Jason Ferruggia is one of the most highly sought after fitness experts in the world. Never one to bite his tongue or hold anything back, he has developed a reputation as the most controversial and outspoken man in the entire fitness industry.

For over a decade Jason has provided hundreds of clients with cutting edge training programs that never fail to produce outstanding results in record time. He has trained over 500 athletes from nearly 20 different sports and is renowned for his ability to rapidly increase muscular size, speed, strength, and overall performance.

Thirteen years of education, ‘in the trenches’ experience and the ability to consistently deliver incomparable results has earned Jason Ferruggia the reputation as one of the very best fitness experts in the world today.

P1: Hey Jason, first of all thank you for taking time out of your schedule to talk with us. Of course, we know who you are, but can you let the readers know who is Jason Ferruggia and why we need to stop and without a doubt take notice? Let the readers know about your background (degrees, certifications, school of hard knox, etc.)

JF: I have been working in this field for 14 years as a professional fitness coach. I ran my own private training facility in New Jersey for ten years where I trained over 700 high school, college and pro athletes. I also consult for various college and pro teams and organizations.

Currently I am the head writer for Men’s Fitness magazine where I also have my own column each month called The Hard-Gainer. Men’s Health, Maximum Fitness, MMA Sports Mag, Muscle and Fitness Hers and Shape are some other magazines that I write for as well.

I started doing what I do now during my sophomore year of college. That was when I got my first personal training certification. For the next few years I worked at the school weight room and interned with some of the biggest names in the business at the time. I opened my own facility shortly after and within a few months was jam packed with clients. For the next ten years I spent 10-12 hours a day training clients, helping them get bigger, stronger, faster and leaner.

P1: How have your degrees and certifications helped advance your professional career?
JF: To be honest, they really haven’t helped all that much. Every piece of useful information I have ever learned in this field has come from experience of through talking to guys with more experience than I have. Like everything in life, experience is what really counts. From all my vast experience I was able to become fairly good at what I do and that led to more success than any degrees or certifications ever could have.

P1: You are known as the GO TO guy in order to ‘GET JACKED’. What would you consider the three most important things athletes need to remember when trying to add muscle, especially for their pre-season program?

JF: Train heavy and hard but don’t overdo it. This is important for athletes to remember, especially, because they have to do a lot of other preparation besides that which they do in the weight room. So, for this reason, they are at a greater risk than the average person is, to fall into a state of overtraining.

Next would be nutrition. Eating is critically important to help you build muscle. Again, if we are dealing with an athlete, this is even more important because they are burning a lot of calories from all of the training they need to do.

Recovery and regeneration is next on the list. You have to get adequate sleep and rest if you want to grow optimally.

P1: Explain some important nutritional factors to those athletes that want to gain muscle but not lose speed?

JF: You have to eat a lot, but you have to eat the right foods at the right times. If you gain bodyfat you will lose speed; if you gain muscle without gaining bodyfat, you will not lose speed. To do this you need to avoid sugar and saturated fat; especially the combination of the two. Also, most of your carbs should come around training time meaning pre workout, possibly during your workout and immediately after your workout. Insulin sensitivity is lower at night so it is a good idea to avoid carbs at night also, unless you happen to train at night.

P1: What would an average pre-season strength training program for a week look like for one of your athletes?

JF: The beginners would usually do three full body workouts and run another two or three days per week. More advanced guys will usually have two upper body workouts (one heavy, strength day and one lighter hypertrophy day) and one lower body day. They will do speed work and possibly plyos twice per week. They will also sprint with a sled, push the Prowler or do some other kind of strongman conditioning on another day.

P1: Could you give some advice to those athletes and trainers that are just beginning a structured weight program?

JF: Stick with the basics. You only need 3-5 exercises for a few sets each, three days per week. Don’t try anything fancy and be sure to make slow and gradual progress always trying to add weight to the bar.

P1: How often during the week would you suggest that field sport athletes train speed and agility?

JF: Twice for most athletes. Younger, less experienced, weaker guys could get away with three times if they really wanted but most people don’t need more than two sessions.

P1: Can you give us an example of a typical pre-season speed and agility workout for a field sport athlete?

JF: We would start with a typical dynamic warm up consisting of some mobility drills and low intensity jumps and things like that. Then we would possibly move into some plyos, always being sure to keep the volume pretty low. After that would come the true speed work. For true speed work we keep the distances fairly short and the rest periods fairly long. Some people break up linear and change of direction work into two different days but I don’t think that’s necessary. The last time I checked you ran straight ahead and changed directions in the same game. The total volume is kept low so that the quality of training can remain high.

P1: How do you monitor the intensity of your workouts and can you talk to us about the importance of recovery?

JF: All of my workouts, both in the weight room and on the field, are low volume by most people’s standards. Right off the bat, this enhances recovery and limits the possibility of overtraining. I try to make sure that my guys don’t go absolutely balls out to failure and beyond on every set that they do. But there is a fine line there when you are dealing with athletes because you have to instill that sense of competition into the workouts. So I try to hold guys back on occasion but for the most part they have to compete and feel like they are working harder than their competition. For them to do this and not over train, the volume has to be very low.

Recovery is very important and begins immediately after the workout ends with a good post workout meal. This can be a shake, a meal or a jug of chocolate milk; I don’t care as long as you get some protein and carbs in. Aside from that you need to be sure you are stretching, icing, getting massages if possible and sleeping properly. A foam roller and ART treatments can help as well.

P1: Jason we often see your articles in numerous publications. What advice would you give to anyone interested in writing articles for a major publication?

JF: Start writing for websites and try to get your name out as much as possible. Like anything in life, you have to practice so just keep writing as often as you can. Contact different websites and tell them you would be interested in contributing. Eventually someone will bite. From there you just need to continue along that path and then eventually contact people from the magazines.

P1: Who has influenced you the most in your professional career and what did you learn from them?

JF: Too many people to name but I owe a lot to Alwyn Cosgrove and Dave Tate. They are two great friends who helped me out tremendously.

P1: What new projects can we expect from you in the future and where can we find them?

JF: I just finished up a new book with Penguin Publishing which will be out in late winter. I will be shooting some DVD’s in the fall also. Other than that, my newest project is Muscle Gaining Secrets which is available at http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/ .

Thanks for the opportunity to speak to your readers today. If anyone has any questions they can contact me at Info@Relentless-Athletics.com.

Jason, thank you for making a difference in the strength and conditioning community!

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