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Q: Joe D.
First and foremost, LOVE THE SITE! You're an ANIMAL, and it's great to have an outlet to discuss getting HUGE!!!
Question: Summer's right
around the corner. My caloric intake has been
excellent this winter, and I've been throwing the
iron around pretty
heavily. I'm thinking that now is a good time to start
cutting the "excess" baggage and "shred-up".
I've read a few previous discussions about Hot-Rox.
Do you believe this to be the best supplement on the
market to aid in my shredding process?
Thanks again for your time and efforts.
P.S. - And as an Eagles fan, thanks for Dhani Jones! Can't WAIT to see him on the field!
Jim
A: Jim,
‘Tis the season to get shredded – especially here in northern New Jersey. Memorial Day weekend at the Jersey shore is bigger than the SuperBowl for guidos throughout the state. I can see the fake tans, wife beaters and tribal tattoos already!
Anyway, here's your simple recipe for shreddedness:
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Have 2 HOT-ROX 1st thing in the morning on an empty stomach with 16oz. of water. (Have breakfast about 30 min. after your HOT-ROX.)
Take 2 more HOT-ROX later on in the day (about 6 hours after your 1st dosage) on an empty stomach. -
Have 2 Muscle Milk (by CytoSport) shakes a day. (For example: You can have one for breakfast and one post-workout.)
-
In conjunction with your Muscle Milk shakes, have 3-4 small-moderate sized "whole food" meals each day. Don't mix carbs and fats with your whole food meals! Either have lean protein+carb meals or protein+fat meals. Your last meal of the day should be a protein+fat meal. (You can have green veggies with your protein+fat meals.)
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Try to drink a gallon of water each day.
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Train like a madman!
You should look like an atanomy chart by Memorial Day!
Joe D.
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Q: Joe,
I am a college football player at Mount Union College and spring training is almost over. My question has to do with the glute-ham raise. I live and die by this exercise, but my high school (which is where I will be training for the summer) doesn't have a glute-ham raise machine - the closest thing is a traditional roman chair. I'm wondering how I can do a glute ham raise movement by improvising with other equipment. We pretty much have any equipment except for a freakin glute-ham raise. Please get back to me or else my hamstrings will suffer! Thanks for your insight
-Jason
A: Jason,
I feel your pain! It still baffles me how many high school and college coaches don’t recognize the incredible benefits of this great exercise. To me, a weight-room without a glute-ham bench is like a strip club without lap dances – it doesn’t make sense!
Anyway, you can always perform “natural glute-ham raises.” Click here and you will find a good picture and description of this exercise.
Best of luck to Mount Union football this year – not like you guys need it!
Joe D.
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Q: Dear Sirs,
I live in Italy and I'm interested in attending seminars
given by Mr. DeFranco. Is there any scheduled on May
and June??? Please let me have your answer, given
that it is the second email I send you.
Wishes,
Carlos
A: Carlos,
I am planning on giving a seminar with a colleague of mine at the end of June. It will be held here in New Jersey. I am currently finalizing a facility to host it. I should have more details by the end of April. Keep checking this website for updates. You won’t want to miss this seminar!
Joe D.
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Q: Hello
Joe,
I recently watched a program that focused on the off-season
training of
several NHL athletes and have a question for you.
One of those athletes was Eric Lindros (you can edit
out this name if you must) and his trainer had him
doing complexes. Now, I have nothing against complexes
but the way he was using them was atrocious in my
opinion. He started by doing Smith machine squats.
If that isn't bad enough, they were only quarter squats
done on a balance board. So we have Smith machine,
quarter squats on a balance board for HIGH reps (I
counted at least 8-10). This was followed immediately
with vertical-jumps in place. I couldn't believe this
multi-million dollar athlete had a trainer that would
do such things. Now, am I mistaken in thinking this
training protocol in uncalled for? Do you think there
is ever a time to implement such methods?
On a similar topic, I was also wondering what your "prescription" for using balance boards and such is for an athlete that requires playing in an environment being off balance. For example, I will be training some hockey players and figure skaters this summer. How much time should I focus, and how much importance should I place, on the training in an "unbalanced environment" for these athletes?
I personally think there is a time and place for these methods but not to the extent that said trainer above was doing. Thanks for your time and input.
A: I’m disgusted!!!
Where do I begin? First of all, there is NEVER a place for high-rep, Smith machine squats on a wobble board followed by squat jumps! I’m hoping you were drunk when you were watching this and it really didn’t happen. If it did happen, I don’t even feel like wasting my time commenting on it.
My “prescription” for using unstable training devices is as follows:
-
I use them as an evaluation tool. For example, having an athlete perform a bodyweight squat on a wobble board accentuates any muscular imbalances and flexibility issues that they have. This evaluation tool helps me design more productive programs for my athletes.
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I use unstable devices in 2-4 week mini cycles to activate weaker, stabilizing muscles. For example, you will see a picture of N.Y. Giants fullback, Jim Finn, in the PICS section of this site using a Dyna Disk. I incorporated the Dyna Disk in his program to help strengthen his adductors before we started our running/conditioning program. Jim’s adductors bothered him in previous years of training whenever he first started running. Last year, we didn’t have a problem after incorporating such methods.
ONE FINAL NOTE: Remember that unstable devices can be effective training tools if you implement them properly. The problem is that most people overuse them! These implements do have their time and place; I just don’t feel they should become the focus of an athlete’s training. The reason I say this is because in all of sports, it is the athlete that moves while the playing surface remains still. (The playing surface doesn’t move as the athlete tries to remain still! This remains true whether we’re talking about a hockey rink, basketball court or football field.) True “functional” training should consist of applying resistance to an athlete while his/her feet are in contact with the ground. The athlete must then adapt to these forces. Also, if you’re always performing exercises on “unstable” devices, you will be limited in the amount of weight you can use. This will prevent you from overloading the prime movers of the exercise, which will limit how strong you can get.
Joe D.
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| + | Glute-ham raise alternatives |
| + | Upcoming DeFranco's Training seminars |
| + | "Unstable" training prescriptions for hockey players and figure skaters |
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