Dieting and exercising for weight loss is seldom as fun as trying to gain weight. A lot of smart coaches advise that if you’ve been competing for less than a year, you shouldn’t cut at all — you ... Continue Reading
Does Your Menstrual Cycle Affect Your Lifts?
Few would argue that the hormonal changes that correlate with the menstrual cycle can have some pretty far reaching effects. But it’s completely individual, of course. Symptoms can range from abdominal ... Continue Reading
Could Kelly Branton Join the 1,000 lb Raw Squat Club This Arnold?
There are only a handful of powerlifters who've squatted 1,000 lbs or more raw in competition. Ray Williams and Jezza Uepa are two of the better known competitors in this elite weight club. In ... Continue Reading
Need Motivation? Watch Jennifer Millican’s 2017 Road to the Arnold
Rogue Fitness has released their second video featuring the "2017 Road to the Arnold" theme. This time their athlete of choice is female powerlifter Jennifer Millican, who's a -57kg USAPL raw national ... Continue Reading
Check Out Ray Williams Deadlifting 800 for an Easy 2 Reps
Most strength sports fans know or have at least heard of Ray "Ray Ray" Williams. He's an elite powerlifter who holds multiple American raw records in the 120k+kg weight class. Williams is currently in ... Continue Reading
Blaine Sumner Talks 2016 Arnold and What We Can Expect This Year
There's a little over two weeks until some of the strongest athletes take the stage at the Arnold Classic, March 2-5th. One of these athletes is elite powerlifter Blaine Sumner, or the "Vanilla Gorilla" as ... Continue Reading
Do You Agree With These Top 10 Strength Feats of All Time?
The very smart folks over at Juggernaut Strength Training Systems are stirring up trouble with a well-researched, but unavoidably controversial list: the top ten strength feats of all time. A ... Continue Reading
74kg Peter Hoang Deadlifts 288kg in Prep for the Arnold
As a strength sports writer you develop a love for the lead up of any major strength competition, exhibition, or invitational. Why? This is when the big lifts are happening in training, ... Continue Reading
18 Year Old Daniella Melo Squats 455 lbs
Daniella Melo, 18, may be the strongest female teenager you see today (or this week). She puts up weight most athletes struggle with like it's nothing. Melo competes in the 84kg weight class and has ... Continue Reading
Clarence Kennedy Talks Switching to Powerlifting, Vegan Ethics, and Rabid Reddit Fans
Clarence Kennedy is a bit of an enigma in the weightlifting world: strong as an ox, quiet as a mouse, he's a weightlifter with no interest in competing, and he's the creator of one of ... Continue Reading
5 Unconventional Tips for a Bigger Bench Press
Bench is a favorite amongst bodybuilders and powerlifters alike. When it comes to adding size and strength to the upper body, it's hard to beat. Building a big bench comes from mastering your technique, ... Continue Reading
Andy Bolton: Back to Training After Cancer and Kidney Failure
“I mean yesterday I maxed out at 440, I just can’t imagine what it feels like to pull a 1000lbs” “No. You can’t.” Fortunately both my deadlift and interviewing skills have improved a lot since the first ... Continue Reading
Dan Green Presses 374 for an Easy 11-Reps Post-Surgery
Dan "The Boss" Green, 34, is one of the more elite powerlifters in both the 110kg and 100kg weight class. As of recently, Green has been a little more quiet on social media and unless you follow him ... Continue Reading
Natalie Hanson Squats 3x Her Bodyweight and Sets a New American Record
A week ago at the USA Powerlifting Wisconsin State Open, Cooper Wage wasn't the only powerlifter putting up big lifts. Natalie Hanson was also leaving her mark by setting a new Open American squat ... Continue Reading
7 Strategies to Improve Recovery and Adapt from Hard Training
Recovery and adaptation at the physiological level (muscles, cells, endocrine system, etc) is critical for every athlete, especially when determining the differences between an elite lifter versus a very ... Continue Reading
Learn How to Pattern a Stronger, Healthier Squat with These 3 Movements
When preparing for squats and other movements, primer exercises can be highly beneficial for reinforcing and developing the correct neural patterning needed to promote the intended movement ... Continue Reading
John Cena: The Bench Press Is “A Worthless Test of Skill”
The debate as to whether or not the bench press is functional, useful, or worth the injury risk still rages today. It's seldom implemented in functional fitness workouts and it's a touchy ... Continue Reading
Is It Bad If My Knees Click When I Squat?
We’re all lumpy, burpy, gassy organisms that make a lot of weird, loud, and gross noises. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s what animals do. Biological functions are messy and awkward. That’s a fact ... Continue Reading
Matt Sohmer Sets an Unofficial Jr. World Record With 804.5lb Deadlift at 120kg
At a meet held at Pro-Fit Deer Park in Long Island, 23-year-old Team USA athlete Matt Sohmer just entered a new class of elite lifters with a raw deadlift of 804.5 pounds (365kg) at 264.5lb (120kg) ... Continue Reading
Powerlifter Gabrielle Tucker Deadlifts 405×3 at 132 lbs
Gabrielle Tucker's powerlifting career didn't start like the traditional powerlifter. She began her career thanks to Reddit and has since become a 57kg champion and record holder. Yesterday ... Continue Reading
Watch Yury Belkin Finish Five 300kg Squats Weighing ~100 Kilograms
In the chilly far Eastern Russia city of Khabarovsk, just thirty kilometers from the Chinese border, Yury Belkin is squatting up a storm. Usually weighing somewhere in the vicinity of 225 pounds, Belkin's ... Continue Reading
Watch ~75kg Molly Mullikin Deadlift 430 Pounds for Twelve Reps
Los Angeles-based ~75kg powerlifter Molly Mullikin is not messing around. In a workout at Long Island’s Metroflex Gym that would put a lot of recreational lifters to shame, Molly just completed two sets of ... Continue Reading
Cooper Wage Competed Raw For the First Time and Squatted 380kg Easy
Cooper Wage is typically an equipped lifter, but he competed raw last weekend for the first time at the USA Powerlifting Wisconsin State Open. Currently Wage is ranked fifth in the Top 20 Equipped ... Continue Reading
19 Year Old Artur Polutranko Deadlifts 300kg (660 lbs)
Artur Polutranko is a German strength athlete who competes in bodybuilding. Nine months ago Polutranko took third at the German Nationals Juniors +75kg weight class in bodybuilding. He's now in ... Continue Reading