Exercise Substitutions on the Lean and Lethal Program

Hey James,

I just received High Tension Exercises for Muscular Growth for Christmas, and I like it a lot, so thanks! I also have 3 other books of yours, so I am a big fan.  

My question is would you recommend combining the more advanced or different pushup, pullup, and deadlift variations from your most recent book, with the MMA routine from Tactics and Strategies?  For example, instead of doing regular pushups in the MMA routine, could I replace them with one-handed pushups or side to side pushups? Could I replace regular pullups with sternum or side to side pull ups?  

You should probably also know that I am not doing MMA training other than your routine.  I just like the fact that your MMA routine is dense, quick, hits most major muscle groups and gives me some conditioning as well.  I'm a busy guy, so I like the MMA routine and wonder if it would be appropriate to make this routine even more challenging and beneficial by using higher tension exercises, such as those from your most recent book.  

Thanks,
M. Testa


My Answer: Thanks for purchasing my books!  I'm glad you enjoy the information in them.  It's perfectly fine to make exercise substitutions in the Lean and Lethal MMA strength program found in Tactics and Strategies.  You can perform the harder versions of pull-ups and push-ups found in High Tension Exercises for Muscular Growth, as long as you can perform more than 6 reps on these exercises.  The mini-circuits in the density phase require higher reps, so the calisthenics should act as active recovery exercises.  In the decompression phase, however, you can substitute a hard pull-up variation that puts you in the 5x5 range.

High Tension Exercises for Muscular Growth not only showcases challenging exercises that build muscle, but it also shows you how to combine these exercises to extend the muscular tension and ignite explosive size and strength.  Here's a triset that I like to employ from time to time to thicken up my quads: