The Naked Warrior: Master the Secrets of the super-Strong--Using Bodyweight Exercises Only

Expert performers use full body tension as a lens to focus their energy into the primary muscles responsible for the job. So feel all your muscles, not just one.

I will restate my ‘iron communist’ views: 1. You must lift heavy. 2. You must limit your reps to five. 3. You must avoid muscle failure. 4. You must cycle your loads. 5. You must stay tight. Tension is power. 6. You must treat your strength as a skill and ‘practice’ with iron rather than ‘work out’. 7. You must strive to do fewer things better.

High tension training has five key conditions: 1) slow exercise performance; 2) maximizing muscular tension, or ‘flexing’, regardless of the weight used; 3) employing heavy, 85-95% of one’s maximum, weights at least some of the time; 4) minimizing fatigue; 5) taking advantage of various neurological phenomena.

The lift should be initiated by the hips and thighs and finished with the assistance of the low back muscles. Stabilizing the weight and controlling one’s body position also calls upon the traps, scapulae retractors, lats, forearms, and hamstrings.”