Mike Arone Fitness

“Dude, I just spent 2 weeks pay on these sick supplements that give me crazy energy, blood scorching pumps, huge traps and beast-like strength!  The guy at the supplement store said it’ll probably shrink my balls, thin my hair and make want to spin-kick anything with a heartbeat…but whatever, I’ll look JACKED on the beach!”

Awesome…

Besides the fact that you now have to purchase a fanny-pack to carry all that shit in, most of those supplements (especially the ones ending in the suffix ‘ol’) will only yield temporary gains.

I’ve got a better idea.

Put the supplements aside for a minute…

Instead of two weeks pay, take two hour’s pay and buy a foam roller, a tennis ball and a jumprope.

That’s it.

Now, come take a look at three ways to smash all your personal records at the gym without blowing your paycheck…

Oh, Myofascial!

Self Myofascial Release (SMR), sounds like something you get at one of those shady spas in New Jersey, but is actually the technique of using your own body weight to break up and massage muscle tissue with a foam roller (and a tennis ball for all the tough-to-reach trigger points). By doing this you not only loosen tight muscles in the myofascial system (biological glue that holds your muscles together), but also increase blood flow to the muscle tissue and improve overall postural imbalance.  Basically, your lopsided ass will now be able to walk, move and function more efficiently.

*Gym doesn’t have foam roller or too big to fit in your bag? Try “the stick.” Its small enough to carry in a gym bag and inexpensive.

…And Stretch…

“F*#k you Mike! No way am I stretching. I will quit the gym before I stretch!”

That’s fine if you want to keep benching more than you squat, which isn’t impressive considering you bench half your bodyweight…and you weigh 120 lbs.

Secondly, please don’t stretch if you don’t mind “pulling a hammy” here and there.

To make my point-you can’t just roll out dough and then not stretch it to make pizza right? Well, by using the foam roller and tennis ball you are breaking up the muscle (dough), which will make stretching more effective.

Ever try stretching a stiff muscle?…You know what? Don’t answer that.

The point is stretching will help improve flexibility, mobility and muscle elasticity which will keep injuries and pulled muscles to a minimum. It will also increase your range of motion helping your lifts to become more effective by helping you hit targeted muscles on a larger plane. A decrease in range of motion leads to muscular imbalances and, of course, looking like a bitch because you don’t fully perform the lift.

By putting this altogether you will densify muscle tissue, contribute to overall growth and most likely increase your deadlift, which is probably equivalent to that of Paul Pfeiffer’s from The Wonder Years. (Great show. If you want to argue this fact, feel free to email me so we can have virtual fisticuffs.)

Dynamic Warm-Up

The purpose of this is to not only “get the blood going,” but to activate your central nervous system (CNS). This will insure that all of your muscle fibers are awake and can be easily recruited. By skipping a warm-up, you can be damn sure that not all of your muscle fibers are in gear, which puts you at a disadvantage-especially when trying to break records.

This will take all but 3-minutes of your time.

Here are three (there are a million) easy ways I like to warm up and activate the CNS:

Option #1

Barbell Complex for one round with 20-25% of your weight perform the following:

Deadlift

Row

Push press

Front squat

Good mornings

Push ups on bar

8 reps each exercise without putting the bar down

Followed by ?2 minutes of jumprope

Option #2

3×5 Blast push-ups with straps (if you have them) or Swiss ball push-ups

3×5 Pull-ups

3×10 Squat thrusts

*No rest between exercises; 30 seconds between sets

Option #3

3×5 Single arm over head press with kettlebell

3×5 Kettlebell swing

3×10 Jump lunge with kettlebells

*No rest between exercises; 30 seconds between sets

**No kettlebells? A dumbbell works fine.

Each of these three full-body dynamic warm-ups should do the trick. A little sweat on the brow is always a good indicator that you’re ready to push some lead around.

That’s it.

It’s that simple. Don’t overcomplicate this process.  Proper preparation for a workout can and will make the difference between breaking records and progressing…

…or getting minimum results over a long period of time and telling everyone how strong and jacked you used to be “back in the day.”

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How do YOU break records or do you just break coffee tables while reenacting WWE with your friends in the living room?

Any favorite stretches or warm-ups?

Let me know in the comments below.