When a bodybuilder steps out under the lights of the competition stage, they aren’t judged on how much they can squat or deadlift. In fact, what they can do with their physique isn’t relevant in any ... Continue Reading
Do Knee Sleeves Actually Boost Your Squat?
Whether you’re a competitive athlete or a recreational lifter looking for a boost in your squat, you’ve probably seen someone roll up to the squat rack with compression sleeves on their knees. For most, ... Continue Reading
The Weightlifter’s Guide to Hypertrophy — How Bigger Muscles Make Better Lifts
Weightlifting is a performance sport, but it’s not performative. The charm of Olympic lifting is in its simplicity — either you can lift the barbell over your head, or you can’t. How you look while you set ... Continue Reading
14 Benefits of Owning a Home Gym to Convince You to Build Your Iron Oasis
It’s okay, you can say it: going to the gym can be a nightmare. Between the drive and navigating the locker room to just not having the social energy to see another human being, the obstacles can pile up. ... Continue Reading
5 Common Strength Training Mistakes and How to Fix Them
Something feels off in your program. You’re not exactly plateauing, but you’re not leaving the gym feeling good, either. Sometimes that nagging sense of something being not quite right about your gains has ... Continue Reading
Want to Build a Complete Physique? Don’t Forget to Train These Overlooked Muscles
What do you notice when you look at a bodybuilder on stage? Most people are drawn to the big, glamorous muscles. A pair of pecs you could balance a beer can on. Legs that absolutely do not, under ... Continue Reading
Y3T Training Explained — Is Coach Neil Hill’s Bodybuilding Workout Muscle Magic?
Size matters not...except for when it does. Y3T, or "Yoda-3-Training", is the brainchild of renowned bodybuilding coach Neil "Yoda" Hill. Hill — whose coaching pedigree contains names like Flex Lewis, ... Continue Reading
9 Deadlift Mistakes and How to Fix Them for Stronger Pulls
Known for the hallmark grip-and-rip battle cry, deadlifting is one of the easiest lifts to explain in concept. Simply walk up to the bar and pick it up. However, the harsh reality of proper pulling is ... Continue Reading
Use Daily Undulating Periodization to Force New Muscle and Strength Gains
How do you approach your workouts? While it may seem like there are an infinite number of factors at play — how often you go to the gym, what exercises you do, the equipment you work with — one of the most ... Continue Reading
8 Benefits of the Bird Dog to Make Your Core Strength Take Flight
Let’s start with a quiz. What’s one exercise that’s often performed poorly, rushed through, or skipped entirely, even though it can help keep your lower back from a world of hurt? If you guessed the bird ... Continue Reading
9 Fun Facts About the 2022 USA Weightlifting Nationals and Its Predecessors
Weightlifting is historic. Although the sport has always enjoyed significant limelight and prestige internationally, American weightlifting is having something of a moment in the States in recent ... Continue Reading
FST-7 Training Explained — Can You “Shock and Awe” Your Muscles Into New Growth?
Every bodybuilder has their own claim to muscle fame. From Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous addiction to the pump, to Dorian Yates's high-intensity, one-set-to-failure approach, it has been proven time and ... Continue Reading
How to Return to Strength Training After an Extended Break
For a weathered gym rat, almost nothing is worse than being unable to access your barbells and weight plates. Not that you need a fully-equipped gym to work out — but sometimes, life just doesn’t ... Continue Reading
Barefoot Strength Training — Can Lifting Without Shoes Help You Make More Gains?
You've probably seen it in your gym at least once — someone training in a pair of socks or, more shockingly still, entirely barefoot, flesh-to-floor style. It certainly looks odd at a glance, but it does ... Continue Reading
Want to Move Better? Try These 5 Mobility Drills for Weightlifting
Weightlifting is about how you move. The better your movement, the more you can lift. The two main lifts (the snatch and the clean & jerk) are not just your average gym exercises. You have to use your ... Continue Reading
How to (Safely) Train Legs if You Have a Back Injury
You walk into the gym pain-free. After going through your trusty squat warm-up, you apprehensively unrack the bar for the first time, anxiously waiting for a spasm or shockwave to radiate across your body ... Continue Reading
What’s the Deal With the Mind-Muscle Connection?
You go to the gym to work out your muscles. Perhaps part of the allure of the four walls of your iron paradise is turning off your mind and just feeling the burn. But if you want the best muscle-building ... Continue Reading
Your 4-Step Cheat Sheet to Start Lifting Weights at 40
You might falsely think that resistance training is a young man's (or woman's) game — this could not be further from the truth. Being “over the hill” may seem like a deterrent, but there is absolutely ... Continue Reading
The BarBend Guide on How to Start CrossFit
The growing world of CrossFit is only getting bigger as endurance athletes, lifters, and all-around beginners continue turning toward community-based intense workouts to achieve their fitness goals. But ... Continue Reading
What Is the X-Frame In Bodybuilding and How to Get One
Hang around in bodybuilding circles long enough and you’ll more than likely have heard someone make a comment or two about the elusive “X-frame.” You might have smiled and nodded along even though you ... Continue Reading
How to Exercise Once Per Week and Make it Count
If you had it your way, you’d work out every day of the week. A good training split will often have you training anywhere from three to five days per week, sometimes more. On a push-pull-leg routine, you ... Continue Reading
How to Activate Your Central Nervous System to Become Freakishly Fast
Speed doesn’t kill, but slowness might. Whether you’re an Olympic lifter attempting a new personal record in the snatch or a martial artist in the fight of your life, how explosive you are (or aren’t) ... Continue Reading
Supercharge Your Workout With This 3-Step Mental Preparation Protocol
People spend tons of time and money on supplements, workout programs, and so-called fitness gurus, but most miss out on huge opportunities for natural performance increases that already exist in their ... Continue Reading
The Best Conditioning Workouts for Weightlifters to Help You Get Strong, Lean, and Limber
All weightlifters share a common goal of reaching their strength potential. Plenty of time is spent working on adding weight to the bar, but there’s more to the story than just repeatedly going heavy day ... Continue Reading