This will probably piss a lot of people off. But I don’t like
Jiu Jitsu. I’m often asked what I think about Jiu Jitsu.
I have taken Shotokan, Krav Maga, wrestled, street
wrestled and lately Muay Thai Kick boxing but have
no desire what so ever to learn Jiu Jitsu.

Jiu Jitsu will work one on one, it will work in mma.
Jiu Jitsu won’t work on the streets. If you go to the
ground in a hostile environment with more than
one person and you stay on the ground you will get
kicked and stomped.

I would rather be able to stay up and strike and to
be able to get out of the situation. I have no desire
to roll around in the guard, looking
for the arm lock. You try and put that forearm
under my chin and choke me out you’ll get bit.

Jiu Jitsu is also boring to watch, Knockouts get the attention
not the choke out. It is like a chess game but boring the same.

I do believe Jiu Jitsu is great for the police and military
who need to be able to control criminals or the enemy,
but for the streets going to the ground and staying there
will bring problems and it’s not safe.

I love grappling and can do it well but one on one good two on one
bad. Most fights will end up on the ground, and if you can stop
something quick on the ground you better get up and keep striking.

If I was in a situation on the street I would rather have a striker on
my side then a grappler someone that can keep moving and stay
out of trouble.

In real life there is biting, gouging, hair pulling, kicking and stomping
I guarantee that if I’m on top of someone and he’s trying to hold
my arms or he grabs an arm he will get bit right on the forehead and
I promise he will let go. I’m not a savage I just might have been in
some of the situations. So I’m just telling my opinions and I’m sure
people will give their opinions, but unless you have been in these
situations don’t bother.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Johnny Grube @ 240lbs

if we gain weight will some how become a superman and be fit. Gaining weight can actually cause
you to get weaker and become unfit.

We are ego maniacs, we think gaining weight is some kind of miracle for becoming fit and strong.
Years ago all I thought about was gaining weight. I was 145 lbs in high school could bench 330lbs
and deadlift 400 lbs and run a 4.5 yard dash, but I wasn’t happy with my weight. No matter how
hard I tried or how much I lifted I couldn’t gain weight.

Then my goal became to gain as much weight as possible as fast as possible without steroids no matter
the cost. I started drinking whole milk by the gallons, sometimes two gallons a day. Then I went to Quick
chocolate milk because it had more calories, did I tell you I was also taking weight gain and eating everything
in sight. Before I knew it my weight went from 145 to 175 then I just continued to get heavier and was lifting
heavier weights until I got to my top weight of 240lbs.

I was strong and powerful. I was lifting more weight but not much more then when I was 145lbs.
I had 18 1/2 inch arms and a 21″ neck and looked the part but I lost so many other things gaining weight.
I threw away  fitness and went for looks, I just wanted to be huge.

I went from 26 pullups to 10 on a good day, my bench went up only 20 more pounds to 350lbs and I lost
all of my athletic ability. I couldn’t get out of my own way. I carried this weight for over 10 years until
the “Toughman ” contest in 1994 I won my fight but because of the shape I was in ” round” I couldn’t go on.

Then I stopped and re – evaluated my whole philosophy and lost 85lbs in 5 months. It was the best thing
I ever did it changed my life. I’m still strong, but can do more now then I ever could. Instead of trying to
gain weight, try to stay lean and athletic it will take you a lot farther then the extra weight.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Use these for building explosive strength. You can use these to finish a
workout or for a whole body workout. Try 25 of these.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Try these for strength. Bear Crawl backwards up hill walk down repeat 10 to
20 times. And the strength you will build will amaze you.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Back in the day when I was a hard-core weight lifter I had to leave the gym scene,
because of what was going on in gyms.

Even in the hard-core gyms there were guys that would talk and hang on the benchpress
for 2 hours. There was hardly anybody in the squat rack and if there was,it was used for doing
curls so they didn’t have to bend down to pick up the weights.

Dressing up,wearing cologne (perfume for men)and drinking protein shakes to go workout.
I had to leave. I traded that soft, pathetic environment for a dark,hot,cold, no air conditioning
and no fans and no mirrors a sweat box.

It was so hot in the summer all you had to be in there 2 minutes doing nothing and you would
start to sweat. In the winter it was so cold you needed to wear work gloves to hold the bars.

I loved it. Many people tried to train in this hell hole very few ever came back. In the summer
I called it Death Valley it was brutal. Even when I stop training with weights I still did my
bodyweight training in there when I wasn’t outdoors, it was a test and inside of 10 minutes
you drenched with sweat, I’m talking wring your short out sweat. But I loved it.

In 1994 I changed the way I thought about hard-core heavy training. I was in the “toughman” weighed
220lbs could hip belt lift 1,200lbs, squat 600lbs (low) bench press 350lbs and could push press 285lbs.

And I couldn’t hold my hands up for 3 – 1 minute rounds. I won my fights, but couldn’t go on because
of the horrible condition I was in. I changed the the way i thought for ever. I lost 85 lbs in 5 months and
it was the best decision I made in my life.

When I get back to New Jersey I still go to the Dungeon and hit a workout.

If you can’t breath, you can’t fight!

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Bodyweight training is a natural way of training the body, the way the body
was meant to be trained. We have all we need to build  incredible strength,
power, quickness, athleticism, muscular endurance and we keep on looking
for the magic potion.

As a matter of fact using your bodyweight as your training tool will give you
results that are almost magic. You can train your body so many ways that you almost
never have to do the same workout again. But in my opinion training the body
with speed will bring the huge benefits.

Training slow will build a slow body, training the body fast and explosive will build
a fast and explosive body. However, training the body slowly from time to time
will also build strength and help the body heal from training hard and fast.

We almost never do anything slow. We bend fast, reach fast, lift fast
nothing is really ever done slow. All most all sports require you be fast
and explosive.

Even powerlifters use explosive and speed type movements
to boost their totals. Olympic lifters require an unbelievable amount of
speed, strength, explosiveness and quickness for the clean and press and
the snatch.

Another great thing about training the body with speed is the rate you will burn
body fat, look at the sprinter body, it’s lean and muscular. Look at the jogger
or runner weak and thin.

Most experts will tell you to use the right form or you will hurt yourself and that’s
the problem. In real life when do you think about form?

Your body needs to be able to bend, stretch, reach, twist, climb, run and lift at a moments
notice and only when you stop training naturally is when these injuries occur. Almost
any sport requires full body movement, speed, power, strength, muscular
endurance, quickness etc, in sports you don’t think, you react, in real life
you don’t think, you react. And when you think about what your doing or
how your doing it, is when you run in to these limitations.

So try to train a little unorthodox and just react to you environment, use
speed and explosiveness in your training and leave the slow training to
the regular fitness public.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

P.S. If you want to train for quickness and strength order “ The Wildman
Training Program, don’t wait, unless you want to be slow and weak.

The men that want big massive muscle don’t want to work
they want it as fast as possible, the easy way they take the
juice.

We live in a society that only wants what comes easy, no one
is willing to put in the time. There is more to life then looking
for the easy way, there really is no easy way to lose weight
or build a body full of huge muscle as a matter of fact unless
you are willing to spend tons of money and a ton of time
you won’t accomplish what you want.

Your wallet will be lighter and you will be pissed off.

Remember your in it for the long haul not just for tomorrow,
and the worst thing is if you ever do get where you want it’s not easy
to keep you will continue to work harder if you don’t bye,bye fitness
or huge massive muscle it won’t wait around.

Work hard, and put in the time.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Johnny Grube doing one arm pushups for explosive strength.

These pushups will build a great amount of strength, the key is to use the
one hand for more balance and focus all your strength to the other arm.

This type of training will build real functional strength not just in one arm but
throughout your whole body. Use your body as one, the way it was intended to
work. The way the body gets real strong is by getting everything working together
at one time like a loaded spring.

This type of training will build body awareness. For you fighters nothing better
than a fast, quick strong punch where the whole body comes into play creating
a crushing blow.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

That’s right stop jogging. When did jogging become the standard in fitness?

In the 60’s 70’s or 80’s. Just because everyone does it doesn’t make it right.

Here’s a question. If you are a runner have you achieved the results of a
lean muscular body?  I’m not talking about weight loss, I’m talking fat loss.

All most all runners are thin and weak. Long distance runners or joggers
are wasting valuable time, if their goal is health and fitness and fat loss.

If you notice I keep saying fat loss and not weight loss, why? Because
everyone is concerned with weight loss and weight loss is not the answer.

Just because you lose 20lbs doesn’t mean you will look much different.
You can lose muscle and still have fat but you should be shooting for
fat loss instead of weight loss.

Long distance running beats the body down. If you run to much your
body with start to use muscle for energy instead of fat. The less muscle
you have the less fat you will burn. The more muscle you have the more
fat you will burn.

When you start a running program you love it, then as time goes on you
find it starts to take a lot of time and you need to go farther to get results
then eventually no matter what you try the results stop. Why? Your body
will no longer respond to this type of exercise, it’s got you figured out
it knows your trying to lose fat and we are engineered to save fat so the
body will start to use other things as fuel such as muscle.

You need to confuse your body, trick it to keep getting results. The more
muscles you use the more efficient you’re your body will burn fat. Running
uses mostly the legs, some core and a little bit arms.

Most runners suffer from all sorts of pain, foot, back, knee, ankle and shin splints
just to name the most injured.  So why do you run in the name of fitness?

To get the most benefit and the quickest results is to use exercise that use
as many muscles as possible at the same time, the more you use the fast
the results and the faster will fly off. However, if you eat like garbage you will
never get the results your after.

If you want to run try short sprints, short sprinting will build lean muscle
and burn fat, most sprinters are lean and muscular. Short sprints can be
from 5 seconds to 30 seconds you can even try 1 to 2 minutes sprints if
you can.

Hill sprints will even hit the body a little harder, these are serious fat burners.
if you can’t find a hill try running stairs also a great muscle builder and fat
burner.

Bodyweight training is another way to build lean muscle and strip the fat.
Bodyweight training uses a lot of muscles at one time so you can spend less
time exercising.

Jumping rope is one of the best exercises you can do to become physically fit,
become more athletic, build agility and coordination, jumping rope works
many more muscles then jogging. If you don’t keep your torso upright and
straight you will not be able to jump rope long without missing.

Try a workout of bodyweight training, jumping rope, short sprints and
hill sprints and I guarantee you will be blown away with the results.

You can try this short workout and see for yourself:

Find a space like a football field or soccer field and mark of 40 to
50 yards.

Start with 10 pushups- from the pushup position sprint 50 yards
do 25 jumping jacks – Sprint back the 50 yards and drop for another
10 pushups and continue this 10 times rest 2 minutes and repeat
again. You can do it longer if you want but try it one to two times.

Finish with 200 pushups and 250 jumping jacks and a lot of short
sprinting you can probably finish this quicker than running 3 miles.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Take it this way, if you wanted to learn karate would you go to someone that taught judo?
It’s the same thing, you can’t be a master at every way of training or a master in every sport,
it takes to many years and most people won’t put in the time.

The new type of training is functional training and everyone is an expert and I can’t figure
out how these fitness experts have become experts, unless you lived your life doing real
functional fitness ( labor ) then I find it hard to put them as experts.

Try this grab a sledge hammer and go out and smack a tire for 8 to 10 hours in the sun, taking
a couple of 15 minute breaks and a 1/2 hour lunch then go home and hit the gym. Think about
it, would you train this way day in and day out and still make it to the gym? You might for a while
but like most people they will stop because of seer exhaustion.

Hey brother, it takes more then putting a few chains over your shoulders while doing pushups
and a few kettlebell swings to build real functional fitness. Don’t get me wrong, there are some
great trainers out there but most are just jumping on the band wagon. They don’t live the lifestyle,
they are only part-time fitness people.

If you want to learn karate find someone that teaches Karate. Want to  run marathons find a
trainer that runs marathons. Want to lose weight find someone that has lost weight and kept
it off and model them.

Toughness Builds Winners
Johnny Grube