As with a lot of other programming and technique posts, I’m not writing this article specifically to address late intermediate or advanced lifters. If you can easily squat close to double your bodyweight or double your bodyweight, then I don’t need to tell you why you should do one squat or the other. Elite FTS, […]
Why You Need All Squat Variations Read More »
The deadlift is probably my favorite out of the big three, and it’s one of those lifts where people really have a lot of trouble with bad form. I mean that in every sense – people freak out and cringe at even a single second of rounding, and a lot of other people have terrible
Wedge Your Deadlift Read More »
Many people blame weak or tight hamstrings for squat issues, but this is rarely true. The squat, both as a resting position and as a dynamic movement, does not require a very flexible hamstring muscle. It does require adequate hip and ankle mobility, though – which often means doing a lot of mobility drills. It’s
Mobility Drills to Prime Your Squat Read More »
You are what you eat – literally. Our body is composed more than just part of the food we consume, and much of what we eat isn’t just used to fuel ourselves for the day, but to allow us to rebuild tissue that we gradually lose through wear-and-tear, damage, and aging. When building a body
Eating for Lifting: When and Why Read More »
Using an ice bath for recovery or getting into a long hot sauna session have been go-to recovery tools for athletes for a long time, but how useful are they actually? Is there a reason to use cryotherapy, or cold thermogenesis as it’s sometimes known, as a recovery tool? Or should you go with a
Hot Bath or Ice Bath for Recovery? Read More »
It’s a pretty common myth, surprisingly – the worry among male athletes that being with a woman might pull the strength out of their legs, and the belief among many men that avoiding sexual activity (and that not masturbating) is the key to a strength and serenity. For Samson, it was his hair. For the
Does Sexual Activity Affect Lifting? Read More »
The foam roller is either the subject of great ridicule or reverence. Some people say it’s absolutely the best thing since sliced bread, and others put it up there with kipping pullups and three-hour warmups. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve flip-flopped on foam rollers quite a bit. Unsure of where they fit
I Use A Foam Roller. Should You? Read More »
There are two kinds of people – the kind who love to sleep early, and the kind who love to sleep in. Every once in a while, you’ll find a unicorn that genuinely doesn’t sleep more than a few hours per day, but the general consensus among researchers is that the adult human needs between
Why Sleep Is So Incredibly Important Read More »
There are plenty of misconceptions in the world of lifting. If you’ve spent any amount of time interested in this sport, you’ll have come to realize that conflicting advice isn’t just common, it’s a given. You might have heard that powerlifting is all about fast-twitch muscles and that your slow-twitch fibers are unimportant. Or, you
Should Powerlifters Train Slow-Twitch Fibers? Read More »
The squat is often seen as a leg exercise, but your quads and hammies are just a single part in a larger equation. To move a lot of weight up from the bottom position, you need to engage and brace your core and upper back, maintain an open chest through strong thoracic extension, and have
You Need to Train Your Upper Back Read More »
There are a million ways to lift a barbell, but only very few effectively allow you to increase your strength and proficiency in the big three. Powerlifting is a sport about who can bench, squat, and deadlift the most weight within their given weight class, and the art of powerlifting isn’t in how much heart
What is Conjugate Training? Read More »
I’ve had several skinny fat friends ask me if they should lose weight before they start training. Others wanted to know how they could quickly put on more muscle, and how much they’d have to stuff their faces to make it happen. This is in direct response to them, and it’s meant to give you
Why You Should Start Lifting While Cutting Read More »
