===========
What’s New
===========

Hello Members of the Court. A lot of you want to take a look inside the King’s Castle in order to get the inside skinny. Well today you’re in luck. I’m going to provide you an inside look into one of the training sessions that I had with my client recently.

His name is Taraje Williams-Murray and he’s a 2004 Olympian in Judo, a 2-Time World Judo Team Member and in 2005 he was one of the top 10 judo players in the world in his weight class.

Currently, he and I are making a new DVD about training and the life of an Olympic athlete but instead of keeping everything to ourselves, we figured, “Why not show you all some things that you can add to your training in order to improve yourselves or your athletes?”

So that’s what we going to do today.

What you will see in this video is Rhadi Ferguson’s Hybrid Training System where I blend functional training and sports specific training in one workout. This training session is a session that deals primarily with the area of grip fighting for judo and upper body metabolic conditioning.  It’s a great workout and you can change it up for Greco-Roman Wrestler and perform the same protocol.

Please enjoy and look out for our new DVD which will be released later on this year. Take care.

Your Humble Servant,

Rhadi Ferguson, CSCS (a.k.a. “The Strength and Conditioning King”)

–> To Watch How Olympians Train Go Here <--

————————————
The Strength and Conditioning King:
Rhadi Ferguson, M.A.T., CSCS
————————————

The King’s Court Vol 1 Issue 9
=============
In This Issue
=============

- Note from The Strength and
Conditioning King

- Feature Article:
Follow This Protocol for 6 weeks
and Gain Size and Strength in Your Legs

- Ask The Strength and Conditioning King:

Dear King:

“What can I do in order to increase
my speed in wrestling. Should I do
more plyometrics and sprints or what?
Please help. I’m 16 and I really want
to win next year. I know that wrestling
during the summer is very important
and I want to really have a great
season next year.”

- Paul

- What’s New With The Strength and
Conditioning King:

Inside the Training Camp of 2004
Olympian Taraje Williams-Murray

Please add “thestrengthking@aweber.com“
to your whitelist or address book in
your e-mail program, so that you have
no trouble receiving future issues.

****************************
Note from The Strength and
Conditioning King
****************************

Welcome Members of the Kingdom!

Welcome to Your New Ezine called The
King’s Court

Greetings Members of the Court. I am
Super Excited to tell you all about
the brand new project that I have
going on. 

After the 2007 National Judo
Championships one of my clients
Taraje Williams-Murray ended up
qualifying for and making the 2007
World Championship Team.

Currently Taraje is at my home and
we are running a 10 day intensive
training camp to prepare him for his
upcoming tournaments this year.

He will compete in Italy in about
3 weeks and then the Pan American
Games and the World Championships.

Taraje will use the Italy tournament
as a “train-through” tournament.
Meaning, he’s not peaking for that
tournament, but going to get some
matches in and attend the camp.

I still believe that he’ll do well
and come home with a medal, but I
do know that his body will be super
tired. We’ve scheduled some rest
for him after that.

The exciting news is two fold.

One, you can follow Taraje’s training
by going to his blog –> http://www.taraje.com/

and we are currently taping and
recording his training sessions
and we will release them later on
this year so that you can see
some of Taraje’s bona fide workouts.

Just so that you have a frame of
reference of how tough these
workouts are here’s the first
exercise that Taraje did on Monday.

5 sets (non-stop) of

24 Squats
24 Lunges (12 on each leg)
24 Split Squat Jumps (12 on each leg)
12 Squat Jumps

All with a 20 pound vest on.

He finished the 5 sets in under 8 minutes
well, really in 7:30.

If you would like to follow some of
the training just go to these two
websites

Taraje’s website 

www.taraje.com

The Judo Crusader’s website

www.thejudocrusader.com

y this weeks King’s
Court Newsletter. And make sure to stop
by http://www.thestrengthandconditioningking.com 
To post and to provide input.
Your humble servant,

Rhadi Ferguson (aka The Strength and Conditioning King)
info@rhadi.com

—————————–

Feature Article:

Follow This Protocol for 6 weeks
and Gain Size and Strength in
Your Legs: Here how you put on
some size, the cheap and easy way.

I found a cool and inexpensive
way to put some size on your
legs without using weights.

I actually have a way that I’ve
used and seen work for several
clients where I marry high
instensity training with functional
training.

Now, you will need a spotter to
perform this exercise and someone
to provide you with some extrinsic
motivation so that you can go as
hard as possible.

Here’s what to do.

Perform the single leg squat
2 times to failure. 

Stand on one leg and put the other
leg out in front of you and squat.
As you fatigue have your buddy aid
you by spotting you from behind as
if you were performing a standard
barbell squat.

Go BEYOND AND PAST the point at
which you feel you are able. 

Rest for about 2 minutes and then
repeat on same leg.  

Do this only 2 times a week for 4-6
weeks.

You will see MASSIVE strength gains
in your legs.

If you can go all the way down on
the squats. Don’t worry, go as
far as you can and have someone
spot you so you can get the maximum
out of the training protocol.
Take care and thanks for reading.

Your Humble Servant,

Rhadi Ferguson (aka “The Strength and Conditioning King”)

——————————–
Ask The Strength and Conditioning King:

Dear King:

“What can I do in order to increase
my speed in wrestling. Should I do
more plyometrics and sprints or what?
Please help. I’m 16 and I really want
to win next year. I know that wrestling
during the summer is very important
and I want to really have a great
season next year.”

- Paul
Dear Distinguished Members of
the Court:

First of all Paul, thanks for your
question and I’m going to give you
a quality answer, but probably not
the one you or most of you reading
would expect.

Paul, my suggestion is for you to
get better a wrestling over the
summer. I’ve watched many of the
wrestlers train at the Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs
and I can tell you one thing that
is clearly and was clearly evident.

Quickness in wrestling is sometimes
a “slight of hand” issue. Where people
actually look and appear quicker than
they really are because they have
super sound technique.

Remember, proficiency is one of the
major keys to efficiency. And efficient
movement will always “see” quicker
than inefficient movement.

Sometimes its not about have a faster
shot, it about creating a better
setup and a better opening.

So, my advice for you is to attend
a wrestling camp during the summer.
Continue to run, train, lift. If you
need some direction, grab a hold of
The Backyard Workout –> http://www.thebackyardworkout.net
and keep training.

*** Proficiency and Efficiency are the keys for you ***

By being efficient, you will seem quicker
you will get less tired and you will
inevitably win more matches.

Now I bet many of you didn’t expect
for The Strength and Conditioning King
to provide some advice that really
didn’t have much to do with Strength
and Conditioning, but my job is to
be honest with you.

Sometimes, especially at Paul’s age,
the answer is not in jumping up under
a bunch of weight. 

There are social issues of developing
friends and working out with others
that need to be developed. And during
this time of his life, I really think
that his concentration should be on
wrestling.

It is during this time that he is laying
down the foundation for his wrestling
career if he wishes to pursue it.

That doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t
train, lift, run or do resistant
exercise. It just means that wrestling
should be his main focus.

Take care and thanks for reading.

Your Humble Servant,

Rhadi Ferguson, CSCS (a.k.a. “The Strength and Conditioning King”)

—————————————————-
What’s New With The Strength and
Conditioning King?
- People all over the world have been
slim and trim with The Backyard Workout.
If you are looking to get in some great
shape and drop a few around the midsection
I would definitely recommend that you
try out the Backyard Workout.

http://www.thebackyardworkout.net

- You can follow Taraje’s training
for the 2007 World Judo Championships
and the 2008 Olympics at these two
blogs –>

http://www.taraje.com

http://www.thejudocrusader

- The New DVD and Book Maximum Dumbbell
Training should be here very soon.
As a matter of fact, as you are reading
this I’m waiting for the first copy of
the DVD to be sent to me so that I may
edit it.
 
- Thanks for sending all the emails and
the testimonials, keep ‘em coming.

- To send a testimonial about The King’s
Court Ezine go here

–> http://tinyurl.com/3xdx7d  <--

- I now have a MYSPACE page. You can
check it out at www.myspace.com/rhadi

- Also my family’s new blog is up
at http://www.rhadiandtraci.com
(for the mushy folks) I absolutely
LOVE my wife and son!

==============
IMPORTANT!!
==============

- Before you close this page,
you need to do five things:

1. Click here
2. You can type one of two things in the text area using no more
  than 2-4 sentences:
    a. Tell me what your biggest training problem is right now.
    b. Type how you’ve benefited from the emails and weekly ezine.
3. Click the “send” button
4. Do it right now!
5. Tell every jester you know to join The King’s Court
and to become a Strength and Conditioning King!

Make sure that whatever you send is ok for me to use publicly so
that I don’t have to send out email asking permission.  And, as
always, thanks again for your support!

——————————————-

© Copyright (c) 2007 Ferguson Marketing Systems. All Rights
Reserved.

=======
Intro
=======

Greetings Members of the Court:

First I would like to say that I BELIEVE in using various methods of training. I do not subscribe to ONE method but I use the appropriate method at the appropriate time per the individual I am training or the response or result that I’m trying to elicit.

With that being said…. today’s topic is High Intensity Training. Now we are talking about High Intensity Training in the philosophical sense. We are not talking about free weight or machines. That is a DIFFERENT TOPIC. What we are addressing here it High Intensity Training.

So please enjoy the post and as always if you have any questions or if there’s anything that you want me to address in the future, please feel free to email me at info@rhadi.com

Your humble Serverant,

Rhadi Ferguson (a.k.a “The Strength and Conditioning King”) 

=============
Today’s Article
=============

The Benefits and Caveats of High Intensity Training…

When it comes to high intensity training, everyone wants to know the pros and cons. Does it work? How does it work? Who benefits the most?

High Intensity Training (which we’ll shorten to H.I.T. from here on out) is a training system that relies on maximizing your workout by demanding your muscles to work very hard over a shorter time period. It’s further compounded by giving you very little time for recovery between sets and reps.

H.I.T. success hinges on learning to properly overload the muscles, which then stimulates the body to crank up the size of the muscle. The ideal end result? Muscles which are stronger, larger and more efficient.

Proponents of H.I.T. include Matt Brzycki (the strength coach of Princeton), Ellington Darden, Ph.D. (who pretty much wrote the “Bible” of H.I.T.), famous former bodybuilder Mike Mentzer and Ken Mannie - the strength coach at Michigan State.

However, this brief summary on what H.I.T. is doesn’t answer the biggest question weighing on the minds of coaches and athletes interested in high intensity training: Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

To answer this and other pressing questions in the high intensity training debate, we’ll turn to a Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research article from 2000, “Impaired Performance with Excessive High Intensity Free Weight Training” (Fry, Webber, Weiss, Fry and Li).

The goal of this published study was to determine whether or not three weeks of high relative intensity free-weight resistance training (the program employed parallel barbell squats) could result in overtraining. Their secondary objective was also of interest to coaches – finding out what (if any) types of performance would be affected.

All of the study’s participants had already been involved in regular resistance training, with resistance training experience ranging from a minimum of two years to a maximum of twelve. Each individual served as their own control. They were given a pre-test, as well as five more tests. Normal training was indicated in the pretest and first test; tests one through four showed the results of high intensity training (H.I.T.), while the results of tests four and the post-test showed the recovery results.

First Things First…
Before we can just dive into the results of the study and how they apply to your coaching, there are a few bases that we need covered.

One of the main reasons that a study of this nature was necessary stems from the fact that the line between over-reaching and over-training isn’t always clear. This is because over-reaching actually IS overtraining; it’s just pursued as a short-term solution, not a regular thing.

Over-reaching, on the other hand, is purposefully overtraining as a short-term solution, one that you can readily recover from. You do this by planning increases in your volume and/or the intensity. Over reaching, which includes H.I.T., results in temporary performance handicaps but offers subsequent improved performance over the long run.

When training of this nature is employed, there are two possible outcomes: either the athlete’s system adapts to accommodate the stress OR the system deteriorates to a full-blown case of over-training.

Once the balance swings to overtraining, decreases in performance are no longer short-term or temporary. Instead of a few days, athletes face several weeks, possibly even months, of limited performance out-puts.

Now, let’s summarize the results of the study…

Study Results…
 In the study in question, long-term debilitating over-training did not occur, although other performance areas did notice some decreases.

 During the H.I.T. portions of the testing, participants went through high intensity exercises 3 days a week, versus twice a week during their regular training.

 This study varied from related studies because instead of using resistance machines, their participants worked with free-weights. Thanks to this variable, this study was able to support the theory that free-weight training at high intensities is markedly harder for an athlete than training with machines. Their tolerance is lower most likely because their body had higher demands and a greater need for balance and control using free-weights versus machines.

 Even though this regiment didn’t result in full blown overtraining, the H.I.T. impact was still noticeable. It showed up mainly as a strength “plateau” and a diminished sprinting performance. Otherwise, negative impacts were negligible and in at least one area (non-counter-movement vertical jump height) actually saw an improvement from the H.I.T.

What About the Real World?
While it’s easy to see how H.I.T. can work out in a controlled, scientific environment, how does it play out in the real world?

According to Darden, one of H.I.T.’s “founding fathers”, there are certain principles that need to be followed:

• Every different set of exercises should only be done once during a training session, and should take you to the point of momentary muscular failure (the ideal range is 8-12 reps)

• You should never train more than 3 times each week and should get a minimum of 48 hours of rest in between sessions

• Repetitions should be slowed down, most especially the negatives

• You shouldn’t cover more than 12 different exercises in any given training session

• For best results, you should move from one exercise to the next without resting

• And, it’s better to work the full body in each workout, instead of breaking it into upper or lower body splits, etc.

At a glance, following these principles seems easy enough. But, head to the gym and try them out and you’ll soon notice some real obstacles.

First of all, in order to safely engage in a H.I.T. regiment, you NEED a spotter. Not only will they keep you safe at the point of muscle failure, but they can also enable you to work your negatives even after your lifting capacity has dwindled away.

Secondly, crowded gyms make it difficult (damn near impossible) to work through all of the exercises in a session without taking a break. There are other athletes working out, and there’s no way that you can insure that you won’t have to wait 5, 10 or even fifteen minutes to get to the equipment that you need.

If you’ll be coaching your athletes in a one-on-one situation or in an environment where you control the scheduling, you should have no trouble getting the most out of H.I.T.
 
Otherwise, though, you may soon find that the obstacles and possible pit falls of H.I.T. mandate that you modify your game plan, perhaps settling for a “safer” approach, such as high intensity interval training…

===========
What’s Coming?
===========

My newest project, The Backyard Workout is completed and right now I’m in the final stages of completion for my new product. Maximum Dumbbell Training.  I know you’re gonna love this DVD set when it is finished.

If you haven’t gotten  your hands on the The Backyard Workout as of yet, please do so right now. Click here –> The Backyard Workout to get yours today!!

Thanks for reading.

Take care.

Humbly,

Rhadi Ferguson (a.k.a. “The Strength and Conditioning King”)

————————————
The Strength and Conditioning King:
Rhadi Ferguson, M.A.T., CSCS
————————————

The King’s Court Vol 1 Issue 6

=============In This IssueDigg This Issue

=============

- Note from The Strength and
Conditioning King

- Note from The Strength andConditioning King- Feature Article: The Next “BIG” Thing Athletes May Turn To Next….. Myostatin Removal

- Ask The Strength and Conditioning King:

Dear King:

I’m 44 years old and I just cannot seem to get the
definition that I had when I was younger. I run, I
lift and I just can’t seem to get cut up like I
was when I was wrestling in college.”

Stan “The Old Guy”

- What’s New With The Strength and Conditioning
King: I need your help. So I can service you better.

Please add “thestrengthking@aweber.com” to your
whitelist or address book in your e-mail
program, so that you have no trouble receiving
future issues.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

**********************
Note from The Strength
and Conditioning King
**********************

Recently I had the opportunity to take the Public
Transportation system in Washington, DC and I
was absolutely amazed at the amount of enormous
people on the subway.

Many people really, just could not sit down because
either 1) They were too big or 2) The person sitting
down was too big. It was absolutely disgusting.

Now don’t get me wrong, I AM NOT SAYING THAT
THE PEOPLE are disgusting. What I’m saying is that the
state of America’s lack of discipline and knowledge when
it comes to food consumption is disgusting. 

It hurts me to see people who I know aren’t happy with
the hand that they’ve been dealt. Whether it’s their fault
or not is NOT the issue. The issue is - they need help and
someone has to help them. And I’ve chosen a way of life
and my wife has chosen a way of life such that we believe
and want to be “THE GO TO GUY” for your fitness and health
and wellness needs. 

Please do yourself a favor and do these things:

1. Purchase a notebook

2. Write down what you eat everyday for two weeks

3. See what you absolutely need and what you absolutely
DO NOT NEED and be honest

4. Now decipher which foods are good for you and which
ones are bad. Don’t worry about counting calories. YOU
KNOW what foods are GOOD for you and which ones aren’t.

5. Remove half of the foods which are bad from you and
make a hardline decision to not eat those for the next two
weeks!!

6. Write your current weight down

7. Start back at number two and this time make a
concerted effort to do the right thing.

8. “Rinse and Repeat”, but this time add 20 minutes
of walking and/or running 3 to 4 times a week.

That’s it. Keep a log of your weight and you’ll be amazed
of how well that will work.

If you want to cut all of that work out, you can get
The Backyard Workout, where my wife and I have the
world’s easiest diet and where we have already listed
the FOODS that you absolutely should not put in your
mouth!! –> http://www.thebackyardworkout.net/

Good luck.

Your humble servant,

Rhadi Ferguson (aka The Strength and Conditioning King) 

 + + + + + + + + + +

———————–
Feature Article:
———————–

The Next “BIG” Thing Athletes May
Turn To Next….. Myostatin Removal

If you’ve ever worked with an athlete that struggled
to up their muscle mass – using a controlled diets and
nearly obsessive strength training regiments – all to no
avail, the culprit may be a growth differentiation factor
known as Myostatin.

This factor, Myostatin, was first discovered 10 years
ago, in 1997 by two geneticists, McPherron and Lee,
who worked with a team from Johns Hopkins University.

Their studies were prompted by an apparent “anomaly”
that commercial livestock breeders had been cashing in
on since that later end of the 19th century.

You see, centuries ago, European cattle breeders noticed
that some members of their herd were markedly more
muscled than the others. By dabbling in early “genetic
engineering”, they made it a point to breed the larger
members of the herd to continually produce larger, more
muscled calves.

Thanks to their early efforts, two breed of cattle, the
Belgian Blue and the Piedmontese, that were significantly
higher in muscle mass than other traditional breeds.

McPherron and Lee, decades later, wanted to know what
was different between these two breeds and others. During
their research and testing, they uncovered a gene which they
named Myostatin (the patent is owned by Johns Hopkins.)

What their results showed was that Myostatin apparently
inhibits the growth of skeletal muscles. As McPherron and
Lee continued their genetic search, they discovered an
independent mutation of the Myostatin genes of the two
double-muscled breeds that weren’t apparent in any of the
other sixteen purebred cattle breeds.

The Belgian Blue variety had a total deletion of the Myostatin
gene – rending it totally inactive.

The Piedmontese, on the other hand, contained the Myostatin
gene, but pert of the coding sequence contains what is known
as missense mutation. This means that, unlike other Myostatin
carriers, a certain portion of the sequence is encoded for a
different amino acid, one that is believed to depress or totally
debilitated the normal Myostatin function.

But what does that have to do with us?

A whole lot more than you might imagine!

In order to see how Myostatin biologically influences the skeletal
muscles, McPherron and the rest of the team disrupted the
Myostatin protein’s genes in rates. The result was a group
of rats that now had genes that could no longer produce Myostatin.

All of the offspring of these rats fell into one of three categories:

1. Homozygous for both mutated genes. This means that they
carried both of the mutated genes.

2. Homozygous for both “wild-type” genes, which means that
both of their genes were normal – not mutated.

3. Heterozygous, meaning they carried one normal gene and
one mutated one.

The main difference?  The resulting muscle mass! Other than
that, they were apparently healthy and normal. They all grew
to adulthood, and were still able to breed, despite the manipulations.

But, the breeds bearing both of the mutated genes were what
researcher Lee said “look like Schwarzenegger mice.”

It only seems natural that athletes and body-builders would
wait in mile-long lines to have their Myostatin removed, or at
least blocked – right?

Well, not so fast…

Right now, the jury is out as to whether Myostatin mutation
had any real impact on human muscle mass.

Probably the biggest stir was caused when a younger German
child was born to an athletic mother with one natural mutation.

The boy, on the other hand, bore both of them, and he’s got
the muscle mass (and strength) to prove it. Before he was even
five years old, he was able to extend two seven pound weights
(one in each hand) horizontally, and held it in perfect form!

But his mutation was a natural occurrence. He wasn’t engineered,
manipulated or “changed” in any way. He was just born like that.

And, the cows and rats that had such monumental results were
only brought to that point by careful breeding and genetic
engineering and manipulation.

There’s no single pill or injection that can take on this type of 
It’s a careful process, and one that the results won’t be fully
realized until two or three generations down the road.
So, as sad as it is to admit, at the moment, there’s no real
way that you or your athletes can inhibit your current Myostatin
levels – it’s just something you’re born with.

And long before the capabilities will be tested an approved for
use by athletes, the major focus of the ability to block Myostatin
will be focused on people with muscle degeneration, such as
muscular dystrophy or HIV related muscle wasting disease.

However, looking at how much we’ve been able to uncover in
the last ten years alone, the sky seems to be the only limit as
to what they’ll turn up next. So, while right now it’s simply not
possible to truly block or remove your Myostatin (don’t believe
the claims those supplement sellers are pushing – they hold very
little weight in the lab) who knows what may be possible five or
ten or even fifteen years from now?

Humbly and respectfully,

Rhadi Ferguson, CSCS (a.k.a. “The Strength and Conditioning King”)

——————————————-
- Ask The Strength and Conditioning King:

==========================
Question From Stan:
==========================
Dear King:

I’m 44 years old and I just cannot seem to get the
definition that I had when I was younger. I run, I
lift and I just can’t seem to get cut up like I
was when I was wrestling in college.”

Stan “The Old Guy”
==============================
Answer From The Strength And
Conditioning King:
==============================

First of all Stan, let me commend me you for working

Hey “Stan The Man” what you’re experiencing is normal.
And to be quite honest in some cases, expected. 
Naturally as you increase in age, your testosterone
levels will slightly decline. This happens with ageing.

There are various doctors in the country who prescribe
things such as Human Growth Hormone and testosterone
cream for individuals who are increasing in age. The King
does not recommend the use of such drug by individuals
in sport but the King does recommend that you and the
others reading this, should see your physician regularly
and follow the advice and recommendation.

Another thing Sir Stan is that don’t abandon the Squat,
the Leg Press and the Deadlift if you want to keep
your testosterone levels high. Working out the
large muscle groups in the legs have been show to raise
and elevate testoterone

Also, Stan, research has shown that tertosterone levels
actually increase if you workout around attractive women.
It’s true, I’m not making this stuff up!!

According to a study performed by James R. Roney, Stephen
V. Mahler, and Dario Maestripieri when men have short
encounters with attractive women, their hormone levels elevate.

Stan you can also take suppluments such as Tribulus
terrestris which have been shown to boost testosterone levels.

I hope that helps bro.!

Take care.

Your Humble Servant,

Rhadi Ferguson (aka The Strength and Conditioning King)
—————————————

- What’s New With The Strength and Conditioning
King:

The Backyard Workout Is Here!!!
http://www.thebackyardworkout.net/

In The Backyard Workout I’m
gonna give you some Strength
and Conditioning secrets so
powerful, they will Take Your
Fitness Level From Zero to Sixty
in no-time flat… and you’ll Experience
a Whole New Level of Explosive Power,
Strength, Lean Muscle Gain and
FAT LOSS - With Dramatic Results

I’m super excited about my new release,
The Backyard Workout. I’ve been working
on product after product and getting stuff
out as fast as possible to make sure
that you all have the tools and resources
that you need to train yourself and/or
your clients.

And I’m happy to say that this resource
is one of the best yet. I co-produced
this book with my lovely wife Dr. Traci
Ferguson and we are very happy to have
finished this product together.

Keep checking http://www.rhadi.com/ and the
blog for updated information.

And make sure you check out my wife’s
blog at –> http://www.thehealthandwellnessqueen.com/
for great information on health and
wellness from a “real” doctor. 

Also if you haven’t done so, please
make sure you stop by my family blog at
http://www.rhadiandtraci.com/ where you can
get an “insiders view” in the life and times
of the Ferguson Family.

that’s about it. Just make sure you
visit

The Following:

http://www.thejudocrusader.com/

http://www.coachferguson.com/

http://www.thehealthandwellnessqueen.com/

 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

———————————————-
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testimonials, keep ‘em coming.

- To send a testimonial about The King’s Court Ezine
go here http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?32PGbe_Qovi__J0hffN8FA

My Family blog is up at
http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?nVydA_Qvu66NavWRNcfkLQ
(for the mushy folks) I absolutely LOVE my wife and son!

- Before you close this message,
you need to do five things:

1. Click http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?32PGbe_Qovi__J0hffN8FA 
and please leave a nice testimonai
2. You can type one of two things in
the text area using no more
than 2-4 sentences:

    a. Tell me what your biggest training problem is right now.
    b. Type how you’ve benefitted from the emails and weekly ezine.

3. Click the “send” button
4. Do it right now!
5. Tell every jester you know to join The King’s Court
and to become a Strength and Conditioning King!

Tell ALL of your friends to get their free Ebooks and
audio files at http://www.thekingofstrengthandconditioning.com/

Make sure that whatever you send is ok
for me to use publicly so that I don’t
have to send out email asking permission. 
And, as always, thanks again for your support!

—————————————–

© Copyright (c) 2007 Ferguson Marketing Systems. All Rights
Reserved.
 

If you can’t get ready for your clients or today’s workout after watching this, then you don’t have a heart!!! 

 

 

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Featured Article
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Does Power Lifting Actually Increase Power?
 

While the very term itself, “Power Lifting”, leads you to believe that power lifting actually increases your power, the reality is quite a bit different…
 
While this may prove to be the case for an average, sedentary person living the couch-potato existence, those same rules DON’T apply to athletes that already engage in regular resistance training.

So, the question here isn’t actually “Does Power Lifting Actually Increase Power”, instead the focus will be “Does Power Lifting Actually Increase Power Better than Olympic Lifting?”

And the answer to that question is a solid, resounding “No!”

According to multiple research studies and medical journals, power lifting increases strength – not power (and as you’ll soon see, it may not even be as effective at that as we once thought…)

A lot of the confusion stems from the common misconceptions related to maximal power versus explosive strength. Strength and power are related to one another, but their definitions are QUITE different.

Strength is maximal force production. High power output, on the other hand, is characterized by a combination of quick muscular action and high movement velocities.
 
Power Lifting Vs. Olympic Lifting

Power lifters focus the vast majority of their training on maximal force production using slow velocity lifts. The initial movements are explosive in nature. However, the ensuing movements HAVE to be slower, thanks to the weight of the load and the manner in which the lifts are accomplished.

Olympic lifters, however, not only use standard resistance training techniques (which employ heavy loads and slow velocity movements) but also explosive lifts, like the snatch or the clean and jerk, while they train.

Both of these lifts (the snatch and clean and jerk) allow the lifter to manipulate heavy loads while simultaneously working at a higher velocity.

This marriage of heavy loads and high velocity is what results in the production of high power outputs.

More Strength, More Power…

You might be surprised to learn that upon comparison, power lifters have proven to be LESS powerful and not as strong as Olympic lifters. These results are based on two factors:

Strength-to-body weight ratios, and The time to peak isometric force production.

In just a one year training period, Olympic lifters improved both their rate of force development AND maximal force production.

It is thanks to these findings that leading researchers can safely stand upon the claims that the training undergone by Olympic lifters is effective both in increasing muscular strength AND power – all at the same time.

According to the article, “A Comparison of Strength and Power Characteristics Between Power Lifters, Olympic Lifters and Sprinters” (published in Volume 13, No. 1 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research) the power lifting group was found to be on par with the Olympic lifters and Sprinters when it came to strength. However, when it came to the tests for power and explosive performance, they scored SIGNIFICANTLY lower.

These results included:

Lower peak power outputs

Lower peak velocities and

Decreased jump heights.

In some instances, the power lifting group performed even worse than the control group – a collection of ordinary, non-athletic individuals.
 

The Olympic lifters were found to match the power lifters in strength, surpass the strength of both the sprinters and control group AND proved to be the MOST powerful of all the groups studied.
 

All in all, the Olympic lifters produced: 

Higher peak velocities

Higher peak forces

Higher peak power outputs AND

Higher jump heights

…when compared to power lifters.
 
So, if you’re looking for ways to increase your power, you definitely don’t need to trade in your Olympic training in exchange for Power Lifting! Olympic lifting far outperforms power lifting, in just about any category you care to compare!
 

Your Humble Servant,

Rhadi Ferguson (a.k.a. “The Strength and Conditioning King”)

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What’s New With “The Strength and Conditioning King?
================================================

Well, the most exciting thing to date is the release of my new product - The Backyard Workout.

Well, it’s not really my program its, our program. My wife, Dr. Traci Ferguson and I, created it together.

What we did was look at all of the necessary parts that make up a successful program and what we found out was that there are some very key components that have to be in place in order to ensure and guarantee success in a workout program. We identified those things as:

- Sound advice and solid instruction
- Quality Information that also educates you
- A “toolbox” of resources that will allow you eliminate hurdles and pitfalls so that you can be successful
- A fool-proof diet - because no exercise program can truly work without one
- A clear example and a guiding light so that you know what to do, how to do it and why
- Some visual encouragement so that you have something to aspire to
- Tracking, monitoring, follow-up and a good quality “kick” in the seat of the pants!

And with that understanding we included these things in The Backyard Workout….

We certainly believe that it is a quality product and we hope you will try it. There’s absolutely no-risk for trying the program. It comes with a FULL 100% Money-Back Guarantee.

We are here to help you and to make sure that you reach your full potential.

http://www.thebackyardworkout.net

Humbly,

Rhadi Ferguson (a.k.a. “The Strength and Conditioning King”)