Rather than just writing one cycle, I’ve decided to make an easy to follow quasi-article that contains all the different cycles for the squat that I’ve used with success. YES to chains and bands.
Ask any coach, power is a prioritized physical quality for athletes. How do we develop power? Variable Resistance Training (VRT).
You are only a new lifter once, and that is a gift to take seriously. Don’t squander it by dabbling in the post-elite aspects and methods of training.
An in-depth analysis of band movements I heavily depend on for augmenting my physical prowess on the mat, and for any athletes I coach irrespective of sport.
This article is not about the bands or weights but HOW you use the bands or weights. You can use these 12 techniques to keep your workouts fresh and keep your sanity without going to the gym.
It’s in these moments, we wish we would’ve put a little more energy and cash into our home gym. Here’s how to start small yet smart.
Here are my top budget-conscious choices for an extremely effective home workout.
Life gets hectic with viruses, gym closings and holidays, work, and travel, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get some training in.
Are you really utilizing your muscles at their maximum strength?
Want to prevent injury by building a bulletproof back? Have achy elbows and knees? Suffering from a low-grade strain?
If Santa and his reindeer deliver these items, you’re guaranteed to have a great Christmas and an amazing strongman contest at your school!
Do you know a poor dude whose testicles really need to drop this holiday season? This selection of gifts has been proven to raise testosterone levels by as much as 1,849 percent!
I am here to tell you if these are on your Christmas list and you get all these items, then you will be on track for a massive total and some of the best training of your life. I cannot recommend all of these pieces enough.
With no weight class or aesthetic events to worry about around the holiday season, it’s a perfect opportunity to pack on some extra mass… and to pick up some gifts for your favorite powerbuilder.
Your training space is a one-car stall garage, and you want quality equipment at a decent price. Does this sound like you? Great, say no more. Every small garage gym owner should have these five things for endless training possibilities and year-round gains.
Bad news: Your buddy is on the Naughty List. The only thing he deserves for the holidays is a kick in the ass to get back into the gym. Good news: You take the high road and give him the gift of training with you next year with some nice incentives.
This little old man’s secret to recovery lies in one word: bands.
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.
The proper resistance profile for strengthening external rotation should have less resistance in fully lengthened and fully shortened muscles and more resistance in mid-range lengthed muscles. While bands are great tools, they aren’t so great for strengthening rotator cuffs.
Don’t despair. Christmas is the season of hope, and these 10 ideas will help ease the pain that years of abuse from Uncle Sam have wrought on that body. So break out the AMEX and get your older military officer or veteran back in the fight!
Want to mix up your home gym training session with the equipment you already own? Grab your rack, a pair of elitefts Pro Light Bands, and a pipe, and we’ll get you all set up in no time to do some sissy squats.
Not everyone has been there — there being a facility on a tight budget — but I have. If you’re feeling the financial squeeze but desperately need new equipment, these should be more than enough to get your weight room by.
The more advanced you are, the longer the stretches between records become. If you’re in that position (trust me, I’ve been there before), consider doing some supplemental exercises. The ones listed here will help boost your sumo deadlift.
Through the use of unconventional movements (or awkward movements), you can really force yourself to utilize better form and recruit numerous additional muscle fibers. Here are a handful of Big 3 variations you can try out.
Out of all of the crap floating around on the Internet, I’ve only found 4 exercises to be worthy of mentioning. By the way, that says a lot because 2 of ’em use bands, and I am not a band guy.
To call this program hard is an understatement. The volume is high, the work is heavy, and you’ll want to quit. But I can promise you, your back will never be thicker and your PRs will become something of the past.
Don’t be afraid to mix up your workout routine with something new. Try a new exercise and see if it works well for you. That’s what I did today, and it ended up being a solid workout session. Plus, my bench press has felt stronger every week. Try it! What’ve you got to lose?
If your client cannot pull a sled or carry two heavy kettlebells without having to rest excessively between sets, you need to implement GPP to build your clients’ foundations. But you need to implement it the right way.
I can’t get over how versatile the American Cambered Grip Bar is. You can use it forward and backward, giving you a total of 8 grip options. Flip it over, you’ve got a total of 16. I’ve found 250 options, and I’m sure there are more to find.
This leg workout of the day was brief, but let me tell you something: it kicked my ass. You don’t have to be new to Blood Flow Restriction Training for it to do that, let me tell you!
Do you seriously call that a squat? I’ve seen babies squat better than you! No, seriously, I have. Babies don’t know how to do the squat wrong! By the time your kids are toddling and in soccer camp, their squats start to fall apart. Here are the three things I do to correct athletes’ poor squats.
No, you’re not seeing deja vu. This workout features: 1. Lying Leg Curls 2. Leg Extensions 3. Cambered Bar Squats 4. Banded Leg Extensions 5. Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deads. Per the usual, click to see the sets, reps, equipment used for this leg workout, and find out what’s super-setted.
In this episode of Table Talk Podcast, Dave Tate and JL Holdsworth reminisce about their time at Westside Barbell, perspective and the meaning of “going all in,” figuring out band and chain percentages, and more.
In this “powerbuilding” article, we’re looking at hamstrings — a muscle group bodybuilders and strength athletes alike struggle to develop. If you’re naturally lower-body dominant, you don’t need to spend tons of time on ’em. But if you’ve got piglets instead of hammies, I don’t need to convince you to read on.
1. MAG Scapula Retraction Pulldowns 2. Max Tension Hammer Strength Rows 3. Decline Banded Pullover 4. Away Facing Pulldowns 5. Isolation Curls 6. Incline Dumbbell Curls — click to see the sets, reps, and equipment I used for this back and biceps workout.
If you are a bench-only lifter, an older beat-up powerlifter, or just really need to get in some lower body training in, these six exercises will cover all three of those bases. These exercises are my workaround to hammer the lower and upper body while keeping a strong bench.
As Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grows more popular, so does misinformation about training for the martial art. This article will provide both empirical and anecdotal information about strength and conditioning for this particular combat sport.
While having a big back doesn’t guarantee big bench PRs, the back and bench press go hand in hand. The back plays an enormous role in benching effectively — most lifters just don’t know how to use their back in the lift!
Speed squats w/ Duplex bar vs. heavy band bar x 5 180 x 3 270 x 2 320 (~35%) x 2 x 8 2” deadlifts 320 x 2 410 x 1 500 x 1 560 x 1 610 x 1 655 x 0 Unilateral Reverse Hyper 100 x 15 x 4
Gyms only go so far in mimicking the items used in strongman competitions, so read on to start building your personal strongman training arsenal.
Tired of the commercial gym? Maybe it’s time to start up your own gym in the garage. Not sure where to start? Look no further than this 12-item list.
In this article, I can’t promise you Lee Priest-proportioned bicep development, but I will share some ideas to unlocking new growth over a six-week period of time.
These are the eight items I find most useful after just having barbells, a rack, and good technique.
Monolift commandments for those new to the monolift, monolift commandments to heed today as a way to avoid tragedy in the future, and monolift commandments to help get the most out of this amazing piece of powerlifting equipment.
He squats, benches, and deadlifts week in and week out with no variation. Specialty bars? Ha! Accommodating resistance? Ha!
All that matters is how you look, and if using equipment allows you to train heavier and harder, build more muscle, and ultimately look better, then you should use it! Here are my top-5 powerlifting Christmas gifts for bodybuilders.
Out of shape? Slow? Dumb? Weak? Ugly? Andrew Jackson (the president on a $20 bill for any non-US-based readers) has a solution for you.
These offers WILL BE better than what you see on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday, Yellow Thursday, Orange Tuesday or whatever else that hits the market this season.
I believe that the confidence weight releasers can build is almost as important as any other factor I talk about in this article. If you want to improve your dynamic effort work, give these sample cycles a try.
Board of Education President Josh Hobbs recounts what he’s learned and shares his checklist of must-have equipment for any high school gym or weight room.
Since applying bands and chains in his training, Johnson has not only remained competitive in the sport of powerlifting, he has also seen the gains that he was aiming to achieve.
Beyond a rack, bar, and plates, here are the smaller pieces of equipment I feel have added the most value to my strength and conditioning program.
In training, many choices must be made. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
There’s a piece to the accommodating resistance puzzle that I don’t think anyone ever really discusses: using bands too often can ruin you for straight weight. There’s also an equally overlooked method of fatigue management.
How and when should you perform assistance exercises? What protocols are used for assistance work? Should exercises be changed or rotated? What about bands, chains, and specialty bars?
With my Bare Bones program, you can see that great progress can be made with minimal equipment, but there are some tools that make things easier. If I built a home gym all over again, these are the first things I would buy.
The healthier you can keep your spine, the longer you can train heavy and grow muscle. Here are my top-10, spine-friendly exercises.
