FC Strength

Not too long ago I had the privilege of meeting two fellow coaches and strength fanatics who happened to have the same philosophy that I do when it comes to training.

We of course hit it off right away and have been in close contact ever since working on programming, training together, and throwing out ideas for future endeavors.

You've all met Bryan Tompkins whom I interviewed a little while back after deadlifting 3x his bodyweight during his first powerlifting meet. The other day I got the chance to sit down and chat a little with his super strong girlfriend, Jessica Del Barrio.

Here's how it went:


Jess, can you introduce yourself to the readers and tell them a little bit about what you do?

JDB: My name is Jessica Del Barrio and I'm a mom and a strength coach. I love strength training and helping other women get stronger.


So you train mostly women?

JDB: I train a couple of guys, but yes, I train mostly women and I love it.

I've had the privilege of working with some great clients over the years but things didn't always go as planned.

There were injuries, family commitments, sick children, school, work, vacations, and a plethora of other inconveniences that either put training on hold or just plain got in the way.

One thing that remained constant was their motivation.

What Is Motivation?

Motivation is many things to many people. There's no one word or singular definition to describe it.

Some people are motivated by events. Maybe there's a wedding, or a HS reunion, or the all important beach season is on its way.

Some people are motivated by performance. Perhaps they play college ball, or fight MMA, or just want to kick butt during pick-up games on the weekends.

In the previous article I discussed some easy-to-make, homemade tools you can put together in an afternoon to make training from home even more beneficial than training at one of those commercial gyms. The purpose was to give those with a tight budget some awesome alternatives to buying brand spanking new equipment.

In this post I'll cover some more home gym essentials for those who have the money to deck out a serious training cave.

Again, these are strictly essentials and in no way reflect the only options out there. My intent is to steer you all away from the BS and get you right into training as quickly and effectively as possible.

Option 2: Cha Ching

For those of you who can spend some actual moolah on some kick ass equipment, there are a few things you should keep in mind before deciding to splurge on every cool-looking thing in a store or online.

The first thing to remember is don't worry if it's brand new - sometimes. What I mean is the majority of the equipment I'm going to mention can easily be found on Craigslist and can be picked up nearby. It probably won't be shiny and without wear but it'll get the job done and will be a lot cheaper than

I often get asked whether or not it's possible to get lean, mean, and brutally strong without having a gym membership?

Well I'm here to tell you it's easily MORE beneficial to train at home than in a fancy shmancy commercial gym.

In fact, in this post I'm going to outline exactly what you need to start your own kick ass garage gym and make the greatest gains in strength, muscle building, and athleticism you ever have in your entire life!!

When setting out to create a workout haven for yourself you need to capitalize on what you'll actually need. That means stop drooling over the shiny equipment that the commercial gyms have and think about what really matters - results. So, our set-up will include nothing but the bare essentials. However, I will provide 2 options: one for those with a tight budget and one for those with a little extra scrilla to spare.

So let's get started ...

Option 1: Tight Budget

Here we go again. Summer is approaching with the weather getting warmer and people getting their lazy asses back into the gym to try and look good for the beach. How cliche. Had these sheeple only known that if they kept training year-round they wouldn't have to crash diet and kill themselves just to look good for 3 months. The only thing worse than the its-almost-summer-crowd is the way they train. You know who they are: the pumpers, toners, and spot reducers. The ones who do an hour worth of the butt blaster, or eighty different variations of biceps curls, or try to convince you that if they do cardio and triceps extensions they'll lose that jiggly looking thing under their arms. They never get any stronger or build any kind of usable muscle.

This brings me to my point: stop training for aesthetics and start training for performance!!


Do you think that MMA fighters, wrestlers, pro footballers, or rugby players really care if they have perfectly sculpted physiques? I don't think so. They're more worried about being able to perform at the highest level in their chosen sport. They don't go into the gym and think about how they can take away their love handles or bring up their chesticles. They go into each and every training session with one thing in mind: PERFORMANCE. The cool thing about it is they become more aesthetically appealing in the process. But don't be fooled, they look like they can perform because they actually CAN perform.

Training Like An Athlete