The Reincarnation of the Powerlifter
As powerlifters we are, in the sense described in ‘The Egg’, reincarnated. We live and die and are reborn several times over our lifting career.
We Better Get It Right — Securing the Future of S&C Before It's...
This is real stuff that is happening right now — not just my opinion, but what is really going on. I am not bitching, but I am calling for change in the right way. This is what needs to happen.
WATCH: Equipment Feature — The Setwear Boa Bar Clamp
The Setwear Boa Bar Clamp is the quick and easy answer to securing plates on barbells spanning a multitude of thicknesses.
Peaking When Things Feel Off: Quick Corrections Before A Meet
Only five days out from an important meet, I don’t have much time to fix the issues I’m having. For this reason I’m approaching the idea of a pre-meet deload a little differently.
10 Nutrition Myths That Just Need to Die
Despite how inaccurate these nutrition beliefs are, they just won’t seem to go away. It’s time we kill them.
The One Thing Your Glutes Are Missing
Let’s take a quick look at some simple biomechanics, and then we will break down the squat so we can rebuild it with an emphasis on generating torque.
A Contrarian’s Approach to Building Muscle
As improvement season heats up, I’ve been doing the exact opposite of the traditional bodybuilder’s approach, and the results have been incredible.
Methods to Improve Your Posture for Sport Performance
Now that we have a clear understanding of what posture is and why it is important, we can begin developing a plan to improve it.
'I Need You To Bring Something To The Table' — Training With M...
We took eight weeks off after what was pretty much a train derailing from the tracks, and someone replaced my wife with some crazy bitch that I don’t recognize.
WATCH: Table Talk — Natural Potential and the Genetic Ceiling
The potential for what a lifter can accomplish without using performance enhancing substances is far greater than most people assume.
From the Judge’s Chair: The Squat
Nothing trumps experience — specifically the sheer number of lifts you watch and analyze. Who sees the largest number of lifts? That’s right: the judge.
WATCH: The Strength Coach Development Center — Olympic Lifts Progression
The Olympic lifts will develop strength, speed, and power, but this is dependent on a few things you must do for your athletes.
Grading Professionalism in Collegiate Strength and Conditioning
This is a difficult issue to balance because people expect us to be over the top and screaming all the time. I’m asking that we raise the level of professionalism.
Back to Recovery Basics: The Big Three
In part two of this series, the topic is the big three for recovery, which allows athletes to experience better performance, resistance to injury, and longevity in their sport.
WATCH: Blast from the Past — The Number One Biggest Squat Mistake
From the moment you grab the bar until you rack it after the lift, you need to be focusing on this part of your squat.
The Swing Block Method
This program moves in a linear progression by alternating rep ranges with normal deload and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy phases to allow for supercompensation to take place.
Sick of Your Gym?
It took me about two weeks to figure out I uprooted myself right into HELL. I ran into many of the same issues many of you are still dealing with.
Short-Term Friends in a Long-Term Sport
Some friends remain steady and become full-time training partners. These are the people you trust with your lifting and your life. But you’ll also encounter short-term friends, where most of your trouble and drama will arise.
Improve Your Posture for Sport Performance
As a lifter, and likely someone that sits at a desk a lot, the odds are you spend a lot of time slouching, with tight hip flexors, pecs and biceps, fueling the fire of kyphosis, lordosis, and medial humeral rotation.
An Argument for Post-Training Cardio Gains
Worried that too much cardio could hinder your muscle growth? Performed the right way, at the right time, low-intensity aerobic activity can actually improve muscle hypertrophy.
Surviving a Pec Tear
Seven years ago while benching 500 pounds, I experienced a partial pec tear to the muscle belly near the attachment to the pec tendon. These are the techniques I used to recover and the exercises I perform to safeguard my pec from ever tearing again.
WATCH: Table Talk — Max Effort Work vs. Submaximal Doubles and Triples
There are different purposes, benefits, and risks of max effort work and submaximal doubles and triples. Which makes more sense for your programming?
Top Training Tips For Advanced Lifters — Life Priority and Team Role
Why am I taking the time to write this? These are the things I find myself repeating over and over again with different lifters.
Critical Thinking in Powerlifting — Eliminating Cognitive Biases
Most of the time we are completely unaware of these biases, but they can affect the way we think and the decisions we make in our personal lives, at work, and even in our training.
Reborn After Arthritis
Surgery isn’t magic but sometimes it is the best option if you’re willing to take the time to recover and undergo proper rehabilitation. Here’s my story of osteoarthritis at 29 years old.
The 74th Aberlour Strathspey Highland Games
My first trip to Scotland coincided with my first Highland games experience. Here’s how my day went.
Back to Recovery Basics: Fundamentals of Recovery
Understanding the role of recovery is the first step to improving your health, longevity, and performance as a strength athlete. Think of it like this: your training is the sledgehammer and your recovery is the raw materials and blueprints for improvement.
Bigger Is Not Always Stronger: Fallacies of Muscle Hypertrophy for Stren...
I am going to establish an argument against a particular misconception: the fallacy that working out to make your ‘muscles bigger’ will make you stronger, faster, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Program Determination Using the Quadrant Approach: Individualization in ...
Many programs say they individualize, but in reality very few do it well. This is why I borrowed the Quadrant Management System from business and redeveloped it to meet my requirements for programming in team sports.
High-Density Training for Fat Loss and Conditioning
These high-density training protocols are the holy grails of body composition training. Here are the best ones to get you started.
Finding Strength: The Bar Strength and Conditioning
Owner Bryan May and coach John Severson are sharing their knowledge and expertise with the people of Milton, Florida and the surrounding area.
How to Hit Your Biggest Bench at Your Next Meet
If you use this peaking plan and follow these tips, it’s not a question of whether or not you’ll PR at your next meet — it’s just a matter of by how much.
Preventing Negative Emotions from Stealing Your Progress
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced lifter, an iron sport athlete or a triathlete, stepping on stage at the Olympia or opening a gym door for the first time, you are going to face some mental battles.
Not Motivated? Unplug
If you struggle to find motivation and have been training for only a handful of years, I would question your passion for training. If you struggle to find motivation after training for 20 years, I feel ya.
A Case for Max Effort Work and How To Introduce It
For the most profound results we need to train the area of the force velocity curve our athletes have spent the least amount of time on.
WATCH: Table Talk — When to Rotate Supplemental and Accessory Exercises
How much time do you really need to spend with an exercise to know if it’s working or not?
Strength Chat Podcast: Technical Aspects of Training During and After Pr...
Through their four pillars and a growing nationwide network, BIRTHFIT is helping thousands of expecting moms prepare themselves for childbirth while staying healthy, mobile, and strong.
WATCH: Blast from the Past — The Beginning Stage of a Diet
How many carbohydrates do you need in every meal? Should you consume more on training days than rest days? How many grams of protein are necessary? These actually aren’t the questions you should be asking.
The Power of Choice
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.
Finally Back on the Platform
This was my first experience with 365 STRONG, and my goals were to squat more on the platform than I previously had while continuing to rehab my hand.
Changing the System from Within
Our job is to be better than those coaches who let the kids believe football is life. Our job is to make sure these athletes leave us better than when they arrived.
Prepare for Battle: The Fighter’s Guide to Fight Preparation
To be elite in combat sports these days you need to be more well-rounded in your strength and conditioning than ever. You'll need absolute strength, relative strength, strength endurance, special strength, speed, power, and conditioning.
LISTEN: Developing Athletes Through the APRE Protocol for Strength Training
Dr. Mann joins Dr. Lowery and Dr. Nelson to discuss the APRE and how the implementation of this protocol transitioned to velocity-based training.
WATCH: What I Would Change About My Time in Powerlifting
One small change could've led to all-time world records that might still be standing today.
Avoid These Group Programming Mistakes
Simply winging it won’t cut it. It's incredibly important for your clients’ health and success that you stop making these errors.
Wrapping it Up — What I Learned as an elitefts Intern
Ellie finished her 10-week internship at elitefts and shares lessons that she learned while working on her favorite projects.
Building the Raw Powerlifting Total
Here are several very vital pieces of information that often go overlooked and undervalued when it comes to doing your best on the platform.
WATCH: Table Talk — Why Are Some Lifters More Explosive Than Others?
Every lifter falls somewhere on this continuum. It will determine how your max attempts look and how you should train to increase them.
Bare Bones Conjugate: A Bar, Rack, and Bench Weeks 9-13
This final wave includes a small taper at the end for peaking purposes. There are both banded and band-free options.
When Strong Is All You Can Be
Within the environment of the serious gym, race, religion, political ideation, and gender identity fall a far second to the bond of power, strength, and living life to its fullest. This is the story of strongman and powerlifter Kristian Johnson.
SPF Best of the Best Pro-Am Meet Results — The Power of the Crew
At the age of 45, after well over a decade of competing, and after just eight months back with a good crew, my total jumped 114 pounds.
Sisyphus Stumbles
During the second double of a floor press training session, his pec tears. The bar crashes to the safety pins, inches above his face. For at least the twentieth time, the Collegiate Power Rack saves his ass.
Peak Mental Performance Podcast — How to Use Visualization
In this episode of the Peak Mental Performance Podcast, Dr. Steve Graef, Counseling and Sports Psychologist for The Ohio State University Athletics, defines visualization and gives steps to use it to improve athletic performance.
WATCH: Learning the Strongman Jerk
Improving the jerk is all about getting the reps, trusting your technique, and not being afraid to miss reps.
What's Worse Than No?
Sometimes the best thing we can do for a client—or staff person, or child—is to make a decision for them.
3 Ab Exercises for Powerlifting and Strongman
To perform these exercises correctly, you need to learn how to breathe and brace properly. But once you do, it will pay off big time.
Empowering Intellectuals: Reclaiming the Body — Muscularity, Bone Densit...
In part one I addressed some general definitions and discussed the issues of age group, level of activity, previous training experience, and body fat. Now we address muscularity, injuries, bone density, and the lifestyle factors that impact your health.
Tools of the Trade — Popular Modalities for Soft Tissue Recovery and The...
This article will give a thorough understanding of the similarities and differences between modalities, which modality is best for certain injuries, how they are best used in your training, and what their overall purpose is.