150 Pound ONE ARM POWER SNATCH ACHIEVED!!

http://youtu.be/jT4zXIpvSns

A week ago I achieved one of my big short term targets- a 150 pound one arm snatch, performed in power style (no dipping under the bar) ripped right off the floor, no 1st or second pull, just ripped right off the floor.

For those of you unfamiliar with olympic lifting, typically in a (two arm) snatch you dip under the weight to reduce the distance the bar has to travel, and you don't rip the weight right off the floor- you begin like a deadlift and pick up speed as the bar crosses your knees. This allows you to overcome the inertia of the bar, and develop force over more time, which help you develop greater force. In addition the muscles can pull harder and faster from the knee high position.

Similarly in a one arm snatch (when it used to be a competition lift), you pull in 2-3 stages and dip under the weight by squatting underneath it. In the variation I have shown in this video I eliminate both, which is the way the great Arthur Saxon used to perform this. So I decided I wanted to get good at one arm lifts, and thought that this is probably the most basic one.

The first time I tried a one arm power snatch, I managed a 110 pounds comfortably. I decided to train for 150 pounds and in about 3 months have achieved my target. The reason I chose this weight is because Arthur Saxon's record in the lift was 200 pounds at a weight of 200 pounds stripped. So I figured a bodyweight one arm snatch is truly phenomenal, and I managed to snatch 110lbs at 175 pounds with relative comfort. As I am generally strong overall and specifically strong in odd lifts (you know tire flips, sandbag lifts, kettlebells- I find I am quite natural at this stuff), I figured 110 for my bodyweight is probably an above average performance. So I figured 150 pounds would be elite, 160 pounds unbelievable and 175 Saxon. So I set a short term target for 150 pounds, and a long term target of 175 pounds.

The first 2 weeks, all I did was practice the snatch at 90 pounds. I tried to figure out the differences between the ordinary snatch and this variation. I noted that most of the drive for the snatch comes from the lower back, glutes and to a much lesser degree, the hamstrings. The position is simply such that you cannot utilize the muscles of the thighs much. In addition the muscles of the side need to be very strong to drive the weight and complete the lockout. I found I was failing at the snatch, only after my sides had tired. The weight would go up fine, but I would fail to lock it out. Also the spinal muscles need to be very strong to prevent the posture from getting bent, something which happens in the snatch as well, but happens in a more unique way in the one arm snatch.

In addition you need incredibly strong traps to pull the weight, and explosive triceps and deltoids to lock the weight out. Shoulder strength and stability are particularly critical.

I came up with the following list of assistance exercises-
1. The 1 arm suitcase deadlift-
This was one of the main power builders. It builds lockout power and the explosiveness from the bottom.
2. 1 arm Arnold Press- Standing
Basically a dumbell overhead press, where only one arm is used at a time and is performed standing. The key point is that the dumbell is neutral in the bottom position and facing forwards at the top i.e it rotates. This rotation is critical for the one arm snatch. Also, lower the dumbell only till the plates touch your shoulders, not any lower.
3. One arm dumbell/Kettlebell Swings
This builds power and explosiveness in the spine and the glutes, in a very similar way as the one arm barbell snatch. Swing up till chest height.
4. One arm Barbell Deadlift- Weight in the front and parallel to the line joining the feet
This teaches you how to start from a dead start. Try to pull as fast as possible and to keep the barbell parallel to the feet.

In addition to this, people who have thoracic mobility issues must  perform regular shoulder stretching and external rotator work, in addition to a lot of rows to the upper chest.

I never found my wrist weak at any point, but I have always trained my grip very seriously. If your wrists are weak you will not be able to stabilize the long barbell at all. If this is you, when you perform any one of the two one handed deadlifts, at the top tilt your wrist one direction, such that one side of the bar is going to crash into the ground. Immediately twist your wrist back to get the barbell back into position. Repeat on the other side. Do not go beyond 8 reps in all.

I basically exercised for the one arm snatch twice a week. On Wednesdays I performed the assistance exercises. I would perform 2 warm up sets of 3 reps of each movement, then move on to perform 3 sets of 3 reps. I would add a rep every week and when I hit 5's I increased the weight by 5-10 pounds (depending on the movement) and go back to 3 reps. I also performed 6 practice reps with an 80 pound barbell after the assistance exercises, to hone my technique.

On Sundays I practiced the One arm Snatch itself. I would do 2 sets of 3 for warm up, and than perform singles with 100 pounds (initially) and 3 months later with 140 pounds. I would do anywhere from 14 to 20 singles a workout, per arm. I would sometimes wave the load, for ex- 90lb 1 rep (on each arm), 100lb 1 rep, 110 lb 1 rep, 100 lb 1 rep, 110lb 1 rep, 90lb 1 rep, 100lb 1 rep, 90lb 1 rep, 110lb 1 rep, 110lb 1 rep, 100lb 1 rep, 90lb 1 rep, 100lb 1 rep, 110lb 1 rep. This was actually my 5th one arm snatch workout.

My 14th (and last) workout was
100lb X 3
120lb X 3
130lb X 1
130lb X 1
130lb X 1
140lb X 1
140lb X 1
150lb X 1 (the attempt that has been filmed in the video)
130lb X 1
130lb X 1
140lb X 1
140lb X 1
140lb X 1
140lb X 1
130lb X 1
140lb X 1
140lb X 1

So what have I gained from this all?

First of all, my double handed snatch has increased from 185lbs to 205lbs (Comfortable) with almost no practice of the lift itself. In my opinion I think this is because the one arm snatch uses a lot of different muscles and as such has a very different emphasis. The chain of muscles involved in the one arm snatch are generally the weak links in most people's snatching ability, so improvement here leads to an improvement in snatching ability in general. If you are a lifter who has stagnated in the two arm snatch, you may find this to be helpful.

Secondly, it has dramatically improved my upper body and torso explosiveness.

Thirdly, my sides and my spine have never felt stronger.

Fourthly my core stability and my stability as such have improved dramatically. Including one arm explosive barbell lifts can do real wonders for your stability. If you have a real stability issue, mastering this lift may increase your strength overall by an incredible amount.

Fifth my deltoids and general shoulder stability and strength have improved by leaps and bounds.

Sixth, my traps are much stronger.

Seventh, I suppose other people would find great grip and wrist benefits.

And lastly, it looks awesome. It is a real test of overall strength.

Finally I would like to say that I do not consider the one arm snatch (unlike deadlifts or military presses) o be a vital exercise, despite the importance it was given at the turn of the century, but if and only if you already have a great base of strength in the basics, and you are looking for a way to blast your upper body and torso explosiveness and power, or you are just plain bored, the one arm snatch is a worthwhile challenge.

An Approach to Strength

The last few weeks, I have been doing a lot of studying in terms of Physiology. I always studied a lot, but of late its getting to the point of an obsession.I have had these phases before, but never so intensely.


It started with the quest for ultimate recovery methods. As expected, western research is woefully inadequate on the matter. I turned to Russian research and found a lot more info, but to be honest, no real conclusions. It would seem that the capacity to recover is a skill in itself, the exact components of which no one really knows. Thus, we are unable to break it down and understand how to get better at this skill. Presumably, the one who would master this skill, could make the fastest progress.


In the end of my research I came to the following conclusions about recovery-

1. Sleep seems essential for it.

2. Muscle recovery happens while you are awake.

3. For the most part, Endocrinol and neural recovery also happens while you are awake.

4. Nobody really knows why we need to sleep.

5. Nobody really knows what causes fatigue.

6. Nobody really knows why you hit strength barriers.


Don't get me wrong, I learnt a lot during this time. But I learnt more from what we did not know, than what we did know.


So I decided to approach the problem from a different angle. I asked myself the question- Why do we need to recover in the first place? Because a strain has been put on our system, and the energy needs to be restored. More importantly from our point of view, some kind of super-compensation is required in order to deal with the work load. This super-compensation happens in 2 forms- hypertrophy and strength increase.


This theory would have us believe that an endless progressive cycle would lead to endless gains. But we all know this to not be the case. Interestingly, gains in strength are not directly proportional to hypertrophy. Other than the fact that increase in the size of the muscle fibers themselves (not sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) will lead to some increase in strength, there seems to be no real relation or rather no constant. In fact, empirically, after about the first 50 pounds of muscle mass, (generally) the amount of strength added for each pound of increased muscle mass would be lesser than the weight of the muscle itself. This explains why after a certain point, people can continue to increase their strength only by adding increasing amounts of bulk, assuming that that is the only way they are seeking to improve strength.


It is worth noting that most Russian research on the topic, and current western research, seems to indicate that the greatest factors effecting strength are functional rather than structural. This means that beyond a point, strength can be increased more fruitfully by focusing on functional adaptations, like increased neuro muscular drive, increased connective tissue strength, better stretch reflexes, more muscle fiber recruitment and more efficient utilization of skeletal leverages. Adding muscle mass beyond this point seems to take away from the overall efficiency of the body. This, and not to mention a lot more research seems to indicate that there may be an optimal level of hypertrophy, beyond which increase in size takes away from the abilities of the body.


In this case it is important to understand that strength as such would be best defined, in the context of this topic, as the amount of force that can be produced in certain movements by the body, relative to body-weight  Thus beyond and below this optimal hypertrophy point, the strength to body-weight ratio declines.


What is interesting to observe is that even those athletes who train strictly in order to increase proportional strength, like gymnasts or olympic weightlifters (in weight classes) , undergo SOME hypertrophy and structural changes, along with increases in strength, even while they focus their entire training on increasing strength through functional adaptations. It would seem that this increase in muscle size is the minimal amount required in order to support the increase in proportional strength. Thus, every increase in weight for these athletes, assuming they train using only functional methods, would get them closer to their ideal body-weight  This is of course assuming they are fairly lean and do not increase body fat levels, and their training in focused on simply moving more resistance (barbell or body-weight  relative to their body-weight  Thus once they reach this size, more increase in size would not occur, as increases in strength cane be increased to a more efficient degree, through functional training beyond this point.


What is important to observe at this point is that it seems fatigue is one of the pre-requisites to dramatic increases in size. It is well documented that heavy loads, lifted to failure or rather forced to be lifted for extra reps, leads to incredible growth. But what is more interesting is that the increase in strength from this hypertrophy is never anywhere as much as the increase in strength from the same level of hypertrophy in someone who never tried to push for size gains i.e never went close to fatigue. Of course such a person would not gain size anywhere as fast as the first person, but this goes to explain why bodybuilders and olympic lifters of the exact same weight are never even in the same league of strength.


This is further borne out by the fact the largest and the strongest (proportionally) muscles in almost all mammals are the ones that are least used. This would suggest that the phenomenon of increase in strength is more of a learning curve, than a size curve. Essentially the body must learn to get stronger, and must make the structural changes required to support the higher levels of tension. This is why hypertrophy is required to increase strength, just not as much as we think.


The fact of the mater is, if we hypothetically divorced ourselves from lifting poundages and defined strength as the ability to move the body, we would practice moving the body in harder and harder ways to get stronger. Thus, we would be focusing on learning movements, like learning an art, or dance. Any bodily changes are a welcome side effect, but the objective would always be strength (i.e movement). If you can maintain this thinking even with barbells, then you have the same mind as an olympic lifter.


Seen from a cost benefit analysis, hypertrophy being the cost and strength being the benefit, it would seem that doing the minimum required, in order to increase strength would be the best way to learn the skill of strength.


Thus when we cut down the intensity and workload of each session to the bare minimum required to make progress, we can keep practicing the skill of producing power- i.e strength (in certain movements of course), without fatigue stopping us. Think about it- if strength were treated just like mastering an art, you would never encounter fatigue in the first place, for recovery to be an issue. And just like an art, you grow stale only when you over practice it- as then your mind grows stale from it.


Hence it would seem that if intensity and workload per session were reduced to the minimum required to make any progress, and the frequency of practice regulated to prevent mental boredom and overdose from the movements, all the laws of training we take for granted wont apply. Periodization wont be necessary, and over training will never happen.


Thus it would seem that the best way to get out of fatigue, over training and a strength barrier is to simply never to get into them in the first place. Never train to fatigue, treat your training as practice and not working out and master strength like you would master playing the guitar.


I am not suggesting what I am saying here is necessarily true. I have after all come to these conclusions only recently. But I feel we might be on to something here.


So as a personal experiment, from today on-wards I am going to limit my strength training to the minimum amount required to make any progress. I will not train more than 6 movements- I pick push ups, pull ups, handstand push ups, bridges, squats and leg raises. I will focus on mastering only one lift- I choose the pull up. The ultimate objective would be the one arm chin up for several reps. Everything else will be reduced to the absolute bare minimum level required to make progress , or at least what amount in my experience allows me to make some progress.

In this case 3 heavy (rep range 2-6 with a weight that allows 4-8) sets per exercise a week, 3 medium sets a week, performed on 2 different days.

The pull up I will train as and well I feel like doing them. I will limit my practices to one set a session, just enough to practice it, with as many reps as can be performed in perfect technique with perfect control and contraction, never going beyond 8. The intensity will fluctuate constantly, just like mastering a song, and the long term objective would be to graduate to harder steps. (see the post on pull ups). I may perform no sets of pull ups a day, or a may do 10, depending on how fresh I am and how motivated I feel. Since I will never be going anywhere close to muscular fatigue, the main factors controlling frequency of practice will be my mental and nervous state.

Always, as many times as can be done, with a fresh, charged and enthusiastic mind- without ever training on the nervous edge.


I will use this approach for sometime, and lets see how it works out. Anybody else who may want to try this system may try it too, but please keep a record and we can correlate our data.

Hard-Core Training

I know the pun is overused.

Anyway, lets talk about training the core. What is the core? Literally speaking, it is the midsection of the body. It includes a huge variety of muscles such as the Abs, the obliques, the lumbar spine, the transverse abdominis, the internal obliques, the serratus, the hip flexor muscles and various hip stabilizers that function with the glutes. Each of these muscles carry out a separate function.

The present day obsession with the "Six Pack" makes me sick. It takes away from the true meaning of mid section training- ultimate functional power. Only if you have engaged in hard manual labor or are a wrestler or a boxer will you understand the true value of the mid section. I myself was a boxer and I can tell you this, the true source of striking power is the twisting force of the hips and torso. This force is generated and transmitted by the midsection. No fighter was ever a hard puncher without a powerful gut. Ask any fighter and they will tell you that the 3 greatest movements that improves their punching power are Deadlifts (or a similar movement like Kettlebell Swings), leg raises or sit ups and punching a Heavy Bag (Twisting torque). Medicine ball work has been a part of combat training for decades. Real fighting power has less to do with your legs or arms and more to do with your lumbar and core muscles.

So basically the core has the following functions-
1. Stabilizing (and to a degree) flexing the Spine
2. Holding and Defending the Organs.
3. Rotating the spine and torso.
4. Bending into and Straightening the spine from a sideways position.
5. Rounding  and Arching the Lower Back.
6. Flexing at the Hips.

Before you embark on a core specialization routine, you must ask yourself if you really need to. Chances are, if you are doing a lot of compound exercises, you are already working the core hard enough. Unless you are a fighter, you probably do not have that much use for the kind of core power we are talking about.

If you decide you need additional core training, you can utilize the following basic exercises.
1. Bridges- I am Assuming you are already performing this exercise as a part of your routine, or some variant, like deadlifts. Even if you are deadlifting, it would probably be better for you to take up some bridging. I discuss this in detail in my previous post on bridges.
2. Leg raises- This movement works the hip flexors and the external obliques and the abs very hard. The Abs have to fire to stabilize and partially flex the spine, while resisting changing leverages as the legs are being lifted. If you pause at the top, like you are supposed to, the abs are fried. The hip flexors work very hard and perform the actual movement of lifting and lowering the legs. many people believe that the hip flexors must be isolated out of most movements. Anyone who as trained seriously will tell you that strong hip flexors are essential for most movements. The real problem is a lack of hip flexor flexibility and a weakness in the glutes and the abs, both of which are taken care of by Bridges, squats and Leg raises. Besides if that was the logic, we should all stop bench pressing right? (Pec and upper back flexibility and strength imbalance).
The transverse abdominis has to also work very hard to hold in the gut.
3. (Optional) Planks- This isometric hold is not essential, if you are already doing a lot of compound exercises. But a lot of people are interesting in just training their cores, to prevent injuries or to get back from pregnancies. I still advice them to at least take up squatting (bodyweight squatting at least- See the post on Squats), but if they don't want to, this exercise becomes important to train the Transverse and the abs as stabilizers.

Almost everyone will be using the above three exercises (Or a variant or substitute) in their training programs. What most people don't do right is selecting the appropriate training protocols, which we shall get into later. Also most people do not do the next motion (do them only if you really need specialized core training).

4. Train Twisting power- My favorite for this is the Russian twist. Set up an incline board upto its highest incline (about 45 degrees). Now Anchor your feet and get into sit up position. Now go just halfway up, such that your torso (hips and above) is parallel to the ground. Hold a weight with both hands right in front of your sternum with the arms straight such that your arms are perpendicular to your body and the ground. I like to use plates as the are easy to hold. Now, keeping your body parallel to the ground, rotate your torso to the left, such that you are looking to the left and your chest is now facing the left, while the arms are now parallel to the ground, such that the weight is at the same level as your head. Pause for one count and return to the starting position. Repeat in the other side. Keep your arms straight at all times.
This exercise will fry your entire core, but will kill your internal obliques. In my opinion, they are a must for any fighter or thrower. It builds real twisting power, and can easily be made progressive, by just adding weight.

The real key to mid section power is correct programming. Too many people train the midsection with high repetitions and low weight, saying that the ads are an endurance muscle. First off all, you are not only training the abs, but the hip flexors, lower back, obliques and transverse as well. The truth is you need only one endurance movement (or rather a Plank hold) to train the conditioning aspect of the abdominal muscles. As for all of the other functions, you have to train heavy and hard just like any other muscle group.

I personally prefer training hard exercises like Russian twists and bridges and leg raises in a separate workout. Start with Russian Twists for 4 sets of 6-12 reps. Then super-set leg raises with bridges for 4 sets for 5-12 reps. Finish with one plank until failure. This workout should be done twice a week- no more. If you already have a strong mid section even 1 workout a week will suffice to increase your strength.

Another option, if you have a weak core as such, is to spend 4-6 months specializing on your core. All other movements can be reduced to a once a week program, and you can increase your abdominal training to 3 times a week. These exercises don't put much pressure on the spine, and as such are easy to recover from, even if you train them really heavy.

The bridges progression has been given in a previous post. Leg raise can be made harder (and easier) by extending the knees. In a perfect leg raise, you will hang from a pull up bar with your arms straight and shoulders locked and lift your straight legs- knees locked, until the heels of your feet are higher than your hips. Hold for a second before lowering the legs. No swinging.

I will do a post on the leg raise progression soon.

If all you want to do is strengthen your core and be healthy as such, I would recommend the core workout I prescribed, twice a week, with one workout a week for just bodyweight squats (see my post on squats) and one workout for working up the pull up progression (see my post on pull ups) and push ups. You may also undertake some cross training in the form of running or skipping, though keep it under 30 mins a session. Also practice the twist hold progression (in my post on flexibility training), and the toe touch stretch every workout.

good luck and develop the kid of mid section on this classic figure.

Routine For Beginners

A couple of my friends were working out with me a few days ago, and I needed to write a program for them, so I wrote them this letter.

Hi Guys!

I have just been doing a lot of thinking about programs for beginners and I though it may be useful if I shared the routine I have developed, along with my reasoning, on paper.

So the routine I have thought of is essentially a full body routine based around Squats, Overhead presses and Pull Ups. Secondary exercises shall be push ups and bent-over rows. We shall also follow the fundamental stretching exercises- bridges, toe touches and twist holds. 

First of all let me address the reasons why I have picked these exercises. 

The squat is the fundamental builder of strength. It exercises the thighs, the lower back, the spine, the calves and the upper back to a degree. Plus being a movement in which the entire body moves (i.e closed chain movement), the carry over of strength gained through squatting happens in almost every activity. 

The main variation we will be using is the front squat. (We used back squats in the last session). Basically after observing your squatting technique you guys have 3 problems- lack of hip flexibility, which prevents you from going deep, an unstable core (mid section) and lack of spinal strength. All these problems will be corrected by front squats, plus it also paves the way for the development of a solid back squat. 

We will also be practicing the Olympic back squat for one set every workout, to hone the technique, plus to get some high reps done. You can't do that with front squats. 

Overhead presses build powerful shoulders and when done properly strength all the scapula stabilizers, the traps, the rib-cage muscles, and the triceps and pecs. It opens up the entire shoulder girdle and strengthens the rotator cuff muscles when done properly. 90% of all shoulder problems among athletes nowadays come from starting hard and heavy with the bench press, having improper posture, weak external rotators and a lack of overhead flexibility. Intelligently used, overhead pressing can avoid most of these problems and reverse many of them. 

The overhead presses we will perform will be done with the feet together, knees, hips and abs locked, chest out and with a shoulder width grip pressing directly overhead in a natural fashion. That means no excessive splaying out of the elbows. Full lockout will be reached and held. No swaying or bending of the spine. Absolute stability. 

We will not clean and press the weight as we were last time. We will un-rack it from the incline rack and press directly. Learning how to clean the weight to the shoulder properly is too technical right now. 

Pull ups are an absolute must to both balance out the pressing work you are doing and to properly develop the upper body. The volume of pull ups we will do will at least be equal to the amount of pressing we are doing. 

Push ups and bent over rows work the upper body from angles that are not hit by overhead presses and pull ups. They will however be used as a high rep set at the end of your upper body work, in order to provide a pump to the muscles there were just properly trained using the basic exercises. 

The stretches are essential in order to eventually improve squatting technique. 

We will use the most basic system of programming, which will use all the components of a good strength and muscle training program. 

Remember, without hard contractions (for a beginner that means heavy weight), strength will not increase and muscles will not grow. At the same time, without several repetitions, micro-trauma to the muscles won't happen and overcompensation won't occur. Thus we need to train HARD (many reps) and train HEAVY. However such training will deplete your system and exhaust you. Therefore, we will limit the number of heavy reps (anything over 80% of the max you can lift) to 20 per exercise per session. We will also limit the total number of reps to 40 per body part (i.e push ups + overhead work, and Pull ups + rows). At the same time, we will exercise only 2 times a week using full body routines. This is because this builds your endocrine system and elicits a very powerful muscle building response. On these 2 days, you will play no other sport. This way you will prevent burnout. Plus every 5th week, one workout off, and the other will be light. 

The workouts will be as follows. Let us say we exercise Wednesdays and Sundays. 

Wed and Sun Workouts-

Warm up with jumping jacks/ Skipping for 5 mins. 

Lets assume max Overhead press is 40 Kgs, max chin ups in a row are 6, max row is 45kgs and Front Squat 40kgs. 

1. 4 reps Overhead press with a weight you could use for 8 reps, say 30 Kgs. 

2. 2 reps of Chin ups. 

Repeat 1 and 2. 

This stage will warm up the body and perfect technique.

3. 2 Reps Overhead press with a weight you could press 4 times, say 35 Kgs. 

4. 1 min Break (Atleast)

5. 3 Chin Ups (Half of Max).

6. 1 min Break (atleast)

Repeat 3, 4, 5, 6, for a total of six times. 

This stage will build strength and muscle. 

The secret is to concentrate on all the muscles and the joints and to cultivate perfect technique. Cherish every rep. 

7. Using a variation of push ups which you can perform in perfect technique for 30 reps, perform as many as you need to in order to get a good, but not excessive pump. (if max is 30, do 25). 

8. Using a  weight you could row 20 times when fresh, say 32 Kgs, Row until your upper back and lats are fully pumped. Row to the chest. 

The purpose of these 2 steps is to simply enhance recovery and teach you how to connect to your muscles. 

9. Front squat a weight you could front squat for 6-7 reps, 3 times, say 30 Kgs. Take a min break and repeat. 

10. Front squat a weight you could squat for 4 reps, for 2 reps, say 35Kgs. Take a 2 min break. 

Repeat 10 for a total of five times. 

11. Load the bar to a really heavy weight, say 50kgs. Unrack in in the back squat style, hold for 5 seconds and re-rack it. Don't squat. This builds tendon and bone strength. 

Repeat 11 for a total of 3 times.

12. Olympic Back Squat a much reduced weight, say 25 Kgs, for 20 reps in one set. 

Take a 5 min break. 

13. Get into the appropriate bridge hold and hold the stretch for 30 seconds. 

14. Same with twist hold.

15. Touch your toes 3 times.

Repeat 12, 13, 14 a total of three times. 

16. Do the cuban press with a light weight (say bar only) for 6-8 reps, twice. This will prevent and cure shoulder and postural problems. 

Go home and relax.

You must eat at least 25gs of protein within 45 mins of the last exercise. Milk, meat and eggs are preferred sources. Ideally the largest meal of you day must be within 3 hours of exercise. Also, be sure not be be excessively hungry before exercise. An empty stomach is good, but don't starve. 

As for the rest of you diet-

1. Lots of fruits and vegetables.

2. Eat at-least 70gs of protein a day. Its actually not that high once you do the math. 

3. Eat when you are hungry, until you are pleasantly satiated. 

4. Try to eat 3 good meals a day, plus a couple of healthy snacks- vegetables/fruits with tea. 

5. Drank a LOT of water. 

6. Limit the junk and processed food you eat. 

7. Go nuts on milk, curd and paneer. 

8. Again, lots of fruits and vegetables. 

Read up on the exercises before Sunday. 

The system I have given is a variant of the classic Doug Hepburn routine. Its also similar to the systems Reg Park, Paul Anderson, Arthur Saxon, Herman Groener, Arthur Saxon and pretty much every known successful strength and physique athlete has used as a basic routine. 

The objective is to increase the weights on all exercises by something, every 2 weeks. 

Last thing, there is no abdominal exercise included, because your abs will be waaay to overworked anyway with Chin Ups, Push Ups, Overhead Presses and Front Squats. Until all these movements become stable and powerful, there is no point doing additional stabilizer/abs work.  

I realize that the system I have given is very different from the ones usually given to beginners today, but trust me it is the only one that works. There is no substitute for hard and heavy training on the Basics. You can always cut and finish your physique later. But without the basics, there is no point. However, the "basics" are hard, and therefore are avoided by most. True intense training has more to do with concentration and the levels of weights you use, than actual volume of work done. And that kind of work requires you to be utterly focused and dedicated. So most people train with high reps, waaay too often, to convince themselves that they are working hard. That is an idiots way of thinking. 

Remember, all Marathon runners are lean and fat (that is, Soft lean). All sprinters are muscular and powerful and look half their age. What does this tell you about the human body?

Also hard muscle also burns fat, because it has a higher metabolic cost i.e it makes the body burn more calories, just by being around. So quality muscle will keep you lean and strong. And quality muscle can only be gotten by hard and Heavy training, with the basics, with plenty of rest and a cool head and concentration. 

I am going to quote a couple of programs to show you what I am driving at-

Reg Park's Three Phase 5x5 Program

Phase One

45-degree back extension 3x10 

Back squat 5x5 

Bench press 5x5 

Deadlift 5x5

Rest 3-5 minutes between the last 3 sets of each exercise.

Train three days per week for three months.

As Park explained it, 5x5 includes two progressively heavier warm-up sets and three sets at the same weight. He suggested increasing weights at approximately the same interval, for example:

Back squat: first set 135x5, second set 185x5, followed by three sets of 225x5.

When you can complete the last 3x5 at a given weight, increase the weight on all five sets 5-10 pounds. Also, he was strongly against training to failure, saying that it encouraged a negative mindset when attempting other heavy, near-maximal lifts.

Who was Reg Park? The greatest bodybuilder of the pre steroid era. He was insanely strong AND big. He weighed a 100kgs and was the second man ever to bench press over 225kgs and squat 250kgs.

Do 3 warm ups sets with an easy weight for 6 reps each.

Do 8 sets of 2 with a weight you could use for a triple. 

Do one set of 10 to pump the muscle. 

Move on to the next exercise. 

Exercise twice a week.

Do Rows, Squats, Deadlifts, Bench and Military presses and weighted chins. 

This routine was by Doug Hepburn. He was the world's strongest man for a decade and is still probably the greatest overhead presser who ever lived. 

Perform 1 set of Bent Presses. 

Perform 1 set of 3 overhead presses.

Perform 1 set of four of Deadlifts. 

Repeat the entire workout one more time.

Take 3 days rest.

This was the system used by Arthur Saxon, the man whose one arm lifting records are unbroken to this day, and it has been a hundred and twenty years. He was once challenged by Eugene Sandow (Once Strongest Man of The World), to lift his infamous 275 pound barbell (over 130 Kgs), with one arm overhead. He claimed only he himself could lift it. Saxon lifted it 17 times with his left hand, and then held it overhead with his right hand, while he proceeded to drink 20 mugs of beer with his left. I am not suggesting you do that, but he was one strong guy. 

Finally a quote from the great Arnold Schwarzenegger to end this long letter-

" I think the reason some bodybuilders

use delicate exercises, which I call chicken exercises, is that

they don't feel confident with the basic movements or with

themselves. The bench press seems so simple, they think they

should do something more complicated. But you can't use as

much weight when you make the exercise difficult, so it takes

away from the meaning of heavy training.

I liked the idea of really pressing a lot of weight.

Besides the ego satisfaction

I got from working with heavy weights, it gave my body

more mass, which I still felt I needed. It was an idea I couldn't

get out of my head. I was doing heavy squats, heavy bench

presses, and this provided some of the foundation work of my

body, which has always made me appear strong. Certain bodybuilders

lack that look. They have good bodies but they don't

appear powerful. The reason is inadequate foundation training.

Good early training shows up in the muscles around the spine.

There is really no exercise for those muscles; their development

is just an indication that you have put in some heavy ground

work, heavy squats and heavy dead lifts, a lot of lifting and row

ing. I had done these exercises from the start. I developed strong

basic muscles which gave me the powerful look people wanted

to see.

Reg Park had been a powerlifter; he had done squats with 600

pounds, bench presses with 500 pounds, and dead lifts of over

700 pounds. I saw no reason why I shouldn't continue in the

same groove. I won the German championships in heavy-weight

powerlifting before I stopped. My body weight was up to 250

and I convinced myself that it was time to chisel down, to start

getting more quality in my body."

Ultimate Fat Loss

I get asked by a lot of guys at work and otherwise, how to lose weight. This question generally comes from people who are not really that badly off (18 – 22% Body fat), but are far from athletic. I thought it might be simpler if I just wrote a blog post about it.

People at this level of fitness generally do not need the various carb cycling diets that fitness professionals nowadays tend to recommend. The problem with these diets is that you can never really follow them if you have a hectic life. And I work in a place where most people have a 60 hour week all the time, and in India you spend at least 14-15 hours a week just travelling. Plus if you really were to begin following a carb cycling diet, it would cost you a fair penny. You need supplements, BCAA pills, lots of protein- all of which are really expensive here.

A lot fat can be lost, simply by identifying the reasons you are fat in the first place. You must understand that just like all other tissues, fat also serves a purpose in the body. Remove the reasons for its existence, and the fat will go away.

I am going to list the various purposes of fat in the human body, and you can judge for yourself, why you are carrying excess fat.

1.       Blood Sugar Levels are too High and your Body is Insulin Insensitive-

This is a semi diabetic condition, where the body is unable to fill the muscles with glucose, and this glucose hangs around in the blood stream and is stored as fat. This happens because the muscles either won’t accept the glucose (Insulin Insensitivity), or there simply is not enough muscle to accept the sugar/glucose.

The simple solution to this is to increase the Insulin sensitivity of the body by exercise and preventing frequent changes in blood sugar levels. This can be done by either keeping a constant intake of sugar, or by eliminating sugar altogether. The Frequency of change is more important than the degree of change in sugar levels, as frequent fluctuations can desensitize the insulin receptors of the body, because of which the muscles to refuse the sugar.

Also, insulin insensitivity and blood sugar levels drop when you have greater muscle mass. The more muscle you have, the easier it will be for you to keep the weight off. The problem is, most people simply do not have enough muscle to keep off fat for a long period of time.

Many people out there, especially women, worry about gaining too muscle. To be honest, that is like worrying that by studying a lot, you may become too smart. The fact of the matter is, every guy or girl who is phenomenally muscular has put in years of hard work and labour into it, and you are not going to look like that unless you really work hard towards that specific objective.

Most guys and girls can easily gain 20-25 pounds of pure muscle, without worrying about looking too muscular. And those 20 pounds will keep off 50 pounds of fat for your entire lifetime and will give you health benefits beyond counting. So stop worrying about it.

Lastly, most woman, unless they are genetic anomalies or are on steroids, simply do not have that much testosterone in them to end up like that, and thus it is twice as hard for them to become overly muscular.

2.       Your Body is Full of Toxins

This is the biggest reason for excess fat nowadays in my opinion. Fat essentially acts like a sponge and sucks up and stores all the toxins in the body, to prevent the toxins from entering the blood stream. This is why a lot of people fall ill when they lose weight, because the toxins that were in the fat get released into the blood stream.  Then when you start eating again, all the fat comes back, simply because it is needed to store all the toxins in your blood.

The best way to detoxify the body is to simply cut out all toxic food from your diet for some time. Then after 3-4 weeks of this approach, going on water fasts followed with large but healthy meals (to prevent losing fat too fast, thus avoiding excess blood toxicity) in order to burn some amount of fat, and to get rid of the chunk of the toxins in the body, is best. This practice will have to be repeated occasionally to prevent re-toxification.  You must remember that detoxification (and Fat Loss) is catabolic and catabolism needs to happen if you want to remain healthy, so don’t fall into the bodybuilding trap of never allowing catabolism to happen.

3.       The amount of calories you are eating is more than the amount you are using.

This is the most commonly cited reason, though it’s actually not the most common. This is also relatively easy to solve, by simply increasing your activity levels and cutting down your food intake.

A lot of professionals feel that a direct fat loss approach like the one cited above will stop burning fat in the long term, because the body’s defense mechanism will kick in and prevent you from burning fat, and will burn muscle instead.

First of all, if you are performing intense (i.e Heavy) exercise, you give the body a pretty strong stimulus to save muscle.

Secondly, we will not resort to excessive calorie depletion in the first place. We will never create a deficit of more than 20% of your calorific requirements.

Thirdly if you follow this system, these are very few reasons for the body to preserve fat (high insulin sensitivity, large muscle mass, toxin free body). The whole fat preservation over muscle thing does not really kick in. The body simply increases the glucose reserves in the muscles, and learns how to stretch them.

All right, so lets get on with it! I call this the gradual but permanent fat-loss approach.

I am not great with names.

Stage 1- Basic Detox!

Very simply, cut out all packaged foods from your diet, cut out all processed items, no simple carbs, no  sugar frosted goodies, no fried snacks and no wheat.

You will eat plenty of vegetables and fruits. All you meals will begin and end around them. You will try to eat foods as low on the food chain as possible. This means you will prefer fish over chicken, chicken over pig, pig over beef. . . you get the picture. Steaming and boiling is your preferred method of cooking.

No baked goods.

You will drink plenty- and I mean plenty, of clean water. You can have a lot of green tea as well, if you wish.

However, you WILL NOT CUT DOWN THE CALORIE INTAKE. If standard calorie charts say you need 2000 calories, you will eat 2000 calories, maybe a little more. You are not trying to deprive your body of nutrition and calories. You are simply trying to reduce the toxins in your body.

You may eat and meet your daily requirements in how many ever meals you wish- 1, 3, 10. It does not matter at this stage.

You will do this for 4 weeks.

Most people will notice significant fat loss by the end of this phase itself.

Stage 2- Complete Detox!

Now things will get a little serious. We are trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. We will both detox the body and increase insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity rises when the muscles are drained of glucose, and the body experiences acute hunger.

Detoxification happens when the body goes through large amounts of catabolism.

During this phase, you will eat one multivitamin very morning, drink lots and lots of water and eat a lot of fruits and vegetables- fresh or boiled, but not eat anything else during the day. Then at around 6 or 7 p.m- before dark but not more than 4 hours before bedtime (not less than 2), you will eat one mega meal, where you will eat almost whatever you want and however you want, with the following restrictions-

1.       You will begin the meal with a large quantity of vegetables.

2.       You will then eat proteins.

3.       Only then will you eat your carbs.

4.       Stop when you feel pleasantly satiated. You will be surprised how much you will have to eat before you feel happy.

5.       No baked goods, no candies, no fried snacks, no processed sugar.

If you follow these simple roles and eat at the correct time, you will not feel the negative fat storing effects of eating a big dinner and will be able to safely overeat. At the same time your body will be hugely detoxified and you will posses much more energy (after the first 2 weeks) and you will be healthier in general.

I am not going to get into the insulin mechanics of this meal, and why there won’t be a significant sugar spike. Just trust me, and if you really want to know, drop a line with your email id in the comments box below, and I will drop you a lengthy document that I have written, as to why this may be the best way to eat.

You will do this for 4 weeks.

By the end of this phase, most people would have lost all the fat they wanted to lose in the first place. Even if you have, resist the temptation to rush back to your old way of living, and finish what you have started, by following the nest stage to its conclusion. Otherwise all your efforts will be in vain and you will lose all that you have gained (pun intended).

Stage 3- Gradual Fat-loss and Heavy Muscle Building

If you are a power lifter, bodybuilder, weightlifter or a strongman you are going to love this- the previous phase would have primed your body for crazy muscle gains and fat loss. This happens due to a complicated physiological phenomenon called the negative feedback loop.

It works like this, you know how guys who get out of a diet gain weight fast? Well, it works for muscle growth too. If your body has been starved for a long time and has gone through a lot of catabolism, when you start feeding it and exercising properly, the gains will be phenomenal. For once in your life, you will be able to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

If you are a guy who has been stuck at a certain level of size and strength for a long time, you will be more than compensated for whatever muscle you may have lost during the first 2 stages. In this stage, you will lose fat and gain much more muscle than you lost. It will be like the days you started training. You will break through all your old barriers and reach new levels of strength and muscle size. Again, to understand this better, drop me a line in the comment section.

For beginners, it’s a double party. Beginners in any case can build muscle and lose weight fast. When they have gone through stage 2, it will be like they are on steroids.

You can choose one of 2 diets-

1.       Continue with the stage 2 diet with 2 additions- you will have a heavy source of protein at 2 (like a protein shake) and a liquid protein meal half an hour before your workout. You will also have a lot more fruits during the day. Some people like this because it allows them to stuff themselves.

2.       Eat 3 meals a day, with 2 snacks- one brunch and an evening snack. Each meal will be the same as the main meal in stage 2, except you won’t eat anywhere near as much. The snacks will be fruits and protein. Once a week you will do a day fast like in stage 2.

In both, you must eat exactly your daily recommended intake of calories (no less, not too much more) and you must eat 1.5g of protein a day for every Kg of lean body mass you have. You can calculate all these variables by going to any one of the online Body fat Calculators. You muscle building efforts will ensure you will be losing fat despite not creating a calorie deficit.

You will follow any one of the 2 or 3 full body workouts a week exercise programs I have mentioned in this blog. Or you could use the following 2 workouts a week template-

Workout 1-

Jog/Skip 5 mins to warm up

2 sets of 5 light squats- barbell back squats with a shoulder width stance, going deep (or a part of the pistol squat progression, if you don't want to train with weights)

6 sets of 2 with a weight approximately equal to 85% of your max (or a similarly hard pistol squat variation)

3 sets of 3 of quarter squats with a weight 110% of your normal deep squat max.

1 set of 12 of full- ass to calves squats with a weight which is 75% of your max. Pause at the bottom always.

2 sets of 6 of Deadlifts with 80% of your max Deadlift. (Replace with bridges for bodyweight exercises)

3 sets of 4 of bench presses with 85% of your max bench. (Replace with push ups if using bodyweight)

2 sets until technical failure (technique is collapsing) of overhand shoulder width pull ups.

Any other exercises you may wish to add.

Workout 2-

Jog/Skip 5 mins to warm up

2 sets of 5 light deadlifts (or a part of the bridge progression).

6 sets of 2 with a weight approximately equal to 85% of your max (or a similarly hard bridging variation)

3 sets of 3 of deadlift lockouts off the blocks with a weight 110% of your normal deadlift max.

1 set of 12 of deadlifts with 75% of your max. Pause at the bottom always.

5 sets until technical failure of pull ups.

2 sets of 6 of back squats with 80% of your max. (Replace with pistol Squats for bodyweight exercises)

2 sets until technical failure (technique is collapsing) of bench presses with 80% of your max.

Any other exercises you may wish to add.

Follow this or any other full body routine you like. Train heavy and train hard. And don’t be worried about over training or cycling your workouts, as your body has been primed for this. Just be certain to not cross more than 15 heavy reps with any exercise (anything over 84% of Max) a workout, and don’t unnecessarily add too many light sets and lockouts.

Do not cross more than 3 full body workouts a week.

On all the other days you will do something- long distance running, interval sprints, swim, cycle, throw a discus, box, do skipping, whatever.

Stay in this phase for 12 weeks.

Then take a week off completely and see what you want to do next.

By this time you should have gained 15-18 pounds of muscle and lost a lot of fat- FOR GOOD!

Just be sincere to the program. 

The Curse of Repetition

Today on the blog, the following comment was made-

incorrectmap24 March 2013 00:19

Interesting read even for a woman, however I hate, hate to read in your article that "this chick can chin".

You even had that article about that poor raped woman in India, and you mentioned that there's no respect for women in India, and then you write this.

You could start to show some more respect for women (especially the ones who can chin, they deserve some kind of respect, yes?) by not calling them chicks. Other than that, thanks, I'll oass it on to some friends, and also thank you for the entry on briges.

To which I replied-
I am sorry about the tagline if it offended you. It never really occurred as offensive to me, and believe me I have every respect for a woman who is strong. The intention behind the photo and the tag was to demonstrate that woman are not disadvantaged in upper body strength feats, unlike many people believe. In any case I have removed the caption and I apologize. Before you make judgments about my respect for women though you should realize that you don't really know me to make that call, or at least try to understand why I may have written something before coming to conclusions, or you could simply ask me to explain politely. 
In a separate note, I hope the last two posts have helped you, I have not yet finished editing them and I still need to complete this one. 
Good luck with your training. :-)

And

Also I just realized that your primary objection was the use of the term chic. This is more of a cultural/semiotic issue as in India, the term chick is not considered an objectification, in fact it is considered empowering as is suggests an affinity with western slang, which is considered a symbol of a progressive outlook here. I actually had to read up on the meaning and implication of the term chic before I was able to write out this reply. The term is pretty freely used here in a very positive way. There are some very crude Hindi terms which have the same implications as what you are thinking, and as I read up on, I can understand why you would be offended. 
I am really sorry about it and I hope it won't effect your reading/following of the blog. I hope you will enjoy future posts.

Now after I wrote those replies, I tried to step back and look at it a little objectively.

First of all, she was actually very polite, I was just being rash.

Secondly I tried to defend way too much.

In any case, this little conversation got me thinking about the devaluing power of repetition. I spoke to my girlfriend about this and she pointed out to me that no one even in New Delhi said Chic was not objectification. I, however, spent a lot of my maturing years in a variety of places, among which the place that had the strongest influence on my development as a teenager was the North East of India.

If you have never been there or don't know about it, its an amazing place with amazing subcultures. In less than 250KMs there are over 150 tribal and regional languages and only god knows how many ethnicities. However, it has always been kind of distant from the rest of India. In any case, the North East is one of the few places in the country where I found a lot of egalitarianism as far as gender is concerned. There have been a few unfortunate incidents in the recent past, but atleast when I was there, and in the places I lived in, it was pretty good. 

In any case, I learnt a lot of my "casual" English in the North East, and along with other terms, learnt the term chic, which I have a distinct memory of being a female equivalent of "Dude". I then came to Delhi and the lingo stuck.

I now realize that we were never really told it was NOT an objectification, and if you really look into the term, its objectivity is obvious. What I find real strange is that the word, when used by me or my friends, does not seem to have any weight. In fact, we barely think anything about it. And its not just "Chick", its terms like "Shit", "Fuck" and for some weird reason among Indian basketball players "Mother Fucker". The last one is incredibly offensive to people everywhere and WE KNOW THAT. Yet when they say it, it seems weightless.

If you really think about it, its because of the devaluing effect repetition has. Remember the first time you learnt to swear? It seemed so "expressive", so aggressive. Yet within 2 months you wore the words out and now don't even feel offended when someone says anything to you, or worse don't think anyone else would get offended either.

The point is, the more you use something, anything, the more it loses its value. Cars, money, words- all of them. And at some point, you have just gotten so used to using words like "The Fuck" in sentences that you just don't remember what the big deal was, and when you say it, you don't really realize what it means, even though you do know. Its like how a messed up couple going through an inevitable breakup will repeatedly tell each other they love each other, because the word no longer has any weight. And the more they say it, the less they love each other.

At some point I guess repetition makes us forget what "Chic" means, or what goes into a lot of things.

So what lessons can we, as physical culturists , derive from the above?

Repetition makes us forget the meaning of each movement as well. You do enough chin ups, you will do them without thinking about the movement, or the muscles. That is when gains stop. Remember the first time you did squats and your thighs burnt for days? Remember how you realized that the hamstrings and the glutes are separate muscles, and how you need to clench the glutes to fire the lower back. How you need to feel the movement of the joints and the contraction of the muscles to get it right.

Do you also remember last week? You were squatting while watching milk advertisements on T.V (I don't know what you watch). And you were wondering why your gains stopped. You no longer focus on the movement because its old, you are tired of it. You don't see the weight (Excuse the pun) of the movement. With your lopsided focus and lack of attention, it has lost its value.

Many great coaches say that you must focus as hard as you do for a PR, when you warm up. That is not to say you push yourself to the wall by emotionally charging yourself up, but you must focus on the movement, as if it was heavy and you doing it wrong matters.

Unfortunately for us, the repetition is necessary to gain. But the intensity and the weight are necessary as well. The only way to avoid the bugbear of training, that eventual staleness, is to apply concentration, to give your exercises weight and meaning. And if you just can't do it, drop the exercise for a few weeks. When you come back, it will be like doing it from the start, except you will be a lot stronger, and this time around, you are going to make concentration a Habit.

So I want to thank you  incorrectmap, for teaching me two valuable lessons. Concentrate or layoff and be careful with your words. 

Grip Work!

Like the last post, this is something I have been wanting to write for a long time. Before we get down to details, I would like to first of all, justify my authority to talk about grip strength.

In India, unlike many other countries, sections of society are required to do daily manual tasks by hand. Agricultural workers, and masons work with no equipment other than shovels and sledgehammers. As a result the worker population posses incredible grip and hand strength. And I have held my own against the best of them. Among them, strength is judged by who can lift cement bags (they are of fairly universal weight) with the greatest ease. These bags are lifted to the shoulder and are incredibly awkward to grip, as the slippery surface (and the powdered cement) are very hard to hold onto. If you are a fan of sandbag lifting, you will love cement bags. They are twice as hard to lift, and being hard as rock, if they fall on your foot, you are gonna have to amputate it.

Hardcore Lifting

The normal technique for lifting the bags is what can only be described as a continental clean. The bag (which is as stiff as a rock) is rocked on one end into a standing position. Then the worker squats down next to it and rocks the weight onto his shoulders. He then squats out of the hole and is in the standing position.

The second technique is were two guys place the weight on a third guy, who then carries it all the way.

Lifting the Bag

Placing the Bag

Real men however, lift the shit off the ground like a dead-lift and then carry it in a bear hug or a clench.

Kid is Strong

A real man

The strongest however, simply lift it all the from the ground to the shoulders in one swift power clean. They then place it on their backs to carry.

Observe how just his fingers hold on to  the bag. Wish your fingers were
that tough?

I am proud to say I have cleaned that bag to my shoulder in one swift motion, on 3 separate instances. And I made some good friends each time.

I have also performed a one arm deadlift with double my bodyweight, and can perform 3 underhand chin ups using just my index fingers on each hand.

So why have I told you that elaborate tale? Because the workers are onto something.

Don't get me wrong. Living like a manual laborer will not give you a great physique or great strength. There is simply too much strain and no progressive overload and very little recovery. But as far as grip development is concerned, it is bang on! You ever shook hands with a rural guy and got a funny feeling that he could rip your head off with just his index finger and thumb?

The point is that traditional forearm exercises like wrist curls are totally useless for development of real and raw hand strength. From the story of manual laborers we can deduce the rules of grip development-

1. You have to lift a variety of objects and perform a variety of movements with them that involve the wrist. Think of using a sledge hammer, throwing an object, picking a sandbag etc. . . The primary job of the wrist is to control big movements. 
2. You have to hold on to things that you need to squeeze to prevent them from falling i.e intense isometric contraction of the fingers. This is critical, as it must be understood that the primary job of the fingers is to hold onto stuff. 
3. The forearms need a lot of volume, frequency AND weight to respond. They are a heavy duty muscle group, capable of insane power. Also they don't have a significant endocrinic effect, so they can and should be trained frequently.

From our own training wisdom, we can deduce 2 more principles-
1. Progressive overload.
2. Train the antagonists- the finger extensors in this case.

I am going to write down the basic training program and then explain my reasoning-
1. No more straps or grip supports of any kind in ALL your exercises. You will only use a standard thumbs around grip. No hooking the thumb. If you don't already do this, do this for 3-4 months at least before embarking upon the grip development program.
2. All bars are to be thickened by wrapping a towel around the barbell. You could also get one of those fat bar things, which you can clip on to the bar to increase the thickness. If you have a home gym, you could just buy a 2 inch thick barbell. You will do this for at least 2 months or as long as it takes for you to get back to using your usual weights.

For most guys, just doing the first 2 are enough to get their forearms looking like Popeye's. For the rest of you ambitious terminators-
3. You will progressively train the towel chin up progression. (Appendix A)
4. You will progressively train the fingertip push up progression. (Appendix B)
5. You will work on the close overhand chin up or the false grip chin up, depending on which is more comfortable on your wrists, and which helps you feel your wrist extensors (muscles on the top of the forearm) more. (Appendix C)
6. You will perform the opening hand exercise whenever you can. (Appendix D)

The reasoning behind the first 2 should be obvious to everybody. The simple act of removing grip support forces your fingers to hold on to the weight and your wrists to control it. Provided your routine is balanced and you try to progressively increase weight, you have a great forearm training program already. This accomplishes the same effects as manual labor, without adding any extra exercises. Once your grip has adapted to training this way, you can make it harder for the wrist to stabilize the weights and for the fingers to hold onto them, by making the leverage harder on the wrists and finger joints i.e by thickening the bar, thereby ensuring that the fingers have to be more open and the bar's center of gravity a little higher up the palm. Also the finger and wrist flexors need to contract in a more stretched condition. Also, if your routine is balanced, with things like cleans, snatches, rows, reverse curls etc. . . you will end up working the wrist extensors hard as well.

For most guys, this itself is enough to develop their grip. If this is you, great.

For the others, towel chin ups are the ultimate wrist and finger flexor exercise and they also exercise the thumbs. This exercise is really easy to make progressive as well, and therefore is the best progressive training tool available to us. Why did I chose this and not the deadlift? Adding an entire deadlift program just to strengthen your grip is too much stress and this exercise achieves more- Thumb power, wrist flexon and the strength required to control a weight with changing leverages, which is what happens when you go through the chin up motion. Like the squat, it is the biggest bang for your buck exercise in grip training. It is the bread and butter of your program.

Fingertip push ups work the finger extensors and also the finger flexors in the extended position. They are needed to balance your development, but do not need to be trained hard.

Both close grip overhand chin ups and false grip chin ups work the wrist extensors in the most natural way possible. You must judge which variation is suitable for you, as in my experience, most people can perform only one of these without pain, but everyone can perform at least one. They must be worked hard and for reps, not too progressively, as you are trying to build strength endurance, as this is the factor that prevents injuries and strength inhibition (of the antagonists).

The opening hand exercise works the finger extensors and is a vital exercise overlooked in most training programs. Being an isometric contraction, you must try to extend the length of the contraction over time. Also try to increase the contraction. This exercise prevents strength inhibition due to over worked finger flexors and weak extensors. It is critical for injury prevention and continuous improvement.

Perform all these exercises (other than opening hand- see Appendix D) in one workout 3 times a week, as a part of your regular workouts, or in separate sessions. Perform towel chins and finger tip push ups first. Do 1 set each of an easy variation as warm up. Then do 3 sets of the main (presumably the hardest one you can handle) technique of towel chin ups, then finish off with 2 sets of the main fingertip push up technique you are working on. Then do 2 sets of close or false grip chin ups, in each set trying to reach close to grip failure.

These workouts will not push your grip endurance much or your lactic acid tolerance capacity. Some of you will scoff and say you don't need it. Well, grip endurance is an essential athletic attribute and is an important part of what makes the forearm unique. However, for those of you who scoffed and those of you who did not, this attribute will be well taken care of by your regular workouts, as you are already doing them raw with an extra thick bar. Those workouts will challenge your forearm's endurance and lactic acid tolerance in a variety of movements. The special grip workouts will train the forearm's max strength. Ultimately you will be able to provide all the variety and spectrum of training successful hand strength training demands.

Also, you won't need to cycle your grip training too much as it does not have the same endocrinal demands normal training does. So its hard to burn out. Keep your forearm training fairly linear and just avoid over training and burn outs in everything else. I have already covered this is a lot of detail in many previous posts.

Now go over the Appendixes and understand the exercises. Then come back after a couple of years with the finger strength to rip a phone book in half.

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Appendix A
The Towel Chin Progression

Performing Chin ups from a towel has a lot of benefits. The fact that the base is vertical challenges thumb, finger, wrist and palm power. A towel is slick, and needs you to press really hard to maintain your hold. Plus the vertical position makes the leverage harder for the forearm muscles. During the motion of a chin up, your wrists and fingers go through considerable movement and leverages, challenging your grip and wrist strength in ways similar to sandbag and rock lifting. The advantage of doing this is that it requires no additional equipment and does not stress the endocrine system that much, allowing you to train frequently or in separate sessions, as the recovery demands are not much.
Perform each variation in good chin up form (see my post on Pull Ups). Start working on the next technique, once you can get 12 chin ups in the current technique. Start with sets of 4 and work all the way up to 12.
Never work to failure on this movement. It is a strength movement and treat it as such. Keep the reps below 12-13 per set and the intensity high. For most other muscle groups, 1-8 is strength, for the forearms, it from about 4-12.
Movement 1-
Standard Towel Chin Up
Self Explanatory. Use a normal towel, put it over a pull up bar. Grab onto each side and keep your hands even. Start chinning. You will soon realize you can't do these too fast or you will fall. Use good chin up form.

Jim from Beastskills showing us how its done

2. Double Towel Chin-
Again self explanatory, hang two towels and start chinning. The towels are thicker (it was one towel each hand, now its one doubled over towel each hand) and a bit off center, so its a good 30-40% harder.

3. Uneven Double Towel Chin-
Hang one towel on the bar and grab both ends with one hand and then both sides about 2 inches above it with the other. The thickness of the grip is the same as the last technique, but the higher hand has to carry more weight. Make sure you chin until your collar bone touches the higher palm, not the lower one. If your chinning is weak, this will kick it up a notch.
Repeat on both sides.

She is heading for her lower hand. Don't do that. 

4. Ultra Uneven Towel Chin Ups-
You have to be a strong manic to do these. Most of the weight has to go through one arm. This movement is equal to chinning with 60-70% of your bodyweight attached. If your lats can't handle it, place two fingers of the supporting hand on the bar instead. This will allow you to complete the movement, but the working arm will have to do all the gripping. If you do this, ensure that your working hand does most of the work.

5. One arm Towel Chin Up-
If you cant perform one arm chin ups, perform assisted chin ups, but with the assisting hand holding the forearm of the working hand, about 2 inches below the wrist. This is just like uneven chin ups 1.0 described in my one arm chin up article. The grip development benefits of this movement is similar to the one arm towel chin.

The ultimate grip movement

This can be made harder by doubling over the towel. You could also add towels.

By the time you get to this stage, your forearms will be capable of doing just about anything.
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Appendix B
Fingertip Push ups

This exercise works your finger extensors in the stretched position. Also, your wrist flexor needs to stabilize the weight. Its a important variation as it trains the hands in the fingers open position.
Couple of pointers on form, the fingers must be spread wide and must be straight. Only the first "knukle" of each finger should be on the ground. Perform all reps slowly.
The progression is simple and identical to the push up progression. Simply work your way up the Push Up progression (See the post on push ups)- on your fingertips. Start with fingertip kneeling push ups, then Full push ups, then uneven, than typewriter, than lever and finally the ordinary one arm fingertip pushup. There is no real point working upto the one arm fingertip regulation push up, as in terms of finger training, the ordinary one arm push up is as productive. Don't reduce fingers, as you need to train all fingers.
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Appendix C
Close Grip Overhand Chin Up/ False Grip Chin Up

Both these chin up variations work the forearm extensors hard. Use whichever movement feels more comfortable to you. I have attached a picture of the false grip, to show what it means. Basically it is assuming a grip that requires you to keep the palms facing the ground at all times. It is also a good exercise to master for muscle ups. In false grip chin ups, don't go into a deadhang as this will irritate your wrists.  Go as low as you feel comfortable. In the close grip chin up, you will find it uncomfortable to reach the top as it hurts the elbows. Most guys, in order to prevent this kind of lean back like a sternum chin up and the base of the thumbs hits their collar bones. However this movement takes away from the exercise's value as a wrist builder. Instead, as you go up raise your legs in front of you as if performing a hanging leg raise. This will allow you to ascend in a  more or less vertical line.
Both exercises must be worked for repetitions as injuries are prevented by strength endurance of muscles. As the purpose of this exercise is to prevent problems and muscle inhibition, working for reps is a better idea.

He is leaning slightly back to get the base of his
thumbs to hit his collar. Do not do this

Basically what you are looking for. See how vertical his torso is.
You don't need to do this L sit lower-abdomen pull up either,
just raise your legs up a bit and make the back of your
palms touch your collar bones. And that is Hannibal for King.

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Appendix D
The Opening Hand Exercise

This exercise is a vital but often overlooked exercise in the realm of grip development. It works the finger extensors in the bent fingers position. Simply make a claw with your right hand. Your Fingers should be bent 90 degrees and the lower part of your fingers should be in line with the hand i.e there should only be a 90 degree bend in the middle of the fingers, no bend at the knuckles. Don't hyperextend the knuckles either, just keep it at a natural angle. The thumb should be in line with the rest of the hand, not splayed out like an ordinary claw. There should also be some bend in the knuckle in the middle of the thumb. Keep your hand relaxed.
Now take your left hand and wrap it around your right hand, without changing the position of the right hand's fingers. It should be such that the base of the left thumb and fingers is touching the back of the tips of the thumb and fingers of the right hand.
Now simply try to open the fingers of the right hand against the resistance of the left hand. You won't be able to, as the left palm can't move away. This will cause an intense isometric contraction in the finger extensors of the right hand. Maintain this contraction for atleast 30 seconds. Repeat on the other hand and do totally 3 sets per hand.
Initially shoot for time, until you reach about a min long contraction. Then try to increase the intensity. This exercise can be performed anywhere and everywhere and should be performed separately so that you can focus. You won't need any warm up more than writing with a pen.
Perform this exercise 3 times a week.