How to deal with an off night of lifting

I was having a totally off night on my BTN Push Presses, not feeling it at all, so I finished of my last few sets with handstand push ups instead. Felt good.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. No matter what you celebrate I hope that it's filled with love, peace, happiness and fun. Happy Holidays!

PR's coming early

You have to love it when you hit something on week 3 that you didn't think you'd hit until week 6. Nailed 6 sets of doubles in the Behind The Neck Push Press with 250 pounds and finished with two 70 pound kettlebells for Scott Presses. Here's set 6 of 6:

Deadlifts

Nailed 100 dips, 6 sets of BTN Push Presses and Scott Presses and 6 sets of Front Squats. Time to end it with 5 sets of doubles for Deadlifts with 450 pounds.

Front Squats

After nailing 100 dips and 6 sets of doubles in the BTN Push Press plus some Scott Presses it was time for 6 sets of triples in Front Squats. Here's the final set with 350 pounds.

BTN Push Press and Scott Press

After doing 100 dips, here's the 6th sets of Behind the Neck Push Presses. I was going for doubles with 235 pounds and finished up with a set of Scott presses with a pair of 53 pounds kettlebells.

Real Cardio part 5:

After hitting 100 dips, 10 minutes of plate push sprints and medicine ball slams, 5 minutes of backwards weighted drag sprints and 5 minutes of seated row sprints it was time to finish it all up with 3 sets of 60 seconds on and 60 seconds off for farmer's walks. Kept these at two 88 pounds kettlebells for tonight.

Real Cardio part 4

 After hitting the plate push sprints, medicine ball slams, and backwards weighted drags, it was time to hit 5 rounds of 30 seconds on and30 seconds off of seated row sprints using 246 pounds.

Real Cardio part 3:

 After the plate pushes and medicine ball slams, hi 5 rounds of 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off for backwards weighted drag sprints using 316 pounds.

Real Cardio part 2

And, building off of the last video, here's the first set from the medicine ball slams.

Real Cardio

Alternated between plate push sprints and Medicine ball slam sprints. Hit 10 minutes of plate pushes for 20 seconds on and 40 seconds off followed by Med. ball slams for 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off. Here's the first set of the plate pushes.

Supplements

I get a ton of questions about what supplements I use. Here's the link to the vid where I talk about my current stack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx2_QuOkH1I#t=15

Hope you like it!

Dip Challenge Day 4

Used the dips in my evening training for the challenge. Did a super set of 10 sets of 20 reps for dips and 10 sets of 10 reps for pull ups. Felt awesome. Here's the final set of dips.

Oh yeah, finished with timed squats doing as many reps as possible without stopping in 3 minutes with 135 pounds.

One of the best conditioners out there, period!

The Bear: For all your workout needs.

Great for strength, endurance, stamina, speed, power, mental toughness and more. Burns away body fat and builds muscle. Awesome stuff.

Here's the 4th of 5 sets from Tuesday night's training.

Neck and Traps, baby!

For Wednesday's training I hit my 100 dips, 5 sets of  12 reps for each direction for the neck (Forward, Backwards, Tilting left, Tilting right, Looking left and Looking right), 6 sets of 4 for Shrugs (with 505 pounds), 5 sets of 3 for Snatch Grip High Pulls (with 225 pounds, too light/ need to go heavier) and 5 sets of 3 for Clean Grip High Pulls (with 300 pounds).

Here's the final set of shrugs.

Dip Challenge Day 2:

Yesterday was pretty easy. Nailed 100 reps in 4 sets (sets of 25 reps) so I made it more difficult today. Used my bodyweight plus 35 pounds and nailed the 100 reps in 4 sets (sets of 20). Felt awesome

Why? Because F#$% Gravity, that's why!

Why deadlift? Because Fuck Gravity, that's why! After hitting 100 dips, 6 sets of Behind the Neck Push Presses and 6 sets of Front Squats it was time for 5 sets of doubles in the deadlift with 435 pounds. Here's the final set.

Nice to know I'm still pretty good at these

One of my favorite movements, yet I hadn't used it in a cycle in about 2 years. Still nailed 6 sets of doubles with 225 pounds. Here's the final set.

Behind the Neck Push Press

The Dip Challenge Begins

Decided that I hadn't done a monthly challenge in a while so I decided to do one this month. As of today I'll be hitting at least 100 dips every day. They can be normal dips, ring dips, weighted dips, reverse grip dips or what ever. But, there has to be at least 100 of them each day. Here's the 1st set for today.

The quest fo 200 begins

Today marks the beginning of my quest to up the bodyweight to a muscular and powerful 200 or more pounds.

New Stuff

Alright everyone, check out the latest blog at www.brettsbeast.blogspot.com

This one's for the serious strength and fitness minded!

Answer to the trivia question

The other day I posted this pic of one of my favorite strength and fitness authors and asked y'all who it was:

The answer:

The Late Great John McCallum whose articles, "The Keys To Progress" where featured in "Strength and Health" magazine. Great writer with great info.

Kicking the deadlifts ass!

Upped the weight to 350 pounds, kept the rest period short and nailed all 100 reps. Started with 8 sets of 10 reps. Then slipped up and only hit 9 reps on the 9th set. Then stepped up and nailed 11 reps on the 10th set. Felt awesome.

A trivia question for you all

Alright, this is one of my all time favorite writers in the fitness and strength world. Can you name him:

I'll post the answer soon.

Pushing hard to glory

So, I jumped up in weight to 350 pounds, made sure to keep the rest at about 90 seconds and nailed my 100 reps in only 8 sets. 7 sets of 13 reps and 1 final set of 9. Here's the last set.

How do you kill the back?

From Tuesday's training. How do you kill the back after doing 4 sets of the lever pull/ pull-up combo on the rings? Go right into 4 sets of 1-arm rows, then finish with a bunch of power cleans. Here's the 4th set of the rows with 141 pounds.

A great one for the back part 2: The Video

Here's the video that I promised about the great back exercise.

Start with a front lever pull (or straight arm lat pull) up to an inverted hang. Make sure to keep it all in your lats. Then lower down with a front lever negative back to the dead hang (again, keeping it all in the lats). Then hit a controlled pull up. Do as many as you can. Awesome for the lats, they'll be burning.

Awesome Squat night

Squats were unreal today. Talk about feeling like a beast.

Had 335 pounds on the bar and was scheduled to hit 10 sets of 10, or 100 reps with it. Using less rest times I managed to hit 2 sets of 10, 5 sets of 13 and finished with 1 set of 16 reps. So, I nailed my hundred reps in only 8 sets. It felt awesome.

A great one for the back (the video will be coming sometime soon)

Alright, for tonight's training session I went a little different than I did last cycle. Started out with a killer combo move on the rings. Start in a dead hang. Then, using nothing but your lats, perform a straight arm lever until you hit an inverted hang. Slowly lower back to the dead hang and then do a slow pull up. Repeat until you can't do any more. Great movement. And that just started out the work out.

When I video it next Tuesday I'll make sure to post it. This will leave your lats pumped and sore. Great stuff.

A great variation of the dip

This is a great variation that I got from the first Mr. Olympia, Mr. Larry Scott. A great variation of the dip. If you have shoulder issues, you might want to leave this one alone. But, if your shoulders are healthy, this is a great one.

How to get a strong core!

Do you want a strong core?

Here's how to get it!!

Hit 3 sets of 10 in the Good Mornings in a super set with 3 sets of 10 in Weighted Sit-ups. Take absolutely no rest breaks in between the movements or the sets.

Here I used 200 pounds for the Good mornings and nailed 10 reps, 10 reps and 10 reps.

And I used 200 pounds for the Sit-ups and hit 10 reps, 10 reps and 15 reps.

Lateral Raises

 

 

After Finishing up 100 reps of military presses, what do you do next? Simple, hit 3 sets of lateral raises. Here's the final set from last night's training.

Old School style Military press

Here's the 10th set of 10 sets of 10 reps in the old school style (feet together, legs locked) military press. Upped the weight, cut down on the rest, and still nailed the 100 reps

Feeling Artistic part 3

Still Feeling artistic!

Feeling Artistic part 2:

I was feeling a little artistic again, was in between projects, and thought I'd play around with some poses.

Not Bad at all, if I do say so myself, lol!

Can Melissa nail 100 Squats with 225 pounds?

Can Melissa Nail 100 reps of Back Squats with 225 pounds on her back?


Hell Yeah She Can!!!!

Week 6's deadlifts.

Tonight we added weight, dramatically cut down on the rest periods and still nailed 10 sets of 10 rep in the deadlift with 325 Pounds. An awesome 100 reps.

Upcoming news from Stepan HQ!

Hey Fitness Friends,

Thought I'd share some of the big, upcoming things going on here at Stepan Fitness HQ.

Starting in October feel free to join Melissa and myself twice a month (2 Saturdays a month) for a special conditioning day. This will be free to all of my curret clients and only $10 to non-clients that would like to join us. Basically, you'll be running through one of Melissa and my conditioning days with us. It'll be fun, it'll be hard, it'll kick booty and you'll love the results. As always, feel free to contact me for more information.

Also, Here are the upcoming fitness, health and nutrition seminars. I don't have the dates finalized yet, feel free to contact me for more info.

1.) How to eat to get the body you want, the health you desire, and the performance that you deserve.

2.) The Foam Roller. Getting the most out of a wonderful tool.

　

And, of course the upcoming self-protection seminars.

1.) Self-protection 101: The key ingredients.

2.) Surviving the 2 most Common Street Attacks, and thriving.

3.) Ground Survival 101: Surviving and trhiving in a real world ground attack.

Alright, like I said, contact me for more information. And, as dates are finalized on the seminars I'll be sending out more info as well. See you all soon.

Yours in strength and health,

Brett

Paying homage to one of my heroes

From a 1943 cover of "Strength and Health" magazine here's one of my all time heroes. Olympic weightlifting champion, bodybuilding champion and all around stud: The legendary John Grimek.

Feeling a little artistic

The camera was on a timer, it went off without me even thinking about it, and I think the picture turned out pretty well.

A little artistic side

Time for some impersonations

 

 

 

My best Hermann Goerner Impression!

The top is me.

The bottom is him

Nailing some good old Back Squats

Here's the 10th of 10 sets of 10 reps for back squats. Love my squats, there's a reason why they are known as the king of exercise. Hit parallel on all of them except the final one, which was a little high. Good strong final set.

Some feet elevated resisted push ups

From Friday night's training. Here are some feet elevated push ups with bodyweight plus an additional 90 pounds thanks to the power push-up.

A fantastic combination for the midsection

Here's a great combo for the entire midsection. I finished up Thursday's training with this one.

Without any rest hit 10 good mornings, 10 weighted sit ups, 10 good mornings, 10 weighted sit ups, 10 good mornings and10 weighted sit ups. Awesome stuff.

In the video I'm using 125 pounds for the Good mornings and 90 pounds for the sit ups.

Also, shout out to the Simpson's episode, "Lisa's Substitute" that's playing in the background.

This is what it's all about

This is what it's all about. It's about pushing yourself well past what you think your limitations are, pushing the envelope and leaving nothing for the return trip home. It's the final reps that cause our changes, the one's that you really have to work for, the one's you have to fight tooth or nail for.

After 9 sets of 10 reps in the deadlift with 315 pounds, here's set 10. I put everything into it and, eve though I only hit 6 reps for this set, there's no way I could have put more into it. I hit the point of literal collapse. This is the set that we all work for to create our dreams.

An awesome one for the back and arms

The second of 4 sets from Tuesday night's training.

Start with 1-arm pull up on each side, then immediately go into 2-arm V-sit pull ups. And awesome one for sure.

A great combination for the midsection

Alright, start with a 60 second long plank with a barbell plate on your back, then immediately hit 10 v-ups, and repeat for three sets with no rest at all. An awesome circuit.

How I feel after I've finished training:

Hehehehehe!!!!!

How you should feel on Squat and Deadlift days:

I think that says it all!!

Happy Birthday to my Bride

Ah, my bride rocking the 1-arm push-ups on the eve of her birthday!  Happy Birthday my angel!!

My gorgeous bride

From last night's training session. Here's my gorgeous bride rocking her "facing the wall" handstands! Awesome job my angel!

Keeping the wrists strong and healthy

This is a little combination of mobility and strength training that I use to keep my wrists strong and healthy for my morning practices.

Some Clapping Pull ups

Here's the 5th and final set from this morning's clapping pull ups. Made sure to com to a complete dead hang in between every rep. Feeling strong and powerful. Love these!!

Some Y-scale practice

There's just something beautiful, serene, peaceful and calming about practicing your Y-scales outside in the morning!

Explosive pull ups

My 5th of 5 sets of these. Working on trying to pull so the mid to bottom part of my chest hits the bar on each rep.

Some flipping morning fun, lol!

Having some fun flipping around during this morning's practice session. And no, I'm not wearing a white shirt, I'm just that pasty.

How's your arm training going?

Just wanted to ask everyone how there arm training was going?

Just for my wonderful Bride!!

Because my Gorgeous Bride doesn't think I post enough shirtless pics!!

I had a bunch of stuff to post today, but blogspot sucks!!

I had a ton of awesome and fun fitness and training videos to post today, but BlogSpot sucks. I'm about ready to delete all of my accounts and just post on youtube and facebook. It's funny that I never have a problem posting my videos at either youtube or facebook, but lately I've been unable to upload or process around half of my videos here. Great work there, BlogSpot, glad that you have a good product.

Anyway, if you want to see the latest videos including "monkey flipping fun," "freestanding handstand push ups," and a great one on "hitting the whole body" feel free to look me up at either "brett stepan" or    "brett stepans training log" at you tube. All those videos and more will be posted there.

How does 38 feel?

How does 38 feel?


In a Word:


AWESOME!!!!

In honor of turning 38:

In honor of turning 38, here are 38 handstand push ups!


I originally wanted them all in a row, but I had to shake out my arms after the first 30 reps, lol!

A quick thought and a quick question

As I was outdoors practice this morning I was thinking. Growing up, my family owned racehorses that raced around the country. Now, it seems that every owner and trainer in horse racing is looking for that one in a million horse. That Secretariat for this generation, if you will. Now, if some owner and trainer actually got that diamond in the rough, how would they treat it?

Would they feed it the best feed and hay that they could? Of course they would. They'd make sure that the horse didn't fill it self up with crap!

Would they make sure that they brought it to the track and exercised it everyday, so it would continue to grow stronger, faster and healthier? Again, without a doubt they would.

Then I started thinking about all of the people that I know that love their cars. Regardless of the quality of the car, they baby the crap out of it. They rub it with their shammy so it doesn't get dusty. They wash it regularly, get it tuned up, put in the best fuel, change the oil and do everything that they can to take care of it.

And, I've also seen tons of people do the same type of things for their phones, their televisions, and their computers.

Now, if these people treat their horse, dogs, cats, cars, computers, televisions, phones and what not with such amazing respect and love; why then don't they do the same thing with their bodies?

You only get one body on this go around we call life, why wouldn't you treat it with the same respect an love that you'd treat the other, much more trivial things in your life?

A few weeks ago one of my friends on facebook had a great post that went something like this:

I Don't Exercise And Eat Right Because I Hate My Body!

I Exercise And Eat Right Because I Love And Respect My Body!

All that I can say is how true that is!

If you truly love and respect yourself, why don't you start treating yourself as good, or even better than you do your car, television, phone, etc.?

I think that's a great question.

Don't you?

Now, go train hard, heavy and smart and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

I'll admit it!

I'll admit it. This picture is posted out of spite!

As I'm currently one week away from my 38th birthday this picture is dedicated to all those that told me, when I was in my 20's, that once I reached 30 it would be impossible to stay limber and flexible.

Hmmmmm.........I think this picture proves you all wrong!

A little bit of the Y-scale

A quick picture from the end of this morning's practice. A pretty decent Y-scale on the left side.

Love the improvements in the gymanstics bridge

From Friday morning's practice (7-18-2014): After 3 sets of Yoga bridges, 3 sets of wrestlers bridges, and 3 sets of gymnastics bridges; here's the 4th and final set of gymnastics bridges for the night. I love the improvements. Not perfect yet, but soooooo much better than they used to be.

You always have to love seeing improvements in the basics

Working on a basic press up to handstand hold. It's always nice when the foundation improves!

Some v-sit holds

Here's the final set of v-sits from last night's training. These are coming around nicely. Feeling stronger and stronger, and getting the legs higher.

Freestanding Handstand Push up practice

My 5th of 6 sets of freestanding handstand push up practice on the parallets. Not worried about the number of reps, but focusing on the range of motion, technique of the handstand and     doing them properly and on balance. Feeling pretty awesome.

Butterfly kick practice

My first session working on Butterfly kicks from Wushu. Feeling really fun, I love them.

Aerial practice from this morning

My first day working my aerial cartwheels. Not to bad. I like the back step into them, it feels powerful. I like my first attempts and I'm looking forward to seeing how much better they get with practice.

Busted-up weightlifter's syndrome: Real or BS?

Over the years I've had the privilege of studying under masters of all types of physical culture. From bodybuilding to gymnastics to martial arts to Olympic weightlifting to Powerlifting to strongman training to club swinging and more. And it's been one hell of an amazing journey. I've also, through those studies been able to get to know people of all walks of life and all ages that used these methods. And that's been even more amazing.

One of the things that I noticed during my in depth research of various methods of bodyweight training was the constant talk of "busted up weightlifter syndrome." It's funny how many bodyweight only trainers talked about this supposed syndrome and made it sound like anyone that's ever lifted a weight in their lives had come down with huge problems ranging from blown out backs, to bad knees, to crippled shoulders. They all talked like it was some sort of a given, that if you used weights you'd end up in a ton of pain with a bunch of joint problems. Then they'd talk about how bodyweight training would never cause any of these types of problems.

Now, I'm a huge bodyweight training enthusiast. I love it. It's probably my overall favorite way to train. Calisthenics, Charles Atlas style Dynamic Tension, Visual Resistance, Self resistance, Isometric and gymnastics training all happen to be a huge part in my own personal programs as well as those that I design for my clients. However, bodyweight training is only one of many tools that I use for myself and my clients.

That being said, is what those bodyweight only trainers saying about "busted up weightlifter's syndrome" true?

I've spent the past decade looking into that very question.

It's funny, I've met many men and women in their 70's, 80's and 90's that started training with weights in their teen age years and have continued on for their entire lives, that have no signs of "busted up weightlifter's syndrome." And these guys and gals weren't fooling around. We're talking men and women well into the golden years that aren't just ripped and chiseled, but are still tossing around awesome weights. 700 and 800 pound squats and deadlifts. 300 and 400 pound clean and jerks. 150-300 pound snatches. Good strong weight, yet none of them had bad backs, bad knees, bad shoulders or the other maladies that they were supposed to have. In fact, these men and women had some of the healthiest joints and back of anyone I've ever met.

Yet, at the same time, I knew bodyweight training practitioners that suffered from bad knees, bad shoulders, and bad backs.

Hmmm........what's going on here?

Yes, I've also met some bodybuilders and lifters that did definitely suffer from those same maladies as well. And I've known many bodyweight only people who had incredibly healthy joints and backs.

So, what' going on?

Very simple.

The problem isn't so much in whether someone used their own bodyweight or if they use barbells and kettlebells. The problem comes from the methods in which people go about their training.

In my studies and experience I've found that the busted up people never seem to warm up. Yet the people that aren't busted up and beaten to hell all spend a good amount of time warming up their bodies before they train.

Also, every busted and beaten up person that I found trained using "isolation" methods and body part splits. They had a day of training set aside for chest, one day for shoulders, one day for back, one day for arms, etc. And they'd do things like 3-5 exercise for their front deltoid, 3-5 for their lateral deltoid, 3-5 for their rear deltoid, etc.

On the other hand, everyone that's not busted and beaten up trained either with full body workouts, or at the most an upper body emphasized and lower body emphasized or push/pull split.    I say emphasized, because there's always going to be some lower body work on an upper body day and vice versa. Also, they didn't try to "isolate" the body parts, but rather they worked to use the body as one unit.

I also found that the busted up weight trainers tended to use a lot of machines. Those of you that read my stuff regularly will know how I feel about the machines, lol. While the non busted up people used their bodies, barbells, clubs, kettlebells, dumbbells, and other free weight style  movements.

Also, after they had trained, the people that weren't busted and battered tended to use a cool down while the battered people tend to not cool down at all.

Between training sessions, I've found, that the battered population tends to not worry about their sleep, their recovery, their stress levels in daily life or their nutrition.

Yet all of the non battered people focused on getting their 7-9 hours of sleep, working on various recovery methods such as chiropractic care, massage, stretching, foam rolling, mobility work etc. They also minimized their daily stress and ate a nutritious and clean diet.

All of this led to healthy bodies rather than beaten up bodies.

Mix this with many other factors like not seeking out muscular failure on a regular basis, not using forced reps all the time, and more and you'll start to see why there really is no such thing as "busted up weightlifter syndrome." But, instead there's bad training habits and good training habits.

When we look back to the old timers like Sandow (pictured at the top of the page), Maxic, Saxon, Klien and the rest you'll see a number of men and women that (in a time when the average life span was only 55 years or so) lived long and healthy lives keeping not only their strength and physique, but also their healthy joints. Start to emulate their training methods and you two can have healthy joints for life even while moving a shit ton of weight.

I could go into further depth, and probably will in the future. But, I think that's enough for now. Talk with you all soon.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

A wonderful upper body circuit from Saturday

Here's an amazing strength and conditioning circuit from Saturday night's training. Aim for 3-5 rounds. Hit 2 cast wall walks, 7 handstand push ups, 2 cast wall walks, 5 rings dips, 2 cast wall walks, 5 pseudo planche push ups, 5 l-sit rings pull ups. Awesome stuff.

An awesome circuit from Friday's training

Here's an awesome circuit from Friday night's training. Great for burning fat, building muscle, gaining strength/ speed/ power, awesome cardio, great for so many things.

1-arm cartwheels from Monday's practice

My third practice session working on this particular version of the 1-arm cartwheel. It's a slightly different way to get into the cartwheel, but I like it. It feels like there's a ton of power.

Tucked Planche Push ups

The final set of tuck planche push ups on the prallets from last night's training. Super setted with Front lever holds and scapula depression and retractions. These are feeling stronger, better body position and deeper range of motion.

First morning practice after a back off week wrap up

Back to work after a nice back off week. Here's the wrap up of the first morning practice session which included false grip pull-ups, 1-arm cartwheels, handstand holds, Y-scales, butterfly jumps, front punch tuck (front flip) preps, back flip preps, aerial cartwheel preps, muscle ups, and more. A fun way to mix floor work and rings work for the day. Felt really awesome and strong, great to be back after a week off.

Freestanding Handstand Push-up on Parallets

I was nailing 4's for the first 4 sets, so I decided to go for 5 on the last set of the freestanding handstand push-ups on my parallets. Made 5 reps, but they were much higher than I'd like. I'll work on that on Friday.

Attempt at a 535 pound Zercer Squat

If you're going to post your success you also have to post a failure. I had just nailed a 525 pound Zercher squat, but just couldn't make it with 535 pounds.

Handstand to Straddle Planche on the Parallets

My handstands were feeling really rocking and so were my handstands to tucked planche, so I decided to up the ante and go for the straddle planche. Not bad for the first few sets ever of working this movement.

1-legged burpees

Here's a fun one for building muscle, burning fat, getting the heart and lungs going, building speed and explosiveness, getting your legs and butt in shape, and more. Use it in repetitions, in timed sets, as part of a circuit. It's an awesome one. The 1-legged burpee.

Working the Straddle L-sit Hold

Final set of straddle L-sit holds from last night's training. Working on keeping strong through the legs, feet and toes, making sure the legs aren't touching the arms, and getting the legs higher and higher. Feeling pretty good.

Some handstand push ups on the push up bars wih a 20 pound weight vest

Here's the last set of a super set (which in included handstand push ups and 1-arm pull-ups) from last night's training. Did them against the wall while balancing on the push up bars. Wore a 20 pound weight vest. They felt really good and strong, but I should have gone a little deeper.

My Name's Brett Stepan and I'm a rings addict

How to make your ankles feel like a million dollars

Here's a good mixture of joint mobility, dynamic stretches and strength work to help make your ankles feel like a million dollars. Great for a warm up or a cool down. I hope you like these.

Fliippy and fun combo on the rings: A different view:

Here's another view of the final set of this fun little combo on the gymnastics rings. Training and practicing like this is a blast.

A fun flippy combo on the gymnastics rings

During my morning practice today I decided to work on a fun little combination movements on the gymnastics rings. My first time attempting something like this, here's the second to the last set of the combo. It consists of hang to inverted hand, pike down to German hang, pull up to top pull up position with an L/V-sit, lower to an L/V-sit hang. Very fun to practice.

500 pound Zercher Squats

From last night's training session. Here's the final set of Zercher Squats. Hit these strong and easy. Felt like I could have handled more.

Handstand to Planche

From Monday night's training session here's my 3rd set of Handstand to Planche. I'd never tried these in my own training, but I love them.  The first two sets weren't too pretty. But set three wasn't too bad. My hips are pretty high, but the movement felt good.

The Home Gym Tour Part 2: The Outside

For some reason this video won't upload here at the blog. If you'd like to see the home gym outside tour look me up under Brett Stepan at youtube. You'll find the home gym tour part 2: the outside there. Have fun and thanks for watching.

Some Fun Jump Training in the morning

Want to add jump training into your program. Here's some fun ways to do it. 1/2 turns, full turns, 1 1/2 turns, double turns, Russian Jumps, Pike Jumps, Tornado kicks and Reverse Tornado Kicks.

First Tumbling Pass of the year

Who cares is it's wet and slippery and you're sliding around all over the place, Just tumble. Here's the first tumbling pass of the year. Not bad for a non-gymnast, lol :)

Fun With Cardio Part 2

So many ways to have fun with cardio. Here's a great little jump over - duck under drill with a handspring off the log to finish out.

Playing on the high bars

Playing around with transitioning between a German Hang to Inverted Hang to Front Lever Negative to Scapula Depression and Recession. Having Fun :)

Exercise is play time

Doing some box jumps onto an outdoor stage, then hitting a handstand on the stage.

Fun With Cardio

How do you make cardio fun? Make it play time. Here's some backwards bear runs to a handstand crawl up the wall, to sideways handstand runs, to a bear run forward.

A classic and highly effective form of push ups

This is one of my personal favorite forms of push ups. I learned at as the Atlas Push up, named after the great Charles Atlas who made it the cornerstone of his amazing programs. A great one for strength, flexibility and stability as well as for chest, shoulder, triceps, midsection and back development. I hope you like it.

I'm not one for selfies, but not bad for someone that doesn't necessarily train for physique development.

I'm not really a big fan of selfies or shirtless selfies, but I have to say; not bad for someone that doesn't necessarily train for physique development.

Nailing a pretty easy 455 pound Zercher Pull

From last Friday. Here's a pretty easy Zercher pull with 455 pound. The last set of Zercher's for the night, this one  felt really nice.

Hitting a nice and easy 415 pounds on the Zercher Pull

Here's the final set of Zercher pulls from Friday night's training session. Kept it a little lighter to make sure my quad was healing correctly. 415 pounds felt pretty easy though. Very pleased with the lift.

Some drills for making your knees feel lke a million dollars

Alright here are a handful of great mobility drills to help your knees feel like a million dollars. I hope you enjoy them!

healthy, strong and flexible wrists

Here are a few great drills to help you increase the flexibility, mobility, stability and strength of your wrists. They're awesome for developing healthy wrists that feel like a million dollars.

Healthy, flexible, mobile, stable and strong shoulders

Here's a great drill to do to increase your shoulder flexibility, mobility and stability and gve you a set of healthy shoulders that feel like a million dollars.

Some more upper back flexibility for feeling amazing!

Here are two different dynamic stretches that can also be done as one movement to help loosen up your upper back, break away tension and feel amazing. Have fun :)

A little dynamic stretching to help your upper back feel lik a million dollars

Here's a quick dynamic stretch to help loosen up your upper back, get rid of tension, warm up, feel awesome and kick ass! I hope you like it :)

To Kip or not to kip: Let's talk about some muscle up technique.

     Now, I'm not going to go off on a really long debate about whether or not you should kip during your muscle ups and pull-ups. I do truly see the point of using the kip at specific times. for example, when you're first starting out and you don't quite have enough strength for the movement, kipping to the top and then using a very slow eccentric movement to get back o the bottom will very much help you out in building the strength and the technique to master either a pull-up or a muscle-up.

     Also, I understand that kipping pull-ups and kipping muscle-ups can be used as a pretty good conditioning tool. They allow you to do a lot more reps to help and develop stamina an endurance.

     What I don't get is the completely chaotic versions with a crap ton of kip and swing that don't resemble anything close to the actual movement. Yet, many people that perform their chaotic, frantic, swinging , kipping versions will some how still say that they are using proper body mechanics. It really makes you wonder.

Here are two videos that show, very nicely what a good muscle-up should look like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=W2qIBgbdH88

And, since the last video was on the high bar here's one on the rings. The gymnast starts out his routine with the muscle-up, check out how smooth this first move is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLNnJ5HuraRcWiqk_kVvm9dJpSJ6lEwI5S&v=2q8KMnWUsvg&feature=player_detailpage


So, while I can see the point in using the kip occasionally, try to make your muscle-ups look like the one's above and I can guarantee that you'll love the results even more.

Abdominal Wheel 101

Here's a little Abdominal Wheel 101 for y'all.

A Quick tour of the Home Gym

After getting a bunch of requests to see how I have my home gym set up, here's a quick tour of the inside. I'll be putting up a tour of the outside area at a later date. Hope you enjoy.

Some Ice Cream Makers

At the end of my morning hand balancing and rings practice I decided to throw in 5 sets of 5 for tuck front lever ice cream makers. Here's the final set.

Having fun!

Having fun with my new set of rings (I've had them for about a month now). I've always loved working on the rings, some of my favorite training methods are done with them. And I have to say, these rings kick ass! I love them!

Some pretty killer beginner's routines

Hey Fitness Friends,


For today I'm going to answer a question that I recieve quite a bit. That question is, "Brett, how come you don't put up a workout of the day, or a bunch of programs? And, what's a good basic workout for someone that doesn't have a lot of equipment?"

These are two great qeuestions. First, I don't do a WOD or a blank program because everyone had different goals, different strengths and weaknesses, different recovery ability, differet imbalances and assymetry, and more. So, putting out a workout for "everyone" isn't really going to cover what everyone really needs. It's the same reason why I can't stand group classes and boot camps. But that's all for a different tip. On to the second part of the question.

A basic workout for someone that doesn't have a lot of equipment. I'll conceed and put up a couple of basic programs here. Before you do any of them though, make sure that you come and see me or find another very knowledgeable coach to teach you the correct way to perform the exercises for your body type and fitness levels. Not a curves, snap fitness, LA ftiness trainer either. Look for someone that actually knows what they're talking about. Also, when I talk about doing a 5 x 5 program I'm talking about using 5 sets of 5 repititions. A good way to look at it for someone that is using 405 pounds on a back squat would be : 1 set of 5 with 135 lbs. 1 set f 5 with 225 lbs. 1 set of 5 with 315 lbs. 1 set of 5 with 365 lbs. 1 set of 5 with 405 lbs. As that person gets in better condition they may move to 1 set with 225, 1 set with 315, 1 with 365 and 2 sets with 405. Or something similar.



Now, here's a great little Barbell routine to start out with and you only need a barbell, some weigh plates and either a squat stand or power rack:

Monday: Heavy and High Intensity Day:

1.) Back Squats: 5 x 5

2.) Floor Press: 5 x 5

3.) Deadlift or Power Clean (from the floor or the Hang): 5 x 5

4.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 x 10 seconds.

Wednesday: Light and Low Intensity:

1.) Back Squas: 5 x 5 with 50-75 lbs. less than on Monday.

2.) Floor Press: 5 x 5 with 25-50 lbs. less than on Monday

3.) Clean Grip High Pulls from the Floor (even though you can go really heavy with these, go pretty light today) 5 x 5

4.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 x 10 seconds.

Friday: Heavy and Medium Intensity:

1.) Squats: 3 x 5 followed by 2 x 3 (use you're top weight from Monday for the first set of 3, then increase the weight forthe seconds set of 3. Use this top weight for your new top weight the next Monday for 5.)

2.) Strict Military Press: 5 x 5

3.) Bent Over Rows: 5 x 5

4.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 x 10 seconds

Stick with that for 6-12 weeks and you'll see huge gains in strengh, endurance, power and more and you'll drop body fat, gain muscle and feel and look better. Put your all into it.



Here's a Great Basic Bodyweight routine. Even though Bodyweight Training is incredible for overall strength gains, most people don't start out with enough strength to do a lot of the great movements, so this will be like basic training for your bodyweight training while still offering good gains in strength and really awesome gains in conditioning.

Monday:

1.) Hindu Squats: Set a goal of 300-500 reps and perform as many sets as you need to to get there whether it's 1 set of 300, 2 sets of 150, or 300 sets of 1.

2.) Hindu Push-ups: Set a goal of 50-100 reps and perform as many sets as you need to get there.

3.) Body Rows: 4-6 sets of 5-15 reps

4.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 sets of 10 seconds

Wednesday:

1.) Hindu Squats: Same As Monday

2.) Classic Push-ups or Push-ups with the Hands Elevated: Same As Hindu Push-ups on Monday

3.) Briding (Holding a Yoga Bridge, Wrestler's Bridge or Gymnastic's Bridge): 3 sets of As Long As Possible (ALAP)

4.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 sets of 10 seconds

Friday:

1.) Hindu Squats: Same As Monday

2.) Handstand Variations (Choose a variation of the handstand progressions that's right for your fitness level) 3 x ALAP

3.) Towel Over Door Pull-up Isometrics: 3-5 sets of 10 seconds

4.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 sets of 10 seconds.

Again stick with this for 6-12 weeks and you'll notice dramatic chagnes.



And, here's a final Basic routine designed for a single kettlebell.

Monday:

1a.) 1-arm Snatches 10 sets of 10 per side supersetted with:

1b.) 1-arm Clean and Jerks: 10 sets of 10 per side

2.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 sets of 10 seconds.

Wednesday:

1.) 1-arm Strict Military Press: 5 x 5-10 per side

2.) 1-arm Bent Row or 1-arm Renegade Rows: 5 x 5-10 per side

3.) Goblet Squats: 5 x AMAP (As Many As Possible)

4.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 x 10 seconds.

Friday:

1.) Get-ups: 5 x 5-10 per side

2.) 1-arm Swings: 5 sets of 40 reps (switch hands every 10 reps on each set) with 60 seconds of rest between sets)

3.) Hollow Body Holds: 4-6 sets of 10 seconds.

Well, there you have three very effective traing routines. Each one will build strength, endurance, stamina, balance, coordination, mobility, flexibility, stability, agility, speed and power; and will build muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones while also burning body fat. Even though these are all geared for the beginner, a trainee that's moe intermediate to advanced can still easily reap benefits from these type of routines. Take one and work the hell out of it.

Now, go out and train smart, hard and heavy and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,

Brett

The 5-5-5 Pull-up variation

Here's a fun little varation of pull-ups that will help you break through plateus and increase strength.

Playing around part II

Still having a blast playing around with push up combos :)

Playing around with push-ups

I was having some fun playing around with vaious push-up combos :)

1 arm quadruple clap push-ups

I was playing around with clapping push ups and thought about trying a 1 arm quadruple clap (clapping behind the back, in front of the chest, behind the back and in front of the chest before coming down) push up. I sort of hit 5 reps.

Feet Together Planche Push-up Variations

Playing around with a full planche (feet together instead of straddled) push up variation.

Really BMI? Really?

At 5 feet and 7 inches tall and weighting in at around 190 pounds with about a10 percent body fat I'm considered obese by the Body Mass Index or BMI if you will. According to the BMI I'd have to lose 40 pounds to be considered at a fit and healhty body mass. I don't see it!

Straddle Presses to Handstands

I decided to finish up my handbalancing practice this morning with 6 sets of 5 for straddle presses to handstands. Here's the final set of the day. I have to say, 2 sloppy ones and 3 pretty good ones; ain't to shabby.

Fun with conditioning

Here are two flows that you can use to have fun with your conditioning. They'll build strength, power, speed, endurance, agility, balance, coordination, stamina and more. Give them a try.

Some more odd position training

Here are a few more exercises to become strong, powerful and stable from odd positions.

Straddle Planche Push-up Variation Part 2

Another set, a little better, getting closer to the straddle planche :)

Playing Around With A Straddle Planche Push-up Variation

The title says it all. On my journey to master the Planche, I thought I'd play around with a straddle Planche push-up variation.

Some more odd position exercises

Here are some more exercises to get you strong and stable from odd positions.

Exercises for being strong, stable and powerful in odd positions

Whether your an athlete or just playing with your kids or grandkids, chances are you'll find yourself in odd positions. Positions that are far removed from the linear paths of most exercises. Instead of getting injured in these positions, here are someexercises to make you strong, stable an powerful from any position.

Some tips on how to work your way into free standing handstand push-ups

After getting abunch of questions on how to start doing free standing handstand push-ups, I thought I'd post a nice progression.

1-arm triple clap push-ups with 20 lbs. weight vest

I had just finished up a nice handbalancing session and thought I'd try some 1-arm triple clap push-ups (where you push-up then clap in front of the body, behind the body, in front of the body before landing) with a 20 pound weight vest on. Here's the result.

Tucked Planche Push-ups

Taking the feet on ground Pseudo-Planche Push-up to the next level with the Tucked Planche Push-up.

The Finger Extension Push-up Challenge

Hey Everyone,

Here's a fun little push-up challenge. Try these Finger Extension Push-ups. I think you'll like them.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Some "Russian" Push-up variations

Hey everyone,

Here are some variations for you to try of the "Russian Push-up." Kick ass with them.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

My first set of 1-arm triple clapping push-ups

Hey everyone,

After seeing Bud Jefferies perform these I had to give them a try, and they are awesome. It's a 1-arm triple clap push-up. So you're going to perform a 1-arm explosive push-up, while you're in the air you'll clap your hands in front of the body, behind the body, and in front of the body all before coming back down. I got     3 out of 4 (one of them turned into a double clap) on my first set. Give them a try!

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Barbell Complex for great conditioning and fat loss

Hey Fitness friends,

Here's a great barbell complex for great conditioning, muscle building, fat loss and pure awesomeness. Take it and use it.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Some Hanging Leg Raise Progressions

Hey Fitness friends,

Here are some great progressions for the hanging leg raise that'll get you building strength and conditioning throughout your midsection and your entire body.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Awesome abdominal and full body variations

Here are some wonderful progressions for leg raises that will bring them beyond just an abdominal movement and into a full body movement.


Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Building up to the 1-arm pull-up

Hey Everyone,

Here are some great ways to build up to a 1-arm pull-up including how to use negative or eccentric movements to get there.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Lessons from gymnastics!

male gymnast just walking around looking jacked and ripped

Hey Fitness Friends,

Looking forward to the knife defense seminar coming up on Friday. If you aren't registered yet, feel free to contact me.

Alright, to start out today's tip I want you to indulge me for two seconds. I want you to close your eyes, breath in nice and deep, breath out and visualize something. I want you to visualize a male gymnast. Alright, do you have your picture in your mind. If you do, and you're 99 percent of people, you probably pictured a totally strong, powerful, fit, flexible guy. A guy with off the charts definition and muscularity. Someone totally ripped to the bone. Am I right? Probably a yes there.

Now, in the strength and conditioning community, mal gymnasts belong in the elite family known as "Super Athletes." They're in this family because they simultaneously poses incredible and almost super human levels of strength, stamina, power, speed, balance, endurance, flexiblity, stability, aglity, etc., etc., etc. And, if you take a typical, normal, run of the mill male gymnast and stick them into any other athletic event, they tend to be very good right away, regardless of the discipline. And, of course, their bodies are sick! They are some of the most impressive bodies in all of sports.

Now, let's compare a gymnasts training to what the mass media tells you that you should do to lose the body fat.

1.) Gymnasts don't train for a good looking physique. They train to perfrom better at their sport, period. The physique is a by-product of good training. Yet, even a below average gymnast has a more ripped and jacked body than just about anyone training at LA Ftness, Snap or any of the other gyms that advocate training for a ripped body.

2.) Gymnasts don't perform any "cardio" or "aerobics." Even though they build incredible cardio vascular and cardio pulmonary condition, gymnasts train for strength.

3.) Gymnasts train for strength. Gymnastics is a strength sport. Regardless of it being on the floor, the high bar, the parallel bars, the vault, the pommel horse or the rings; gymnastics is almost entirely based around strength and power skills.

4.) Gymnasts don't do high reps. I know, you've been told that you use lighter weights and higher reps to buil definition, gymnasts stay in the 1-6 rep range. Once they can do that easily they don't add reps, they move to harder exercises.

5.) Gymnasts contatnly make their training progressively harder. As they get in better shape, as they get stronger, gymnasts move onto the next harder movement.

6.) Gymnasts stay in the moment. You'll never see a gymnasts on the rings reading a book or watching TV. In order to perform the skills that they do,gymnasts need to be completely in the moment, with no distractions.

7.) Gymnasts train for high levels of tenion. They no that the tighter they get, the more strength they build. The more stregth they build, thetighter they can get. The tighter they get, the more strength they build. And so on and so forth.

8.) Gymnasts practice they same skills day in and day out. They know that in oder to do something well you have to practice it often. They don't partake in mucsle confusion prinicpals, or anything like that. They do the same work day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out, etc.

9.) Gymnasts train the entire body all the time. They don't do a, "I'll work chest on Monday, Back on Tuesday, Legs on Wednesday, Shourlders on Thursday and Arms on Friday" type of routines. They don't try to isolate their muscles nor do they worry about shaping them. They work the entire body hard, every time.

10.) Gymnasts train with high intensity. Working on skills like front levers, planches, reverse muscle-ups, etc. is hard and intense work. They can't talk while they train, the works to damn hard!

Alright, so now that we've looked at 10 things that gymnasts do to develop some of the most incredible bodies in the world, what can you take away from this tip. First, train for strength, power and skill. That'll do more good for your body transformation than all the cardio, high rep/low weight, long duration stuff ever will.

Second, always strive to push the envelop on what you can do and where you are. When something becomes a little bit easier, add resistance and make things harder for yourself.

Third, don't try to distract yourslef while you exercise. Be a part of it. Stay in the moment and concentrate on what you're doing.

Fourth, don't try to isolate your muscles, don't worry about confusing them (how do you confuse something that doesn't think anyway?), don't worry about splitting up your body into body parts. Instead, work yourself hard. Focus on full body or at least multi-part movements.

Fifth, become a master of tension. Knowing how to become totally tense and totally relaxed is where real strength, flexiblity and endurance are made. And remember, what is Muscle Tone? It's stored, residual tension in a relaxed muscle. So, therefore, how do we develop muscle tone? We put ourselves throught very intense resistance that causes a great deal of msucular tension.

Alright, take this tip and make it your own. Go out and train hard, heavy and smart and create your greatness as well as the body of your dreams.

Yours in strength and health,

Brett

I simply love this video. I hope you enjoy it too!

Here's a link to one of my favorite fitness videos. In it Al and Danny Kavadlo do a calisthenics battle. I love these two, they're great guys, strong guys, fit guys, ripped guys, and the video is a classic. I hope you like it.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1aEzqgP-RE&feature=player_detailpage

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

How to work your way to a handstand part 1

Handstand training can be tough to break into, here is where you should start your journey to help you not get frustrated, not get injured and really have fun while making the most out of your practice. Enjoy!

Yours in strength and health,
Brett