Before anyone jumps to any wild, grotesque, out of this world, unfounded, ridiculous conlclusions, no, Jason did NOT ask me to write this. Why in the HELL would he? He has 63 times as many followers as I do, he’s been successful in this game for over 15 years, and mostly, he doesn’t need the “free marketing” from a little Mickey Mouse operation like this.
So, what’s the point of this article? Well, there’s two (2) of them:
- It’s pretty short and sweet (and my dishes are still in the magical “in goes the dirty, out comes the clean” machine).
- This is the intensity I have inside me, and hopefully will, someday, be able to deliver to the people of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
For those of you that have never heard of Jason Ferruggia, you are either in no way, shape, or form interested in the fitness industry, and you just so happen to read this site because you’ve had a frontal lobe lobotomy and find me humorous (which is still fine by me); or you are interested in the industry but the lobotomy didn’t work and you are in a permanent vegetative state and unable to read.
Those of you in that category should read this first: About Jason Ferruggia
For everyone else that has heard of him, but maybe doesn’t follow his every move online (like me), this is an absolute MUST read. After over 15 years in the business, he still has this kind of passion and intensity. It’s easy for me to have it. I’m new. I’m fresh. I haven’t tried anything; therefore, I haven’t failed yet. He’s not new. He’s not fresh. He has failed. Yet, he’s one of the most successful and hardest working guys in the biz. Ok, enough of my man-crush. Here’s the article:
Jason Ferruggia: What it Takes to Train at Renegade Gym
Of course, I appreciate comments, but this post is primarily to get you to read his website. I know he’d appreciate some comments if it moves you as much as it did me. Enjoy.
Haha, I have a man crush too on Ferruggia! haha, nah, but he knows his stuff! But yah, I follow him on his site, check it out at least 3 x a week. He has some articles on starting up your very own hardcore gym or as some call it, underground gym or warehouse gym which I’m very interested in. Great info!
He’s the man no doubt.
I clicked on the link to this guys site and I am pretty sure I saw a pic of someone doing what I used to call a “fat bar towel bench”. And here I thought I was the only one dumb enough to do those friggin things! Back in the day, we had a local car guy weld up some extra thick walled 2.5″ OD exhaust pipe with some collars on it. We had a full length one for bench and a short one for curls, presses, etc. Sort of feels like your shoulders and chest are going to explode because you can put so much weight on there. Ah, the good ol days…. I keep trying to get back to being that hardcore, but liftin alone in a basement where your wife thinks you have just killed yourself every time you yell a little, just not quite the same…Lame excuse I know…
@Dean
Yup, Underground is the way to go. Exactly what I’m looking to do. I want to take Ferruggia’s badassness and combine it with DeFranco’s clientele.
@Jeff
Fat bar stuff is all the rave once again. It never went away in the powerlifting/hardcore circles, but now that this stuff is becoming more mainstream, it’s not so uncommon anymore. Just think, YOU were ahead of the times!
Ya, I was doing that about 10 years ago, I am either ahead of the times or old…. My HS wrestling/strength coach was all into crazy stuff like that. I even did a program called “Super Squats” devised by a guy named Randall Strossen for a summer. The program was f-in nuts, focused a lot on mental preparedness and meditation before sets. It was based on doing 1 set of 20 rep squats with a weight you would normally do for 10 reps 2 or 3 times a week. I have no idea how I made it through some of those sets, but I did almost every time. I remember one night of squats where I meditated in the corner of the weight room for like 15 minutes, my coach had loaded 405 on the bar, and I pumped out like 25 reps. The cool thing was I have no recollection of getting up from the floor, walking to the bar and starting to lift, I “woke up” at around rep 20 and screamed through the rest of the set. Coach said my face was competely blank and my eyes were glazed over. It is an awesomely freaky feeling to be that focused and be able to channel your energy like that. I miss those days… Check out that book sometime, the program itself isn’t the best, but the chapter on mental prep before sets was pretty awesome. Another friggin nuts book is Dinosaur training from Brooks Kubik. Another old school guy who spends most of book giving a pep talk on getting stronger, not necessarily bigger. Ok, better get going, the wife is calling….