Say Good-bye To Nasty Old Joint Pain

Thought for the Day: “While the word is yet unspoken, you are master of it; when once it is spoken it is master of you.” — Jesse

The Rules to a Much Faster Recovery

I just got off the phone with a trainer calling in from Beverly Hills. The conversation went something like this: Jesse, a couple of years ago. You wrote on inflamed joints on your old Blog. I am 57 years old and you described my condition perfectly.”

“Why?… What is your condition? By the way, what’s your name?”

“My name is Dennis Hammer. I have read your articles for years and it is a pleasure to speak to you Jesse.

“Thank you, Dennis. I appreciate the kind remarks. What’s the problem?”

“I read where you say you have no joint problems at all now and you are fifty five years old. I just can’t believe it. I have problems with my shoulders, knees and elbows. I have to sleep with my arms over my head because the pain just won’t let me sleep otherwise. Both of my elbows are sore all the time and my knees are even worse. I am on Motrin and other anti-inflammatories all the time …it’s driving me crazy. You have been training longer than I have, and you are probably using heavier weights than I use, Jesse. How do you do it? I love training and I just hate to miss workouts but the pain is killing me. If you have something that will help, I’ll be eternally grateful to you.”

I’m going to tell you exactly what I told Dennis, because I’ll bet he sounds like you? In fact, I’ll bet any seasoned bodybuilder has learned to accept the fact that he’s going to get injured sometimes. We all know it and have even learned how long it takes to get over a particular injury.

For example:

o A bad elbow: 3 months

o A bad shoulder: 1 Year (at least)

o Bad knees: You just learn to live with them, they don’t go away.

Not Until Now…

Let me tell you the answer I gave to Dennis, which he is using this very day. “Dennis”, I said, “ a tennis racquet weighs less than a pound, but it isn’t long before the same serve day after day develops ‘tennis elbow.’ Is it any wonder that your workout with hundreds of pounds, using little variation, begins to cripple you? Furthermore, the human machine, with its system of levers and pulleys is an ideal combination of speed and power. When we go to the gym and throw around some iron, we are pushing our body all the way to one end of the power spectrum. We are going to get injured!. Especially since we know maximum growth comes from grinding out reps right up to the point of injury.

The Key Is…

How Do We Get Over Our Injuries?

First let me say, we can avoid a lot of them by using more variation. The body is one of the few machines that works better the more you use it. But you have to keep changing everything.

Here’s what happens…

Repeating your favorite exercises all the time causes residual fatigue accompanied by slight pain. We warm up to get rid of the pain. Soon, it takes longer and longer to warm up. Before long the pain goes home and crawls into bed with you at night.

And what is really frustrating…

The injury doesn’t get any better with layoffs. So I have found if you’ll follow these rules your recovery time will be much much shorter.

Rule #1

Once you get injured, everything changes. You aren’t trying to get big anymore, you’re trying to get healed. You have to focus all your attention on getting better, not bigger.

Rule #2

Don’t lay off It doesn’t help. The pain just stays with you no matter how long you lay off. You have to work the injury out of the joint.

Rule #3

Find exercises that do not cause any pain. This is important!. When I say any pain, I mean ANY pain. Not even pain that is tolerable or less than it was. The exercise has to be pain free even before you warm up the joint. Not after. Finding these pain free exercises, helps to get circulation into the injured area.

Rule #4

Don’t be fooled by Endorphin release. It will mask the pain. Even if you can’t feel it, the injury is still there. You must find exercises that don’t cause pain without any warm-up whatsoever. This will accelerate the healing tremendously.

Rule #5

After you have found pain free exercises, go as heavy as possible. It will force good clean healing blood into the area and sweep out that nasty old injury.

Rule #6

Ice the injured area each night until it goes numb. Your body will think it’s freezing and send more warm fresh blood to the injured area. Be careful you don’t get frostbite.

Rule #7

Take aspirin about every three hours. It is a mild anti-inflammatory and it thins the blood down to aid in getting into those swollen tissues. Don’t take it before workouts because it will mask pain. You need pain to tell you when you are re-injuring yourself.

Rule #8

Don’t ignore the first signs of pain. Be alert for them on every exercise. If you feel a little tinge of unnatural pain, stop the exercise and go on to something else. Most of the damage can be avoided if you will be more alert to the very first beginning signs of damage to the joint.

Rule #9

If you spend time in the sauna just before your workout and 3 or 4 times during your workout you will get up to 18 times the growth hormone release. Remember growth hormone is a healing accelerator. Stay in just long enough to get warm and leave before you start to sweat. If you follow these rules, you should be able to get over your injuries in about 2 to 3 weeks. This will work if you do what I say but you want to know what your biggest problem will be? You’ll have a hard time staying away from your favorite exercises. You’ll get tired of doing all these other crummy movements just to get over an injury. You’ll want to go back to the really good exercises again, the ones that only hurt a little now that you are better. I’m warning you, if you do, you will re-injure the joint and you will either have to start the healing process all over or continually put up with nagging pain. It’s your choice.

It’s not easy, I have the same difficulty being patient with my healing process.

Once you have gotten over your injury, change your program constantly. You won’t believe the difference in how much less you get injured. When I was in my 20’s and didn’t know about this technique I used to have to warm up for five or ten minutes on each body part. Now, in my 50’s and training this way, I no longer warm up at all, but I change my workout program every night. I do occasionally get hurt, but the next workout on the same body part will have me doing entirely different exercises, and I jump right into this healing technique I just explained. The pain disappears within the week. On most exercises I am using heavier weights than I ever used before and I’m getting older, not like you young kids. So I know it’ll work for you also.

Golly-gosh, I could go and on. Train hard, eat right, be  humble and be happy… push that iron, lift that steel, press on and on and thank  God…

Ionic Hyper Growth for everyone…— Jesse

“Training Secrets Better Than Taking Steroids.” PT.2

Thought for the Day: “The closed mind, if closed long enough, can be opened by nothing short of dynamite.” — Jesse

This is a continuation of a previous article during which I promised you a way to train which was better than steroids. I spent most of my allowable space last report introducing the subject so this time I am going directly into the meat of the subject. I believe there are certain ways to perform exercises which will provide you with better and certainly more lasting progress than Steroids produce. I spoke of a way to work triceps which I have learned from personal experience will help you make better gains on your arms than will the use of Steroids. I can’t help you on all parts of the body but on some body parts I can save you years of wasted effort. If you do what I say, you will be amazed at your improved pump and gains. Most of these secrets are for the hard gainers. If you are making good progress from conventional exercises then you don’t need these ideas. If you are a stubborn gainer like myself, then you are in for a treat. Let’s begin this article by talking about pecs.

My pecs have always been very stubborn. Most conventional exercises just don’t do it for me. I don’t care how many articles have been written by the champs about the value of heavy bench presses, this exercise just leaves my pecs cold. I have found a few exercises however, which can really bring out the very most in my pec development. A couple of these ideas came right from Vince Gironda. Let me set the stage for you. You will need to have a Smith Machine (bench press with vertical guides) and dipping bars (V shaped). The key to this entire process being effective is rooted in the concept that “stubborn pecs cannot be teased into their maximum development unless the elbows move through their maximum arc during the exercise. Stubborn pecs won’t even roll an eyeball if the wrists are doing most of the movement.” In other words, the more you can employ movement which directly effects the elbows the more you are going to activate pecs. This first exercise I want to emphasize in our Stubborn Pec program is the Smith Machine. Set the stops on the machine so the bar rests just on the neck. If the machine has preset stops which leaves the bar an inch off the neck, place a board under the bench to accomplish the neck touching positioning (This is important). Use a towel on the bench and it makes it easier to slide under the bar.

Once under the bar, raise your feet off the floor and keep them over your midsection. It’s a natural relaxed position which keeps the lower back flat on the bench and requires all the effort to be provided by the pecs rather than pressing from the floor with the legs. Place the hands on the bar at just a little wider grip than shoulder width. You are going to keep the elbows as close to the head as possible during this exercise so you will need to rotate the palms on the bar to accomplish this elevated elbow position. You are now in position and ready to work. Slowly lower the bar until it touches the neck. Keep the elbows as high as possible. It’s an unnatural position for the arms, but it’s necessary to ignite the clavicular pecs. Do 6 reps in this fashion. Do not let the elbows stray down towards the torso. Force them to stay in this higher position. The bar will start to slow down as you get tired and the pain will tempt you to let the elbows drift down. Don’t do it. Keep the elbows raised and endure the pain. Be patient with yourself.

The bar will go up and it will be raised entirely by the pecs. The triceps will be deactivated by the raised elbow position. The pecs have to do all the work. They won’t like it at first and they will come smoking out of their hiding place. Finish off the 6 reps and then to really shake the cobwebs out of the pecs you will finish off each set with 6 burns right down on the neck. Push the bar up about 6 to 8 inches and let it come down on the neck again. Remember the machine stop will keep the bar from crushing your Adam’s Apple but with the elbows raised, the tension on your “pec tie in” will keep the bar from collapsing. When you finish your last rep of burns, you will not have enough strength to do anything but crawl out from under the bar. If you don’t select a stop that sets the bar actually touching the neck, the burns will bang against the machine stop. This, you don’t want. You want the stop to be provided by the tension on the clavicular pectoral tie in. This is the secret to the tremendous growth you will get from this movement.

Do a set of 6 reps and 6 burns with a weight which will just allow you to complete the last rep. Now comes the bad news. With little rest, drop the weight by about 10% and do another set exactly like the first set. Drop the weight again by 10% and do a third set. You won’t believe the pump you’ll get in the upper pecs. Now for the lower pecs. Move over to the dipping bars. Unfortunately, this won’t work very will if your dipping bars are parallel. You really need to have “V” shaped bars like Vince has in his Health Club. They start about 1 foot apart and end up 3 feet apart. It makes a perfect apparatus for igniting growth in the lower pecs. This exercise too has to be done in a specific way in order to get the most from it. The palms are reversed and we end up using a very similar movement to the one used on the Smith Machine. The key again is to get those elbows moving.

The palms are not completely reversed but sort of diagonal across the bar. The feet are held forward and the back is rounded not arched as is the natural tendency while doing dips. Slowly lower the body until it will go no lower. Don’t cheat by doing half reps. As you lower the body, let the elbows travel forward not to the rear. Once having hit bottom, slowly raise the body (while keeping the elbows in this forward position). All right, here is the key to making this exercise really effective. Don’t press the arms out to lockout position, pull the arms together. Your trying to use the pec biceps connection more than pec triceps connection. Admittedly, this movement is unusual, but it is what makes this exercise so effective. Try to pry the arms together. Nothing can pull those elbows straight but the pecs. The triceps want to press the arms straight don’t let them.

If you force the pecs to work in this fashion, you won’t believe how effective it is. A short while ago a reader accused me of being a know it all. I have to admit, my directions sound very specific and I’m emphatic about how the exercise should be done. Please excuse me but, all I am trying to do is to share some of the things which have worked for me in my struggles. If you don’t like these ideas, don’t use them. If you find my ideas to be of benefit, we’ve both gained.

Our paths may be absurdly different, but they eventually  lead to the same exotic intersections: strength and health, long life and  feeling good, exercise and right eating, sets and reps, chins and dips…Jesse

“Training Secrets Better Than Taking Steroids.” PT.1

Thought for the Day: “Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.”  — Jesse

Let’s be honest. All of us are tempted by steroids. Some of us more than others. Many have succumbed to the allure of quick gains. Who can doubt the growing “tightness” that we feel when the roids get into the system. The gradual increase in strength and the extra endurance we feel in our training sessions, is addictive. But let’s be honest about the other aspects of being a user. We always have the constant nagging worry of something major going wrong, plus the expenses, we have the inner queasiness of knowing we are really tampering with an area of which we know very little.

 Then of course there is the problem of what happens when once you go off the juice. The tightness gradually drifts off. Our strength begins to wane and we begin to experience soreness on all our joints. It takes longer for our own source of Testosterone to catch up again and the flat feel of catabolism brought on by negative nitrogen retention frightens us into fooling ourselves again. We tell ourselves, “There is really nothing wrong with Steroids anyway… For someone training as hard as I train, I really need some extra testosterone in my system.” The fear of losing size, coupled with obvious loss in strength tempts us to once again start a new run.

 Let’s suppose for a moment I could suggest something that would give you a 20% extra boost without all the other annoying side effects. Further more this 20% wont disappear because you wouldn’t have to cycle on and off. You could keep the 20% increase with you all the time. Wouldn’t this interest you? I won’t fool you into thinking I can give you that quick surge in strength nor can I give you that funny tight feeling that roids give. I can however, give you the 20% increase in gains and size. What is this secret of which I speak. The secret is correct form.

 Hold on a moment, don’t throw the magazine down and stomp on my picture in disgust. You are probably saying, “For years I have been reading about using correct form. I have been badgered with the need to concentrate and visualize the muscles growing and other equally Zen like approaches to gaining muscle. Gimme a break.” Be patient with me for a moment and I will share with you some innovations on several exercises which you can experience and feel the benefits yourself. I’m not talking about either strict form or cheat form, but unique form.

 Many body parts require strict form and other require cheat form. Then again it depends on the exercise as to exactly how the exercise should be done. Let me give you an example. About a week ago I was doing hanging chins. As I rested between sets I couldn’t help but notice Fred and Jeff working triceps together. Fred and Jeff have been training together now for several years. As I continued doing my chins, It struck me. “How can they be doing triceps extensions in that manner?” In the first place I had shown them several times exactly how the exercise should be done. Finally, each exercise has a certain feel to it. Some, of course, more than others. But you can generally search around and find the exact elbow position and curve of the wrist to bring out the very best in most exercises. It’s this uniqueness of movement which can add at least an additional 20% to your progress. Again I am not talking about glazing your entire routine with a coating of strict form or attempting to light a fire under them with cheat form. I’m talking about the individual personality of each exercise which when performed correctly can add significantly to your gains. The majority of bodybuilders are almost completely oblivious to it.

Let me give you an another example. The Kneeling Triceps Extension Machine in our club is a masterpiece. The twin pedestal triceps bench is good also. The available handles however just don’t have it. For some reason I cannot get at the deep hidden fibers of the long head of my triceps with the handles the club has to offer. Most of the fellows seem oblivious to any difference in handles. The worst handle will get as much use as the best one. Even with the best handle however, I still can not get the probing, searching finger of growth I was looking for. The handle I really wanted didn’t exist in this club. Nor could it be purchased. So, I went back my workshop and welded up a V bar with exactly the angle and diameter I wanted. When I came walking in with the new bar, Joe, a long time friend said, “What is that Jesse?” “It’s a new triceps bar Joe”, I replied. “You sure are a perfectionist”.

Yes, I am a perfectionist because I want the very most out of my workout. When I give it my best effort, I am getting the maximum possible benefit out of each training session. When I tried the new bar. It was soooo sweet. I could feel the long head of the triceps way down into the actual insertion under the deltoid. There wasn’t even the slightest sensation of elbow pain or impingement of the biceps as it passed over the head of the humerus. Every bit of the pain was the sweet thrill of each single fibre of the triceps flushed out into the open. They were all being kicked out of bed. After a few sets they settled down to work. Soon they all began to sing. They were loving the joy of working to full capacity. It was so good, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I shook my head in wonder. How a little thing like a properly designed V bar could make that final little bit of difference.

I looked around the club. Nobody, had even noticed my ecstasy nor that I was using a different bar. I strolled over to the drinking fountain to grab a sip between sets. I sneaked a glance at my triceps in the mirror. It was sweeping all the way up and crowding the deltoid for space. I went back over and did another set. The sweetness intensified. It’s hard to explain the pleasure when you have an exercise exactly right. There is no pain but the pure sweet thrill of muscle fibre romping through the full range of its capacity. It’s similar to a band of wild horses tearing across the desert just for the pure pleasure of the wind in their mane and the crunch of rock under their hooves as they exult in the power and joy of being free. The freeing of the fibre to perform its very best, to fill to capacity is a symphony which you both attend. The experience can’t help but make both of you, your very best. You can feel the partnership. It’s almost as if the muscles take on a personality themselves and the two of you can celebrate together as you are freed to discover more than you knew. Sounds a little artistic doesn’t it? But it’s real. I couldn’t write it if I hadn’t felt it, and you couldn’t be excited if you didn’t agree. Let me repeat with regards to the triceps exercise. You must have the Triceps Machine, the Twin Pedestal Triceps Bench and the Special V bar. You can improvise by using a regular lat machine if you attach a cable to it about 30 feet long. Normally the pulley on a lat machine is too high. When you kneel down on the ground with your elbows resting on the Twin Pedestal bench, this high pulley angle places too much stresson your lower back. Furthermore, it takes too much abdominal effort to keep your body down where it should be when you are using a heavy weight. You can effectively lower the angle of the cable by attaching a longer one to the existing cable. I used to take a longer cable to the gym with me on arm day. You will then have to place something on the floor against which to brace your feet to keep from being skidded back into the lat machine.

The Twin Pedestal bench can be duplicated by placing two benches end to end with about 10 inches separating them. Your head goes down in between the benches when you are doing the exercise and your elbows are resting on the benches. The V Bar should be 2 inches in diameter with a 135 degree angle. The bar has to be a certain diameter because the point of contact of the palms with the bar changes during the movement. If the bar is too small in diameter, the stress stays right in the center of the palm when it needs to transfer to the butt of the hand at about 2/3 of the way through the exercise. Don’t ask me why. I just know it works a lot better this way. Also, a smaller handle seems to cause impingement on the biceps as it passes over the head of the humerus in the arm locked position. You will need to duplicate the Twin Pedestal Bench because this allows you to get your head and shoulders down low enough while still keeping the elbows raised to fully activate the long head. This is the key to shaking the cobwebs out of all those long dormant muscle fibers which can add so much size and beauty to your arm.

IT’S MORE FUN WITHOUT STEROIDS

There is just no way to get around it. The world is designed to be in balance. There is always an advantage to balance the disadvantage. Conversely, there is always a disadvantage to balance the advantage. For some reason it’s more difficult to see the shortcomings than it is to see the blessings.

Let’s take steroids for example. One of our Bio-Phase clients (I’ll call him Bob) asked me the following question the other day….“Jesse, I am having such a hard time gaining weight. Shouldn’t I just take steroids? I can get them here in the gym easy enough. In fact, there are several guys that have encouraged me to use them. They tell me steroids give quick size, immediate pump and less injuries. What can be wrong with this. I will only take them for a short time just to get bigger, then I will quit. Besides, all this media hype about steroids being dangerous is sensationalist overkill. Just look at all guys in the magazines and right here in my own gym who are on them. It hasn’t hurt them. Surely, a short run wouldn’t hurt. Would it?”

Probably, once a week I will hear just such an argument. Each trying to find a way to convince themselves that “once wouldn’t hurt”. Frankly, when the apparent advantage is so enticing, it’s hard to find convincing rebuttals. Perhaps, we don’t feel the impact of the negatives because they are never really addressed. All we hear is the hype. “Don’t take steroids or they will cause cancer. You will become addicted. You will get so aggressive, you will want to tear off someone’s head. You will become sterile.” The stories go on and on.

Certainly, to the lay public, the idea of taking steroids is absolute madness. However, those of us on the “inside” are well aware of the huge numbers of trainers who use steroids yet never seem to suffer any of the advertised side effects. So what is the answer? Before we can get to the answer, we have to ask the right questions. If the chances of suffering from obvious side effects seem to be slight. What about the side effects that are not discussed? Let me explain. Under normal conditions our body has a tremendous ability to respond to increased work loads. This adaptive response triggers the release of our own (endogenous) testosterone. It does, that is, unless the body’s well spring of testosterone is being adulterated by an external source. This external source of testosterone confuses the endocrine system. The endocrine system is not going to release extra testosterone if you are already at 2 or 3 times the normal level. Consequently we can’t benefit from the normal physiological and psychological reactions to exercise.

When we are on the “juice” we feel like we have a perpetual pump. Just carrying a bag of groceries around the market can give such a pump that the pain is excruciating. We have to switch arms continually. The endurance of steroid pumped muscles is lousy. The pump is almost constant, it’s no wonder that our blood pressure goes through the roof. Further, we don’t get the psychological benefit of feeling our bodies flush with total power from regular “whole body” exercises such as squats or heavy cleans. (Exercises which “bathe” the tissues with testosterone triggering, Growth hormone). We don’t get to feel the deserved reward of our body becoming stronger, more healthy. Yes, we can laugh at ourself when we go shopping with our family and we can’t carry our young son or daughter with our 20 inch, steroid, bloated arms for even a tenth of the time our wife’s 12 inch arms can manage.

Shouldn’t these huge bodies we are carrying around be able to exert some real functional enduring power somewhere besides just on the incline bench for a few short reps? Yes, I believe when we tamper with this marvelous body we have been given to live within, we immediately encounter problems. The greatest problem of which I haven’t mentioned. It’s one that is seldom discussed by the steroid users because it’s hard for them to be honest with themselves. I know, I went through the same process myself. They must continue the big lie. It all starts out with, “I’ll just take it this once to get some size. The size comes, while at the same time the endocrine system is trying to figure out why it has all this extra testosterone to work with. After it monitors the level for a while, it shuts down production of testosterone so the combined level of endogenous plus the exogenous testosterone is about where it should be. The bodybuilder, feels the magic pump beginto disappear at about the time he is supposed to cycle off his steroid run. By this time his own endogenous testosterone level is down to about what a women would produce.

His huge gains begin to shrink before his eyes. His strength drains away like a hole in a water bottle. He panics and goes back on the steroids. Now his own level barely reaches an 11 year old girl’s output. He has to take much more than he did the first time just to feel the same “high”. A few months of renewed, power engorged, steroid bloated training and the little voice inside him is now screaming at him. “You are going to destroy yourself, idiot. Get off the juice.” Remembering the terrible lows of the last time when he went off, he decides not to go completely off but just cut back. By this time his endocrine system is desperately trying to figure out what is happening. His testosterone release has been cut back to levels that require no testicular activity at all. Maybe his testicles are shrinking but who cares, he reasons, I am more horny than I have ever been before except for those unexplained times when I have no sexual interest whatsoever. The confusion goes on and on and the size of his steroid doses go up not down.

The still small voice inside gets dimmer. It no longer speaks except on rare occasion. Another voice is now in command. It says. “After all, you are training very hard. This is not normal for the human body to go through this much strain and pain. You need extra help to avoid the damage to the body that all this hard work is causing. It’s okay to use steroids, In fact, it is actually beneficial in your training condition” it reasons. “Besides, all the other guys are using them and nothing is happening to them. They can’t be all that bad. Besides that, you are getting huge. Just a little longer. You can go off in a little while, first get your body weight up to 250 then you can stop. Right now you need to get to the gym and handle those 150’s. Man, isn’t it great to be huge. There’s nothing like it.”

It’s too bad, because when we listen to the wrong voice we lose the ability to enjoy the fun of honest reward for honest effort. Gone is the thrill of discovering exercise techniques that can unleash new growth in us. When our maximum pump comes more from the turn of a bottle cap than from turning over a new leaf of understanding, how can we enjoy the special, clean victory of knowing that we have unearthed a better way to get more size. Besides that, it’s so good to replace uneasiness with assurance that we are not only building a great body but we are adding years to our life at the same time.

I’m quite chipper during the first half of my workout, all grins, walking  upright, looking sane and acting sensibly. I’m bombing. It’s the second half  when I slow down due to the wobbly legs, battle fatigue and furtive glancing  from side to side, all impediments to form, focus and pace. I’m bombed. I like to weave and blend the muscles at work, direct a course and follow my  nose, paint a picture on a large canvas with all the colors and space I need,  go this way and that way purposefully with my eye on the goal, and travel a  straight line full of curves and adventure… Is that the exit? See ya… Jesse