The Olympic lifts are highly technical movements that require countless hours of technique training and analysis. Like most skills, the more you do them, the better you will become; assuming you are ... Continue Reading
The New Way to Train Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP)
Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP) is a training concept used by strength and conditioning coaches when the goal is increasing force output and rate of force development. Generally, the methodology ... Continue Reading
How the Ancient World Lifted Weights
“No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. (…) What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” - ... Continue Reading
The 6 Best Deadlift Accessories for Smashing Your Sticking Points
When you want to get better at deadlifting, you need to deadlift more. Seems like a no brainer, but sometimes you miss the obvious. However, when working with weights over 90 percent of your 1-rep max, ... Continue Reading
EMOM vs Timed Circuits: The Best Ways for Athletes to Burn Fat
When you’re trying to lean out or just looking to drop a few pounds, a lot of people head for the cardio machines and not the weights. However, with a few slight programming tweaks — like shortening ... Continue Reading
Why Tennis Players Should Lift Weights (Plus Two Free Workouts)
Long ago strength training for tennis wasn’t in vogue, even among the professional players. Even the great John McEnroe (winner of the US Open in 1979, 80, 81, and 84), famously avoided strength ... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Improve HRV (Heart Rate Variability) (Brought to You by WHOOP)
Heart rate variability (HRV) is a fantastic tool for athletes to use to assess readiness and recovery. Everyone has a baseline HRV number, which serves as a suggestion for how physically ready one is to ... Continue Reading
What Is Heart Rate Variability? How to Use and Monitor HRV (Brought to You by WHOOP)
Over the last five years, heart rate variability (HRV) has grown in popularity as a useful tool for assessing recovery and training readiness. If you’re new to the concept of HRV and how it can translate ... Continue Reading
15 Steps to Nailing Your First Powerlifting Meet
At my first powerlifting competition, I bombed. This means that I wasn’t able to complete at least one attempt of either the squat, bench press, or deadlift. In my case, it was the bench press, which was ... Continue Reading
5 Overhead Press Mistakes, Why They Happen, and How to Fix Them
The overhead press is a compound upper body movement that develops serious strength and mass. Powerlifters, strongman athletes, weightlifters, and general fitness-goers alike will benefit from including ... Continue Reading
The History of Vince Gironda, Low Carb Pioneer and Bodybuilding Great
Entering a North Hollywood gym, a six foot European bodybuilder, soon to become one of the sport’s greatest ever athletes, is told that he looks like a ‘fat f***’. Cue gasps: a young Vince Gironda had just ... Continue Reading
Smash Imbalances and Weaknesses With Functional Symmetry
In case you’re out of the loop: this article describes part of my transition from competing in powerlifting meets to competing in bodybuilding shows. While the outcomes of the two sports are quite ... Continue Reading
4 Benefits of the Trap Bar Deadlift
The trap bar deadlift is a strength movement that has a wide application to sport athletes, lifters, and general fitness. In this article we will dig deeper into four benefits of the trap bar deadlift and ... Continue Reading
How Often Should You Train Arms?
Training the arms is for more than vanity. Sure, having big biceps and thick triceps can improve overall strength and performing in movements like the bench press and pull-ups, but they can also command ... Continue Reading
Op-Ed: These Are the 10 Best Lifts, Fight Me
With the exception of 1-rep max smith machine squats (just say no), just about any exercise can serve a purpose in a well-designed workout routine. But most trainers will tell you that some exercises ... Continue Reading
2 Isometric Training Methods For Stronger Powerlifts
In the never-ending quest to get bigger and stronger, concentric and eccentric contractions get most of the love in the gym, while isometrics get left out in the cold. Because when people think of ... Continue Reading
How to Deal With Fitness Information Overload (3 Rules to Live By!)
As part of my work as a coach, I’m constantly reading — about technique, programming, psychology, diet, and everything else that goes into making a successful strength and physique athlete. I’m lucky that ... Continue Reading
The Untold Story of Louis Cyr, the Original “Strongest Man on Earth”
Who is the world’s strongest man? Nowadays the answer is clear to most strongmen: either the winner of the Arnold Strongman Classic or the World’s Strongest Man competition. But these competitions, ... Continue Reading
5 Tips to Bust Through an Overhead Press Plateau
Are you dedicated to your overhead press? Making sure you’re getting in upper body compound exercises that aren’t just the bench press? Are you sure your form is beautiful—tight core, tight quads, tight ... Continue Reading
Deadlifting for Strength Vs. Size: Small Form Tweaks for BIG Lat Growth
So, if you’ve been keeping up with my articles so far, you know that one of the most important aspects of training for aesthetic development requires strengthening the muscle, not the movement. You can ... Continue Reading
The Underrated Benefits of Using Iso Deadlifts In Your Program
The deadlift can be both one of the easiest and most frustrating movements to progress. For many athletes, the deadlift is usually the lift that progresses the most quickly when first starting out with ... Continue Reading
6 TRX® Exercises Powerlifters Should Know About
While on deployment in 1997, Navy SEAL Randy Hetrick created his first version of the TRX® out of a jiu jitsu belt and parachute webbing. He was just that keen to stay in shape with bullets whizzing ... Continue Reading
Are Knee Sleeves Worth It?
Knee sleeves can be worn for a variety of reasons in a day-to-day setting, and in this article, we're going to highlight knee sleeves' efficacy in the gym. We've tested some of the best knee sleeves ... Continue Reading
6 Kettlebell Finishers to Improve Powerlifting Performance
So, you’re a powerlifter. You spend most of your time with barbells, plates, and more barbells. Hey, I feel you: so do I. But eventually, we all hit the dreaded plateau: no matter how hard we try, we can’t ... Continue Reading