Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Shape Your Body With Only A Barbell

By Caleb Lee

I had a subscriber who inquired:

"Is it possible to build muscle, nuke fat, achieve peak condition and get maximum hard-body results if I don't have a power rack and I only have access to a barbell? Not even an Olympic barbell, but one of those old crappy cement filled barbell sets"

I know precisely the weights this guy is saying. I believe nearly everyone of us grew up with them right? They were basically cement weights covered in plastic, and over time the plastic busted up and the cement started to get busted below remember?

I guess I'm showing my age :)

To cut a long story short...

Yeah! Exactly! Even, an old-school equipment like the barbell can certainly make you achieve maximum strength and power!

You just need somebody to teach you exactly how. Fortunately you met me. And thank heavens I just read a large amount of Dan John's awe-inspiring "From the Ground Up".

In this brilliant little ebook Dan John defines the "Rapid Ascent Program", which made up of three exercises:

1. Explosive/Hamstring move

2. Press Move

3. Front Squat

And here's how you did the program (from his book):

"The program was very simple. First, groups of four boys were given a bar. The bars were weighted from very lightmaybe 25 poundsup to perhaps close to 100 pounds. Each cohort of boys would lift one at a time, put the bar down, then the next boy would lift. The four would constantly move from lifter to watcherthe bar never stopped. The three sets (explained in just a moment) would not take very longin fact, sometimes it was hard to catch your breath in time for your next set.

The repetitions were very easy

* First set: 8 repetitions

* Set #2: 6 reps

* Third set: 4 repetitions

The goal was simple: once you got all 18 reps (8+6+4), you added weight. If you started with a bar that was excessively light, the succeeding workout, you would be bumped up to the next weight and a stronger group. (Needless to say, actual variations could include making a whole new group with more weight, tooor whatever necessary to make the group work together)."

Seems easy doesn't it?

That's the beauty of this program!

You don't need a great deal of equipment to achieve maximum strength and power and build mega-muscles... all at the same time as increasing your cardiovascular fitness and stripping off stubborn pounds of fat.

What you DO need is a little "do or die" point of view. You should make a decision you certainly WANT to attain your fitness goals, then you'll find a way to make use of whatever equipment you have available to make it happen.

I love program in view of the fact that it follows the DoubleYourGains' philosophy of training movement patterns rather than a bunch of exercises. The Rapid Ascent program has a press move (military press), a pull move (power clean), a squat move (front squat) and an explosive/hamstring move (power clean).

How to do the "Rapid Ascent" program for cardio and fat loss:

Coach Dan highlights that you could also acquire a great cardio workout and nuke some fat:

"To "hurry up" the trainingas if it was necessary, there were times when Mr. Freeman recommended combining the Power Clean and Military Pressesone clean and one press, repeated for a total of eight reps. this was done with a lighter weight. One could also do the Front Squats after the clean and presses, too. I have only done this onceand it was an amazing cardiovascular workout."

So if you think you don't have enough equipment to get into great shape and achieve your fitness goals you are wrong. You are wrong. You are wrong.

As a matter of fact, you don't even need a barbell. You can be on your way with the DoubleYourGains' bodyweight program. You can do pullups on your door frame (for extra strong fingers) or just grab the top of a door and go to town (or a tree limb, anything you can hang from, and all that) Believe me, if THAT workout gets easy for you - you will be a certified STUD.

And, the minute you gain access to a good Olympic barbell set you can start the DoubleYourGains' 3-5 Program. - 15438

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