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DeFranco's Training NEWS!
DeFranco, Tate, Wendler Seminar…Round 2!
Due to the overwhelming success of our first seminar, Dave Tate & Jim Wendler are returning to New Jersey on July 21st and we’re doing it again! This seminar will follow the same format as our last seminar – YOU bring the questions, we bring the upfront, honest answers!
Added bonus!
When the seminar concludes, attendees are invited to stay and watch the 4th Annual DeFranco’s Strongman Contest! That’s right; our famous strongman contest will take place at our facility at the end of the seminar! This year’s contest is going to be bigger and better than ever! With athletes from all over the world already enlisted in our program, and the documentary camera crew covering the event, this year’s contest is expected to be more intense than ever! (We even have a couple of new events/surprises that our athletes don’t even know about!) You don’t want to miss this!!
This seminar is limited to 15 people and our seminars sell-out FAST!
Joe D.
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Two DeFranco's clients get selected to play in the NY/NJ All-Star Football Classic!
Congratulations to Chaz Cervino (DePaul HS) & Randy Martinez (Teaneck HS) for being selected to play in the prestigious New York/New Jersey All-Star Football Classic at Rutgers Stadium on June 10th! This all-star game boasts the BEST OF THE BEST from New Jersey & New York and we’re proud that two of DeFranco’s finest will be representing ‘Dirty Jersey! Both Chaz and Randy have been training hard at our facility in preparation of this game and to prepare themselves for Division I college football!
Check these kids out…
Chaz Cervino gets ready for the next level! He is seen here performing “baby carry” sandbag step-ups with a 120 lb. sandbag while wearing a weighted vest! Chaz has accepted a full athletic scholarship to play wide receiver at Syracuse University this fall.
Teaneck’s Randy Martinez works on his lower body power by performing belt squats off of a box! The all-state performer has accepted a full athletic scholarship to play defensive end for the Cincinnati Bearcats next season.
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Remember this kid?
As most of you remember, the above video is of Mike Guadango performing a 54” box jump during his off-season preparation for this baseball season. Well, the hard work paid off! I wanted to take this time to congratulate Mike for being named 1st Team All-Conference as only a freshman! He also received the honor of “Rookie of the Week” on 3 separate occasions during the course of the season.
Check out his stats…
.410 batting average (3rd best on team)
41 RBI’s (best on team)
12 doubles (tied for best on team)
4 home runs (best on team)
36 runs scored (3rd best on team)
.618 slugging percentage (best on team)
Can this mean that it IS possible for baseball players to lift weights and train hard and still perform well on the field? Can it actually be considered beneficial?
Hmmmmm.
Joe D.
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COMING SOON…
“The DeFranco Experience – Summer of ‘07”
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Q: Joe Defranco - I wanted to thank you for putting out such a great product. Your Defranco bars are the best preworkout supplement I’ve ever taken. I finally was able to purchase them last month and the first time I took one I benched 315 for the first time in my life! (I’ve been stuck at 310 for almost a year) I thought this may be a placebo effect but my workouts have been better than ever for the last month. Its definitely no coincidence so I really felt like I wanted to email you and say thanks.
Keep the great products and info coming coach.
Pat
Albany, NY
A: Pat,
Thank you for your feedback and congrats on the 315 bench...that is a huge milestone in your lifting career!
I’ve been collecting data on my DeFranco Bar for over a year now, but I’ve been hesitant to “over-hype” them because, well, they’re my bars! I don’t want people saying, “Of course Joe is going to recommend his bar…it’s HIS bar!” But, I must tell you, I have a couple hundred examples of people having similar experiences to yours…
It all started the very first day that I received the first batch of sample bars. The day that I received those bars, I was training a group of guys for the NFL Combine. I was training 7 different athletes on that particular day and EVERY SINGLE one of them PR’d in the 20-yard sprint. (Right then and there, I knew that this couldn’t be a coincidence.) Two of the athletes that were training that day were Miles Austin & Justin Hamilton. Miles shaved .07 seconds off of his best 20-yard sprint and Justin shaved .11 seconds off of his best 20-yard sprint on that particular day! I knew this wasn’t a fluke and both guys said they definitely “felt” something. (By the way, during this time, the sample bars that I gave them had a “shady’ silver wrapper with no writing on it and I never told them that it was a product that I created.) This turned out to be a day that I will never forget and it was the day that I realized that I was “onto something” with this product. Miles has continued to eat the bar before workouts, practices and games and Justin has done the same.
Miles Austin – Dallas Cowboys
Justin Hamilton – Cleveland Browns
Since that first “experimental” group, the positive feedback has poured in; high school kids regularly PR by 5 or 10 lbs. in the bench, squat, deadlift and other exercises after having a DeFranco Bar before their workouts. NY Giants offensive lineman, Dave Diehl, routinely has a Defranco Bar before games and also at halftime. The list of people that have benefited from this bar literally goes on and on…
I actually just got this email from Dave Tate of EliteFts.com…
“Joe, I’ve been eating your energy bar before every workout (dieting or not) and they do help a lot. I never feel much from any supplement, but your bar definitely makes a difference in my workouts. Plus they taste damn good...”
-Dave Tate
For those of you that don’t know Dave Tate, he’s a tough critic and he doesn’t endorse many (if any) supplements. I was really pumped to hear that he was benefiting from my bar as well!
Needless to say, the word is spreading and I am pumped. Since the word has been spreading, we’ve been moving more and more bars and now we’re finally able to SLASH the prices and offer an even better deal than before! CLICK HERE to see the all-new prices of the bars!! I think you will be pleased!
Thanks to everyone for your support!
Stock up on DeFranco Bars NOW!
Joe D.
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Q: I have decided to start your Westside for skinny bastards II and was wondering how to throw some Olympic moves in there and if it is necessary. Primarily the clean and maybe snatch.
A: No, the Olympic lifts are not necessary; if I thought that they were necessary, they would have been in the program in the first place!
If you like to do them, use them as your max-effort exercise on lower body day or they can be performed with submaximal weights before a max-effort squat or deadlift on lower body day.
We use our Olympic platforms for deadlifts & floor presses.
Joe D.
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Q: How can i get my bench press reps of 225 pounds from 21 to 30 reps?
A: Get stronger.
Joe D.
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Q: Hi Joe,
I know you've attacked sports-specific training from many different angles, but I wanted to find out your particular philosophy for my sport. I was wondering what kind of program you might put together for boxing...in terms of weights (for strength, power and speed), and endurance/cardio exercises.
Seems like there are millions of different boxing workouts but I wanted to see what you thought since your success in training football, basketball, and other athletes speaks for itself.
Thanks!
CADET JT
GO ARMY BOXING!
A: Cadet JT,
My “philosophy” for training a boxer would be dependent on the individual boxer that I was training – what’s his boxing experience, strength training experience, injury history, is he looking to gain weight, lose weight, or maintain weight, etc. Other important info would be if he’s a “faster” boxer or a “stronger” boxer. (Sometimes it’s better to make an older athlete’s “strengths” even stronger, as opposed to trying to develop his weakness into his strength.) As you can see, many questions would have to be answered before I developed my “philosophy’ and a program for a boxer. But, generally speaking, here are some key points to remember if you’re a boxer…
- Make sure you’re fresh for your technical training (boxing). Don’t let your strength training sessions take away from your boxing
- For upper body, I would focus on max-effort work if you can only incorporate 1 main upper body strength session per week. Remember that you are doing a lot of dynamic upper body training during your boxing workouts (hitting the heavy bag, sparring, hitting the punch mitts, etc.) Doing extra “dynamic” upper body training in the weightroom can be overkill; but, combining max-effort work in the weightroom with your dynamic “technical” work is a good recipe to develop punching power.
- DON’T perform any strength exercises that mimic punching when you’re in the weightroom! (More specifically, don’t throw punches while holding dumbbells and don’t grab the cable crossover pulley and throw punches, either! Doing these dumb activities screws up the mechanics of your punch! Get strong in the weightroom and work on your punching technique in the ring. Period.
- Your accessory upper body training should revolve around strengthening your neck/traps, upper back/lats, shoulder endurance & rotational abdominal strength.
- I recommend cycling both max-effort & dynamic-effort lower body strength training into your program. As with all athletes, boxers could also benefit greatly from unilateral leg exercises, strengthening their posterior chain and sled dragging variations.
- As far as conditioning is concerned, my philosophy for boxers is, “if it aint broke, don’t fix it.” Ever notice that a lot of football players take up boxing in the off-season to improve their conditioning??? There’s a reason for this! Hitting a heavy bag, jumping rope, sparring, hitting the punch mitts, and most other exercises popularized by boxers are GREAT conditioners! Stick with them.
- The one conditioning tool that I feel is “out-dated” for boxers is the road work, i.e., running long distance. Boxing matches consist of 3 minutes of intermittent high intensity activity followed by 1 minute of rest. Because of this, I feel that 3-minute circuits followed by 1 minute of rest would be the best way to go. The circuit possibilities are endless. I’m surprised that there aren’t more creative boxing trainers out there that would incorporate this type of training.
I hope my tips helped. Feel free to email me back with more specific questions.
Joe D.
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Q: Hi Joe,
I love the website and your info and tips are phenomenal. I saw that you volunteered at the MS walk and I just wanted to say that it inspired me to donate. My girlfriend has been battling MS for the last 7 years and asked me this morning if I would help her get into shape. She has relapsing- remitting type and was recently put on an aggressive new therapy that has made her feel empowered. I was not sure what sorts of things would help her. I know you specialize in making stud athletes even greater and such, but I was wondering if you would have any insights into this. She is heat sensitive and has trouble with balance. Are machines the way to go? Thank you so much for your time and keep changing the industry for the better. You rock.
Chris
A: Chris,
Thanks for writing in…I’m sorry to hear that your girlfriend has MS, but I’m glad the new therapy is helping her feel better! (Is she taking Betaseron? I heard it works well for people with relapsing/remitting MS.)
Your girlfriend’s situation is one of the rare cases in which I would recommend machines over free weights for most of her training. When someone’s balance troubles are due to MS, as opposed to an injury or muscular imbalance, machines are a much safer bet. But, when she is in remittance, she can incorporate some bodyweight exercises and free weight exercises. (Just make sure to ease her into these exercises.) For someone with MS, the goal of their training should be to increase circulation, strengthen the muscles to prevent atrophy, keep the workouts safe and make sure the workouts DON’T increase MS symptoms!
I would also incorporate some low impact, low intensity cardio (walking, stationary bike, elliptical, etc.) into her training program. Just make sure that she never trains to exhaustion (whether it’s cardio or weights). As you probably already know, MS patients must try to keep their body temperatures as “normal” as possible. They do NOT want to ever get too hot OR too cold! Keep this in mind when she’s training.
By the way, has your girlfriend tried food allergy testing? If not, I HIGHLY recommend that she gets a food allergy test. (Get the test in which they test her blood, not just the surface of her skin.) Before my mom got tested for food allergies, many foods would literally cripple her. At the time, she thought that her MS was getting worse. It turned out that it was certain foods that were increasing her MS symptoms! Ever since she got tested for food allergies and changed her diet, she has not had any of these episodes!
I hope this helps and please keep us posted on how your girlfriend is doing.
Joe D.
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Q: Joe,
First let me start by saying that I love your site. I stumbled upon it looking for more strength and conditioning program ideas for my High School Football team. I have been able to implement many different things from the information you provide. For that I thank you. However, I have one question (two parts); what is the theory behind the reverse band bench and just how beneficial is it? Any and all feedback is
greatly appreciated.
Mark C., NSCA-CPT
A: Mark,
The reverse band bench is used to improve an athlete’s lockout strength as well as overall triceps strength. Basically, you set up bands from the top of a power rack so the barbell is being suspended by the bands. The theory behind this is that as you lower the barbell to your chest, the bands develop more tension and they lighten the weight in the bottom position; as you press the barbell upward and your leverage increases, the bands lose tension and you’re left to lockout the full (or close to it) barbell weight at the top. This exercise has worked extremely well for us.
Here is an example to clear things up…
Below you will see a video of me performing a reverse band press with the “light” purple bands. These purple bands lighten the weight on my chest by approximately 65 lbs., but at lockout they do not help much. In the video below, I have 440 lbs. on the bar; at my chest the weight is approximately 375 lbs., but at lockout I’m getting the full 440 lbs.
I do not think you need to do this exercise with most of your high school kids. Get them stronger by using the basics and save this one for when you really need something new (with stronger athletes).
It is a great max-effort exercise for athletes to use in order to overcome sticking points and get their triceps brutally strong! It can also be used with light weights for high reps as a rehab/restoration exercise.
Just another weapon in our arsenal of exercises!
Joe D.
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Q: Joe,
I may be blind or an idiot but when you say "Work up to a max set of 3-5 reps" are you saying to max out/lift as much weight as possible? If so isn't that dangerous?
Courtney
A: Courtney,
Yes, “max set” refers to the maximum amount of weight that you can lift for the prescribed amount of reps. “Work up” to a max set refers to the warm-up sets that you will perform before your “max” attempt(s). Here is the link in which I describe for the 1000th time what I mean by the term “work up” to a max set.
Now onto your 2nd question…Is lifting heavy weights dangerous? My general answer would be, “No, not if performed properly.” What I mean by this is that you can find the good and the bad in everything. For example, there are good cops and bad cops; good teachers and bad teachers; good strength coaches and bad strength coaches. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately, the “bad” people & things usually get more publicity than the “good”. But the reality is, if you’re a healthy individual, you’re coached properly, you’re lifting with good form, you’re cycling your max-effort exercises and taking time off when needed; lifting heavy weights is NOT dangerous!
In my opinion, going through life weak & skinny is much more dangerous…
Joe D.
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We will list past questions here so that you can go back if you miss any advice Joe has given
