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3
Disclaimer
Y
ou must get your physician’s approval before beginning this exercise program. These recommendations are not medical guidelines but are for educational purposes only. You
must consult your physician prior to starting this program or if you have any medical
condition or injury that contraindicates physical activity. This program is designed for
healthy individuals 18 years and older only.
The information in this report is not meant to supplement, nor replace, proper exercise training. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. The editors and publishers advise readers to
take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits. Before practicing the exercises in this
book, be sure that your equipment is well-maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of
experience, aptitude, training and fitness. The exercises and dietary programs in this book are not
intended as a substitute for any exercise routine or treatment or dietary regimen that may have
been prescribed by your physician.
Don’t lift heavy weights if you are alone, inexperienced, injured, or fatigued. Always ask for
instruction and assistance when lifting. Don’t perform any exercise without proper instruction.
See your physician before starting any exercise or nutrition program. If you are taking any medications, you must talk to your physician before starting any exercise program, including Yoked.
If you experience any lightheadedness, dizziness, or shortness of breath while exercising, stop the
movement and consult a physician.
You must have a complete physical examination if you are sedentary, if you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes, if you are overweight, or if you are over 30 years old.
Please discuss all nutritional changes with your physician or a registered dietician. This publication is intended for informational use only. Jason Ferruggia and www.JasonFerruggia.com will
not assume any liability or be held responsible for any form of injury, personal loss or illness
caused by the utilization of this information.
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4
Program Overview
T
here are few things more impressive than the sight of a massive yoke. Mountainous
traps, a thick neck and a jacked upper back are what distinguish a real lifter from all
the “pumpers and toners.” It’s the power look and it commands respect. When you see
it you know instantly that the dude has put in some serious time in the weight room
and paid his dues.
There’s only one way to build a massive yoke and that’s with lots of heavy pulling. Olympic
lifts, deadlifts and farmers walks are at the top of the list. They must be done heavy and often if
you want to get rid of your pancake traps. To bulk up a pencil neck you need to train it directly
with some flexion and extension work, which is included in the program.
The Yoked workout is a based on a four-day upper/lower split, although Day 4 is more of a
pulling day than a true lower body focused day. The main lifts in the program will remain for the
entire twelve weeks. The reps decrease in each phase as you increase the weight.
Be sure to start extremely light on everything and use the first week of each phase as an intro
week where you hold back a bit. You want to leave yourself enough room to progress for twelve
weeks on the big lifts. So if you go too heavy too soon you’ll plateau and burn out rather quickly.
Patience is key to achieving the kind of results you want from your training.
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5
Day 1
D
ay 1 is the heavy upper body day. It will always start with a snatch. Technically it’s a
power snatch from the hang but to save space we’ll refer to it as the snatch. If you’re not
competing in Olympic lifting I see very little reason to do a full snatch, starting from the
floor and dropping into a full squat. The power versions from the hang are easier to
learn and just as effective when it comes to building the yoke and developing explosive power.
This snatch is one of the premier exercises for building big traps and healthy shoulders.
Although Olympic lifting coaches would argue that you should never do any of the Olympic lifts
for more than six reps, the reality is that very few people who train with weights will be entering
a competition. If you plan to compete in Olympic lifting then technical mastery is far more important. But those of us simply looking to get jacked don’t have to live by any such rules.
It is highly recommended that you have a good Olympic lifting bar to use for the snatch. It will
be much easier on your elbows and shoulders. If you don’t have access to one or would simply
prefer to do a dumbbell snatch that’s a perfectly acceptable substitution.
Keep in mind that I always advise using straps on snatches and all Olympic lifting variations.
The standing military press will be the second exercise on Day 1 as it not only works the pressing muscles but also involves the traps more than any type of flat bench pressing variations do.
The third exercise on Day 1 will always be a flat or low incline close grip bench. You can
choose which of the two you would like to use. Your grip should be about 16-18 inches between
index fingers.
On Phase 1 & 2 you will work up to a weight you can use for three sets. On Phase 3 you will
work up to a heavy set of five, then increase the weight slightly for a set of four, and then bump it
up just a bit more for a final triple.
You will alternate the bench press variation with a row. We will use inverted and chest supported rows in order to keep the lower back fresh for Day 4 when it gets hit with a ton of volume.
The rows will pack some size on the upper back and keep the shoulders healthy.
There is more pushing than pulling on this day because of the fact that Day 4 is almost 100%
pure pulling.
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6
Day 2
B
ecause the lower back will be heavily involved in Day 4, which is the main yoke work
day, we will start Day 2 with a leg curl variation followed by a single leg squatting variation before barbell squats. This is done intentionally to pre fatigue the legs before getting to squats, which will limit the amount of weight you can use. By using less weight
on the squat your lower back will be fresher and you’ll be able to give it all you have on Day 4 and
recover faster between sessions.
The first exercise of Day 2 is always listed as a leg curl or glute ham raise. My first option
would be to do a glute ham raise. If you don’t have access to a glute ham bench then the next best
choice would be to do a slide leg curl on furniture sliders. If you don’t have furniture sliders you
can get them at Home Depot for less than ten bucks.
You can also do leg curls on suspension straps such as the Jungle Gym XT. The other option is
to do a lying or seated leg curl machine. These are my least favorite options but can be used if you
can’t do the other two. The goal here is to simply get a good pump in the hamstrings.
After the leg curl or glute ham you’ll move on to a single leg squat variation. Do a few warm up
sets before starting your first work set. I don’t believe in going ultra heavy on these so the reps are
a bit on the higher side and I urge you to use perfect form and be conservative with weight selection. Take it slow and be sure you are ready to increase the loading. I’ve seen people push the pace
too fast on these and end up tweaking a knee or hip flexor.
After hitting those two you’ll be nice and pumped up to move into the squats. Be prepared to
squat a lot less weight than you normally would. This is perfectly fine and, in fact, the intention
here. Work up to one heavy set in the rep range listed.
Day 2 will always finish up with a superset of farmers walks and front neck raises. If you have
dedicated farmers walk implements you should definitely use them. If not, use heavy dumbbells
or kettlebells and simply walk with them for thirty seconds. For the neck front raises you can use
partner resistance, a boxers head weight or just pad up a shirt or towel and put it on your head
while holding a weight plate against it. Just nod your head up and down slowly, pausing at the
top on each rep.
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7
Day 3
T
his is the upper body hypertrophy day where you’ll be going in to get a good pump and
pack on some size in the shoulders, chest, arms and lats. To keep you fresh and offset
any overuse injuries these exercises will change each phase. There is more pressing than
pulling on this day because of the fact that Day 4 is almost 100% pure pulling.
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8
Day 4
T
his is the premier yoke specialization day. It’s at the end of the week because you’ll want
a weekend day or two to rest up since it will be the most taxing of all the workouts. Go
very light on this day at first, no matter how easy it may seem. It will smash your traps
pretty intensely and you might feel like someone beat you with a bat the next morning if
you go too heavy too soon.
There are three main Olympic lifting variations done on Day 4. They all begin from the hang
with the bar just above the knees. Again, we will start with eight reps here instead of six because
the focus is on more volume/ time under tension to build muscle. We’re not trying to create
Olympians; just some jacked dudes.
You’ll start with a high pull, which is the lightest exercise of the day. Then you’ll move on to a
clean pull, which is a bit heavier with a smaller range of motion. The high pull comes up to nipple height whereas the clean pull is only pulled just above the belly button. The third Olympic
pulling variation on Day 4 is the shrug pull which is basically just an explosive Romanian deadlift with a shrug and calf raise a the top. The elbows don’t bend much, if at all.
Finally, you’ll move on to the mother of all exercises, the deadlift. In each phase you will simply work up to one heavy, top end set. Five in Phase 1, a triple in Phase 2 and a single in Phase 3.
If you can’t pull from the floor without keeping a neutral spine you can pull from low pins (below
the knee) in a rack.
To cap off the yoke work you’ll pump up the neck with a few sets of neck harness extensions.
If you don’t have a neck harness you can simply have a partner apply pressure to the back of your
head with a towel or place a plate over a towel on the back of your head and do it manually.
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9
PRINTABLE WORKOUT SHEETS
Phase 1 Workouts
Day 1
1) Snatch
2) Military Press
3a) Inverted Row*
3b) Close Grip Bench Press
4) Alternate Dumbbell Curl
Sets
Reps
Rest
3
3
4
3
3
8
8
12-15
8
8-12
Sets
Reps
Rest
3
3
1
4
3
12-15
12-15
10-12
30sec
20
90
60
120
45
45
Sets
Reps
Rest
90
90
60
60
90
*On rings, blast straps or Jungle Gym XT
Day 2
1) Leg Curl or Glute Ham Raise*
2) Dumbbell Split Squat
3) Squat
4a) Farmers Walk
4b) Neck Front Raise
*On slides or Jungle Gym XT
Day 3
1) 1 Arm Neutral Grip Dumbbell Military Press*
2) Suspended Pushup**
3a) Pull Up
3b) Overhead Band Triceps Extension
4
4
4
3
8-10
8-10
AMAP
15-20
90
90
90
60
*Palms facing in
**On rings, blast straps or Jungle Gym XT
Sets
Day 4
1) High Pull
2) Clean Pull
3) Shrug Pull
4) Deadlift
5) Neck Harness
3
2
2
1
3
Reps
8
8
8
5
20
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Rest
90
90
90
90
90
10
Phase 1
Exercise Descriptions
Snatch
Grab the bar with a wide grip (pinkies in the rings is a good starting point for most people.
Arch your back and flex at the hip by bending forward until the bar is just above knee height.
Explosively extend your hips, standing upright while simultaneously shrugging and getting up on
your toes. As the bar comes up past your navel pull it above your head and catch it at lockout by
doing an explosive external rotation.
Military Press
Set a bar at upper chest height in a rack and grab it with a shoulder width grip. Take two steps
back and get in an even stance with your chest up, abs braced, and glutes squeezed. Use a slight
leg drive to get the first rep going as you push the bar directly overhead to lockout. Hold it for a
second or two while it’s above your head with your elbows locked.
Inverted Row
Set rings or the Jungle Gym XT at about waist height from the ground and grab them with a
neutral grip and your feet on the floor. Row yourself up while squeezing your shoulder blades all
the way together. Hold each rep at the top for two seconds. To increase the difficulty put your feet
up on a box then add extra weight via chains or a weighted vest.
Close Grip Bench Press
Set up properly by arching your back and squeezing your shoulder blades all the way together.
Grab the bar with a 16-18” grip and try to crush it. Lower the bar to your nipple line and then
explosively push it up and slightly back so that the bar travels in a J pattern. To initiate the push
off the chest drive your feet into the floor and try to push yourself through the bench at the same
time you start pushing the bar up.
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11
Alternate DB Curl
Grab a pair of dumbbells and curl one, then the other. It’s a curl so there’s no need to turn it into
rocket science.
Leg Curl on Slides
Lay down on your back with your feet on furniture slides. Lift your hips up as high as you can
and perform a leg curl, bringing your feet to your butt. On the way down you will have to push
your feet out. This is completely normal. The same exercise can also be done with your feet in
Jungle Gym XT straps.
Glute Ham Raise
Start with your hips just off the edge of the pad and your upper body a bit below parallel with
the ground. Perform a back extension movement and go right into a leg curl by pulling yourself
up to perpendicular with the ground, using the strength of your hamstrings. To increase the difficulty of the exercise you can start with your body parallel with the ground. From there you can
hold weights, use a band or raise up the back end of the bench.
Dumbbell Split Squat
Hold a pair of dumbbells and get into a lunge position. Descend until your hamstring touches
your calf on your front leg then push back up to the start position. Do all the reps on one leg then
rest before doing the other leg.
Squat
Grab the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder width grip and jam your shoulder blades as
back as far as you can. The bar should rest on your traps and not your neck. Unrack the bar and
take two steps back into a slightly wider than shoulder width stance with your toes pointed about
thirty degrees out to the side. Take a huge breath, filling your belly with air and start the descent
by pushing your hips back. While keeping your chest up and back arched squat down until the
top of your thighs are parallel with the floor. As you approach parallel you should consciously be
pushing your knees out to the side and thinking about squatting in between your legs and not
above them. Return to the start position by driving straight back up, leading with your chest and
trying to stay as upright as possible.
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12
Farmers Walk
Hold a pair of heavy dumbbells or kettlebells (or dedicated farmers walk implements) and walk
upright with them for thirty seconds. Keep your chest up and head straight throughout the set.
Neck Front Raise
Lay down and have a partner provide resistance by placing a towel over your forehead. Nod up
and down for the prescribed reps. You can also do this yourself by placing a weight plate over a
towel or using one of those ten pound neck strengtheners that they make for boxers.
1 Arm Neutral Grip Military Press
Hold a dumbbell with your palm facing your head and your elbow at your side. The non-working arm should be out to the side. Press the weight straight up to lockout without bending to the
side too much.
Suspended Pushup
Set rings or the Jungle Gym XT a foot off the floor and do pushups on them, keeping your abs
braced, glutes squeezed, and body in a perfectly straight line. To increase the difficulty you can
move the handles further apart, put your feet up on a box or add a weighted vest or chains. You
can also do a combo of or all of those things.
Pull Up
Grab a pull up bar with an overhand grip about shoulder width (or slightly wider) apart.
Initiate the movement by pulling your scapula down then driving back and down with your
elbows. Pull up until your chin clears the bar with your back arched and shoulder blades fully
retracted. Be sure to focus on pulling with the lats and not the biceps. To increase the difficulty
you can pause longer at the top of each rep. To make it easier loop a strength training band
around the bar and put your knees or feet through it.
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13
Overhead Band Triceps Extension
Attach a band to a power rack or some other immovable object about six or seven feet high.
Grab it over your head and turn away from it so that your hands are behind your head. Split your
stance then press the band out until your elbows are just shy of lockout.
High Pull
Grab the bar with a shoulder width grip, chest out and back arched. Bend over so that the bar
is just above your knees. Extend the hips explosively and stand up while locking out your knees
and getting up on your toes. The momentum generated from the lower body should bring the bar
to at least belly button height and from there you finish it out by pulling up to your nipple line or
slightly above.
Clean Pull
Exactly like the high pull except you’ll use a heavier weight and only pull the bar slightly above
your belly button.
Shrug Pull
This is basically an explosive Romanian deadlift. You extend the hips explosively, while getting
up on your toes and shrugging as high as you can. You do not try to pull or bend the elbows at all
but the momentum may cause a slight bend. This is completely fine. The shrug pulls is done with
even heavier weights than the clean pull.
Deadlift
Stand over the bar so that it’s lined up with the middle of your feet under it. Your stance should
be slightly narrower than shoulder width. Squat down by breaking at the hips and pushing your
butt back as you lower yourself to the bar. Try to consciously load the hamstrings with tension like
they’re springs. While keeping your spine neutral grab the bar with a shoulder width grip. Start
the pull by slowly grinding the weight off the floor. As it clears your knees, explosively drive the
hips through to lockout.
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14
Neck Harness
Put the neck harness on and nod your head up and down. If you don’t have lay face down on a
flat bench and have a partner apply resistance with a towel or place some plates on the back of
your head.
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15
PRINTABLE WORKOUT SHEETS
Phase 2 Workouts
Day 1
1) Snatch
2) Military Press
3a) Pronated Chest Supported Row*
3b) Close Grip Bench Press
4) Cross Body Alternate Hammer Curl
Sets
Reps
4
3
4
3
3
5
6
10-12
6
8-12
Rest
90
90
60
60
60
*Palms facing behind you, elbows out, on 30-45° incline bench.
Day 2
1) Leg Curl or Glute Ham Raise *
2) Dumbbell Reverse Lunge
3) Squat
4a) Farmers Walk
4b) Neck Front Raise
Sets
Reps
3
3
1
4
3
10-12
10-12
8-12
30s
20
Sets
Reps
Rest
90
60
90
45
45
*On slides or Jungle Gym XT
Day 3
1) Neutral Grip Dumbbell Military Press
2) Flat Dumbbell Press
3a) Mixed Grip Chin Up*
3b) Band Pushdown
4
4
4
3
8-10
8-10
AMAP
12-15
Rest
90
90
60
60
*Alternate grip each set
Day 4
1) High Pull
2) Clean Pull
3) Shrug Pull
4) Deadlift
5) Neck Harness
Sets
3
2
2
1
3
Reps
6
6
6
3
20
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Rest
90
90
90
120
90
16
Phase 2
Exercise Descriptions
Exercises that repeat from Phase 1 will not be listed here.
Pronated Chest Supported Row
Grab a pair of dumbbells and lay face down on an incline bench. Your palms should be facing
behind you and your elbows should be flared out to your sides. Row the weights up and squeeze
your shoulder blades back as far as you can.
Cross Body Alternate Hammer Curl
Curl one arm across your body with a hammer grip so that the finish position looks like you’re
placing your hand on your heart then repeat with the other side.
Dumbbell Reverse Lunge
Hold a pair of dumbbells and step back into a lunge position, being sure to keep your body
upright. Step back far enough so that your front shin is just about perpendicular with the ground.
If you have healthy knees your shin could be angled forward slightly so that your knee is further
over your toes. But don’t step back so far that you get into a negative shin angle. Step back to the
start position and repeat with the other leg.
Neutral Grip DB Military Press
Hold the dumbbells with your palms facing in and elbows tucked at your sides. Brace your abs
and squeeze your glutes while pressing the bells to lockout.
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17
Flat DB Press
Lie down and set up just like you would on a bench press. Using leg drive at the bottom, press
the bells up to just shy of lockout, being sure to keep your shoulder blades squeezed together the
entire time.
Mixed Grip Chin Up
With one hand facing you and the other facing away from you pull up until your chin clears the
bar, keeping your back arched throughout the rep. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the
top. Switch your hands each set.
Band Pushdown
Attach a band to a chin up bar and do pushdowns with it.
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18
PRINTABLE WORKOUT SHEETS
Phase 3 Workouts
Day 1
Sets
Reps
5
3
4
3
3
4
5,4,3
8-10
5,4,3
8-12
Sets
Reps
Rest
3
3
1
4
3
10-12
8-10
6-8
30s
20
90
60
120
45
45
Sets
Reps
Rest
1) Snatch
2) Military Press
3a) Neutral Grip Chest Supported Row *
3b) Close Grip Bench Press
4) EZ Bar Curl
Rest
60
90
60
60
90
*Palms facing in, elbows tucked, on 30-45° incline bench.
Day 2
1) Leg Curl or Glute Ham Raise
2) Barbell Split Squat
3) Squat
4a) Farmers Walk
4b) Neck Front Raise
*On slides or Jungle Gym XT
Day 3
1) Pronated Dumbbell Military Press
2) Ring Dip *
3a) Neutral Grip Chin
3b) Angled Bar Pushdown
4
4
4
3
8-10
8-10
AMAP 60
10-12
90
90
60
*Can use regular dip bars or Jungle Gym XT if you don’t have rings.
Day 4
1) High Pull
2) Clean Pull
3) Shrug Pull
4) Deadlift
5) Neck Harness
Sets
3
3
2
1
3
Reps
5
5
5
1
20
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Rest
90
90
90
90
90
19
Phase 3
Exercise Descriptions
Exercises that repeat from Phase 1 will not be listed here.
Neutral Grip Chest Supported Row
Grab a pair of dumbbells and lay face down on an incline bench. Your palms should be facing
each other and your elbows should be tucked in to your sides Row the weights up and squeeze
your shoulder blades back as far as you can.
EZ Bar Curl
Keep your chest up and elbows at your sides while curling the weight up.
Barbell Split Squat
Exactly like a dumbbell split squat except that the bar is on your back.
Pronated DB Military Press
Hold dumbbells in front of your shoulders with palms facing forward exactly like you would a
barbell. Press them up to lockout while keeping your abs braced and glutes squeezed tightly.
Ring Dip
Get in position and brace your abs while using your lats to pull the handles in and stabilize
yourself. Lower under control until your triceps are parallel with the ground and then push back
up to the start position.
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20
Neutral Grip Chin Up
Chins with your palms facing each other. Easy enough.
Angled Bar Pushdown
Use one of the angled V shaped handles and pump up the horseshoes.
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21
About
Jason
a
i
g
g
u
r
Fer
J
ason Ferruggia is a former skinny-fat-ass who gained over 80
pounds of drug-free muscle by using the techniques in this
book. He is also a highly sought after, world-renowned
strength and conditioning specialist based out of the New
York/New Jersey area. Since 1994 he has trained more than
700 athletes from over 90 different professional and collegiate organizations. He has also worked extensively with firefighters, police officers and
military personnel as well as numerous weekend warriors, Hollywood
stars and entertainers. Jason is known for his ability to help people gain
muscle and shed body-fat as fast as humanly possible and for the incredible
transformations he makes in all of his clients’ physiques.
Jason is currently the chief training adviser for Men’s Fitness magazine. He is also an advisory board
member to Live Strong and Schwarzenegger.com and has authored hundreds of articles for various other
fitness related websites and magazines such as Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health, Maximum Fitness, MMA
SportsMag, Today’s Man, Muscle and Fitness Hers and Shape.
A regular lecturer and media consultant, Jason has given seminars all over the country on the subject of
fitness and performance enhancement, and his cutting edge training techniques have been featured on over
30 radio and TV stations such as CBS, ESPN, FOX, ABC, 1010 Wins: New York, America Tonight and
many others.
For more information about Jason and his training methods and products, please visit
www.JasonFerruggia.com
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22
FTC Disclosure
As of December 1st, 2009 the FTC requires that we disclose whenever there could be hidden
interests or unspoken biases related to recommendations. As I have already stated I only
recommend products that I wholeheartedly recommend and would use myself. However, to
cover my ass, please assume that for every link I have placed in this manual I will be getting
paid thousands of dollars, flown around the world first class and provided with a lifetime
supply of free hookers by the owners of said companies.
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