Freak Strength 2

Man of Steel, www.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved. Underground Strength Coach, LLC, The Dieselcrew, LLC. 1

Undergr ound St St rengt h Training Secret ecret s for Developi De velopi ng Freak Freak St St reng t h and Rugg Rugg ed Muscle Muscle


Jim Smith, CSCS / Zach Even-Esh Copyri ght © 2009 , All All Right s Re Rese served rved Undergr ound Str engt h Coach, Coach, LLC LLC / The Diesel Diesel Crew Crew , LLC LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this special report e-book 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 Jim Smith or Zach Even-Esh. We have unique tracking codes embedded, designed to detect illegal distribution of this special report e-book and and the download links. Each download is recorded. recorded. Fines start at $150,000 and include a possible prison sentence upon conviction.



Introduction If you want to get brutally strong and powerful as well as having the look of thick, dense muscle then it’s tim e to train Underground. Many decades and even centuries ago the greatest lifters and most dominant athletes looked strong AND actually were brutally strong! They were what we would call “All Show and ALL Go!”

Nowadays too many people look strong but can’t perform with high levels of strength and power. And if they are strong, their strength has no endurance, it lasts only a few minutes or maybe only one minute, and no more. This is what happens when you follow pretty workouts that revolve around high tech equipment, isolation movements and going for the “pump”.

We’re after what many coin as “Real World Strength” or “Functional Strength”. You need to be strong, athletic and highly conditioned.

The simple fact is that training is supposed to be hard and the human body is supposed to be strong, there are no two ways about these facts. This is how results will come about.

You’re gonna have to earn your st rengt h and m uscle. In this special report you’re going to learn that it doesn’t take anything fancy to develop the look of a Gladiator. Show me someone who is satisfied with their strength and they are likely satisfied with everything else around them far too easily.

The men of the “golden era” and prior lifted anything that would yield results in strength and muscle gains. This is how I train and this is how I train my athletes. Man of Steel, www.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved. Underground Strength Coach, LLC, The Dieselcrew, LLC. 5

The results are superior to any of the fancy training methods out there and you can experience the same if you’re ready to put in the work.

•

stones

•

heavy barbells lifts with two hands and one hand

•

heavy kettlebells

•

climbing rope

•

pressing & rowing heavy thick handle dumbbells from all angles

•

Focused on ground based lifts (very little was performed lying down and nothing was performed sitting down, unlike many of today’s “popular” programs)

•

Partner gymnastics based movements, acrobatics, hand balancing and ring training

These men also trained with higher volume and frequency than what many are accustomed to today. Ask an athlete nowadays what extra training he does and the majority do little to nothing.

The difference was that back then, the choices of exercises were not many, so they practiced the compound lifts with frequency, and because they practiced so often, they gained GREAT skill (i.e. STRENGTH) in these lifts.


bove, Al n Mead, irca 1924 . Alan los t his leg i

W W I a d decide

t o t ake act ion by lift ing heavy as his m thod of r ecovery w here mos t people w ould ha ve made xcuses a nd given ex cuses fo r

p. There are NO

odern d y Gladiat rs.

The e lifts wer ALL compound lifts nd packed on slabs of rugged muscle very quic ly. Becau e these m n practice these ba ic lifts reg larly, they also had high work capa ity, which is what m st people lack today.

When an athlete begins tr ining at T e Under roun d St engt h Gy m in Edis n, NJ, we build them up to han ling heavy weights for more tha n just one set.

e don’t

ant your b dy shutting down on you when you need it to work.

The right style f training

ill promote physical and mental toughnes .

With regards to volume, t e men of he Golden Era did not perform

any

different move ents, inst ad, they performed 1 – 4 move ents per

orkout,

and

orked their ass off on each mo ement. an of Steel, w w.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights eserved. Under round Strength Coach, LLC, Th Dieselcrew, LL . 7

Bod building L gends suc as Sergio Oliva & R bby Robin on would erform countless supersets of be ch pressin and pull ps for the upper bod . Squats and Romanian

eadlifts for the lowe body.

The were also strong as ell with these lifts and had the Long Stre gth” I continue to talk about.

Vari ty is great for stimulating the mind and bo y and it is a necessa y aspect o impr vement.

ith too little variety, our body dapts to the stimuli nd

progress slows.

an of Steel, w w.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights eserved. Under round Strength Coach, LLC, Th Dieselcrew, LL . 8

But, what the

en of The Golden Er did to co bat their l ck of vari ty was to

constantly striv to break R’s (Personal Records). And be ause they always got stro ger, they onsistently added muscle.

Unli e many of today’s men who wor k out and void the i tensity required to break records, hese men of might moved weig ts that sh ck many of the most advanced lifter’ s of today.

Don’ t think for ne second that you eed a fancy place to rain at or ancy equi ment to t ain with. I started ou in my par nt’s garage which w s FRE ZING cold and all I h d was a c appy 300 lb Olympic set from C stco, a pair of 5 & 100 lb

B’s and a gun rack hich I use for squat ing. I used an old tool an of Steel, w w.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights eserved. Under round Strength Coach, LLC, Th Dieselcrew, LL . 9

box o elevate the flat bench for incli e dumbbell benching. Wasn’t p etty but it work ed.

Not

y surpris , I got stro ng as hec and I pac ed on rug ed muscle faster tha

ever before in that tight s ace in my Dad’s garage, all bec use I was limited to goin heavy and basics only! I am u ing the word “limited’ loosely here, these were great “limits” to hav !


On the weekends, I would take a trip to a different gym to change things up a bit. One weekend I was training at a Gold’s Gym, and the kid at the front counter started chatting with me after my workout as he wondered where I trained since he never saw me before.

When I told him I train at home in my garage his jaw dropped! He asked how I got so big training in a garage! I told him all about the need for basics, heavy weights and intensity. The young kid was a wrestler, and he got to talking about his workouts at this fancy Gold’s Gym (I wish the original Gold’s Venice was the norm for gyms of today). His workouts revolved around all the machines and fancy equipment most of which were isolation movements.

BI G MI STAKE, especially for a w restler !

Movements that had him sitting down and lying down were common place for his training. I started chatting with him about George Hackenschmidt , the great wrestler who was also incredibly strong, even at the young age of 19. We spoke about heavy Olympic lifting, powerlifting, heavy ground based lifts and overhead presses. His eyes lit up and we mapped out a simple Underground program that had him training three days a week.


Ab ve, Geor e Hacke schmidt, The Russiian Lion, porting a seriously rugg d physiq e!

Back then I wa still body uilding an using a s lit workout template. But, I wa training more like a powe r – bodyb uilder. Nevertheless, the program I was follo ing was

orking BIG time and

kept getting stronger and bigg r.

In a dition, I was coachin wrestling at the tim and had o problem wrestling with other athl tes without resting. I would go or 20 - 30 minutes non stop wit the ounger wr stlers.

This conditioni g and wre tling made me stronger and im roved my bility to tolerate intense workouts. This is coi ed “work apacity”. ou can’t j st be big and strong, yo must also be highly onditioned and wrestling and other comba spor s are a gr at addition if you wa t to be a ad Ass!


The reater str ngth developments I gained re ulted in improved str ngth end rance & p wer endur nce, whic was som thing I ne er had be ore (back whe I was doing the traditional gym workouts .

Let’ t ake a look at m y old schoo l power – bodybuil ing split workout f ro

t he gara ge days:

Day 1: Should ers, Arm s

1) BB hang clean 4 –

x 3 – 5 re ps

2) 1 arm D laterals ( eavy) 2 – 3 x 6 – 12 each 3) bent over DB laterals 2 – 3 x – 12 reps 4) BB shru s 2 – 3 x 15 – 20 rep 5 A) BB cheat curls 3 x 5 – 10 rep 5B) lying D extensions 3 x 5 – 1 reps


Day 2: Legs

1) BB back squat wor ed up to 2 x 12 – 20 reps (I onl had 300 lbs so the reps were higher than normal 2) DB lung variations 3 x 6 – 10 each 3) BB RDL

– 3 x 10

4) 1 legged calf raise

20 reps ith Dumb ell 4 x 10-20 reps


Day 3: Chest & Back

1A) Flat Bench Press – work up to 2 Heavy Sets x 3 – 5 reps 1B) 1 arm DB rows – 1 warm up set at 50 lbs, then all remaining sets at 100 lbs for 15- 20 reps each arm 2A) Incline DB bench 3 x 5 – 10 reps 2B) bent over BB row 3 x 5 – 10 reps 3A) incline or flat DB flys 2 x 6 – 10 reps 3B) feet elevated push ups 2 x max reps

At the end or beginning of each workout I worked abs and / or calves. I also hit the forearms with some traditional wrist curls at the end of upper body days since that was all the grip training I knew of back then. Here and there I would throw in some DB curls and close grip benching for the arms, but not too often.

I did have an influence from a Rogue Lift er whom I met back when I was only 14 years old. His name was George. I was trying to mimic the way George trained at the old YMCA yet I enjoyed the variety of several movements as opposed to working one or two movements over and over so I modified his workouts into my own. I never rested much between sets which was great for improving work capacity.

George w as a beast of a m an I used to train alongside at the OLD Metuchen,

NJ YMCA. Back then, the Y was the typical golden era style gym: lots of york plates and round head dumbbells, dip bars, pull up bars, a york isometric rack and plenty of benches. What a gem this place was. It’s a shame it had to go.

George used to train movements, not muscle groups. He would perform 1 or 2 exercises per workout for endless sets, I noticed his LONG time periods spent on each of the movements he chose. Man of Steel, www.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved. Underground Strength Coach, LLC, The Dieselcrew, LLC. 15

It w s typical f r George the Beast t train one movement for up to 5 minutes at a time. usually his work outs were ust 2 mov ments. Hi favorites eemed to be t e Romani n dead lift (RDL), the bench press, weight d dips, barbell cheat curls, skull crushers, etc.

Wha a freak this guy was, built like olid rock! nd boy w s he in sh pe, restin only 30 – 60 seconds bet een HEAV sets and never slowed his inte sity!

Tod y, someone mows th lawn and they feel exhausted the rest of the day an una le to work out. Or, th ey go to th e beach a d the rest f the day heir exhausted because of the sun. Come on, that’s Bull Shit! Let’s see so e physical and mental tou hness ha pening ag in!


FARM BOY TRAI NI NG In the early and mid 1900’s young kids worked 12 hours or more every day on a farm performing manual labor. Nothing bad ever happened to them!

My wife’s cousin grew up in Pa. and his father always had him working with him on weekends or around the house during the week, all of which required manual labor. This kid was always moving stones, cutting down trees, digging ditches, swinging a sledge hammer or axe, pushing wheel barrows and carrying sandbags or mulch. His work ethic and work capacity was second to none.

When he was working on my house, he noticed my climbing rope in the back yard hanging from the tree and he climbed up with ease using no leg assistance. He then told me I need to get a longer rope on a higher branch! This is the same kid who cut down the trees in my back yard and left me a few logs. He KNEW I would find a use for them when training my athletes and he was 100 % accurate.

We started using the logs for all our carries and lower body movements and our wrestlers benefited immensely from their use! There’s something to be said for the people growing up on farms or working in tire yards / junk yards. They all seem to have that freak strength that so many others struggle for through the weight room yet never achieve.


BASI C LI FTI NG Let’s take a look at the basic lift s you will want to incorporate on a regular basis. The extra isolation movements which will NOT be listed are simply icing on the cake and you can incorporate the isolation movements on your own with your own discretion.

Key: BB = barbell DB = dumbbell

•

BB hang clean & press (or push press)

•

BB military press (or push press)

•

BB high pull

•

BB power clean or hang clean

•

BB bent over row (overhand and underhand grip)

•

1 arm DB rows

•

DB swings

•

DB hammer cheat curls

•

BB cheat curls

•

1 arm DB snatch

•

1 arm DB clean and press (or push press)

•

BB back squat

•

BB deadlift variations (RDL, Snatch Grip DL)

•

BB or DB floor press

•

Mixed grip pull ups

•

Parallel bar dips

•

Push Up Variations Man of Steel, www.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved. Underground Strength Coach, LLC, The Dieselcrew, LLC. 18

Now, the abov list is incr dibly simple, but, if y ou chose

-3 of the bove

mov ments for each work ut and wo rked at th m incredibly hard 3 – 4 x week you

ill develo freakish strength an a physiq e that will shock others!

ent over BB row s

ith a thi k bar, a

ust have for devel oping a

r ugged an d mu scul r back! T he thick b ar adds p lenty t o t e grip!


Sure, the list a ove may very well be completel different han what ou are curr ntly doing as well as what others in your g m are doi g.

You w ill be sk ipping th

lat pull

owns, th e concent ration cur ls, t he le

ex t nsions, t e seat ed machine resses a d all the other cra exer cises. I t ’s time to t rain mov ment s, N OT ust e ercises.

Let’s hit the we ights hard nd heavy in the 1 – 0 range ( nless perf rming calis henics), a d once a

eek perfo m a high r p workou with light r weights

with a rep range anywher from 12

50 reps p r set.

Yep, you read that correctly, all the

ay up to 50 reps!


High rep training can be a great catalyst for building muscle. It is also very challenging, so be mentally prepared to push through the pain zone when your muscles are screaming with fatigue.

After training hard for 2 – 3 weeks, take one week and train light but also stop your sets way before any serious intensity is required. The “holding back” will allow your mind and body to recover, and when you return to the intense training one week later, your body will have compensated and reaped the rewards of your training.

Along with quality nutrition and this “old school, Underground” style of training you will quickly begin developing a rugged physique.

Remember, we reap the rewards of our training through proper rest an d nutrition. Part of your discipline will be resting when you may really want to train. Discipline means doing what you have to do and what is best for you, not what you want to do! What you want to do has nothing to do with what is best for you!


Ab ve, Georg e Hackenschmidt - kn w n as th e 'Russian Lion', w as a brutally st rong, po erful and j acked w rest ler fr m t he ea rly 1900’s . “ Hack” re gularly u ed Russi n Kett leb ells, heav y barbells and dum bbells t o d velop do minating strength, power an d a rugge d body th at many as ire to ac ieve tod y! Hack d id thi s un der w hat many tod ay would consider s * * t y con ditions.

ravel Back in Tim e Wh en Un dergr und raini g w a s t he Norm, NOT t he R r i t y Let’s take a loo at some f the tools they used back in th day, which have mad a comeb ck into tod ay’s traini g for man individuals, athlete or not! I mus warn you though, this training akes guts nd a no f ar attitude! You must


be willing to push yourself and challenge yourself with heavy weights and odd objects. You’ll be sore in places you never felt before.

In the end though, you will reap the rewards of Underground training which is that of obtaining a body that looks strong and powerful while performing with domination! If you think you’re ready then let’s get started!

EQUI PMENT LI ST Below is a list of equipment that you will want to start collecting slowly for your own gym. That’s right, your personal gym – not many gyms are left out there nowadays that cater to the hard core lifter who wants to train raw, in the trenches, NO BS style.

Many of the strongest, best developed physiques were developed in dungeon type gyms that are either in basements, garages or old school gyms.

Don’t forget though, much of the equipment listed here can be obtained for free from junk yards, tire yards or can be made by a local welder. My suggestion is that you investigate your resources and snag the necessities for FREE, then move on and purchase toys if necessary.

Tract or Tires Tire flipping is the ultimate in full body power and strength development. Make sure you don’t curl the weight up. Focus on driving into the tire with your legs while the chest presses against the tire. This will help you jump up quickly and powerfully. Start with lighter tires to perfect your form and prep the body for future heavy loading! Man of Steel, www.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved. Underground Strength Coach, LLC, The Dieselcrew, LLC. 23


The ire flip is one of the

ost effective movem nts for de eloping muscle in

your entire body! I have r utinely pe formed w rkouts tha consisted only of tir flipping and sle dragging!

Sled e Hamme s – Sledge hammers will work y ur grip, y ur core, y ur legs, your shoulders and cardio! It’s also a great way to work in some load d mobility training, which we can all afford to incorporate

obility w rk.

You can swing or high re s or time, using over ead, diag nal and si e swings plus many mor variation ! Try 2 no stop min tes of sledge hamme training and ou will de elop a solid “core” a d rock har d forearms!


Sled e Hammer work to t e sides ar great for building rotational po er through the ore and a great conditioning to l as well. If you have a large tir , just stan up the tire and hit against the tire.

Car ries Anytime you can incorpor te a farmer walk or c rry of so e sort, Do it! These mov ments de elop trem ndous overall strength and mus le size. W utilize man different carry varia ions but t e most ch llenging c rry is HEA Y walks with long farm r handles!

When you begi performi g heavy farmer walk you’ll notice how yo r back and legs get extremely jacked up! There isn’t a mus le in your body whic gets a chance to relax when you perform these walks

EAVY!


You can also carry stones, heavy sandbags, heavy DB’s or any odd o ject you can hink of, th y ALL wor k. The slig t differences add variety to you workouts, keep things fre h and kee the body off guard, which in t rn spurs muscle gro th and str ngth on a regular ba is.

Too much of a ood thing is never a good thing!


bove, Ju do Beast , David Elli s carr ies 135 lb a nvil . Requ ired to d eadlift , t en carr y, t hen squ t d o w n , o mu scle is left ou t of this si ple drill!

Ab ve, w rest ling w ith a sandba during long wal k of heav sandbag arri es. T is man’s ugged ph ysiqu e ca me throu gh all the basics, nothing f ncy, lot o f hard wo rk , consi t ency an determi ation!

The Barbell, KI NG o f t he We ightroo If you’re low o funds, ch ck E Bay or Craigs Li t and snag a 300 lb. sed weight set! You defini ely need t snag you self a bar ell of 300 lbs. or mor . You don t even need a bench or po er rack to et started here. Sim ly performing all the barbell lifts tha are groun based will be plenty. If you ha e a training partner, he c n hand you the bar f r floor presses.


A ove, BB owing in an old Du ngeon lik e gym. I

on’t see nything

f ancy in t at gym, o you?

Squ tting can e done for ultra high reps with a weight th t you can press over ead and get on your back. And, I often get a lot of fl ck for this, but, I don’ think you need to squat to dev lop a stro g and powerful lower body.

You can perfor

high rep walking lu ges with a BB or DB’ , walking cross a

park ing lot for xtra high reps will be BRUTAL on the legs nd can ad tons of stre gth and muscle to th quads, h ms and gl tes!

You can also p rform vari us deadlifts as well as the hack squat, where the BB is held behind the back. In addition, all the groun based lifting and Olympic liftin develops the le s to a gre t extent.

Pu t t i n g it All

oget er

Now that we h ve desissif ied your tr ining, it’s ime to see how you can inco porate all hese tools into a basi program.

Her are a t o very b sic optio s for organizing y ur work uts: an of Steel, w w.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights eserved. Under round Strength Coach, LLC, Th Dieselcrew, LL . 29

1. Perform one movement f or upper body push, upper body pull and a lower body movement w it h a BB or DB . Finish OR start the

workout with one full body movement using one of the odd object lifts listed in The Gri p Expert s E Book (i.e. – tire flip, sandbag or keg shouldering, etc.). Train in this fashion 3 x week on nonconsecutive days, all workouts are full body workouts. 2. Perform t hree w orkouts per w eek w ith the follow ing split: upper body one day, low er body the next day, full body th e final day.

Your full body day will be ALL odd object / underground style training. Training should be performed on nonconsecutive days.

The two samples above are very general, but guess what, BIG strength and muscle comes from generalizing your strength, not isolating it!

Here is a sample w orkout from t he at hletes at m y Underground St rengt h Gym i n NJ. This crew came in and performed a full body workout

with strongman lifting only. After a warm up, they performed the workout below:

1) Farmer Walks: 1 light, 1 medium, 1 very heavy set x 200’

2) Tire Flip 1 warm up set, 2 Heavy x 5 reps

3) Sled Drag on cement 3 x 200’ mixing forwards and backwards dragging and then pulling the sled rope hand over hand at the end of each drag.

When the workout was finished, an ab circuit is performed, then recovery and mobility work as well.


If our athletes eel strong it’s not od for us to erform 2 - 3 hard sets of the stro gman Log Clean & Press. Each et is perfo med eithe for time ( 0 second ) or for reps in t e 3 - 10 range.

I will always re ember th t hole in t e wall YM A I traine at when

was 14.

There was som jacked u dudes moving enor ous weights in that gym. They had ery little i the way f variety but man did they look like they could knock hou e down wi h their str ngth and ize! Many f those lif ers were i fluenced by t e training of The Gol den Era, o heavy b sics were he common theme.

Combine some of these principles, methods and movements with wh t you kno work s for you and you will be well o your way to surpassing all the thers who follo

the so c lled “rules of getting big and st ong!

Now the rest is up to you! Make It Happen! In Strength, Zach Even – Esh h t t p : / / Zach E en-Esh.c m P.S. – Try m y 30 day tr ial memb ership at The Unde rground b y clicking HERE an of Steel, w w.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights eserved. Under round Strength Coach, LLC, Th Dieselcrew, LL . 31


Introduction Nothing says a freak like a thick set of forearms. In fact, when you’re in the gym or on the field, your grip strength is crucial in everything you do.

If you can’t hold the weight or hold your sport’s implement, then you’re screwed. You have to spend time in the gym developing your hands, forearms and arms.

This will be the key to creating full body tension and hitting personal records. For your quick reference, there are 5 components of grip strength: •

Crush – crushing your fingers through a distance, examples include

grippers and sandbag training •

Support – statically supporting a weight where the fingers oppose the

thumb and the fingers support the load, exercises include deadlifts, rack holds, thick bar lifting •

Pinch - statically pinching your hands where your fingers and thumb are

parallel to each other, examples include plate pinch •

Wrist Postu res – ulnar / radial deviation, wrist flexion extension and

supinations / pronations, examples include sledgehammer levering and power rope training •

Hand Healt h – exercises that promote hand health and muscle balance,

examples include shot rotations, contrast baths and rubberband extensions Man of Steel, www.manofsteelchallenge.com Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved. Underground Strength Coach, LLC, The Dieselcrew, LLC. 33

Lacrosse / Tennis Ball Pull -u ps While performing pull-ups, hold lacrosse balls in your hands. This requires an insane amount of focus, finger and wrist strength. Make sure to hit singles until you become proficient at this exercise.


Tow el Pull- ups (Dynamic Support ) To make the bar “thicker” we wrap a towel around the bar. This is different than typical pull-ups with towels where you have the towels hanging down. With this version we are actually wrapping the towel around the bar itself. This is hard as hell and you have to be ready for a battle.


Rollin g Axle Pull- ups This exercise is ridiculously hard. Make no mistake. Take an axle and put it ON TOP OF your power cage. Now perform pull-ups. There are two things working against you: the fact that the axle is thicker; and that the axle is able to roll freely over the top of the cage. This is amazingly difficult and will require a high level of grip strength.

Com bat Push-u ps Version 1 Here is a version of push-ups focusing on finger and wrist strength. Take two 5 lb plates and pinch them together while you perform push-ups.


Com bat Push-u ps Version 2 Focusing now on ulnar and radial deviation strength, we are now utilizing a dowel rod. You have to squeeze extremely hard to keep your knuckles off the ground during the movement.

Com bat Push-u ps Version 3 We switch the dowels around in the hands and focus on the other side of the wrist. Stay tight and focus on the tension from the back to the hands.


Thum b Trainin g Many athletes and lifters who participate in sports at sometime injure their fingers and especially the thumb. This exercise, using a simple key chain lanyard, is a way to target the injury and focus on the strengthening the area. With all rehab exercises, lots of volume should be utilized.


KYAO ( Knock Yo Ass Out ) This exercise I created about 5 years ago when I started working with MMA athletes. It works finger adduction strength which is NEVER targeted with any training. But, it is so important for creating great tension with a fist and protecting the hands and wrists when punching. Take an Ironmind Eagle Loop strap and tie it around a dumbbell handle. Then place each strap BETWEEN the fingers. Make a tight fist and lift the dumbbell and hold for time.


Tow el Pron at e and Cur l Thread a towel through a carabineer at the bottom of a cable stack and hold it tight to your side. Internally rotate your hand (pronate) and then curl the weight. The towel adds a thicker implement to grip and the cable keeps constant tension throughout the movement.


Cr ush Cur ls By gripping the dumbbell on the ends, you not only create a great amount of tension, you engage more of the chest and upper back. You can perform this movement on the preacher bench or standing. Your fingers will also be getting a great workout when doing this exercise.


Tow el Barbell Cur ls Loop two towels around the barbell and grip them while you perform curls. After performing this exercise for several workouts you’ll notice an incredible increase in strength when you go back to just utilizing the barbell without the towels.


Around t he Worlds Perform a two hand pinch with plates and when the weight is locked out start walking your hands around the outside of the plates. Walk your hands around both CW and CCW. This develops serious dynamic pinch grip strength.


Blockw eight Cur ls (By t he Face) Pinch a blockweight by the face and perform reverse curls with it. You’ll notice you’ll have to fight to keep the blockweight in your grasp throughout the movement because the weight will be shifting.



Undergr ound St rengt h Coach Recom m ended Resour ces Here is a list of my favorite web sites, products, training tools and resources.

Enjoy! My Blog - Lessons in Lifting, Life, Business and Success!

Underground Strength Coach 30 Day Trial - Private Videos and Membership Forum giving you inside access to my coaching and advanced training methods as well as unshared info from industry leaders.

15 Minute Muscle - The training I utilized when the shit hit the fan! Back when I was working countless hours and trying to squeeze it all in, trying to balance being a husband and father, working 9 - 5, building a internet business, building and managing my Underground Strength Gym and STILL training hard and heavy!

If I did it so can you, perfect for the Busy Man.

Underground Strength System - The Entire Underground Collection: 3 training manuals, The Beast Strength Program and The Underground Freak Strength Audio Collection!

Underground Kettlebells - The Best Kettlebells in the World. Period.


The Underground Sandbag - Built for use and abuse and of course, getting you Strong as Hell!

The Purposeful Primitive - One of my Favorite books, revealing some of the most amazing methods, stories and insider secrets on how the strongest, most muscular men in the world trained!

The Lost Secrets of Strength Seminar - Joe DeFranco and I unleash our training secrets and take a crew of hard core Strength Coaches through the workout of their life!

Kettlebells for Combat - The Most Kick Ass DVD Set on Kettlebell training. Period. This course has stayed under the radar for too long, now you can get your hands on it HERE.

The Sandbag Assault - F**K the Gym! Make a sandbag and train at home, in your garage, backyard or basement. Scare the s**t out of your neighbors and onlookers but you’ll also get Jacked and Strong as a Beast.

Grip Experts - The Ultimate Resource on developing Real World, Functional Strength and hand of steel that crush like Vise Grips.

The Russian Lion Power Course - The definitive training course on how one of the strongest men in the world developed his body and mind.

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