FAQ’s

Part #1

Part #2

More Lean Hybrid Muscle Frequently Asked Questions:

Q:  Do you need special strongman equipment to do this program?

A:   A lot of people get this confused.  Lean Hybrid Muscle training is NOT about the equipment being used… these are just tools.  The essence of Lean Hybrid Muscle training is found in the manipulation of training variables, basically how you structure your reps, sets, rest intervals, intensity and frequency.

You can do this with ANY training tools.  Barbells, dumbbells, cables, medicine balls, and machines… whatever you like.

We just happen to have access to a lot strongman  equipment but it is by no means a necessity.  What is necessary is a willingness to train hard.

Q. Can teenagers follow this program?

A:  Teenagers have had outstanding results with this program.  The bodybuilding workouts help add muscle to skinny frames.  It’s especially helpful for teenage athletes that want to become more explosive, faster and bigger for sports.  We agree that age 14 is a good time to start training with weights.  Many high school football players, baseball players and wrestlers have experienced amazing transformations and earned scholarships training with this system.

Q. Can women use your program?

A:  A common myth is that men and women need to train differently.  I am no scientist but I can tell you from experience that women do very well training with Hybrid Muscle Variables.  In fact, the results that women get at my gym are often better than the men.

This is simply because this is the first time they have been exposed to strength training.  So, all types of cool things start happening like their posture improves and this means that the boobs stand up a little higher.

Since we include so many squats in the programs there is a significant tightening and firming up of the gluts.  We may design a program specifically for women in the future but the foundation will still be exactly the same.

Q:  Are supplements required when doing the Lean Hybrid Muscle program?

A:  You’re probably waiting to hear us say there’s a super duper top secret supplement stack in the program that is going to make your lean and ripped.

Well if that’s what you wanted to hear, sorry to disappoint you.

Look at our ancestors and, in particular, the warrior cultures like the Spartans, the Roman Gladiators, or the Vikings. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors did not take supplements yet they built powerful, muscular physiques. How did they do it? First, their daily lives centered on intense physical activities—what we would today refer to as hybrid muscle training. And second, they ate natural, whole foods that provided all the nutrition they needed. Honestly, that is really the best way to give your body the vitamins and nutrients it needs. For the modern guy though, that can be easier said than done.

That’s where supplements do come into the picture but not until you’ve got a solid foundation built or underway!

The word supplement means “to add to”.  Once you’re 90% of the way to your goal, supplements can help give you an edge, but by themselves they’re not going to help you much without everything else being in place.  Yes we give a few basic recommendations but supplements are not mandatory.

Q:  Do I need a partner to do this program?

A:   The Lean Hybrid Muscle program can be done alone, with a partner or with a team or group.  Safety is always important so if you’re training alone you just need to be mindful of your limitations.  If you can recruit someone in your area to do the program with you it can be great to have some friendly competition, someone to spot you and someone you have to be accountable to if you don’t “feel” like working out on a certain day.  It’s not likely that your training partner will let you slip too many times before you get canned.

Q. Can I use the program over and over again or can I only use it one time?

A:  Lean Hybrid Muscle is a dynamic program.  Variables can be adjusted to enhance whatever goal you are currently striving for.  If I had to choose just one system to follow forever it would be this one because it takes the best from strength training, bodybuilding, functional training and cardio training while scrapping all the stuff that doesn’t work.

Q:  Are the results guaranteed?

A:  We cannot guarantee what kind of results you get because we are not there to make sure you eat when you are supposed to eat, get enough rest and complete your workouts.  You are in the driver’s seat and completely control how well this work. We are hear to encourage, motivate and teach you what we’ve learned.  We can tell you that it has worked for us, dozens of clients.  Will it work for you?  Probably.  If you even get half the results we did, would you be happy?

Q:  Do you have a refund policy?

A:  You can get a full no hassle, no hard feelings refund for the first 60-days.

Q:  What is a hybrid muscle?

A:   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.

By combining cardio and resistance activities it causes the composition of muscles to transform from predominately type II or type IIb into Type III. By doing this, we are able to push “beyond our genetic limits”.

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.

Q: Is the lean hybrid muscle building program just about strength training and getting stronger?

A:  No. In fact, we started manipulating our training variables with the sole purpose of burning fat since we had put on so much weight getting stronger.

What makes this different than most typical fat burning programs though is that we also wanted to maintain as much muscle and strength as possible while getting leaner.

Yes, we are both strength athletes but we are also ex-college football players, family men and regular guys that want to look and feel good just like everyone else.

Q:  Who’s dog was that it in the Q&A video?

A:  That’s Mike’s Wheaten Terrier named Ted.

Q:  Are you claiming to have invented a new type III muscle fiber?

A:  It’s funny, there are many things that have the capacity to change our lives but we rarely if ever hear about them.  Then all of a sudden someone re-discovers one of these lost gems and brings them to the market like it’s brand new.  Kettle bells are not new, but now everyone is jumping on the kettle bell bandwagon like its best thing since sliced bread.

We first heard about the concept in Marty Gallagher’s Purposeful Primitive book.   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.

Q:  How is it physically possible to burn fat and build muscle at the same time?

A:  We had both personally built muscle while dropping fat while playing football in college.  We couldn’t really explain how, but thought Eric Talmant (metabolic typing advisor, diagnostic nutritionist and powerlifter)  might be able to answer the question for us.

We interviewed him and asked, “Is it physically possible to build muscle and burn fat at the same time?”  We were pumped when he explained in his interview that it was.

He said that you can keep your body in an anabolic state by creating the perfect internal and external environment through attitude, atmosphere, training, sleep, stress levels, and nutrition.  Calories are just one piece of the puzzle and not the entire picture.

Q:  Will I be forced to follow a certain nutrition plan while on the Lean Hybrid Muscle program?

A:  We experimented with several diets including the Parillo diet, the Warrior diet, Atkins, carb cycling and Metabolic Typing.  We believe that just like everyone is different on the outside we’re all different on the inside as well.  Just because a diet works for one person doesn’t mean the same diet will work for someone else.  We provide a huge nutrition section in the program providing you with a lot of healthy eating guidelines but ultimately the nutrition plan you chose will depend on what you personally respond best to.

Q:  How many days a week is the program?

A:  It varies based on the week. Anywhere from 3-5 days per week.

Q:  How long are the workouts?

A:  Usually about an hour. Sometimes quicker than that.

Q:  Do you need a gym membership to do this workout or is this a home workout?

A:  These workout can be done at home or at the gym.  Or you can do a few workouts at the gym and a few at home.  There’s a big trend, where people are trying to save time and money by working out at home. Some people simply prefer training outdoors.

Q:  How is Lean Hybrid Muscle training different than Cross Fit?

A:  Cross Fit is a great training style.   We respect the discipline and think they have some great workouts.

From what we’ve read the rest intervals are very short and the workouts are fast and often.  What we like about Cross Fit is that it incorporates resistance cardio which we’re all for.  However we had a goal of not just dropping weight and fat, but also wanted to build muscle mass and  strength.

Sure, Lean Hybrid Muscle Building and Cross Fit may use some of the same exercises but they are done with different rest periods, volume and intensity.

Just like a bodybuilder and a powerlifter may both perform the bench press, they perform that lift very differently from each other.

Lean Hybrid Muscle Building is cross-disciplinary like Cross Fit but it has a much greater emphasis on gaining strength and muscle mass than Cross Fit does.  Cross Fit is cool and can produce great results, but we think it’s better suited for goals of conditioning, toning or developing agility, speed or endurance.

On the other hand, if you want to get lean while building strong powerful muscles than Lean Hybrid Muscle Building is a clear winner hands down.

Q:  Will the Lean Hybrid Muscle building system work for hardgainers or the ectomorph body type?

A:  Yes, due to the muscle growth and bodybuilding elements of the program design make this is a great fit for those that struggle to pack on lean muscle mass.  The point of this system is to add muscle mass without gaining unwanted bodyfat.  Many clients have gained muscle without adding fat.

Q:   What is hybrid cardio and what makes it better than traditional cardio?

A:  With “Hybrid Cardio” or what we like to call “resistance cardio” we can use weights or other resistance training tools to enhance our training by tapping into the type III muscle fiber.

We like this form of cardio training because it really gets your heart pumping. By adding the resistance you increase the intensity and can burn more calories in a shorter period of time.

It’s also a time saver.  Rather than doing weights first and using a cardio machine afterwards you can combine both into a single workout or even a single exercise.  Besides in our opinion it’s just more fun than jogging on a treadmill.

Q:  Why not just do a bulking or mass gaining cycle followed by a leaning out or cutting cycle?

A:  Speed and sanity.  Let us explain… first, we’re impatient.  We both like to get what we want as fast as possible.  We were sick of being fat but didn’t want to lose any muscle or strength.  We’ve both tried bulking and cutting in the past and the result was always the same.  We’d wind up either lean and weak or strong or fat.  With this program we build muscle and burn fat at the same time.  It’s much faster and more effective.

Q:  Is the Lean Hybrid Muscle program too hardcore for me?

A:   No. This system was designed for everyday people to get extaordinary results.  Regardless of age, sex or experience this program can help you.  Elliott is a coach and earns a living motivating and pushing people to their limits.  Mike and Elliott make a great good cop, bad cop combo.  After Elliott has finished getting you pumped up,  Mike is there to encourage you and hold your hand to the next phase.