Dips (chains not recommended)
Why should you include dips in your training? Because they are one of the greatest upper body muscle and strength building exercises ever created. Aside from chin-ups, dips are a best test of one’s upper body strength to body weight ratio indicators and a very functional exercise. Continue reading
Usain Bolt
When I walk into my gym I often see familiar faces walking on the treadmills or elliptical machines. When I finish my workout some of the same people are still walking on the same equipment. These people are still carrying the same body fat they had when I joined this gym two years ago. If you’ve been following the same program for months and you’re not seeing results why would you continue to follow the same exact program? Albert Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Continue reading
Arnold’s Rear & Middle Delts Stand Out in the Bicep Shot
Stand at attention! Chin up! Chest out! Shoulders back!
Even if you’ve never served in the military I’m sure you’ve heard these instructions before. But have you ever considered the reasoning behind them? The reason is to project a strong image of pride and confidence. We all want to project that image, right? Well then why is every other person in the gym walking around with their shoulders rolled forward hiding their chest and their head leading the way? Continue reading
The tricep of Lee Priest with Tom Platz yelling
Skull Crushers and Beyond
There’s never been an exercise with a cooler name than the “Skull Crusher.” You should perform them just for that reason alone but they’re also one of the best exercises for building massive triceps. This exercise is also known as the “Lying Tricep Extension” but why would you call it that when you can sound like a Viking and proclaim that it is your right to crush skulls? If you haven’t guessed already, the skull crusher is one of my favorite tricep builders and I generally team it up with a strange finishing move that I’ll explain later. Continue reading
Team Cops Paddle for Miles in a Barrel Raft
My name is Jim Vaglica. I’m a full time Police Patrol Sergeant in Waltham, Massachusetts and I’m on call 24/7 with a regional SWAT team. I was captain of Team Cops on Mark Burnett’s Expedition Impossible, which aired on ABC during the summer of 2011. Continue reading
Dumbbell Extensions – Ronnie Coleman
My experiment with Triple Add Sets
My friend Hugo Rivera told me about an intensity technique called the Triple Add Set. It was developed by his friend Nick Nilsson. I was intrigued so I decided to give it a try. It’s basically the opposite of a Triple Drop Set, which I’ve used for years as one of my favorite intensity techniques.
Here’s the theory behind Nilsson’s Triple Add Set. You start with your lightest weight for a high rep set of 20 – 30 reps. This set is intended to fatigue the type 1 muscle fibers designed for endurance. For your second set you’ll add weight for a set of 6-8 reps. This set hits the type 2A fibers built for heavy loads. Finally you’ll grab yet more weight and grind out 1-3 reps to hit your type 2B muscle fibers made for very heavy loads. This is all one giant set and it should take you about 10 seconds for each weight change. Continue reading
Biceps: Two heads are better than one
Have you ever seen a guy with biceps that look impressive from the side with a great peak but then all the size vanishes when viewed from the front? Conversely, have you seen biceps that, when viewed from the front, appear thick & meaty and hang from the inside of the arm as if they were sliding off but viewed from the side appear flat with no shape? Apparently one of the bicep heads has developed while its brother has lagged behind. Continue reading
‘Team Cops’ Expedition Impossible
Was I Prepared for a Reality TV Adventure Race?
“You’ve been chosen to compete in a month long adventure race. This will be a multi million dollar Mark Burnett production to be aired on ABC. Here’s a list of things you’ll need to get done before you leave for an unknown location in 7 weeks. Make sure you train really hard because this expedition is going to be incredibly difficult. Also, your involvement in this show is top secret so you can’t tell anyone anything about it.”
That was basically the speech we got in L.A. in January of 2011. Continue reading
Jim demonstrates some of the most common Most Common Bench Press Mistakes and how to correct them. Jim talks about grip, hand placement,Stabilizing the wrists, foot placement, body contact on the bench,rate of descent and how to explode off the chest.
Most Common Bench Press Mistakes
As soon as I walk into any gym I start critiquing every lifter. I can’t help myself. “Those are some great half reps buddy” or “lady, if those dumbbells were any lighter they’d float away.” Sometimes “pal, I have no idea what the Christ you’re trying to do.” Obviously I don’t say these things out loud or I’d spend more time fighting than lifting. One of my “unwritten gym rules” is I never give unsolicited advice. Sometimes this rule tortures me especially when I see common mistakes with the bench press.
The team after another successful meet
six pack abs
So you’ve done more leg lifts than a toll gate and you’ve spent more time in a Roman Chair than Julius Caesar but that coveted six pack is nowhere to be found.
Before you read any further let me warn you: By the time you finish this article you’ll hope that a lot of the information is incorrect because you’ll soon realize how much of your time and effort, over the years, has been wasted. So stop reading this if “You can’t handle the truth.”
One Lifters experience with Active release Techniques
Working out and lifting weights has been a huge part of my life forever so I’ve had my fare share of aches and pains. I developed a shoulder problem about 15 years ago, back in the “How much do you bench?” days. The shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in the body and therefore, inherently prone to injury. I attribute most of the damage to my practice of including heavy ‘Behind the Head Military Presses’ but deep weighted dips and, of course, my beloved ‘Barbell Bench’ didn’t help my shoulders either. At one point the pain was so bad I had to shampoo my head with just my left hand. I went the normal route of treatments that included anti inflammatories, ice packs, physical therapy and cortisone shots but it finally came down to surgery for Shoulder impingement syndrome. After more of the previous treatments I was back to heavy benching but I was smart enough to drop the Behind the Head Militaries. My shoulder was good enough to carry me through about ten bench press contests in the following three years. Continue reading
Team Cops Expedition Impossible
Three Waltham Police officers were prime-time material last summer.
Sergeant Jim Vaglica, a Billerica resident, Lt. Robert Robillard from Concord, and Officer Dani Henderson, a resident of Marlborough, comprise the team known simply as “The Cops” on the ABC reality show “Expedition Impossible,” which debuted on Thursday, June 23. Continue reading
Why you have no Abs by Jim Vaglica
So you’ve done more leg lifts than a toll gate and you’ve spent more time in a Roman Chair than Julius Caesar but that coveted six pack is nowhere to be found.
Before you read any further let me warn you: By the time you finish this article you’ll hope that a lot of the information is incorrect because you’ll soon realize how much of your time and effort, over the years, has been wasted. So stop reading this if “You can’t handle the truth.” Continue reading
Question #1: What muscle group can be seen more often than any other?
Answer: Forearms
Question #2: What’s the most functional strength you can possess?
Answer: Grip Strength
Weightlifters and powerlifters have always known they could never pull a heavy bar off the floor without a vice like grip. Strongman competitors know the importance of a monstrous grip for many of their events. MMA fighters, wrestlers and grapplers need to sustain a strong grip in order to maintain control over their opponents. Other than the aforementioned groups few guys do any direct forearm exercises and if they do, they’re thrown in, as an afterthought, at the end of a workout. Continue reading
Anyone can shoot at a fixed target. But what happens when you introduce real physical stress. Stuff like an elevated heart rate, adrenaline dump or tunnel vision. Studies have shown that when physical stress is introduced in a shooting situation – accuracy declines dramatically. Functional range training prepares you for real life high stress shooting situation.
John placing the Atlas Stones
Jim’s Q & A with Strongman John Sullivan
John Sullivan is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, a USA Weightlifting Level 1 Coach and a national level strongman competitor. He’s trained professional fighters and Olympic athletes. Formerly the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator for Tapout Gym in Boston, he now trains clients at www.theweightroomma.com in Newton, MA. John has become a good friend and he’s helped me train for SWAT competitions and my grueling adventure on Expedition Impossible. I recently fired off some interesting questions and these are his responses:
What is currently the worst trend in fitness?
I think people, both trainers and trainees, too often sacrifice quality for quantity. Of course, working hard is a prerequisite to making progress, but people too often view exhaustion as the goal of a training session, rather than providing the proper training stimulus to make gains without risking injury due to excessive fatigue. Work hard, but don’t forget to work smart. Continue reading
