For many athletes, being a CrossFitter is about group fitness. It means showing up at your box, having the WOD (workout of the day) explained to you by a coach, and getting after it with your fellow gym ... Continue Reading
The Best Pre-Workout Ingredients for Focus
When it comes to crushing your workouts, it takes a balance of energy, intention, determination, and focus to make it happen. For many, focus can be difficult to tap into and maintain throughout ... Continue Reading
The Best Natural Pre-Workout Ingredients to Look for and What to Avoid
Your weightlifting shoes are in your bag and you’re crossing your fingers that nobody will be doing biceps curls in the squat rack when you get to the gym. You’re amped up and ready to go — and you want to ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Romanian Deadlift: Form, Benefits, and Variations
The Romanian deadlift (RDL) should be a staple in (almost) everyone’s workout program. Whether your goals align with physique development, enhancement of athletic performance, or general health, we think ... Continue Reading
Learn the Reverse Crunch to Fire Up Your Core Training
The reverse crunch is a very popular core exercise — and with good reason. It is a great beginner-friendly core move that can easily cater to more advanced athletes, too. While mainly targeting the ... Continue Reading
These Are the 10 Best Dumbbell Exercises for Bodybuilding
Bodybuilders work with whatever equipment they have to in order to build muscle. Some prefer the barbell for its high loading capacity; others rightfully revere the cable tree for its constant tension and ... Continue Reading
How to Do a Side Plank, With Alternatives and Benefits
Figuring out how to train your abs can be a toughie. It can be tricky to train all of your abdominal muscles in one workout in a way that's efficient. That's where the side plank comes in. Much like the ... Continue Reading
The 10 Best Barbell Biceps Exercises to Boost Your Arm Size and Pulling Strength
The word biceps may well invoke thoughts of watching your biceps swell in the mirror with every rep. Whether you want bulging shirt sleeves or just a strong pair of biceps to bolster your pulling strength, ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Step-Up for Next-Level Leg Gains
You can train your legs in a variety of ways. Squat, pull, lunge, thrust, work on two legs; balance on one. When you lace up your cross-trainers to hit the gym and build your wheels, the movements that go ... Continue Reading
Learn the Cable Pullover for Developing Bigger Lats and Stronger Pulls
Regardless of whether you are a bodybuilder, strength athlete, or general gymgoer, the cable pullover is a great lat isolation exercise. This variation of the dumbbell pullover relies on using a cable ... Continue Reading
The 11 Best Swiss Bar Exercises for Shoulder-Friendly Lifting
Working with a barbell fast-tracks your strength and muscle-building goals. They’re versatile and allow you to load a ton of weight so you can train for maximum strength. But the thing about barbells is ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Reverse Pec Deck — Tips, Tricks, & Variations
No, they’re not using it wrong. If you’ve ever seen someone sitting backward on the pec deck machine at your gym, know that they aren’t practicing their breaststroke; they're training the upper back and ... Continue Reading
Master the Leg Curl for Stronger Hamstrings and Heavier Deadlifts
Free weights generally reign supreme when it comes to the big lower body moves like the squat and deadlift. Don’t be so quick to dismiss machines, though. When you need to target specific muscle groups ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Triceps Kickback for Thicker Arms and a Stronger Lockout
Your bench press has stalled, and your overhead press just won’t lock out — no matter how much you try. When you reach a certain level in your training, chest and shoulder strength just aren’t going to cut ... Continue Reading
Do the Bulgarian Split Squat for Brutal Leg Gains
How do you train legs? Most people perform some type of squat at some point during their lower-body workouts. But the popularity of the squat doesn’t answer that question; it poses new ones. If ... Continue Reading
Use the Hammer Strength® Row to Nail Your Back Workouts
Most commercial gyms come with a wide assortment of exercise machines. If you’re brand new to lifting weights, so many options can certainly be intimidating. You need to know which stations will serve your ... Continue Reading
Do the Incline Dumbbell Curl to Double Down on Your Arm Gains
Your arm workouts aren’t supposed to be a walk in the park. Growing your guns takes focus, grit, work ethic, and, maybe more than anything, the right exercises. By its very design, the incline ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Close-Grip Pulldown — Variations, Benefits, and More
Pulldowns, pull-ups, row horizontally, row while standing upright, row while inverted. Your back is one of the most versatile muscle groups you have…but that doesn’t necessarily make optimal lat training ... Continue Reading
How to Nail the Lying Leg Curl to Build and Sculpt Your Hamstrings
Some muscles are easier to isolate than others. Your biceps come to the party every time you perform a row or pull-up whether you like it or not, after all. When it comes to building your legs, ... Continue Reading
The Complete Guide to Reverse Pyramid Training for Strength and Muscle
There are many ways to skin a cat in the iron game. Trying to build strength, muscle, or even endurance can allow for a diverse range of training protocols suited to your needs and your training ... Continue Reading
How to Perform a Picture-Perfect Sit-Up for Stronger Abs
Chances are you probably did sit-ups way back in gym class, long before you ever thought about developing your core musculature or picking up a barbell to gain strength. The classic sit-up, ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Cable Crossover for a Bigger, Buffer Chest
The bench press may not be your best bet for big pecs. Make no mistake, barbells are fantastic tools for getting stronger and gaining muscle. They don’t need to be the start and end of your exercise ... Continue Reading
The Guide to Arm Training for Powerlifters
Powerlifting is a quantitative sport. In some ways, it’s more about mathematics than muscularity. However, modern powerlifting has started to look beyond the amount of weight on the barbell as the only ... Continue Reading
How to Do Crunches: Proper Form, Variations, & Benefits
Some people love them while others absolutely hate them. Crunches may be one of the most contentious ab exercises out there. The caution about crunches is understandable — if you only focus on this move, ... Continue Reading