It’s not too hard to get your push work in while you’re not in the gym — push-ups, chair dips, and squat varieties have probably been your best friends since your gym closed. But if you’re getting ... Continue Reading
First Impressions of the Reebok Nano X (Worth Buying?)
After receiving a pair of the Reebok Nano Xs, I have some initial thoughts on them based on my first week of workouts. I'll be performing an in-depth BarBend review like normal that will drop in the next ... Continue Reading
Mark Henry Tells How He Won the First Arnold Strongman Classic
For fans of muscle, strength and power, no event is as eagerly awaited as the Arnold Strongman Classic (ASC). Created in 2002, the ASC is, alongside the World’s Strongest Man, the Super Bowl of the ... Continue Reading
4 Mini Band Exercises to Improve Your Shoulder Mobility
Let's not lie to ourselves: 99.9 percent of lifters either want or have great looking shoulders. Having a great and healthy pair of deltoids brings a lot to someone’s overall build and their performance in ... Continue Reading
High Protein Recipe: 5 Reasons Every Athlete Should Eat This Stew
It's not the most flattering nickname, but I've earned the moniker "King Lentil" at the BarBend office for good reason: I eat a thousand calories of lentils and rice just about every day, and ... Continue Reading
Op-Ed: Why I’m Grateful for the Gym Closures
On March 20, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered the closure of gyms overnight. I was out of my regular job for the first time in my life. I have never been fired or left an opportunity without a ... Continue Reading
Training At Home? Skip These 4 Exercises (And What to Do Instead!)
Bodyweight exercises are surging in popularity along with at-home workouts, which is great for lifters pursuing fitness from the comfort of their own home. However, this surge in bodyweight training ... Continue Reading
I’m Stuck Inside. How Often Should I Do Bodyweight Workouts?
Bodyweight and at home workouts are an excellent way to continue to push fitness further from the comfort of one's home. The surge of popularity with bodyweight workouts has brought up a lot of questions ... Continue Reading
Op-Ed: How Gyms Can Compensate Trainers Through Social Distancing and Beyond
Gone are the days of hustling to sign up 50 new clients for your six-week transformation challenge: It’s time to focus on client and coach retention. I admit, I’m no expert on running a gym amidst a ... Continue Reading
3 Supersets to Help You Maintain Power Without a Gym
One thing a crisis teaches us is what we can take for granted. In your part of the world, there's a good chance that access to the gym falls into that category. When the gym isn’t an option, it reminds you ... Continue Reading
Catch Up On These 20 Fitness Must-Reads While You’re Stuck At Home Daydreaming About The Gym
Whether you’re injured, recovering from surgery, or socially isolating to protect yourself and the immunocompromised folks from COVID-19, you might suddenly find yourself unable to go to the gym. If ... Continue Reading
Fitness on Lockdown: 9 Days and Counting in France
It’s Day 7 of being quarantined in France: There I was executing my normal morning routine in the living room—some handstand push-ups, and then a conditioning piece with burpees and jumping squats on ... Continue Reading
Stability Vs Strength: Why Language Matters
This article is indebted to the work of Dr. Jordan Shallow. Check him out at The Muscle Doc and consider taking one of his courses. How can I fix the hip shift while squatting? What ... Continue Reading
How I Cope With My Missing-the-Gym Anxiety
One of the hardest things for a lot of strength athletes to do is slow down. For many of us, the idea of not being able to lift can be legitimately inspire fear. When I was a teenager, I had surgery ... Continue Reading
3 Strategies Every Lifter Can Use to Stay Productive At Home
Unless you literally live under a rock in the middle of the rainforest you know how much the COVID-19 epidemic is upsetting daily life around the world. Without getting into the political aspects of the ... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Cope With Missing Your Workout Buddy
Even if you’re not concerned at all about personally catching COVID-19, limiting your travel and people time can be a really important way to protect folks who are immunocompromised and more susceptible to ... Continue Reading
Managing Strength Training Through Menopause
“We don’t quit playing because we age, we age because we quit playing.” - George Bernard Shaw A beautiful quote indeed, but tell that to a woman going through perimenopause or menopause, and she might ... Continue Reading
Is This Common Ab Training Mistake Limiting Your Progress? How to Fix It
The biggest mistake I see beginners make with ab training is not doing too many isolation movements: it’s the failure to isolate the targeted muscle. Now, in most situations, this isn’t all that ... Continue Reading
Want to Build a Resilient and Strong Body? Try Using Bulletproof Trisets
If you are a strength training junkie, then you eat, sleep, and live for a heavy barbell in your hands. There is no doubt about it, locking out a heavy deadlift makes you feel like the strongest person on ... Continue Reading
The Right Way to Prime Your Muscles for a Great Workout
When you’re painting furniture, cupboards, or the exterior of your house, you want it to look good. And for it to look good, you can't just slap a coat of paint on. You need to prepare the surface for the ... Continue Reading
5 Functional Exercises to Improve Warmups, Movement, and Overall Fitness
Functional training became a hot topic in 2019 and keeps gaining momentum in mainstream fitness. But what is functional training really? Functional movement or training, has it all in the ... Continue Reading
7 Kettlebell Accessories to Integrate into Your Powerlifting Off Season
One of my favorite things to do after a powerlifting meet is dive back into the wide world of kettlebells. The kinds of power-based, heavy ballistic moves that I love to do with kettlebells don’t often ... Continue Reading
Is Pre-Exhaust Training Right for You? What It Is and Tips From a Pro
The principle of pre-exhaustion is a fairly old one in strength training circles: it was a component of Arthur Jones’s famous high-intensity methods in the 1970s, and some evidence for its use predates ... Continue Reading
Bodybuilding Techniques for Strongman: How Hypertrophy Can Improve Your Game
As we progress through our strongman journey, we look to improve our maximum strength, set volume, and speed on carry events. While just doing the exercises with proper form and recovery practices works in ... Continue Reading