Back in 1988, Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson were the two 100-meter dash greats. Carl Lewis was already regarded as one of the best sprinters and jumpers of all time, but Ben Johnson stepped up and broke the ... Continue Reading
Know Thyself (And You’ll Know How to Train)
Getting carried away in the gym is easy, especially if you’re a competitive person. You see the body change, numbers go up, results improve, and next thing you know you have your eyes on a total that ... Continue Reading
Does Arm Action Render Heart Rate Monitors Ineffective?
I’ve always wondered how accurate heart rate monitors could possibly be at measuring calorie burn. I even wonder sometimes how accurate they are at measuring heart rate, but in that regard they tend to be ... Continue Reading
Featured Photographer: The U of MMA Photography Team
Art can be so much more meaningful when you know a little bit more about the person behind it - the eye behind the lens. That's why we periodically profile sports/action photographers and their work. Read ... Continue Reading
How Much Recovery Do You Need? 7 Factors to Add Up
Anyone who takes up weightlifting or any other activity in the iron game with any degree of enthusiasm will always learn all they can about training. These people constantly look for the ideal combination ... Continue Reading
The AbMat Is Awesome – Here’s Why
I love Annie. Actually, I admire the two human Annies (Annie Sakamoto and Annie Thorisdottir) for their fortitude and cheerful display of the human spirit under duress, but today I’m talking about my love ... Continue Reading
8 Common Squatting Mistakes and How to Correct Them For Stronger Squats
Everyone makes mistakes. I make a lot. Everyone squats. (Don’t they?) I squat a lot. Through the combination of these two things, in addition to coaching a lot of squats, I’ve worked out eight common ... Continue Reading
Athlete Journal: James Kearns, Entry 4 – 1/29/2014
EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of James Kearns. James is an active Brazilian jiu jitsu competitor and also trains and competes in Olympic weightlifting.Follow his journals here every ... Continue Reading
The Early Days of Women’s MMA: An Interview with Danielle West
Fighters are a funny sort of people. The ones I like best are the ones who are friendly and kind in everyday life, yet sneaky and dangerous come fight time. It’s as though they have a beast inside them ... Continue Reading
I Have a Dream (Team): When Winning Is the Only Thing That Matters
There is something primal in the will to win. The cellular-level drive to emerge from any sort of competition as the victor is an innate desire that human beings can scarcely understand. We’ve been ... Continue Reading
GPP Forever: How to Avoid Accidental Specialization and Actually Get Fit
For people who haven’t yet figured it out, I am probably borderline for quite a few social disorders. I don’t deal well with crowds. I am almost completely unable not to tell people when they’re being ... Continue Reading
Exercise Can Help Your Social Life
When discussing the benefits of fitness, we usually focus on the physical side of things. However, there are additional social and psychological benefits that are often overlooked. A study this month in ... Continue Reading
Athlete Journal: Chris Duffin, Entry 86 – Massive Volume
EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the Athlete Journal of world champion powerlifter Chris Duffin. Follow Chris as he trains and competes in various events over the coming year. Chris's journal will be posted every ... Continue Reading
The Risk of Injury in Competition and How You Can Protect Yourself
My heart is heavy for Kevin Ogar in the wake of his awful accident at the OC Throwdown. The details of his accident are still not 100% known to all, but what I do know is that he took a spill doing a ... Continue Reading
The Concept of Balancing Development: How to Coach a Beginner Weightlifter
There are a lot of sources for beginning weightlifting training information available these days. So much so that it is understandable that newcomers are overwhelmed and befuddled as to which instruction ... Continue Reading
Your IT Band is Not the Enemy (But Maybe Your Foam Roller Is)
Foam rollers seem to be all the rage these days and often for good reason. They’ve been demonstrated to restore lost range of motion at certain joints and many of us swear by their ability to help massage ... Continue Reading
Combining Bodyweight Exercise and Weight Training for Maximum Benefit
There's a lot of extremism in the fitness world, and many people seem to think that bodyweight exercise and weight training have to be mutually exclusive. One idea out there is that bodyweight training is ... Continue Reading
Blood Type Diet Debunked
Eat Right for your Type, the 1997 book by Peter D’Adamo, has sold millions of copies. D'Adamo claims that our dietary needs differ by blood type. People with type A blood should eat mostly vegetables and ... Continue Reading
Athlete Journal: Terry Hadlow, Entry 14 – 1/27/2014
EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of Terry Hadlow. Terry got started in Olympic weightlifting in 1970 and is the only Canadian to have competed in senior nationals in five different decades - ... Continue Reading
The Good, The Bad, and the Bottom Line of the Fitness Gadget Craze
A few years back, Nike and Apple teamed up and came out with the Nike+ iPod sensor to track your run mileage and pace. The device fits in a little pouch on your running shoes and comes with a sensor that ... Continue Reading
7 Simple Ways to Avoid Injury in Parkour (Or Any Other Sport)
Last year a well-known Russian freerunner, Pavel Kashin, performed a backflip while standing on the edge of a sixteen-storybuilding. The movement was well within his skill set, but the risk he chose to ... Continue Reading
3 Steps for Returning to BJJ After Injury
There are two givens in Brazilian jiu jitsu. You will become addicted to it and at some point you will experience some type of injury. I wish the second one were not true, but injuries happen in almost ... Continue Reading
The 4 Most Common Issues in Coaching and Learning Gymnastics
As some of you may or may not know, I travel about this blue and green sphere of ours spreading whatever knowledge and information I can through the CrossFit Gymnastics certification. Recently I crunched ... Continue Reading
Sunday Seven: The Week’s 7 Most Popular Articles, Vol. 94
Every Sunday we post the "Sunday Seven" so you can quickly see the seven most popular articles of the week. This week's most popular posts cover martial arts for children, fitness questions, the kettlebell ... Continue Reading