Foam rolling is a popular myofascial release method among strength athletes and the general population to help reduce post-exercise muscle soreness and improve mobility. However, outside of just rolling ... Continue Reading
How I Address Back Pain After Heavy Deadlifting & Squatting
There is rarely a strength athlete who has not experienced back pain at one point in their career. When it hits the pain can be so devastating, bending forward to pick a pencil off the ground can feel like ... Continue Reading
The Best Core Exercises for Strength, and 3 Core Workouts
Key Points Want a ripped six-pack? Yeah, us too. But here’s the thing — your core is more than your abdominal muscles. Looking great at the beach is all well and good, but robust and functional core ... Continue Reading
3 Exercises to Help Prevent Hamstring Strain
Even the best athletes can succumb to hamstring strains. Well, strains — defined by a muscle being stretched too far — can happen in any muscle. The hamstrings, however, are heavily involved in almost all ... Continue Reading
4 Accessory Exercises To Improve Your Pull-Ups and Chin-Ups
In high school, my masochistic P.E. teacher liked to put students through a series of fitness tests every few months to determine our grades. One of these was an isometric chin-up hold in the top position ... Continue Reading
4 Hanging Band Exercises That Can Improve Your Powerlifts
Remember the ‘functional training’ craze when people were squatting and pressing on all kinds of unstable surfaces? Barbell squats on Swiss balls? The thought was they achieved better muscle activation and ... Continue Reading
3 Tips for Picking the Best Weightlifting Accessory Exercises
Olympic weightlifting is a sport, like many others, that requires a ton of repetition. Repeating the same movements over and over again with the goal of chasing perfection. Over time, due to unique ... Continue Reading
Pros and Cons of the Safety Squat Bar for Front Squats
In recent years, the front squat has gained a resurgence as a major training lift for strength sports other than competitive weightlifting. Along with this rise in popularity came a variation with a safety ... Continue Reading
3 Variations to Take Trap Bar Squats to the Next Level
Trap bars might not be competition lifts but if you’re not competing, why should you care? The trap bar, also called a hex bar, can be a great option if you suffer from low back discomfort or if you don’t ... Continue Reading
5 Tips to Fix Your Funky “Good Morning Squats” From Home
You don’t have to be back in the gym and reunited with your favorite squat rack to get rid of your good morning squat. Don’t get me wrong — good mornings are great. Squats are delightful. But you never ... Continue Reading
What to Do If You’re Squat or Deadlift Dominant
While different coaches have different opinions on the topic, I would argue that if your back squat is more than 85 percent of your deadlift, then you’re squat dominant and probably should devote some time ... Continue Reading
3 Exercises You Can Do On the Floor to Become a Better Powerlifter
Being on the floor is how you learnt to move as a baby and returning to the floor can help you work around injuries and get you stronger for the Big 3. (That's the squat, bench, and deadlift — the ... Continue Reading
3 Essential Prehab Exercises To You Keep Lifting for Longer
The longer you’re in the lifting game, the risk of picking up a niggling injury becomes more of a factor, especially as you get older. You cannot prevent traumatic, collision, or accidental injuries but ... Continue Reading
What to Focus on When Getting Back into Fitness Postpartum
Though each pregnancy is a bit like a snowflake—all completely different—in my 11 years of coaching, I have seen some similar trends show up over and over when it comes to women getting back into fitness ... Continue Reading
3 Ways to Fix Dreaded Good Morning Squats
The good morning squat is a movement pattern that is loathed by many. These awkward looking squats are always the first to be ridiculed on social media and are easily identifiable across every gym ... Continue Reading
4 TRX® Exercises You Should Do For a Stronger Core
A strong core doesn’t just directly improve sports performance, it's a fundamental part of injury prevention as well. Plus, powerlifters have thought training the big 3 is all that’s needed for a strong ... Continue Reading
9 Mobility-Focused Exercises to Improve Your Squat Without Weights
If you haven’t had access to a barbell or significant weights in a while, you’ve probably started worrying about your squat strength. A lot. And sure, you’ll have to get back into the gym slowly — ... Continue Reading
3 Exercises to Build Powerful and Strong Feet
At the root of every lower body movement, the foot is at work. In the gym, sport, and more dynamic effort movements, a passively active foot can lead to a slue of issues. It's well understood that an ... Continue Reading
4 Exercises Most People Butcher (And How to Fix Them)
I like the motto from Original Strength: ‘good, better and best.’ Because some movement, no matter how poor, is often better than no movement at all. You start at good, then get better and then comes ... Continue Reading
14 Bodyweight Squat Variations You Should Add to Your Workouts
Bodyweight squats are great — you barely need any room and they’re a simple, effective move for when it’s the middle of your workday and you just need to kick start your blood flow and energy levels. ... Continue Reading
Does the Side You Load Matter In the Lunge and Split Squat?
Single-leg lower body exercises like the lunge and split squat are fantastic because they come with a ton of variety and provide handfuls of benefits. It's fairly easy to see the main differences ... Continue Reading
5 Medicine Ball Exercises You Should Try (That Aren’t Slams)
Medicine balls are great for slamming, throwing, and developing power and explosiveness. And it has been that way for almost 3,000 years. Yes, that long. While the details are sketchy on the ... Continue Reading
4 Upper Body Exercises You Can Do With Just Weight Plates
Breaking news: Weight plates are not just for putting on a barbell. They can be a useful exercise tool on their own, and for people who have limited access to dumbbells, barbells, and ... Continue Reading
2 Front Loaded Squat Variations Every Lifter Needs More Of
The back squat, a.k.a what many refer to as the king of all exercises, is often discussed as an exercise that everyone should be able to perform. For some, the ability to squat is viewed similarly to being ... Continue Reading