Bull Strength Conditioning was written by our friend Joe Hashey, CSCS. We explained to Joe a while back that people are so sick and tired of boring traditional cardio because it just doesn’t produce the fat burning results they are looking for.
For those of you following our Lean Hybrid Muscle program you know that goal is to build muscle while burning fat in the same training cycle. In case you’re new here let me just remind you that this is accomplished by combining strength building, muscle growth and hybrid cardio exercises into our programming.
Hybrid cardio is anything that combines cardio with resistance training into the same workout or even the same exercise in order to build the type III muscle fiber.
Having more mitochondria in the muscle cells means that more nutrients can be processed, giving the muscles the ability to work considerably harder for longer periods. They’re also able to grow larger and are able to resist getting tired for longer periods.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people have fallen victim to the lie of “isolated results.” Essentially, the idea that fitness, success and life results are created in a vacuum… completely detached and isolated incidences.
For example, many women call me inquiring about fitness training and assert their desire to “lose belly fat” or “get leaner arms”. What they fail to realize is that fat loss, muscle building and all fitness results are the expression of a SYSTEMIC change in their bodies… not just the manipulation of a single muscle or energy system.
As one of my favorite authors Dan John, would say… “The body is one piece.”
We evolve as a whole. All systems… muscular, nervous, cardiovascular and hormonal systems work synergistically to move us in the direction that’s most consistent with our behaviors. Even when we aim to isolate systems, we unexpectedly receive the benefits of advancement in others.
For example, you decide to quit smoking so that you can breathe better. After several months of not smoking you notice an improvement in your cardiovascular abilities, but you ALSO recognize that your skin looks better and your hair has stopped falling out! This is exactly how our body works… we are “one piece”.
Nature is amazing. Plants, animals, humans, insects and ecosystems, left on their own, over time adapt to their environment to not just exist, but to thrive. Each species is designed to do whatever it does best. For example, carnivores like wolves, lions and tigers are built to hunt and kill. They’re strong and fast with sharp teeth and powerful jaws. And all this happens naturally. When they are born, their parents don’t sit them down and explain to them what they have to do to become skilled hunters—they just go about living their lives and they develop that way naturally.
Animals in nature don’t go to the gym. They don’t lift weights, they don’t do cardio, they don’t read about the latest hot training routine and they don’t go on diets. Yet despite the fact that they don’t do any of these things, wolf cubs, lion cubs and others grow up to be skilled hunters with lean but incredibly strong bodies. Why? Because they live their lives the way nature intended, doing the activities that nature intended them to be doing without giving it any thought. It’s like this throughout nature, with all species. What does this have to do with building a better body and why should you care? A lot—and I am going to tell you why.
By far THE most asked question that Mike and I get about our Hybrid Muscle Building program is, “Where do I get all that crazy ass equipment to train with?”
First, please understand that you DO NOT need all of the cool stuff that I train with at my gym in order to use our program. In fact, if you are a member of our Hybrid Muscle Building Coaching program you have discovered that about 95% of the exercises in the program can be done with nothing more than some basic strength training equipment.
Well, if you are anything like me… you love weight training but HATE going to the typical gym. I understand that the majority of these so-called “Health Clubs” are really facades. They are simply erected in order to collect membership from lazy bums who take pride in that fact that they *have* a gym membership (“it’s a good start isn’t it?”)
But there are some of us who really enjoy lifting and throwing things around in our own environment. In fact, in many cases it is your Training Environment that can determine the quality of your fitness results. All of the silly rules and customs at most foo-foo fitness centers just makes some folks go CRAZY!
So, If you are wondering how to avoid getting so pissed off that you hurl dum bells at mirrors… then I think you’ll really enjoy my list of 7 Essential Home Gym Equipment Pieces For Hybrid Training below Also, note that most of the equipment below had been acquired for below market value and in most cases are used or made.
1. Is there really such thing as type III muscle fiber?
A Type III muscle fiber is just a cool name for a hybrid type II muscle fiber that takes on traits of a type I fiber.
It’s nothing new. It’s just something a lot of people haven’t heard about.
Early adaptors of this theory included Dr. Len Schwartz who in 1995 coined the phrase “Long Strength”. Dr. Schwartz describes Long strength as “the ability to exert significant strength for an extended period of time.”
John Parrillo-the second proponent of long strength-began having his bodybuilders doing really high intensity cardio. He claimed that doing this actually altered the muscle composition. He called this form a resistance training the “100 rep extended set,” saying that it helped the body to construct more mitochondria-the muscles’ “cellular blast furnaces.” He also says that this increases muscular growth by developing the circulatory pathways that provide nourishment to the muscles.
Ori Hofmekler is the third early adopter of the long strength concept. Ori developed a weight training system that he called, “Controlled Fatigue Training.” According to Ori, this type of training was specifically designed to develop these super hybrid muscles-ones that were capable of generating and sustaining strength for extended periods.
These videos are pretty funny. Our buddy Brian Cannone who runs the Fitness Atlantic natural bodybuilding competition likes to egg the contestants on to talk smack to each other WWE style.
It’s pretty cool, after all these years of running a hugely successful fitness event like these he’s made countless connections and friends with some of nations top physique competitors. Having friends on the “inside” really gave him a huge advantage when creating his Stage Ready Nutrition eBook. To get bodyfat levels this low you can’t go to a regular nutrionist for advice. Trust us, many of the “Internet Gurus” just don’t have this information, because they aren’t personally friends with the athletes that have done it!
Check out these dudes in the video. Ya the leg press form might be suspect, what do you think? Tell you what, eating fire would surely increase your metabolic rate! It’s gotta do something for his abs right? Talk about a fat burning furnace or whatever you want to call it!
Elliott is one of my best friends and we have so much in common it’s a little scary sometimes. But when it comes to his post yesterday I’m going to have to go ahead and defend bodybuilding.
Training for muscle growth or looks is the opposite of wanting to fit into skinny jeans. Go ahead and call a true bodybuilder skinny and see if they like it. And just because you want to look jacked and ripped doesn’t mean you want to be an underwear model. Arnold was pretty freakin jacked and ripped and you didn’t see him in underwear commercials. In my opinion just because someone cares about their appearance does not make them a sissy.
The post did make me re-evaluate my reasons for training. Currently these are my top three reasons for training. What about you, why do you train?
My Current Training Priorities.
Health and Vitality has to be number one on my list. What good is being strong if I’m dead in 10 years?
Strength. If you’re strong I agree with Elliott, the muscles will appear on their own.
If you are anything like me… you LOVE traditional, Old School, Old Fashioned values and wisdom.
Mike joked the other day that I have an old spirit; that I am a time traveler from the early 1900’s. I agreed with him, except that I am probably much older than that… most likely I am a visitor from the early 1800’s!
I see it like this… as the human race evolves, it gains much in the way of science, medicine and the arts. But with each superfical advance there is an equal but opposite loss of values, principles and the challenges that build strong charachter.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything that you gain, you lose something else.” — I just seems to be the natural order of things.
A small example of this would be… that with the so-called advances in communication (e mail, text messaging, blogs, etc) we have lost the basic human capacity to relate intimately with our cohorts. We have replaced a strong, eye to eye hand shake or even a warm, appreciative “man hug” with ridiculous internet slang and abbreviation like LOL or better yet LMAO and little smily faces
Oh, and I love how many internet “brothers” I have, as every e mail inquiry about how to build muscle begins with “hey bro”. — WTF?
NN: Hey Mike, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I heard your boss over at Critical Bench sent you on an extended vacation for stirring up all this controversy lately.
MW: Ya my boss is a real jerk. No, I’m just kidding, I’m my own boss. Most people don’t even know that’s my site. I’m kind of coming out from behind the curtain so to speak to share some workouts I’ve been experimenting with lately.
NN: What exactly do you mean by Hybrid?
MW: It’s pretty cool because it has a double meaning in this case. The general definition of “hybrid” is combining two or more different things. In this case we want to take the best of several training philosophies in order to accomplish multiple goals at one time.
We also have what’s been called the “Hybrid Muscle” which is really what Lean Hybrid Muscle Building is all about.
NN: Okay Mike I’ll take the bait, what the heck is a “Hybrid Muscle”?
MW: When talking about “super hybrid muscle,” we’re referring to a muscle that has essentially been reconfigured, adding mitochondrial density, which results in a bigger stronger muscle with more endurance capacity. This is accomplished by combining cardio and strength training into a single activity.
A few years back Cross Fit hit the fitness world and quickly became very popular. All of sudden you started seeing a wave of new “cross-fitness” cardio machines, infomercials and training routines. Today, Cross Fit has evolved into a distinct training style. It all started back about seven years ago with a guy in Santa Cruz, California trying an online “experiment” to measure his workouts. From there it just sort of took off. But how does Cross Fit training compare to Lean Hybrid Muscle Building? Let’s take a look.
Cross Fit gets its name from the fact that the training sessions “cross” disciplines. The workouts are varied and are generally intense. There are actually 10 different domains where Cross Fit athletes strive for proficiency: stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, coordination, and accuracy.
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Bull Strength Conditioning was written by our friend Joe Hashey, CSCS. We explained to Joe a while back that people are so sick and tired of boring traditional cardio because it just doesn’t produce the fat burning results they are looking for.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people have fallen victim to the lie of “isolated results.” Essentially, the idea that fitness, success and life results are created in a vacuum… completely detached and isolated incidences.
Nature is amazing. Plants, animals, humans, insects and ecosystems, left on their own, over time adapt to their environment to not just exist, but to thrive. Each species is designed to do whatever it does best. For example, carnivores like wolves, lions and tigers are built to hunt and kill. They’re strong and fast with sharp teeth and powerful jaws. And all this happens naturally. When they are born, their parents don’t sit them down and explain to them what they have to do to become skilled hunters—they just go about living their lives and they develop that way naturally. 
Also, note that most of the equipment below had been acquired for below market value and in most cases are used or made.
It’s nothing new. It’s just something a lot of people haven’t heard about.
Training for muscle growth or looks is the opposite of wanting to fit into skinny jeans. Go ahead and call a true bodybuilder skinny and see if they like it. And just because you want to look jacked and ripped doesn’t mean you want to be an underwear model. Arnold was pretty freakin jacked and ripped and you didn’t see him in underwear commercials. In my opinion just because someone cares about their appearance does not make them a sissy.
Mike joked the other day that I have an old spirit; that I am a time traveler from the early 1900’s. I agreed with him, except that I am probably much older than that… most likely I am a visitor from the early 1800’s!
