In this final part of the series on ‘how to pull a monstrous amount of weight off the floor while giving gravity the middle finger’, we will explore the following:

• Some alternate exercises that you’ve probably never tried, but will have a nice carry-over to your deadlifts.
• Variations of the deadlift which will help you increase your max, make you more beautiful or just generally more bad-ass.
• Some fair-well bidding thoughts, a video of my recent max and a blessing that only a Jerk could give.

And in case you haven’t read the earlier articles in my deadlift mastery series, I suggest you get with the program or GTFO…

READ PART 1 –or- READ PART 2

Deadlift Variations

1. The Rack Pull

A rack pull is exactly like a deadlift, except the range of motion (ROM) is cut in half. It’s like the deadlift’s shorter, uglier cousin. So instead of the bar starting off at your shins, it starts off at your knees. These are usually done inside a power rack but ultimately, any deadlift where the bar rests higher and the ROM is decreased is effectively a rack pull. I personally use the squat rack as seen below…

The great thing about these is that you can probably lift anywhere from 50-200% heavier that your normal deadlift max. Some can go even higher than that. It gives you the confidence to know that if a normal deadlift ever goes past your knees – you’ve got that shit in the bag. After all, you’ve probably rack pulled a heavier weight before. Also an awesome exercise to practice your lockouts.

2. Snatch Grip Deadlift

Another ugly but highly effective variation of the normal lift which plays around with the ROM. The only difference is that you grab the bar as wide as you possibly can to increase your ROM instead of decreasing it.

The result? Well, it’s a fucking bitch and takes more effort. With a snatch grip (far outside the rings on barbell), you effectively have to pull the bar higher. So a longer travel path = more work = more ass kicking = better deadlift in the end. Leave your ego at the door, you will not be able to lift as much as you do on a regular deadlift.

3. Sumo Deadlift

Sticking with the theme of playing around with the ROM, the third ugly cousin is the Sumo deadlift. Just like the Rack Pull, it decreases your ROM, but is done so by taking a massively wide stance. Women usually prefer the sumo since they rock them wide, child-bearing hips.

But don’t let that be a fucking excuse. Also, a sumo pull isn’t nearly as impressive as a regular pull. Just like the Rack Pull, you’ll be able to lift heavier loads – so hit up the gym with evil intentions and crush it.

Finally, if you really want to give yourself a challenge, or if you’re bored to tears and want a serious challenge, try the Sumo Snatch Deadlift. Hopefully you’re intelligent enough to figure out what that is and my inbox won’t end up with 50 emails asking me to explain it. If I do, I will be murdering new born kittens. No joke!

Save a kitten, use your brain.

4. Deficit Pulls

While the Sumo and Snatch deadlifts don’t really require any equipment (which makes them rather convenient), a deficit pull is kind of the opposite of the Rack Pull – meaning that instead of putting the bar on a higher surface, you put yourself on a higher surface.

This results in you having to reach down further and pulling the bar over a greater distance. It’s kind of like the snatch grip in a way, but helluva lot more challenging. One piece of advice: Warm-the-fuck-up before attempting these and do not start off with a weight you regularly use for your normal deadlifts. You’ve been warned.

The beauty of deficit pulls is that once you can pull a beastly amount of weight, you can be reasonably sure that your normal deadlifts will be 10-20lbs heavier. In fact, one of the best plateau busters is to keep doing deficit pulls till it matches the current load you’re stuck on. So, how much deficit should you put yourself in? I would say increase your height anywhere from 1-3 inches.

5. Trap-bar Deadlift

I personally love these, but due to my gym being all commercial and shit, I can only manage them when I hit up expensive university gyms. It’s not that my gym cannot afford them, they probably just don’t have a clue as to what it is. Nor do they have a place to put it.

So, why are they awesome? Because the weight is evenly distributed since it isn’t out front of you. This gives you a better center of gravity, your spine handles the load a lot better, it feels more natural and as such, you can pull a fuck tonne amount of weight.

I will say that it is very easy to become addicted to the trap bar deadlift. You’ll want to do it all the time because it’ll make you feel like the shit when you pull multiple plates off the floor. But resist that urge like you would a stripper with a bad case of herps.

6. Speed Pulls

If you were to look at the greatest deadlifter of our time – the 300lbs monster, Konstantin Konstantinovs warming up back stage before his pull, what would you see him do?

Eat babies? Probably.

Wrestle a few bears? That’s fucking given.

Punch a wall because it’s in his way? No doubt.

But what you would also see, is him doing extremely fast pulls with near-explosive jump power at 50-60% of his max. Why would he bother lifting things so light, very quickly? (Note: “light weight” to him, is like 500lbs)

Because he is a smart motherfucker, and he knows that if you can lift a lighter weight quickly, then you can lift a heavier weight slowly. However, the opposite isn’t true. This is why you can bring in a national male gymnast who weighs 150lbs and has never lifted heavy weights in his lift, throw on 300lbs on the bar, ask him to pull it and I guarantee that piece of iron will come off the floor with ease.

How? Because gymnastics requires you to throw around your bodyweight at an explosive speed. The bottom line is – if you’re explosive, you’re probably strong as well. End of story.

Carry-Over Exercises

1. Shrugs

Actually no, what I really meant to say was, HEAVY-ASS-SHRUGS. It doesn’t matter what you plan on using – the barbell, shrug machines or hell, even the moronic Smith Machine. The idea is to use poundages that you never though you could hold on to.

My general rule of thumb for these is if you can go past 5, you’re shrugging too light. As you’ll see below, my current max is at 365lbs, but I can easily shrug 450lbs on a shrug apparatus we have at my gym. It still relies on plate loading, just like any other free weight piece of equipment but it requires a neutral grip and each shrug arm is independent of the other which makes it slightly more challenging.

So again, my shrugs are almost a 100lbs heavier than my regular pulls. I truly believe that my monster shrugging ability is one of the reasons my deadlift is where it’s at. Not only will it give you killer traps, but your grip strength will be phenomenal and locking out becomes child’s play. Having said all of that, be sure not to use a mixed grip –overhand or neutral only and if you must, use straps, it’s ok.

Straps while deadlifting = you’re a pussy. Straps while shrugging heavy ass weight = acceptable.

2. Close Stance Box Squats

I got this tip from my good buddy Jordan Syatt (who is an absolute BEAST at deadlifts in his own right). There isn’t much to it, you put a bar on your back, use a hip width stance (like the one you’d use on your deadlift), squat down till you’re seated on a box or bench, then explode up. You can go parallel or less than parallel – doesn’t matter. Just make sure your ass sinks to the level you deadlift at the minimum.

For beginners or those who just don’t want to squat for some dumb reason, you can start with close-stance leg presses. The only downside to the leg press is that after a while the carry-over starts to become less effective. I personally started with the close-stance leg presses because I could load the machine up with huge weights, without too much fear, and it certainly helped. Now though, its squats or nothing!

3. Heavy Hip Thrusts

Bret Contreras is the master of hip thrusts and I advise you watch the video below on how to do them properly. Why are hip-thrusts effective? Well if you’ve read the first two parts of this series then the answer to that question should be easy to figure out – so I’ll leave it to you.

4. Zercher Squats

What does Louie Simmons and 15 other members of Weside Barbell have in common? (Besides being able to deadlift 800lbs that is…)

That’s right, they all do motherfuckin’ Zercher Squats! The awesomeness of the Zercher needs to be experienced by all. It’s as uncomfortable as it is awesome. First, let’s talk about the uncomfortable-ness.

It will take you roughly a month to quit bitching and get used to a heavy ass load resting on your biceps. Having said that, it’s completely ok to use aids that alleviate the pressure such as towel wrapping the bar, Fat Gripz in the right position, squat foam pads etc. Also, long sleeves help. So why exactly would you want to go through such madness?

Well first, because this exercise will give you an awesome deadlift, that’s why. What I love about it is how the load is in front of you like a front squat, but it’s also lower. You can also kind of imitate the position of a deadlift by bending over during the eccentric phase of the Zercher – almost like doing a good morning. Suffice to say, if you can manage heavy Zerchers, then you can manage some heavy pulls off the floor. Thank you Mr. Ed Zercher, my hats off to you.

5. Direct Lower Back Work

Weighted hyperextensions are your best friend. Do them often, do them awesome, do them justice and you shall be rewarded with a bullet-proof lower back and a deadlift so heavy, you might not even have to drop the bar once you lift it… the Earth will come to you.

Concluding This Series

There you go – 3 articles on how I, and plenty of others, manage to pull such a ridiculous amount of weight off the floor. I really didn’t think I’d have this much to say on deadlifting, but as the words started to involuntarily pour out like lava, I had to split this bitch up into 3 sections. Otherwise, reading it would have been trying to drink from a fire hose while wearing a thong.

I want to leave by saying that everyone – from you, your mom to your grandma, should be deadlifting. Also, you should all stop being pussies and test out your true strength by pulling a max every few months. Just to see if what you’ve been doing is more suited to jerking off or if you’re actually making some sort of progress.

By following all the tips in the series, there is no way in fucking hell that you won’t make progress. It’s everything I’ve ever done and will continue to do, and it’s everything that has made my clients stronger than a Spanish bull with some mustard stuck up its ass – while keeping their body fat at sexy levels.

Here’s to pulling. And below are some kick ass videos, starting with me pulling 365lbs at 129.7lbs – 2.8 times bodyweight.

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© 2012, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Only LOSERS have nothing to say or discuss. Put your thoughts, comments or general rants in the comment section below. FJ does not use censorship but obvious racial slurs and over-the-top stupidity will be deleted.

In the first part of this series, we went over frequency and all the little ways you could manipulate the shit out of it to your advantage. But not in the same way you would manipulate the opposite sex, of course. In this next instalment, I’m going to take you through the most effective technique (in my opinion). Oh and the carry-over exercises along with deadlift variations will come in during future instalments. I haven’t decided whether to split this into 3 or 4 parts, so stay tuned.

And on a side note, for some stupid reason there were a small batch of dim witted fools who jumped to the conclusion that  because I talked about frequency first, it must mean I think it’s the most important. As such, they felt compelled to say that I’m wrong. I guess it makes sense how morons would come to a moronic conclusion, but the fact of the matter is that everything listed in this article and everything that will be listed in the future of the series is important. It’s kind of like a car. Is the transmission more important than the engine? Nonsense. So remember that as you read along… not that you have to, because you weren’t one of the morons, right?

The Stance

Let’s talk about how you should stand. There are many schools of thought on this and while I’m going to lay down what works best for me, I highly suggest  you play around till you find a stance that works the best for your body’s natural biomechanical structure. If there is anyone that says one stance is absolutely better than another, punch them in the throat. There are no absolutes; except for the fact that the deadlift is awesome, and so am I.

I personally have long legs and therefore a hip-width stance works the best. I’ve tried the really close width stance, and the theory behind it is that if you were to do your most powerful, explosive vertical jump, you would have your feet close together. But this theory doesn’t always lend well to application – although there are dudes who pull monster weights with a close stance.

Then there are some who go slightly wider than hip-width but not quite shoulder width. I switch back and forth between this stance and hip-width just to keep myself entertained. Sort of like how people still pleasure themselves even thought they have a girlfriend or boyfriend.

This stance is rare but I can see it’s appeal. First, it marginally decreases the distance you need to pull the bar which can be a huge plus for short dudes/dudetts. Next, it increases the surface area of your base and the bigger the base, the more stable you are. The more stable you are, the more confidence you’ll have when there is a fuck tonne of weight on the bar and it’ll be easier to pull. The down side is that you might buckle your knees inward and besides making you look completely retarded, it will rob you of all power.

The next thing we need to address is the angle of your feet. Again, there aren’t any “absolute” angles but the general rule of thumb is that your toes should be pointed outward anywhere from 10-15 degrees. That’s right, bring out that protractor from grade 9 and draw out those fancy lines. It has to be perfect. Not.

The Distance

Look at the legs of some of the most brutal deadlifters. What do you see? That’s right, long ass fucking socks. The reason being is that when you’re about to set, your shins should be right up against the bar. As in, touching.

What this does is it forces you to sit back. When your shins are too far away, you can drop down lower and then you are essentially squatting the weight. This ain’t no squat, it’s a pull. Walk right up, sit back and let the bar travel up your shins, hugging every inch. And if you don’t have long ass socks, fear not because bleeding shins are the sign of a successful, bad ass pull.

Another key area where distance is important is near lockout. There are plenty of people who get the bar up and then forget that this is a PULL and as such, there is distance between their hips and the bar. Useless. You aren’t just lifting the bar vertically, even though it may look like so. You are actually pulling that shit into you. Always, always remember this fact.

The Grip

I’ll try not to make this too complicated. First, keep your arms as close to your body which will help you reduce the distance the bar has to travel and choose a mixed grip. I train double over hand (or pronated) grip sometimes, just to tickle my fancy but when I need to quit fucking around and pull like my life depends on it, the mixed grip is my go-to.

And get some fucking chalk already. Leather looks good inside a car, or on a horse but not on your hands during a workout. Calluses are mandatory to develop as far as I’m concerned. If you claim to be a deadlifter but when I shake your hands it feels like marshmallows dipped in Oil of Olay, I will slap you.

Finally, I had fallen into the bullshit of believing that if you don’t switch your mixed grip every now and then, your arms will end up looking retarded due to once bicep being bigger than the other. Nothing could be further from the truth. I sustained a thumb injury on my right thumb and as such, pronating my right hand during a deadlift (even at 135lbs) caused severe pain. So I had to use a mixed grip where my right hand was supinated and my left pronated. I figured if I ever saw my right bicep get out of proportion, I’d do some bro-curls on my left side to make up for it.

Well, this thumb incident happened well over a year ago, my thumb is still slightly fucked (due to repeated injuries from BJJ and gymnastics), I still use the same grip and I don’t have one retarded bicep that is bigger than the other. Conventional grip wisdom can go fuck itself.

Another plus is that if you practice one grip all the time, you’ll get really god damn good at it – just like anything else you manage to do a shit load of times. Go figure. If you want to be awesome at the dead, pick a grip and stick with it. You can change it up for fun from time to time, but have one main go-to.

Fuck The Flatback…

…at least near the top part of the lift, before lockout. This is another area where I fell victim to conventional wisdom at a young age and never questioned it because the advice came from “pros”. Turns out these “pros” were weak as shit and would probably have a harder time lifting their inflated ego off the bar than some actual weight. So here’s the conventional wisdom: Keep your back nice and flat throughout the entire lift. A rounded or hunched back = disc herniation and other horrible injuries.

Reality: Andy Bolton (who has deadlifted over 1000lbs) and Konstantin Konstantinovs (who set a world record lift of 939lbs @308 BW) deadlift with rounded-backs.

In fact, Konstantin has been doing the round-back deadlift for the past 16 years and says that if anything, it makes him feel stronger during the pull. Below is a translated quote.

That I will break my back is something I heard from as long as I started to deadlift, or for the last 16 years. I have always deadlifted with a rounded back. My legs have always been lagging in development, but results in deadlift have always been increasing. My back is prone to injuries only when I squat with a heavy weight, but when I deadlift, my back remains in the same rounded position throughout the lift, irrespective of whether I can lift the weight or not, and this protects it from injury. But you need very strong abs if you want to deadlift like that.

However, you need to understand that there is a big difference between knowing the proper round-back technique and being a noob that doesn’t know what the fuck they’re doing. It is because of this reason, that I coach people to deadlift with a flat back. What happens is that as they get stronger, the body naturally starts to round their backs near the top range of the lift. It’s just more mechanically advantageous to do so, and therefore your body does. Plus, by the time you end up naturally rounding your back, your lower back will have developed nicely and your lockout should be bang-on.

For those looking to master the round-back technique, Matt Perryman has written an excellent article on it HERE. Below is a quote from the article about the technique.

That’s the basic sequence of events to follow: exhale and round the thoracic spine, grab the bar, inhale into your gut and brace the spine, then pull. There is one thing we can all agree on: to make this work, you need devastatingly strong lower-back and abdominal muscles. Bill Starr has long suggested doing Good Mornings, Stiff-Legged Deadlifts, and high-rep back hyperextensions to build the strength of the spinal erectors.

This is not unlike the suggestions from Westside, as Louie Simmons has also recognized the value of having a very strong midsection, suggesting a healthy diet of glute-ham raises, reverse hypers, and assorted ab-strengthening work. If you want to be a round-backer, you need to work the lower back and the abs. When is say work the abs, I don’t mean 100 crunches and then those leg raises where you hang from the sleeves on the bar. Use loaded exercises.

^^ Go ahead. You tell him that round-backing is stupid. I fucking dare you.

I am personally just starting to get the hang of the round-back technique myself and the results are promising. My back isn’t broken and my pull is increasing. Win-win.

Head Position And Footwear

Unless you have weight training shoes, everything else should be dumped. The reason being, is that most shoes give you a heel lift, and when your heels are lifted, you cannot sit back properly to active the hamstrings, glutes… actually your entire posterior chain for that matter. In layman’s terms, your posterior chain in composed of all the muscles on the backside which are involved in “pulling” something.

Barefoot is the absolute best way to go, period. If you cannot go barefoot, use socks or grab some Vibram Five Fingers. If your commercial gym gives you shit, tell them to STFU and that they need to pick up an anatomy book. Then throw your shoes at their face and begin lifting.

As for the head, it should ideally be down with your chin tucked to keep your spine neutral… but that never happens when you’re pulling really heavy. Though Eric Cressey is an exception – his form tends to be textbook perfect. Personally, I try and start that way but I always end up looking straight ahead or slightly higher than I should. So try your best with this, but don’t lose sleep over it. It’s not going to make or break your lift. Do whatever if fucking takes to get…

The Lockout

Saved the best for last because I really wanted to go in-depth and detailed with this shit. So here we go.

Just hump the damn bar.

Hmm, that didn’t take as my words as I thought it would. Awesome. Truth be told, it really is that easy and there is no use of making this anymore complicated than it needs to be.

Now go pull some shit and join my ass next time where we discuss the most effective deadlift variations along with assistance exercises you should always be doing.

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© 2012, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Only LOSERS have nothing to say or discuss. Put your thoughts, comments or general rants in the comment section below. FJ does not use censorship but obvious racial slurs and over-the-top stupidity will be deleted.

Machines have a well deserved, shitty reputation from many top strength coaches and personal trainers who generally know what it is they are doing. Personally, I haven’t bothered to touch 80% of the mechanical equipment in my gym. When friends ask me to show them how X, Y, Z machine works, my general response is “Pfft, I don’t f*cking know”

Apparently, because I train people I’m supposed to know how every new piece of mechanical contraption works. Well I don’t, because I don’t have time for that shit. Mainly because I’m focusing on more important things such as perfecting my PowerCleans and Deadlift technique.

Having said all of that, there is still a place for machines in your routine. Yes, it’s true… you can use pre-determined movement patterns to see results. But only if you follow the hierarchy of training. You see, your body works as an entire unit, so you need to train it as such. I still don’t know of a single physical task in life where you need to specifically isolate a muscle group.

But when you train it as a unit, there will come a time when smaller stabilizer muscle groups (such anterior and medial deltoids) will start to fatigue and give out well before the primary ones that you are trying to work (such as pectorals). This is where machines can come into play – because they isolate a specific muscle group which can be worked to exhaustion without affecting the smaller stabilizers. Below are four categories of exercises, listed in order, that will give you maximum results in the shortest amount of time. And by results I mean muscle, strength and fat loss… which happen to the 3 factors of sexiness.

The Hierarchy Of Training

1. Instable + Heavy Load (IH)

An IH exercise is any big compound movement which can be heavily loaded with free weights. So Deadlifts, Squats, Benchpress, PowerCleans, Overhead Press, Snatch, Overhead Squat etc. are all great examples. I refer to it as “instable” because your stabilizers will have to fire and their recruitment will play a huge role in the success of the lift. NOT because you’ll be using stupid pieces of equipment such as the Bosu ball and other nonsense. The Bosu stuff is something I like to refer to as EI (Extreme Instability) exercises, which should be used only for physio/rehab purposes as far as I’m concerned.

2. Instable + Light Load (IL)

An IL exercise is any compound movement that cannot be loaded as heavily as an IH. So DB Bench Press, DB Pullover, Goblet Squat, Kettlebell Swings etc. Again, it’s referred to as “instable” because your stabilizers will need to fire but the load that you’ll be able to manage will not be nearly as high as an IH exercise. If you’ve ever compared your maximum lift in a regular BB Bench Press to the DB Bench Press then you know exactly what I’m talking about. A guy with a solid 315lbs press will have a challenging time with 100lbs DB’s in each hand.

3. Stable + Free Load (SF)

A SF exercise is any pre-determined movement/isolation exercise which can be loaded with free weights. So BB curls, Preacher Curls, DB Kickbacks, DB Shoulder fly etc. It is referred to as “stable” because while there is a protagonist/antagonist situation happening, the recruitment of stabilizers is very low, making the exercise itself already very stable in nature.

4. Stable + Load (SL)

And finally, we get to SL, which is basically anything to do with machines. So a machine preacher curl, quad extensions, ab curl nonsense, leg press, pec deck, Smith Machine bullshits etc. There is barely anyprotagonist/antagonist involvement and no recruitment of stabilizer muscles whatsoever. The primary reason that I, or any other strong, logical and good looking trainer doesn’t bother using machines is because by the time we go through IH, IL and SF exercises, we’ve worked hard enough to not bother with SL any nonsense.

But what do you see most idiots do? They walk into the gym and jump right on the machines faster than Charlie Sheen on a hooker. 95% of the time, if you have enough energy left to do SL exercises at the end of your routine, you probably didn’t work hard enough (with minor exceptions such as the leg press).

So which group of individuals make up this 5%? Bodybuilders, and advanced trainees looking to put on muscle. I usually prescribe a SL exercise when the primary goal is hypertrophy VIA sheer volume. Some people have muscle groups that just so fucking stubborn that they will refuse to grow past a certain point unless you completely demolish them. Let’s say that your man boobs, err… I mean chest is a particular problem area. Here’s a simple order of exercises you can follow:

5×5 BB BenchPress

4×8 DB BenchPress

3×8 Weighted Dips

3×8 DB Flys

2×15 Machine Chest Flys

If that doesn’t give you a shirt-ripping chest then either you’re lifting pussy weights or aren’t eating enough. Point Blank Period.

I never thought I’d be recommending machines and their use in a person’s routine but here we are. The simple fact of the matter is that since most gyms these days are 80% filled will machines, we need to find a decent use for them at some point in our training. As long as their presence doesn’t creep into my Dumbbells, Barbells and Squat Rack area I won’t bitch too much.

Now go kick some machine ass, you panzy.

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© 2011 – 2012, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Only LOSERS have nothing to say or discuss. Put your thoughts, comments or general rants in the comment section below. FJ does not use censorship but obvious racial slurs and over-the-top stupidity will be deleted.

Whether you want to admit it or not, achieving goals is an art. It takes practice, repetition and constant effort to get good at aiming for a target, then hitting it with ridiculous precision. Those that are good at achieving goals probably have their own system which they’ve developed over the years of achieving success, learning from failures, and not being losers. No one is born knowing how to achieve a specific outcome. What’s funny is that 90% of people will disagree with that statement, but just remember that those are the same morons who can’t seem to accomplish anything in the first place. So don’t fall for their bullshit. Would you rather do what 90% of people are doing, or the 10% that are living the life you want to live? Thought so.

Here’s another interesting fact: While no one is born knowing how to achieve an outcome, it seems nearly everyone is highly potent at dreaming up specific goals that will ultimately get us to where we want to be. Basically, we humans have no problem finding targets, but when it’s time to take aim and action, we suck shit. In fact our aim is so bad, that “friendly fire” should be our defining catch phrase.

I mean honestly, just look around you. How many people in your social circle have said that they want to achieve something big or significant, but haven’t done so? My guess is many.

You see, losers don’t know how to walk the talk, so they just keep on talking.

This is also the reason why I screen potential ETraining prospects before I take them on as clients. I want mental winners from the start! I mean sure, who the hell doesn’t want to loose weight and look great? Everyone has a goal, but not everyone is committed to taking action and doing what is necessary to transform goals from a mere dream to reality.

So if you have a massive list of goals that you’ve made in the past but have yet to follow through any of them, I’m going to break down my simple 4 step process that is virtually bullet-proof. It not only works, but it works every time… all you have to do is not screw around and implement it.

1. Pick An Attainable Goal

If you’re learning to play the guitar, then you might have goals of becoming a rock legend one day. If you’re a huge nerd that battles evil warlords on your basement computer than you might one day want to become a women seducing player that bangs 5 strippers every week. All admirable goals, but the only problem is that probability of you attaining them is so low, you have a better chance of catching lightning by running around in a storm while having a spoon stuck up your ass. There is a fine line between dreaming big, and dreaming ridiculous.

So, pick an attainable goal – whatever that means for you. For me, being obnoxiously good looking was a very attainable goal since I was already a handsome chap to begin with. It wasn’t much of a stretch, get what I’m saying?

And if you insist on dreaming big, then small chunk that goal into a few pieces and make one of those pieces your “attainable goal” for now. So, let’s say you want to own a mansion. Well, a mansion costs millions of dollars, which you’ll have to make, and the only way to make millions is to sell lots of awesome shit to a shit load of people. So maybe your goal can be finding awesome shit to sell, or to find a market big and rich enough that will buy the shit you’ll want to sell.

Once you have this goal, write it down using a sharpie and stick that piece of glory on your wall. While you’re at it, remove everything else from your wall (like you stupid Justin Bieber poster) that will distract you from reading your goal on a daily basis. This piece of paper should be the focal point in your room, no exceptions.

2. Pick A Deadline… Now Reduce It By 30%

The second step is simple when stated on paper (or on screen), but hard to follow through as it has a tendency to mentally violate people’s brain; it touches it in naughty places. You might think you want to achieve your goal by a certain point but the truth of the matter is, a 1/3 of that time you’ve set for your self is simply a waste. It’s a buffer zone which you don’t need. There is a phenomenon called the Parkinson’s Law which states the following: Work expands to fill the time available for it’s completion.

Basically, it means that whatever deadline you set up for yourself, that’s the time it will take to achieve your goal… regardless of how much work there is to be done. If you were a college student, you’ve experienced this phenomenon when professors turn into major assholes and won’t extend the due date of a paper when you’ve got a million things going on. Yet, somehow most people manage to hand that shit in on time, only to wonder a day later how they did the impossible. Well, it’s Parkinson’s Law at work. The more time you give yourself, the more work your brain will come up with to fill that time.

So if you want to be deadly effective at achieving goals, set a deadline, then reduce it by thirty percent… or even 50% if you really want to be an over-achiever. I guarantee you’ll have enough time to get it done. Your brain will find a way, mainly by eliminating useless tasks. One of the brilliant ideas that I came up with is using virtual assistants, or any type of paid assistants to do research for me, so I can focus on what I do best – lift heavy shit and write kick ass articles.

3. Small Chunk And Make A Daily Action Plan

Now that you have your goal, small chunk it down till you have daily action steps which you can take. As an example, to earn $1 million per year, you need to be making $2,778 per day. So your daily action plan is to find a way to earn $2,778 and once you can do that consistently every day, you’ll have your million by the end of the year.

Now your goal may not be based on monetary gains, which is fine. Just make sure your daily action steps can be backtracked accurately so that it leads to your original goal. Taking the example I used above, if you multiply $2,778 by 365 you get $1,013,970. So it works.

After you have your daily action plan with all the necessary steps, focus on that plan and that plan only. Have tunnel vision. Don’t add huge ass to-do things to your list. As long as you focus on what you have to do daily, the rest of the year will take care of it self. Don’t worry about checking your bank balance or your weight everyday. As long as you’re following your daily plan, your bank account, body weight or whatever goal you’ve set for yourself, will be achieved. You’ve gotta trust the process.

4. Set Up A Reward And Punishment

For most of you, the mere fact of achieving your goal will be a reward in an of it self. Like, if your goal was to get a hot girlfriend/boyfriend, then you’ll probably be basking in the afterglow of a hot bang session as your reward. Or if your goal was to finally bench-press 2x your body weight, then you’ll be running on a “high” from all the adrenaline pumping through your body along with a feeling of accomplishment. That’s a pretty good reward if you ask me.

But why not take it a step further? Who said you have to settle for the goal itself? Write down a reward under your goal from step 1. It could be a material possession (buying something nice) or a physical action (taking a week off). Either way, find a way to pat yourself on the ass for a job well done.

However, it’s not all moonbeams and silky unicorn juices. If you fail to achieve your goal, set up a nasty ass punishment that you will have to endure. Personally, I absolutely fucking loathe doing cardio. It disgusts me. My body actually rejects cardio like a nasty virus. So when I fail to achieve a set goal, my standard self-punishment is a 45 minute treadmill run. Just the thought of spending close to an hour of my life on running like a tool in the same spot makes me want to puke… but also makes me want to HUSTLE my ass so that I don’t have to go through it.

Find what you hate, then set that up as your punishment. Other honourable mentions when it comes to self-punishment are as follows:

• Taking out to dinner someone you cannot stand
• Buying presents for a relative you cannot stand
• Self induced anal probing (unless you like that kind of thing, then it belongs in the reward section)
• Doing the arctic dip/swim
• Let your friends cut your hair (Ladies, I’ve heard this one is a real motivator)
• Let your friends do your makeup/styling before going out
• No drinking/partying for X number of days

BONUS – Accountability

As if four solid steps weren’t enough to transform goals into success, I’ve got one extra trick up my sleeve. It’s a concept that most “life coaches” base their business on when helping their clients achieve whatever the hell it is they want to achieve. It’s called accountability.

When others know of your goals and get involved by holding you accountable for your actions, a whole bunch of psychological triggers get activated and the sloppiest couch riding loonball magically morphs into a “go get er’”. The execution is simple: Go up to 5 of your closest friends or family members, hand them a deposit cash amount (the higher the better, such as $50 each) and then tell them your goal, when you plan on reaching that goal and what your planned punishment is should you fail.

If you reach the goal and can prove it to them, they have to give you back that deposit cash amount. If you fail, they get to keep the cash while supporting you and making sure you don’t pussy out on going through the set punishment. As you can probably guess, you’ll need some real friends/family members whom you can trust, so don’t start handing out cash to mere acquaintances.

If you can follow this four step process (or five step if you’re doing the bonus), then there is no way in hell you’ll ever not reach your goals. There might be times where you misjudge your deadline so you have to go through your little punishment, but life doesn’t stop after that. You just get right back up and keep chugging along. Eventually, you’ll arrive at your set destination, after which you can give yourself a nice pat on the ass.

Now go get something done.

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© 2011, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Only LOSERS have nothing to say or discuss. Put your thoughts, comments or general rants in the comment section below. FJ does not use censorship but obvious racial slurs and over-the-top stupidity will be deleted.

The fitness industry gives me a conflicting feeling; on one hand, I’m constantly amazed at how much knowledge we’ve accumulated as a species over the years when it comes to strength, weight loss, hypertrophy etc. But then at other times I see how much we have left to learn and all I can think is… “damn, we’ve barely scratched the surface yo!”

It’s exciting and depressing at the same time… kind of like a quick makeout session with an exciting candidate at the club. However, while new information may come and go in the future, there are a few “laws” which have been fairly established and will almost never be broken. These laws are tried, tested and true and will server you well; as long as your goal continues to revolve around transforming your body to look sexy as fuck. And if that’s not your goal, what the hell are you doing here? Scram!

Alright, on with the list… [Note: these are off the top of my head, if you have more, feel free to add it in the comment section]

1. The Mirror Is More Important Than The Scale

This is a point I harp on over and over to almost everyone I work with. It doesn’t matter what the scale says, it’s what the mirror reveals that is more important. Body fat callipers and a some measuring tape are far better tools to have in your arsenal. A pound of fat, or a pound of muscle… the scale doesn’t know the difference. Another way to look at it is this: when you’re walking down the beach with your shirt off (ladies if you rock the beach with your shirt off… call me) are people going to know what you weigh? Better question, are the going to give a rat’s ass what you weigh? Absolutely not.

All they are going to notice is whether or not you look ripped. That’s it. Period. People are too worried about their own body image to care whether you have 16 inch arms or if your waist is 32 rather than 33 inches. If your body is lean enough to make an initial positive impression, you win.

2. Eating An Excess Of One Macronutrient Doesn’t Make You Fat…

I can’t believe this type of stupidity still continues to surface around the web. Some say eating too much fat makes you fat, some say eating too many carbs makes you fat and some are vomiting the following, “eating too much protein will convert it into fat.” Horseshit!

It’s not whether you eat too many carbs or fats, it’s your overall caloric intake. If it’s higher than your maintenance requirement, then you my friend will be on your way to look like the Michellien Man. Or you’ll gain proper size if your workouts are solid. Whether you eat 20grams of protein or 8.8grams of fat, it still equals 80 calories.

This is how those people with ridiculous cookie, pizza and twinkie diets managed to lose weight and everyone in the news media lost their fucking minds. “OMFG HE LOST WEIGHT EATING TWINKIES! WE MUST KNOW HIS SECRET!” …Yeah, it’s called caloric restriction you dumbasses. Recognize. Having said that, do proper macronutrient ratios have an effect on body composition?

Of course they do, eating fat all day long while staying under your maintenance requirement wont nearly be as optimal as having a proper amount of protein, carbs and fats. But realize that when you talk about macro ratios, you’re talking about fine tuning your diet. Fine tuning comes after having a solid grasp in the basics. You wouldn’t detail your car before you paint a base color on it would you? Because if you would then congratulations, you’re a certified retard. And shouldn’t be allowed to drive such an eye sore.

3. Eat Whole Eggs; Ditch Egg Whites

Seriously, anyone who says that egg whites are better than eggs, needs to be egged. Also, please do yourself a favor and run from these obtuse individuals. The war on the egg yolk is blown completely out of proportion and it pisses me off for two reasons…

One, because I love eggs and two, because eggs have already been proven to be safe for consumption at up to 3 per day and have a great effect on satiety. Want proof of all this? Seek our research by Njike et al, Ratcliff et al and Katz et al. Bottom line? Stop your fear of cholesterol and eat whole eggs. Scrambled, sunny side, omelettes… whatever. Get cracking and stop yappin’.

4. The Deadlift Is King

While squats are a close second, the undisputed king of exercises is the deadlift. This includes all of it’s variations such as rack pulls, snatch grip deadlift, Romanian, stiff leg etc. While I can understand why some trainers can call squat the king, it just doesn’t work the arms enough in my opinion, so the Squat can remain as the queen. The bitch to the King. I honestly dare you to find me a man (or woman) that can deadlift 500+ lbs and has small, undefined arms, a weak core, small traps and noodle legs. Here’s a hint: you can’t!

One of the most successful strength coaches of all time (C.Poliquin) has himself said that if there was only one exercise he would do with a bar to pack on lean mass, gain strength and keep the fat off, it would be the snatch grip deadlift. And honestly, that’s quite the praise and one hell of a recommendation. You would be wise to follow such advice.

5. Everything Works At Least Once

It’s funny to see complete dorks argue over specifics of one routine over the other. This eventually leads to an all out nerd fitness battle where study references are being thrown around and trash talking happens and all this hoopla. I love reading that shit, it’s funny. But the fact of the matter is, if a workout provides a type of stimulus your body has never encountered before, it will cause some kind of a result.

Whether this result is small or highly dramatic will depend on the program design but it will cause something, and that’s because almost everything works once. This is why I encourage people try a bunch of different exercises they haven’t before such as muscle ups, powercleans, snatches, overhead squats etc. New stimulus keeps you on your toes and prevents boredom, especially if you have ADD like I do. Enough of this stimulus talk, on to the next point…

6. You Should Have Sex Regularly

Need I say more?

Actually, I think I will. Regular sex elevates mood and I believe helps people out of depression. For the amount of money therapists charge, they should just offer sexual services… this will solve half of the depression problem. I can’t speak for women, but in men I can pretty much guarantee the common denominator in those low lives that believe life sucks, people suck and want to kill themselves is that they are just not getting laid.

What? You think it’s a deep psychological issue? Well it sorta is; sex is one of the most basic human needs. Not getting it probably sets of a whole slew of mental bullshit into motion and eventually things spiral out of control. I would love to see a study conducted on this… just get a bunch of depressed, unmotivated guys laid and see what happens. I’m sure you’ve seen this phenomenon at some point in your life. A certain someone is depressed and as soon as they find a girlfriend or boyfriend… it’s all happy times again. Weird isn’t it? Sex also has a host of other benefits, but no need to get into details. Just bang already!

(And to prevent hordes of silly emails: Yes I know sex isn’t the answer to everyone’s depression problems, which is why i was specifically targeting men. We make for easy examples. We are also really easy… hint hint.)

7. The RDA Protein Requirement Is Stupid

Honestly, 0.8g per kg? Why don’t I just lick a cow? I’ll get more in my system that way. Who the fuck comes up with this nonsense? 0.8g/kg might be ok for your grandma but if you’re lifting the heavy stuff (you should be) and want a body of a god (or goddess) then a gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight (or 2.2g/kg) is the minimum golden standard. The proof is in the research and it’s as easy as going to PubMed to find it.

Protein has a wonderful satiating effect and taking in this minimum helps both those trying to lose weight and those trying to gain muscle. Nothing more needs to be said.

8. Compound Movements Trump Isolation Monkey Business

this means… Chinups over curls, close grip bench over kick backs, overhead press over shoulder flys, barbell squat over quad extension… and on and on. Whether you want to torch the fat or gain lean mass, make sure every time you lift, you involve as many muscle groups as possible. If you can do an exercises standing vs seated, take the standing option. If you can combine a few movements together, then do that.

Your body was meant to move as a unit so make sure it moves that way. Another benefit is loading – you can bench way more weight than you can with a dumbbell kick back, which means you will hit the tricpes with a far greater stimulus resulting in more calories burnt and faster muscle growth. That’s the basic jist of it… and honestly, what more needs to be said?

9. Supplements Are Never The Answer

Again, this is one of those things that I still need to harp on with everyone. They are called supplements because they are meant to “support” an already established plan that is helping you reach your goal. It’s like adding fuel to a fire. Add fuel to wood and it will just get wet… however, people wet themselves in a completely different way every time a new product hits the market. Such loonballs.

Is your goal to lose weight? Then unless you have a plan in place that is already helping you drop at least a pound or two a week, don’t bother with fat burners, the ECA stack etc.

Is  your goal to gain mass? Then unless you’re eating enough food and are lifting heavy enough to gain a pound a week, don’t bother with creatine, ZMA, N.O Xplode and all that jazz. Creatine obviously works, but add it to a lacklustre plan and you’ll barely see results. Add it to a plan that already works, and you’ll gain mass like you wouldn’t believe. The only exception to this rule is whey protein and meal replacement shakes which can be part of your original, “supplement-free” plan.

10. Always, ALWAYS Track Your Workouts

In five years from now, you should be able to go back into your logs and check exactly how much you squatted, for how many reps and sets and be able to compare that to the squat you have today. And you should also be able to check what you were doing 5 years ago. If you can’t, how the HELL are you going to measure your progress?

It’s like running a business. If you don’t manage your expenses, invoices, profits and all that highly exciting stuff, how the hell do you know what you’re netting in profits at the end of the year? Well, you won’t. So if you are going to bother working out, take the time to track everything. And if you’re doing silly workouts where you cannot track the progress, ditch that piece of moronic programming. All those hip hop moves and dance central workouts are not exactly track-able. You cannot chart your load and find out the trend in your strength.

I’m not saying you have to go number obsessed (though that’s a good thing!) but you should be able to compare numbers and see basic trends such as “am I getting stronger or weaker or stagnating?”

The End

That’s all I’ve got for now. This list might get updated in the future, as and when I come across more laws. If you think I’ve missed a few, throw them in the comments below and if they are really good, I’ll add em and give you some credit. Because I’m awesome like that.

Now go lift some heavy shit, eat a few eggs and have hot wild sex; FJ’s orders! I’ll see you next time.

- FitJerk

Content originally written by FitJerk for www.fitjerk.com – © 2011 All Rights Reserved. Images copyright of their respective owners. The verbal content of this post is NOT to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face.

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© 2011 – 2012, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Only LOSERS have nothing to say or discuss. Put your thoughts, comments or general rants in the comment section below. FJ does not use censorship but obvious racial slurs and over-the-top stupidity will be deleted.

One of my pet peeves about the fitness industry is the general expectations that people have when it comes to seeing results. It’s annoying because opinions are always polarizing and hardly ever sensible. We have morons that think they will lose a hundred pounds in a month and then we have underachievers who give people slow and un-motivating expectations by saying that results will take decades. Both these toolbags are utterly wrong. You can’t expect a miracle in 30 days, but you should not expect to spend a decade getting to where you want to be. The real answer lies somewhere in the middle for most people… 2 years or less; depending on how much you’ve let yourself go.

Most of you know I hate that term weight loss with a passion. I want to punch it in the face; I’m more about fat loss… but for today let’s assume that we are talking about the same thing. How realistic should your expectations be if you want to get lean and mean? Today I’ll give you a general guideline so that you can see into the future and say hi to the skinner and sexier you. That’s right bitches, FJ’s got the crystal ball and you get to take a peek.

There are four factors that will decide the outcome to your success. You can think of them as a chain and every “weak link” in the chain will hamper your results. The stronger you make each link, the faster you’ll see progress. It’s like the old saying goes: The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Frequency

You know, there were some low life losers that hated The Biggest Loser and criticised the shit outta it, then there were realists and awesome people like me who loved every minute of it. While it had serious entertainment value and Jillian Michaels is one of my side crushes, the show proved one very important thing; training with a ridiculous frequency delivers results when it comes to dropping pounds. Period.

The show didn’t do everything right, not by a long shot. Some of the exercise choices were poor and a few food choices were lame but the fact of the matter is, the winners of that show went through a mind-blowing transformation. I mean, looking at the before/after pictures you just cannot argue with the end result. And reason is that they trained with such a high frequency that even if their diet was shit and their exercise program was a mess, results were inevitable. How long are we talking? 8 hours a day/7days a week.

Now back that thang up. I am by no means saying that you need to train for that long… in fact if you can, you need to get a damn job. I’m just saying that if you can train 4 days/week for 60 minutes instead of 3 days/week for 45 minutes then you should do so. And if you want to get all nerdy about it, the explanation is really dead simple. The more you move, the more calories you burn, and assuming your eating habits (more on that below) are under your maintenance rate, you’ll drop the weight.

Intensity

This term still hasn’t truly been defined in the industry, and mainly because it’s not something you can measure directly. Powerlifters and bodybuilders can say that intensity is basically the T.U.T (time under tension). The greater your TUT for a given load, the more “intense” your workout. Fair enough. But for people looking to achieve general weight loss, I’m going to say that the definition of intensity should be directly related to heart rate. The longer you can keep your heart rate elevated at a rate above the norm, the higher your intensity.

This means that doing 4 sets of deadlifts with 30 second rest in between will be a more intense workout than if you were to use the exact same weight but rest for 90 seconds in between the four sets. Now obviously the deadlift session with 30 second rest intervals will be over sooner than the 90 second rest session… so doesn’t that average out?

No, because if you recall in my definition I included a time element. Getting your heart rate up is one thing, keeping it there is a different ball game. So switch over to another exercise and keep chugging along. If your workout session lasts only 45 mins, then with 30 second rest intervals you would’ve gotten more work done and thus burnt more calories. And I won’t lie to you, 30 second rest intervals are a bitch and a half, but it’s how I manage to say this lean without ever bothering to do cardio.

Program Layout

So working out 4 days a week and keeping your workouts intense will no doubt deliver results… but if all you’re doing is lifting the same shit day in and day out and or just running around like a hamster, then sooner or later your body will adapt. Once your body adapts, you’ll hit a plateau and will most probably kill yourself in frustration. To avoid mass country-wide suicides, I suggest planning your workouts with some intelligence. Here are a few things you can do (besides higher professional help):

• Change up your core workout plan every 4-5 weeks. No E-Training client of mine has done the same workout plan for longer than 5 weeks. I make new ones all the time.
• Change up minor details in you workout plan every time you hit up the gym. For example, if you ran at 7.5mph for 20 mins, bump that shit to 8mph. No two workouts should be identical, even if they follow the same exercise order.
• Always, Always, Always use multi-joint lift movements and leave the isolation lifts for people who already have a killer body (like me). Deadlifts, Barbell Squats, Jumping Squats, Lunges, Powercleans, Overhead Press, Benchpress, Pullups and Dips are some of the best fat burning exercises you can do. Do you notice something ironic here? These are also the best strength builders… all you have to change is the load amount, rest period, reps and you’re set. Powerlifting and Fat Cutting have many parallels that too many people fail to see.
• Alternate high reps with medium reps but don’t bother doing low reps. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that never go below 10 reps. If you can’t lift for 10, you’re lifting too heavy. Remember, your goal is fat loss. People think you need to do this weird shit where you need to lift 6-8 reps to build muscle then 15-20 reps to burn fat or whatever. NO! If you’re resistance training, you will build muscle. You can focus on serious hypertrophy once you’re a bit leaner.

If you want a solid fat loss workout, then grab my HeadStart fitness report; you can download it after you finish reading this article (scroll down a bit further) or hit up the opt-in box located at the top-right of the page. It’s an instant FREE download. The fat loss plan consists of super sets which will have you sweating and will surely drop the weight off you.

Eating Habits

This factor is probably the most important. I really believe that 60% – 65% of your weight loss success comes form how you manage your food intake. You could literally not do anything I said above. In fact, when it comes to “exercising”, you can just go for half hour walks 3 days/week, but if you’re eating habits are tighter than a virgin, you’ll drop the pounds. No joke.

The best and easiest way to start is to find out what your maintenance calories are and then drop that number by 400-500. A simple way to find your maintenance calories is to track what you eat for a week and average out your daily calories. Now you know the amount of calories that made you fat; assuming you didn’t change the way you ate. Then you take this number and drop it by 500 and test it out…

If your weight doesn’t change then congratulations, you’ve found your maintenance calories. If it goes up, drop it by 200-300 calorie increments till you find it. If the weight drops then increase it. There are obviously more sophisticated/quicker ways of doing this, but I’ve found that this longer method is one of the most accurate since it mimics a person’s already established bad habit.

Now, some people like Intermittent Fasting… which in my opinion is just a clever way of cutting anywhere from 1500-2000 calories of your weekly intake. I personally like eating but do whatever works for you. As long as you’re eating less than your body needs, you’ll drop the weight. Throw on intense exercise done frequently with smart program design and viola! You’ll be ripped.

Conclusion

The advice I just gave will most probably help you achieve 10%-15% body fat assuming there are no “weak links” in your chain. Below is a chart with some realistic expectations you can hope to see depending on how many factors you’ve nailed. I’ve compiled this list of average numbers from my E-Training clients so don’t freak out if your numbers are below or above. It’s just an educated guess. Some clients can afford to train 5 days a week, others can only manage only 2, so be aware of that.

Legend:

• Fq – High Frequency Of Workous (4+ days/week)
• In – Intense Workouts (Rest Periods <60 secs)
• P – Smart Program Layout (Big lifts, correct technique etc.)
• D – Proper Diet (Lower than maintenance calories + good macro-nutrient ratios)

Notice how when all you have working for you is your diet (3rd option), you can still manage to lose up to half a pound a week. That’s 2lbs/month or 24 lbs/year just from proper eating alone!

Finally, if you want to get down to those ridiculous 5%-6% that I stay at, then you’ll have to introduce some supplementation, tweak your macronutrient ratios, do carbohydrate cycling and execute a few dehydration tricks (for photo shoots). But that is a whole another subject matter which will take more than one post to explain. For now though, if you aren’t at a body fat level of 10% – 15%, then you should be excited in your panties because I’ve just laid out a solid blueprint for you. Get your ass to work. And if you need me to do do the planning for you, then hit me up for some E-Training.

- FitJerk

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© 2010 – 2012, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

Only LOSERS have nothing to say or discuss. Put your thoughts, comments or general rants in the comment section below. FJ does not use censorship but obvious racial slurs and over-the-top stupidity will be deleted.

Still, it was time I compiled this list since I’m getting beaten by sheer numbers when it comes to email. So here we go, the most frequently asked questions I get…

1. “Are you really a Jerk?”

Only when a) I’m provoked or b) when necessary. People are lazy as fuck and are silently begging to be lead… which means there are times where I need to put my foot in their ass for their benefit. I’m not about pulling punches either and believe in transparency. It keeps me honest, and keeps others from being fake jackasses. Win-Win all around. Next question…

2. I need to lose (x) pounds in (x) days, can you help me?

Duh! Before I help you though, you need to decide how serious you are. Is your wedding coming up? Or are you just scared of hitting the beach for one random volleyball game? If it’s your wedding, and you need someone to be on your ass 24/7 then your best option is private consultation through E-Training. Yes, its a premium option and yes, you’ll have to pay… its my fucking job to deliver results though. So get a hold of me.

However, if you feel that you are fully self-motivated and just need to be schooled on the “info” then here are a few pieces you need to read:

The Carbs You Eat Could Suck The Life Outta You

10 Tips To Lose 10 Pounds Fast!

Full Body Max Workout Routine

Also pick up my HeadStart ebook for FREE  >> CLICK HERE <<

Also realize that doing this shit last minute is a BAD idea. If you have an important event coming up, then give yourself adequate time. A proper plan will help you drop anywhere from 5-10lbs a month, so do some basic grade 3 math and figure it out. You have the info, now its time to execute.

3. I need to gain (x) lbs of muscle in (x) days, can you help me?

Oh hell yes! My answer to this question is similar to 3, so read that. The only difference is that if you are self motivated then you need to read the following pieces for gaining mass:

How Taylor Lautner Got Ripped For New Moon

4 Fool Proof Steps To Unlimited Muscle Growth

5 Sneaky Nutrition Tricks To Maximize Muscle Growth

…and know that a proper plan will help you gain 4-5lbs of quality mass a month. So plan your time accordingly. Although I do take in clients who come to me for last-minute problems, these are usually my least-favourite clients to train simply because they exhaust me. The time is limited and I gotta be on their ass all the time. Now this doesn’t mean I hate the person, but the context sucks balls. Moving along…

4. Can I guest post on your site?

Maybe. If you want to guest post, don’t ask if you can. Because then I’ll obviously ask you to send me the goods. Save both of us some time (specially mine) by doing this – Attach your best (and most unique) work and ask me to check it out. Few links to previous works is also recommended. A few no-nos:

• Massive, useless and boring list-posts.
• General info that has already been said a 1000 times before.
• Bullshit.
• etc.

5. Can you guest post for me?

No. Yes. Maybe… I don’t know. Get in touch with me. And when you do, make sure you have a few topics in mind. I’m not saying I’ll write about those topics, but they will help the creative juices flowing and will help me come up with some awesome shit.

6. When are you going to review (X) supplement man? I only read your reviews since they are always so honest.

Appreciate that, and I really don’t know. First up, you need to understand the relationship between me and the big ass supplement companies. And here’s how it works: Most are scared shitless! I go more in-depth then they’d like and they specially hate it when I reveal their bogus ingredients. So some are simply just put off and don’t want to send me samples. In that case, I gota use my connections and buy a bunch of shit that I usually would NEVER buy just for reviews. So you’ll have to wait.

Now, not all supplement companies are big and bad… some are very legit and have great people behind them, and aren’t afraid to put their neck on the line. So the products from these guys will go up a lot sooner.

8. I want to get (bigger, smaller, ripped)… which supplement is best?

I hate this fucking question… so let’s answer it. Think about the word “supplement” for a minute. What does it mean to you? Well actually who gives a shit what it means to you, because here is what the word is supposed to mean:

To supplement an already effective fat-loss (or hypertrophy) program that you have set in place.

Before I recommend supplements, you need to learn how to get the desired effect through whole, natural foods and intelligent exercise. If you wanan lose weight, then learn how to lose a few pounds in the next 3-4 weeks through exercise and foods… if that WORKS then you can add “gasoline to the fire” so to speak and introduce supplements to your plan. To find out which supplements are worth your time, check out my huge review section HERE

9. How much does it cost to advertise on your site?

It depends… how many spaces you want and how long you want to advertise for. Also, since my traffic is increasing the price you pay today will be much lower than the price you pay 4 months from now. But I practice loyalty pricing, which means if you start advertising with me today and keep it going, then I will NEVER increase your rates. I’d rather work with loyal, long-term sponsors then fly-by-nighters. Still, short-term advertisers ARE welcome, so don’t feel discouraged. Damn, I sound like a contradiction… awesome.

For more info, check out my advertising page >> CLICK HERE

Also, when you contact me, please know EXACTLY what you want. I can give you recommendations but have a goal in mind. Nothing is worse than communicating with someone who doesn’t know what they want.

10. Is that picture of you real? -OR- Is your picture photoshopped?

First of all, thanks for the compliment. If you flatter me anymore, I think my ego might explode. To put this speculation to rest… let me give you a detailed answer. The image is obviously compiled in photoshop. I obviously don’t walk around with a purple aura around my body with my logo floating beside me (though that would be cool). But MY BODY ITSELF isn’t enhanced. No airbrushing or any of that BS. The reason I appear so ripped is because of 2 reasons…

1. Cuz I actually AM RIPPED! A week of cutting fat and hard ass training went into it.

2. I’m a lighting genius. Instead of generic lighting, the picture was taken with a single spot light in a semi-dark room, producing amazing shadows and making me look sexy as fuck. I’ll tell you one thing… no one else will be this honest about their pictures on the web.

11. What is your take on fasting?

I used to think it was fucking stupid, since it had a greater use if you needed to do an elimination diet or a serious detox for medical reasons. However, I must say that research has revealed some favorable conclusions to a PSMF (Protein Sparing Modified Fast). Real world results have proven effective as well. However, do you need to do it? Hellz no, son! Fasting is absolutely NOT necessary when it comes to achieving fat loss. I personally love food too much and have never really bothered with a serious fasting protocol. There’s more than one way to skin a cat and fasting is one way. Is it better than the other tried and true methods? No, because it still relies on caloric restriction and proper macro ratios.

And don’t even get me started on those “scientific” reasons for fasting such as HGH spikes. First of all, your HGH spikes for so many reasons that it’s absurd. I could probably take a hard dump and get an HGH spike (this fact hasn’t been peer-reviewed). The small “blip”  of HGH spike you get from starving yourself is insignificant. It would be like trying to sweeten the ocean by adding a cup of honey to it. If you really want a significant HGH spike, eat some dead animals, put some heavy weight on your back and squat it… or pull it off the floor. Besides injecting needles in your ass, it’s the best way I know how.

So the bottom line? Shut up and eat… enjoy your food (minus the ones who are morbidly obese, you need to stop. The foods you are “enjoying” aren’t helping your cause).

12. What is the best exercise to get [desired result] for [X body part]?

None, there is no such thing! While there ARE some exercises that work better than others to produce spectacular results, you need to realize that everything, EVERYTHING (done with enough intensity) works at least once. More details on this topic HERE.

The best thing to do is to make a list of top-tier exercises (3-5) and cycle between them every 3-4 weeks. Keeping your biceps guessing between hammer curls, chinups, barbell curls and dumbbell concentration curls will produce much better gains than doing barbell curls for 2 months straight.

13. Do I have to hit up a gym or can I see results by doing workouts at home?

While I highly recommend a gym membership, getting one isn’t necessary. Reason is that most people lack the focus to do an intense, un-interrupted workout at home. I myself take a hybrid approach… I have a gym membership which I use most of the time but I also have a nice home setup. Now I know what you’re thinking… “I don’t have that much money to set up a home gym!”

Well who the fuck said I spent thousands of dollars? My home set up only cost me a few hundred bucks at start. How is this possible? Well you might want to check this out: Replace An Entire Gym For Under $150!

(By the way… my current setup is worth close to a $500. But it started exactly with what you see in that article above. As time passes and you come across more cash, there is no reason you can’t throw in little upgrades. But to get started, you’ll have everything you need in that article above… so get to it!)

14. I loved your book, are you going to be releasing any other products in the future?

Most definitely, a new one is in the works… and that’s about all I can say at this point. If you’re a current Flawless Fitness book customer, know that the book is also getting a MAJOR re-write. This updated book will cost more… but you sexy mofos won’t have to pay a cent for the update. How do you like them apples?

Speaking of apples, I’m hungry… that’s enough faaqqing. Look out for part 2 the next time I get bombarded with similar shit. Stay fresh.

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© 2010 – 2012, By FitJerk. FitJerk.com is a division of Flawless Fitness Media – All Rights Reserved – No part of this post is to be republished without author consent under any forms of media (including print, internet, video or audio transcription). Doing so is a violation against copyright law and should be punishable by a punch to the face. All images are copyright of their respective owners.

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