at the gym, since I haven't read the book yet. Regardless, the template is a three-day push/pull/legs split:

Monday: Max Effort Bench (Push)
Wednesday: Max Effort Squat or Deadlift (Legs)
Friday: Repetition Chinups (Pull)

So 2x a week you lift heavy, 1x a week you do a higher-rep bodyweight exercise. Each workout follows a percentage-based 3 set maximum effort or a total-reps lift with bodybuilding-type exercises, higher-rep lifting, and a "finisher" - basically a conditioning workout. Each is preceded by an identical warmup, featuring foam rolling, stretching, and mobility drills.

The template seems very solid, and it's well laid out for older guys who need more recovery - or even for young guys who just can't get to the gym more than 3x a week. There is no discussion of how to approach improving the percentages for later weeks, or how long to progress without changing the workout. This is presumably covered in the ebook. But the template in conjuction with the five rules is a good example of a stripped-down but effective workout. It's enough work to get you a training effect, but short enough to get in and out of the gym quickly and efficiently. And however easy this looks on paper, I'm sure it won't be if you try it.

The article is well worth the time to read it, even if you aren't a "washed-up meathead" - an experienced trainee looking for a fresh approach.

Link Recommendation: The Miles Austin Project

One of the products of DeFranco's Training is an NFL player named Miles Austin. He's interesting to me because he can from a lower-tier school in New Jersey. Sheer work and dedication and a quality coaching program put him into the NFL Combine and from there into the NFL. He's an undrafted player who is now playing, and setting records, in the NFL.

Joe DeFranco posted up his original powerpoint slides from a lecture he did on Miles's program and progress. It's a nice snapshot of his before and after, long before he got to the NFL. There isn't a lot of detail on the slides, but it's enough to be interesting to look at, knowing where this guy ended up.

Supersetting Speed with Strength

I recently (re-)read an article by Joe DeFranco on EliteFTS called "Strength and Flexibility Exercises for Fighters."

This article is a bit old (I think it's from 2007) so it's not hot news. But it incorporates something very interesting - a superset of maximal effort with sports-specific speed training.

Here is the first workout's exercise superset:

A1. 14-inch barbell bench press with chains, six sets of three reps

A2. Heavy bag straight punches, six sets of 15 seconds: Throw straight punches (alternating between the right and left hand) for 15 seconds. Do three sets from a right-handed stance and three sets from a left-handed stance. Rest three minutes after each superset.

Generally, speed work is using a sub-maximal load to allow you to move it quickly. Westside Barbell calls this DE or "Dynamic Effort." Dr. Squat calls it CAT or Compensatory Acceleration Training. The load is light enough to allow you to move it fast but heavy enough to elicit a training effort.

In plain terms, it's heavy enough to get you stronger, and light enough to teach you to lift fast, which carries back over into your really heavy lifting. There is a minimum weight - baseball players don't have huge shoulders from throwing over-90 mph fastballs, because the ball is too light to elicit more gains.

But here, the idea is a bit different. To quote further:

After your heavy pressing movement [. . .] the motor units are still activated from the lifting. Throwing the punches while the motor units are still in a heightened state will help to “synchronize” them. This will help your strength from the lifting to become “specific” to the movement you’re trying to improve upon (in this case, punching).

So as I understand it, the idea is to prime the muscles (and get them stronger) with maximal pressing, and then immediately practice the sports-specific motion you're trying to strengthen to tie the movements together.

I haven't really had a chance to try this myself, or investigate it further. But just as a training idea for fighters, it's an interesting one. Combining a strength movement with a sports-specific contact drill (to ensure you aren't decelerating to avoid injury, you're striking a real target) seems like it can be a very useful tool in the toolbox.