John Cena was recently on the Today Show talking fitness and workouts you can do at home. He was leading three trainees through various workouts and showing them how to perform bodyweight ... Continue Reading
This Strength Athlete Crushes Workouts and Inspires With One Arm
We can't always choose the cards life deals us. Nor can we change events that happen in our lives that change us forever, but we can choose how we live our lives after. Victor Hugo Castro Assaf is the ... Continue Reading
What to Eat Before an Olympic Weightlifting Meet
What you eat before you exercise should depend on what kind of exercise you’re doing. If you’re doing a medium- to high-rep functional fitness workout, L-citrulline might be useful. Powerlifters ... Continue Reading
Training Masters Fitness Athletes: Lessons on Goals, Volume, and Intensity
As functional fitness training continues to grow into 2017, the number of participants aged 50+ also continues to rise. Whether they be former athletes, or your average weekend warrior, it is important to ... Continue Reading
5 Reasons Functional Fitness Athletes Can Benefit from “Formal” Weightlifting
Being a weightlifting coach at a premiere CrossFit® gym in New York City, I have had the opportunity to work with many members and drop-ins from all over the globe, who in one way or another have embraced ... Continue Reading
You Can Vote for the IWF’s Weightlifter of the Year
The International Weightlifting Federation has officially opened up their voting process for the World Weightlifting's Best Lifter of the Year 2016, and you, fellow fan of weightlifting, are eligible to ... Continue Reading
10 Rules for the Aspiring Strongman
Strongman is a tough sport, and the dropout rate reflects that. It’s such a shame to see a talented athlete fall to the wayside either through injury or losing interest after a bad comp. But it doesn’t ... Continue Reading
Murph In Space: How This Astronaut Does CrossFit Workouts In Orbit
If you want to be an astronaut, you don't just need a science background and a thousand hours of pilot time in a jet aircraft—you need to train legs. BarBend was lucky enough to sit down with U.S. Air ... Continue Reading
NOBULL Gives Sneak Peek of Their Two New Lifting Shoes
NOBULL is best known for their cross training shoes and their old school-esque lifters. Their shoes grew quickly in popularity largely due to members of the functional fitness community who ... Continue Reading
How Long Should You Rest Between Sets? What the Science Suggests
It's generally understood that rest time is dependent on type of exercise, training goal, and rep scheme. For example, heavier multi-joint exercises with low-reps receive longer rest, while ... Continue Reading
The Strongman’s Guide to Hand Care and Maintenance
All strength sports have one unifying factor: they rely almost entirely upon healthy hands. Without them, the show just cannot go on, regardless of how much you want it to. The most common injury, of ... Continue Reading
How to Keg Toss Like Thor
“It’s such a fun event because there aren't a lot of times you get to throw something under technique and control, but also as hard as humanly possible.” In a nutshell, that’s the keg toss: the rarest ... Continue Reading
72-Year Old Fred Rice Deadlifts 520lbs for His 72nd Birthday
The deadlift is such a fantastic lift. It's the type of lift that shows the true grit and strength someone possesses. Whether someone's a deadlifter or not, there always seems to be a respect that ... Continue Reading
3 Arm Workouts for Weightlifters and Functional Fitness Athletes
In an earlier article I made my case for the programming of arm training (specifically biceps) in strength and power athletes. In weightlifting and functional fitness programming, arm-specific exercises ... Continue Reading
Nike, Reebok, Adidas: 2017 New Shoe Release Roundup
In the last two months Nike, Reebok, and Adidas have all released new cross trainers and lifting shoes. In the lead up to each shoe's release, there were multiple rumored shoe speculations, ... Continue Reading
Why It’s So Hard to Nail the Hammer Throw
The Highland Games hold a special place in the strength athlete’s heart. They’re not the most widely covered or best-attended events on Earth but, like a Jurassic mosquito frozen in amber, they’re a ... Continue Reading
3 Reasons Why Weightlifters Can Benefit from the Behind the Neck Push Press
In the world of weightlifting, coaches and athletes have a plethora of snatch, clean, and jerk variations, each of which can be used to address specific weakness and/or faults a lifter may possess. In an ... Continue Reading
The Practical Applications of Using Complex Training to Increase Power
Strength athletes require two key aspects (among others of course) for success in their lifting: Strength & Power. Unfortunately, there's often a confusion that surrounds training ... Continue Reading
The Jefferson Deadlift: Why Straddling the Bar Could Get You Stronger
Sometimes, the weirdest-looking exercises can be the most useful, and the Jefferson deadlift is the perfect example. It’s weird. There’s about a one hundred percent chance you’ll attract looks in the ... Continue Reading
9 Mesmerizing Lifting Equipment Drop Tests Worth Watching
I've now spent roughly 30-minutes of my day watching lifting equipment drop tests (don't tell my boss, but day well spent). This is all thanks to Eleiko for sharing their most recent B&R Half Rack drop ... Continue Reading
How Compound Interest Can Amplify Your Strength Gains
Compound interest is one of the most powerful forces in the economic world. On average, you can expect to double your money in about six years in the stock market. When you leave your cash in a sock ... Continue Reading
4 Nutrients Strength Athletes Need More Of After Age 50
Thanks to advances in nutrition and exercise science, strength athletes are able to stay strong and functional for far longer than they ever could before. But just as we need to alter our mobility ... Continue Reading
This Country Just Voted Weightlifters As Athlete of the Year
It’s always nice to see the sport of Olympic weightlifting being celebrated on a national level, and after Lasha Talakhadze delivered one of the greatest weightlifting performances of all ... Continue Reading
How To Use SMART Goals To Make 2017 Your Strongest Year Yet
The start of a new year adds an extra degree of excitement behind the goals we set. A new year means a fresh start, which means there's a better chance of no initial mishaps to stall progress, aka a clean ... Continue Reading