I’ve said for years that my job (both current and previous careers) is very easy. What I do is not life or death. What I do is empower those around me to improve. So daily I ask myself, what have I done to help?
Nearly a decade of training combined, and what have Jim Wendler, Matt Rhodes, and Vincent Dizenzo learned about the perfect warm-up?
I am going to offer the second-best option that I know of to prevent injury that does not require a coach or countless hours to master. You can do it all by yourself. It is a way of executing a repetition.
Based on my brief observations of the garage training crew (and conversations with my son), these are a few of their Keys to Progress. These macro components (“the Keys”) have contributed to their above-average gains in size and strength.
I write this after fielding many questions during this COVID-19 lockdown period from young strength and conditioning coaches who have either lost their jobs or are at a crossroads of confidence. In some 30 years, I’ve had 17 strength and conditioning jobs…
When it comes to returning an intermediate-advanced lifter to a heavy compound, there are often more factors at play than we initially think. Perfect mechanics probably aren’t enough to get you back to where you need to be.
Start with the big movement and work on it with maximum focus. Incorporate assistance work to bring up your weakest links. Do a lot of reps at the most important scenarios in your business.
When an athlete bends over, it shows who is weak. We didn’t want to have our athletes appearing weak, so we made them stand up. Maybe we’re wrong about that.
Nothing like getting together with pals and talking old powerlifting stories. From Louie Simmons trying to break your fingers after beating you in the stomach, to having rules made specifically about you.
The SSB is quite possibly the best bar known to man. FYI, this article isn’t meant to sell you the SSB, but we’ve had so much success with this bar; it’s hard not to share our experiences with it.
Here we are 400 years later and we’re still arguing like popes and polymaths.
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 your glutes activated? Are you hinging? Is it hard to reach depth? Falling forward? Answers to these questions may reveal that the stance you’re favoring is doing nothing for your squat.
A belt is a support mechanism. Your trunk still supports, contracts, and strengthens while wearing a belt and gaining strength. Again, when not used properly, a belt is useless and has downsides. Here’s what to know as a coach with a listing of the belts I recommend for high school athletes, college athletes, and lifters.
Most people are satisfied with the results they see from simply adjusting food quality alone. Others want to see more drastic results, so a specific macro breakdown is necessary IF they are ready and can handle these adjustments as well as the work that goes into tracking it.
The pandemic I’m speaking of is obesity, and unlike COVID-19, it doesn’t seem to be subsiding. What’s even worse is that it’s getting worse each year.
From football and baseball to NASCAR, learn from Greg as he continues to climb (and race) the strength and conditioning ranks.
This was the good advice my mentor and powerlifting legend Ernie Frantz gave to me some 20 years ago when I had come back from a quad tear.
JM Blakley and Dave Tate have had their fair share of tendon problems. From tears to tweaks, they’ve learned how to strengthen their tendons to help lengthen their careers and put up bigger numbers. From ultra-heavy reps to ultra-light ones, here’s a variety of tendon tools at your disposal.
There are a lot of different leadership qualities that lend themselves to different times and situations. Every leader is different, and there isn’t one perfect personality or leadership type. At this time, however, I think there is one leadership quality that is needed most.
We hear excuses for why people don’t start home gyms every single day, but I want to break down why four of the biggest myths we hear about, simply aren’t true.
From everything we could tell, year two was going to be a great year of advancement, and what we had hoped to be a start to an end of our full-time jobs. But then, life happened: COVID-19, cancer, closure, and more.
I was alive when Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U.S. entered into World War II. In the 1940s, I remember polio. How does all of this relate to COVID-19 pandemic? I have an idea…
Here’s a don’t: If you are waiting until the summer to begin preparing for the fall, you’re already behind the eight ball…
I’m not gonna subject you to a bunch of “back in my day” bull crap. Assuming you’re at least somewhat interested in gear, and instead of playing the middle as I’ve always done, I’m gonna give you the truth.
A new client came to me expressing digestion issues that started occurring over the last few months. It severely impacted her appetite and comfort. She was experiencing symptoms of heartburn, a sensation of a lump in her throat after meals, and more.
Sometimes ego helps you out in powerlifting. Sometimes it doesn’t. Here’s where the ego will bite you, and how to mold yourself for your best lifting and life.
I wish I could give you exactly the stance you need, but you’ll have to dial that in for yourself. Here are some tricks to begin this process.
For July, we move from the weight room to the kitchen. Fun fact: In totality, considering all of the content we produce, nutrition is the one topic that doesn’t get as much airtime. Why? No one knows. It’s provocative.
When it comes to my training, I don’t just show up and happen to be able to perform. No one does that. I prepare for each mile marker target ahead of time. I eat enough. I sleep enough. I hydrate. The night before, the morning of; I run my mental game.
It all comes down to three rules. These three pretty much cover everything, and they can be applied anywhere in life: Education, work, family, anything…
The last time I checked, there are places that squat, don’t squat, wicket run, don’t wicket run, Olympic lift, Conjugate, Triphasic, unilateral, bilateral, and whatever else…BUT ALL OF THEIR ATHLETES SEEM TO DEVELOP.
Do two to three work sets at the beginning of one of the weekly upper body training sessions while the nervous system and muscles are fresh.
Without a doubt, there are some things you need to pay attention to when performing and coaching squats across the board. I will list them here.
I increased my competition bench with more than 40 pounds in one month when I did it the first time. I can’t promise you will make the same progress, but I think you will get close!
I never missed 315. I went for it when it was time and when my training had prepared me for it. I attempted the weight when it was the next logical step in the progression of my coach’s orders. It wasn’t a YOLO, it was what came next.
Everyone likes putting their own tweak on popular programming. Louie Simmons was not very receptive when he learned Mark Bell had changed his, however. You’d think a 180-pound squat PR would speak for itself, but apparently it was still no good.
Following these phases, there seems to be, on average, around a five to seven percent increase in 1RM bench by the end of phase two, with a further increase after phase three.
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.
These ideas are all things that have helped me as my lifting age has advanced and nagging injuries have come creeping in. Don’t settle for tweaks and breaks. Instead, make these changes today to avoid being banged up.
There are countless reasons for the disorganization in the warm-up room, and hopefully, some of this information will help those new or newer to the competition scene to survive in the warm-up area and benefit from it.
As most of us come out of COVID-19 lockdown and back into the gym, here’s a program that can be used as a three- or a six-day-a-week program with emphasis on simplicity and variability.
What are people most interested in seeing on the podcast? Who would be the perfect guest? Which topics should be covered? Talking the future of the podcast and when Dave is returning!
When it comes to conditioning, we need to consider how fast our systems can produce ATP, how long we can produce it for, and how efficiently your body can utilize the ATP being produced. To do that, here’s what we need to do.
Assuming you have the basics like a straight bar, rack, bench, box, boards, bands, and chains—you have plenty to rub out a successful and safe max effort session. Go team solo!
Do your shoulders hurt at the bottom of the bench? If so, what are you doing to fix it? This exercise may help.
