Ep. 417: Jamie Lewis on The Lost Art of Multi-Discipline Strength Training

The Hammer Cast

Get my 9-Minute Kettlebell & Bodyweight Challenge FREE here: http://www.9MinuteChallenge.com

I'm joined on this episode once again by one of my all-time favorite strength bloggers and the #1 all-around historian of strength training, Jamie Lewis.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why multi-discipline strength training (i.e. combining barbells, kettlebells, calisthenics, etc.) died out
• The value of bodyweight training as a discipline (as well as Jamie's new book, which you can get here: The Plague of Strength Bodyweight Blitz – Plague of Strength)
• The joys (or lack thereof) of living in Downingtown, PA
• Much, much more

Tune in, chill out, and enjoy.

On that note, if you like training that:

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As the name indicates, it’s just 9 minutes long, and it’s designed to be done WITH your current workouts – NOT instead of them.

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Chapters:

(04:55) My “dry” Hebraic wit.

(05:25) Jamie tries “Latkes” for the first time.

(06:35) People underestimate how “janky” Downingtown is.

(07:15) Aleks has been reading Jamie's page since 2011.

(07:55) Binge reading Jamie's blogs.

(08:25) Is Jamie’s writing style similar to Tucker Max’s? (Tucker Max @realtuckermax).

(09:15) “Blades of Glory” (2007 Movie). Remembering Chazz Michael Michaels.

(10:05) “The Sasquatch Gang” (2006 Movie).

(11:05) Jamie’s good taste in movies and humor.

(11:15) You have to read Jamie’s blog “Plague Of Strength” https://plagueofstrength.com/

(12:35) About Downingtown.

(13:15) On Black Friday, you can't even go to Downingtown, or leave Downingtown. It’s like DC traffic.

(14:05) Shout out to Rob Akers @akersofstrength_ts (Watch my previous interview with him here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz6lzduZbjA).

(14:15) This strict gym culture in America was amazing.

(14:35) If you leaned your plates against the bench for a second, he would suddenly appear behind you, punch you in the back of the head, drag you bodily out the gym, screaming, and then tear up your membership right there.

(15:55) Jamie tried all the San Diego gyms.

(16:15) Disneyland for lifters.

(17:40) Aleks was born in 1986.

(17:45) Smokey and the Bandit (1977 Movie).

(17:55) CANNONBALL RUN (1981 Movie).

(18:15) The 80s made no sense. Drunken driving was considered like “boys will be boys.”

(19:25) The 80s cars smelled like meth, alcohol, cigarettes, and sweating asses.

(20:25) Back then people smoked in the airplane.

(20:55) Jamie's dad was an investment banker.

(21:55) Jamie’s dad used to drink a handle of vodka on the flight from New York to Chicago and then drive to work.

(23:05) A complete freaking idiot until 32.

(23:55) Jamie has never smoked weed.

(24:15) “Complicated” (song by Avril Lavigne) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NPBIwQyPWE

(24:25) Stop acting like an idiot. The “philosopher” Avril Lavigne.

(25:15) Stupid things men do to impress women

(25:55) We live in a collective.

(26:35) Projecting your traumas on other people.

(27:05) I am a wordsmith.

(27:15) “People don't experience the world as it is, they experience the world as they are.” - Aleks Salkin @aleks_salkin

(28:05) Aleks is entering the enlightened part of his life.

(28:15) The social effects of COVID-19

(28:55) Learning how to overcome assumptions.

(29:45) “Omaha Elite Kettlebell” gym run by Scott Stevens @oekbjsstevens https://www.omahaelitekettlebell.com/

(30:45) About Taekwondo, Jiu Jitsu, MMA, and martial arts.

(32:35) These are the kinds of guys you don't want to fight because they don't have great stamina, they don't have great conditioning, but they're just so efficient at what they do that they don't even break a sweat while they wail on you.

(32:45) Georges St-Pierre’s coach (@georgesstpierre)

(33:40) Shout out to Bas Rutten @basruttenmma

(34:05) The most amazing physique in a fighter.

(34:15) Shout out to Ken Shamrock @kenshamrockofficial

(34:45) Old School BodyBuilding, powerlifting, and calisthenics.

(35:35) Back in the day, people just trained to look good.

(35:55) Bodybuilding and fighting?

(36:05) Evander Holyfield @evanderholyfield had Frederick Hatfield @drsquat1 as his strength coach.

(36:15) In wrestling, one of the big catalysts for conditioning is just brawling and that's something that MMA fighters train constantly.

(36:25) Shout out to Don Frye @donthepredatorfrye

(37:15) Jamie's fighting background.

(37:45) One fight with gloves on and one fight without gloves on.

(39:25) Don Frye vs Yoshihiro Takayama (2002 fight) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le69DBh7YwY

(39:55) It didn't feel like you were watching a sport. It felt like you were watching a backyard fistfight in a ring.

(41:15) “365 Days of Brutality” book by Jamie Lewis https://www.amazon.com/365-Days-Brutality-Anti-Programming-Manifesto/dp/1098582780

(42:05) “Kettlebell´s Secret Files” book by Jeronimo Milo @jeronimomilo

https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Jeronimo-Milo-ebook/dp/B09G4K9WV5

(43:15) It would have made my life easier if I had read that book before I tried to write some stuff that I've written.

(43:25) “The Plague Of Strength Bodyweight Blitz” book by Jamie Lewis https://plagueofstrength.com/downloads/the-plague-of-strength-bodyweight-blitz/

(43:35) We lost this tradition in the strength world: “The strength training world has become so fractured that now you are either a kettlebell guy or a bodyweight guy or a powerlifting guy or an Olympic lifting guy. But there was a time at which people did all of them. And anything that would get you stronger, or better conditioned, people would do it. It wasn't a matter of identity.” - Aleks Salkin @aleks_salkin

(44:05) “Back then, who you were, ended up being the person that you turned yourself into, it had nothing to do with the piece of equipment you attached yourself to.” - Aleks Salkin @aleks_salkin

(44:15) “People didn't lift weights for image back then, they lifted weights because they loved lifting weights.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(45:15) Interesting story about Arnold.

(45:25) Every bodybuilder was gay in the 1850s?

(46:05) Friedrich Ludwig Jahn the German “father of gymnastics”

(46:35) Rings and rope climbing were the way everybody got their biceps.

(47:05) “Now we don't do anything straight arms, ever. We're always told to do everything with soft arms and soft lockout, and we wonder why our shoulders and elbows are fucked up.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(47:15) This is the reason why people have “tennis elbow” now.

(48:05) Wrist flexibility.

(48:35) Not being able to do a full squat.

(48:45) Calisthenics were a huge part of maintaining mobility back then.

(49:35) “I'll do pull-ups even if I had no arms.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(50:25) “I needed a dude with a big white beard and some gigantic white eyebrows to just smack the shit out of me when I was 16 and said - stretch.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(50:55) The power of stretching.

(51:25) “Ninja Warrior” Game Show

(51:35) “If I had Ninja Warrior when I was a kid, I wouldn't fill up the entire screen right now. I would be so goddamn big.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(52:05) The benefits of weight lifting, added to calisthenics.

(52:25) “Whatever is going to get you stronger is what you should be doing.” - Aleks Salkin @aleks_salkin

(52:45) Benefits of high-rep calisthenics

(53:00) “If you can't put your hands flat on the ground because your wrists just won't even allow for it, you have some really serious issues.” - Aleks Salkin @aleks_salkin

(53:25) I had no balance

(54:10) “Working on your cardio it's not the same as working on your balance.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(55:05) I was voluntarily crippled.

(55:25) Work on your mobility balance in this simple way.

(55:45) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989 Movie)

(56:25) Does Jamie Hate Archeology Movies?

(56:50) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022 Movie)

(57:55) Aleks defending Indiana Jones.

(58:55) I’ll watch your stupid f*cking movie.

(59:15) I suggest you buy “The Plague Of Strength Bodyweight Blitz” book by Jamie Lewis https://plagueofstrength.com/downloads/the-plague-of-strength-bodyweight-blitz/

(1:00:25) “If I think I'm strong, I should be able to do a flag.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(1:00:55) “Strong is whatever I can't yet do. And if you want to get strong, you have to be able to not only make the weights defy gravity, but you also have to be able to make your body defy gravity.” - Aleks Salkin @aleks_salkin

(1:01:10) Shout out to Gillian Ward @gillianwardathlete

(1:02:35) One pull up, one push up, one dip.

(1:03:25) You do need to do cardio, run, and walk.

(1:04:05) Get a standing desk.

(1:04:25) Calisthenics can be done anywhere.

(1:04:45) “I reached my love for calisthenics while I was in jail.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(1:05:25) I squatted 500 with no warm-up, just from doing wall sits for three months all day, every day, and pull-ups and pushups.

(1:05:50) “Knuckle push-ups are a perfectly fine variation, but if you can't do them with your hands flat, you have to address that.” - Aleks Salkin @aleks_salkin

(1:07:00) “Once I fix my wrist, I will be chimpanzee strong.” - Jamie Lewis @plagueofstrength

(1:07:15) Sessions for risk rehab by Aleks Salkin

(1:08:35) Get “The Plague Of Strength Bodyweight Blitz” book by Jamie Lewis https://plagueofstrength.com/downloads/the-plague-of-strength-bodyweight-blitz/

(1:08:45) Most of Jamie’s writing is now on Instagram @plagueofstrength https://www.instagram.com/plagueofstrength/?hl=en

(1:09:45) Listen to Jamie’s new podcast “Prizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters” https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1697541036?ign-itscg=30200&ign-itsct=lt_p

(1:11:05) You definitely have a bigger “dick” than your ancestors.

(1:11:55) Say NO to “dick” implants.

(1:12:35) Love yourself the way you are.

(1:13:35) Between World War I and II, all the great lifters got old, starved, or the sports fell apart. It died a part of the strength culture.

(1:14:05) The benefits of wrestling for average people.

(1:15:35) Shout out to Jeronimo Milo @jeronimomilo