TABLE OF CONTENTS
DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL .......................................................................................................... 3
WELCOME TO THE INVINCIBLE ATHLETE PROGRAM............................................................. 4
WHY I MADE THE INVINCIBLE ATHLETE PROGRAM ............................................................... 6
HOW THIS PROGRAM WORKS ................................................................................................. 8
ROUTINES IN THIS PROGRAM ................................................................................................. 9
EQUIPMENT THAT WILL BE USED .......................................................................................... 10
READING THE ROUTINES AND WEEKLY CHANGES ............................................................... 11
FOLLOWING THIS PROGRAM ................................................................................................. 12
WEEKLY CHANGES.................................................................................................................. 13
TRIPLE UPPER BODY STABILIZATION ........................................................................ 16
THE LOWER BACK GUANTLET .................................................................................... 22
ATHLETIC PULL DAY .................................................................................................. 30
BELTLESS DEADLIFTS AND GRIP ................................................................................ 36
LOWER POSTERIOR CHAIN WORK.............................................................................. 44
EVERY ATHLETE FLEXIBILITY ROUTINE...................................................................... 48
FOOT AND ANKLE OPTIONS ...................................................................................... 54
FINISHING THE INVINCIBLE ATHLETE PROGRAM ..................................................................59
MODIFYING THIS PROGRAM ................................................................................................. 60
APPENDIX I BLANK LOGS ........................................................................................... 61
APPENDIX II JUJIMUFU’S SCANNED LOGS .................................................................. 62
APPENDIX III EQUIPMENT RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................ 63
QUESTIONS? .......................................................................................................................... 64
CONNECT WITH ME.................................................................................................................65
DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL
In reading this document you, and any you teach, understand and agree to the following terms: that you/they will
not hold the author and his affiliates responsible for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special,
exemplary, punitive, or other damages, under any legal theory, arising out of or in any way relating to your use of
this document and its information, or the content, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
The author shall not be liable for any physical, psychological, emotional, financial, or commercial damages,
including, but not limited to, special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. The information contained
herein is meant to be used to educate and entertain the reader and is in no way intended to provide individual
medical advice. From time to time I endorse third-party products or programs, and often there is some
compensation or commission for that endorsement.
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
Like almost any activity, the training techniques in this program pose some inherent risk. Before practicing the
skills described in this program, be sure not to take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training, and
comfort level. It is your responsibility to assess your safety, know your limits, and obtain expert medical advice
from a qualified accredited health professional if any doubts exist. You agree to take full responsibility for your
decisions and actions.
Consultation with a doctor and/or physical fitness instructor is recommended prior to attempting these
techniques if any doubts exist. Doing so after you have had an accident would ruin the purpose of the
consultation.
All diet and supplement advice in this program is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of qualified
medical practitioners. The products, supplements, and services mentioned in this document are not intend-ed to
diagnose, treat, cure, alleviate or prevent any diseases. The statements in this document have not been reviewed
or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information is not a substitute for medical, psychological,
or professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All content in this document are the opinion of the author who
does not claim or profess to be a medical professional providing medical advice. Advice from your professional
medical advisor should always supersede information presented in this document.
AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER
In this program, the author recommends or endorses products or services that are not his own. If he recommends it, he has used it personally and/or continues to use it. In some cases, the author is compensated via a
commission if you decide to purchase the products or services he recommends. ALWAYS do your own due
diligence before purchasing anything.
INDEMNIFICATION
You understand and agree that you will indemnify, defend, and hold Jon Call, its creator, harmless from any
liability, loss, claim, and expense, including reasonable attorney’s fees, arising from your use of our his
program/products, or your violation of these terms and conditions. Jon Call assumes no responsibility for the
exercises, practices, or behavior of any kind, or implications of them, described herein.
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WELCOME TO THE INVINCIBLE ATHLETE PROGRAM
This program will fortify your body with a special kind of raw strength, as well as bring up
common weak points without subjecting you to mountains of insufferable prehab and rehab
exercises. It is a preparatory program for anyone that wants to jump into a wide variety of
physical activities (lifting, running, jumping, flipping, wrestling, climbing, etc.) and have the
best chance of having a good time and learning fast. It’s also for anyone that wants a massive,
strong back. Or wants to safely do weird feats of strength and athleticism!
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This program covers a wide variety of needs. It does not, however, cover professional needs for
very niche and isolated sports. For example, this is not the program I would recommend for an
arm wrestler who wants to continue doing nothing but arm wrestling. Or a baseball pitcher
who wants to pitch pain-free. It is, however, great for said arm wrestlers or pitchers who want
to prepare his/her body for anything and everything outside of their niche athletic world that
uses the whole body! If you want to try new things, you need a new foundation. This program
is excellent to run before new phases of training or sporting efforts!
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WHY I MADE THE INVINCIBLE ATHLETE PROGRAM
I made this program for myself. The only difference in me running it vs. what I’m presenting
here for you is that my job as a fitness entertainer requires me to perform a variety of athletic
feats on camera for YouTube and Instagram. That means I put in extra work in between these
routines when I needed to perform for video. Or, it means I substituted some of the work when
filming required a lot of extra effort. As an aside, to grow a following the size of mine on fitness
social media, you cannot just film your training, because that’s boring. You have to regularly
perform a variety of challenging, inconvenient feats of athleticism that don’t fit into your
program that, more or less, put your body at considerable risk while providing entertainment.
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Ironically, the reason I made this program for myself was for the very reason I could not follow
it exactly as I have written it: My job is random, fitness chaos that defies all structured physical
programming. Yet, I needed structure for my sanity and structural health. Without a solid and
maintained foundation, the risks of my job materialize as depression and physical injury. This
happened, by the way, and it resulted in me having to take time off to recover and come up
with a solution. Designing and running this program was my solution, and it was the first
program I had run in over 4 years! I ran it the best I could, and it worked out as well as I had
hoped!
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HOW THIS PROGRAM WORKS
In practice, this program is primarily an intensive backside and core training program with
some hacks. The purpose of emphasizing back strength, core strength (and posterior chain
strength) is because weakness here can result in injury globally. And weakness here results in a
direct back injury, then that’s the worst-case scenario! A back injury is the worst type of injury
for any athlete because you can barely ever work around it. You NEED a strong back. You
WANT a strong back. When you really begin getting your back strength up, you’ll feel as if you
have cheat codes for athletics. You’ll start picking up skills and strengths as if you have natural
talent. And you will experience an “aha!” moment when your lower back strength gets
boosted. Deadlifts and squats begin to feel like completely different exercises. Gee, ever
wonder why all those Westside guys live on the Reverse Hyper machines and do those
disgusting max-effort good morning variations?
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ROUTINES IN THIS PROGRAM
Each week there are 6 workouts, 5 of which will hit your backside. There is some hardcore
stabilization work (no Bosu balls here), grip work, flexibility work, and foot/ankle work included
as well. During the program, there will be no direct push training (no presses of any kind); This
is because most shoulder problems often come from too much pressing work, or not enough
pulling work to balance that pressing work. During the four weeks in this program, you will
have the chance to balance that by doing nothing but pulling work! Any injury or aggravation
you have in your elbows and shoulders will have the opportunity to heal.
There are no arm days in this program because aside from arm wrestling and other arm only
sports, direct arm work usually does no good for athleticism and injury prevention. There is
little training that will hit the quads because many knee problems are caused by too much
quad dominance. Giving the quad work a break will potentially provide the knees with a break
if you have knee pain. The body only has so many recuperative resources available at any given
time. In one sense, this program is sort of a body part periodization scheme for the backside
musculature. By skipping the things that aren’t in the program, the body will not have to
spread its recovery capacity too thin, and your backside will get super strong quickly.
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EQUIPMENT THAT WILL BE USED
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Power rack with safety bars or pins
Standard barbells and plate weights
Bar to hang from
GHD (Hyperextension bench) - alternative = flat bench and a partner to hold you down
Reverse Hyper - alternative = hang legs off a GHD or flat bench
Lat pulldown machine
Chest fly machine or cable machine – alternative = gymnastic rings or TRX straps
Gymnastics rings or suspension straps
A stretching mat
A PVC pipe or foam roll to stretch on
A light resistance band that’s 41 inches (1 meter) in length
Dip belt
Where possible, I will recommend exercise substitutes if you lack access to certain pieces of
equipment. See Appendix III for additional equipment recommendations.
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READING THE ROUTINES
Exercises are done in the order they are listed. They will be grouped as well.
A1. Exercise 1. 2 sets.
A2. Exercise 2. 2 sets.
B1. Exercise 3.
C1. Exercise 4.
In this case, you will do a set of Exercise 1, rest, and then a set of Exercise 2. You will then go
back to Exercise 1 and do another set, and then another set of Exercise 2. You will finish all sets
of exercises grouped (A1 and A2) before moving onto B1, C1, etc. You complete all sets of any
exercise grouped by letter before moving onto the next.
Some exercises in this program are SUPERSETTED: This means you will not rest between
them.
I will, from time to time, recommend the amount of rest you should have between exercises.
Use a timer to get it right. If I don’t mention the rest period, assume it’s approximately 3-5
minutes between sets.
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FOLLOWING THIS PROGRAM
This program is 4 weeks long. Each week there are minor changes to the routines. Most of the
changes will be increasing the weight, reps, or number of sets. Here is an example layout for a
week with the routines:
M - OFF
T - AM - ATHLETIC PULL DAY
W - OFF
H - AM - POSTERIOR CHAIN WORK
F - AM – EVERY ATHLETE FLEXIBILITY ROUTINE // PM - FOOT AND ANKLE OPTION
S - AM - BELTLESS DEADLIFTS AND GRIP
S - AM - TRIPLE UPPER BODY STABILIZATION // PM - LOWER BACK GAUNTLET
That means during the 4 weeks, you will do each routine 4 times total. Advanced athletes
could probably fit in more work. When I first ran this 4-week program myself, I did the Athletic
Pull Day workout 6 times instead of 4 times. I was also able to fit in a couple of strongman
training workouts and add some extra work for the legs. I took 2 days off completely to rest per
week. Most of the extra work was done in a way so I would have two workouts in one day (to
ensure I had 2 full rest days per week). I would recommend you do the same: have more double
training days so you can have more full days off.
To adhere to the body part periodization inherent in this routine, all the extra work I did was
related to adding in extra work to my backside. I did not work my arms with isolation exercises
or do pushing exercises (bench, o/h press, etc.) during this program. If I had extra time or was
ahead of schedule (because I often did 2 workouts in a day), I just doubled up on my back work.
When in doubt, train more back! 4 weeks of that and your back double bicep pose will look way
bigger and better as well!
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WEEKLY CHANGES
This program uses a basic Western Style linear progressive overload periodization; this means,
week to week, you’re just doing more. Since the program is only 4 weeks long, it is possible to
improve week to week - more reps, more weight, less rest between sets, etc. After 4 weeks of
hard work, you will deload on the 5th week and start a different program on week 6.
I would not repeat this program after the 4-week block, switch to something else, but perhaps
continue using the routines in this program that benefited you the most during the 4-week
block. My favorite Invincible Athlete workouts are the Triple Upper Body Stabilization routine
and the Lower Back Gauntlet. I find myself coming back to those routines throughout the year.
It is ok to cherry-pick routines from this program and throw them into what you’re already
doing if you don’t want to do the full program.
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TRIPLE UPPER BODY STABILIZATION
During 2018 I trained 365 days consecutively as an experiment. The project was called
Train365, and I wrote about my experience in a book titled the same. When you train every day
for a year, you will have to exercise creativity to maintain sanity while keeping a year-long daily
training streak. Some of the workouts I created during this project were interesting. This Triple
Upper Body Stabilization workout I invented was a favorite of mine because it seemed like one
of those workouts that would only look good on paper but would be disappointing in practice Many routines look better on paper than they perform in reality. This routine not only looks
good on paper, but it also performs very well! The training stimulus you’ll get from this
workout is unique and covers many unmet needs. It’s simple too. And fun!
This workout includes 3 “motionless” exercises covering different planes of support.
1. Holding weight overhead.
2. Holding yourself in the “support” position on a pair of gymnastics rings.
3. Supporting yourself in a pushup position on the rings with your feet elevated.
Training these positions with a challenging amount of weight will carry over great to many
athletic needs that require strength stability. It’s also super-macho and crazy looking from an
onlooker’s perspective.
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THE ROUTINE
The exercises are done in a circuit with rest between them. Each circuit should take you less
than 10 minutes. Do six circuits total, and you’ll finish right between 50-60 minutes. Strive to
measure progress by adding more weight and holding on longer, not by completing the entire
workout faster.
WARMUP
No special warmup is needed for this workout. Just set up your stations and begin adding
weight and holding the positions for a few moments here and there until you have worked up
to your working weights for the workout.
WORKING SETS
A1. Overhead Barbell Support - 6 rounds of 30 seconds
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Attach safety pins or straps to the higher settings of a power rack. Put a barbell up there. Grab
the bar just slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Take a stance slightly wider than
shoulder-width apart. The safety setting should be high enough so you can stand up with the
barbell, and it’s only a few inches above the safeties: a minimal range of motion overhead
squat to start the exercise. Find a weight you can barely do 30 seconds with. When you fail,
drop down, so the bar rests back into the safeties. To get the most out of this exercise, do it
without a belt to build more core strength. Wrist wraps are optional. Be cautious, protect your
lower back by engaging your glutes throughout the set.
A2. Heavy Ring support - 6 rounds of 30 seconds
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Hang a pair of gymnastics rings. The most convenient option for everyday gym rats is to hang
it on the cross-member beam that connects the crossover cable stacks. I prefer hanging them
on something higher, so I do not have to tuck my feet behind me to clear the ground; this is a
total body stabilization exercise so once you hop up onto the rings flex everything, your core,
quads, glutes, point your toes, etc. Keep your arms straight and supinate your palms, so they
face out in front of you. Push down on the rings to “support” the position. You should strive for
the “hollow body position.” Entire articles and ebooks have been written on the hollow body
position, so you may want to google it yourself. This is what I think about when doing the
hollow body position: I tilt my hips back while leaning my face, shoulders, and toes forward
past the midline of my body while keeping my legs perfectly straight.
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Crash course hollow body position explanation: Posterior pelvic tilt (hips tilt back) + spine
being pulled into lumbar flexion via a total body contraction from head to toe with feet being
pulled to the midline and the head and shoulders also being pulled past the midline. The
hollow body position stacks the vertebrae advantageously for strength and “support,” which is
what we’re doing here: supporting a position until we fail.
Once you find your positioning, hold the ring support for 30 seconds for each set of this
routine. If you cannot hold a gymnastics support, you’re welcome to put a platform or chair
underneath you to relieve some of the resistance, or you can wrap an exercise band between
your hands and underneath your feet, so you have some support. Once you get stronger, you
can add weight via a weighted vest or a dip belt that holds weight.
For the ring support, if you’re not trained on them, you may have trouble getting 30 seconds
without added weight. That’s ok, do what you can. I recommend setting the rings high, so you
have to use a chair to “jump” up to get yourself above the rings. There is something more
critical and severe about a set of ring supports when you’re high in the air, as opposed to
slightly above the ground. If you can hold a ring support for quite a while, then get a dip belt
and add more weight until 30 seconds is when you tap out. Even with added weight, set the
rings higher. Be smart, though. You don’t want to get way up high with 100 lbs added (45 kgs)
that would be dangerous no matter who you are. If you don’t have rings, then a dip bar is a
subpar substitute, but it’s the only substitute there is. If you’re doing this on a dip bar, you’ll
likely need even more weight because it’s a lot easier than rings. I highly recommend doing this
on rings instead of a dip bar. It’s a night and day difference: they’re entirely different because
the rings require a lot more stability and you can bring your hands closer to your body.
A3. Prone Horizontal Support (plank) on gymnastics rings - 6 rounds of 60 seconds
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Drop your rings down, so they are approximately 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) from touching the floor.
Get into the pushup position on the rings with your shoulders directly over the rings. Make sure
your arms are locked, your head is facing the ground, and your butt isn’t sagging. Prop your
feet up on something that is 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) high. Holding this position is relatively easy,
that’s why we will do this support for 60 seconds. You can add weight in a few different ways. A
weight vest is one option. Another option is to have someone stack plates on your back when
you are in the ready position. You can raise the rings, and foot support higher so you can use a
weight belt, and then attach some kettlebells to that (they are shorter than plates so you won’t
have to raise the rings and foot position as high). Where you load the weight changes the
exercise, so be aware of that. I like the added weight around my waist/hips so that my lower
back gets a unique stimulus. Get creative; there are several ways to add load to this exercise.
Find the load that you can barely hold 60 seconds for; this is your working weight.
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DISCUSSION
Adaptation comes quickly, so anticipate rapid improvements between weeks. Do not change
the volume; only change the load. The only exercise I’d rotate variations for in this routine
week by week is the overhead support: I’ve had success switching from a barbell to a
strongman log as I improved, rather than just increasing weight. The strongman log has a
wider grip which makes it harder to support. You can also try dumbbells, although good luck
setting them up so you can even start the exercise, that might be hard to do. The barbell is the
easiest to support, so you will want to start with that.
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THE LOWER BACK GUANTLET
According to every elite strength coach and athlete I've spoken with, your lower back can never
be strong enough. And according to my reputable pro bodybuilder friends, the only muscle
groups that can never be "too big" proportionally to the rest of your body are the back and
shoulders.
Barbell athletes themselves will never argue the importance of targeting the lower back
specifically with isolation exercises, yet they likely avoid them altogether anyway. Competitive
bodybuilders typically avoid them altogether too because it’s a weakly judged body part on
stage.
WHY WE AVOID LOWER BACK TRAINING
1) You cannot see the muscle group, so there is no satisfaction in getting a pump. You can’t
really see the pump when you get it, and it doesn’t look cool anyway. 2) If you actually get a
lower back pump, it feels horrible. Arm pumps, chest pump, upper back pumps, shoulder
pumps, leg pumps... Almost all pumps feel good except the lower back (and jaw pumps and
shin pumps). A lower back pump typically forces you to sit on the ground in agony. Again, it
doesn't look cool. 3) Targeting the lower back with isolation exercises and getting a pump is
something you cannot do at the start of training. You have to put it at the end of a workout,
otherwise you will not be able to do the rest of the workout (as you’ll be sitting on the floor
with a pumped back) and anything that has to go at the end of a workout often gets skipped
altogether or done half ass because your energy levels are low. 4) The exercises are not fun to
watch. I'd much rather watch a workout video of someone doing heavy arm curls than heavy
reverse hypers. Lower back exercises look dumb and nobody cares how much weight you’re
doing. 5) Toasting the lower back can make you useless for the rest of the day and can affect
your next few workouts negatively, more so than training other muscle groups.
Lower back isolation work is just unhappy work that usually gets neglected because, hey, we
can still strengthen the lower back with our bread'n'butter compounds like squats and deads
and other strongman exercises. Really, a lot of people get by without doing lower back work
and seem just fine. With all this said, what would happen if you targeted the lower back hard,
regularly, and obsessively with more volume? And how could you do it without ruining your
life?
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HOW I SOLVED THE RIDDLE OF LOWER BACK TRAINING INCONVENIENCE
First, I doubled up on the lower back work so I could consolidate it to less number of instances
in a week. This might not be optimal, but it’s better than what 99% of everyone is already
doing (no isolated lower back training all). Training your lower back specifically hard once per
week is better than not training it specifically at all. Let’s just settle for that.
Second, this workout is meant to be done at night, perhaps as a 2nd workout for the day. That
way your energy levels are given a chance to be “ok” entering the workout, because it’s not at
the end of an already brutal workout (you can’t put hard lower back work at the beginning of a
workout, it never works). And when you get that nasty lower back pump, it doesn’t matter that
you’re useless because you’re going to go home and eat food and sleep it off anyway.
One final consideration is to put this workout the evening before a rest day. You don’t want to
deadlift heavy the next day when you spent the night before attacking your lower back like a
lunatic. That’s the scheduling strategy for this type of work. Let’s get to the details of the
routine.
THE ROUTINE
This workout should take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete. As mentioned, do this as
the 2nd workout of the day, in the evening.
WARMUP
A1. Hanging leg raises - 2 sets of 10
Do this with no weight. You’re welcome to use “hanging leg raise” straps to position your
elbows into if you don’t want to hang. No swinging. Pull your knees up to your chest, crunch,
and round your buttocks out at the top. Control the eccentric and return to the starting
position with no extension of the spine. Pause a split second between reps.
A2. Paused reverse hypers - 2 sets of 10
Do this with no weight. Bring your legs up and pause at the top. You will feel a nice tightening
in the lower back as you increase blood flow to the area with these reps.
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WORKING SETS
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE OF A1. A2. SUPERSET
A1. Reverse hyper extensions - 3 sets of 30 (superset exercise 1/2)
Initiate the movement with your lower back, not your glutes to maximize the pump in your
lower. Don’t swing like you see most people do this exercise; that is a different method. Pause
at the bottom of every rep. These reps look slower than what you normally see with this
exercise. You know you are doing it right when your lower back is on fire, and your glutes are
less involved. Pick a weight or pace that gets you right at about 20 reps where you fail and
crank out another 10 until you get to 30. You SHOULD need to rest-pause to get all the reps.
That means you’ll go to failure right after 20 reps, and you’ll have to rest a few seconds to
crank each additional rep; this should be uncomfortable and annoying.
>> SUPERSET >>
A2. Pause hyperextensions on a GHD - 3 sets of 15+ reps (superset exercise 2/2)
But wait! We’re not done yet! We’re going to superset! Get off that reverse hyper and quickly
jump on a GHD for some hyperextensions. Just like the reverse hyper extensions: initiate the
movement with your lower back, not your glutes, and don’t swing. Yes, your glutes will kick in,
they’re supposed to, but you want to figure out a way to get your lower back cranking over the
other posterior chain muscles. Consider the bodybuilder way: “mind-muscle” connection!
Think about using your lower back more, and you’ll have a better chance of accomplishing the
isolation. I recommend pausing at the top for a split second, and keeping your arms crossed in
front of your chest as well. You can choose to use a weight, but since this is supersetted with
rest-pause reverse hyperextensions, you probably won’t need to add weight. At this point, it’s
not about adding weight, it’s about survival. Get at least 15 reps, even if you have to rest 5-10
seconds to continue the set to get to 15 total.
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B1. Sit on the floor - Up to 10 minutes
This isn’t a joke. After you do 3 rounds of the previous superset, you might not be able to stand
up and walk without trouble. My lower back has gotten so pumped doing the previous
supersets that my skin was numb to the touch all around my lower back. You could pinch or
prick my skin with a pin, and I wouldn’t feel it. Ouch! Just rest up to 10 minutes, so you have a
chance to finish the workout. If 10 minutes isn’t enough, know that more time isn’t going to
make it better if you got yourself into this situation, so you should try to go to the next exercise
already.
If all this seems like an exaggeration and you’re not having a hard time, then you did a terrible
job at doing the workout correctly so far. If you’ve done the work right, you’ll know it, because
you might not be physically capable of finishing the workout. One time my lower back got so
pumped I had to sit on a bench at the gym for almost an hour in a peculiar position. I knew I
was defeated, there was no way I was doing any good mornings to finish the workout. When I
got up and got in the car to drive home, I had to get out of the car halfway back in a random
parking lot because I couldn’t drive anymore, I was in too much pain sitting in the driver’s seat. I
waddled around, sat on my butt next to my car in the parking lot in a different position, and
then drove the rest of the way home after the pain subsided enough for me to will myself back
into the car.
C1. No handed, seated, SSB good mornings - 2 sets of 10 reps
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Hopefully, you get this far! LOL. This exercise requires an SSB (Safety Squat Bar). If you don’t
have an SSB of any kind available, you should resort to seated good mornings with a standard
barbell.
To do the exercise correctly, breathe and brace as if you’re going to squat or deadlift heavy for
every rep. Test your range of motion, as you begin to rep it out, you’ll likely increase the range
of motion slightly from when you first started. Do these nice and slow. With the no-handed
version, you’re going to throw your hands and arms back behind you. The weight will be on
your neck, and it will feel wrong, it’s supposed to feel wrong. We’re training a “wrong”
movement so that we are strong when things get so heavy that they become wrong. Just be
careful.
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The reason we’re doing this version of a good morning is that the SSB version allows us to
“round our back a bit more” safely; this will put the lower back into a loaded stretched position,
which is going to feel interesting after all those reverse hypers and hyperextensions! Also,
without the use of your hands, the weight continues to travel, and that makes it harder to
stabilize, meaning you get more stabilization work on the exercise.
This is probably the most controversial exercise in this entire program. If you feel unsure about
it altogether, or have extreme equipment limitations, try good mornings with a heavy band
anchored to the floor with your feet, with the other end around the back of your neck. You
would just stand up with the band in this position, hinge at the hips until your chest is lower,
and then straighten back up.
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE OF BANDED GOOD MORNING SUBSTITUTE
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DISCUSSION
Each week try to add more reps and/or sets. We want to focus on increasing volume and work
capacity, which is what is missing in “heavy” lower back contribution in compound lifts. If your
rep range starts to fly away from those in the program, increase the weight. While seeking
soreness is generally frowned upon in physical culture, if your work in this routine begins to
become absent of soreness (if you’re repeating this routine past the lifespan of the Invincible
Athlete Program) you should find a way to push your body back into getting sore. That could
be done by decreasing rest periods or adding pauses at repetition peaks, or slow eccentrics, or
doing more rest-pause sets. Just figure out a way to make this tougher!
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ATHLETIC PULL DAY
Pull/Push is a popular split. Almost anyone can figure out how to make it work following the
basic guidelines behind it: On pull day, you pull weights towards you, and on push day, you
push weights away from you. Following those guidelines, almost all the muscle groups are split
nicely and evenly between push and pull day.
Interestingly, you’re going to encounter more people with problems who do more push work
than pull work. Find me someone who has created muscular or strength imbalances or
impairments from doing too much pulling work: they’re non-existent. Find me someone who
has created muscular or strength imbalances or impairment from doing too much pushing
work: they’re in every gym in the world. If you had to pick one over the other, pick pull. Pulling
strength also looks like the kind of strength you don’t want to fuck with. Well, that’s because it
is hard to fuck with someone with great pulling strength, it’s overall a more useful form of
strength.
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THE ROUTINE
This workout will easily take over an hour. We got a lot of work to do. Since The Invincible
Athlete program already has beltless deads, a full-on heavy-duty stabilization routine, and a
lower back gauntlet, we’re going to omit many stabilizing exercise options (like bent-over rows
of any kind). We need to build the lats and pulling motion without the core becoming the
bottleneck.
WARMUP
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE OF THE FOLLOWING 3 WARMUP EXERCISES
A1. Pause rows with a band - 3 sets of 10 reps holding 3 seconds per rep
This is a great back muscle activator, and it’s why we’re warming up with it. Wrap a band
around a power rack upright or something else that’s immovable at chest height. Hold the
ends of the band in each hand and step back. The band will stretch to resist. Do a horizontal
row and hold the contraction at the peak for 3 seconds. It’ll almost feel like you’re just flexing
your lats, the band provides only enough feedback so that you have more than zero resistance.
A2. Thoracic spine extensions - 3 sets of 1 minute total stretching time
With good thoracic spine mobility, movements will become more “intuitive,” and you’ll ward
off a lot of hazards that can affect your lower back or neck. To improve thoracic spine mobility,
do thoracic spine extensions on a pipe; this is my favorite upper body stretch in the universe. I
do it before any workout that has compound lifts of any kind. Keep your feet and lower back on
the ground, knees bent. Pipe positioned on your mid-upper back. Cross your arms in front and
push your face forward. Keeping this position, start leaning back. Leaning back will take some
effort, so rep it out. Move up and down the pipe but stay off the lumbar spine and the traps.
A3. Hangs - 3 sets of 1 minute hold.
These are for the health of your shoulders, elbows, and wrists. They stretch out your scapulae,
your lats, and the soft tissue around the lats. They also improve grip strength if you choose not
to use straps. I use lifting straps because I’d like to focus on hanging longer and I don’t want my
grip to be a limiting factor in getting a good stretch. It’s up to you. When you’re ready, hang
from a pullup bar and allow your head to sink between your shoulders. Relax. Hold on. Shift
your weight side to side and feel a stretch on the sides of your torso. Feels good, eh? If it’s too
difficult, stand on a chair for added support. If you want to increase difficulty, hang with the
weight attached. An alternative to this is to load up a lat pulldown machine with a lot of
weight, use lifting straps, and let the cable stack “pull” and stretch you - effectively imitating
the hanging position in perhaps a more comfortable, effective way. Try them both ways.
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B1. Chin ups - 3 sets of 25% of your repetition max
If the maximum number of chin ups you can do is 20, you will be doing sets of 5. Do the first set
slow and smooth, and gradually increase the concentric speed of the chin up, while continuing
to control the eccentric. These prime your nervous system for heavy chin ups. Rest 2 minutes
between these sets.
WORKING SETS
A1. Weighted Chin ups - 3 sets of 3
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Use a 5 rep max weight. With that weight, you will do only 3 reps per set. If you’re familiar with
RPE, these would be RPE8 sets. To get to that working weight, you will likely need a few more
warm up sets with lighter weight. Those sets are still warm up and do not count as the 3
working sets of 3.
The reason we are doing weighted chin ups is not just for pulling strength, they’re also
fantastic for abdominal strength. Few exercises overload the abdominals in a stretched
position, weighted chin ups accomplish that. They have tremendous carryover to athletics
(especially backflips, because backflips are an explosive abdominal contraction from a
stretched position). And yes, chin ups do build some back muscle too.
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B1. Inverted ring rows - 3 sets to failure
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Hang your rings at a height between your abs and chest when you stand next to them. Grab
them and drop down facing the sky. Line up your shoulders directly underneath the rings.
Don’t let your butt sag (to do that, contract your butt, push your hips through, and push your
heels into the ground). In the starting position, your hands will be neutral or pronated. As you
row yourself up, turn your hands into a more supinated position; this increases the range of
motion and increases the exercise efficacy. This is easily one of my favorite back exercises - the
pumps, the carryover, the feeling - I love these. I can usually manage between 15-20 reps
before failure. If you can do more than this, either check your form or add weight (weight vest
works best for adding weight).
C1. Seated lat pulldown on a cable stack - 3 sets of 10-12 reps
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
You can use a pronated, supinated, wide or narrow grip. It does not matter, choose your
favorite. I prefer using straps on this exercise so the focus can shift to the back and the pull
rather than the grip. It’s up to you whether you want to grip it!
When doing these, I prefer to do them with a slight pause at the beginning before each rep and
to let the weight stack stretch my scapulae at the top. I also prefer to hold the weight at the
bottom for a split second. I find the results from doing the exercise this way, rather than a
continuous motion, are better.
D1. Rear delt flys on a selectorized chest fly/rear delt machine - 2 sets of 15 + 2 additional sets
with triple dropsets
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
This is done on those chest fly/rear delt machines that are found in most gyms. You just set the
pins for the arm position so that they are all the way back, then you face the machine seated
and begin hammering away at your rear delts.
For the first 2 sets, pick a “heavy” weight that you can barely get 15 reps with. For the last 2
sets, you will start with that same weight and drop down 20-30 lbs and continue going to
failure. Do 3-5 drops per dropset. Your total rep count will be above 40 reps on your 2 dropsets.
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DISCUSSION
When I did this program, I selected weights and reps that were so challenging that I could not
complete the prescribed reps here. I worked, week after week, at getting to those rep ranges
with the weight I chose. This is one way of achieving progressive overload with this routine.
The more sustainable option is to pick more conservative weights on Week 1, so that on Week
2 you can increase them and keep up with the prescribed reps. Either way, build momentum
and maintain your streak through Weeks 3 and 4.
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BELTLESS DEADLIFTS AND GRIP
I deadlifted beltless from age 17 to age 32. I used to think belts were like crutches and made
you weaker, so I avoided them. Why did I start using a belt? Because 800 lbs on your back for a
YOKE walk will make you change decade-old habits! When loads get heavy enough, the game
changes entirely. Some things are impossible or dangerous without the use of some gear like
belts, wraps, straps, etc. If you want to lift the heaviest loads, then you must consider
equipping yourself to some degree.
The truth is people care more about you deadlifting 300 kgs with a belt than 275 kgs without a
belt. If you want to win competitions and maybe get some likes on social media, learn to lift
with a belt. You know, it's not just other people either! I care more about how much I can lift
with a belt vs without a belt myself! I know the belt is allowing me to get some extra weight on
the bar, but I don't care, it's more meaningful to me. Oh, and did I mention that lifting with a
belt feels fantastic and is a lot of fun?! There is just something about putting on and taking off a
belt as part of a pre-lifting ritual that satisfies some weird, primal need.
And hey! Belts do even more than all that. Learning to squat with a belt was a key factor in
overcoming a lifetime of patellar knee pain (more on that in my book Overcoming Training
Injuries). Belted lifting changed my life for the better!
Am I saying belts are great? DUH! YES, I AM! And they can look cool too. But am I saying that
you should do all your heavy lifts in a belt now? NO! Nothing is all or nothing. Real quality of
thought and action comes when you can understand two perspectives and still function. YOU
SHOULD DO BOTH!
I spent almost my entire lifting lifetime beltless and I've developed a very large and strong set
of abdominal muscles because of this. My strong core has protected me from getting hurt
many times! My best beltless deadlift is 635 lbs at 230 lbs body weight. My best beltless squat
was 540 lbs at the same body weight. Given the wide variety of athletics I train, I'm satisfied
with those lifts. You can get very strong beltless, and you probably should! It'll make
everything you do in and out of lifting, feel safer. My abs do a lot to keep me safe in all loaded
and unloaded movements.
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So how do you choose when to use a belt and when not? Here are my rules and my guidelines
that go outside the context of this program:
1) All beltless lifting sessions are 100% beltless. You do not switch back and forth between
wearing a belt and not wearing a belt during a single workout session. Additionally, I
recommend any session you're planning on using a belt to be done wearing a belt for all sets
except your first couple of warmup sets.
2) IMO, beltless lifting is better done with slightly increased volume and lower intensity. Time
under tension is important here. You can get that by focusing on not going heavier than a triple
(3 rep set).
Now, what about grip? Grip strength is important for injury prevention in a similar way that
core strength is: when you grip something hard, the tension spreads up your arm, into your
shoulders, and even into your chest. This tension spreading is called irradiation. The irradiated
force from gripping hard boosts strength and increases your safety from the outside to the
inside. Like how breathing and bracing your core boosts strength and increases your safety
from the inside to the outside. Too much grip work, however, can result in elbow problems, so
we will also throw in some antagonist grip exercises as a precaution. Let's go!
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THE ROUTINE
For the Invincible Athlete program, we’re going only with beltless deadlifting for the entirety of
the program. Four weeks without a belt will do your belted deadlifting some good. And if
you’ve never deadlifted in a belt, well, here is not the place to do it! LOL. We will focus on using
a double overhand grip to cap the load artificially while building grip strength. The double
overhand grip also magically decreases the rep speed, which is a round-about way to increase
time under tension and thus, difficulty.
This routine also uses no special warm up exercises on purpose; this is to teach you the merit of
intention in your warmup. Use only the deadlift to warm up for the deadlift. Since we’re not
approaching maximum loads, this is both safe and efficient.
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WARMUP
A1. Double overhand, beltless deadlift - As many, or as few sets as you want for warmup
Start by loading a barbell with less than 30% of your average 1 rep max (not your PR). For me, I
always start with 135 lbs (approximately 60 kgs). Do 3-8 repetitions. Treat these reps with
respect, imagine the weight is much heavier than it is. Do this weight for at least 3 sets before
beginning to increase the weight. Rest at least 2 minutes between all warmup sets. Even if
you’re not fatigued, your body needs time to calibrate itself to the task. You will find that
adequately extending your rest time between warmup sets is a neat trick for enhancing
exercise performance. Begin increasing the weight in however many increments you wish. The
goal is to work up to a working weight that is 70% of your average 1 rep max.
WORKING SETS
A1. Double overhand, beltless deadlift - 6 working sets of 3-5 reps at 70% of your average 1 rep
max for mixed/hook grip.
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Be sure you’re using a double over hand grip without hooking your thumb! Do these reps, “stop
and go.” This means after every rep, the weight rests on the ground. This doesn’t mean you
lose tension in your body; it just means you don’t tap the floor and bounce back up in between
reps. Do 3-5 reps, terminate the set when the quality of rep goes down. Rest at least 3 minutes
between sets and no more than 5 minutes.
B1. Weighted pinch Block or Hub hold - 3 sets of up to 10 seconds each hand
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
These are the most common pinch grip exercises. The block is an open hand pinch grip, and
the hub is a closed hand pinch grip, so they are different. If you use the “hook grip” as a
weightlifter or powerlifter, or if you want rock climbing carryover, choose the hub for these
sets. For everyone else, choose the block, because open hand pinch grip strength is more
useful overall. Use a weight that you can do no more than 10 seconds on the hold. If you can
hold it longer than 10 seconds, on any set, increase the weight. Don’t choose something too
heavy, either. Aim for at least 5 second holds. The sweet spot is an 8-second hold before
failure. It could take some tinkering to find the right weight: that’s ok! Tinkering is still a
training stimulus and will move you towards your goal. Rest an adequate amount between sets
(at least 3 minutes, up to 5 minutes).
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C1. Heavy hangs - 1 set to failure (less than 1 minute)
Your goal here is to hang from a pullup bar and hold on until you cannot hold on any longer,
and to add weight if necessary. Keep the time under 1 minute. This is a stamina exercise for
grip and will blow up your forearms too. After all the double overhand deadlifts and pinch
holds, 1 set will be enough. Make it count and put in a great effort! Allow your head to sink
between your shoulders; this will also stretch out your scapulae, lats, and the soft tissue around
the lats, so it has therapeutic properties beyond the grip strength boost.
If you want, you can experiment with more difficult holds. Such as ball or hilt holds. These
shapes can be purchased from our company Grip Genie (gripgenie.com). The new holds will
spice up your heavy hang training. A cheaper alternative is a towel hold: simply tear up some
towels and wrap them around the pullup bar so you must hold onto two towel lengths with
each hand; this is tough!
D1. Wrist pushups - 2 sets of 5 reps
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
My friend Scott McDonald, an unorthodox acrobat and circus performer, showed me these. He
said it cured his wrist pain while training hand balancing. I’d suggest warming up to them by
getting into the wrist pushup position on your knees to begin stretching your wrists. Do this a
few times and rest a minute between them. Eventually, you can work to getting into the
pushup position with the wrists down. If you can hold this position, you can also do a pushup.
This is a mental exercise, and you’ll be surprised that the extreme discomfort doesn’t prevent
you from doing reps. You can probably do them, just don’t do too many, that’s why we’re only
doing 2 sets of 5 reps. Overdoing this exercise will cause wrist problems.
E1. Reverse EZ curl barbell curls (preferably on a preacher bench) - 2 sets of 12 reps
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
This exercise was prescribed to me by Jedd Johnson, my go-to grip guru. You just grab an EZ
curl bar with palms facing down and do bicep curls. Reverse EZ curl barbell curls aren’t for
improving grip strength or bicep size; they’re for ameliorating elbow problems caused by too
much grip training. Your goal isn’t to do a ton of weight and tax your grip. Your goal is to
control the weight, and get into the fully contracted and extended ranges of motion while
accentuating the stretch. Pick a weight that you can do about 16 -20 reps with, and then only
do 12.
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F1. Finger extensions against rubber bands - 3 sets to failure
If you do a lot of grip training, you also need to train the antagonist muscles of the lateral
forearm to prevent elbow problems. We sell a set of extensor bands on our website
www.gripgenie.com for extensor training. Wrap them around the fingernails of each hand,
then open your hand. That’s an extension. I like to pause for a second after each extension. I
also like to do these with my arms extended out in front of me. Do these finger extensions until
failure. You can even get fancy by doubling up on the rubber bands per hand or using dropsets!
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DISCUSSION
Do not increase the weight of the deadlifts during this 4-week program. If you want to, you can
decrease the rest interval between the working sets. Your primary focus should be on
increasing the quality of your repetitions. Speed! Power! Aggressiveness! Your goal is to do
better reps and sets and make the deadlift portion of the routine feel easier week after week at
the same load. Also, if you want to make these deadlifts rawer, consider doing them in shoes
with higher soles, and on a stiff bar instead of a deadlifting bar. Or less chalk?! Maybe even in
jeans and a t-shirt! Just to keep them more casual! Training the deadlift in a more casual way
will reduce inhibition and hesitation when you return to hyper-psycho-ultra-focus mega
ritualistic Instagram deadlifts later on… For the grip work, increase the weight week to week,
that is all.
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LOWER POSTERIOR CHAIN WORK
Guess what happens when your butt is weak? Other muscle groups must take over and do the
job! That is NOT something you want to happen with the butt (gluteus). The Gluteus maximus
is the largest muscle in your body. When a collection of “lesser” muscle groups have to
compensate for a sleepy butt (because you’ve been sitting on it too much), the outcome is
weakness or injury.
Waking up the butt and moderating long periods of sitting have become frequent topics in
athletic performance and injury prevention in the past ten years. This is a good trend. I’m
happy everybody is doing bird dogs, fire hydrants, and barbell hip thrusters these days. Getting
your butt back online unlocks maximum power and athleticism while protecting your lower
back! Why the lower back? Because when the glutes are offline or overly fatigued, guess what
takes over? The lower back. You don’t want that to happen, that’s when an injury occurs.
THE ROUTINE
This is a short routine consisting of only 2 exercises, with only 8 working sets total. While we
could always add more exercises and more sets to make it look better on paper, the point of
this routine is to do the most important work and nothing more.
WARMUP
A1. Bird dogs - 2 sets of 5 reps each side
Get on all fours. Your hands should be directly under your shoulders. Your knees should be
directly under your hips. Keeping your back flat, reach your right arm forward and up, and your
left leg back and up. Hold at the top for a second. Keep your head down and look at the floor
the whole time. You should feel a strong contraction in your shoulder and glute. The harder
you lift up, the better. Switch back and forth between sides.
A lot of people prescribe high numbers of repetitions for this exercise. I don’t like that
approach. If you do this exercise hard (by pulling super hard with the limbs you lift up and
maintaining an intense contraction of your abdominals), you will only need a few reps per side
for a coupe sets before the job has been done. The job is done when you’re core coordination
and glutes are activated.
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A2. Thoracic spine extensions - 2 sets of 1 minute total stretching time
With good thoracic spine mobility, movements will become more “intuitive,” and you’ll ward
off a lot of hazards that can affect your lower back or neck. To improve thoracic spine mobility,
do thoracic spine extensions on a pipe; this is my favorite upper body stretch in the universe, I
do it before any workout that has compound lifts of any kind. Keep your feet and lower back on
the ground, knees bent. Pipe positioned on your mid-upper back. Cross your arms in front and
push your face forward. Keeping this position, start leaning back and try to keep your lower
back down. Leaning back will take some effort, so rep it out. Move up and down the pipe but
stay off the lumbar spine and the traps.
A3. Over and back stretch with rope/band - 2 sets of 10 reps
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
This flexibility exercise is for shoulder health and your external rotators. It’s great to add at the
end of a set of chest flys, but here we are just doing it to warm up our “upright” positioning.
Use a rope or band, and holding wider than shoulder-width apart, bring your arms together
behind you and back in front.
WORKING SETS
A1. BELTLESS BARBELL SQUATS OF YOUR CHOICE - 3 sets of 8 with a weight you could
probably do 10 times (RPE 8).
For all the reasons we’re not using a lifting belt in the beltless deadlift routine, we’re also not
using a belt here in this routine! And I don’t care what type of squat you do as long as it hits
your core hard. That’s kind of the point of not wearing a lifting belt: to get your core working
hard! The front squat is one of the best options for this because it engages the abdominal wall
like crazy and doesn’t aggravate your shoulders (like some forms of low bar squatting) or knees
(like some forms of high bar squats). Some other good squat options include safety bar squat,
variable transformer bar squat, and camber bar squat because none of these wrench your
shoulders. Do not use a box to sit on, and do not add bands or chains. Do not use a belt, knee
wraps or sleeves (you might as well be naked). To make the exercise even harder, you could
make them PAUSE SQUATS (pause 1 second at the very bottom of the rep); this is raw volume
work that builds the whole body working capacity. Squats hit your entire posterior chain from
top to bottom, as well as your abdominal wall. They aren’t just a leg exercise! I know a few
Strongmen and Powerlifters who rely on squats, and only squats to build up their other lifts.
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B1. GHD raises - 5 sets to failure
The GHD raise is one of the best exercises around for athletes. However, it is an easy exercise
to cheat accidentally. Cheating this exercise will void the benefit of the exercise. If you’ve never
done this exercise, it can take a little work to determine your settings on the machine.
Place your ankles into the ankle hooks. Your toes should be in contact with the foot platform.
Straighten your knees. They should be just slightly behind the support pad. Lean over, so your
face is now near the floor. Squeeze the hamstrings, glutes, and abs to lift yourself up. Maintain
control when you lower your torso back to the ground.
If you can do more than 10 reps, increase the difficulty of your repetitions. To increase the
difficulty, you can start your repetitions with your torso parallel to the ground instead of bent
over, or put your hands behind your head.
If you’re having trouble doing even a single rep, you can try adjusting the foot platform
placement, so it’s further back. This will make the leveraging easier. Another way to decrease
the difficulty is by attaching a band to the foot platform and bringing it forward around your
chest, so it removes some of the resistance needed to raise yourself up. Finally, you can start
from the bottom and use hella momentum to get yourself started on the way up, which will
assist your repetitions.
DISCUSSION
As you get more comfortable with this routine, you can increase the intensity and decrease the
volume of the squat variation. For week 1, you will do 3 sets of 8. For week 2, you can increase
the weight and move to 4 sets of 5. For week 3, you can again increase the weight and move to
4 sets of 4. And so on. I would not increase the weight to anything below a set of 3 reps, which
is the lowest I would go for this program for this exercise. To progress on the GHD raises, try to
get a higher total number of reps between your 5 sets week to week.
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EVERY ATHLETE FLEXIBILITY ROUTINE
Flexibility training is still widely misunderstood. The primary method of developing flexibility is
through exercises that “stretch” your body (this is why we call them stretches). Most people
aren’t 100% sure why they even do stretching exercises; they just know they feel guilty if they
don’t do any. If you don’t even know why you’re stretching, how effective do you think that
stretching will be for flexibility development? Let alone injury prevention? Probably not
effective at all! The first step in demystifying flexibility is to identify where it plays a role in
what you do, and then how it can help you if you optimize it. This same process is done with
strength training: you start with an end goal in mind and work backward to determine the nuts
and bolts needed to build up to that goal. For a complete guide to flexibility training, get my
book Legendary Flexibility, it is the best book ever written on flexibility development, and it’s a
fun read too.
For the purpose of the Invincible Athlete program, flexibility’s primary goal is aiding in injury
prevention. It helps with this purpose in many ways. First, by having a bolstered flexibility
reserve, you have more “wiggle room” for error in performing sporting movements that test
end ranges of motion. I’ve gotten myself in some stupid positions with barbells and weighted
implements doing “Instagram Stunts” and have been able to escape safely thanks to my
flexibility reserve. Second, flexibility isn’t just about “stretchiness” of muscle tissue. In fact, it’s
hardly about that at all. Flexibility is essentially the capacity of your nervous system to override
your “stretch reflexes” (those reflexes that don’t let you go past specific ranges of motion). This
allows you to enter deeper end ranges of motion safely; it does this by coordinating tension
(strength) intelligently (Flexibility is STRENGTH in deep ranges of motion). Third, flexibility
development can correct compensating movement patterns. So, for example, imagine you
have a tight groin when you do barbell back squats, what will happen? You won’t be able to sit
correctly in the movement, and your body will compensate for this lack of flexibility with a less
efficient and more hazardous squatting pattern. Another critical example is thoracic spine
flexibility: without it, your body will compensate by getting your lumbar spine to enter bad
positions.
With all of this said, I’ve created a routine that covers all your bases and takes less than 1 hour
per week. It will work for almost all athletes. It’s the only direct flexibility work you will likely
ever need in your lifetime unless you have more ambitious goals like side splits or back bridges.
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THE ROUTINE
This routine is lower body dominate because many of the other routines in this program have
upper body flexibility exercises in the warm up. Feel free to add in extra shoulder flexibility
exercises if needed, as that is a common need in many athletes. No warmup is necessary
because most of these exercises are usually warmup exercises themselves.
CLICK FOR VIDEO OF EACH EXERCISE IN THIS ROUTINE
A1. Front leg lift stretch - 8 sets of 4 each leg
Keep your hands up. You can use one hand as a kicking target if you would like to measure
progress. Maintain good posture (avoid the slouch). You can start this with the kicking leg
behind you in a staggered stance or from a position with both feet shoulder-width apart, side
by side. Your supporting leg should be straight, and the supporting heel should always be flat
on the ground. Begin the lift as high as feels comfortable, lifting the leg directly in front of you.
A2. Rear leg lift stretch - 6 sets of 6 each leg
Hold onto something for support at about hip height. A chair is great to hold onto because it's
the perfect height. Keep the base leg's position stable and lift your other leg behind you,
pointing the toes. Generally, this stretch can be slightly varied from little changes in head
position or hip tilt, but the main goal is to stretch the front of your thigh and the hamstring of
the base leg, not the groin. Just maintain an awareness that your lifting leg does not rotate to
the outside.
A3. Hoof strike stretch - 2 sets of 10 each leg
Keep the body upright and the hips forward by tightening the glutes - and whip the heel back.
Easy, just kick your own ass with your heel! Think of it as hoofing the ground like a bull getting
ready to charge.
B1. Side bend stretch - 4 sets of 4 each side
Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart. Bend down directly to one side. Do what is
comfortable with your arms, the focus should be on getting the obliques to stretch.
C1. Standing torso twist stretch - 2 sets of 10 twists per side
Spread your feet wider than shoulder-width apart. Begin gently twisting side to side. Look in
the direction of your twist only after you are comfortable with the motion. EMPHASIZE THE
STRETCH - NOT THE SPEED OF THE MOTION. Feel the pull on the abdominals as well as your
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lower back; do not flail your arms wildly. This stretch requires more of your attention because
control is easily lost in the standing position and safety becomes compromised. The last thing
you want is a lower back tweak from something silly like a torso twist stretch.
D1. Over and back stretch with rope/band - 2 sets of 10 reps
CLICK FOR VIDEO EXAMPLE
Use a rope or band, and holding wider than shoulder-width apart, bring your arms together
behind you and back in front.
E1. Cossack stretch - 5 pyramid sets
Widen your stance to twice your shoulder-width. Straighten one leg and squat down to the
other leg. Keep good posture while doing this stretch. Shift back and forth between sides.
Also, try pushing your hips out forward and reaching overhead. I prefer to keep my feet flat on
the ground. Once you get the motion down, it’s time to increase the difficulty.
Set 1: No weight. Support yourself by touching the ground.
Set 2: No weight. Keep arms off the ground.
Set 3: Keep arms up above your body.
Set 4: Hold a weight such as a dumbbell or a kettlebell to your chest.
Set 5: Try putting a barbell behind your back and switching sides, or at least holding something
heavy overhead) (FWIW I’ve done this with over 125kg on my back)
Rest approximately 3 minutes between sets. Each set should consist of 30-60 seconds of work.
F1. Warrior lunge - 10 minutes total work each side
Widen your stance slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Lunge forward with your front
knee going over your front foot. Your rear knee should be grounded now. Increase the range
of motion and get a good stretch on your back hip and the glute-ham tie in of your front leg.
Work both sides for 10 minutes total, switching between sides and working in and out of end
ranges of motion
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DISCUSSION
Making gains in dynamic flexibility happens rapidly. In most young, healthy people, MAXIMUM
dynamic flexibility can be attained in as little as 8 weeks of training. Similarly, if done the ways
prescribed here, your static flexibility will increase rapidly as well! For more information about
flexibility training please read my book www.legendaryflexibility.com
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FOOT AND ANKLE OPTIONS
Any athlete that executes movements where one foot leaves the ground (walking, sprinting,
leaping), or where both feet leave the ground and a landing is involved (jumping), should
include some thought into foot and ankle conditioning. This is pretty much every strength
sport on the planet besides bodybuilding and powerlifting. This is why bodybuilders and
powerlifters don’t train their feet and ankles and usually don’t suffer consequences. However,
most “athletic” movements start from the foot. We transfer power from the ground up
through the rest of the body. If the feet and ankles have problems, that could cause problems
all the way up to the top. If you’ve never directly targeted your feet and ankles before, you’re in
for a treat. The benefits can be akin to a magic trick: right after you practice the drills, you will
notice a difference - Instant gratification.
WHAT FOOT AND ANKLE CONDITIONING IS ALL ABOUT
In my experience, foot and ankle conditioning is all about mindfulness. Let’s start now!
Go outside and find a natural earth surface like grass, gravel, sand, etc. Take off your shoes and
socks. Stand up and spread your toes. Focus on moving the pinky toe outward. Grip the ground
with your toes. Claw into the ground with your toes like you’re trying to make impressions into
it or trying to pick up loose earth with your feet like you would your fingers. Begin walking and
grip and grab the ground with your feet every step. Pay attention to how your feet are
contacting the ground: which part is striking first? (Heel, midfoot, forefoot?)
The simplest way I can get you to use your feet to walk better without going down the path of
some intensive biomechanics is just to try walking “gracefully” like a dancer or someone trying
to move through a room quietly, or perhaps moving “light” on your feet. Catlike? I walk this
way all the time, and it’s something fun to do anyway. There are drawbacks to this, though, as I
very often unintentionally sneak up on people and scare the crap out of them, which is
exacerbated by my size and stature.
Next, stand, spread your legs to twice shoulder-width apart. Again, spread and root your feet
into the ground. Try squatting up and down slowly while paying attention to your feet. Imagine
they have twice the surface area they have on the bottom, how much more support that would
provide like a tree, the more extensive the root system, the sturdier the tree. If you can get
your pinkie toe to engage, spread, and grip, your stability increases.
Wait, did I mention something about gravel earlier? WHY?! Doesn’t that hurt? Walking
barefoot on gravel can be painful but walking on challenging surfaces like this barefoot is
excellent for waking up your feet. Think of it as jumping in a cold pool of water. WOOOO!!!
That’ll wake your ass up. That’s what gravel is for your feet. And that’s healthy and refreshing.
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ASSISTANCE EXERCISES FOR AWAKENING YOUR ANKLES AND TOES
STRETCH YOUR TOES
Stretching your toes is the most straightforward exercise to start with. Sit down in a chair and
grab your toes with both hands. Start pulling them back and forth manually, one at a time,
forward and backward. It should feel good. Even this easy work provides quite a lot of benefits.
I do it every time I warm up for my tricks.
YOGA TOES
I’ve found one exercise super helpful for the feet and toes, which I can’t find a name for, so I’ll
call it Yoga Toes (named after a product that’s designed to facilitate this exercise). It’s painful
but put your fingers of one hand in between your toes of the same foot, get the toes in
between the middle knuckles and base knuckles. It’s going to hurt. You can use some liniment
or lotion to help slip the fingers in if needed. Hold them here and cycle between squeezing your
fingers with your toes and squeezing your toes with your hands. Add in some foot and ankle
rotations while your hands are locked as well. When you finish this exercise, you can plant your
feet back on the ground and try spreading your toes again. You should notice a humongous
difference even after one set. For passive work of this exercise, you can buy the product called
Yoga Toes. They are rubber toe stretchers.
PLANTAR FASCIA RELEASE
Before you do this exercise, revisit the standing squat. Squat up and down slowly and pay
attention to your feet. Now, get a lacrosse ball, golf ball, or a PVC pipe that has a diameter that
is less than 6 inches (15 cm). Stand on it barefoot. It should hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. Very
slowly roll the bottom of your foot, only one foot at a time. As you continue doing this, you
should strive to begin to lift your other foot off the ground, so you’re supported only by the
foot that’s getting rolled and whatever you’re holding onto with your hands. After a few
minutes of work on each foot, do the squats again. You’ll likely notice more mobility and
control in your squat. That’s because everything starts with the foot!
This exercise was responsible for turning around my ankle recovery after my grade II sprain.
For months I saw no progress. Then I started doing this for 2 minutes per foot, before and after
work daily. Within weeks I was finally able to start jumping again. MIRACULOUS!
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BALLET CALF RAISES
Do a calf raise and then go up onto your “tippy-toes” and hold it for half a second at the top.
You can choose to program reps and sets of these or do some to “awaken” the strength of your
toes.
VOODOO ANKLE ROTATIONS
For this exercise, you will need a roll of voodoo floss. Sit down and wrap your ankle tight in the
floss to create compression. Then, using your free hands, manually push and pull your ankle
through a full range of motion in every direction (Dorsiflexion, Plantar Flexion, Eversion, and
Aversion). Put some muscle into these stretches, the ankle is a robust joint, and you need to
use a great amount of force to get it to respond. Do this for approximately a minute and then
take the voodoo floss off. Continue stretching your ankles in the same way. For fun, after
you’re done, try walking and notice the difference between your ankles.
GLOBAL FOOT AND ANKLE CONDITIONING
The main problem with training the feet and ankles is that it’s excruciatingly boring. There are
no benchmarks for bragging rights or self-satisfaction. Making progress in the power lifts is fun
and exciting because it’s measurable. There isn’t much measurable about the exercises
mentioned above. To make things more palatable, I have a list of fun activities, regardless if
progress is measurable or experienced. All these activities will require the mindful use of your
lower legs.
LIFT BAREFOOT
If your goal is only better lifting, then lifting barefoot is probably all you will need to do. From
my experience, to reap the benefits of barefoot lifting, you don’t have to do it all the time. I
prefer wearing shoes while I lift for comfort and style, so that’s what I do most of the time. I do
a lot of other things barefoot, though.
JOG BAREFOOT ON GRASS
This must be done exactly as described here: It’s not the same if done on concrete or a hard
surface or if you’re wearing shoes. The point here is not to increase your speed or pace. Just put
one foot in front of the other and feel the ground. Claw and grip at the ground with your feet
and toes. Switch up what part of your foot strikes the ground. Increase your stride length and
decrease it. All we’re doing is “jog play,” once you get tired, begin walking. 10 minutes is
plenty. You should be breathing heavier.
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TRAMPOLINE
Trampoline training has a lot of benefits, one of which is stimulating and strengthening your
lower legs. Practice jumping up and down (duh) while playing with heel strike and toe push
through. Try to jump higher and/or for a higher number of reps before stopping. Trampoline
work is mostly safe if you take rest sets in between series of jumps. Don’t push through fatigue;
that’s not the point. Work on the quality of your jumps and your foot control.
BALANCE BEAM
Where do you think the “balancing” part of walking across a balance beam comes from? A
considerable part of it comes from your feet; this is so simple, easy, and fun, especially if you’re
bad at it. You don’t even need a balance beam to do this, you can find a curb or narrow edge.
Reps and sets? Pshhh... Just walk back and forth a bunch of times! Try some jumps on a narrow
line. Go backward. Have fun! I’d recommend doing this barefoot.
JUMP ROPE
If you are a masochist and want to get on the fastest track to better feet and ankles, then do
this barefoot. I won’t do this barefoot because I’ve whipped my toes so hard with a jump rope
that I’ve bled. Try a minimalist shoe for comfortable jump roping. 10 minutes of jumping rope
off and on is plenty of stimulus for your lower leg conditioning. I recommend getting fancy and
learning a few moves, such as one foot at a time, alternating feet, high knees, lunging steps,
double unders, etc.
SLACKLINE
Of course, for the purpose we’re looking for, do this barefoot. Slacklining is hard. I’ve trained it
consistently with help and have found it seemingly impossible to make progress. My body
seems to be impervious to learning this skill. I could try even harder, but that’s not my goal. My
goal is to wake up my feet and go through the motions of a physical meditation. Slackline is
the closest thing to meditating while moving I’ve tried. Just work on it for half an hour with rest
breaks (for your brain and balance). In between walks on the slackline, do some of the foot and
ankle exercises mentioned previously.
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PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Unless you’re rehabbing a foot or ankle injury, or have a pre-existing condition or problem, a
“hodge-podge” approach to developing strength and control of your feet and ankles will work
just fine. Do some of the assistance exercises now and then, and then do some of the global
foot and ankle conditioning modalities “sometimes” … Sometimes means a little every week.
Unless you’re going to be placing a much greater demand on your feet and ankles, this
“sometimes” approach will suffice, and meanwhile, you will enjoy the benefit and practice.
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FINISHING THE INVINCIBLE ATHLETE PROGRAM
After running this program for 4 weeks, deload for 1 week. To fully realize positive changes
from training, you need a consolidated block of recuperation to remove fatigue baggage.
Remember, fatigue masks fitness: to see how the program worked, you must take that week
off afterward.
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MODIFYING THIS PROGRAM
Because the goal of this program is ambiguous quantitatively, aside from increasing your
strength week to week in the workouts, it can be slightly modified to your taste. My
recommendation if you plan to modify the program is to keep in mind the focus of the
program! That focus is the backside and core. And don't neglect the flexibility and footwork!
So, if you want to do snatch grip deadlifts instead of regular deadlifts, go ahead! They are close
enough as exercises go, just do them beltless. Want to do a few more sets? Go ahead.
However, if you're going to start adding in pressing exercises and lunges, then you're straying
too far from the focus of the program. Besides, your bench press isn't going to melt if you don't
do it for 4 weeks, and a few sets of lunges per week isn't going to do jack for you. Keep it
relevant if you're modifying the program and want it to be the program still!
The reason I was ever able to do all that I do is that I focused on things seasonally for 20 years.
If I tried to build everything at once from year one, I wouldn't be here now. I'd be a nobody. A
reason I made this program is because I lost a lot of athleticism trying to do everything I do, all
the time, for too long to entertain people with fitness videos online while Tom and I grew our
YouTube channel from 2017-2019. The program works because it is more narrowly focused on
underdeveloped strengths and exercises. Focus on them for four weeks, deload, and enjoy the
results that come because you didn't spread your energy too thin!
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APPENDIX I BLANK LOGS
The following pages contain printable logs for use in this program.
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THEI
NVI
NCI
BLEATHLETEROUTI
NES(
1
/
2)
TRI
PLEUPPER BODYST
ABI
LI
ZATI
ON
A1
.OVERHEAD BARBELLSUPPORT
EXERCI
SE
WK1
SETS TI
ME REST
6
30(SEC) 3 MINS
A2.RI
NG SUPPORT
6
30(SEC)
3 MI
NS
A3.SUSPENDED PRONEPLANK SUPPORT 6
60(SEC)
3 MI
NS
WK2
WK3
WK 4
WK2
WK3
WK 4
WK2
WK3
WK 4
THEL
OWER BACKGUANTLET
A1
.REVERSEHYPER EXTENSI
ONS
EXERCI
SE
WK1
SETS REPS REST
3
30
0 MI
NS
A1
.PAUSED HYPER EXTENSI
ONS
3
1
5+
B1
.SI
TON FL
OORAND DO NOTHI
NG
1
1
1
0 MI
NS
C1
.SEATED GOOD MORNI
NG VARI
ATI
ON
2
1
0
45 MI
NS
48 MI
NS
ATHLETI
C PULLDAY
A1
.WEI
GHTED CHI
N UPS
EXERCI
SE
WK1
SETS REPS REST
3
3
34 MI
NS
B1
.I
NVERTED RI
NG ROWS
3
amr
ap
34 MI
NS
C1
.CABLELATPULLDOWN
3
1
01
2
4 MI
NS
D1
.REAR DEL
TFL
Y
2
1
5
23 MI
NS
E1
.REAR DEL
TFL
Y(
TRI
PLEDROPSET)
2
amr
ap
45 MI
NS
(
RPE89)
THEI
NVI
NCI
BLEATHLETEROUTI
NES(
2/
2)
BEL
TLESSDEADLI
FTSAND GRI
P
A1
.BEL
TLESSDEADLI
FTS(
DOUBLEO/
H GRI
P)
EXERCI
SE
WK1
SETS REPS REST
6
35
35 MI
NS
B1
.PI
NCH BL
OCKOR HUBHOLD
3
(
81
0SEC)
C1
.HEAVYHANGS
1
1(FAILURE)
3 MI
NS
D1
.WRI
STPUSHUPS
2
5
2 MI
NS
E1
.REVERSEEZCURLBARBELLCURLS
2
1
2
3 MI
NS
F1
.RUBBER BAND FI
NGER EXTENSI
ONS
3
amr
ap
(
70% OFAVG 1REPMAXWI
TH NORMALGRI
P)
WK2
WK3
WK 4
WK2
WK3
WK 4
WK2
WK3
WK 4
34 MI
NS
1
2 MI
NS
L
OWER POSTERI
ORCHAI
N WORK
A1
.BEL
TLESSBARBELLSQUATS
EXERCI
SE
WK1
SETS REPS REST
3
8
57 MI
NS
B1
.GHD RAI
SES
5
(
RPE8=WEI
GHTWHERE1
0REPSI
SF
AI
L
URE)
amr
ap
48 MI
NS
EVERYATHLETEFLEXI
BI
LI
TYROUTI
NE
A1
.FRONTLI
FTDYNAMI
C STRETCH
EXERCI
SE
WK1
SETS REPS REST
8
4
<
1 MI
NUTE
A2.REAR LI
FTDYNAMI
C STRETCH
6
6
<
1 MI
NUTE
A3.HOOFSTRI
KEDYNAMI
C STRETCH
2
1
0
<
1 MI
NUTE
B1
.SI
DEBEND DYNAMI
C STRETCH
3
8
<
1 MI
NUTE
C1
.ST
ANDI
NG TORSO TWI
STSTRETCH
2
1
0
<
1 MI
NUTE
D1
.OVERAND BACK STRETCH
2
1
0
<
1 MI
NS
E1
.COSSACK STRETCH
5
n/
a
2 MI
NS
F1
.WARRI
OR L
UNGE(10mi
nut
eseachs
i
de)
n/
a
n/
a
(
USI
NG A ROPEOR BAND)
n/
a
APPENDIX II JUJIMUFU’S SCANNED LOGS
I kept my logs in a digital document. Later, when finishing authoring this program, I created
these spreadsheets for your use. I filled them out after the fact to give you an idea of what they
look like when they’re finished. Enjoy.
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APPENDIX III EQUIPMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
Necessary Equipment Requirements have been mentioned. Here are some additional
recommendations for accessory and lower cost items.
Wrist wraps for overhead barbell support and ring support
Dip Belt for weighted chin ups and hangs
Dumbbell loading hook if you prefer hanging dumbbells instead of plates
Crosscore for inverted rows and suspended prone plank support
Gymnastic Rings for inverted rows and suspended prone plank support
Maxa Grips for lat pulldown variations (I love these!)
Transformer Bar for seated good mornings and squatting (best bar ever!)
Pinch Block and Hub for grip holds. Don’t forget the Loading Pin
Extensor bands for finger extension exercise
Best band for over and back stretch and a million other exercise uses
Best Jump Ropes for… jumping rope! (And ankle conditioning)
Yoga Toes (I wear them every night when Sam and I watch Netflix/Hulu)
Slackline – (several available on Amaz0n)
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QUESTIONS?
If you have questions about the program, feel free to e-mail me acrobolix@gmail.com. Be sure
to include your order # as well from when you purchased the program because I’m not going to
give you guidance regarding the program if you stole it. LOL. Thanks!
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CONNECT WITH ME
www.jujimufu.com
www.youtube.com/jujimufu
www.instagram.com/jujimufu
Also SPECIAL THANKS to my illustrator Sebastián Franchini for giving this program some life
with his cover artwork and sketches. You can check him out here:
https://www.artstation.com/zebes
https://www.instagram.com/sebazebes
For any kind of art commissions, you can contact Sebastián here zebes.art@gmail.com
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