Barf. I groan as I sit up after another set of dumbbell bench presses, casting the weights down to the floor with as much nonchalance as I can muster: Like I hadn’t just pushed myself to the brink of ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Never Start Your Back Workouts With Pull-Ups
Back day is the best day of the week. If you disagree, take a number and form an orderly line. Almost nothing hits better than inflating your lats, traps, and yoke with a skin-tearing pump and crab-walking ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Half Squats Are Better Than Full Squats (If You’re an Athlete)
When Thanos told Iron Man they were both “cursed with knowledge” in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, you probably didn’t think their exchange also applied to you. Most people’s fitness journeys — including ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Mike Mentzer Was a Good Bodybuilder With (Some) Bad Advice
Mike Mentzer is more famous over two decades after his death than he was during his bodybuilding career. In the back half of 2023, Mentzer had something of a moment on social media after getting caught in ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Ego Cost Rahmat Erwin Abdullah a Gold Medal at the 2024 Olympics
For the last year or so, Indonesian weightlifter Rahmat Erwin Abdullah has lifted world-record weights like the bar and plates were made of styrofoam rather than steel. The 23-year-old dark-horsed a bronze ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Bodybuilder Samson Dauda Told Sam Sulek He Lifts Too Heavy. Dauda Is Wrong.
Ever since Sam Sulek started yapping into his webcam on his gym commute in 2023, he’s rapidly become the Internet’s favorite soundboard. Everybody has their take: Sulek is this, Sulek is that. He’s a good ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Can We Stop Mixing Up the Romanian Deadlift and Stiff-Leg Deadlift?
This is something I see all the time on social media: A well-intentioned but under-informed fitness content creator on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube Shorts demonstrating a Romanian deadlift (RDL) and ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Long-Length Partial Reps Are Overrated for Bodybuilding
At my gym, (and probably at yours, too) there’s an older gentleman who spends his workouts idling on various machines, performing quarter-range-of-motion everything before heading home. Good on him for ... Continue Reading
Opinion: The Sport of Weightlifting Sucks to Watch in 2024
By the numbers, weightlifting is thriving: The 2023 World Weightlifting Championships hosted more competitors than in any year prior. A few weeks after that, Bulgarian prodigy Karlos Nasar set social media ... Continue Reading
Opinion: Stop Doing Deadlifts if You Want to Build Muscle
At the risk of making four-time World’s Strongest Man Jón Páll Sigmarsson turn over in his grave, I’ll say it: Deadlifts kind of suck for building muscle. Sigmarsson (who passed away in 1993) famously ... Continue Reading
Are Bodybuilding Gyms Being Abandoned by the Fitness Industry?
There's the idea of a “true bodybuilder gym.” They are known for having it all: a bajillion machines, handles, gadgets, weights that run heavy, and tons and tons of space to strut, pose, and generally take ... Continue Reading
Relive the 10 Most Iconic Moments From Dubai Fitness Championship History
Since 2012, a small local competition has consistently grown to become one of the premiere fitness competitions in the world. This year in 2022, the Dubai Fitness Championship (DFC) celebrates its tenth ... Continue Reading
2022 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Women’s Predictions
Earlier, we previewed the women’s CrossFit field as a whole for the 2022 Rogue Invitational. As the competition is drawing nearer, it’s time to take a stab at predicting the eventual finish. We'll also ... Continue Reading
Predicting the 2022 Rogue Invitational CrossFit Programming
The fourth iteration of the Rogue Invitational is set to take place October 28-30 at the Dell Diamond stadium in Round Rock, Texas. It’ll feature elite CrossFit athletes like Justin Medeiros, Laura ... Continue Reading
2022 World’s Strongest Man Final Predictions
The 2022 World's Strongest Man (WSM) Final roster was set following the third day of the Qualifying stage. My name is Phil Blechman, and I'm on the ground in Sacramento, CA, covering the 2022 WSM ... Continue Reading
2022 World’s Strongest Man — Group Stage Predictions
The groups for the 2022 World's Strongman Man (WSM) Qualifying Groups have been announced, and speculation about which strongmen will earn their way to the Final is underway. The six strongmen in each of ... Continue Reading
Encanto’s Luisa Madrigal is the Super-Jacked Disney Hero We All Wanted
In Nov. 2021, Disney's Encanto hit theaters. On Christmas Eve, it hit the internet as a sensation after its release on the streaming platform Disney Plus. While many of the songs and storylines ... Continue Reading
Why You Need Self-Doubt in Training (and How to Use It)
As a mindset coach many athletes come to me with the question, “How do I get rid of self-doubt?” Athletes asking this question are usually under the assumption that self-doubt is negative, when self-doubt ... Continue Reading
5 Hilarious (And Unlikely) Things We’d Love to See at the 2021 CrossFit Games
The 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games are currently underway. There seem to be some universal expectations: the apocalypse needs to occur for reigning four-time Fittest Woman on Earth®, Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, to ... Continue Reading
How Self-Talk Can Improve (or Hurt) Training and Athletic Performance
“Grace” is one of those workouts that has historically freaked me out: 30 clean & jerks for time is a simple workout (and I love weightlifting), but like many CrossFitters, I used to find benchmark ... Continue Reading
Live From the Field — 2021 World’s Strongest Man Finals Predictions
Phil Blechman here. You might recognize my face from the little circle under the title of many articles on BarBend, as one person in the crowd at the 2021 World's Strongest Man (WSM) contest did (thanks ... Continue Reading
4 Things You Can’t Learn From Your Coaching Certification
Athletic coaching is not a particularly lucrative profession — most of the time, people teach out of passion towards the activity or sport in question. That kind of dedication, coupled with the knowledge ... Continue Reading
What It Takes to Coach a CrossFit Games Athlete
I first met Kari Pearce in early 2015. One of my star athletes at the time (Lindsay Bourdon), who I coached in the National Pro Grid League (NPGL), was a teammate of Kari’s on the University of Michigan ... Continue Reading
New Poll Shows 46% Would Support Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Presidential Bid
If former professional wrestling superstar turned silver-screen action hero, Titan Games host, and tequila entrepreneur Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ran for President of the United States (POTUS) in ... Continue Reading