My Life as a Heavyweight
My Life as a Heavyweight
Being pregnant has changed many things—my workouts, clothes, eating habits, you name it! However, on a long car ride to Indiana to visit family, I realized that I’m not unlike a large, super heavy powerlifter.
Addicted to Ammonia?
Addicted to Ammonia?
Recently, it has come to my attention that I and team “Disciples of Strength” may have possibly developed an addiction to ammonia caps. I don’t really agree with this, but it may be possible.
From Paper to Iron Mike: Mike Stuchiner’s Journey to Elite
From Paper to Iron Mike: Mike Stuchiner’s Journey to Elite
Mike Stuchiner is a paragon of tenacity. In 1991, the native of Long Island, New York entered his first powerlifting meet. On August 18, 2007, he earned his first elite total at the Cincinnati Pro Am with a 775-lb squat, a 555-lb bench press, and a 620-lb deadlift in the 275-lb weight class.
Training Versus Talent
Training Versus Talent
Times have changed a great deal since I last put on pads and a helmet back in 1990. I guess I’m becoming an old man because now I look at these lazy kids and think, “back in my day...”
The Thinker Discusses Olympic Lifts
The Thinker Discusses Olympic Lifts
Question 1: I’d like to thank you for all of the helpful tips, but this is where we’re going to crash. As an athlete, I’ve been performing the Olympic lifts since middle school. I use them with the athletes I train from day one and haven’t had any problems.
Under The Bar: Boston Seminar Recap
Under The Bar: Boston Seminar Recap
If strength and powerlifting are the topics, then I want to hear from those who are in the trenches day in and day out
Scott “Hoss” Cartwright: Get Injured and Get Stronger Interview
Scott “Hoss” Cartwright: Get Injured and Get Stronger Interview
He has elite totals at a body weight of 275 lbs and 308 lbs and totaled 2204 lbs in single ply gear. After that, Hoss tried to make a jump to double ply gear but only added 18 pounds to his total.
Defending the Deadlift: An Interview with Coach and Powerlifter, Eric Cressey
Defending the Deadlift: An Interview with Coach and Powerlifter, Eric Cr...
If you needed an expert on Russian writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, you might contact Daniel Mahoney, a professor at Assumption College. For an expert on squatting, there’s Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield of the International Sports Sciences Association.
Sick of Your Gym, Part 7 - The Visitor
Sick of Your Gym, Part 7 - The Visitor
I first experienced The Visitor shortly after move to Columbus and began training at Westside Barbell. Over the years I have seen hundreds of visitors to the club
The Power of the Team
The Power of the Team
It’s similar to when your favorite song comes blasting through the speakers at the gym and you get that little extra charge of power for the movement that you’re performing.
What Determines Proper Squat Technique?
What Determines Proper Squat Technique?
The question of how deep you should go in the squat is constantly debated.
What I Learned from Bodybuilding and How It Can Help Your Powerlifting
What I Learned from Bodybuilding and How It Can Help Your Powerlifting
In May of this year, I competed in two bodybuilding shows: The NPC New York Metropolitan Championships and the NPC New England Championships. I
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest Part 4
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest Part 4
This is the fourth article of a seven part series.
Top 10 Speed Training Myths Revealed
Top 10 Speed Training Myths Revealed
Every day someone asks me a question about training speed. So here are those questions heard most frequently as well as the answers to them.
Guidelines to Designing Your Own Routine
Guidelines to Designing Your Own Routine
This is a guide for those who are just getting started and need a push in the right direction as far as workout program design.
My Little Future Powerlifters
My Little Future Powerlifters
Lately, it seems as though I’ve been invaded by little kids. I have them around me all the time. Now, this is actually a gift from the gods because they amuse me and put me in a good mood.
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest pt.3
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest pt.3
This is the third article of a seven part series.
Cruel and Unusual Exercises
Cruel and Unusual Exercises
Did you ever wonder how song writers or comedians come up with their lyrics or material? As a person who loves music as well as a good comedy, I always wondered that very question. When I started my career coaching and training athletes, I researched other coaches to come up with new ideas for old exercises. Then it clicked. The more a person surrounds himself with the subject at hand, the more thoughts come to mind about that subject.
Strength Czar: An EliteFTS Roundtable Discussion
Strength Czar: An EliteFTS Roundtable Discussion
With James Smith, Mark McLaughlin, Tom Deebel, Jim Wendler, Travis Mash, Julia Ladewski, C. J. Murphy, Matt Brand, Nick Zostautas, Kevin Deweese, and Tim Kontos
Bench and Nothing but the Bench
Bench and Nothing but the Bench
Russians believe that if you wish to excel at a lift, you can’t beat frequent practice of this lift with a moderately heavy weight and never to failure. Vladimir Volkov, the European bench press champion and master’s world champion in the 220 lb weight class, has proved that point with a 639 lb bench in an IPF competition.
Persevering
Persevering
I’m always amazed and amused at how many guys are in and then suddenly out of competitive powerlifting and bodybuilding. Many of these guys have almost unlimited God-given potential to become national or even world champions.
Olympic Lifting for Athletes: Power Clean!
Olympic Lifting for Athletes: Power Clean!
It’s extremely important that athletes perform Olympic lifts correctly. This means teaching lifts through a progression designed to implement proper form. Doing the lifts incorrectly, which is the case with the vast majority of young athletes, reduces the effect of the lift and creates a much higher likelihood of injury.
20 Things Everyone Who Lifts Should Know
20 Things Everyone Who Lifts Should Know
Aw shit…it’s another “top 20” or “20 things” list about training. Great.
Sandbag Arsenal
Sandbag Arsenal
One of the biggest problems that we face in training today’s athletes is that they’re out of shape! Whether professional or amateur, many of these athletes come to their teams severely unconditioned. With physical education programs being cut from school curriculums and child obesity rising every year, we need to take a long hard look at the values that physical conditioning provides.
Lift Strong Excerpt: NFL Linebacker In-Season Strength Program
Lift Strong Excerpt: NFL Linebacker In-Season Strength Program
*The number of workouts that this athlete performed each week with me was dependent on the team’s practice schedule, meeting schedule, travel time & injuries that occurred during the season.
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest Part 2
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest Part 2
This is the second article of a seven part series.
Football Speed: Seven Tips to a Faster 40
Football Speed: Seven Tips to a Faster 40
This is the time of the season when I’m sure you’re asked the same question over and over—how do I run a faster 40? Here are the top seven tips to increase your 40-yard time dramatically without having to run a step.
Acceleration, Part II
Acceleration, Part II
Speed is a product of stride length (the distance your hips travel in a stride) and stride frequency (the number of steps you take in a given time period). However, you won’t reach top speed by taking increasingly larger steps to increase stride length or taking short, quick steps to increase stride frequency.
Acceleration
Acceleration
In any sport, athletes need to be able to accelerate as quickly as possible to get to the ball or opponent first. As a coach, you must put your athletes in the best possible position to succeed.
Benefits of a Strength and Conditioning Program
Benefits of a Strength and Conditioning Program
If you’re reading this, you probably have a good understanding of why strength and conditioning is important. However, I’d like to reach the coaches, athletic directors, and lazy athletes who will never reach their potential because of a lack of education.
The Making of a Road Grater with Racing Speed: The Linemen’s Evolution
The Making of a Road Grater with Racing Speed: The Linemen’s Evolution
“Real deference doesn’t come based on size and intimidation but on monster work capacities and real street toughness.”
Why I Hate Joe DeFranco
Why I Hate Joe DeFranco
Joe DeFranco is full of shit. There I said it. If you have a problem with that statement, then you are wrong.
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest
Climbing Your Own Personal Everest
We all have our dreams, but it’s rare for many of us to ever achieve them. Months ago, I was intrigued by an article on the ADCC website about Royler Gracie’s challenge to Gracie Barra.
Children Should Minor in all Sports and Major in None
Children Should Minor in all Sports and Major in None
The title says it all, which is a quote from Tom Myslinski, currently the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania. Every youth sports related newspaper or magazine article you read these days has children as young as 7-8 years-old playing organized year-round sports.
The UNO Warm Up
The UNO Warm Up
I’ve been working with athletes for quite some time. Even though I haven’t overhauled the way I do things, I definitely make changes on a continual basis. One thing that has seen many changes is the way I warm up athletes. I’ve always used some type of movement-based stretching, and I’ve tried to stay away from any pre-workout static stretching. My belief has always been in the actual workout, not so much in what we did before the workout. I’ve always believed in getting a sweat going before moving on to the actual workout.
General Preparatory Classifications for Division 1 Football
General Preparatory Classifications for Division 1 Football

Although there are several different reasons for this, lack of time in the day is a large one (especially for the collegiate strength coach). Here at Northwestern State University (NSU), we developed a method for classifying our athletes to make their programs/training more individualized.

13 Sales “Basics” for Fitness Professionals
13 Sales “Basics” for Fitness Professionals

Every successful fitness professional is a proficient salesperson. And by “successful” I mean those who aren’t forced to find another career because of their lack of business skills or desire to improve them. Here are 13 sales “basics” to improve your ability to sell your services.

How to Break PRs
How to Break PRs

What I intend to offer you is an example of what has helped me increase my own lifts.

Texas BBQ: Talking Shop with Mark Rippetoe
Texas BBQ: Talking Shop with Mark Rippetoe

The author of the book, Mark Rippetoe, owns and operates the Wichita Falls Athletic Club in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Seven Deadly Sins and the Gym
Seven Deadly Sins and the Gym

“Bless me father for I have sinned.” Not what you would call a normal phrase to hear in a gym, but it’s likely something that we should hear. In the gymnasium of today, despite the glitz and glamour, the technology, and the alleged wealth of scientific knowledge that we have, the typical gym attendee doesn’t get the training results he or she desires.

Insight into Baseball Training
Insight into Baseball Training

I get bombarded with emails on a daily bases ranging from business issues, training questions, product opportunities, spam and a number of other issues. While I personally answer most of my emails there are times when I forward them onto people I feel can do a better job answering the questions than I could.

10 Reasons to Start the 3X3 Program
10 Reasons to Start the 3X3 Program

I’m a big fan of programs that focus on doing a few things very well. Complicated programs are rarely built to last and few trainees benefit from them.

What I See in My Weight Room
What I See in My Weight Room

It’s funny some of the things you see being a strength coach. I probably see most athletes more than their sport coaches do on average. So during a normal day in a somewhat normal week the things I see always amuse me in some form.

Marc Bartley’s Squat Routine
Marc Bartley’s Squat Routine

Squatting big in a meet is every powerlifter’s dream. For some, it can make or break the meet. The big squat sets the tone for the meet. This is truly the case for me. Therefore, my focus is always on the BIG SQUAT.

Guard Your Thoughts
Guard Your Thoughts

November 13, 2005 is a day that I will never forget. I was competing at the IPA nationals in York, Pennsylvania, and on my opening squat attempt, I lost my balance.

Sushi Improvements
Sushi Improvements

After competing in the Iron House Classic this past spring, I wanted to turn my attention to developing my raw strength. Based on some reading and videos I had seen, I made some unique adjustments to my dynamic effort bench training. These changes helped improve my raw (sushi) bench by 40 lbs in only 14 weeks.

The Rise of the Internet Icons
The Rise of the Internet Icons

[Billy Mimnaugh is known for speaking his mind, whether it’s about politics or powerlifting. If you are easily offended, read no further. Billy has a loud voice, and we want to give him the opportunity to speak. —Jim Wendler, EFS]

Putting Things into Perspective
Putting Things into Perspective

[Billy Mimnaugh is known for speaking his mind, whether it’s about politics or powerlifting. If you are easily offended, read no further. Billy has a loud voice, and we want to give him the opportunity to speak. —Jim Wendler, EFS]

Training the Deadlift
Training the Deadlift

The deadlift can be scary. It comes last in a meet and is the most stressful event on the various components that make the body a lifting machine. And well, it even has a scary name. On top of all of that, there are now a hundred and one ways to raise your one rep max on the deadlift. Rack pulls, stiff legs, speed pulls; sumo, conventional, modified; and high hips, low hips, leg drive, hip drive. It can get very, very confusing.

Strongman for Athletic Strength and Conditioning
Strongman for Athletic Strength and Conditioning

The study of the science of strength and conditioning for sports is a huge endeavor. There are many differing opinions and many things that work. The key is to find out what works for your athlete based on his or her individual differences, strengths, weaknesses, and of course, sport.

Knowledge and Wisdom of the Elite
Knowledge and Wisdom of the Elite

Some of the most insightful minds in athletic nutrition share their ideas.

Tattoos, Training, and the Wisdom of Stu
Tattoos, Training, and the Wisdom of Stu

About a week ago, I went into Lexington to get a new tattoo. I went there with about ten ideas and worked with the artist, Stu, to develop them. After some talking, we decided on one, and Stu drew something up. Now where to put it…

My To Do List
My To Do List

Sometimes I reflect back on my days (or is it daze?) in college when I could just wake up, go directly to the gym, and pump away.

Wanted: Hardcore Training Partners
Wanted: Hardcore Training Partners

I know this may seem a bit strange, but it crossed my mind the other day as I was showering that certain individuals in history would make great training partners. I quickly compiled a list of historical figures that met certain personal requirements for being a good workout comrade.

General Concerns in the S&C Field
General Concerns in the S&C Field

Prior to a recent transformation which I recently underwent, I made the choice to negatively interpret a great deal of circumstances which infect our industry and society. I found myself in continual disappointment with respect to a host of factors.

Letter of Resignation
Letter of Resignation

This letter is to inform you that I am resigning from my position as head strength and conditioning coach. I enjoyed my time while at the university and feel grateful for the knowledge and friendships that I have gained. I feel I owe it to you to offer an explanation as to why I have made this decision.

Do You Need Your Brakes Fixed?
Do You Need Your Brakes Fixed?

Many articles out there deal with enhancing acceleration but pay little attention to deceleration or force absorption. However, in most cases, you must be able to absorb force before you can create force.

Interview with Eric Serrano
Interview with Eric Serrano

Eric, give us a little information about your background for the people who do not know you.

Sliding Filament Theory of Muscle Contraction, Fiber Types, and Training Adaptations
Sliding Filament Theory of Muscle Contraction, Fiber Types, and Training...

It has been over fifty years since the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction was first proposed.

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