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Disclaimer
You must get your physicians approval before beginning this exercise program. These
recommendations are not medical guidelines but are for educational purposes only. You
must consult your physician prior to starting this program or if you have any medical
condition or injury that contraindicates physical activity. This program is designed for
healthy individuals 18 years and older only.
The information in this manual is meant to supplement, not replace, proper exercise
training. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. The editors and publishers
advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits. Before
practicing the exercises in this manual, be sure that your equipment is well-maintained,
and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training and fitness. The
exercises and dietary programs in this book are not intended as a substitute for any
exercise routine or treatment or dietary regimen that may have been prescribed by your
physician.
See your physician before starting any exercise or nutrition program. If you are taking
any medications, you must talk to your physician before starting any exercise program,
including The Mass Report. If you experience any lightheadedness, dizziness, or
shortness of breath while exercising, stop the movement and consult a physician.
Dont perform any exercise unless you have been shown the proper technique by a
certified personal trainer or certified strength and conditioning specialist. Always ask for
instruction and assistance when lifting. Dont perform any exercise without proper
instruction. Always do a warm-up prior to strength training and interval training.
You must have a complete physical examination if you are sedentary, if you have high
cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes, if you are overweight, or if you are over 30
years old. Please discuss all nutritional changes with your physician or a registered
dietician. If your physician recommends that you dont use The Mass Report, please
follow your doctors orders.
Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved. DeFrancos Training and Diesel Strength, LLC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Top 10 Muscle Building Tips
Jim Smith
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AUDIO BONUSES
Eliminate Bench Press Sticking Points
Mark Bell
Top 5 Strength Training Exercises for Athletes
Joe DeFranco
Recommended Resources
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INTRODUCTION
Ive been addicted to training ever since I picked up my first
weight as a scrawny 98lb wrestler in high school who, at the time,
could barely do 10 push-ups.
Over the past 26 years, Ive learned some very hard lessons in
gym and have been through it all. Ive been injured, Ive
plateaued, and Ive done a lot of things wrong. But because I
loved how training made me feel and how it helped me clear my
mind, I kept at it.
One of the biggest lessons Ive learned after training for and
completing the SEALFIT challenge in 2012, was that we are
capable of much more than we ever thought possible.
If you are willing to take that chance, great things can happen.
You find out that the harder you push yourself in the gym, the
easier life becomes. The obstacles that used to stop you in your
tracks - sometimes for days, weeks, or even months can be
smashed as long as you just keep going.
Use training to forge an iron will and take that with you into your
life. The confidence, the mental toughness, the relentlessness, a
powerful and unbeatable mind can all be harnessed through
physical training and be used to achieve your own personal
greatness.
In the ebook, I am going to share with you some of the things that
Ive learned over the years and give you a better starting point
then I had.
In your quest for building muscle and getting stronger, there are
several principles that you must adhere to if you want to make
continuous progress and remain injury-free.
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JIM SMITH
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What I found was that warming up awakens the body and helps
you get a good sweat going before you even touch a weight. It
helps lengthen your muscles and gets them to work better. This
means you can maintain better form when you lift AND lift at your
best potential.
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STEP 1
SMR
STEP 2
Mobility
STEP 3
Activation
STEP 4
Movement
Rehearsal
COMPLEX
AMPED Warm-up 4-Step Process
Step 1: SMR
SMR or self-myofascial release is a self-massage where you use
foam rollers, lacrosse balls, softballs, baseballs and whatever else
you want to help massage your muscles. The research that I have
read says that using these implements for a self-massage may
help to relax the soft-tissues of your body so they release back to
their original length. This means your muscles will work better
and contract harder, i.e., you will get stronger and be able to get
maintain better form.
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Step 2: Mobility
Dynamic mobility movements such as squat-to-stand or various
band traction movements help to open up our bodies. If we
unlock our movement, we can get into better positions, move
through a great range of motion with more control, and get
stronger, faster. These types of flowing exercises may help to
make our muscles, fascia, tendons, and ligament more elastic and
reactive.
Step 3: Activation
This is where we get the muscles working again that have not
been doing their jobs. This happens when we lose good posture
typically at the hips and upper back and the muscles get downregulated. During the warm-up, it becomes critical to get these
muscles firing again so that we can feel better and lift more
weights.
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The same goes for not drinking enough water throughout the day.
It is typically recommended you drink half your bodyweight in
ounces throughout the day. But I recommend much more if you
train on a regular basis. Being dehydrated causes our muscles and
soft-tissues in our body to get glued down and this changes how
well they slide over one another. This is a big problem, especially
if you are trying to perform your best in the gym and get into a
good position when under the bar.
Finally, throughout the warm-up and for every exercise you do,
you should always be trying to keep good posture. This means
your hips, spine and head should be in a straight line regardless
of what youre doing. Kelly Starrett calls this, organizing the
spine first. Like I said, however, maintaining good posture can be
very difficult if you dont learn to how to breathe deeper
(diaphragmatically, or into your belly) and drink enough water.
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When you train, you want to train with the greatest efficiency as
possible. This means picking exercises that will challenge multiple
muscle groups at once and push you hard in the gym.
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UPPER BODY
Exercises
UPPER BODY
Exercises
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Push-ups
Pull-ups
Chin-ups
Military Press
Dips
Power Cleans
Power Clean & Press
Back Squats
Front Squats
Box Squats Conventional
Deadlifts Sumo Deadlifts
Trap Bar Deadlifts
Rack Pulls
Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs) Hip
Thrusts
Lunges
The problem with these exercises, and all heavy training, is that
you need make sure your form is on point. Because, as you
progress, youll be adding more and more weight on the bar. And
if your form is terrible, then youre just asking for big problems.
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If you benched 225 for 10 reps last workout, you need to try and
get 11 reps. Or, if you went through a workout and took 90
seconds between each exercise, you should try and keep the rest
periods to 60 seconds. This is called the Principle of Progressive
Overload.
Pushing yourself just a little harder will force your body to adapt
and overcome this new stress.
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But, if is not enough to just perform 6-8 reps for an exercise with
an easy weight, you have to choose a weight where you are able
to just get that last rep (with good form) and no more. It is all
about intensity and pushing hard, not just getting the reps
written on the piece of paper.
Are these set in stone? Hell no. They are arbitrary numbers. But
they are a good starting point for anyone and have worked for me
over the years.
Like I said, the key is pushing yourself to try and create a change
in your muscles.
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Study:
The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and Their Application to
Resistance Training
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Modifying the tempo is just one training effect that can make
your set and your time in the gym much more efficient.
Notice that I didnt say to press the weight back out to lockout
slow and controlled as well. During the pressing (concentric)
phase, you always want to drive into the bar as hard as you can.
This type of training will increase your strength, power and recruit
more motor units. And, remember, life and moving in the real
world is not slow and controlled. Whenever you perform a
concentric movement, make sure you move the bar with bad
intentions.
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With that being said, not everyone can do this. Previous injuries,
lack of mobility and stability, and poor technique can all prevent
you from performing an exercise the way it is intended.
This means that not everyone should hit a full range exercise.
This can predispose them to injury and hurt them in the long run.
The smarter way to approach a new exercise, or one that youve
been doing for years with bad form, is just to start over.
Take the weight off the bar and start from scratch. Learn the
proper positions you need to get in for each exercise and how to
create tension through the full execution of the lift. Only stay in a
range of motion where you can perform the exercise the right
way. For example, a high box can be used to train and reinforce
The MASS Report
Copyright 2013, by Jim Smith. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dieselsc.com
27
Refer to Tip # 3 for how to bench, squat and deadlift and get
with a qualified trainer to fill in the other gaps in your technique.
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Partials can be used with t-bar rows, curls, lat pull downs, db
shoulder presses, tricep extensions, posterior flyes, side laterals just to name a few.
Finally, partials should be cycled into your workouts and not used
every training session. Even though they are very effective, they
are very taxing to your muscles and require lots of recovery.
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Using finishers after your main sets is a great way to get more
volume into your workouts and push yourself mentally to another
level.
These are type of guys who dont just get through a workout, they
give everything theyve got for every set.
The MASS Report
Copyright 2013, by Jim Smith. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dieselsc.com
30
A good training partner will give you a good spot and also help
you get through the end of a set getting every rep you can without killing yourself.
And, if you train with the same guys for a long time, they will learn
how to spot you. Remember, everyone is different and the spot
for everyone is different. As an example, some guys go on a count
and some guys go on a breath.
From the hand off for the bench, to knowing when youre going to
fail mid-rep during a squat, good training partners know you and
are always there.
Yes, it is your mind that gives you the intensity and drive for each
set and every rep, but a good training partner can give you an
edge.
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You have to give it your all if you want results. It doesnt matter if
youre hitting your warm-up sets or your max effort work, tense
your body, focus your mind, and drive the weight.
Doubt can also creep in when you leave the gym and know you
just did the workout in your notebook. Just getting through a
workout isnt what training is all about.
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Because the harder you train in the gym, the better prepared
youll be for whatever life throws at you in the real world.
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JIM WENDLER
jimwendler.com
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Squat
Build your Back and Abs Every lift requires you to have a strong
midsection but I dont think people realize how strong it has to be.
A couple sets of sit-ups is not going to cut it. And doing the latest
abdominal activation exercise being pumped on the internet is a
sure way to get out of quality work. You must raise your
expectations. Your abs and low/mid back must be trained with
low/mid level weights for high reps. I recommend you use a
variety of low back exercises from easy movements (Reverse
Hypers, back raises) to high rep straight leg deadlifts (20+ reps)
The MASS Report
Copyright 2013, by Jim Smith. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dieselsc.com
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Press
Use your hips Although the strict press does not use your legs, a
strict press is still a total body movement. Along with a strong
mid-section (see above as it still relates to the press), learning to
use your hips when you press is essential to starting strength in
the press. People screw around with dead stop presses to help
improve their body position but this is nothing more than an
unathletic solution to an athletic problem. The start of the press
is much like a jump everything must be activated to get the bar
moving. Straight legs and a shove of the hips into the bar is a
subtle movement but essential to having a strong press. The next
time you press think about it as a hip movement to get started.
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Deadlift
Row Dumbbell rows are one of the best assistance exercises for
all lifts. It helps your bench, press and deadlift. With the added
caveat of it being easy on your lower back, the dumbbell row is a
great way to help lock out strength in the deadlift. When you
take off the straps, the high rep dumbbell row (aka Kroc Rows)
has the added benefit of being the best grip strengthener for
heavy pulls.
One thing at a time There are way too many deadlift articles out
there. Way too many. Too many tips and too many experts
telling you what is the correct way to deadlift. At the end of the
day, its just a deadlift so dont overanalyze the movement of
picking up a barbell. With all the articles and tips, it is easy to
overthink the lift, WHILE you lift. I always limit each lift to ONE
cue per set. This could be a form thing Ass downAss down or a
mental thing STRONG AS FUCK! but whatever it is, it is just
one thing. Dont clutter your lifts with unnecessary baggage.
There is already enough weight on the bar so dont make it any
heavier.
The MASS Report
Copyright 2013, by Jim Smith. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dieselsc.com
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