Two catchwords that continue to make me shake my head are overtraining and deload. The end goal is a balance between training and recovery.

Did you bomb your last meet? GOOD! Tell me, what did you learn from the whole experience? USE IT to get better.

The more bases you cover, the better chances you have of winning the game. Remember, meet prep is 24/7. So, what’s your plan?

When I decided to be on the platform competing with the best of the best, I had to fix these mistakes. You should too.

Trying to get stronger or bigger? Carrying too much fat? Regardless of the goal, change is inevitable. Embrace it to reach your goals.

Growing up in the age of Men’s Health magazines, Chad Aichs had to weed through all the bullshit to be one of the strongest men in the world.

If your movement is constrained, how will this directly affect your bench stroke? A LOT. Try these four stretches.

Lifting, and the bench press for that matter, is not rocket science, but you do need to use your brain. Use these twelve tips to fix your damn technique and showcase all of your strength.

Sums up 2020…but rewinding the clock, I thought the top guys trained hard every day when I started powerlifting. I thought it was just a matter of getting strong enough and in good enough shape to go hard and heavy 24/7, 12 months a year.

It is no secret that I have always used dynamic training and that I have my clients do it as well. My standpoint is that everyone can get something out of dynamic training, but the dose of it may vary.

I pissed away a great opportunity to start fresh with a healed and rested body by jumping right back in and emptying both barrels. You can do better.

Are you the kind of person who needs the premade atmosphere of a small or commercial gym? There is nothing wrong if you do, but I would put some serious thought into questions like this before putting in the time, effort, and money it takes to create a home gym.

The first thing is that lifters need to let go of the thought that they are going to lose all of those hard-fought gains after missing just a couple of training sessions. This is complete nonsense,

We all have struggles, and at times we don’t want to do the things we need to do to get strong(er). In fact, I have never met a top athlete of any kind who did not have times where he or she struggled to keep doing what he or she needed to.

I see lots of bands, bodyweight exercises, and lightweight information, which is all great, but in my opinion, sleds are right up there. I can train every body part with one sled.

I have seen way too many lifters lose before they even really get started because they fall back on excuses. Be more than an excuse.

In today’s world, information is being thrown at us 24/7. We have books, magazines, podcasts, video websites, Web pages, social media, etc. We have information about any subject literally at our fingertips. How do you decipher between what’s quality or crappy?

Just because you’re getting older, doesn’t mean that you can’t reach your fitness goals. It simply means your goals need to shift to suit your current state.

Why wait until the start of a new year to start working towards your goals?

I decided to poll lifters at a meet to get their opinion. Their answers may surprise you.

It seems that lifters do not understand the importance of the upper back or how to use it in the three main lifts. The lifters I judged at a recent meet and just about all of my clients prove that to me, so let’s fix that.

You don’t need to hire the Stephen Hawking of all trainers, but you’ll still want a knowledgeable, safe, efficient, and successful trainer.

Here’s an idea: If your team is losing a game, how about instead of celebrating one good play, try focusing on how you and your team can muster a win.

Having a garage gym has been my dream since 1999. Now I’m going on my 10th year in my second marriage with two kids and working as a part-time Mr. Mom and a part-time gas utility worker in Northern California. That dream is slowly becoming a reality, and the items on this list will help speed things up.

Even after 47 years of life, I continue to realize there are crossover lessons between powerlifting and life. Case in point: modifying a new Jeep for desert driving.

The debate between raw versus gear has died down, more or less, but the debate of how to train one versus the other is still on-going. This might be controversial, but for the most part, I don’t think you need to train differently raw or geared with a few exceptions.

Even the smartest, strongest, and best of us can learn and improve on what we do or how we do it. The journey for strength is all about education and learning, and this is how we continue to get stronger. All of this takes dedication.

It is tough to look back with a clear open mind to see from a different perspective. It is with a clear open mind that I was able to see I did it wrong — and it’s not just in terms of my powerlifting career, but my life as whole.

I’m a little behind for writing about my thoughts on Westside Vs. The World, but I have a lot of thoughts to add. Better late than never, right? Maybe I’m too old for this social media stuff, but I’m not too old to write about my powerlifting exploits.

One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was train less. But thanks to a little advice from Dave Tate, I started looking at training in a whole new light. Strength comes from so much more than lifting heavy weights in the gym.

My niece and nephew recently took weightlifting classes, and I am baffled by what they are being taught. This information is not only wrong, but it puts them at greater risk of injury. Quality knowledge is easily accessible, so why are we stuck in this loop of bad information?

Newer lifters seem to think that they can squat 1,200 pounds in less than a year of training. I hate to burst your bubbles, but that’s not going to happen. It’s a long game, and you need to understand that if you’re going to survive in this sport.

Your body is like a race car. Even the best race cars break and wear parts down. When one of those things breaks, it, in turn, puts added pressure on other parts, which are then at risk of breaking. Take your foot off the gas pedal every now again and recover.

No, that white powder I sniff before lifting is not cocaine — it’s smelling salts! If you’re curious about smelling salts, you’re in the right place because back in my day, we would’ve never wasted the greatness of smelling salts…

Listen: Technique is a major part of why all top lifters are top lifters. It is crucial to being a successful strength athlete. Technique before the lift is just as important as during the lift.

Why on earth do I keep hearing guys ask if they can still get stronger in their 40s or how they should be training in their 40s? You can get stronger at any age, and you do it by doing exactly the same stuff you always did!

Unless you just have some crazy genetics or happen to be the perfect person for a strength program, the majority of these programs are not a valid long-term plan. But don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater…

I learned a large portion of my knowledge of supplemental training from many mistakes I made in the gym. I am hoping to help all of you readers avoid at least a few of the mistakes I made and get more out of your supplemental training.

My heroes were strength athletes I admired and wanted to be like. They give us a base for the kind of person we want to become. But as we grow up, we eventually realize that our heroes are no different than us. That moment is the time to kill the heroes and rise above them.

Just the other day, I was listening to a motivational speech that got me going. That speech made it clear to me that an evolution of the thought process and perception of what training should be is how lifters and strength athletes progress to the higher levels.

Listen: I’m no doctor or rocket scientist, but even I have enough common sense to know that if you’re feeling under the weather, you shouldn’t be lifting. You should be resting at home. Yeah, you heard me: Go home and stay home. And stay out of your fancy little garage gym, too!

It’s inevitable that a lifter will hit a plateau at some point or another. It’s frustrating, I know. Trust me, I’ve been there. But after 10 years of powerlifting and 14 years of strength training before that, I think I’ve unlocked some of the secrets to making gains. Here are five things that helped me increase my lifts.

With all of the information we have at our fingertips, it’s easy to lose track of some of the basic principles of strength training. One that’s easy to forget: Balance training and recovery as evenly as possible.

Don’t let your ego get the better of you. Think carefully about your choices — and if you’re really the one making those decisions.

What is the last thing you quit to better yourself? Reflecting on this past year, 2018 has been a very interesting year for me all around, and I have grown a lot. In with new and out with the old, here’s what I’m changing for 2019.

When it came to warm-ups, I didn’t always practice what I preached. As it turned out, warm-ups have done me a solid and increased my strength, endurance, and recovery. Plus, they’re a great way to hone your techniques.

It is nothing and everything all at once. It is something that comes on strong and pulls you in. It strips everything away, but if you stick with it and trust it, then it will give you more than you can imagine.

If we are not seeing progress in the right direction within an expected length of time, we must change things up. If we are not evaluating, then how do we even know if we are making progress at all?

I don’t know exactly where this concept came from—that they are essential to athletes’ being explosive and strong. I do know that this concept has grabbed on tight and locked into the heads of coaches for decades. I say let’s cut to the chase and trim the fat.

Do you teach them the squat, bench, and deadlift the same way you would teach a powerlifter? If not, what differences are there?

If an athlete is training on heavy squats but is unable to get into a good technique, he is risking injury, plus he is not getting the most of his training because he is in bad positions. First things first, let’s start with an assessment.

I think every sport benefits from incorporating the tiger and the dragon into their training or coaching in some way. For lifters and strength athletes on the path to progression (in strength and level of competition), this hits the nail on the head.

Working hard without intent is wasted energy, and what’s the use in that?

The ability to read yourself and what you need can take years to master, but you will never master it if you don’t start experimenting.

There are definitely a few programs I have used with success in my lifting career and some that I will still recommend to lifters today, but conjugate is my favorite. It is the one I try to progress all my lifters to.

I love the ideals of hard work, being hardcore, and oozing intensity, but over the years I have learned there are many ways to perceive these things.

It seems to me that if a lifter has questions about motivation or discipline, maybe they need to consider another pursuit or reevaluate how they look at training.

I’m here to spread the true secret of strength, if you think you can handle it.

To get your strongest in the fastest way possible, you need to focus on training as a whole. Every aspect needs attention and focus.