Please note though, I don’t know Adam from, uh, Adam, so I am not claiming any special insights here…

***

1. The Investments Series – Adam wrote a series of articles for Straight to the Bar in which he described the basic lifts that he believes are essential for any lifter, regardless of their goals.  It’s a great series that really makes you think about what you are trying to achieve with your lifting.

- Investments 1 – the Zercher Squat and Suitcase Deadlift

- Investments 2 – the Turkish Get Up and the Halo

- Investments 3 – the Jump Stretch Band Crush Lift

- Investments 4 – the Plate Curl and the Hot Potato

- Investments 5 – the RKC Arm Bar

- Investments 6 – the Hammer Curl, Pistol and Sandbag Bear Hug

Regular Garage Gym goers will be surprised by the lack of the competitive power-lifts: the standard (or sumo) deadlift, bench press and back squat.  Also conspicuous by their absence are the standard assistance lifts: rack pulls, good mornings, box squats, front squats, floor presses and board presses.  Fans of the Olympic lifts will note that there are no snatches, cleans, jerks or variants.

As a huge fan of bodyweight exercises, I am slightly put out by the lack of pull-ups and dips.   I concede that not everyone is designed to dip but I would definitely stick my chin out on the pull up.  Maybe one day I will do my own investments series.  But first, I need to invest a bit more!

After re-reading the series again prior to writing this post, I remembered a post on Mike The Machine Bruce where he describes a linear progression routine for added mass.  That routine was:

- Deadlifts 5 x 5

- Pull ups with weight 5 x 5

- Dips with weight 5 x 5

- Shrugs 5 x 5

- Swings 5 x 5

Leaving aside my thoughts on the details of Mike’s programme and with the caveat that Mike’s routine is couched as a mass-gainer and not an Investments in Strength routine, it is interesting to note his emphasis on bodyweight plus weight exercises over Adam’s more revolutionary choices.

2. Interviews by Josh Hanagarne – this blog post on World’s Strongest Librarian has links to all parts of Josh’s interview with Adam.  It also promises a review of Josh’s upcoming week of training with Adam, which will be compulsive reading for me and many others, I have no doubt.

3. My Thoughts on Strength – this article by Adam on Dragondoor is the best advocate of consistency, time and hard work that I have read.

4. Leverage lifts – this article is just brilliant.  I would add the shovel deadlift, Thor’s hammer, and the front lever and planche progressions to this great list of innovative exercises.  What’s more, they require very little equipment.  What more could a Garage Gym goer require?

5. Adam’s taste in music – a lot of people underestimate the importance of good training environment.  Music is a big part of that environment for me and Disturbed is undoubtedly the best music to listen to while you are hitting the iron hard.

Just writing this has inspired me to mess around with some leverage lifting (and I confess, I went downstairs and tried some plate curls halfway through a paragraph).  You’ll see the results in my next workout plan on Friday.  I hope you find Adam as motivating as I do…