An “Easy” High-Frequency Training Program for Plenty of Size and Strength + Some Other Tips and Workouts for Transforming Your Physique I began training in martial arts more than 40 years ago, when I was around 10 years old. By the time I was a teenager, it was my life. (In many ways, it still is.) I was at the dojo just about every day of the week but I also trained at my home every day. However, when I was around 16 or 17—I’m not really sure of the exact age; I just remember that I could drive by that point—I only started going to the dojo about once per week. Sometimes just once every two weeks. I’m pretty sure that a lot of my fellow karatekas—especially those who had known me for many years—thought I had become lazy or that something was “wrong” with me or that I no longer took my martial training very seriously or even cared about it anymore, for that matter. But I had a reason for it, though I didn’t really c...
Build More Mass and Power with Hybrid Lifts and the Workouts That Utilize Them The best lifts for building size and strength are “big” compound movements. If you want to build as much mass and power as your body is capable of, then you need to do heavy squats, heavy pulls (whether it’s deadlifts or one of the quick lifts), plenty of heavy presses (benches and overhead movements), along with some heavy curls. The more muscles that you utilize in a lift then the better the lift. This is the reason that squats, deadlifts, and the quick lifts—power cleans, snatches, and high pulls—reign supreme. Based on this, you could also argue that even better are “hybrid lifts” that combine two (or even three) movements in one lift. A classic example of this is the “full clean” done by weightlifters. As you clean the barbell, you drop into a front squat before standing up with the weight. The full clean, al...