| | | The Magic behind Jacked Street’s PUMP Cycle

Author / John

3 - 4 minute read

Big things are popping on Jacked Street. In a literal sense, Jacked Street is one of our epic daily training programs. But ask any “resident” of Jacked Street if it’s “just a program” and they’ll hit you with a double overhead bicep pose that will knock your socks off, and show you a laundry list of PR’s to boot. The current cycle, PUMP, features Blood Flow Restriction training, John’s Jacked Street Clusters, and a handful of testing days.

Quick Reference

Blood Flow Restriction Training

For the uninitiated, Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training is a pretty advanced training technique. Strap yourself in… Here’s how it works.

Step 1 – Strangle your arms and/or legs with fancy BFR straps or cuffs
Step 2 – Hit and repeat a combo of upper and/or lower accessory work for a given time interval, making sure you’re taking every set to failure
Step 3 – Survive the pump
Step 4 – Put on a tight t-shirt and go to the club

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9StSVElw6Z/

Okay, that’s a bit over simplified and not totally accurate, but it’s pretty damn close. We have a few headier articles linked in the recommended reading below. BFR does require special equipment to optimally pull off that come in two forms. One is adjustable elastic straps as shown above, the other bladder based air compression cuffs as shown below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B65195dDw7V/

You firmly apply the bands/cuffs to the proximal part of your arms/legs then cinch up the straps or use a hand pump for the cuffs to achieve the desired compression level. The goal is to cut off or restrict the blood flow out of the arms/legs while still allowing fresh blood to continue to flow into the limbs during the training interval. As you blast your reps to failure blood will pool in your arm/leg and all sorts of magic happens. I’ll leave those details for the linked articles below.

It sounds crazy, and looks risky, but it’s safe when you do it right. And it’s crazy effective. But what’s most noticeable is the epic pump that comes along with the training. That’s why, in this cycle, this training block is referred to as “PUMP WORK”.

For residents who don’t have the straps, John is prescribing an “internal BFR” option, which is a “cuffless” option for the BFR work by putting athletes in positions with closed joint angles to help pool blood between sets, he’s calling it the “hover”. It’s the bottom of a push up for the upper body work, and a bottom squat hold for the lower body work. The goal is for the closed joint angles to restrict the ability for blood to flow out of the limbs, but still allow blood to flow in, just like the straps/cuffs do when applied to the arms/legs.

Jacked Street Clusters

Let’s dig into Jacked Street Clusters, shall we? These consist of pairing big barbell lifts with a compound accessory lift. A staple Jacked Street Cluster is:

5 Rounds for Time
Back Squats
Vertical Pulls

Squats are typically prescribed as doubles and singles, and the loading will increase from ~80% to 95% as the cycle progresses. Vertical pulls typically show up as pull ups or chin ups, and reps will hover around 5 – 8 reps per set. John will typically set this for time; the goal is to whip around some heavy weight really fast and smash some accessory work with the high heart rate that results from the big lift.

The World’s Most Muscular DJ

It’s also not uncommon for John to anoint a training anthem for certain cycles. The anthem this cycle is a ballad by Power Athlete Radio alumni, and the world’s most muscular DJ, DJ Muscle boy. The track is aptly named PUMP, and is quite possibly one of my favorite music videos of all time; okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s most definitely in the top 10.

More About Jacked Street

Jacked Street is a training program for intermediate to advanced athletes looking to transform their physique. John Welbourn, 10-Year NFL starter and Founder of Power Athlete, exposes residents of Jacked Street to the tried and true training and accessory work that had him walking into training camp at 8% body fat tipping the scale at 308 pounds his 4th year in the NFL.

Cycles are typically written in 6 week training blocks, with occasional 1 – 2 week “reload” weeks that offer loyal residents an optional deload from the training.

Do you like what you’re reading here? Thinking you want to pay rent on Jacked Street?

Click here to start your 7 day risk free trial.

New to Jacked Street?

Are you a resident of Jacked Street? Well la-di-freaking da! Get to work and start paying rent!

If you are new to Jacked Street, always follow as current in every cycle as possible. Never go back in time and start from day one of the cycle unless John explicitly says so. Training current with the rest of the residents is absolutely paramount.

If you miss a day, it’s gone. Just jump on and get current.

If you will ALWAYS miss a day, like a Tuesday, shift, alternate, and rearrange your training days accordingly to ensure you are not always missing Tuesday’s in the cycle. i.e. hit Tuesday on one week and skip a Wednesday. Then skip Tuesday the next week and hit Wednesday. Then skip Thursday and hit a Tuesday the week after that. This is just an example.

If you need to sub a movement because of issues with equipment availability, space, injury/dysfunction, or skill level, then tap on the movement in your app at select Swap Exercise from the menu.

Still have questions? Feel free to hit up your “neighbors” for suggestions on any of this in the training feed in the TrainHeroic app.

For those on Jacked Street who have been smashing PUMP, how are you liking it so far? Let us know in the comments.

RELATED CONTENT:

BLOG: OCCLUSION TRAINING 101
BLOG: OCCLUSION TRAINING 102: APPLICATIONS
BLOG: LEANING ON JACKED STREET
TRAINING: JACKED STREET

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AUTHOR

John

John Welbourn is CEO of Power Athlete and Fuse Move. He is also creator of the online training phenomena, Johnnie WOD. He is a 9 year veteran of the NFL. John was drafted with the 97th pick in 1999 NFL Draft and went on to be a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2003, appearing in 3 NFC Championship games, and for starter for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2004-2007. In 2008, he played with the New England Patriots until an injury ended his season early with him retiring in 2009. Over the course of his career, John has started over 100 games and has 10 play-off appearances. He was a four year lettermen while playing football at the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Rhetoric in 1998. John has worked with the MLB, NFL, NHL, Olympic athletes and Military. He travels the world lecturing on performance and nutrition for Power Athlete. You can catch up with John as his personal blog on training, food and life, Talk To Me Johnnie and at Power Athlete.

1 Comment

  1. Bobby Walker on March 13, 2020 at 7:59 pm

    Great content! JS resident, loving the PUMP cycle. My first encounter with BFR work and it’s been a blast… somewhat literally. By the time The PUMP is over, the arms and quads feel ready to burst…. in a good way. I’m very happy I found Power Athlete and hopped onto the Jack Street Programming!

    Thanks PAHQ Team.

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