Hanging leg raises are a staple in Convict Conditioning and progressive calisthenics. They are certainly one of the best core exercises by far. The dip bar leg raise is the second cousin to the hanging variety and it offers some unique challenges. It requires more shoulder and back stability, plus it can engage your pushing chain more than the hanging …
Are Pull Ups Enough to Grow Your Biceps?
Many calisthenics guys claim you don’t need to do curls since pull ups are enough to work your biceps. Gym rats will claim this simply isn’t true and you need to curl as if your gains depended on it. So what’s the story? The answer kind of falls somewhere in the grey area between the two. Pull ups are certainly …
The Quick & Easy Fix to Your Fitness
We’re told there is no quick and easy fix in fitness. That the road is long and hard. That anywhere worth going is going to be one trial after another. Building muscle, losing weight and any fitness related goal is going to have it’s trials for sure, but is the “no easy fix’ idea sending us the wrong message? Can …
What Makes a Workout Routine Effective?
I get asked a lot if I think someone’s workout routine is going to be effective. I’m humbled by the fact that someone trusts me enough to open up to me and ask me what I think. That said, I usually don’t know if it’s going to be an effective routine or not. This is because success in fitness, building …
When Are Diet & Exercise Details Important?
There’s no shortage of detailed information concerning diet and exercise information. It seems everywhere you look some expert is suggesting the smallest details concerning you habits can make or break your success. It can all be very confusing. You can get lost in the maze of details around what to eat after a workout alone. Should you drink a protein …
Build Raw Strength w/ Towel Assist Pull Up
Progressive pull ups are one of the best ways to build more raw strength and muscle in your upper body. The issue is where do you go once you’ve accomplished close pull ups? The answer is to use towel assist pull ups! They may look simple and maybe even a bit easy, but they are a real challenge. Check out …
3 Mental Weight Loss Barriers w/ Catherine Taylor
“75% of Weight Loss is Mental” -Catherine Taylor Catherine Taylor is a master when it comes to the emotional and mental side of fitness and weight loss. Understanding the science behind weight loss is only a small piece of the puzzle, and few people understand this like Catherine. In today’s podcast, I sit down with her talk about 3 of the …
How to Break Free From Your Work Out
Have you ever considered just how artificial and confining a workout is? How about how it seems to require that you put your life on hold so you can go and exercise like it’s some sort of a chore? What if you could break free and never have to “work out” ever again? How would your life be different? It …
How to Make Fitness Simple and Easy
Many of the struggles to build muscle or lose fat come from the needless obstacles we place in front of ourselves. We are making this whole diet and exercise stuff far too complicated and difficult. It’s not supposed to be so difficult it requires a herculean degree of motivation and will power. You also don’t need to become an expert …
Is Workout Fatigue Good or Bad?
Achieving a high degree of fatigue and exhaustion is a polarizing topic. Some folks love to leave everything they have in the gym or on the trail and come home completely spent. Others don’t like to be dead on their feet and avoid pushing their levels of endurance. I’ve been on both sides of this coin. What I’ve learned is that …
Pull Into Your Squats for Stronger Legs
Believe it or not, if you want to improve the quality of your leg training you need to learn how to “pull” into the bottom of your squats and lunges. It’s not complicated, but it can be tricky to learn at first. In this video. I share a simple technique you can use to use every day to improve your …
Control Fatigue for More Muscle Growth
Muscle fatigue is one of the principles of a good muscle building workout. If you want more muscle you simply need to work more muscle and work it into a higher degree of fatigue. The challenge is being able to do just that. It sounds simple enough, just lift until you can’t lift anymore. The problem is, there are a …
How to Balance Out Emotion and Logic Dominance
Most folks are either emotion or logic strong in their philosophy and approach to fitness. You can check out this post to learn about emotion and logic dominance but here are the cliff notes: Logic dominant individuals: Keep looking for the best and latest science and information. Over-rely on knowing the “right” way to do things or the right program …
Side Plank Progressions for Lateral Chain
Side planks are a staple for training the lateral chain. They also do wonders for the hips which is key if you’re looking to improve leg strength or kicking power. The problem is, there’s not a lot out there regarding how to progress or regress side planks. This causes a lot of folks to just plop down on the floor …
Emotion vs Logic Dominant Fitness Habits
Are you working your tail off and sticking to your diet or exercise plan, but not getting the results you want? Is pushing yourself to your limits the extent of your workout plan? Maybe you’re always looking for that one diet or workout program that’s going to work for you. Are perhaps you feel you know what to do but you …
My Best DIY Suspension Trainer Ever
I’ve been making my own suspension trainers since I first got into calisthenics and bodyweight training almost a decade ago. I’ve spent far too much time and money on one design after the next. Each new model was an improvement in some ways, but was lacking in others. Finally, after many years (and far too many attempts) I’ve come up …
Fix Wrist Pain & Stiffness in Calisthenics
You’re only as strong as your hands and wrists. If your hands and wrists are weak or stiff in these areas it’s going to severly compromise your training. Of course, people look for shortcuts. They wear wrist wraps when doing pull ups, and handles when doing push ups and hand stands. These things are nothing more than a Band Aid …
Build Stronger Legs with Triple Flexion
Imbalanced leg muscles abound! Knee pain, poor balance, awkward movement and a host of other ills plague many calisthenics enthusiasts. Hell, it’s even worse for those who use machines and lift weights. Much of the problem is from not enough flexion with squats and other classic leg exercises. Yes, I said flexion, as in working your muscles that pull you …
Tips For Calisthenics and Fitness Excellence
Excellence in calisthenics and fitness is something we all want, but there are a lot of hurdles in making that happen. Some of them are all in your own mind. Some of them are all around you. Make no mistake, you can achieve far greater results than you currently believe are possible. Just imagine what it would be like to …
Pull Up Elbow Pain Cause and Cure
Elbow tendonitis is one of the few injuries calisthenics athletes need to be on guard for. Many people experience it at one point or another, myself included. I used to struggle with it on and off for years. Thankfully, I’ve been able to get rid of it once and for all through Chain Training and this simple technical adjustment. The …
Best Close Push Ups Hand Position
Your hand position is incredibly important regarding your push ups. All of the tension in your upper body has to flow into your hands which mean if your hand position is off, your whole push up is off. The thing is, just changing your hand position isn’t enough. You also have to take your elbows, shoulders and even your shoulder blades …
How to Fix a Broken Diet
This podcast was inspired by an online lecture I watch by John Berardi Ph.D. from Precision Nutrition. John’s advice is simple, down to earth and, above all, practical for the average man or woman to use. I decided to share with some of the biggest takeaways I got from the lecture including: Why most popular nutrition advice doesn’t really help anyone …
Advanced Bodyweight Training Made Simple
One of the most benefits of the R.D.P and Fitness Independence is you learn the basic principals of fitness while also giving you the freedom and flexibility to apply them as you see fit. That way, you gain both better results and the freedom to be fit on your own terms. For a long time, I’ve been looking to do this …
Plateaus in Weight Lifting vs Calisthenics
Plateaus are a part of life and fitness. They are not all bad however and may even be good for you as they help you establish new set points and prepare you for further progress. But the other day I got a very good question about the potential for hitting a using weights vs hitting a plateau using calisthenics. I …
Big Lessons From Biggest Loser Weight Gain Story
The big news is that many of the contestants from Season 8 of the Biggest Loser TV show have regained a lot of their weight and their metabolic chemistry is running like an ’85 Trans Am. Here’s the article and synopsis of the study if you want to learn more. But here at the RDP, I’m not about bashing, trashing and pointing …
Why Your Muscle Control Sucks and How to Fix It
All success boils down to your ability to create and control the tension in your muscles. When you improve your muscle tension skills you get the following: More muscle More balance More flexibility More power and explosiveness More strength Better performance It all sounds good, but there’s a seriously big catch. Your ability to improve your muscle tension is majorly …
3 Things to Know About Muscle Imbalances
Muscle imbalances are like a virus. They can infect even the most balanced and well-planned workout program. Thankfully, they are not all that dangerous, just as long as you can keep them in check through the following techniques:
4 Tips to Improve Your Muscle Tension Skills
Creating muscle tension is a skill and the better you become at generating and controlling the tension in your muscles the better your results will be. You’ll build more muscle, improve strength, accelerate performance and reduce the risk of injury. The only question is, how do you become good at turning on your own muscles? Check out this video for …
The Progressive Overload Myth
Progressive overload and progressive tension are two popular muscle building strategies that are very closely related. They can even be mistaken for being the same thing, but they are different. They are different goals and thus require different mindsets that focus on different results.
Should You Time Your Rest Periods?
There’s more to progressing your workouts and getting results beyond just weight and reps. There’s a lot more in fact. Take your rest period for example. If you want to improve endurance, build muscle or gain a mental edge altering the amount of rest between your workouts can be just the ticket. Just through adjusting the amount of time you …
Al Kavadlo’s Wisdom for Lifting and Life
I recently had the great privilege of interviewing PCC Team Leader and Author Al Kavadlo. As a world leader in progressive calisthenics and body weight training, he possesses a wealth of knowledge from years of experience which he shares in his books, videos, and even a smartphone app. In this interview, Al pulls back the curtain and talks about calisthenics, …
The 3 Most Important Exercise Rules Ever
I like to keep things simple when it comes to exercise, especially when it comes to building muscle and fat loss. It’s such a relief to take all of the fluffy information out there and distill it down into the basic principals. Not only does this greatly improve your chances of success, it also gives you the freedom and flexibility …
5 Bodyweight Muscle Building Essentials
One of the best things about bodyweight training is its minimalist nature. You don’t really need anything beyond some open floor space and maybe a place to hang. With that said, if your goal is to build as much muscle and strength as possible through bodyweight training you will greatly benefit from the following resources: #1- Convict Conditioning. Building muscle …
7 Ways to Make Healthy Eating Easier
Healthy eating is the primary eating strategy here at the Red Delta Project. It doesn’t embrace the idea that your diet should be a challenging mission, but rather a series of habits that make eating as stress-free as possible. Check out this video where I show you 7 of the biggest tips on how you can make healthy eating easier, …
The Real Purpose of a Healthy Diet
Keeping a healthy diet is incredibly important, but what’s even more important is the purpose behind the food choices you make. As they say, find your “why” when you’re trying to make something important happen. This will both motivate and help you make the best choices possible. As I mentioned in the last post, the biggest why for most “healthy …
The Diet and Weight Loss Myth
Eating better in an effort to lose weight or body fat is one of those things that’s assumed to be true. It’s practically assumed that cleaning up your diet is the most important component in a weight loss plan. If you eat right then the fat should just fall off and stay off. While eating well is certainly an important part …
Build a Bigger Back and Biceps w/ Single Arm Rows
There’s a very good reason why single dumbbell rows are a staple exercise in bodybuilding; they work and they work really well. We have a very similar calisthenics exercise called the single strap row. It’s simple, easy to adjust and builds your back and biceps. They are also a great addition to pullups for use on your preliminary days in …
How to do Archer Push Ups
Archer push ups are one of the best push ups progressions you can do. They are a great way to continue building strength and muscle after you’ve become proficient with 2 arm push ups. Like all progressive calisthenics exercises, the secrets for building more strength and muscle rests in the technical details. That’s why I made this video for you …
Why Time Under Tension Builds Muscle
Time under tension is the most effective way to train for building muscle that I know of. This is because it directly focuses on the root cause of hypertrophy. Many criticise the idea of training time under tension claiming it’s some sort of a fad or gimmick. In this week’s podcast I discuss the science behind training time under tension …
5 Ways to Reduce Workout Stress
While stress is an important component in exercise, too much of it will prevent you from building muscle or burning fat. I’m not just talking about physical stress either. Mental and phycological stress can also put a serious dent in your workout. The real shame is most of this stress is not at all productive nor is it necessary. It’s …
Reach Your Fitness Goals Faster
Have you every felt like reaching your fat loss or muscle building goals is going slower than it should? Do you want to breathe some new life into your routine to jump start your progress? Give this video a quick view to attack the habits that are slowing you down while increasing the habits that will speed up your progress.
How to Break Your Bad Fitness Habits
Your habits will make or break your success. They can make it easy to shed fat and build muscle, or nearly impossible to make any progress at all. In this week’s podcast, I bring a refreshing, and slightly uncomfortable, perspective on what’s really holding you back from making the progression want. Hold onto your hats because this might get a …
My Favorite App for Muscle Building Workouts
When it comes to building muscle, everything boils down to the root cause of time under tension. If you can put a muscle under more tension and/or for more time you will grow. The only challenge is being able to measure that time. Using things like a stopwatch can be terribly inconvenient, not to mention impossible to use with any accuracy. …
Diet vs Exercise for Long Term Fat Loss
Many claim diet is more important for fat loss, and it may be in some situations, however, fat loss through diet is a temporary scenario. Regardless of what diet you follow your body will find a way to return to calorie balance one way or another. This is why physical activity might be a stronger, more potent variable towards your …
Instantly Improve Your Strength & Control
This technique is one I’ve long known about but have never fully applied it. Now I’m wishing I took this much more seriously. It would have saved me a lot of wasted effort and improved my technique a heck of a lot faster. Check out this video on limb torque or “screwing” to quickly improve every exercise in your routine.
How I Combine Calisthenics & Weight Lifting
I’m all 100% body weight, but most of the clients I teach use a combination of body weight training and weight lifting. To ensure both methods gain an equal share of the workout I use a method based on the BIG 6 from Convict Conditioning. This ensures your workouts stay balanced, efficient and very effective. Check it out below:
Instantly Improve Your Push Ups
Your push-ups live and die by your scapular control. The more control you have over your shoulder position the more you’ll control every aspect of your push-up. The issue is, achieving that control is not easy to do, but this simple trick will solve that for you:
Is Walking the Best Fat Loss Exercise?
I believe the best fat loss exercise isn’t done in the gym or sweating your sock off in some sort of class. It’s simply walking out your front door and continuing to put one foot in front of the other. All of the high-intensity stuff is still great, but when it comes to long-term, lasting fat loss walking just might be the …
Cut Your Workout Time in Half
I love working out, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend all of my time and energy training. If anything, I love the fact that most of my workouts take me an average of 20 minutes. I’m a busy person, and I bet you are too which is why this week’s podcast is all about shortening your workout time …
The Link Between Range of Motion & Muscle Growth
Range of motion is one of the most important elements in progressive calisthenics. It’s why many of the steps in Convict Conditioning use range of motion as a way to progress and regress almost every exercise. It’s just a shame many people fall for the idea that there’s an ideal range of motion to use in each exercise. This is …
How to Do Bridges Like a Boss
Bridging is one of those calisthenics exercises that plays second fiddle to moves like pull-ups, push-ups and squats. Many athletes hardly practice them at all which is a shame. If there’s one move that can improve your performance and results in calisthenics it’s bridging. The biggest reason bridges fall out of favor is because many people do “pushing bridges” where …
Escape the Gym and Burn More Fat
In this edition of the R.D.P Podcast I explore why betting your weight loss hopes on gym based exercise can be incredibly limiting. If you really want to burn as much fat as possible, your best bet might be to use methods that don’t require a membership fee and a TV to keep your mind distracted from how bored you …
6 Moves to Improve Your Muscle Tension
All muscle building and strength success comes down to muscle tension. Your ability to control your muscles can literally make or break your gains regardless of what your workout routine and diet looks like. That’s why I created the Chain Training Ebook which you can download here. It’s a muscle tension management system to ensure your workouts are of the …
The Cure for Skinny Hamstrings
Hamstrings play a major role in both the performance and appearance of your legs. Often times, skinny legs are caused by skinny underdeveloped hamstrings. Many claim body weight training is a poor choice for hamstring, or even leg growth. I used to think this too until I started playing around with these moves and my jeans started to fit quite …
Rules of Progression & Results
Progression is the bottom line in strength and fitness. If you have progression you get the results you want, it’s as simple as that. However, if you have the perfect routine, the perfect diet and the best equipment, but no progression, you’re stuck. So there’s a lot at stake here. With progression comes the results you want. Without it, nothing …
Bodyweight Triceps Routine
Biceps are great, but triceps are the true source of arms that stretch out the sleeves of your T-shirt. If ya wanna be jacked ya gotta build those triceps! This simple, yet brutal bodyweight routine is a killer for that horseshoe muscle hanging on the back of your arm.
A Simple Tip For Harder Abs
I just love simple little tweaks that make an exercise safer and more effective. This especially goes for abdominal and core training because I’ve long struggled to nail down techniques like hanging knee raises. Moves that involve hanging from a bar always seemed to be crazy-good one workout and flat and bland the next. This simple tip I stumbled upon …
Bodyweight Pre-Exhaust Chest Workout
Is there anything as satisfying as feeling your pecs all pumped up and burning? I mean, besides driving a steam roller over a mile long sheet of bubble wrap. Yea, I didn’t think so. I would take a pumped-up set of pecs over watching a great movie or eating a fine meal any day. Thankfully, you don’t need a long …
Bodyweight Biceps Workout
Pre-exhaustion has been a tried and true muscle building technique since the down of body building. It’s simply using a focused exercise on a specific muscle group, and then immediately using a compound exercise that includes that same muscle group to create a higher state of fatigue. No muscle group seems to gain more focused attention than the biceps, which …
7.5 Facts About Fitness Progression
Progression. It’s the single Delta Principal that can make or break your success. Or to put it another way, no progression no results. If you get progression you get results. Simple eh? The trick is understanding a few key basic principals about progression which will make it a lot easier, let alone possible. Check em out:
Should You Advance Your Convict Conditioning?
Progression speed is a bit of a topic of debate when applying the workouts in Convict Conditioning. On one hand there’s the advice from Coach Wade who says to start on the first steps and progress slowly. On the other hand, there are those who are coming to progressive calisthenics from years of strength training and feel like the introductory …
Eating Right vs Eating Better
People ask me if I eat right, to which I enthusiastically reply no, as a matter of fact I don’t eat right. I love their reaction, it’s always a mix of disbelief and sympathy like I’m a darn fool. “Oh you’ll learn” they say. Just wait until you reach age, 20, 30, 40 or whatever. “You won’t be able to eat …
Unlock Your Hips and Unlock Your Squat
We live in a modern world, where sitting is the normal state of things. Now, I’m not someone who believes standing desks and sitting on the floor is the ultimate solution. No, the biggest issue from sitting is a situation I like to call “dead hips.” Dead hip is the condition where your ability to use your hips withers away and …
Should You Do Pistols on a Box?
Doing pistol squats on an elevated surface makes it easier to dial in some of the technical aspects such hip control and balance. This is why many people might benefit from doing them on an elevated surface. There are some downsides though and you don’t want to spend too much time doing single leg squats on ledges or boxes. Strive …
The Calisthenics Advantage of Earned Strength
“It’s so much easier to build muscle and strength with Weightlifting, you just add weight.” I’ve heard the above argument for why weight lifting is better than body weight training for years and have always thought it was a valid point. After all, when it comes to calisthenics making your muscles work harder is a lot more complicated. You have …
Is Core Training Upside Down?
For the past several years I thought I was optimally training my core and abs. My primary strategy has always been to move the lumbar spine since that’s the collection of joints moved through an abdominal contraction. While this movement is important, I’ve come across some new information suggesting the primary movement should be in the hips which flips my …
Build More Muscle With Less Joint Pain
Tension is the bottom line in your quest to build muscle and strength. If you use it well you get everything you want. You grow muscle, improve performance and generally gain everything from your training you could ever want. On the other hand, if your tension is mismanaged it will break you down and bust you up. Almost every chronic …
Tackling the PCC With Adrienne Harvey
Here she is, the one and only Adrienne Harvey! Yes, the one and only Girya Girl is on this week’s episode of the R.D.P Podcast. In our conversation, Adrienne pulls no punches about what it takes to excel at the coveted Dragon Door PCC Century test plus. We also get into some of her best tips for diet, nutrition, fat …
New Research in Building Muscle vs Strength
Muscle and strength, the two go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Usually, the two should grow together. As you get stronger you should be getting bigger and vice versa but it doesn’t always happen that way. Some people do get stronger without getting much bigger. I’ve also known some people who are pretty big but they are not nearly …
Stronger & Safer Body Weight Training
I’ve been using this simple way of training my basic compound movements (push-ups, pull-ups, squats etc) and the effects have been nothing short of fantastic. My joints feel stronger and safer, my muscles are working harder, and I feel like I’m moving as my body was meant to move. This “trick” calls into question some of the classic ideas about …
Are Stabilizer Muscles Important?
Stabilizer muscles were a big buzz word back when I first started working out. They were a point made by free weight guys like me in the debate over free weights vs machines. When the functional movement craze hit a lot of focus was placed on working these muscles through things like balance boards and unstable positions like standing …
Should You Eat Less For Fat Loss?
Eating less can potentially jump start fat and weight loss but it’s not always a sound plan. Some folks can, and should rein in their diet while other people should focus more on being more physically active. In this video, I show you if you can calories to cut out or if you should focus on physical activity for fat …
Veterano Plus Bridge Workout
When I first discovered Convict Conditioning I didn’t take bridging seriously. I thought it was a move that was more of a circus trick and wasn’t worth more than a few moments of my time each week. I now know that was a BIG mistake. Not only are bridges not just some trick, but they lay the foundation for your …
Do More Pull Ups & Push Ups in 7 Days
Adding more pull ups and push ups in a set is not always a matter of just working harder to push your limits. Most of the time, increasing your reps isn’t about doing reps you couldn’t do before but instead improving the reps you can already do. I cover a few ways you can do this to become stronger and …
Stimulate Don’t Annihilate Your Muscles
The advice to stimulate a muscle rather than annihilate it is fantastic to follow. It will save you from injury, speed up recovery and improve motivation to train. It might even save your training career! The only question is how do you that? What does it mean in application? I attempt to answer this and give you some solid ideas …
A Tip To Learn Pistol Squats Faster
The pistol squat can be a real challenge to learn and an even bigger challenge to master. Not that I’ve got mine dialed in perfectly but I’m making progress every week. A simple trick I employ to make my squats easier and more proficient is to do them on a slight incline. It doesn’t require as much posterior chain strength or …
Fix Pistol Squat Knee Pain
The lofty pistol squat used to wreak havoc on my knees. At one point it got so bad I had trouble climbing a flight of stairs. Now my knees are super strong and can withstand all kinds of abuse. The funny thing is, it’s the very pistol squats that caused my knee pain that helped me get rid of it. …
The Real Problem With Dangerous Exercises
I’m starting to develop a serious issue with the idea that some exercises are dangerous and should be avoided. Dips are bad for the shoulders. Squat and lunges hurt the knees. Pull ups hurt the elbow. Leg raises are bad for the low back or hips. Jumping is bad for the tendons. Now, I’m not someone who’s claiming all of …
High vs Low Sets For Building Muscle
Some people build muscle using as little as a single hard work set. Others enjoy workouts involving set after set after set. It’s certainly possible to build muscle with either strategy. I’ve done it with both myself, but you might have an affinity towards one style over the other. That’s why I made this video, so you can compare the …
How to Love Leg Day
There’s a reason why skipping leg day is a popular meme on the internet. Training legs is hard, really hard plus it sucks a lot of energy out of you. Couple that with the fact that a lot of guys just don’t appreciate leg strength in comparison to the beach muscles and you’ve got quite an uphill battle. All of …
Your Most Important Core Muscle for Fitness and How to Work it
Sure the abs are sexy, and the obliques earn you street cred, but neither of them comes close to your TVA (Transverse Abdominis). Mostly because it’s the foundation to your entire core which means all of your hopes for a strong, functional and even sexy six pack depends on how well you train it. You won’t find many magazines with …
Is Modern Fitness Ridiculous?
I came across this super cool video showcasing some of the fitness trends of the past century: I’m really fascinated by the history of our modern fitness culture and videos like this are both educational and highly entertaining. Despite its entertainment value, I can’t help but ask myself “How did people back then take this stuff seriously? I mean, why did …
Pull Up Combo for a Thicker Back
They say that if someone has large biceps from pull ups they will suffer from a skinny weak back. This is because of what I call elbow domination which is when the mind if more focused on flexing the elbow as opposed to extending the shoulder. That’s why I love this funky little pull up combo that involves twice as …
Veterano Plus Workout for Muscle Mass
It’s been a few months since I unleashed my Veterano Plus workout and the results have been nothing but positive. People are recovering faster, getting stronger and just generally having a blast with it. I’m often asked if it’s a good workout for building muscle. I hear ya, personally, I need that muscle building potential to keep me motivated. I have …
Honest Muscle Building Facts
In this week’s podcast I pull back the curtain on what’s most important towards your muscle building exercise. I’m pulling no punches on this one and you’ll want to listen to it at least twice to get everything important from it. What happens at a cellular level that causes muscle growth. Why the workout tools you use are not really all …
Body Weight Exercises for the Upper Back / Traps
Lifting a heavy weight and shrugging it isn’t the only way to build an impressive range of mountainous muscle on your upper back. There are plenty of ways you can beef up your upper back and traps with body weight training and I highlight just a few of them in the video below.
2 Weaknesses Preventing Your Muscle Growth
I’ve written about fragmented muscle tension in the Chain Training PDF and in various articles. Basically it means your muscle activation is lacking in certain areas of your body which create “holes” of weakness. These holes can prevent some of the bigger muscles from optimally working. In short, tension holes hold back your entire strength and physical development. In this …
The Complete History of the Red Delta Project
People have been asking me about my personal history and how my current fitness ideas came about. Well, here ya go folks! This week’s podcast pulls back the curtain on my personal history, most of which I’ve been reluctant to talk about before now. I got into my years of struggling with various diets, and even why I never did …
Burn Fat & Build Muscle Faster
This week’s podcast is a refreshing perspective regarding both the fat burning and muscle building process. If you’ve been frustrated with either fat loss or building muscle listen to this to learn why most fat burning and muscle building methods are not entirely truthful.
Improve Chain Training With Isometrics
Your muscle building success depends heavily upon how well you create and manipulate your muscular tension. When you improve how well you generate and control you make much faster progress. Using isometric exercises can greatly improve your muscle tension use and thus your muscle building gains. Check out this video for some prime examples!
Is Body Weight Training Safe if You’re Overweight?
Summery: Yes, calisthenics is ideal for those who are overweight and this guide is a great place to get started. Here’s why: I understand why someone, who is over weight, would be nervous about body weight training. Their whole goal is to become lighter and leaner. They have been told by countless influences, including health experts, that that their weight …
Building Muscle With Calisthenics vs Weights
Despite the differences, building muscle and strength through calisthenics is not any different than using weights. The principals are the same: Use basic compound movements. Keep a consistent routine. Focus on progression. Optimize recovery through adequate rest and diet. It doesn’t matter if you prefer push ups over the bench press or weight machines to suspension straps. You can get …
Don’t Worry About Holiday Weight Gain
Don’t worry about gaining weight this holiday season. Seriously it’s not even a mild threat to your belly and waist line. Especialy considering there’s an even bigger threat to your figure than even your most indulgent office Christmas party. Even worse, it’s lurking just under most people’s awareness all year long. The good news is, once you recognize and handle …
How Often Should You Change Your Routine?
I’m not a big fan of changing a plan or workout routine for any old reason. Contrary to what I used to believe, progress isn’t made by random change and variety. Every time you randomly change anything you go from a plan that’s working to some degree to a plan that might or might not work at all. But …
Escaping the Cardio Trap
The cardio trap is easy to get caught up in, especialy for those looking to lose weight. It’s characterized by a vicious cycle of eating more due to an increase in appetite from doing a lot of exercise and then needing to exercise more because you eat so much. With each repetition of the cycle the need to both eat …
Hamstring Building Crab Crawls
Hamstrings are the backbone of your leg strength. If they’re weak you’re weak end of story. While bridges and squats are great, there’s still the potential or a kink in your armor to hold you back. These crawls do wonders to fill in the gaps and make sure your whole posterior chain is as strong as it can be.
Flat Palm Suspension Strap Handles
The human hand wasn’t built to optimally press against a handle. This is why I’ve built these pads you can clip onto any suspension strap system. They build stronger hands, flexible wrists, and better dexterity.
The Front Lever for Beginners
Front levers are magic. They work your entire back super hard, yet keep your spine and lower back safe. They will also lock down your back tension which carries over to improving almost every exercise imaginable. They are crazy efficient too. Just grab a bar, hang for a 10-15 seconds and you’re done one set. Check out this video …
Build Muscle Without Adding Reps
When it comes to building muscle through calisthenics you don’t want to become a rep chaser. A rep chaser is someone who’s primary focus of progression is doing more reps. Forget adding intensity or improving technique, the best way to get stronger is just doing more reps than ever before. Adding reps is good, but it should not be your primary …
UPDATE: Veterano Plus Workout
I’ve been using this Veterano Plus program for over a month with great success. Now I’ve made a few key changes to include the shotgun muscles from Convict Conditioning 2 and a tip to speed up recovery to help you build even more muscle and strength!