When you want to get better at deadlifting, you need to deadlift more. Seems like a no brainer, but sometimes you miss the obvious. However, when working with weights over 90 percent of your 1-rep max, ... Continue Reading
EMOM vs Timed Circuits: The Best Ways for Athletes to Burn Fat
When you’re trying to lean out or just looking to drop a few pounds, a lot of people head for the cardio machines and not the weights. However, with a few slight programming tweaks — like shortening ... Continue Reading
Pin Press Guide – Form, Muscles Worked, and Variations
Building a stronger bench is often at the top of every powerlifting and strength athlete. When looking at isolating weaknesses in the bench press, lifters can break down the individual angles and muscle ... Continue Reading
Best Lifting Belts
BarBend HQ has been on a quest to find the best lifting belt for every type of strength athlete. Our mission through multiple sweaty – often heavy – gym sessions was to provide you with direction when ... Continue Reading
Best Healthy Snacks
Snacking is different for everyone. Some people may prefer a salty and crunchy snack, whereas others may crave sweet and chewy morsels. Luckily, there are endless snack options on the web that make ... Continue Reading
Why Tennis Players Should Lift Weights (Plus Two Free Workouts)
Long ago strength training for tennis wasn’t in vogue, even among the professional players. Even the great John McEnroe (winner of the US Open in 1979, 80, 81, and 84), famously avoided strength ... Continue Reading
Performance Lab Whole Food Multi Review – Vitamins From Whole Foods?
How do you get a whole food-based multivitamin? They're not steaming vegetables and putting them into capsules; the process behind Performance Lab's Whole Food Multi is actually far more complicated. The ... Continue Reading
Can You Squat and Deadlift Heavy Without Getting a Thick Waist?
"I’m training for a physique contest and I don’t want to wreck my aesthetics with a bulky waist, so I don’t squat or deadlift heavy." I’m sure you’ve heard that — or some variation on the “do squats and ... Continue Reading
3 Hotel Workouts for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Lifters
Training while traveling. For some, this can be the difference between improving their fitness, losing the last few pounds, and helping keep them sane as they take on life and business stress. It’s no ... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Improve HRV (Heart Rate Variability) (Brought to You by WHOOP)
Heart rate variability (HRV) is a fantastic tool for athletes to use to assess readiness and recovery. Everyone has a baseline HRV number, which serves as a suggestion for how physically ready one is to ... Continue Reading
No Squat Rack? Here Are 5 Leg Exercises to Perform In a Smith Machine
Barbell squats, deadlifts, and lunges are staples of any leg day. But what happens when you find yourself with only a Smith machine? The Smith machine, while not truly a free weight movement, can offer an ... Continue Reading
What Is Heart Rate Variability? How to Use and Monitor HRV (Brought to You by WHOOP)
Over the last five years, heart rate variability (HRV) has grown in popularity as a useful tool for assessing recovery and training readiness. If you’re new to the concept of HRV and how it can translate ... Continue Reading
Best Compression Socks: For Runners, Workers, and More
Compression socks may help improve blood circulation and assist recovery, and they can be a stylish addition to any active wardrobe. Popular among athletes and people who work jobs that require them to be ... Continue Reading
Squats Causing You Low Back Pain? Try This Unilateral Leg Workout
Ah, the pains of low back pain. You set up under the barbell, get tight, unrack, and physically feel those vertebrae compressing under the weight. Sometimes it’s not even an injury; sometimes, no matter ... Continue Reading
15 Steps to Nailing Your First Powerlifting Meet
At my first powerlifting competition, I bombed. This means that I wasn’t able to complete at least one attempt of either the squat, bench press, or deadlift. In my case, it was the bench press, which was ... Continue Reading
5 Overhead Press Mistakes, Why They Happen, and How to Fix Them
The overhead press is a compound upper body movement that develops serious strength and mass. Powerlifters, strongman athletes, weightlifters, and general fitness-goers alike will benefit from including ... Continue Reading
Is Technology Hurting Or Helping Your Training? 4 Rules to Help You Decide
If you’re anything like me, you have a pretty set routine that you follow before you begin training. I like to get to the gym, spend a few minutes chatting to help rid myself of the pre-workout jitters, ... Continue Reading
Bench Press Vs Push-Up: Which Is Best for Strength, Mass, and Power?
Bench press or push-ups? Which is best for developing upper body strength and muscle mass? Many lifters would probably agree that the bench press is King for these goals, however, some research suggests ... Continue Reading
3 Types of Workouts That Help Powerlifters to Improve Work Capacity
As a powerlifter, my main concern is getting stronger. And as a human who’d like to live a real long time, my main concern is developing cardio capacity that’ll keep my heart doing its thing long enough ... Continue Reading
Study: Fruits and Vegetables May Help Switch Off Genes Responsible for Obesity
A new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is giving some weight to the old adage that “Nobody got fat eating too much broccoli.” OK, fruits and vegetables contain calories and ... Continue Reading
What Vegan Strongman Patrik Baboumian Eats in a Day
Strongman Patrik Baboumian's diet looks completely different than that of your typical strongman. When most of the world's strongest men are consuming copious amounts of meat and eggs, Baboumian could not ... Continue Reading
Hadi Choopan Wins Vancover Pro Bodybuilding Competition
There was a lot of buzz leading up to the Vancouver Pro about one bodybuilder in particular. Hadi Choopan is from Iran and has been unable to compete in the United States because of travel and visa ... Continue Reading
Bodybuilder Shawn Rhoden Banned from Olympia
On July 12th, The Deseret News reported that 2018 Mr. Olympia Shawn Rhoden has been charged with one count of rape, one count of object rape, and one count of forcible sexual abuse in the state of Utah. ... Continue Reading
The History of Vince Gironda, Low Carb Pioneer and Bodybuilding Great
Entering a North Hollywood gym, a six foot European bodybuilder, soon to become one of the sport’s greatest ever athletes, is told that he looks like a ‘fat f***’. Cue gasps: a young Vince Gironda had just ... Continue Reading