The posterior chain—you’ve undoubtedly heard people waxing prolific about this topic, particularly in response to sedentary lifestyles. It’s a great buzzword to make yourself sound smart while describing a ... Continue Reading
Hacking the Hack Squat
Now say that three times fast! Welcome back everyone to another episode of Breaking Down Your Workout Library. Thanks to the team at Breaking Muscle, I’ve been guided to produce another breakdown of one of ... Continue Reading
Create Athletic Children in This Fertile Age for Fitness
I spoke to my new friend Jiang today and she informed me of something truly troubling. She felt horrible because she snatch deadlifted 100kg (220 lbs) today as her maximum instead of her programmed 140kg ... Continue Reading
The Efficacy of Percentage-Based Training Programs
I’ll defend percentage-based training program's efficacy for powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting until the bitter end, or when I’m muttering to myself on a park bench wearing a sleeping bag as a sport ... Continue Reading
Use Bands to Build Bulletproof Abs
Physio bands are one of my best friends in the gym. They’re great for shoulder health, great for activating my sleepy lats before a big pulling day, and even useful for building some muscular endurance ... Continue Reading
Strengthen Your Strict Press
Today we will be covering the strict press. In Chinese weightlifting, strict presses are completed a bit differently. As demonstrated above, the standard strict press starts from the clean position and ... Continue Reading
Add New Disciplines to Your Training, Part 3: Execute Your Plan
Part 1 of this series explored ways to choose new disciplines to add to your current training. Part 2 of this series addressed making a plan to help ensure your success in your new endeavors. We’ll ... Continue Reading
Add New Disciplines to Your Training, Part 2: Make a Plan
Part 1 of this series included suggestions on how to select new practices to expand on your current training regime based on your interests and capabilities, and explored ways to help you evaluate and ... Continue Reading
Add New Disciplines to Your Training, Part 1: How Do I Choose?
The question will always creep up, in one form or another. Someone may ask how to include yoga into their strength training schedule. Someone else, who’s defined their fitness through bodybuilding ... Continue Reading
How to Put Your Body to Use for a Good Cause
What if living life made you healthy? Just imagine a world where everyday life pulled you and your closest friends towards frequent physical activity. You’d run, jump, swim, climb, push, and pull without ... Continue Reading
The Future of Video Replay for Weightlifting
Over two consecutive weekends in May I was able to officiate at both the American and Canadian national weightlifting championships. Now that I have returned home and the dust has settled it is time to go ... Continue Reading
The Bathroom Break Kettlebell Strength Plan
I drink a lot of water and coffee. Consequently, I run to the bathroom almost every hour. It is down the hall and takes no more than a couple of minutes. I hardly notice these breaks. Despite my ... Continue Reading
Double Compound Movements
The ’70s and ’80s saw the birth of the globo-gym era and with it a limited, narrow conception of what training looked like. Most people who exercised chose either bodybuilding or “aerobics.” ... Continue Reading
Do You Know What Your Core Really Is and What it Does?
Your core is a complex series of muscles, extending far beyond your abs, including everything besides your arms and legs. It is incorporated in almost every movement of the human body. These muscles ... Continue Reading
What Is Functional Training?
Many buzzwords seem to fly around the fitness industry. Words like "functional," "primal," and "developmental" hover above us, just slightly out of focus to make for clear definition, like dark vultures ... Continue Reading
The Secret to Your First Squat is Feeling Great Doing It
It’s all patterns. Learning to squat is learning a pattern of movement. As a coach, you see patterns in people too in their behavior and their responses. Different people will give the same reasons as to ... Continue Reading
Preserve the Habit at All Costs: Why You Should Work Out Every Day
“We are mere bundles of habits.” - William James “We are mere bundles of habits.” - William James My two-year-old son, Ace, is a pattern machine. When he finishes dinner, he says, “bath.” When we ... Continue Reading
Slay the Dragon: Techniques to Conquer Fear
It’s easy to see its green scales when you’re shining a light on a competition platform. It may be your first competition, or maybe your third. You’re in a chair in the back, but you can see the barbell ... Continue Reading
7 Exercises to Bulletproof Your Shoulders
As a coach for 10 years, I would say two of the most common limiting factors in athletic development are hips and shoulders. Today, it’s time to talk shoulders. As a coach for 10 years, ... Continue Reading
The Number 1 Factor That Dictates If You Build Muscle, Strength, and Power
Dr. John Rusin is one of the fitness and sports performance industry’s leading experts in the pain-free performance training model that blends the world of strength and conditioning with clinical movement ... Continue Reading
7 Exercises to a Bulletproof Back
Based on both my own athletic experiences and from working with clients for 10 years, I can say with certainty that back pain is one of the most commonly grumbled about annoyances. For some, it’s ... Continue Reading
Thick Thighs to Save Lives
Biologically, men maintain most of their mass in their upper half while women maintain most of their weight in the lower half. Body types come in endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph flavors with ... Continue Reading
Biceps: Do They Really Matter?
“F%$& the legs, let’s bench!” A common adage among the batch of men who prioritize a jacked upper body over the quads, hamstrings, and ass. (Considering the number of men I come across with ... Continue Reading
Supplements for Your Summer Shred
The supplement industry isn’t regulated by the FDA. Unfortunately, it leaves very little to be trusted because the supplement industry as a whole isn’t exactly forthcoming with information. Having had a ... Continue Reading