Articles (April 2010)

Big Mikes Blog #10
Competitive Strongman, Certified Sports Performance Coach

Hey everyone hope it was another strong week of training. This week I was looking for triples on all my major lifts. On Monday I worked up to 315x3 on the overhead. Some of my accessory work included overhead iso holds with 275 for 3x10 seconds, and kettle bell high pulls into barbell curls. On Wednesday I worked up to 500x3 with 3 chains on each side for box squats. Some of my accessory work included rack deadlifts with the mini bands and 2 chains on each side working up to 500lbs. I also included barbell reverse lunges into eccentric loaded GHR’s with a 45lb plate. On Thursday I worked up to 285x3 with 2 chains on each side for the bench. Also did some incline dumbbell bench working up to 120lbs and continued my max rep pull ups and T- bar rows. Some of my other accessory work was a 3-way shoulder circuit into dumbbell shrugs. Next week I have a competition in Pennsylvania, so for the upcoming week I’m going to be going 75-80% on all my major lifts for 5x1. Check back next week to see how things went, until then keep lifting and keep eating!

-Big Mike

4/6/10

A – Mike thanks for the props!!! I’m glad you like the videos. First let me start by saying that flexibility training should be a major component of all strength & conditioning routines. If you coach athletes like I do every day you’ll know why I say that! Every meathead athlete that walks into a gym has no problem hitting the weights for an hour, but as soon as their done…poof…out the door! NOT AT MY GYM! We make sure that all our athletes properly stretch before and after every workout.

Coach Joe
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist & Sports Performance Expert

Flexibility & Performance - Part 1
Q – Hey Coach, You guys are hardcore! I love the videos please keep them coming! My question is regarding flexibility training. I have seen several videos showing your regeneration routine and some stuff about Ginastica Natural on your website. First, could you please explain exactly how flexibility helps improve performance? Second, could you please give some sample routines?

Mike G. – Elmwood Park NJ

4/8/10

Lineman Drills : Phase 2

Vincent Esposito
Bologna Warriors Professional Football

Hey everyone. I came home from Albany with a plan that I wanted to continue playing football. I trained for eight weeks with the VH crew and was fortunate enough to sign a contract to play overseas in Italy for the Bologna Warriors. The book “Playing For Pizza” by John Grisham is an extremely accurate representation of my experience thus far. The first weekend I was here, I went to two different pizza parties with the players, coaches and ownership of the team. The players over here do it for the love of the game not for the money and fame. Our team President is also our equipment manager, trainer, and unofficial team doctor. The city of Bologna is pretty incredible, with a vibrant nightlife and huge student population, and is only about a half hour from the beach.

4/20/10

Big Mikes Blog #11
Competitive Strongman, Certified Sports Performance Coach

Hey everyone hope training is going strong. Two Saturday’s ago I competed as a heavyweight at Krank’d Classic II to challenge myself and set some new p.r.’s. The first event was a 270 axle clean and press for one minute and I was able to hit 5 which took 3^rd in that event. The next event was a 275lb farmer’s walk in each hand for 50ft into a 280lb keg for 50ft. I was able to finish in 25 seconds which took 5^th in the event. The next event was an 850lb tire for most flips in a minute and I hit 5, but felt that I could I have it more. The fourth event was a 140lb circus dumbbell clean and press with one arm for a minute and I hit 4 reps but once again felt like I could have hit a lot more. The last event was stones, I was the first one to load the 330 stone, I missed out on the 360 stone but I feel like it is very close to going up so that is a goal I will be setting for next time. Overall I took 6^th out of 15 competitors and I was able to hit a couple p.r.’s however I could have done much better so I will continue to keep working hard and learning.

Strongman this past Saturday I had to get back to work and started off with some log pressing just working up to 250x5 for lots of speed and power. I also did some axle power cleans working up to 253x1. Then we brought it outside to do 5 rounds of the 230 sandbag for 50ft into the 230 keg for 50ft which was great work capacity. Last was stones and I worked on the 280 stone for 5x2 with no tacky and worked on one timing the stone with no wasted motion. Next week I will be going for some singles on my major lifts so check back next week, until then keep lifting and keep eating!

-Big Mike

more articles...