Chad Aichs

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.

I hear all the time that balance is impossible and that to be amazing at something you have to give it up. I also hear that every person needs perfect and equal balance in life. Which is it?

There is so much information that you could spend days, weeks, and months learning, without ever actually lifting a damn thing. Don’t become paralyzed trying to weed through all of the varying perspectives.

Most lifters don’t think about the connection of their feet to the floor, but proper rooting provides a more solid foundation, enables maximum transfer of power through the body, and starts activation of the correct muscles used in the lift.

As you keep working on the technique, you will fully understand the potential bracing has. You will see how important it is in your lifting and how it helps you lift more weight while keeping your back healthy and safe.

Making progress in training or in life means taking ownership of your future. Are you a passenger sitting quietly or are you grabbing the wheel and pressing the gas pedal?

Everyone trains hard but few do the things that are boring and tedious. It is the willingness to do the mundane that separates those top athletes from the hordes of others training away in the gym right now.

It was a 10-hour drive to Portland, but everything that went into the trip was well worth it for the training knowledge I gained and the experience I had with other lifters. Here are my highlights from the weekend.

Life changes as our goals change, and life sure has changed a lot for me. My excuses of the past that let me go to extremes and live in excess during the holiday season are now gone.

For all of my powerlifting career and for my best squat and deadlifters numbers ever, I used an arched back. After working with Chris Duffin on neutral back positioning and bracing, I’m starting to think there’s a better way.

Killer mentality means doing whatever it takes to be your very best and being willing to put it all on the line when the time comes. You have to be able to block out all negativity and draw in all positivity.

Mental toughness and strength are no different than physical traits. They can be trained and improved, if you’re ready.

It is nice to think we should always be ‘motivated’ and ‘inspired’ to achieve our dreams or goals. Shit, I wish it were like that. The truth is that that we all have ups and downs.

I have tried it all, and I will not sit here saying I never spent money on crazy supplements thinking I would make huge gains. Learn from my mistakes.

Judging is not my favorite job at a meet, but it is growing on me. In fact, I think all lifters at some point should try judging. Here’s my experience at Boss of Bosses IV as a judge.

Many lifters believe they use their lats on the squat, bench, and deadlift, but I have found that they’re often wrong. Here’s how to know.

It is a choice to take control of your life or to just let life happen to you. With this choice comes the power to shape your future.

The shoulder is a complex joint but keeping it healthy can be simple. Many issues can be fixed or greatly improved with certain exercises and stretching.

Seemingly simple questions are not simple at all if you understand strength. If you really want to bench more, you need more knowledge.

I see many lifters lack the mind-body connection needed for getting the most out of accessory or supplemental work. Without it, you’re just going through the motions and wasting your time.

The first month of this process has passed and I’ve made a lot of progress, but I’ve also discovered a few mental challenges I didn’t recognize at first.

Change is difficult but can hold great rewards. Here’s how I’m going to make it all happen.

Sometimes it takes a hard push for me to initiate change, and life has definitely been pushing me.

The vigilant lifter wants to be a student of strength. They do not just want to be told what to do to get stronger. They want to learn and understand how to get stronger.

I recently realized I’ve been looking at my back injury the wrong way all along. I needed to simplify the way I was thinking about it.

We might look dysfunctional, but this lifting family is like a Swiss clock put together with a hodgepodge of parts that somehow still always has the right time.

If you’re still looking for the most important thing to becoming a top athlete, here it is: not letting anyone or anything tell you what was meant to be or what your destiny is.

Too often I see lifters doing the strangest stuff in the gym, and sometimes I get irritated enough to actually ask them about it. Their answers usually tells me everything I need to know: they’re followers, not leaders.

It is almost as if lifters don’t think training starts until the weight gets heavy. I’ve got news for these kinds of lifters: a training session starts right after the last one is finished.

The lessons I have learned from powerlifting help me with situations I come across in my life. I recently experienced this while on my first mule deer archery hunt.

In this final part, I try to wrap it all up with insight into how I currently feel about steroids.

I am going to take a little detour to talk about personal issues I dealt with during this time, how these issues affect me, and if any of these issues were affected by what I was taking.

When I took HRT therapy to a new level, my initial ideas began to change. It wasn’t anything like what I had read or heard about.

I can now write about this subject and share how things worked out for me. It has been a journey with more than a few twists and turns.

Mental strength is a complex monster. You may think you’re motivating yourself by trying to beat other lifters, but you’re actually holding yourself back.

Thinking that overtraining cannot happen is wrong. Immediately jumping to the conclusion that you need to back off or deload is also wrong.

Watching a lifter going for a lift he knows he has to make to move into first place…
Watching a lifter going for a record that has stood for 15 or 20 years…

Always being told what to do is not how one becomes great and it is most definitely not how one becomes a great lifter.

There are many ways lifters go about picking their openers. I admit, my way might not be for you. But if it isn’t, you can still learn something from it.

As simple and extremely important as this principle is, I continue to see so many lifters overlook or misunderstand it year after year.

In a perfect world, you’re always getting stronger and your PR’s are always moving higher. Well, this world isn’t perfect, and you need to remember that if you want to get stronger.

Chad shares how difficulties in a personal situation had him look to lifting for answers.

Life is meant to be lived. Stop sleepwalking through life and waiting for things to happen.

Through our many adventures, Chris Duffin and I trained, went four-wheeling, ate A LOT, and talked about many aspects of coaching and programming.

Kabuki, mental aspects of training, masculinity, geared vs. raw lifting, RPE — it’s all here in this video with two all-time great powerlifters.

If you aren’t getting stronger or making gains, you’re doing something wrong. Your first job is figuring out what that is.

Was I able to do these things and reach the level that I did simply because I believed?

Chad interviews world-record holding powerlifter Dan Green and his wife Sparkle after a seminar at American Iron gym.

Where is your confidence and what are you willing to do to strengthen it?

When your body speaks, do you listen? You’ll pay a heavy price for ignoring it.

A shorter range of motion means a bigger bench. Here’s how to get your chest closer to the bar without taking your ass off the bench.

I can only imagine from my personal experience with depression how athletes like Dave Mirra reach the point of tragedy.

This could be the simple rule to great strength — are you following it?

If I never did another meet, wrote another article, or coached at another seminar, I would still love lifting.

Life stress is unavoidable. It can overwhelm you and have a negative impact on your training…if you let it.

A logical process of elimination begins by considering all possible causes of your sticking point. I don’t have the answer but I can help you find it.

It’s not all glitz and glamour in the world of gluttony — but there are some perks.