E-WOD Issue #5

Apr 12, 2024

Issue 5 | April 12, 2024

The OG Influencers, Don Saladino, A Controversial Opinion, & Moving

Welcome to this week's E-WOD! This week we're covering:

A full plan to start making new gains with your training (simple)
Don Saladino's program
The time I rode in Louie Simmons' car and other influences
& the Brown fam's take on an everyday item

Let’s get into it!

x x x

THE WARM UP | THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

By Jason Brown

Got a couple of awesome reviews this week for you. Don Saladino has been at the top of the request list for weeks...big name coach, trained a lot of bit names out there...

Think he passed the sniff test?

Check his and Jeremy Scott's reviews out below. And while you're at it, Episode 41 of the Strong AF x Well-Conditioned Show where I highlight a full plan to start making gainz 👍

>> Watch Now: Programming Review - Jeremy Scott

>> Watch Now: Programming Review - Don Saladino

>> Listen Now: Ep 41 - The World's Simplest Strategy For Making Gains

THE MAIN LIFT | THE OG INFLUENCERS

By Jason Brown

Over the years I've had many industry trailblazers whose philosophies have shaped my approach to training (& teaching).

I'm not talking about the shitfluencers of today,

but true influencers that shaped the landscape of what it means to be strong and conditioned.

Many of them had humble beginnings as authors on T-nation.com.

Back in the day T-nation was a smorgasbord of training knowledge--

Big, meaty articles that really helped me understand the why behind each choice that a coach made for a certain program.

(Still is, except no one reads anymore, another topic for another day)

People ask me often where I learned what I know and I tell them all the same thing.

Go read.

Specifically, the following books by the following coaches...

👉 Louie Simmons: The Strength Innovator

My admiration for the late Louie Simmons can't be understated.

The founder of Westside Barbell and the one to popularize The Conjugate Method, Louie, was a treasure trove of strength training wisdom.

His ability to analyze and innovate strength training methods is unparalleled.

To this day I often refer to his book "Special Strength Development For All Sports," —a testament to a lifetime of research and application.

Louie looked at program design like a chemist looks at the Periodic Table and he treated it like an art form.

Funny little story...

For years Louie took his whole team to breakfast at Bob Evans near Westside Barbell.

Always paid the whole bill for everyone and any guests that happened to join them.

And in 2016 when I took a trip out to Ohio and step foot in WSBB I was lucky enough to share a meal with him and hitch a ride in his car.

I sent my wife this on the way to eat...

She replied with "please don't go dying on me now that your life's mission has been fulfilled."

👉 Chad Waterbury: The Full Body Advocate

Discovering Chad Waterbury's work was a turning point for me.

Chad has been a proponent of full-body training long before it became mainstream again.

His book, "Elite Physique," is a regular on my desk, dog-eared and annotated.

Chad drilled into me the significance of ‘high frequency’ training—for strength, for muscle, for life. It took me years to give his approach a real chance but obviously I eventually left my upper/lower split and went full steam ahead on full body.

👉 Joel Jamieson: The Conditioning Maestro

Joel is someone I owe a lot to in my understanding of conditioning.

Venturing way beyond traditional endurance training, Joel introduced cutting-edge strategies in his book "Ultimate MMA Conditioning", which completely shifted the way I approach cardiovascular fitness.

When I took what I learned from Joel and paired components of it with the Conjugate Method and some inspiration from CrossFit, my most popular program of all time was born: Conjugate X Conditioning.

👉 Charles Poliquin: The 'Strength Sensei'

Though no longer with us, Charles Poliquin's legacy lives on in the world of fitness. Widely known and respected, Charles's influence is sprawling, with the German Body Comp Program being a particular favorite of mine.

Poliquin was renowned for his expertise worldwide, having mentored over 800 Olympic athletes from more than 20 sports, ranging from weightlifting and the long jump to shot put and beyond.

His unique approach to training was unparalleled and fortunately we can all still benefit from his legacy of work today.

THE PUMP | THROWING SHADE AT SUNGLASSES

By Dani Brown

We are certainly in the minority here but...

Our family barely wears sunglasses,

even on the sunniest summer days.

Wearing sunglasses frequently can disrupt our body’s natural sun adaptation process

And many other necessary processes of the body...

Exposure to sunlight triggers melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) production, leading to melanin generation, which helps protect against sunburn by tanning the skin.

Natural sun protectant, how cool is the human body?

But wearing sunglasses inhibits this process, increasing your risk of burning.

Sunglasses also have severe affects on many other processes that should be happening in the human body.

>> Read more here, here and here.

Not that we don't own them or that we never wear them

But we make a habit of taking them off often and opting for a hat or shade.

Remember, just because it's mainstream doesn't mean it's safe.

THE COOL DOWN | A QUOTE

“Any exercise carried on beyond the least amount required to stimulate an optimal increase is not merely a waste of effort, it is actually highly counterproductive.”

– Mike Mentzer

COACHES NOTES | WE'RE MOVING!

We are nearing our official website move.

🚨Please, if you have a PDF program from JBC, download it and save it somewhere it will not be lost.

Our goal is to move every customer account over to the new site but we're playing it safe just in case and if you're actively using a program, we'd hate to have you unable to access your training session when you need it. So please do so as soon as possible.

If you need any assistance whatsoever, please email [email protected] and we'll get you sorted!

Lastly, we have a huge announcement next week inside of Fitness Programming Simplified so if you're a coach writing programs, you will not want to miss this!

Join 1800 other members in FPS here >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/jasonbrowncoaching