It’s held back fitness for years. I’ve heard it from men, women, and kids. It’s the silliest statement made to a coach or trainer but every beginner in the weight room feels the absolute need to inform ... Continue Reading
7 Cues To Address Common Weightlifting Faults
External and internal coaching cues play a pivotal role in the performance of an athlete in training and competition. External cues seem to have greater significance when applied during complex movement ... Continue Reading
4 Ways to Reduce Sitting at Work and Improve Your Lifts Today
Do you ever feel like your coach or trainer is harassing you while you perform squats? “Almost there!” “Get Lower!” “Chest up!” “A little lower!” “No rep!” If any (or all) of these sound ... Continue Reading
The Most Important (and Overlooked) Quality All Strength Coaches Need
I’ve been around this game since I can remember. The love affair with the iron started with my Jr. High wrestling coach, Tom Frost. In the mid 80’s strength training was not nearly as popular for athletes ... Continue Reading
5 Drills to Improve Your Front Rack Position This Week
The front rack position is critical for successfully nailing cleans, heavy front squats, and even jerks. Despite our best efforts to cue this positioning, the front rack seems highly elusive to both ... Continue Reading
How to Design Better Warm-Ups for Yourself, Training Partners, and Clients
Strength and power athletes require high degrees of motor control, force output, and neuromuscular activity in order to elicit maximal performance in training and competition. The role of a warm-up in ... Continue Reading
Internal Versus External Coaching Cues, and When to Use Them
Verbal cues are an important aspect in the training, development, and overall success of athletes both on and off the platform/field/competitive arena. It has been shown that verbal instructions ... Continue Reading
How One Coach Is Using Strength Sports to Fight Childhood Cancer
In 2008, Carlos Hernandez of Reno, NV had an experience that significantly impacted his life forever. Through his day job as an engineer, he met a little girl named Kylee LeSourd, who was stricken ... Continue Reading
Relationship Goals: How Weightlifting Brings Together Power Couples in Strength
Some people say opposites attract, and maybe that’s true in some place where I’ve never been. In my experience, I’ve seen more relationships than I can count develop through the sport of Olympic ... Continue Reading
The 5 Most Important Movements in Strongman Training
A few weeks ago I wrote and we gave away a periodized strongman program that was complex, detailed and comprehensive. It has the athlete training 5 days per week, with an optional events day on Saturday. ... Continue Reading
Thoracic, Shoulder, Elbow, and Wrist Mobility Checklist for the Overhead Squat
In part one of this two part mobility checklist series, we discussed the limitations that poor ankle, knee, and hip mobility can have on the overhead squat. In addition to lower body mobility, the mobility ... Continue Reading
The Ghost on Our Plates: How Body Standards Impact Female Strength Athletes
Author Note: This article discusses eating disorders, weight gain and loss and related mental/emotional issues. For serious strength athletes; body-weight is something to be tracked, managed and at ... Continue Reading
Ankle, Knee, and Hip Mobility Checklist for the Overhead Squat
The snatch is one of the most complex movements in strength sports, requiring the highest degrees of neuromuscular patterning, power, strength and stability, and systemic mobility. The overhead squat ... Continue Reading
What Your First Year of Weightlifting Really Means
“Loaders tighten that weight up, we will see Elliott following himself. He has another attempt…” These words will burn themselves into your subconscious. The verbalization that you have for the moment, ... Continue Reading
6 Reasons Why You May Be Collapsing In the Clean
Collapsing in the catch of the clean is a common issue with weightlifters and Crossfitters. In this article, we will discuss the potential technical faults and or strength limitations that may be ... Continue Reading
4 Exercises to Improve Overhead Performance in WODs
Overhead positioning is a primary aspect of many functional fitness workouts (WODs) and training programs. Whether it is pressing, jerking, HSPU, pull ups, and/or any other variation with a wall ... Continue Reading
Advice on Coaching Olympic Weightlifting to Die Hard Fitness Athletes
In 2013, my husband was offered a job at the University of Alabama, so we moved to Tuscaloosa, AL, and I got a job working in a local CrossFit® gym. At first, it was a culture shock, but I was given the ... Continue Reading
5 Things Every New Weightlifter Should Do At Weightlifting Meets
Taking the platform at your first (or any meet for that matter) can be a very nerve racking experience. Preparation can set you apart from others, as you will be more apt to come ready, warm up ... Continue Reading
How the Culture of Fitness Gets Inside You
Editors note: Katie Rose Hejtmanek, Ph.D. is a cultural anthropologist conducting research on the culture of strength sports in the United States. This is the fourth of an in-depth series introducing ... Continue Reading
How Much Should You Clean In Relationship To Your Front Squat
Understanding the relationship between a lifter’s clean and how it correlates to their best front squat can help coaches and athletes better determine whether athletes have limitation in strength or more ... Continue Reading
Can I Stay Competitive As a Parent?
Editor's Note: As a soon-to-be father, athlete Ken Battiston reflects — and looks ahead — on advice he's received from others in his shoes. Does your athletic career come to a halt once kids ... Continue Reading
How Olympic Weightlifting Announcer Richard Mason Got the Best Seat in the House
“Loaders, more weight please!” If you have ever heard this phrase, then most likely you have been in the presence of weightlifting greatness. No, not an athlete the caliber of Pyrros Dimas. Or even a ... Continue Reading
Should Weightlifters Do Static Stretching?
Sit and hold stretching is often overlooked in today's training environments. The rise of myofascial release (MR) using foam rollers and proprioceptive neuromuscular release (PNF) stretching have ... Continue Reading
Stop Ignoring Accessory Work
I recently heard Louie Simmons on the Barbell Life Podcast say that his lifters do 80% accessory work! That means for some of the strongest guys in the world, they spend roughly 20% of their training day ... Continue Reading