Got a GREAT guest article here written by my friend, colleague and, to be quite honest, kindred spirit when it comes to insane training, Bud Jeffries.

To give you a little background on Bud, I've known him for a few years now and he is seriously one of the BEST people in the strength community that I know, hands down.

And here's the thing...sometimes I think he's even MORE insane than me when it comes to challenging himself physically (and mentally!).

To give you an example...late last year, he did a 1 mile walk...wearing a specially-made vest with 300 POUNDS of chains hanging off him...WITHOUT stopping. It took him more than an hour.

And there was no way to remove the vest until he was done...so once you add on the 30 minutes it took to get the whole kit on him, that's 90 minutes under 300 lbs of load!

THAT is insane and just freaking awesome....it's like having two people on your back for an hour.

And just a few weeks ago, he did a back lift...of the front end of a 53-foot semi trailer.


Click on the pic...it links to the video of the lift that he posted on Facebook!

If you missed it yesteray, I posted an interview that I did with him just last week...you can check that out on my site here. More than an hour of AWESOME content and inspiration!

Here's his article on Dead Stop Squatting...both back squat style and Zercher style.

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The Bottom Position Dead Stop Squat / Anderson Squats

This has been my primary squat training for years. I believe it is the safest as well
as the easiest to control style of squats. Its done by placing a bar in a power rack
at whatever height you want to start at, versus normal styles of squat where you
pick the bar up at the top, squat down to whatever depth you wish to go and then
rebound up.





So why squat this way when so few do? I believe there are simply too
many benefits to ignore. Here are several:

1. You never need a spotter. You can train in complete safety, completely alone
by setting the rack at the height you want to start.

2. You make each rep exactly the same, because you’re always starting at the
same height on the pins.

3. You eliminate the stretch reflex of normal squats. You’re generating all the
power to make the lift, not rebounding off of a muscle reflex.

4. I have found nothing in the real world that starts with a top end lift and drops
to a low position and rebounds. Essentially everything you’re going to lift in
actual life starts from the bottom.

5. Until you get very advanced in the lift it actually slightly limits the weight you
will use, because it does eliminate the stretch reflex.

6. You can achieve perfect starting position. A significant amount of the injuries
from squats come from losing position on the way down or at the bottom.
This eliminates that because you set your position before you move.

7. It provides your opportunity to find your greatest leverage position. Most
people are going to feel pinned when trying to start at the bottom. By
adjusting where the bar starts on your shoulders, the angle of your torso, the
width and position of your feet – you can literally find the position in which
you have the greatest leverage. This is teaching your body to be efficient in
strength.

8. Because it is very much like the real-world I have found the greatest carry
over for other lifts such as deadlifting or stone lifting.

9. Some people find it easier to control mass with this exercise, especially when
doing single reps. It tends to focus more on the concentric or raising portion
of the lift versus the lowering or eccentric portion. I certainly believe in
building big legs and they certainly built mine to the biggest they ever were,
but this isn’t convenient for everybody. Some need more or less mass.

10. Because this is done with a power rack it flow directly into other very
effective techniques such as partial rep training and progressive distance
training, which is doing reps specifically set at short ranges to overload the
body or heavier than normal reps while working a program to add distance
up to a full range rep.

11. I believe it to be one of the best techniques for developing a high competition
or normal style squat as well if you combine training them together.

12. Because I use the squat for heavy as well as conditioning purposes it is the
easiest and safest one to use during a fatigued state.

13. It teaches you to really push and gut through a lift.

Zercher Squat also Bottom Position/Dead-Stop/Start

The Zercher squat is named for an old time strongman and all around lifter named
Ed Zercher who essentially developed a lift or series of lifts where he did a
combination of squat and deadlift and held the bar in the crook of bent arms. The
original lift is done by deadlifting the bar up and sitting it to the thighs while
squatting down hooking the bar while standing up with the completion with the bar
in the crook of the arms.

There are many variations of this, some that focus on the squat, some that focus on
the deadlift, some that focus on flexibility. My personal variation is the bottom start
done by setting the bar in a power rack in your low position, hooking the arms
under and pulling the body into a squat stance and standing up. Again I believe this
is the safest and simplest one.





Here’s my reason behind using the Zercher in this variation.

1. While the barbell squat with the bar on your shoulders is the primary squat
style and tremendous for overall body and development, most of the lifts you
do in the real world, will have the implement held in front of the body,
essentially where the Zercher sits the bar, that’s more real world
functionality.

2. Zercher is self-correcting. Meaning that you almost can’t do it wrong. If
you’re very advanced you may be able to gut out a lift with a slightly rounded
back, but for the most part if you do not keep the right body position you
simply won’t be able to hold or move the bar, it will fall out of your arms.

3. Teaches you to tightly arch the back as well as drive the hips. All great for
squats as well as general strength.

4. Throws a huge focus on the abdominals because the weight is sitting on the
front of the body.

5. It takes some load off the spine and can be an excellent alternative from
when your spine needs a rest from direct weight loading.

6. It’s quite a bit simpler to perform than front squats, yet gives similar benefits

7. It’s an excellent combo squat/deadlift movement, meaning it has great carry
over to both exercises and when I work it I often don’t feel the need to do a
full deadlift pulling movement or can do them lightly and still get great
strength benefit or can focus on a different pulling movement while still
focusing on that type of strength.

8. They made my stone lifts feel like feathers. If I could bring a stone off the
ground and get it to my lap, standing with it felt like nothing.

9. They apply that same type of strength to the grounded balance of grappling,
because of similarity in position.

10. While it isn’t really a bicep exercise I found that it had a unique overloading
quality to the arms and shoulders that made them stronger.

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As you can see in this pics above, Bud is EXTREMELY strong...and he is 100% NATURAL. He's developed his strength, power and mass through insanely hard work and massive eating.

I also mentioned yesterday that Bud has just released his latest book "Maximum Functional Mass." (see below for coupon code)

This book contains ALL his secrets for developing muscle that WORKS...show AND go.

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It's available as a digital ebook OR hard copy printed book, so you can pick whichever version you prefer.

IMPORTANT!!

To get a 10% discount and FREE copy of Maximum Functional Mass DVD 1, use the coupon code "madscientist" at checkout.




Get your copy of Maximum Functional Mass here, using coupon code "madscientist"...